This last month has been....crazy busy. As I am sure everyone's has. So here are the major events of the past month....
November:
My good friend gave birth unexpectedly at 28 weeks. She had to have an emergency c-section and had a placental abruption. We were so sad and scared for our friends as their baby struggled to live for the first 24 hours. We prayed and fasted for that little guy to pull through. They didn't think he'd make it, but a sweet miracle later he started breathing on his own and I am happy to say that here a month later he is now at 3 lbs and doing well. Still in the NICU but growing and developing well. We pray every day for that family as I can only imagine how hard it is to have to have a baby in the hospital for such a long time and always wonder how he's doing. Even Sophie keeps them in her prayers. The other night she said "please bless the turpins baby to grow big and strong and be healthy" I was so touched that she remembered him. Tomorrow I'm going to the hospital to visit him & I can't wait to see him. I got to see him when he was just a day old, and he was tiny tiny...2 lbs.
Since then...
A friend was diagnosed with breast cancer, a sister found a lump in her breast (turns out not to be cancer) another friends boy ended up in the hospital with seizures & they are clueless as to what's causing them & another acquaintance passed away from cancer leaving her kids & husband.
With all of this it has hit me over & over again with what is really important in life. That family & life & loving those around you is just the most important thing you could do in this life. Life is a gift & you never know what the next day will bring. I have been trying to make an extra effort every day to show my kids my love for them, cause you just never know.
On a lighter note....
Thanksgiving! Was fabulous! We actually had 2. One with a family on tuesday. He's a pilot & would miss thanksgiving. I run with their daughters and they invited us on over. It was great fun. They have a farm and the boys spent the day chasing the chickens around the yard. Then on Thursday we ate with our good friends the Hillis'. We love them so much, they are just like family to us. We spent the day together, ate so much dang good food, got in line at target for black Friday with their daughter, had a great time running through the store getting whatever the heck. It was a good day. I made a few different things, one of them being my rolls. I have had to relearn how to make those since moving here & I am happy to say I've finally figured it out! They were perfect. One of the Grandmas even snuck one away in her purse. So funny.
Since then we've decorated for Christmas, finished up our shopping, watched several Christmas movies, read Christmas stories every night as well as singing Christmas songs. It has been great. Last weekend our community put on a Christmas celebration. There was a fun parade, tons of candy, Santa Claus and then a fair with all the usual shops, attractions, big bounce houses and to end it all a great firework show. It was awesome. Our kids had a great time. At one point during the parade, a group of little kids in the parade came through, recognized Harrison and all started shouting his name and tossing candy to him. They were so cute and excited to see him. They were from his school class. I love that he gets along so well with the other kids.
Speaking of which...Harrison came home from school the other day and said "Mom I'm in love again! And we are going to be sweethearts for the rest of our lives..." I love that kid.
He is doing so well in school, it makes my heart so happy. James on the other hand has seemed to just give up. It is driving me insane. He fights me on his homework nearly everyday. ugh. If it's not one...it's the other. Oh well. Ben does better with him than I do, so he has been mostly taking charge of helping James with his school work and projects.
Since school is always a sore subject with James I have been trying to spend time with him doing other things. On Saturday I came home from my run and then he and I went for a good little run together. It was really fun to just run and talk together. I am going to try and get him out there 2-3 times a week. It's good for him and for me. I've also started doing special little things for the kids each day. Like I made their beds and left a little note with a treat. They were really excited about that. And in response they made a me a really sweet card telling me how much they loved me. I hung it up on the fridge. Cute kids.
I've been taking them out on Dates every thursday night and we just rotate through the kids. It was Sophie's turn a couple weeks ago and we went to the dollar store and picked out gifts for Ben James and Harrison. We then went to Target and got a little treat and picked out her new Christmas dress. It was so much fun. She loved it, she kept talking about us going on our date. James and I went together tihs last Saturday (RS stuff Thursday) We picked out gifts from the dollar store from James to everyone and then went shopping for Ben. Then it was off to Burger King for James' favorite...A double stacker. THat boy loves those things.
Sophie is still my sweet girl that I am hopelessly in love with. She is being so funny lately. Her wit and sense of humor has started to come out and she is one funny kid. For instance... Ben comes up to her and picks her and says "hey who do you love?" Sophie's reply "I don't like mean people that pick me up". We laughed so hard at that one. She has come up with lots of good one liners.
I finally made her a new Christmas stocking, she was using my old one. It turned out super cute. I put a little Ballerina on it. She loves it. She loves Ballet and dance. In fact in her prayer the other night she said "Please bless that I can grow up big so I can go to Ballet class" Love that sweet girl.
As far as my life goes...besides laundry, dishes, cleaning, homework, bed making, bathroom cleaning, & cooking.. ;) ;) I have recently signed up for the Phoenix Marathon. I'm running it with 6 other family members and am so dang excited. I'm doing a more advanced training program. I'm not going to lie it is hard, but I think I am getting a little better. I am most impressed with my dad. He is already up to running 10 miles and getting closer to holding a 10 min mile. How amazing is that for a 64 yr old? Cannot wait for him to run that race. He'll be great.
I've also had my RS Christmas dinner to plan and carry out. That was this last week. It went really well, we had close to 50 sisters come, which is almost everyone, so that was great. I was so grateful for all the people that helped out. It was beautiful. Then this week we had a VT conference as well, which I made fudge for and it was A-mazing! White Chocolate Peppermint. mmmmm. It seems we've been crazy busy with all that, training meetings, kids school functions, different Church activities and everything. It is nice to be able to sit here tonight and relax for a bit. It seems this last week I had to set timers for just about everything we did because life was so packed we only had so much time for each and every thing. I am enjoying this happy calm night at the moment.
With that being said, I am done typing. I am wanting food, and wanting to snuggle up with my sweets and watch something.
Have a Happy Christmas!!
Sunday, December 9, 2012
Sunday, October 28, 2012
Science Club, Halloween Horror Nights, & No Sugar
October is ending. In 3 days. Which means....Carving pumpkins, finishing costumes, Trick or Treating, Chili & Homemade Root Beer, The Ghost & Mr Chicken, World Series (GO GIANTS!), pumpkin pancakes & candy candy candy!!! Halloween is upon us! We love Halloween around here. One of our favorite Holidays. We are spending the evening with our good friends, the Hillis family, & trick or treating in their very awesome neighborhood. A trolley takes you from block to block, how cool is that? Ben and the boys are planning on filling their pillowcases no matter how long it takes. Funny boys.
The boys are going as Zombies, and Sophie is going as Cinderella. Her first choice was Darth Vader. But every costume in her size was too babyish, and then when it was the regular kid costume it was huge on her. So....she went for Cinderella instead. Darth will be next year. :)
In the Spirit of Halloween, we have been trying to do Halloween activities fairly often throughout the month. So far we have decorated the house, made Caramel Apples, made and decorated sugar cookies...Ghosts and Cats were the favorites, been to a couple Halloween parties, watched every kid appropriate Halloween movie in existence, had a black & orange dinner, went to Hotel Transylvania & Ben and I went to Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios. Let's start with that one.
Ben has, of course, been working pretty much around the clock. He loves his work, but still every now and then you need to take a break. And by 5 pm Thursday, Ben needed a break, whether he knew it or not. Fortunately he is married to me and I take good care of him. ;) So, I called up a sitter last minute, and we were off to the Horror nights. Ben has always wanted to go, he loves a good scare and all the gore and creepiness that goes along with it. So, this is kind of perfect for him.
It was great fun. The place was super decked out and definitely had the creepy halloween feel. There was fog machines everywhere, "broken" things all over. People all dressed up following you around in the dark....loved it. I actually liked all that better than the different haunted houses, but those were fun and scary too. We couldn't go there and not go on the Rip Ride Rockit, awesome coaster, and once again loved that ride. We got some food at 11 pm...yes 11 pm at night..sheesh and sat in a dark ally watching all the people getting scared at everything. It was great fun. Before we knew it it was past midnight and time to head home. It was a great time, though I need to clarify I would never ever ever send my teenager there for any reason. SO much alcohol and drunk people, and smoking and who knows what else...it was definitely a different crowd than what we typically hang around. So, don't send your kids there. ever. unless they are 21. There you go.
Also this week was filled with School fun. It was red ribbon week and the kids had fun wearing the different fun things to school each day. James had Pumpkin day, and I was there to help out. The kids were doing different things with the pumpkins, measuring, weighing, counting lines etc. And then the moms were assigned to cut the pumpkins open. All they had were huge Halloween-Stabbing-Knives...I felt very odd walking around the classroom with that big knife and cutting those pumpkins open. Anyways, it was great fun with the kids. I always like spending time in my kids class. Need to go more often.
James also put his name in for the science club at the school. They only pick 24 kids and he really wanted to get in. He loves science more than any other subject and always does well with it. So I was really excited when I got the email that he made it in. He will love it. He was really excited when he found out.
Let's see...oh yeah. Epic thing happened this week. We, as in our entire family of 5, went to a movie together. I know that does not seem like a big deal at all. But you should know we have not done that since....before Sophie was born? I kind of remember why too, it cost $50 for a matinee. and then $20 for 2 drinks and a popcorn. Yep. That's why. Honestly though, the kids loved it. It was a big deal to them to go to the movies and get popcorn and all be there. We saw Hotel Transylvania. It was cute and I loved seeing the kids laugh & laugh at all the jokes. So yeah, it was probably worth the $70. A good Happy memory. Oh, speaking of memory...here's one for ya. Before we left we refilled our bucket of popcorn...just gettin our money's worth...as we walked out of the theater a huge gust of wind came up and suddenly there was popcorn flying through the air everywhere. We tried to cover the bucket, but it was no use, it just went flying. my kids tried grabbing it in the air with their moths. So funny.
And on to the No sugar part of my blog. a few weeks ago I did a Mud run with my friends. It was disgusting. Hanging with my friends was super fun. We stayed overnight stayed up all night, and binged on candy. The candy was all my doing. I love candy. All candy. Anyways, the next day I realized that I was no longer a teenager and that bingeing on candy will make you horribly sick to your stomach. Yuck. So I swore it off. Not for life, not 100%, but about 95%. And I am happy to say I have been good since. Did I have a drizzle of caramel on my green apples when we had friends over for a Caramel Apple night? Why yes I did. Did I go back for seconds? No I did not. did I have any other treats the rest of the week? nope. Sunday I allow myself one smallish treat and that is it.
I am not going to lie, the first week was rough, I hated everyone that was eating treats and I wasn't. But then, as I realized I was feeling better, sleeping better, running better, losing weight, enjoying food more.....I didn't care about eating the treats. It's weird, because I usually am the one making fun of those non sugar people. hahaha. And now I am (sort of) one of them. I say sort of because if I go to a party and they hand me a piece of cake I am not going to give them a gross look and give a lecture on how and why sugar is bad for you. That is just plain old stuck up and rude. I'll take the cake, eat a bite or two and discretely toss it later. No big deal. No feelings hurt. And a little taste of sweetness for me. :)
So there you have it. I'm not all Nazi, but just trying to cut out the sugar where I can. And yes, Ben is going along with me on this too.
Okay, so I know more stuff happened this week, but this is good enough for now. Ben is watching the world series without me, and I have never missed it. Love baseball. So, I am off to go watch the Giants win the World Series with my hub, Have a very Happy Halloween!!!
The boys are going as Zombies, and Sophie is going as Cinderella. Her first choice was Darth Vader. But every costume in her size was too babyish, and then when it was the regular kid costume it was huge on her. So....she went for Cinderella instead. Darth will be next year. :)
In the Spirit of Halloween, we have been trying to do Halloween activities fairly often throughout the month. So far we have decorated the house, made Caramel Apples, made and decorated sugar cookies...Ghosts and Cats were the favorites, been to a couple Halloween parties, watched every kid appropriate Halloween movie in existence, had a black & orange dinner, went to Hotel Transylvania & Ben and I went to Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios. Let's start with that one.
Ben has, of course, been working pretty much around the clock. He loves his work, but still every now and then you need to take a break. And by 5 pm Thursday, Ben needed a break, whether he knew it or not. Fortunately he is married to me and I take good care of him. ;) So, I called up a sitter last minute, and we were off to the Horror nights. Ben has always wanted to go, he loves a good scare and all the gore and creepiness that goes along with it. So, this is kind of perfect for him.
It was great fun. The place was super decked out and definitely had the creepy halloween feel. There was fog machines everywhere, "broken" things all over. People all dressed up following you around in the dark....loved it. I actually liked all that better than the different haunted houses, but those were fun and scary too. We couldn't go there and not go on the Rip Ride Rockit, awesome coaster, and once again loved that ride. We got some food at 11 pm...yes 11 pm at night..sheesh and sat in a dark ally watching all the people getting scared at everything. It was great fun. Before we knew it it was past midnight and time to head home. It was a great time, though I need to clarify I would never ever ever send my teenager there for any reason. SO much alcohol and drunk people, and smoking and who knows what else...it was definitely a different crowd than what we typically hang around. So, don't send your kids there. ever. unless they are 21. There you go.
Also this week was filled with School fun. It was red ribbon week and the kids had fun wearing the different fun things to school each day. James had Pumpkin day, and I was there to help out. The kids were doing different things with the pumpkins, measuring, weighing, counting lines etc. And then the moms were assigned to cut the pumpkins open. All they had were huge Halloween-Stabbing-Knives...I felt very odd walking around the classroom with that big knife and cutting those pumpkins open. Anyways, it was great fun with the kids. I always like spending time in my kids class. Need to go more often.
James also put his name in for the science club at the school. They only pick 24 kids and he really wanted to get in. He loves science more than any other subject and always does well with it. So I was really excited when I got the email that he made it in. He will love it. He was really excited when he found out.
Let's see...oh yeah. Epic thing happened this week. We, as in our entire family of 5, went to a movie together. I know that does not seem like a big deal at all. But you should know we have not done that since....before Sophie was born? I kind of remember why too, it cost $50 for a matinee. and then $20 for 2 drinks and a popcorn. Yep. That's why. Honestly though, the kids loved it. It was a big deal to them to go to the movies and get popcorn and all be there. We saw Hotel Transylvania. It was cute and I loved seeing the kids laugh & laugh at all the jokes. So yeah, it was probably worth the $70. A good Happy memory. Oh, speaking of memory...here's one for ya. Before we left we refilled our bucket of popcorn...just gettin our money's worth...as we walked out of the theater a huge gust of wind came up and suddenly there was popcorn flying through the air everywhere. We tried to cover the bucket, but it was no use, it just went flying. my kids tried grabbing it in the air with their moths. So funny.
And on to the No sugar part of my blog. a few weeks ago I did a Mud run with my friends. It was disgusting. Hanging with my friends was super fun. We stayed overnight stayed up all night, and binged on candy. The candy was all my doing. I love candy. All candy. Anyways, the next day I realized that I was no longer a teenager and that bingeing on candy will make you horribly sick to your stomach. Yuck. So I swore it off. Not for life, not 100%, but about 95%. And I am happy to say I have been good since. Did I have a drizzle of caramel on my green apples when we had friends over for a Caramel Apple night? Why yes I did. Did I go back for seconds? No I did not. did I have any other treats the rest of the week? nope. Sunday I allow myself one smallish treat and that is it.
I am not going to lie, the first week was rough, I hated everyone that was eating treats and I wasn't. But then, as I realized I was feeling better, sleeping better, running better, losing weight, enjoying food more.....I didn't care about eating the treats. It's weird, because I usually am the one making fun of those non sugar people. hahaha. And now I am (sort of) one of them. I say sort of because if I go to a party and they hand me a piece of cake I am not going to give them a gross look and give a lecture on how and why sugar is bad for you. That is just plain old stuck up and rude. I'll take the cake, eat a bite or two and discretely toss it later. No big deal. No feelings hurt. And a little taste of sweetness for me. :)
So there you have it. I'm not all Nazi, but just trying to cut out the sugar where I can. And yes, Ben is going along with me on this too.
Okay, so I know more stuff happened this week, but this is good enough for now. Ben is watching the world series without me, and I have never missed it. Love baseball. So, I am off to go watch the Giants win the World Series with my hub, Have a very Happy Halloween!!!
Sunday, October 14, 2012
Mud Run, a New Bike, & the Pinewood Derby
Just another weekly update...nothing amazing.
Lets start with last weekend....
General Conference. Which I have to say, James watched almost every session. I think he missed one hr of one of the Sunday sessions, but other than that he paid pretty darn good attention. That might have something to do with the fact that he had to listen for certain things & if he got them all he could go pick out any candy bar.... but hey, it worked. He listened. And today at church he was glad he had because he got prizes in primary for it.
This week was catch up week for me. Catch up from being gone for 2 weeks. I got back form UT last week, which I will say was a great visit. Always so great to see family and I was so so so glad that my kids got to see their Gmas and Gpas and play with their cousins, I hate thinking that they will grow up not knowing who they are. I also ran my 7th full marathon out there, it was great. I didn't care about my time, just did it for fun and so that is what it was. Fun. James and Ben hiked Mt. Timp and I was SUPER proud of James for hiking all that way. good work boys.
But now it is back to sunny warm FL, and getting homework caught up on and bills paid and lawns mowed, laundry done. I think I am about back to normal though. I can't believe that it is the middle of October already. What the what? How in the world did that happen? So we decorated the house for Halloween this past week as well. It looks pretty good. I still want to make some cool ghost to hang on the front porch. It seems our porch was made for that type of thing. Gotta do it. Since it is Halloween time, and we are obsessed with that holiday, we have been watching our scary movies and making pumpkin everything. Love it. Love this time of year. Got some Apple cider doughnuts the other day and they were amazing. mmmm. Figured out costumes for all the kids & planning some fun Halloween activities over the next 2 weeks.
This week was also James' Pinewood derby. Our neighbors were so kind to cut the car for James, he designed it himself. Then he painted it blue and put gold stripes on it. He was pretty proud of it. I, unfortunately, was gone for the race. So Ben took the kids. It was combined with a primary activity and my kids had a great time. James' car was sloooooow. like the car the had no weights was the only car that James' car beat. whoops. Fortunately, since he wasn't last, he was happy. That was all that mattered. And they were great to have little medals for all the kids so no one felt too bad about their super suck car. hahaha. But Sophie wasn't fooled. This is the conversation she had on the way home...
S: James, did you get that medal because your car losed the race? did all the losers get those medals? Was it because your car was so slow?
Harrison: Sophie, we don't call people losers, that's rude.
S: But James' car was the loser, that's why he got that medal.
See, no fooling her. She knows. Funniest thing ever.
The reason why I wasn't there was because I was out in a survivor mud run with 7 of my good friends here in FL. We went up the night before and stayed up alllllllll night talking eating crap and just having a great time. Then it was off to play in the mud. It really was fun, but the mud got old. And it was very, very stinky. The course was through a farmers pasture, which meant there was just as much cow crap as mud. And yes, we were literally swimming through at some points. I literally almost barfed. I was really fine with the mud, but the poop and the awful smell was a little hard to handle. I was covered from head to toe and my shoes weighed at least 15 lbs by the time I was done from all the packed on mud. I was proud of myself for doing all the obstacles, monkey bars included.
The worst part of the race though, was the shower at the end. They had some showers you could rinse off in and I was so excited until I smelled them. It was sulfur water. From a well. It smelled like one big fart. a really bad one. And I was supposed to clean myself off with that? yeah, no thanks. I did though. just to at least get the first layer of mud off me. Then I threw my shirt shoes and socks away. Went to my car, got out the water bottles and soap and washed myself a little better and put clean-ish clothes on. I still had caked on mud in odd places. It was a good time, and I would probably do another one. But I would be smart and wear those five finger toe shoe things, think that might work a little better. It was really fun to do it with so many fun girls and laugh our heads off at each others grossness. Because it was just so awfully gross. And we can forever laugh about it. Good times.
After getting home and showering, over and over and over and over. We went for a little bike ride. Our sweet neighbor gave Sophie their daughter's old bike, it's even pink with princesses! She is in heaven. We rode to the park and back and she only fell twice. One time she went off the sidewalk and into the bushes. She didn't get hurt but she yelled "don't let the alligators get me!!!" HAHAHAHA. funny baby. But she loves it and always wants to ride it.
I think that is all for last week. This week I am in charge if a service night for our Relief Society and am really excited for everything we are doing. Making things for the local children's hospital. Should be a good time, I hope lots of people come.
But for now, I am butt tired. There is a baseball game on, I love baseball and I am wanting an apple with some peanut butter. So I am going to go plop my butt on that couch, watch the game and snack. yep, that's how I roll. ;)
Lets start with last weekend....
General Conference. Which I have to say, James watched almost every session. I think he missed one hr of one of the Sunday sessions, but other than that he paid pretty darn good attention. That might have something to do with the fact that he had to listen for certain things & if he got them all he could go pick out any candy bar.... but hey, it worked. He listened. And today at church he was glad he had because he got prizes in primary for it.
This week was catch up week for me. Catch up from being gone for 2 weeks. I got back form UT last week, which I will say was a great visit. Always so great to see family and I was so so so glad that my kids got to see their Gmas and Gpas and play with their cousins, I hate thinking that they will grow up not knowing who they are. I also ran my 7th full marathon out there, it was great. I didn't care about my time, just did it for fun and so that is what it was. Fun. James and Ben hiked Mt. Timp and I was SUPER proud of James for hiking all that way. good work boys.
But now it is back to sunny warm FL, and getting homework caught up on and bills paid and lawns mowed, laundry done. I think I am about back to normal though. I can't believe that it is the middle of October already. What the what? How in the world did that happen? So we decorated the house for Halloween this past week as well. It looks pretty good. I still want to make some cool ghost to hang on the front porch. It seems our porch was made for that type of thing. Gotta do it. Since it is Halloween time, and we are obsessed with that holiday, we have been watching our scary movies and making pumpkin everything. Love it. Love this time of year. Got some Apple cider doughnuts the other day and they were amazing. mmmm. Figured out costumes for all the kids & planning some fun Halloween activities over the next 2 weeks.
This week was also James' Pinewood derby. Our neighbors were so kind to cut the car for James, he designed it himself. Then he painted it blue and put gold stripes on it. He was pretty proud of it. I, unfortunately, was gone for the race. So Ben took the kids. It was combined with a primary activity and my kids had a great time. James' car was sloooooow. like the car the had no weights was the only car that James' car beat. whoops. Fortunately, since he wasn't last, he was happy. That was all that mattered. And they were great to have little medals for all the kids so no one felt too bad about their super suck car. hahaha. But Sophie wasn't fooled. This is the conversation she had on the way home...
S: James, did you get that medal because your car losed the race? did all the losers get those medals? Was it because your car was so slow?
Harrison: Sophie, we don't call people losers, that's rude.
S: But James' car was the loser, that's why he got that medal.
See, no fooling her. She knows. Funniest thing ever.
The reason why I wasn't there was because I was out in a survivor mud run with 7 of my good friends here in FL. We went up the night before and stayed up alllllllll night talking eating crap and just having a great time. Then it was off to play in the mud. It really was fun, but the mud got old. And it was very, very stinky. The course was through a farmers pasture, which meant there was just as much cow crap as mud. And yes, we were literally swimming through at some points. I literally almost barfed. I was really fine with the mud, but the poop and the awful smell was a little hard to handle. I was covered from head to toe and my shoes weighed at least 15 lbs by the time I was done from all the packed on mud. I was proud of myself for doing all the obstacles, monkey bars included.
The worst part of the race though, was the shower at the end. They had some showers you could rinse off in and I was so excited until I smelled them. It was sulfur water. From a well. It smelled like one big fart. a really bad one. And I was supposed to clean myself off with that? yeah, no thanks. I did though. just to at least get the first layer of mud off me. Then I threw my shirt shoes and socks away. Went to my car, got out the water bottles and soap and washed myself a little better and put clean-ish clothes on. I still had caked on mud in odd places. It was a good time, and I would probably do another one. But I would be smart and wear those five finger toe shoe things, think that might work a little better. It was really fun to do it with so many fun girls and laugh our heads off at each others grossness. Because it was just so awfully gross. And we can forever laugh about it. Good times.
After getting home and showering, over and over and over and over. We went for a little bike ride. Our sweet neighbor gave Sophie their daughter's old bike, it's even pink with princesses! She is in heaven. We rode to the park and back and she only fell twice. One time she went off the sidewalk and into the bushes. She didn't get hurt but she yelled "don't let the alligators get me!!!" HAHAHAHA. funny baby. But she loves it and always wants to ride it.
I think that is all for last week. This week I am in charge if a service night for our Relief Society and am really excited for everything we are doing. Making things for the local children's hospital. Should be a good time, I hope lots of people come.
But for now, I am butt tired. There is a baseball game on, I love baseball and I am wanting an apple with some peanut butter. So I am going to go plop my butt on that couch, watch the game and snack. yep, that's how I roll. ;)
Friday, September 14, 2012
A Piece of Heaven
So, yes we moved. Yes we LOVE it. The house is pretty much perfect for us. Ben working from home is going fabulously. He has never once been able to go any school things because he was always at work. Now, he has gone to the kids school things more than I have. He helps out with homework, works out for a good hour each day and still has time to get all his work done! That's what happens when you aren't stuck in meetings all day and you don't have 2 hrs of driving each day. Lovin it. Seriously.
I am mostly writing down this post because there are a few things I don't want to forget.
Sophie.
I have to tell you. I love this little girl of mine and everyday I am just grateful that I get to be her mom. She's just my little piece of Heaven & always has been. That being said, school has started and the boys are off to school from 8 am until 3 pm. That means a lot of mom and Sophie time, which I am LOVING. We have so much fun together. She is just my little buddy. I love taking her to the store, having little tea parties at home, she helps with the chores. She'll wipe things and put clothes away. I love seeing her happy little face each morning. I love watching her play with her toys and hearing her little voice. I love reading books with her and singing songs. I love the funny things she says and I love that she is a tease and is forever teasing me. She loves shopping with me and always wants to go to the store. Especially if it is Publix (grocery store down the street) or Target because they will both give kids a free cookie. She loves that cookie.
One day when I was walking to boys to school I said to Sophie "Wow Sophs, next year you will be in VPK!" (pretty much kindergarten everywhere else in the world) And then without warning it hit me. Like a ton of bricks. One more year. That is all I have left of having her home with me all the time. Then she will be off to school, for the next 12+ years. And I won't have a little buddy at my house anymore to go everywhere with me. Yes the tears came and wouldn't stop. And that is also when I made the decision to make the most of all the spare time I have with my kiddos. To just enjoy this short time I have because I swear I am going to blink and all my kids will be grown and moved away. And I want them to. I want them to grow and live their own lives too. But I want to enjoy the time I have with them now. Part of that is writing some things down somewhere, hence today's blog. So here are a couple stories I don't want to forget.
The other day we went to Target and as we walked in we had this conversation:
S: Mom, can I walk?
E: Yes of course you can.
S: Okay Mom. So can I just go look at...some..stuff?
E: Stuff? What stuff?
S: Just stuff. You go over there and I will go look at stuff.
So I followed her to the girls clothing dept and pretended to look at some things while she looked at "stuff". The cute thing just wanted to look at the ballet clothes. She stood there and stared at the tights, tutus & shoes. After a few minutes she came wandering over to me.
E: So did you find anything?
S: They didn't have the pink socks I wanted so....maybe next time.
Love that sweet girl. Yes, she is getting Ballet clothes and classes for Christmas. I'd start her now, but she keeps telling me she wants Santa to bring her Ballet slippers and dance lessons and that is just too dang cute.
Another Sophie story.
For some reason I think I have already posted this, but I didn't see it in my last posts...oh well. If it is a repeat just skip it. Or enjoy it again. ;)
Sometime in July, I woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of running water. My first thought was that a kids was up and playing in the sink. Awesome. So I went to go put that kiddo back in bed. Sure enough, there was Sophie sitting in the sink, water running, washcloth in hand wiping her jammies. I didn't have my glasses on so I couldn't see very well what was going on. But as soon as Sophie saw me she just started saying "I so Sorry, I sorry, I try to clean it, I try to wipe it off. I so sorry."
It was then that I noticed the smell and the chunks in the sink. The poor thing had puked and was trying to clean it all herself, I then looked in her room to find Lysol wipe covering her bed and floor. She really was trying to wipe it all clean. We got her all cleaned up and explained that when she is sick she does not need to clean it herself, Mom & Dad are here for that. She was actually very sick, puked every 30 min for the entire night. The next day we spent in bed watching movies and just snuggling.
A Green Balloon, Donut with Sprinkles and a Happy Happy little Girl
I will forever have this image in my head. The boys were in school, the weeks chores were done, well maybe not done, but I was done doing chores. So we had a play day. We got in our swimsuits and headed to the splash pad on my bike. She was so excited to go play. There were a few kids there and she had a great time. I even jumped in the water with her. We played and danced in the water and then laid out on the hot cement to dry off and warm back up. We played on the playground and went really high on the swings. When we were both worn out we rode across the street to the Grocery store. We got some drinks and a Donut with Sprinkles for Sophie. As we checked out, they gave her a bright green balloon. The girl was all smiles. I put her back on the bike and we headed home. I'll never forget that moment riding home with my happy little girl, her balloon tied to the bike, her donut in hand enjoying all the sprinkles and frosting. A piece of heaven. That's what she is.
I am mostly writing down this post because there are a few things I don't want to forget.
Sophie.
I have to tell you. I love this little girl of mine and everyday I am just grateful that I get to be her mom. She's just my little piece of Heaven & always has been. That being said, school has started and the boys are off to school from 8 am until 3 pm. That means a lot of mom and Sophie time, which I am LOVING. We have so much fun together. She is just my little buddy. I love taking her to the store, having little tea parties at home, she helps with the chores. She'll wipe things and put clothes away. I love seeing her happy little face each morning. I love watching her play with her toys and hearing her little voice. I love reading books with her and singing songs. I love the funny things she says and I love that she is a tease and is forever teasing me. She loves shopping with me and always wants to go to the store. Especially if it is Publix (grocery store down the street) or Target because they will both give kids a free cookie. She loves that cookie.
One day when I was walking to boys to school I said to Sophie "Wow Sophs, next year you will be in VPK!" (pretty much kindergarten everywhere else in the world) And then without warning it hit me. Like a ton of bricks. One more year. That is all I have left of having her home with me all the time. Then she will be off to school, for the next 12+ years. And I won't have a little buddy at my house anymore to go everywhere with me. Yes the tears came and wouldn't stop. And that is also when I made the decision to make the most of all the spare time I have with my kiddos. To just enjoy this short time I have because I swear I am going to blink and all my kids will be grown and moved away. And I want them to. I want them to grow and live their own lives too. But I want to enjoy the time I have with them now. Part of that is writing some things down somewhere, hence today's blog. So here are a couple stories I don't want to forget.
The other day we went to Target and as we walked in we had this conversation:
S: Mom, can I walk?
E: Yes of course you can.
S: Okay Mom. So can I just go look at...some..stuff?
E: Stuff? What stuff?
S: Just stuff. You go over there and I will go look at stuff.
So I followed her to the girls clothing dept and pretended to look at some things while she looked at "stuff". The cute thing just wanted to look at the ballet clothes. She stood there and stared at the tights, tutus & shoes. After a few minutes she came wandering over to me.
E: So did you find anything?
S: They didn't have the pink socks I wanted so....maybe next time.
Love that sweet girl. Yes, she is getting Ballet clothes and classes for Christmas. I'd start her now, but she keeps telling me she wants Santa to bring her Ballet slippers and dance lessons and that is just too dang cute.
Another Sophie story.
For some reason I think I have already posted this, but I didn't see it in my last posts...oh well. If it is a repeat just skip it. Or enjoy it again. ;)
Sometime in July, I woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of running water. My first thought was that a kids was up and playing in the sink. Awesome. So I went to go put that kiddo back in bed. Sure enough, there was Sophie sitting in the sink, water running, washcloth in hand wiping her jammies. I didn't have my glasses on so I couldn't see very well what was going on. But as soon as Sophie saw me she just started saying "I so Sorry, I sorry, I try to clean it, I try to wipe it off. I so sorry."
It was then that I noticed the smell and the chunks in the sink. The poor thing had puked and was trying to clean it all herself, I then looked in her room to find Lysol wipe covering her bed and floor. She really was trying to wipe it all clean. We got her all cleaned up and explained that when she is sick she does not need to clean it herself, Mom & Dad are here for that. She was actually very sick, puked every 30 min for the entire night. The next day we spent in bed watching movies and just snuggling.
A Green Balloon, Donut with Sprinkles and a Happy Happy little Girl
I will forever have this image in my head. The boys were in school, the weeks chores were done, well maybe not done, but I was done doing chores. So we had a play day. We got in our swimsuits and headed to the splash pad on my bike. She was so excited to go play. There were a few kids there and she had a great time. I even jumped in the water with her. We played and danced in the water and then laid out on the hot cement to dry off and warm back up. We played on the playground and went really high on the swings. When we were both worn out we rode across the street to the Grocery store. We got some drinks and a Donut with Sprinkles for Sophie. As we checked out, they gave her a bright green balloon. The girl was all smiles. I put her back on the bike and we headed home. I'll never forget that moment riding home with my happy little girl, her balloon tied to the bike, her donut in hand enjoying all the sprinkles and frosting. A piece of heaven. That's what she is.
Monday, July 23, 2012
Packing, 4th of July Celebrations & A New Career
Okay, So I am taking a break from life at the moment and instead of wasting time reading facebook I am updating the blog. It'll be boring, but at least some record of our life will be written down somewhere. ;)
All righty. I cannot believe that there is only one week left of July. This month passed me by before I even had time to blink!
Let's start with the 4th of July.
It was fabulous!
okay I'm done.
just kidding. It was such a great day though. It was the first 4th that I have been away from my family, so that was a little different, but exciting too. We started it off by sleeping in. HA! that was smart of us. I have always gotten up early to go run some freedom run somewhere and I have always loved doing that, but I was tired this year and we just slept right on in. See what turning 30 did to us? We are getting lazy in our old age. ;)
We enjoyed the afternoon at a ward picnic, bbq & baseball game. It was so much fun. I just sat and chatted the entire time while Ben and the boys played ball, but it was a great time for all of us. Then we went to our community's celebration. Full of food, bounce houses, shops & all that. The kids were in heaven. The bounce houses were free & some were even water slides so that was super bonus. I think they would have spent all night playing there, but it was soon time to go & do our own fireworks at home. Which we did. We only bought a few, but the kids enjoyed them a bunch. The spinning eyeball ones are the best. Our neighborhood was having a block party so we actually got to watch fireworks from several different people. Then there was the main show (big ones in the sky) it was spectacular. And once that ended our neighbors had purchased a ton of huge ones themselves. It was just as great as the Avalon show, only we had front row seats! We loved it. Just sat on the grass, eating junk food and watching fireworks all around us. It was a kind of perfect night.
Several days later, as we were planning our week and kids go to what when and who could take them and this that and everything else.... we had the week planned. it was booked. We were then making a joke about how long we had been married and we both realized that our anniversary was in just a couple days. We had planned the entire week and had both completely forgotten about our anniversary. oh well. we still love each other. Actually, we're the happiest we've ever been so whatevs. We just laughed about it. We ended up all going out to dinner together and getting a "wedding cake" to eat with the kids. It was fun.
Oh yeah, at that dinner. as we were leaving Ben was carrying Sophie out through the restaurant and out of nowhere she points right at a rather large man and says loudly "fat man! fat man! fat man! fatty fatty!" Ben just about died of embarrassment. I truly don't know WHERE she got that from. I am thinking the boys, because my boys do like to stick out their tummies and call themselves fat. But holy crap, that was embarrassing. Oh and yes, we had a good long talk about calling people names of ANY SORT. Sheesh.
Moving on...
This year has brought on a slow bit of surprise for us. At the beginning of the year one of Ben's childhood friends (Levi Belnap) called him up, telling him about a business idea he had (he is currently in Harvard Business School) and wanted Ben's help with the technical side of it. Fast forward 7 months. They (Ben, Levi & another guy I don't know) are all business partners, Ben has been working full time at his job here in Orlando, coming home and working several hours on this side business to get things up and running & they now have enough $$ for Ben to quit his job here and just give this (his) company his full attention. So, he gave his two weeks notice, his boss was very very sad and practically begged him not to leave, offered him a good raise, basically what can we do to make you stay, and Ben still quit. hahaha. No, it is good they like him so much. If this thing doesn't go through like they are hoping it will, his boss told him they will take him back anytime. So I'm not worried. Anyways, starting next week he will be working from home, getting this product working, finished & polished & will be his own boss. I am really excited for him. He has always always wanted to have his own company, be an entrepreneur & he is finally doing it! He is loving this so much and is so happy. I don't know if he'll ever go back to being just a programmer again. Our new home has a nice big office for him to work in, so that is perfect timing for him to be working from home. Life is full of surprises isn't it? I like this one.
With that, we are moving. So I have been trying to still have a summer vacation, a little bit of fun, started training for a marathon (on week 3 & @ 45 miles a week sheesh!) and triyng to get a little bit of packing done each day. Things are going pretty smoothly, but laundry and dinners just aren't happening. Where the world am I supposed to fit that one in? So, it is frozen dinners & wash clothes as you need them. HA! My house is currently halfway torn apart. Everything off the walls, closets emptied and boxed up. This week my friend Amy Hillis is coming over for a day to help me get everything else boxed up and ready for the truck. She is a good one that Amy Hillis. Love her.
Harrison is still playing Basketball & is improving @ each game. He scored twice in yesterday's game and actually guarded his man. I was proud of him. James had a swim meet last week, it didn't go as well as his first but he still rocked. He had been swimming for 7 hrs the day before and was just plain exhausted by the time the meet came around. He took 2nd in most things, except the medley, which he took 3rd. It was a rough race, you could tell he was exhausted by the end, but he didn't give up and finished the thing well. I was proud of him.
Sophie is currently obsessed with Ballerinas and all she wants from Santa this year (yes my kids are always planning on what they are going to ask for and it changes throughout the year) is a pair of ballet slippers. I am planning on getting her a little ballet outfit and slippers, assuming she is still loving that in 6 months. My friend Amy has 3 daughters and they are all in dance. And have been since they were tiny. So that adds up to a lot of dance costumes. guess who got most of those costumes a few weeks ago? Yep, Me! Sophie has been in heaven ever since. She plays dress up al day long, looks in the mirror, dances around. I love it. Harrison likes them equally as well. He dresses up and dances around with her too. Funny little boy. James won't be caught dead in any of them.
I have also once again started training for another Marathon. It is in Savannah GA and is on a SATURDAY! That is a big deal here as ALL RACES are on Sundays. So glad to find one on a Saturday that is close enough to drive to. just 4 hrs away. This time around I am trying a new training program with a lot more miles in it. I am already putting in 40 miles a week and get up to 60 by the end. My legs feel good currently, but man, that humidity wears me out quick! I am always disgusted and amazed at just how much I sweat during each run. Seriously, my shoes get squishy/sloshy and it is all from me sweating right down into them. Bad huh? I only have another month or so of the really hot humid weather, so that is a good thing. Counting down to October for nice running weather again.
Anyways, I think that is all for now. pretty darn boring huh? With all that we have still been spending at least one full day a week at the beach, always with friends & it is always a great time. Harrison is now in love with body boarding and never gets out of the water. I love seeing my kids enjoy the beach so much. We went the other evening and it was beautiful. It was nice and cool, the kids built a sand castle, we walked along the beach for a while & just relaxed. That was a good beach visit.
Okay, my chores are calling to me. I must go get the boys room packed on up before they start unpacking things. sigh. I'll post again when I'm moved.
Oh one more thing, we went to the dentist today. NO CAVITIES FOR ANYONE!!! That is a pretty big deal at our house considering the first time we took James @ age 3 he had 11 cavities & needed 5 root canals. And has needed work done almost every time we go. Harrison has yet to have a cavity and this was Sophie's first visit. I told the boys that if they came out with no cavities I'd give them $20. As soon as the dentist told Harrison he was cavity free he said "mom, where's my 20 bucks?". I guess I gotta pay up. ;)
All righty. I cannot believe that there is only one week left of July. This month passed me by before I even had time to blink!
Let's start with the 4th of July.
It was fabulous!
okay I'm done.
just kidding. It was such a great day though. It was the first 4th that I have been away from my family, so that was a little different, but exciting too. We started it off by sleeping in. HA! that was smart of us. I have always gotten up early to go run some freedom run somewhere and I have always loved doing that, but I was tired this year and we just slept right on in. See what turning 30 did to us? We are getting lazy in our old age. ;)
We enjoyed the afternoon at a ward picnic, bbq & baseball game. It was so much fun. I just sat and chatted the entire time while Ben and the boys played ball, but it was a great time for all of us. Then we went to our community's celebration. Full of food, bounce houses, shops & all that. The kids were in heaven. The bounce houses were free & some were even water slides so that was super bonus. I think they would have spent all night playing there, but it was soon time to go & do our own fireworks at home. Which we did. We only bought a few, but the kids enjoyed them a bunch. The spinning eyeball ones are the best. Our neighborhood was having a block party so we actually got to watch fireworks from several different people. Then there was the main show (big ones in the sky) it was spectacular. And once that ended our neighbors had purchased a ton of huge ones themselves. It was just as great as the Avalon show, only we had front row seats! We loved it. Just sat on the grass, eating junk food and watching fireworks all around us. It was a kind of perfect night.
Several days later, as we were planning our week and kids go to what when and who could take them and this that and everything else.... we had the week planned. it was booked. We were then making a joke about how long we had been married and we both realized that our anniversary was in just a couple days. We had planned the entire week and had both completely forgotten about our anniversary. oh well. we still love each other. Actually, we're the happiest we've ever been so whatevs. We just laughed about it. We ended up all going out to dinner together and getting a "wedding cake" to eat with the kids. It was fun.
Oh yeah, at that dinner. as we were leaving Ben was carrying Sophie out through the restaurant and out of nowhere she points right at a rather large man and says loudly "fat man! fat man! fat man! fatty fatty!" Ben just about died of embarrassment. I truly don't know WHERE she got that from. I am thinking the boys, because my boys do like to stick out their tummies and call themselves fat. But holy crap, that was embarrassing. Oh and yes, we had a good long talk about calling people names of ANY SORT. Sheesh.
Moving on...
This year has brought on a slow bit of surprise for us. At the beginning of the year one of Ben's childhood friends (Levi Belnap) called him up, telling him about a business idea he had (he is currently in Harvard Business School) and wanted Ben's help with the technical side of it. Fast forward 7 months. They (Ben, Levi & another guy I don't know) are all business partners, Ben has been working full time at his job here in Orlando, coming home and working several hours on this side business to get things up and running & they now have enough $$ for Ben to quit his job here and just give this (his) company his full attention. So, he gave his two weeks notice, his boss was very very sad and practically begged him not to leave, offered him a good raise, basically what can we do to make you stay, and Ben still quit. hahaha. No, it is good they like him so much. If this thing doesn't go through like they are hoping it will, his boss told him they will take him back anytime. So I'm not worried. Anyways, starting next week he will be working from home, getting this product working, finished & polished & will be his own boss. I am really excited for him. He has always always wanted to have his own company, be an entrepreneur & he is finally doing it! He is loving this so much and is so happy. I don't know if he'll ever go back to being just a programmer again. Our new home has a nice big office for him to work in, so that is perfect timing for him to be working from home. Life is full of surprises isn't it? I like this one.
With that, we are moving. So I have been trying to still have a summer vacation, a little bit of fun, started training for a marathon (on week 3 & @ 45 miles a week sheesh!) and triyng to get a little bit of packing done each day. Things are going pretty smoothly, but laundry and dinners just aren't happening. Where the world am I supposed to fit that one in? So, it is frozen dinners & wash clothes as you need them. HA! My house is currently halfway torn apart. Everything off the walls, closets emptied and boxed up. This week my friend Amy Hillis is coming over for a day to help me get everything else boxed up and ready for the truck. She is a good one that Amy Hillis. Love her.
Harrison is still playing Basketball & is improving @ each game. He scored twice in yesterday's game and actually guarded his man. I was proud of him. James had a swim meet last week, it didn't go as well as his first but he still rocked. He had been swimming for 7 hrs the day before and was just plain exhausted by the time the meet came around. He took 2nd in most things, except the medley, which he took 3rd. It was a rough race, you could tell he was exhausted by the end, but he didn't give up and finished the thing well. I was proud of him.
Sophie is currently obsessed with Ballerinas and all she wants from Santa this year (yes my kids are always planning on what they are going to ask for and it changes throughout the year) is a pair of ballet slippers. I am planning on getting her a little ballet outfit and slippers, assuming she is still loving that in 6 months. My friend Amy has 3 daughters and they are all in dance. And have been since they were tiny. So that adds up to a lot of dance costumes. guess who got most of those costumes a few weeks ago? Yep, Me! Sophie has been in heaven ever since. She plays dress up al day long, looks in the mirror, dances around. I love it. Harrison likes them equally as well. He dresses up and dances around with her too. Funny little boy. James won't be caught dead in any of them.
I have also once again started training for another Marathon. It is in Savannah GA and is on a SATURDAY! That is a big deal here as ALL RACES are on Sundays. So glad to find one on a Saturday that is close enough to drive to. just 4 hrs away. This time around I am trying a new training program with a lot more miles in it. I am already putting in 40 miles a week and get up to 60 by the end. My legs feel good currently, but man, that humidity wears me out quick! I am always disgusted and amazed at just how much I sweat during each run. Seriously, my shoes get squishy/sloshy and it is all from me sweating right down into them. Bad huh? I only have another month or so of the really hot humid weather, so that is a good thing. Counting down to October for nice running weather again.
Anyways, I think that is all for now. pretty darn boring huh? With all that we have still been spending at least one full day a week at the beach, always with friends & it is always a great time. Harrison is now in love with body boarding and never gets out of the water. I love seeing my kids enjoy the beach so much. We went the other evening and it was beautiful. It was nice and cool, the kids built a sand castle, we walked along the beach for a while & just relaxed. That was a good beach visit.
Okay, my chores are calling to me. I must go get the boys room packed on up before they start unpacking things. sigh. I'll post again when I'm moved.
Oh one more thing, we went to the dentist today. NO CAVITIES FOR ANYONE!!! That is a pretty big deal at our house considering the first time we took James @ age 3 he had 11 cavities & needed 5 root canals. And has needed work done almost every time we go. Harrison has yet to have a cavity and this was Sophie's first visit. I told the boys that if they came out with no cavities I'd give them $20. As soon as the dentist told Harrison he was cavity free he said "mom, where's my 20 bucks?". I guess I gotta pay up. ;)
Sunday, July 8, 2012
Summer Awesomeness
Just to keep you all updated on our lives here in FL.... I last posted 2 months ago.
Since then.
Portland OR
Went to Portland for my little brother's (jay) wedding. I went several days early and met up with other siblings to see sight, hang out and just have a good time. The trip was amazing and I had a complete blast the entire time. The trip started out with a bit of a hicup. My flight was leaving at 5 am. Which meant I was leaving my home at 3 am. I was just leaving the house when the airline called to let me know my flight was cancelled and they would be flying me out the next day on a red eye flight with a 10 hr layover in TX. Let me tell you how unacceptable that was. So they got a phone cal from Ben. He was much nicer than I would have been but he was firm that I had arranged to be there that afternoon and that was when hey would get me there no matter what they had to do. They put me on a different airline, there were a few more hiccups even after I got to the airport but once again Ben saved the day and I got to Portland just 2 hrs later than I had originally planned. Not bad considering. I was grateful for Ben and all he did to get me on that plane. :)
Once there I had a smash! You should know I didn't have kids with me, Ben stayed home wih them so I could have a vacation myself. Sweet boy huh? Anyways, my brother James and sisters Becca & Amy all met me there & we were off to have a good time. We got Vietnamese food from an old food truck $5 and very very tasty!! Thn got a box of voodoo doughnuts for dessert. Maple bar...yum my favorite. Then we just walked around downtown Portland until it got dark and headed to our hotel. Stayed up all night goofing off and chatting. It was so great to hang out with my family.
The next day we went for a great run along the river, hiked Multnomah falls. That was simply amazing!!! Jay and his fiancé Emilyanne (yes we have the same name and there are now 3 Emily's in my family oh and we love love her) came along with us. That night my other brother Jeremy came into town and we all met for dinner. It was one of the finest dinners. We just chatted and laughed and ate more than we should, everything a vacation should be. Once again we stayed up all night laughing and chatting.
Throughout the rest of the trip we....
- Went to the coast cold, 100% gorgeous...with haystack rock and the mountains falling off into the ocean, the white trim houses on the hillsides. So beautiful
- helped get things ready for the wedding and dinner. - attended the wedding at the LDS Portland temple. It was beautiful & I love seeing Jay so happy.
-more fun with family, more food, less sleep.
Before I knew it was time to go home. I was sad to say goodbye to all my family as I won't be seeing them for another year but I am grateful that I got to see them & spend time with them this year. Oh and I fell in love with my little nephew rocky. I could eat that kid up.
Okay after Portland the kids finished up school. James passed with flying colors, excellent grades & made honor roll for the 4th time this hr. good job, I'm proud of you. Harrison on the other hand....his teacher is concerned abounds ability to be in 1st grade. He is 100% awesome in math. But the reading is just coming so slowly. Sooo we are working with him all summer to get him up to pace with everyone else and ready for 1st grade. He is doing well and I think he will be okay.
In June....we went on a family trip to the north Georgia mountains. They aren't like Utah mountains. Highest point is 4700 ft, but they were simply gorgeous. So much green and lots of waterfalls. We rented a cabin for a week and it was heaven. It was in its own little secluded spot. A stream ran next to it, the kids went tubing and fishing the entire time. There was a great fire pit, s'mores every night :) :) there was tons of running and exploring room for the kids. We also had a grill and a hot tub. Nice. The cabin wasn't huge but big enough and had everything we needed. Full size kitchen, 2 bathrooms, 3 bedrooms. 2 screened in porches with rocking hairs, picnic table and even a Ping pong table. It was awesome.
We spent the week hiking several waterfalls, going to historic little towns eating the best fudge ever, stopping by an orchard and getting fresh ga peaches and peach ice cream. Soo tasty. We played card games drank hot chocolate, made tinfoil dinners, shish kabobs & had the greatest time ever.
My favorite things though were:
-swinging with Harrison in the hammock hr after hr just talking about everything.
-hiking with Sophie and listening to her sing "you are so beautiful to me!" over and over.
-Ben discovering that he loves to fish. He fished 80% of the time we were there. :)
-playing UNO with the kids every night
-enjoying the peace and beauty of the mountains every day.
We were all so sad to leave, none of us wanted to. Harrison decided we need to move to GA. But the time came and we drove on home.
Since then and even before then, we have spent days at the beach, pool, swim practice (James is on the swim team and he rocks!!) basketball practice (Harrison is living his dream) he literally pranced down the court he was was so excited. His first game he made a three pointer, go Harrison! And at James first swim meet he took first in 2 events and 2nd in one. He is amazing to watch.
This month is filled with moving!!! We are moving a little less than a mile away into a home with a backyard! Yay!!! We are actually happy where we are but our landlords are moving back so we must go. The new home is super cute though and will be good for our fam. Okay that is all for now. And it is a lot!!! :) :) :)
Since then.
Portland OR
Went to Portland for my little brother's (jay) wedding. I went several days early and met up with other siblings to see sight, hang out and just have a good time. The trip was amazing and I had a complete blast the entire time. The trip started out with a bit of a hicup. My flight was leaving at 5 am. Which meant I was leaving my home at 3 am. I was just leaving the house when the airline called to let me know my flight was cancelled and they would be flying me out the next day on a red eye flight with a 10 hr layover in TX. Let me tell you how unacceptable that was. So they got a phone cal from Ben. He was much nicer than I would have been but he was firm that I had arranged to be there that afternoon and that was when hey would get me there no matter what they had to do. They put me on a different airline, there were a few more hiccups even after I got to the airport but once again Ben saved the day and I got to Portland just 2 hrs later than I had originally planned. Not bad considering. I was grateful for Ben and all he did to get me on that plane. :)
Once there I had a smash! You should know I didn't have kids with me, Ben stayed home wih them so I could have a vacation myself. Sweet boy huh? Anyways, my brother James and sisters Becca & Amy all met me there & we were off to have a good time. We got Vietnamese food from an old food truck $5 and very very tasty!! Thn got a box of voodoo doughnuts for dessert. Maple bar...yum my favorite. Then we just walked around downtown Portland until it got dark and headed to our hotel. Stayed up all night goofing off and chatting. It was so great to hang out with my family.
The next day we went for a great run along the river, hiked Multnomah falls. That was simply amazing!!! Jay and his fiancé Emilyanne (yes we have the same name and there are now 3 Emily's in my family oh and we love love her) came along with us. That night my other brother Jeremy came into town and we all met for dinner. It was one of the finest dinners. We just chatted and laughed and ate more than we should, everything a vacation should be. Once again we stayed up all night laughing and chatting.
Throughout the rest of the trip we....
- Went to the coast cold, 100% gorgeous...with haystack rock and the mountains falling off into the ocean, the white trim houses on the hillsides. So beautiful
- helped get things ready for the wedding and dinner. - attended the wedding at the LDS Portland temple. It was beautiful & I love seeing Jay so happy.
-more fun with family, more food, less sleep.
Before I knew it was time to go home. I was sad to say goodbye to all my family as I won't be seeing them for another year but I am grateful that I got to see them & spend time with them this year. Oh and I fell in love with my little nephew rocky. I could eat that kid up.
Okay after Portland the kids finished up school. James passed with flying colors, excellent grades & made honor roll for the 4th time this hr. good job, I'm proud of you. Harrison on the other hand....his teacher is concerned abounds ability to be in 1st grade. He is 100% awesome in math. But the reading is just coming so slowly. Sooo we are working with him all summer to get him up to pace with everyone else and ready for 1st grade. He is doing well and I think he will be okay.
In June....we went on a family trip to the north Georgia mountains. They aren't like Utah mountains. Highest point is 4700 ft, but they were simply gorgeous. So much green and lots of waterfalls. We rented a cabin for a week and it was heaven. It was in its own little secluded spot. A stream ran next to it, the kids went tubing and fishing the entire time. There was a great fire pit, s'mores every night :) :) there was tons of running and exploring room for the kids. We also had a grill and a hot tub. Nice. The cabin wasn't huge but big enough and had everything we needed. Full size kitchen, 2 bathrooms, 3 bedrooms. 2 screened in porches with rocking hairs, picnic table and even a Ping pong table. It was awesome.
We spent the week hiking several waterfalls, going to historic little towns eating the best fudge ever, stopping by an orchard and getting fresh ga peaches and peach ice cream. Soo tasty. We played card games drank hot chocolate, made tinfoil dinners, shish kabobs & had the greatest time ever.
My favorite things though were:
-swinging with Harrison in the hammock hr after hr just talking about everything.
-hiking with Sophie and listening to her sing "you are so beautiful to me!" over and over.
-Ben discovering that he loves to fish. He fished 80% of the time we were there. :)
-playing UNO with the kids every night
-enjoying the peace and beauty of the mountains every day.
We were all so sad to leave, none of us wanted to. Harrison decided we need to move to GA. But the time came and we drove on home.
Since then and even before then, we have spent days at the beach, pool, swim practice (James is on the swim team and he rocks!!) basketball practice (Harrison is living his dream) he literally pranced down the court he was was so excited. His first game he made a three pointer, go Harrison! And at James first swim meet he took first in 2 events and 2nd in one. He is amazing to watch.
This month is filled with moving!!! We are moving a little less than a mile away into a home with a backyard! Yay!!! We are actually happy where we are but our landlords are moving back so we must go. The new home is super cute though and will be good for our fam. Okay that is all for now. And it is a lot!!! :) :) :)
Friday, May 11, 2012
James' Baptism, Birthdays, & Company!
Holy Crap. When was the last time I blogged, oh yeah, I blogged about Christmas! Sheesh, here it is almost Mother's Day and I haven't posted anything about this year yet. I can't believe how fast this year is already flying by. So, to catch you up on things.....
January
-Ran Disney Full Marathon in 3:45:00 (I don't remember the exact time, but that is close) It was awesome, people cheering you from the moment you start until the moment you cross the finish. My watch died just as the race started so I was running "blind" the entire time and that drove me slightly crazy, but it was a great race and I will most likely be running it again next year.
-Ben Ran the Disney Half Marathon, he LOVED it. Got a great time and I love that he will go run these races I sign him up for. Cute boy.
Rest of January.....um school field trips and recovering from the marathon. And I think I already blogged about all that.
February
-Ran another marathon. It was tough. I am not going to lie. My legs were hurting from the moment I started running until the end and especially at mile 23 when I was running up the 4th causeway (over the ocean) and literally wanted to jump into the ocean off that bridge. Yes, I had tears, it was painful. But I placed 3rd in my age division so that was awesome. Probably won't be running that race again though.
-Valentine's day. We had so much fun. We went to a bakery and each picked out a mini cake to eat. We had a Dance party, and just played all evening. Such a fun day with each other.
March
-Sophie turned 3!! How in the world did that even happen!!! Oh my word. I can't believe it. She gets bigger every time I look at her I swear. She had a great day though. We had a party with all her friends during the day. She got tons of stuff. We made a Hello Kitty lunch. With Hello Kitty shaped sandwiches, strawberries and all that. Then had some awesome Cupcakes to finish it off. Then she and I just enjoyed the day together playing and trying out her new toys. once Ben and the Boys got home it was time for more presents, more cake and more playing. A fabulous day and man, we all love that little girl so much. She is out little caretaker. Whenever someone is sad she does whatever she can to help them be happy. She dances and sings all the time. She loves to play with her teddy bears and be their mom. She loves having friends over, even if that friend is really mom's friend and is 30 yrs older than her. She can also throw a good punch so watch out, she has two older brothers and knows how to fight. ;) She brings so much joy and happiness into our home and I don't know what we would do without her. Love you baby girl.
-Spring Break. Our Disney passes were about to expire so we decided to go on a little trip and do Disney the way everyone else does. We got a hotel, priceline $70/night for a hotel that is normally $200/night. Awesome. And spent an entire day at each park one last time. We really had the greatest time. I could blog forever about it. Harrison loved loved loved Space Mountain & River Rapid thing at Animal Kingdom. Harrison ran out onto the street during the Disney Main street parade, did a handstand and dropped onto his head. He laughed, as did EVERYONE else. What will I ever do with that kid. He was the entertainment that night, everyone was watching him and laughing. so funny. Sophie got a little sick, but found a new coaster she loves at Magic Kingdom and of course Ben and James went on all the big coasters one last time. I will admit. As we did everything "one last time" I was so sad to say good bye to our fun fun year. We have been playing there for the past year and had so much together as a family. We have gone at least once a week. That is a lot of Disney. I am thinking I will have to buy passes again next year. hehehehe.
April
-Cousins! My sister, husband & 4 kids came to visit for a couple days. We spent a day at the Beach, a Day at Disney (our very last) had Eaters together & then they went on home. We had fun with them and it was great to see family again. My kids absolutely loved playing with their cousins and having sleepovers every night with them. plus they didn't mind missing a couple days of school just after a long spring break! Silly kids.
-James turned 8! Wow. seriously cannot believe that one. He had such a fun & great day. I made him an 8 layered chocolate cake, which was awesome if I do say so myself. We went swimming, played with friends, opened presents and all that fun birthday stuff. We gave him an ipod (one we already had but never used anymore hehehehe) I filled it with a bunch of kid appropriate songs and he loves it. He walks around the house singing like no one else can hear him. So cute. Love that little boy James. He is my rock. I can depend on him. He always tries to do what is right. HE has a heart of gold and really wants to be good. He is so smart and has done so well in school this year, honor roll every term! HE is always very friendly and thoughtful. He eats lunch with a group of Autistic kids every thursday and loves it. He also always leaves me little notes around the house and it always makes me smile. Love you so much James.
-James was Baptized. This was crazy because I remember getting baptized. How do I have a kid old enough to get baptized? Ben's parents, Susan & Marshall, and his brother, Andy, all came out for it. We were so happy to have them all there for such a special day. It was such a perfect day. There was such a sweet spirit there and I was so proud of James. Harrison & Sophie loved watching their older brother get baptized and I am grateful for his good example. When he was confirmed, I don't really remember a whole lot of what Ben said in the blessing. I just remember such a strong and sweet spirit in the room. He did say that people would want to know more about the gospel by seeing James' example. I know James will be a great missionary throughout his life.
-Ben's family came to visit! We had so much fun with them. After the baptism we were off to the beach with Ben's family. It turned out to be a pretty windy cloudy day. But that didn't get us down. We still had fun in the waves and walking along the beach. After that we went on a drive looking for gators and found 2. It was cool. On Monday we all went to Universal Studios/Harry Potter World and had the funnest day. We really did. We went on lots of rides together, getting soaked, completely soaked. Harrison braved the bigger rides and I was proud of him. We went to lunch at the Three Broomsticks And then just as the park was closing we stopped by there again for some butterbeers. So glad we did. No one else was there. So we had the place to ourselves and just sat enjoying the quiet and drinking our butterbeers. Felt like really were in the three broomsticks. While the family was in town we spent time walking around our little community, getting cakes, going to publix, playing with Gma & Gpa. Goofing off with uncle Andy (sophie is in love).
-The day after they left I hosted a RS activity at my house, and then another just a few days after and then another thing just a couple days after that. That weekend, I think I spent 75% of my Saturday in bed. I was soooooo tired. Ben & I both were. We let the kids watch TV and do whatever, while we just lazed around. Love Saturdays like that. Need more of them.
-Since all of that, I have been keeping busy with my calling, taking care of kids, going on field trips, taking Sophie to swim lessons (she is AWESOME) running (getting ready for fall marathons), planning summer vacations (camping in the GA mountains in this great little cabin for a week in June) planning a trip to Portland (leaving in 11 days, JAy is getting Married YAY!) And trying to keep up with housework, bills, laundry, eating healthy and all that other mom stuff I do every day. Except today because I am taking a break and doing what I want. Hence today's blog.
So here are all the pictures from the last few months. Enjoy them!
Ben & James.
Mom & James
My little Boy James, all ready to be Baptized.
All of us after the Baptism. It was hard to get the kids too look at the camera.
Our family, we are pretty cute I will admit.
And of course a silly picture.
Sophie on her Bday Yes that is Darth Vader. She loves him. He is Cute.
Sophie and a few of her friends. She had so many kids come over, it was great. She plays with these two a lot. Julliette (shorter girl) & Caroline.
Check out this amazing outfit. That hat was made for Sophie by one of my friends in the ward. Love it! That dress has become a curse. She only wants to wear THAT dress because it twirls. EVERY DAY. Sheesh. Oh and that long hair...we cut a good 8 inches off the next day. She is cute with short hair too.
You know you want those shades.
Sophie & her Hello Kitty cake.
Just before blowing out the candles.
Before church on Sunday. They actually looked good so I took a picture of them. Of course, they had to make funny faces,
Ah, but here are their sweet smiles.
Love this picture so much. Sophie looks so annoyed by Ben. It is great.
James on his Bday. I have lot more pics, but they are on my phone and I have not uploaded any of those pictures. One day right?
He got a body board and swim shirt for his bday. He is quite the little "surfer" out on that ocean. He loves the big waves. He straps the body board on, hops on it and kicks out into the water and rides those waves on in. It's only a matter of time before he actually starts surfing. It's in his adventure blood.
On our Gator hunt. She just looked cute so I took a pic.
Such a cute girl.
Sophie and her Uncle Andy. They were best pals.
James and Harrison at universal. I only took about 3 pics while we were there because we were just having too much fun and I forgot to take pictures.
Out to dinner with Cousins at the T Rex restaurant in Downtown Disney. Biggest waste of money ever. Just sayin.
At least the kids had fun. James & Joseph, they are great pals.
Cousins at Disney. I love that Harrison is holding Elijah's head forward. funny.
Sophie and Maisy. Sophie liked having a girl to play with for once.
Sophie and Dad on Dumbo, Sophie's all time favorite ride.
JAmes and Joseph on the carousel. They really had a great time together.
And......
The most random picture ever.....
Harrison wearing my wedding Veil. Funny funny boy.
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