My Valentine(s)

My 3 favorite peeps ;)

Okay, so I'm really not big into Valentines. I would much rather be loved all year long, than just one day of the year - so we really don't get into the whole gift/card/flower/candy giving stuff.

This year my kids surprised me at work, their Grandma Ruth watches them 2 days a week and she had some errands to run at the mall. It made my day, I took them on the train and then we ate lunch in the food court. I really love having a job that is VERY flexible, I pretty much dropped everything and spent about an hour with my kiddos.

Then we went to dinner, we don't' go out with the kids very often because they honestly drive me crazy. I spend most of the meal telling them to talk quieter, sit down, down stare at those people, leave those people alone, and over all just being bugged, but we decided to go to Training Table. What was I thinking? Sit in a booth with a phone? Yeah - we won't be going there with the kids again for a long time! They actually weren't too bad, other than wanting to talk on the order phone, over and over and over!

Lots of love to my special 3!

Elder McBride returns

My little brother Patrick came home from the California Riverside mission on January 25th. We all went to the airport to pick him up- my family made each niece and nephew a poster with their name on it so Patch would know who they were, as if he'd forget!

I'm sure the people at Delta baggage claim were ready for us to leave, it snowed several inches that morning, after several weeks of no snow and we all made it to the airport about an hour early. Max kept climbing on the baggage carousel and one time a Delta employee came and took him off, Max started screaming, "She touched me! She touched me!", I got a nice chuckle out of it, and was glad she did because he finally stopped trying.

They also kept extending the barrier stanchions, I'm sure it was something like the Clampett's go to the airport. Patrick is one of the smiliest people I have ever met. He is kind hearted and loving. When he hugged me I thought he was never going to let go, it was the hardest hug ever!

My kids did not remember him, Grace was barely 2 and Max wasn't even 1, but they both loved him. Grace wouldn't leave him alone and when we got in the car to ride up to my moms she said "Mom, I like him, I really do!" It was very sweet.

My sister Cassie, niece Libby, Max & Grace making sure Patch wasn't going to leave again!

This is the last letter my brother sent from the field, I truly loved it. If you have anyone contemplating serving a mission I would invite them to read this letter- his testimony and love for the people in Riverside is amazing! I am so proud of my little bro!

Dear Family & Friends,

I hope that you have had a great week! I love you all so very much & just wanted to write a note to let you know how much I love each & every one of you! The past two years have been the most monumental time of my life & I thank you so much for your love, kindness, support & prayers.
I remember the night I opened my call letter & reading off "The California Riverside Mission"... wow, what a shock - I was thinking somewhere far a way (my dream was, if you remember Sydney Australia), or at least New York... but I got called to just two states away. I was a little disappointed, BUT I went anyway knowing that God would give me strength & He would hopefully help me to "like" my mission.
Wow, how childish I was to be disappointed in MY call to His mission. I know now that this is the mission that I was supposed to be sent to. I have had so many special times where the spirit has confirmed to me that this is where I was supposed to be. I can't imagine if I had not met all the people that I have come into contact with out here in California. I can't imagine the friends that I have made & never coming into contact with them. No this mission was meant for me & I am so glad that I took the sacred opportunity to come out her for these two years to do it.
I remember Mary always asking me a couple of times every year, "so your going on a mission right?" haha, my answer was always "yes" , but in my head I was thinking 'wow, two whole years --I can't be away from everything & everyone for that long!' kind of dreading the upcoming & scary 2 years from 2009-2011 it finally came... I was scared for the unknown of what the mission had in store for me - but I went remembering the commandment of a mission that was given to every worthy priesthood holder. Thanks Mary & Family for always reminding me & helping me prepare for my mission.
Goll, my whole mission just seems to be a blurr. From three months jumped up to six. Six months flew by to a year. A Year rushed on to eighteen months & from then on my time has fleeted away from me. From Corona (Citrus Hills/Prado View) to Lake Elsinore (Ortega/Lake Elsinore) to Riverside (Mt. Rubidoux) to Palm Desert (Santa Rosa/La Quinta) to Corona (Temescal Valley) to Temecula (Pauba/Temecula Valley YSA/Redhawk) was my mission. Really I can't say that time ever went slow - which is crazy to me - I know that was a huge blessing from my Heavenly Father. He knew how fragile I was when I came out - but with faith exercised He has shaped my fragile testimony into something stronger!
My mission has started the true foundation for my life. I think of the primary song & scripture "The Wise & Foolish Man" & think of their foundations. I was blessed to grow up with a great family & great friends - all good influences, but I think my testimony was still small & sandy. It wasn't till I had these two years that I have not had to think & worry about myself - but for only the service of God that I have learned who I am & really knew - really knew what my purpose was and is here & forever. I now have a relationship with my Heavenly Father & His Son Jesus Christ & the Holy Ghost. I know them from service & faith. I am so grateful for this choice to serve - nowhere else could I have gained this special testimony!
"What ever Jesus lays his hands upon lives. If Jesus lays his hand upon a marriage, it lives. If he is allowed to lay his hands upon the family, it lives." ~President Howard W. Hunter. I love this quote because it makes me think about myself & makes me question myself, Do I let Jesus Christ symbolically lay his hands upon me & my life? I think my mission has been a start for that. A start - I still have so much more to do. The course to get to eternal life is long and endure I must. We need to ALWAYS let the savior place his hands of safety in our lives - not just sometimes. I love my Savior Jesus Christ & am forever grateful for his loving sacrifice for me. I'm grateful for His call to me & for letting me have these "best two years"!
Again I love you all so much. This week has been crazy & surreal. This past week on Wednesday I had a little panic-attack... haha, but with a blessing I was comforted. I am excited to see all of you. Love you all, be safe till we meet again.

--
Love,
ELDER PATRICK McBRIDE

Eggplant

We have been participating in Bountiful Baskets for almost a year now, and we love it! Each Saturday morning I take the kids and pick up our basket, Grace has so much fun seeing what we get. She always wants broccoli and celery. It's been really good for us, we have made an honest effort to use all the veggies each week and to try new things.

One of those new things this past year was eggplant- I NEVER would have tried it had it not been in our basket, but I love it! We usually turn it into eggplant parmigiana and make a marinara sauce with it, but if an effort to eat better we put away the breadcrumbs and the oil and made herb crusted eggplant-

Eggplant- sliced - rub salt on it and let it sit for 20 minutes, then wipe the salt off with a paper towel. (This makes it so the eggplant isn't rubbery). Salt and pepper both sides of the eggplant and back at 400 for 6-8 minutes on both sides. Then put fresh chopped herbs on top. We had fresh from our basket, but I bet it would be good with dried too. Thyme, oregano, basil & rosemary. Put a tiny bit of cheese on the herbs, either mozzarella or parm and broil for 2 minutes.

Sauce - 2 cloves garlic minced, 1 onion minced, saute in a tiny bit of oil until the onions are soft, add 1 can diced tomato's, 4-6 chopped Roma tomato's, 1 T Basil, 1 T Thyme, 1 T Oregano, Rosemary, salt and pepper (as much as you like.) and 1 T sugar. The recipe calls for cooking red wine, but not having that on hand I used 1 c. chicken broth and about 1/4 c. red wine vinegar, and let it simmer about 30 minutes. Also, the sauce calls for 1-2 T Extra Virgin Olive Oil, but we omit it, for calorie reasons.

I start the sauce first, then slice the egg plant and cook it will the sauce is simmering. It seriously is better than Olive gardens red sauce! Once the eggplant is finished put it right in with the sauce and serve over noodles. We use low point pasta, splenda and cut out most of the oil. I can't wait until we get our next eggplant!

A little glimps into what we do all day

Did I mention how much Grace loves to dress up? Most of the time it's in her Cinderella or Belle dresses, but sometimes she gets really creative... the fashion statement this time was a simple black leotard, with a "glamorous" pink tutu as a hat/wig...Do you think she might make it on the "what not to wear" show? Oh how I love this girl!

The other night we had family and friends over and grace comes out in a tutu and a super woman cape, no shirt.

I really had this picture turned the right way, and heaven forbid I take the time to do it twice... Make sure to notice "Little Man" in his hand. Max loves his little men, and it's the end of the world if he misplaces one of them. Basically we have many little breakdowns daily, I've truly contemplated finding someway to attach them to clothing, kind of like the pacifier thing.

Grace got this little microphone from her aunt Nicole for her birthday, Max loves it, and he is dang funny, he put on quite the little show-

Ready for the gorilla close up.

Well, I wasn't going to post these, but some of them are so cute, so here we are...this was the zoo on Grace's birthday-

Notice rainbow dash in Grace's hand, Yes! She likes My Little Pony!

I never realized how ugly orangutans were before....

The kids loved that they were right up by the window-

Grace told the giant gorilla to sit, and then he did,she loved it!

This was the first time I didn't take a stroller...and I loved it! Grace carried her back pack and I didn't worry about a stroller, a purse, or a diaper bag...and.... I loved it! It was so nice! Not good news for all of you who are hoping for a Tyler #3 any time soon... ;)

Grace's B-Day!

Grace had a birthday packed weekend, that's what happens when so many people love you!

Saturday we had a party at Mike's parents house, Grace's aunt Beth came up with a puppy party theme and it fit Grace perfectly. Grace LOVES puppies, dogs, pretending to be a puppy, brushing dogs, feeding dogs-pretty much everything!

Grandma Ruth made this puppy bowl cake, complete with puppy chow (whoppers), and Aunt Caitlin added the paw prints, it really turned out cute!

Before the puppy transformation...

Beth decorated all the kids faces-

Grace even has a dog whistle in her hand-Grace was Puppy Pongo!

Daisy- or Puppy Lucy :)

Max or Puppy Nono.

Grace decorating her dog house

After the puppy transformation the puppies went downstairs to look for bones, they were suppose to crawl like puppies, but they were too excited!

Grace opening her presents-

Max trying to blow the candles out on her cake...yep he's the little brother, and the tease!

Sunday we went up to my moms house and had a combined Mike, Bracken and Grace birthday dinner. Taco bar, one of my favorites! We had cake and pie and hung out as a family.

Then for her actual birthday yesterday we were planning on taking the kids to Boondocks, but Grace wanted to go to the zoo. At first I said no, I had about 15 loads of laundry and it was my cleaning day, but then I thought, how many 50 degree, dry days do we get in January, and it happened to be her birthday- so away we went!

The animals were all really active and we got to see a brand new baby monkey, the gorillas were sitting right by the glass and Grace said "Sit!" and Max sat down and then the gorilla sat down, she was very proud.

When Mike got home from work we still took the kids to Boondocks, they always have fun there.

So, Grace is 4, every January 17th at about 6 pm I think about the day before Grace was born, starting to feel back pain, my water breaking at home and then being in labor for 26 hours. I remember thinking on the way to the hospital about how far I was dilated and thinking that because my water had broke maybe I was at like a 4 or a 5, and then how silly I felt when they told me I wasn't quite to a 1. That was a long, hard day!

But now, 4 years later it doesn't seem so bad. I love to see how smart Grace is. She remembers so many things, she's really good with directions (giving them, not so much taking them), she uses big words and most of the time they are in the correct context.

Grace likes to sing and dance play dress up. She has a tote full of dress up clothes, shoes and play necklaces, every single day she changes into it. I love it!

Grace loves Barbies and ponies, this past year her Aunt Mary gave her a Barbie doll house and

lots of Barbies, she plays with them every day!

Grace's favorite movie right now is Despicable Me- which she bought with her birthday money from Grandma Kate, she also likes Scobby Doo and Harry and the Hendersons. Her favorite TV shows are Martha Speaks (imagine a talking dog is her favorite?) and Spongebob (which I HATE!)

She will not wear clothes with tags in them, she doesn't like jeans because they are itchy and drives me crazy because she likes to run around naked. My mom says she's just like me when I was a kid.

Her favorite thing to eat is spaghetti and candy!

I can't believe that she will be in Kindergarten in 1 1/2 years...panic..panic...

Love you Grace!

Our Island of Sodor

Could Max be any cuter? He is in heaven with all of his new trains! He calls the all "Omas" (Thomas) and he can play for hours!

Santa brought Max one new set and we got him the rest off of KSL, those sets are expensive!
So now my living room has been turned into the Island of Sodor, I even had to clean up Christmas around it, the tree and all. It almost broke his heart when I told him I was going to put it away. Hopefully you don't mind train smoke!

Several months ago Aunt Nicole gave us a really terrible Thomas the Train movie, Max watches it daily, maybe it's just a boy thing but he is really serious about his "Omas!"