Cousins and Best of Friends!!!

Livvy and Shaina (Thanksgiving 2010) taking a break on the rocks during our Torrey Pines hike in San Diego ( I miss their long hair)!

Olivia and Shaina (my brother's daughter) are cousins, but also great friends! They have been lucky enough to live by each other off and on throughout their lives and to build a great friendship. I love watching them together because they remind me of myself and my cousin Tenley when we were growing up. Tenley is two years older than me, like Shaina is with Olivia, but she always looked out for me. I see Shaina doing the same things for Olivia that Tenley would do for me - helping me choose outfits, doing my hair and make-up and just spending time together! Brings back great childhood memories :) I haven't seen my cousin since she moved to Florida, but I still love her the same - I miss you Tenley!


Shaina's birthday was in December and she was the cousin who did the 10 things for her 10th birthday (where Olivia got the idea for her 8th birthday). We were lucky enough to be with her for part of her birthday activities - one of which was Livvy and Shaina cutting off their hair together!! Aren't they so cute in their matching outfits and hair! Olivia cut off 10 inches and donated it to "Locks of Love" - she was so excited! I'm just glad that Shaina still finds it fun to have a cousin who wants to do everything she does and wear everything she wears :)



After the haircuts we went to the Irvine Spectrum where they had manicures and pedicures and painted their toes and fingers like candy canes - so cute!! Lexi had to try to get her feet in the picture too :) I hope their friendship lasts forever and continues to grow stronger with each year!


The girls on Christmas Eve at Mimi and Papa's house in their new matching Christmas Pajamas


All 3 of the girls on Christmas Sunday in their Christmas dresses from Mimi - so beautiful :)

More Birthday and Baptism Pictures

Activities #1 and #2 - Circus Vargas and going out to dinner with mom, dad and Lexi

So for Olivia's 8th Birthday she got the idea from her cousin that she wanted to do 8 things for her birthday instead of having a party with friends. At the beginning I thought that this would be a great trade, but by the end I think it turned out to be twice as expensive! I think we will definitely be having a party with friends next year for sure :) But it was still a lot of fun!



There weren't a ton of people at the circus, as you can see, so it was even more fun - we had great seats!! (more people did show up later - we just got there really early too:)) I had forgotten just how much fun the circus can be and the girls loved it!


Then Mimi came into town and we had 3 more days of birthday fun and activities. Activities #3,4,and 5 - shopping (new outfits and books), homemade pizzas and spa night (Jed was out of town) - Mimi gave Livvy a manicure and pedicure and Lunch at Panera (Olivia's favorite) before the movie!! Can you say SPOILED!!!!!!


Activity #6 ? (we kind of lost count, we were having so much fun) We went to Gnomeo and Juliet with Mimi before she had to go back home. We discovered that it really pays to go to the first showing of the day - it's almost half price!! My two cute girls are getting so big and becoming best friends :)


You can see what Lexi was doing while we were eating pizza and having cake (Activity #8) - she really slept through the whole thing - singing and all!! She was done after all of the fun that we had been having for days, plus she was a little sick too :( This was after Activity #7 - Bowling with her friend Rachael.


Olivia requested her favorite, rainbow chip cake with rainbow chip frosting! (turns out that this is one of my husband's favorites too and I didn't even know) Jed and and Olivia are really so much alike, it's scary sometimes! All in all, I'd say she had a pretty memorable 8th birthday!! I know I won't forget it :) Love you Olivia!


Olivia and her great-grandparents - Grandpa Doug and Grandma Betty Gines :)


Olivia with her parents and both sets of grandparents. We are so blessed to have such a wonderfully supportive family!!

Olivia and my cousin Christina's girls Jaycee and Kylee

Good News Comes in 3's?!?!

I don't know about you, but in our family it seems that life's events, whether good or bad, come in groups of 3. This has definitely been the case for us! After Olivia's Baptism, and my Birthday, we also told the family that we were expecting our 3rd child. But what makes this even better news (especially for my husband) is that we are having a BOY!!!!!!! We are all so excited to add another Gines family member in August. The debate has already begun between Jed and I with choosing his name :)

Olivia's Baptism and my 30th Birthday Weekend

February was such a crazy month!!!! Olivia turned 8 years old on the 12th and then the following weekend (President's Day) a bunch of our family came into town to help us celebrate her Baptism and my 30th birthday!! So she was actually baptized on my Birthday - what a great present huh? At least I won't ever forget her Baptism date:) While the family was here we decided to take the Tram ride in Palm Springs up to the top of the mountain and it was snowing! This was really fun for us "Californians" but not so much for the family that had come from snowy Utah - they wanted to get away from the cold :(

I think all of the kids really enjoyed playing in the snow though. Here's my brother Chris - the biggest kid of all:)


Lexi and my nephew Chaz in the snow


All of the Romney and Gines' family at the Baptism. This was such a special and wonderful day!! I didn't really know what to expect, since this was our first child being Baptized, but everything went really smoothly. I wouldn't have changed a thing - it was that great! The spirit was so strong and we were so proud of Olivia. She truly is such a blessing in our family - she makes us all better people. Her sweet and kind spirit, her quiet obedience, and her capacity to love others around her amaze me each and every day. Thank you to all of our family for your love and support!! You really helped make this such a memorable day for Olivia (and me) :) Better yet, I was able to focus more on Olivia than on the fact that I was turning 30 :(


Olivia with her uncle Chris, Aunt Cassy and cousins, Shaina and Chaz :)



My birthday cake - yummy Double chocolate chip "Nothing Bundt' cakes" (I know I've posted these cakes on my blog before - they are the best cakes you'll ever eat!!!) Overall I had a great Birthday (except for the dinner - we'll just try to forget that part). I received so many incredible gifts (thank you family) and it was so fun just to be with those people that I love so much! Thanks again :)

I was actually really bummed when I was going through my pictures, because I realized that I had barely taken any pictures of the whole weekend!! Sorry I'm so lame - we were just too busy having fun!