Our Trip to the "Big City'

Last weekend we decided to take the kids on a little adventure to Salt Lake. Duffy calls it the "Big City" and was really excited when he found out we would be staying the night there. Just before dinner time we packed up and headed out. Joey and I stay at the Little America every once in a while so that's where we decided to stay with the kids (not to mention they have an indoor/outdoor pool). The first room we checked into was NOT good! It smelled pretty badly and the bathroom was dirty-the last straw was when I was helping Maisy go potty and saw a puddle of urine on the floor :( Normally we stay in the tower but they didn't have any two queen bed rooms so we were trying out the garden rooms, a mistake I won't make again! I called the front desk and got us moved into a single king tower room, I didn't care that we would all have to share a bed, sounded like some good cuddling to me anyway! We had a yummy little dinner at the hotel and then got ready to swim, the kids couldn't wait any longer! The pool was PACKED but we found a little corner and pretty soon it started to clear out, it wasn't bad at all. We had a great time and the water was warm, which was good for me! Maisy got brave and went under a few times and Duffy got really brave and did a front flip off the side of the pool without even telling us he was going to, luckily Joey was waiting to catch him for a normal jump! He was so proud of himself and has been talking about it since we left! Duffy decided to sleep on the little couch in the room and got himself positioned so that he could see the lights of the city as he fell asleep, it was the cutest thing!
The next morning we woke up and ordered room service for breakfast, which I know, we're spoiled but it was so much fun! While we waited the kids mostly hung out on the balcony outside our room and Duffy explained everything to little sister Maisy, telling her not to worry, the balcony was made out of cement "like a sidewalk". He showed her the Trax station and when she asked about some vent holes on the roof below us he said "Those aren't anything to worry about, they've been there for 20 years" :) His new thing is to say something has been there for 20 years or they've been working on something for 20 years, etc. He is such a funny kid and he just loves to teach his sister new things. Maisy stayed in her cute little nightgown until she absolutely had to get dressed, she's just like mommy wanting to stay in pj's all day if possible!
We all had a great time together and it was a wonderful bonding time, away from all the worries of a normal life. I'm so grateful that we can have a great time together and want to enjoy it all before my kids become surly teenagers!

Life as I Know It (Right Now)

Ok, can I just say I'm a little overwhelmed with life right about now? I'm sick of waiting for Shutterfly to give me the credit they were supposed to for the last post (yeah, the one from December 3!) and I don't have any pictures on the computer I am posting from but I feel like I really need to get back into the habit of blogging, pictures or not.
Needless to say we are a busy, busy family right now. This semester in school is the most brutal yet-I am in school 4 days a week, including Mondays when I get to school by 9 am and get out of my last class at 8:30 pm. Yes, it's crazy. No, I didn't have a choice. I'm kind of in an interesting place in school right now. I still have 5 semesters left, including this one so I guess more like 4 1/2, which just about kills me to think about. I've been back in school for just over 5 semesters so I feel like I should be a lot closer to being done, and trust me, I'm ready. I've been killing myself getting straight A's (except two classes) since just after Maisy was born, while taking care of two kids and I am just TIRED.
We are still trying to make our kids' lives an adventure as much as we can so we are still trying to do a lot on weekends, which means we have fun together but that our house is always a disaster because I don't have the time or energy to get it done during the week after coming home from school and getting all of my homework done. Oh well, there are worse things than a messy house I guess, but it still stresses me out. Luckily for me and the kids we have my great family close by so the kids get to have a lot of fun and do a lot of crafts with Auntie A. I'll post pictures from our recent adventures when I can. One thing I don't have pictures from are our pizza parties. Once a week the kids and I have started to have a pizza party while Joey is working or at bowling league (what a geek right?). We pick out a movie and eat pizza on the living room floor. It's been fun for the kids and a relief for me since all I have to do it spread out a blanket on the floor and then throw the plates in the dishwasher when we're done. I know, it's not great for us, but we eat mostly all-natural and organic the rest of the week so I figure one night a week is ok!
It seems a little like Joey and I are living on different schedules right now, which is tough. I am gone Monday night for school and Tuesday night for dance, he usually works late Wednesday nights because it's auction day, and has bowling Thursday, some Fridays things come up too (last night he worked until 11:30). We are both gone during the day obviously so we don't see each other as much as we would like to. I can't complain too much because I have friends whose husbands are deployed, but I don't know how they do it, they are definitely stronger than I am! Anyway, Joey and I always say to each other as we say goodbye: "See you in 20 years" of course, it's a joke but it feels true sometimes. I'm looking forward to our camping adventures this summer, hopefully we can spend a lot more time together!
Like I said, no pics today but I'll try to post some, maybe next weekend if I have a chance again!
P.S. I'll try to change the blog background later today, guess it's not Christmas anymore!

Chrismas Card 1 2010

Colorful Frames Christmas

Make a statement with custom Christmas cards at Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

Santa Run 2010

This weekend was our first Santa Run in Ogden. It was an absolute blast! It was Aimee's first race ever and she did fantastic!!! It was my mom and dad's second 5k (their first was the Turkey Trot last weekend), and it was actually Joey and I's first 5k ever, even though we ran MUCH more than that during the Ragnar in October. There were over 700 people dressed as Santa ready to run! See the starting line!!!

Along the way there were Santa's little helpers handing out cookies and milk, which we didn't take (yuck while running!) but our own little mini-Santa and reindeer really enjoyed (it was their first race too!).

 There were a lot of people along the side of the road, some there to support the Santa's and some there waiting for the parade. Duffy thought that we were the parade so he waved to everyone watching the ENTIRE race! It was so cute, 3.1 miles of waving from our own little Santa. They were both such troopers because it was only about 30 degrees out there but they didn't complain one bit! I think we all did really well, my dad finished in about 26 minutes and the rest of us were right behind at about 30 minutes. I'm so thankful to have found a love of running, even though the training is not fun, the races are a really great experience that I am so happy to be able to share with my family, including the kids. I hope that us running can encourage our kids to stay active, since so many kids would rather watch tv or play video games now days!
So, what a great start to our Christmas 2010 season! We can't wait for everything else to come in the next few weeks!!!

Fall Family Pictures

We haven't done "formal" family pictures other than for Christmas cards for a couple of years now, so this year we made it a point to get them done. We chose the most beautiful fall day in the most beautiful place, Beus Pond. The kids were real troopers and didn't protest too much. I think we got some really great pictures that I will treasure forever! My wonderful sister is the photographer (look at her blog on the right-Junebug Photography), I'm so lucky to have her in my life, she's one of my best friends and the best aunt the kids could ever imagine having! Here are some of my favorites, although there were MANY more!

Create a digital slideshow

Must Love Dogs?

Yesterday we left for the night to head out to Wendover (not my favorite place by the way). We left our dogs in the back yard along with our friend Justin's dog Tonka. Aimee came by and let the dogs in for the night because both Tonka and Buddy are indoor dogs and we didn't want them barking all night and disturbing our neighbors. Again, I want to clarify they are both indoor dogs and *almost* never cause any problems. This is what we came home to:

The mess you see is the result of a dog with separation anxiety. Tonka has been to our house a lot but always in the backyard so we are assuming he wasn't familiar enough with our house and got stressed. Somehow they removed a child-lock doorknob cover and broke into the bathroom, chewed up bath toys, the toilet brush, a bag of potatoes, the dog dish, a flashlight, and a bottle of sunscreen from the kitchen, and finally an xbox controller, our remote control, and two of our couch cushions. Needless to say we are shopping for a couch this evening. It is NOT even close to salvageable! It's a good thing we won about $1000 last night! And now I get to clean up this gigantic mess.

How Have I Gotten So Far Behind?

I feel like I just keep repeating myself on saying I will be catching up on blogging, but as I looked through my posts today I realize that I haven't even blogged about either of the kids' birthdays. This really makes me sad because I want to try to document how I felt at each age. I don't even have the pictures from Duffy's birthday on my computer, they're only on Aimee's! Anyway, let me start here: with Syracuse Heritage Days.

We had a great time, as usual, since it's one of our favorite weekends of the year. It seems like the weather is usually really nice and really hot. We all headed to the parade in the morning (except ,of course, Joey-not his type of thing!). Grandma and Grandpa Great were there, Grandma and Papa Bennett, Aimee, Jordan, Carson, Ty, Ashlee, Ryan, and Carter too! We really love parades, and we have a lot of traditions at parades and they kind of all have to do with food . . .hmmm. Anyway Grandma Great brings Doritos and bean dip, EZ Cheese and Saltines, and other yummy treats; and my mom and dad bring donuts, juice, and chocolate milk. The kids love all the off-limit foods they get to eat on parade day. We always get way too much candy and have a great time watching all the hometown floats.
After the parade we headed over to to the little fair they have. We had lunch and SPED through the booths because Maisy's party was later that day and I was nowhere near ready! The kids really wanted to do some rides so we let them go on the big slide with grandpa, it better have been the best slide of their lives because it was $3 EACH!!! What the heck? Anyway, after that we had enough tickets for Duffy to go on one more ride, and he chose the little motorcycles. While all of us were watching the carnival worker strap him in (to make sure he was doing it right!) Maisy decided to release herself from her stroller and take a little walk. Talk about scared, there were a million people there and we didn't have any idea which way she even went. We finally found her behind the "grab a duckie" game thinking it was bath time or something. She was soaked but she really wanted a couple of those ducks!
Next time: the second half of the day, Maisy's birthday