March 15, 2014

We made our escape to St. George for a long weekend.
Mostly Jake had to do some Continuing Education so Utah will let him still be a lawyer and we thought we should tag along.
The kids were super excited- not only for the trip but for the "lunch" we made for them for the drive packed with juice boxes, and all kinds of treats.  Mari carried her lunch around the entire morning so we wouldn't forget it.  And before we were out of the driveway everyone had broken into their packs.  Silly kids.
We decided kind of late that we would go to this conference, so I called 12 hotels and resorts in St. George and nobody had anything available this weekend.  Apparently there was in addition to lawyer conferences... baseball tournaments, a race, tons of schools including UVU's Spring Break, etc, etc so the whole world was going to St. Geroge for this same weekend.  So we ended up staying in Hurricane, which is like 15 minutes away.  But I am pretty sure we made the best choice and will be staying there always from here on out because not only was it the far nicest place we have ever stayed ever, it was gorgeous and completely empty. Oh and when check out was at 11 and I wanted a late check out- they said sure, when, and I said... like 3pm, and they said- sure thing.... umm yeah best place ever.

After checking in, the kids broke right into the special paint sets I had got for them for the trip for something to do.  Then I let Bethy get a nap while Jake took the kids for a swim in what was not suppose to be, but ended up being our own private pool for most of the trip. Like I said, nobody was there.  And yes, it was WARM.  Warm enough to swim outside in the pool anyways.
Then we went to get some dinner.  Chick-fil-a.  We let the kids play in the play center and then headed back to our condo.  Where we got ready for bed.  Then assembled the bug looking paper airplanes that came in dinner's kids' meals.  Then we played hide and go seek with some glow sticks I had brought.  Bethy had to be contained in a pool flotation device so she wouldn't get into things sometimes.  And even though we splurged on a three bedroom place to people will go to sleep and let us sleep... nobody slept.  And in the morning there were four people in our bed, only two of them belonged there.  We don't have an alarm clock in our room at home, but having the clock in the room glaring at me every time I woke up to feed Bethy that night made me realize that I am literally only sleeping about 2.5 hours a night for getting up with her.  At my house it is the same but I don't have bright red numbers flashing in my face to testify to my not sleeping.
Jake left early for his classes while the kids and I got up and dressed, colored, watched the tv's.  Yes there were FOUR televisions in this condo.  Which the kids thought was pretty cool and liked to watch tv in their own rooms.  We only have two TV's and none are in front of beds at our house.  They kept saying how rich this place was.

Since Jake was going to be gone most of the day, the kids and I set out for some fun.  First up, some hiking.  We just set out from where we were since Jake had the car, but the place we were at was pretty in the middle of no where anyways.  We found lots of red rocks to explore and beautiful hiking terrain for little kids.  Then we came home, made ourselves some Mac and Cheese and grapes for lunch.  Though the kids were begging me to let them have Cadbury Eggs  and Peeps for lunch because we brought some. Then brave me took all four kids swimming by myself.  And again we were mostly alone except one other family in the pool.  The kids swam for almost two hours, until Jake arrived back.

Next up on our trip list was the new St. George Children's Museum.  Except that in the 20 minutes it took us to drive there everyone but Kate and Jake feel asleep. A full day of hiking and swimming will do that to you.  So Jake and Kate hopped out of the car at the St. George Temple while I sat inside letting the others nap.  They toured around and went to the visitors center.  Then we all went to the museum.  While there the kids fixed cars, flew jets, navigated pirate ships and rivers, pretended to be president,  did experiments, art, and ran a grocery store.  Bethy tried to grab fish in an aquarium.   The best part... this museum is FREE, and so is the amazing splash river next to it.   We made a small donation at a window but,If you are going to St. George with kids you could spend the entire day here and it wouldn't even cost you anything.

And then we ate at the Pizza Factory.  And I don't care how not fine dinning it is, it is always one of my favorite places to eat. On our way back Jake and the kids went to play at a waterfall at the resort, but Bethy and I stayed in the car, me and my chubby girl and her long eyelashes.

Home and then to sleep.  We didn't do any better in that department this next night.  HOW COME MY KIDS DON'T SLEEP???  Whoops I called it "Home"  I kept doing this on the trip and Mari was kind of confused.  We haven't been on many vacations in her lifetime so she didn't always understand what we were doing.  At one point we left her beloved blanky at the condo to go out and she was afraid we had left it forever.   

The next morning Jake left again for class.  The kids and I had to do some cleaning up and packing. Then we went out hiking again.  Our kids loved hiking this past summer, and this reminded them how much they like exploring.  After our hike I let them run around on the grass.  They played tag, and had cartwheel contests.  When the kids are on vacation and only have each other they are pretty good friends to one another.

Then we came back and I had some more packing and cleaning to do, so I let them eat whatever they wanted out of the snacks we had brought... in one of their beds... while watching cartoons!  They thought they had died and gone to heaven.  I packed up and cleaned up and when I returned to find them, they had eaten an entire bag of Sun Chips,  five oranges, and an Entire bag of animal crackers.  And yes, that is Bethy eating a Peep.

Then we traveled home.  I wish we were still on vacation.  I could take sitting by the pool half the day watching the kids swim, and not doing any laundry or cooking dinner every day.

March 12, 2014

1,2,3  Kate and I went on an ice skating date.  That Saturday every kid got special time.  1st Jake took Mari to the Pet Store and to the Dollar Store.  She loved looking at the animals and picked out a soda for herself and a bag of animal crackers.  Next Kate and I went skating.  She was pretty wobbly, but determined.  The ice was very melty and every time she fell she fell in a puddle- silly mom had told her not to wear snow pants because I thought it would make it harder to move. So she was soaked through.  We lasted about 40 minutes before she decided it was time for some hot chocolate.  It was a great day with my girl.  She has a new interest in ice skating after the winter olympics were on.  Then Sam and Jake went out to see the new Lego movie together. Of course Bethy just got lots of cuddling and nursing with Mom for her special time.  If was a great day with all the kids

4.  Sam bought a remote control car with some of his birthday money from his grandparents.  He has a lot of money and it was burning a hole in his pocket.  I tried to convince him to save it and think about something he wanted but he wanted everything he saw at every store we went to, until he finally bought this car on day while we were at tjmaxx.  It has been  a pretty great little car in the end.  But the idea of saving seems completely lost on him

5.  Jake and I have been participating in a ward scripture challenge.  And so we occasionally check in with one another.  The kids tease Jake that "Mom is winning again"  This night after dinner the kids got their scriptures and tried to race each other to read them "I am faster than you, I am beating you"  doe scripture reading count if you are fighting with your sister about it the whole time?

6,7,8.  Marianne being silly.  She must look up to Kate a lot, because Kate has always been our resident silly expert in our family.  Marianne is following suit.  Lots of silly dances and silly faces

9.  I am wearing my wedding ring. I haven't been able to get it on my finger because of pregnancy, and weight after pregnancy (yes I even gain weight in my hands... weight I have to loose) Because I haven't worn this ring since I was very early pregnant with Marianne.  What is that like 3plus year ago.  I never lost all my weight between Marianne and Bethany seeing as how I got pregnant with bethy when Mari was only 10 month old, so I am just now finally getting it on my finger.  And it is still a tight fit as I still have a few pounds to go.  I doubt I will wear it much still though, since I am usually just around the house.  And Jake says I don't need a wedding ring because I am usually dragging several kids wherever I go, and that is good enough for a wedding ring anyways.  But at least I could wear it if I wanted to.

10.  We have been playing outside every day this past week.  The weather has been perfect.  This is the view from where I sit on the grass and play with Bethy while the kids ride their bikes in the culda sac.  It is pretty great!.

11.  I let Bethany get a sunburn last week.  She was really only outside in the sun for 45 minutes, and had a hood on, but it got her precious fair skin.  I put lotions and aloe on it reapeatedly, until it started peeling a bit.  Silly mom-  March sun can sunburn too.

12.  I drove Kate to the bus stop the other day because there was some construction near by that worried me, and as I pulled to the stop my Rodeo- which I have had since before I married Jake turned over to 150,000 miles.  Really I have had the car for 12 year and it is just now getting to 150,000 that seems pretty incredible, even though we don't drive it now much since we can't all fit in it.

February 23, 2014

My Sam, My Man.
He turned FIVE a few weeks ago, and I am just getting around to posting his handsome face here.
We went on an adventure, in the woods together.
He wore his raccoon sweatshirt like he usually does and fit right in in the forest.
I brought my camera. He found sticks- which to him were ski poles, row boat oars, fishing poles, and sticks. We also found pine cones, leaves, animal holes and bees.... and lots of horse poop.
He is a delightful guy my Sam.
He has really overcome his shyness this year, in preschool and around the neighborhood, learning to make and keep new friends. Who wouldn't want this guy as your friend?  Really?
He has been a really sweet brother too, especially to his two little sisters who is cares for and loves so sweetly.  I can see in his face how careful he tries to be with his baby sister and how he tried to make her smile and comfortable.  And it makes it even better that I am not sure if he wants to care for her because he loves her, or because he loves me.  You see...
He  is still the most helpful guy you could ever want around, not only does he help and follow his Dad around at any chance he gets, he is willing to help me too.  In fact- he is currently complains the least when asked to do a chore, loves to help me cook, and happily runs errands or helps me with my projects- he is a helper.
He is smart.  He is starting to learn how to sound out word to read- which is so amazing to me, and absorbs everything his beloved Mrs. Duke tells him at preschool.
He loves working on things, even making up his own work sometimes.  He loves playing all kinds of very boy things like Legos, and digging in the dirt, Transformers, and soccer, and superhero video games, and tractors, and riding his bikes super fast.  He also loves going on walks outside whenever it is nice enough with me, or having a friend over.  I often have to remind him that the trampoline is not a wrestling mat when he has his friends over.
He asks a lot of questions which make me know all the interesting things he is trying to figure out and learn about.  And I love it.
And he is so very handsome and loving.
He usually demands that I tuck him in at night.  Which is very special.  Especially since he most often prefers to do manly things with Dad, but not get tucked in.  For that he prefers me.
He wants to be a skier now when he grows up, or maybe a fireman, or a builder.
He wants to have a lot of brothers in his family... he means sons, he wants to have a lot of sons because he doesn't have any brothers and he is envious of all the brothers he sees everyone else seem to have.
His favorite color is blue... but likely because that is what Dad says his favorite color is, because he seems to pick out orange or even green things when he gets to pick something.  But always answers blue, like Dad.
His favorite food is hamburgers still, or turkey sandwiches- which he will even make for himself now without even asking me for help.
I am pretty lucky to have this little guy in my life and on my side.
He is a great example of pure love in our house.
I don't want him to be five.  Not at all.  I want him to stay home with me still everyday and not go to school.  I like having him around to help me, and cuddle with when it is cold outside.  I like having him as my buddy in the afternoon when the girls are napping.  I don't want his sweetheart to go into the world which can sometimes not be so sweet.
But it is clear that he is growing up- because when we bought school clothes for preschool this last year we bought mostly size 3T  and now when we buy something new, we get a 5T.  Though he is still in the 3% for height and the 25% for weight, he seems to have grown a few inches in just the last two months or so.  It is clear he is growing up because of all the things he can do on his own, like make his own lunch, ride a bike with out training wheels, go next door and get a friend to play, clean his own room all by himself, assemble lego sets by following the directions :)   I wish he could just stay 4 forever, because 4 year old boys are pretty great.  But I don't doubt that 5 year old Sam is pretty great too.
My sweetheart Sam. He is a really good guy, and I'm so glad he is my little guy.

March 6, 2011

This is my Bethy.
She eats.
She  get so messy.
She takes a bath.
She loves it now, splashing around and blinking when water gets on her face.
Then I pinch at her chubby legs wrapped in a towel as I carry her to my bed to dress her.
Often she ends up in one of her many fox outfits.
This is the very first time she has every worn shoes.