30 in 4, 3, 2

I skipped a few days, but I have a really good excuse! Joey took me to Palm Desert for a weekend retreat! It was fabulous. The weather could have cooperated a little better but we made the best of it. Joey's parents came down and watched the kids so we had a great, kid-free weekend.

We headed out Friday morning and hit the Cabazon outlets. We found a few small items and had a great time going into any store we wanted without worrying about how much longer the kids would be able to shop.

We stayed at the JW Marriott in Palm Desert and it was beautiful! It sits on a small lake and there are boats that take you from the lobby to the different restaurants. It is very cool!

Before dinner on our last night.


We slept in one day and then went to the gym but still felt like breakfast at noon, so we went to IHOP and enjoyed a yummy breakfast (it was good but this didn't even compare to breakfast on our last day!)


Joey spoiled me and bought me this beautiful diamond ring! The jeweler described it as a "bed of diamonds".



This is the restaurant where we had the BEST breakfast. It was a great little French cafe recommended to us by our good friends, the Bennetts.


Holy moly! Snow on the drive home!! What in the world!!!


What a great trip! Thanks honey!

30 in 5

You've got to laugh! Reading my journal I came across some funny things my kids have done over the past years and I'm so thankful I wrote them down because it is sooooo important to laugh! Here are just a few:

Dec. 17, 2006
Hayden has some funny new things… she loves Dora the Explorer. Dora has a little friend named Boots, but Hayden calls him Boobs. We try to say his name correctly for her but for the past two weeks it has been Boobs.

April 1, 2007
Hayden is also doing well. She is a hoot. She makes me laugh all day long. She says the funniest things. When I change the boys’ diapers I sometimes say, “Holy crap”. Not good, but I say it. Anyway, the other day Joey was changing one of the boys and she came in to the room saying, “Holy crap.”

May 3, 2007
We are attempting to get her to go to the bathroom in the potty. She went in her diaper (even though we ask her to go in the potty) so Joey went to change her. He said, “Hayden, you need to go potty in the toilet.” And she said, “I need your help.” And Joey said, “What do you need me to do.” And she said, “I need you to change your attitude.” How funny is that!

March 10, 2008

Hayden said the funniest thing tonight during Family Home Evening. We were talking about the prophet and we asked her who the new prophet was and she said, “President Monson.” We said, “Good, now who was the prophet.” She said, “President Hinckley.” We asked, “What happened to President Hinckley?” and she said, “He turned into President Monson.” We cracked up. It was so cute!

January 23, 2009

Poor Lincoln. He has been very confused lately. He thinks his name is Spencer. We ask him who everyone's name is in our family and he gets everyone right but he calls himself, "Penth" which is Lincolnese for Spencer. It doesn't end there, both boys have little stuffed animals they got while in the NICU after they were born. They sleep with them every night. Lincoln has a rhinoceros name "Lyle" and Spencer has giraffe named"Gus" but lately Lincoln thinks his rhino is named "Gus". Maybe "Spencer" and "Gus" are just easier to say...who knows!!!

January 15, 2009

After Primary, Hayden reminded Joey and me that she gave the scripture and prayer and we asked her how it went. She said, "Well, I didn't pick my nose." Too cute!

March 22, 2009

Spencer's prayer from last night:

"Dear Heavenly Father, We grateful for our families, grateful for Lincoln, grateful for Jude, grateful for Hayden and Mommy and Daddy, grateful for the fan, grateful for Horton, grateful for Mickey, grateful for Yerdle, grateful for the basketball hoop, grateful for the door, grateful for Jude's door, grateful for Mama's and Dada's door, grateful for three doors, grateful for that, grateful for those..." and it went on and on and on and on! It ended with, "and Lincoln has his eyes open and I want to sleep with that (pointing at something in his toy bin)".

March 28, 2009

I sang “The Spirit of God” the other night to Lincoln and afterwards he said, “Mom, I shout for Jesus.” I didn’t get it then thought, “Oh, from the song.” It was cute!

Sept. 6, 2011

Be still my heart! Lincoln stubbed his toe and was crying at the kitchen table while I was making dinner. Spencer came in to check on him and said, "Lincoln, are you okay?" Lincoln said, "No, my toe really hurts." Spencer said, "I will make it better, do you want me to tickle it or kiss it?" Pure sweetness from a not so sweet little boy!

September 29, 2011

Spencer said the funniest thing last night. I was asking him about how preschool is going and he said, “No one plays with me.” I said, “Oh, well why don’t you go find Lincoln and play with him?” Spencer responded by saying, “I seek after Lincoln but he doesn’t seek after me.” So dang cute!!!!

November 8, 2011

Jude has not been feeling well the past week and I finally took him to the doctor yesterday. He has an ear infection and got started on antibiotics yesterday. He woke up much happier this morning so I told him to go tell Daddy Jude was back. He walked into our bedroom, found Joey, turned around and pointed to his back...Jude's back! I just started laughing:) So just so you know Jude's back...take it however you want!

January 16, 2012

Today we asked the twins what they wanted to be when they grow-up. Lincoln said, "I want to be a rugby player" and Spencer said, "I want to be a hamster." Hmmmmm, those are two very different things!

March 12, 2012

When Jude gets mad at one of us (and especially Daddy), he yells, "Go time-out, DAAAAAAD!" he means it!

30 in 6

Little Jude was born on Nov. 22, 2009. My pregnancy with him was really, really tough. I had an eye condition (that the doctors still don't know what it was) and I lost vision in my right eye and lost much of my sight it my left eye. I also had muscle issues and the muscle above my left eye weakened and my eye looked half-closed and I had extreme light sensitivity. I remember being very down during the pregnancy but after he was born thinking that all the hardship was worth it to have this perfect, wonderful little baby.


Motherhood is hard, motherhood isn't glamorous, motherhood tests us and sometimes we want to throw in the towel and say "I give up!!!". But it's worth it. There are moments that make it all worth it. Like when I held Jude for the first time. Or when my kids insist I hold them because no one else will do. Or when Hayden draws me a picture because I'm having a hard day. Or Spencer laughs so hard because he is just enjoying life. Or Lincoln comes in and says, "Mom what can I do to help you?" Or Jude says, "Mom, play wif me??" My children bring me more happiness than I could imagine. I love you Hayden, Spencer, Lincoln, and Jude!!!!!

30 in 7

Twins! Yup, I had twins 5 years ago. We were shocked when we found out it was twins. I was reading in my journal and I love that I have kept a record of how I was feeling during the pregnancy, how I tried to balance having a barely 2-year-old and brand new twins and how I felt. Sometimes I shake my head and laugh at myself and sometimes I am impressed at my insight. Journals are so important and reading mine reminds me how important it is to keep up in my writing. So to my almost 30-year-old self, please keep writing in your journal!!

Reading in my journal, I also realize I couldn't have made it through those last weeks of pregnancy and first few weeks of the boys' lives without Bob and Deborah, my mom, and Jeff and Dianne! We had a great support system and our families were really good to us. Thanks for flying in last minute and taking care of us! And Jeff, thanks for teaching Hayden bad habits (see food??)

Here is my big belly just a week before the boys were born (so this was at 34 weeks) My face is not pictured cause I carried about 30 of the 55 lbs. I gained in my nose!


My boys!
Love this picture of Spencer and Lincoln!

30 in 8

Just 9 months after Joey and I got married, I got pregnant with Hayden. We were so excited! She was my little buddy! Joey started law school and Hayden and I did everything together.

I love this picture! Joey loves playing with our kids. He is a great dad! At night when I'm calming the kids down, I usually have to say, "Hayden, Spencer, Lincoln, Jude and Daddy!!! Calm down!"

Me and my little buddy:)

This picture is from the first night in our apartment in Los Angeles. Our furniture didn't arrive when the moving company said it would so Hayden slept on a blanket. I can't imagine one of our boys sleeping so peacefully but she slept great that night!

This might be my favorite all-time picture of Hayden. Her smile and her eyes are beautiful in this picture!


I'm grateful for motherhood. Being a mom has taught me to be less selfish (still working on that one), to be kind, to see others as children of God, and to want more for others that I want for myself. My children are examples to me. They are teaching me how to love. I have a huge responsibility to teach them but each and everyday they teach me something too.

30 in 9

Wow, I'm going to be 30 in just over a week! It's a little hard to believe! I'm really excited cause my sweetheart is taking me on a weekend getaway and my in-laws are going to take care of the kids.

I've been thinking about these 30 in 30 posts I've been doing. The other day I thought, "Is this a little self-indulgent?" And you know what, it might just be. But I justify all my "Katie" posts on the fact that I spend so much time scrapbooking for my kids and writing down memories for them because I think it's important for them to have wonderful memories to look back on and I wanted that! I wanted to remember and enjoy:) So even though it's been a lot of Katie, I will get back to more kid stuff soon:)

So I'm going to rewind just a bit. I went through the temple just about three weeks before Joey and I got married. I went to the Mount Timpanogos temple in American Fork, Utah. I am so grateful for temples. I'm grateful that I live near a temple. I love the feeling I have when I'm in the temple and that, for just a moment, I have clarity. Isn't this a beautiful picture?? It really is a little bit of heaven on earth.

30 in 10

Just 7 months after we met, Joey and I were sealed in the Oakland Temple. We did a lot of planning from Utah and my mother-in-law was a rock star wedding planner! My parents lived in Tokyo, Japan at the time and Deborah didn't mind helping with the wedding. She has 3 sons so I told myself it was a blessing she ended up having so much of the planning on her shoulders...but maybe that's just to make myself feel better for having her work so hard!

I remember we had a fun wedding dinner the night before at a great boutique pizza shop. We also had gelato brought in because Joey loves gelato. It was great for the families to get to know each other a little bit. Mind you, this week of wedding festivities was the first time Joey had met my parents since they lived overseas and had not been back while we were dating.

The night before the wedding I didn't sleep a wink! I sat and talked to my mom and sister and finally forced myself to try to get some shut-eye. I woke up and had the most excited feeling. I remember sitting in the bathtub and just thinking about the wonderful events that were about to take place. I went and got my hair and make-up done and then I drove to the temple with my dad. We had to stop and get gas on the way there and my dad bought me a granola bar. Whenever I see that particular type of granola bar, I think of my wedding day!

I remember walking into the temple and seeing Joey and feeling so much peace. I loved being near Joey and feeling so safe.


After the temple sealing, Joey and I went out and met all our friends and family who were waiting outside. It was such a joyous occasion! We took pictures, then more pictures, and then a few more pictures!



Joey and I headed back to San Jose in his dad's car and he dropped me off at my hotel so I could get my things for the reception. It was weird to be separated from him for those few hours! We were just married but we had things to do to get ready for the PARTY that was about to happen. I ate a whole box of Teddy Grahams and then headed to the reception.

The reception was amazing! The food was great! The decor was beautiful! The music rocked! It was perfect! It was the best day ever!

The head table (our name places were mini Martinelli's bottles with personalized labels and the guests got to take theirs home)


Cutting the cake

The dancing was awesome! We danced and danced!


After the reception we headed to San Francisco and stayed at the Marriott hotel and woke up early the next morning and went to Oahu for our honeymoon.



I'm grateful my best friend asked me to be his wife. I'm grateful each day for him! Joey is one heck of a guy!