"Summer in Winter" Photo Shoot

Yesterday Alexa's friend Caitlyn took some pictures of her, Josie and Paige.

It's funny beacuase at first glance I would think they were at a beach somewhere...but oh no, they are in beach attire standing in the snow!!!



This girl is very talented at photography and photoshop. Maybe she will have to do some family pictures for us!!

Aren't teenagers CRAZY??? Really, who does this???

Midway Ice Castles

We have been in kind of a "rut" when it comes to our weekly dates. Dinner and a movie, dinner and a movie and Target, dinner and a movie etc. You get the picture. I saw this on facebook a few weeks ago and it looked like the perfect way to get us out of our rut!!!

We went to Subway for dinner and then headed up to Midway. There is a man that "grows" these ice castles at the park and they were amazing. The pictures don't quite do it justice and if you get a chance I would recommend taking the quick drive up there and checking it out for yourself. In fact, I think the kids would have really enjoyed it too so that would be a great family night activity! If you want more info go here.

I ended up taking like 70 pictures because I was so amazed at the creations and the different ways ice could form, am I a nerd??
It was FREEZING cold, Rich borrowed a pair of earmuffs (yes they had gloves, earmuffs, ski poles and even sold hot chocolate and homemade cinnamon rolls). We walked around until our toes were frozen.

 

 

It took a long time in the warm car before we were finally able to warm back up. We looked for somewhere in Heber to get some hot chocolate and maybe some dessert but couldn't find anything.

We ended up back in Orem at The Chocolate.
If you haven't tried it GO!!! It was yummy and a fun atmosphere. We were lucky to get a table, it was packed. We shared a cazookie and mint hot chocolate. We stayed and talked for a while and really had a great time!
I felt kind of guilty because Alexa has mentioned that she wanted to go there. I bought some sugar cookies to take home to the kids (they were honestly THE BEST sugar cookies I have EVER tasted)!!! We will be back for sure!!!

My Funny Max

It has been a wile since I posted Max's funnies.
The other day we were driving somewhere in the car and the song "Jar of Hearts" came on. You know the one, "who do you think are, running 'round leaving scars, collecting you jar of hearts, tearing love apart..." anyway the conversation went like this:

Max: "mom, will you change the song?"
Me: "why, you don't like it?"
Max: "well I do, but it makes me sad."
Me: "what?"
Max: "well, Mom, it IS a pretty sad song!"

I don't know why but I thought it was so funny. Last night Rich and I were driving home and I was telling him the story and he was like: "who told him it was sad?" I am pretty sure no one had said anything to him about it but as I listened to the song, it is a pretty sad song. What a perceptive 4 year old!!

Max got into the habit of sleeping on our floor during Christmas break. He would start downstairs on the couch with Alex but he always ended up in our room. It has been hard to get him sleeping in his bed again.
I have to be honest...I haven't tried too hard because he never wets himself during the night when he sleeps on our floor and I am pretty sick and tired of washing his sheets. I threatened to buy him pull-ups again and he got really mad and said he wouldn't wear them. Hopefully this is something he will grow out of soon.

A few weeks ago Max had a stuffy nose. He said to me, "mom, my nose is wrong." And I didn't really understand what he was talking about. I asked him what he was talking about and he said, "this nose (pointing to the left nostril) won't breath." For the next few days when he would wake up he would tell me again that his nose was wrong. Finally one morning he came running in my room and said, "mom, my nose isn't wrong anymore!"

15 Weeks

I have had 3 babies and have never journaled about any of the pregnancies or taken pictures to document the experience. Since this is my last baby (I hope), I thought it would be a good idea to make some memories. Now as you know, Rich is not the best cameraman and Alexa just gets impatient with me so these are self portraits. I did the best I could!!

 

I am feeling more like myself the past week or so, that is good news! I can't really remember feeling to bad with any of my other pregnancies but the first part of this one kicked my butt!! I can't complain too much because the record still stands (the last time I threw up was 6th grade). I just really hate being pregnant, I hate to sound like a brat and a complainer but there is really nothing about the experience that I even remotely enjoy. It is cool to feel the first movements of the baby but after that it is just plain annoying! I am being honest here so don't judge me. My oldest sister LOVES being pregnant and I have not been able to figure out why. I am going to try my hardest this time around to find the "joy" in this experience.
I have been trying to figure out why it's been so different this time around, maybe it's because I am so much older now (34) or I am not as tough as I used to be...who knows?? I have always felt really tired the first trimester but this is ridiculous! I was dizzy and had headaches and just felt like I was living in someone else's body. Sometimes I had 2 naps in one day!!
Hopefully it's all uphill from here. I go back to the Dr the first part of February. I am sure there won't be much to report, he will listen to the heartbeat, I will pee on a stick and get weighed (and NO I will not be journaling about that)!!
Why can't it be JULY YET???

Pinewood Derby

This is Alex's last Pinewood Derby. He worked really hard on his car this year and was really hoping to win a trophy. He got 3rd place last year and was really wanting 1st or 2nd.

His scout leader brought his saw to scouts to help the boys cut out their cars, which was really nice because we don't have a saw. Rich and Alex sanded it down and got it all painted.
Here he is with his car "heavy metal." Each car gets to race 4 times and then they average your time to pick the top 3.
Alex's fastest time was 191.8. There were a few cars that went 194 to 197 so I knew he wasn't going to win. He ended up in 6th place but considering there were 31 cars that is pretty dang awesome!!! He was disappointed but that is just part of life, you win some you loose some!! I am proud of him for being a good sport because that is what matters the most!

Art Work

When I was taking pictures of Alexa's art on the fridge, I figured I might as well show you Alex's too!!
Alex loves drawing and creating. He is very good at art and very creative! He drew me these pictures the other night while Rich and I were on our date. He is a very thoughtful child and I know he will do great things in the future!

Who's Kid Is She??

I hate to admit this but I did not get the best grades in school. I probably could have if I would have cared enough to try harder. I wonder sometimes if Alexa is really my child, she is nothing like me (in all the good ways).
I am so proud of her ability to do well in school. She is really the best daughter one could wish for.
When I checked her grades the last day of the term there was a B+ and I texted her to see if that was really her grade. She said it was and I was sort of disappointed that she was going to get her FIRST B. She has never had a B on a report card. She got kind of mad at me and told me that a B was still good. I said if that was really her best then it was, but I know that it isn't. Well, obviously the teacher didn't upgrade the results until the last minute because I got a great surprise when she showed me her grades and they were all A's!!
On a side note, here is what the art work of a straight A student looks like!!! Yes, she is in 9th grade and she is OBSESSED with pickles. We ran out a few days ago and I have not bought any more and I think she is going through withdrawals (at least that is my explanation for the weird picture)!!!

5th Grade Science Fair

This morning Max and I went to the school to Alex's Science Fair.
His project was the reaction baking soda has in vinegar...it bubbles and foams. It wasn't much of a project, he did the experiment last weekend and I took pictures of him doing it. Then I had to go to Macey's to get them printed and then I had to type up his stuff (our printer is not working) so I feel like I did most the work!! I did make him glue all the stuff on the poster!!

5th grade is hard work for a mom!!!

Just Me and Max

Human Rights Day, aka Martin Luther King Jr. Day so there is NO SCHOOL!!! I took Alex to play with Whytli and Alexa wanted to hang out with Josie, Rich was at work, so that left me and Max. I had to run to Target then we had lunch at Max's favorite, McDonald's.

We tried to go see the movie Legend of the Guardians but it was sold out. We decided to go Bowling!!

I paid for 2 games, 2 people, $19.50!! OUCH, no wonder we never go bowling anymore, what the heck??? I remember back in the good ole days...blah blah blah, sorry I am not going to go there but honestly I was a bit surprised!
But look at that face, it was worth every cent!! Max is really good at bowling on the Wii and was really anxious to get started!
That was his first roll and he didn't get a strike, he was like "what the heck?"
Here he is pretty excited because he had only 1 pin left, he didn't get the spare though.
Look at that form, he had the bumpers up and was having fun until I started to warm up and got a few strikes. He was pretty jealous.
This is what his face started to look like in the second game. He did end up getting 2 strikes and that made him a little happier but when he asked me who won he wasn't happy with my answer. I told him that I used to be on a bowling league (yes, I did and I miss it). I told him that when he gets bigger and has more practice he would beat me. He was satisfied with that. Those 2 games flew by (I think we were there for less than an hour). We went to Dollar Tree to pick out a treat and then went home and watched "Iron Giant." It is an old movie but he loved it, come on it has a giant robot in it, why wouldn't he??

We had a great day together and I love it when I get some one on one time with my kiddo's!!

Dashboard Confessional

For Christmas Monica, Amb and I got tickets to the Dashboard Confessional concert in Salt Lake. Now you may ask, "how many times does one person really need to see the same band?" Well, the answer is, as many as you possibly can!!!
Monica and I were trying to figure out how many times we have been to his shows. I came up with 8. The thing I love about Chris Carrabba (he IS Dashboard Confessional) is that he is SO GOOD live!! He has this thing he does with his voice that just makes you melt and want to jump up on stage and...OK I better take it down a notch but really there is a special place in my heart for him. We have also had a few chances to actually meet and talk to him and he is a really nice guy!! He is one of the shortest men out there but what he lacks in height he makes up for with his smile and his voice.

I met Monica and Amb in Salt Lake and we ate dinner at Subway and then went to Target for a while. There are always a couple of opening acts that last about 2 hours and I hate standing through all that. We made our way up through the crowd as close as we could and waited for him to come out!! He sang for an hour and a half straight, he told us that he wasn't going to do the fake show is over thing and then come back out and sing a few more songs, he just sang straight through and it was awesome!! Usually we try and wait for him after the show but it got over at 11:30pm and it was 18 degrees outside so we decided against it. Melanie told Monica before she left that I couldn't be outside in the cold for that long or I would "freeze the fetus." Yes, those were her words, thanks Mel for having my back!!

Isaiah's Party @ Jungle Gym's

Rich and I dropped off the kids at Jungle Gym's in Salt Lake for Isaiah's 7th birthday party. Alex and Max had a blast when they went for Tayana's bday party a few months ago so they were pretty excited.
Alexa, Drayke and Alex

Alex took these photos and he forgot to get a shot of the birthday boy!!


Rich and I went to Olive Garden for dinner and then to his aunt's surprise birthday party in Lindon. We had a good night and it was fun talking with people in Rich's family that we don't always see.

Sule brought the kids home about 10:30pm and they all hopped in the shower so they would be all clean for 9am church!!

3 Wise Men Day

We put out our shoes last night so the 3 Wise Men could come and give us a gift (that is, if we were good). I guess we were all really good this year because we all had a gift on our shoes. I didn't take a picture this year (Alexa might have been embarrassed).
Rich got some new jeans, I got a new perfume and the baby got a cute stuffed turtle, Alexa got a new bra (well you know those Wise Men, they are very practical and that is what she wanted), Alex got a new Hot Wheels ramp (to connect to the ones they got for Christmas, Max and Alex are having a blast with them), and Max got a new transformer.

Last year I said I was going to learn more about this tradition but I didn't learn too much more. It is a South American and European tradition called the 12 days of Christmas that starts on Christmas (not before like we sometimes do it). On the last night of the celebration, Jan 5th (I am not sure what goes on the rest of the time) the 3 Wise Men come to bring 3 gifts (oops) one from each of them to all the good girls and boys. It is baby Jesus who gives the gift on Christmas day and Rich's mom said that they were always more excited about 3 Wise Men day than Christmas. The twelfth day after Christmas (Jan 6th) was when the 3 Wise Men visited Jesus and that is what the celebration is all about.

I just googled it and it says that traditionally you are supposed to write a letter to the 3 Magi and tell them about your behavior over the last year (even though they already know) and then you leave the letter on your slippers or shoes and then they come into the house and read the letters and decide whether or not to leave gifts. That's how they do it in Spain.

Happy 2011!!!

Rich and I took down all the Christmas stuff and got the house cleaned up. I did some laundry and took a nap with my snuggie and Max's pillow pet (best nap ever)!!! The kids had a "Parks and Rec" marathon downstairs ALL day long!!
I needed to get out of the house so me, Rich and the boys went to see the movie "Little Fockers." I made some chex mix to take to the party along with 7 layer dip and chips and toffee.
We spent New Years Eve at the DuVall's home eating yummy finger foods and playing games. We always have a great time at their house. We watched the countdown and Jeff did some fireworks out back...it was freezing!! Alexa and McKenzie went to a friends house to party and ring in the New Year!!

We all slept in on New Years Day and were pretty lazy all day. I made pancakes on my new griddle (loved it) and we had a late breakfast. The kids did some chores and we all got showered and ready for the day. Me and the kids headed to Salt Lake and Rich stayed home to work on his lesson for tomorrow (he is the Elders Quorum Secretary).
We met Mel, Jake, Brooklyn, the Harris's and the Summer's at Ryan's house since we didn't get a chance to see them during the holidays. Annette, Brandon and Mandi were there too and we ate pizza and watched the Jazz game. It is always great to hang out at Ryan's house!!! Brandon has been in New York trying to get his "comedy" career going so it was fun to hear all about his adventures!! Max loves playing with Lily and especially the dogs, Lucy and Gus. We had a great night, thanks Ry and Trisha for letting us invite ourselves over!!!