Marzipan's Mind

Christmas Break in Utah

2012-01-26T16:14:00.000-07:00

My family all got together at Rick & Jodie's house in North Salt Lake for the week between Christmas and New Years. Yes, my brother and sister-in-law are saints for hosting all 34 of us. We are a HUGE crowd with a TON of kids. Thank you thank you thank you Rick and Jodie!!! We love you.

We started off the week with a planning meeting around the breakfast counter. We came up with all sorts of fun outings we would take through out the week.

First up we celebrated Christmas. My parents first shared a Christmas story about Heber J. Grant and told a couple of memories and passed around pics of their childhood Christmases. Then they showed a short video of Liz Lemon Swindle's Christmas art, set to Kenneth Cope's, "The Gift."

It was a great way to get into the spirit of Christmas.

Then all the cousins exchanged gifts.

Jack got a book from Sam.

Jack gave Londyn an art kit. Addie slept through these festivities but she gifted Becca a tea set and she received darling silver Toms shoes from Luke (ie: Stacy ;)). Now I just can't wait until her feet get big enough to fit into them. They are seriously adorable!

Next up Grandpa donned his light up Santa hat and...

...dolled out piles of crisp 5 dollar bills to each of the grandkids.

Thank you Grandma and Grandpa! Jack immediately informed me that he wanted to spend his loot on a video game. Surprise surprise. :)

Then we released the kids into the wild (ie: the indoor gym) and the adults got to exchange gifts. I gifted Emily these cute birds from West Elm. I don't seem to have pics of the rest but Jeff received Bucky Balls from Rick and I've never seen him love a gift more. He's addicted to those things. They are pretty amazing. I received a cute scarf from Jodie and Jeff gifted Jedd a hat.

Then my parents gave us all le creuset pots! I have wanted one forever so I was thrilled to finally get one. Such an awesome gift!

Through out the week there was a lot of basketball being played in the gym.

Addie seemed to find all the slides in the house and would spend hours on them.

Jack, of course, played lots of video games. For the record he did do other things too.

We enjoyed an evening visit to Temple Square to see the lights.

One evening we left the older kids in charge of the younger kids and the adults got to do a session in the Bountiful Temple. Then another day my Dad and Ryan took the 12 and older kids to do baptisms for the dead. It was both Peter and Jake's 1st time.

We enjoyed the Bountiful rec center pools.

(That would be Addie in the background wearing nothing but a swim diaper and a smile. Somehow I manged to pack Jack's swimming suit but not hers. Whoops!)

The bounce house was a huge hit among the cousins...and parents.

We went to the Natural History Museum of Utah at the U of U.

Jack ran from exhibit to exhibit finding buttons to push. The kid loves buttons.

That evening my grandma Stratford and two of my Dad's sisters joined us at the house for dinner and our annual talent show. My aunt snapped some pics of the entire family for us.

Grandma & Grandpa with all their grand kids. 22 of them to be exact, and soon to be 23 with the arrival of our baby in April.

My little family with my Grandma Stratford.

The cousin talent show did not disappoint. There were lots of musical numbers, gymnastics and even Luke doing his Luke Skywalker impression.

All the girls with my grandma and two of my Dad's sisters.

I loved spending time with Blake. He can walk now! That was his talent and is a HUGE accomplishment. He is so responsive and especially loves when you sing songs with him. Here we are singing Mr. Sun. This kid melts my heart. I just love him so much!!!

Addie has taken a liking to men and would randomly choose one of her uncles and go give them hugs. Here she's chosen Jedd.

I don't know who took this picture (probably my Dad) but the expression on my face kills me. What was I looking at Jeff and thinking? Haha

On New Year's Eve Jedd and Missy made us all delicious Italian Sodas.

My parents organized a Bingo game for the kids who were old enough to stay up until midnight. They loved winning lots of quarters.

I had to also include this picture. Isn't it cute of Missy's darling kids...oh wait...who is the CREEPER in the background?!!!

We toasted in the new year with some Martinellis and Dick Clark's New Years Rockin' Eve.

The next day we packed up, cleaned, and headed to Alpine for the evening. I don't have any pictures from Alpine, but it was fun to spend a day with Jeff's family before heading back home. We had such a wonderful time with family and always LOVE when we can ALL be together!!!

Happy New Year everyone!

Christmas Day

2012-01-25T16:25:00.002-07:00

I woke up just before 8am and everyone in my house was still sleeping, so I thought I'd head downstairs and make sure everything was ready to go. I lit candles, turned on Christmas music, and put my monkey bread (that had been rising all night) in the oven.

Everyone was still asleep so I put on some make up. I thought I may as well get a jump on things since we'd need to head off for 11am church after opening presents. By the time I finished all that Jack woke up and Addie soon followed. We had both kids wait at the top of the stairs while Jeff and I got our video and picture cameras on and ready to capture the moments.

Then down they came...

Jack could recognize his name on all of his gifts and immediately began finding them and opening them. He would find Addie's for her too and give them to her. Sometimes he would get frustrated and how slowly she would open hers. She was more into opening and playing, than opening opening opening.

Jack got his blue car with the blue remote and the blue wheels. He was thrilled!

Addie loved all the books she got.

She also loved her easel and mini kitchen.

Jeff and I decided to exchange just one $30 gift this year since our main present (a new flat screen for our bedroom) would be arriving in January. I was so puzzled as to what in the world mine could be.

A new camping chair!!! And no that is not scarcasm in my voice. I was genuinely thrilled! Here's the thing...someone gifted us two camping chairs at our wedding, which is great, but they don't have cup holders. So everytime we'd be camping or at a softball game I never had anywhere to place my drink. This always really annoyed me and I would tell Jeff how I wanted a new camping chair, but he insisted it was silly to buy something we already had. Practical? Yes. Frustrating? Yes! So finally after years of me complaining (it became more of a joke than anything) he got me this awesome chair. It not only has a cup holder, but the other side has a built in cooler to store ice and extra drinks and a place for magazines or books. I am SO excited to try this bad boy out this summer.

As for Jeff...

...I got him a sweater. Hooray! Okay, there was sarcasm that time. Not nearly as cool as his gift to me, but he really liked it none-the-less. And he looks great in it!

After all the presents were opened Jack discovered one more present for him hidden inside the kitchen.

His own mini 6 pack of root beer. This kid LOVES root beer and was seriously probably the most happy about this gift.

He immediately wanted to open one and start drinking. He insisted that Addie have one too. He's so nice to share.

Then we switched rooms and checked out what Santa had put in our stockings.

Addie's favorite was this little notebook and a pen. This girl loves to carry around some sort of writing utensil and paper at all times. I love it!

A little wrestling with Dad before breakfast.

I LOVED seeing the excitement and awe on my kids faces all morning. Christmas really is better with children around.

Addie loves monkey bread, but who doesn't?

Then it was time to dress up and head off to church.

I really enjoyed having Christmas on Sunday. It was nice to spend an hour just focusing on the true meaning of Christmas. Poor Jeff spent most of the meeting in the hall with Addie who was hopped up on monkey bread, but I got to stay in the meeting and enjoy the spirit with Jack.

After church we packed up the whole family and drove to Grand Junction where we spent the night in a hotel. We decided to get an early start to our drive to Utah and I always enjoy breaking up the drive into two days. We had a nice relaxing evening in the hotel room. It was a lovely finish to a wonderful Christmas Day!

Zoo Lights & Christmas Eve

2012-01-25T15:55:00.000-07:00

The night before Christmas Eve we went to the Zoo Lights at the Denver Zoo. We went once before a few years ago and have loved it both times. They do a great job with their lights displays and the kids like seeing all the animal shapes in lights. It was a cold night but we bundled up and had a great time.

After seeing the lights we stopped at Cafe Rio for dinner. Gotta love their free kid quesadillas and Jack can't ever get enough of their tres leches cake. We ended up having to buy two. One for the kids and one for Jeff and me. It really is SO good!

The next morning was Christmas Eve so Jeff and Jack made a run for doughnuts for our breakfast. Delicious.

That night we attended a soup party put on by one of our neighbors. They started throwing this party a few years back for all the people that don't have family out here and we've never been able to attend because we've always traveled to Utah for Christmas, but since we decided to stick around until after Christmas this year we were able to go. Addie liked the cookies best.

After the party we drove around Highlands Ranch in search of the best Christmas Lights displays. Every year there is a contest held so we looked up the top three houses and drove by to view all their glorious lights. This one, although taking third place, was my favorite. I must admit I was much more into the lights than the kids were. They just wanted to watch a movie in the car. At first we told them no, they needed to listen to Christmas music and look at lights. Then I got sick of the whining (Jack) and crying (Addie) and decided that if I wanted to enjoy the lights at all then putting on a movie was the best course of action. Sometimes I get these ideas in my head of how these perfect holiday moments are going to go and you know what? So often with young kids they just don't work out that way. So we roll with it and move on.

Next up putting on the kids Christmas jammies and letting them watch A Chipmunk Christmas with popcorn. Now this was THEIR idea of a good holiday activity.

I had to get a quick prego pick by the tree. I'm 23 weeks pregnant here.

Then I attempted to tell the nativity story using figurines and a few passages from Luke 2. (another brilliant idea in my head) Jack actually listened very well and was super into the story, but Addie was a disaster picking up and throwing pieces of my nativity around the room. sigh. Maybe next year. :)

Then there was a knock at our door followed by the sound of jingle bells and guess who was standing there when we opened the door? None other than Santa Claus himself! Jack was out of his mind thrilled! He jumped right into old St. Nick's arms and gave him a huge hug.

Then he sat on his lap and told him that he's been a good boy and he'd like it very much if he would bring him a blue car with a blue remote control and blue wheels.

Addie wasn't so sure about the bearded man in red. She kept her distance.

That is until mean mom forced her to sit on his lap so I could snap a picture. It went well...can't you tell?

Once Santa flew off we let the kids open one present. They each got an ornament. I wasn't sure if they'd care about them much, but oh my goodness they LOVED them! Jack got a monkey and Laides got an owl and they carried those things around all night making their respective animal sounds.

Then came my last and final attempt at what I thought would be a lovely moment...I read them the story of The Grinch. I only got through about 2 pages. Again, maybe next year.

We put Addie to bed and let Jack stay up just a bit longer so he could put out carrots for the reindeer (notice the orange thing sticking up out of the snow behind him) and a doughnut with milk for Santa.

Jeff also helped him compose this note to Santa.

Once the kids were in bed we enjoyed our doughnuts and then turned on A Christmas Story and began wrapping. This was actually the most enjoyable part of my evening. It was quiet and relaxing and I really liked wrapping and setting up all the presents. As I mentioned before this is the first time we've had Christmas in our own home...and I liked it. It was fun coming up with our own traditions.

Everything set up and ready to go for Christmas morning.

Off to bed for Mr. and Mrs. Claus.

Christmas Dinner Party

2011-12-20T12:31:00.000-07:00

We've had a few new couples move into our ward recently and since losing the Edgingtons we've really felt the need to broaden our friendship horizons and make some more friends. So I thought I'd host a dinner party with just the adults so we could really try and get to know them. We of course invited the Whitakers though too so we'd have some solid friends there with us as well. :) In addition to them we invited the Ponders and the Colemans, but the night before the Colemans had to cancel to due a last minute work trip. So we only ended up getting to know one new couple, but they are great and the party was a lot of fun!

I snapped some pics of the house all decked out for Christmas before the guests arrived...

I of course took pics of the food too. I was particularly proud of my homemade rolls. I am NOT good with dough and I've never even attempted to make rolls, but this recipe on my sisters website inspired me for some reason and they turned out SO good! Maybe I don't have the dough curse anymore...or maybe this recipe is just that easy. :) Regardless they were good.

I also made braised short ribs with carrots, fennel, leeks, onion, celery and garlic, mashed potatoes, the rolls & I had Jocelyn bring a green salad.

For dessert I made panna cotta with pomegranate and orange zest.

It was such a lovely evening of uninterrupted (we had the kids with a baby sitter at the Whitaker's) adult conversation and yummy food.

Here's to making new friends just before the new year!

Random Updates in December

2011-12-19T12:08:00.000-07:00

We attended Jeff's office party the first of this month. It was held at the Denver aquarium, which was pretty awesome. I didn't manage to get a pic of Jeff but here I am in front of some pretty amazing coral.

They have a mermaid show in their largest tank. Apparently you can also scuba dive in there. Pretty cool. The party was fun. Lots of meeting new people, but great to finally put a face to all these names I've been hearing about since Jeff started this new job a few months ago.

Here's a couple baby bump photos.

21 Weeks

22 Weeks. I don't know if it's the shirt or if I actually got that much bigger in a week. Probably the latter. Wawa

I'm loving the few additions to my Christmas decor this year. This little tree (above) and these little owls (below) just make me happy.

In sad news Addie touched the glass cover to our fireplace a few weeks ago and burned her hand very badly. I've never heard her cry so hard for so long. I felt TERRIBLE! I was literally sitting 5 feet away from her folding laundry when it happened too. It happened so fast. We had to keep it wrapped for a couple of weeks. It's finally out of the wrap but still pretty red. Amazing how the body heals though. And as for Addie after the initial burning wore off she was really good natured about the whole thing.

I covered her wrap with a plastic bag when she'd eat so we didn't get it dirty. I also managed to catch her feeding the dog and then making the most hilarious, "it wasn't me" face after wards. Her facial expressions kill me.

We've done some Christmas shopping. The Apple store is always a hit for Jack since they have kid sized tables with full size computers on them set to kids games. His personal heaven.

We've made...

...and ate lots of sugar cookies.

We've been to the Denver Botanical Gardens to see the lights.

And last but not least we've gotten all dressed up in our holiday wear for church.

Oh, and Addie recently learned how to say, "CHEESE!" I love this cheesy grin.

And I love December!!!

Jeff Turned 31

2011-12-19T11:08:00.001-07:00

On December 6th we celebrated Jeff's 31st Birthday. He wasn't entirely thrilled about this bday. Turning 30 wasn't fun per se but at least it's a major milestone and we celebrated appropriately. Turning 31 just says I'm really not in my 20's anymore. I'm full fledged in my 30's. Despite his less than excited attitude towards growing older we still celebrated the day with presents, dinner out and I made him his favorite sugar cookies in place of a cake.

Happy 31st Birthday Jeffy!

Thanksgiving in Alpine

2011-12-07T16:00:00.001-07:00

After an 8 and a half hour drive to Utah Wednesday evening we made it to Alpine around 11pm just in time to wake up the next day for Thanksgiving! I love this holiday. Family, good food, giving thanks...I mean really it's awesome.

We had the entire Lind crew minus Gary, Sharon & Gordon who are in Texas, plus a few extras...ie: Steve Kenny (our Irish friend) & Grandma Richards. Rosemary had done a TON of the work the day before so the morning of really wasn't that crazy. All I had to do was peel potatoes and make a salad. Not too bad. Then I got to enjoy all the delicious/traditional foods surrounded by those I love.

Some of the girls even made these cute turkey name card holders the day before.

Jack, of course, ONLY wanted to eat his cookie turkey. We had to force him to eat a little "real" food before he dove into the candy version. Adelaide slept through the entire meal.

Later that day we had a gift exchange since we won't be together over Christmas. Addie got some cute board books.

And Jack received a Batman car and Batman Wii video game. He was THRILLED!

Meanwhile poor Brent did a bit of this during the festivities. He's been working a lot of overnight shifts lately. Life of an OB.

However, thanks to this fabulous OB we were able to get an ultra sound done on Tday and found out that we are having a...

BOY!!!

We are thrilled as can be, especially Jack, who has been asking for a brother ever since we told him I was having a baby. He said to us in the car on the way home from the ultra sound, "I got my wish! Only Addie didn't get her wish. Maybe she'll get her wish next week." (He apparently made the assumption that Addie was wishing for a girl and that next week we will have a girl so she can get her wish. He hasn't quite figured out how time works yet.)

I didn't do a great job at taking pics this trip so I'll just have to list our other fun activities. They included: Ellie's baptism, Anders 1st birthday party, football, basketball, and video game playing for the boys, long chats and cooking for the girls, a temple session for Suzy who was recently called to serve a mission in Argentina, and a breakfast with the Bowen cousins. It was non-stop parties all packed into a few short days.

Which led to two very tired kiddos at the end of the day.

We were also lucky enough to have dinner with my parents as they were traveling back to St. George from Ogden. My Dad snapped a few pics at dinner.

This girl LOVES food! She will try just about anything (a far cry from her older brother) and this night was particularly entranced with the fruity drink and the guacamole, which she ate by the fork full!

The irony of this venture to Utah is that in the past 4 years of living in Denver and traveling to Utah for Tday every.single.year. we've had terrible weather either going/coming or both ways of the trip. And every year we say to each other that we wished we had an SUV to make this drive in. So, with the impending arrival of baby number three we finally upgraded to an SUV just before Thanksgiving and as luck would have it the roads were ABSOLUTELY clear there and back. Life. Saying that we were of course thankful for the smooth drive and were able to make great time both ways. And Jack is loving his life in what he calls "his new big car with the TV."

We had a lovely time in Alpine and are extremely thankful for our families.

Broncos Game

2011-12-07T15:52:00.001-07:00

Some friends in our ward invited us to the Broncos game a few weeks ago and we couldn't pass up the chance to sit in a box with unlimited food and drinks all night. Not to mention it was freezing outside but we were nice and toasty in the box. I felt spoiled...and I liked it. ;)

The best part is the Broncos WON! It was a pretty slow game until the end of the 4th quarter when Tebow went into over drive and pulled out the come from behind win for us. Seems to be his pattern these days. We'll take it!

Halloween 2011

2011-11-10T17:16:00.000-07:00

Halloween Day

First up a Costco run for more candy and some needed ingredients for our traditional meal of taco soup. I decided I liked the bones pj's so much I'd just throw black jeans on the kids and let them wear their bones shirts out.

That evening we prepared the yard to light the way for our trick or treaters. Here's our cute Iron Man next to his Iron Man pumpkin.

I'm ready to pass out the candy.

I invited the Jensens over for dinner and trick or treating.

Thanks to Grandma Lind's Halloween package each kid got their own bones straw.

Eating dinner before they head out to get their candy.

Here is Davidson with Jeff, but I'm now realizing we don't have a single pic of Angie. Bummer. She took all of these great pics and in all the chaos I didn't stop to think I should take a pic of her. Sorry Ang! Thanks for all the pics!

Our first round of trick or treaters.

The little superheroes chomping at the bit to head out.

And they're off...

Let the doorbell ringing begin.

They stopped back at our house half way through to pick up Super Addie. She was pleased.

Although we only lasted a few doors. We couldn't keep up with those fast crazy boys. So we bailed and Angie was nice enough to continue on with the boys.

Jack came home a very happy camper with an entire bucket full of candy (much more than he's ever gotten in the past). He couldn't even lift it! The boys had so much fun together running from house to house. I enjoyed passing out the candy and seeing all the cute neighborhood kids. Jeff enjoyed taking the boys around trick or treating, and Laides was just thrilled to be eating a sucker!

We had a wonderful and spooky Halloween!

October Fun

2011-11-09T12:10:00.000-07:00

We had lots of fun in October celebrating the Fall season.

Free cookies at Sunflower Market.

Lunch dates to Firehouse Subs.

Making the most of the colors orange & black.

Attending our ward Halloween Carnival & Trunk or Treat.

Iron Man

Super Addie

Jeff arrived late to the party because he got stuck at work so I made a last minute decision to not dress up by myself and instead just tried to match my kids' superhero theme.

Trunk or Treating

We FINALLY found the perfect pumpkin patch. Funny enough it's the same one we went to the first year we lived here only when we went all those years ago there were NO pumpkins. This place has majorly stepped up their game. Not only did they have pumpkins but they were giving them away for FREE! If you could carry them you could take them. It was awesome.

We managed to carry three home.

They also had barrel rides, which Jack LOVES. Addie was too young to go by herself, but if I went with her they'd let her go. So here I am in my barrel. :)

We carved one of our pumpkins and another one we made into Iron Man to match Jack's costume. Jeff always cuts off the top and scoops all the icky guts out & then I do the carving.

Jack helped me pick out which pattern to use and guided me through step by step.

We made some Halloween cupcakes and delivered them to friends.

The best though was waking up to these three crazies in their bones suits every morning.

We LOVE October!!!

Carpes in Coronado

2011-11-05T11:35:00.002-06:00

My freshman year of college I lived in Heleman Halls (BYU) and met some serious LIFE LONG FRIENDS! Many of us lived together in the Avenues our sophomore year and have stayed in touch over the years. We called ourselves "The Carpes" because our motto freshman year was Carpe Diem. Silly? Yes. But who cares man, we had so much fun together traveling, staying up late and just being silly. The best part about this group of friends though is that ALL of our husbands get along as well as we do. That is not an easy thing to accomplish. So, when we get together every three years we don't have a girls trip, we make it a couples trip! Our husbands are always just as excited about seeing everybody as the girls are. I love it!

My freshman roommate and SIL's little sister, Liz's (yes that was an arranged roommate set up by Emily & Ryan) parents own a beautiful beach home on Coronado (just off San Diego) and that's where we got to have this year's Carpe reunion. Actually, it's where we've had all of our Carpe reunions thus far. It's just such a perfect spot to host a large group! Thanks Liz for always offering such an amazing place and for hosting us. We love you!

Okay, on to the trip details...

We enjoyed all sorts of fun activities, but they never got started until around noon when we finally got out of our pajamas. We just had too much fun in the mornings sitting around talking and catching up. Once we got going though the girls enjoyed mani/pedis while the boys did who knows what, strolls along the island streets, good food both home cooked & at restaurants, swimming at the Del Coronado, the boys & Ashley went surfing, bike rides, laughing/talking by the fire, playing games etc etc. It was SUCH a FUN weekend get-a-way!

We often split up boys at one table and girls at the other. It made it easier for the boys to talk about business and other boy topics and the girls to talk about parenting and boob jobs. :)

We had 3 October birthdays to celebrate.

I'm not sure what's happening here with Mike & McKay.

Craig & Kristin Mills

Todd & Ashley Harris

Jeff & me

Liz & Mike Ord

McKay & Karissa Winkle (and their little nursing Harper)

Jeno & Adam Winn

I'm not even going to try and explain what is happening here, but it was FUNNY!

Looking at these pictures makes me want to go back already. My only complaint is that the trip was too short! I just love all of these people so much. I'm so blessed to have so many wonderful friends in my life. I have to mention the Carpes that were very missed on this trip: Andi & Mark, Chelsea & Grant, Jaime & Jon & Hilary. Hopefully in three years everyone will be able to come! I'm already looking forward to it.

Jeff's Sports

2011-11-04T15:32:00.004-06:00

Jeff plays on a softball team every Summer and Fall and it's always fun to take the kids and watch him play. Here are a couple of videos of him hitting and running home.

Jeff ran the Rugged Maniac a few weeks ago with two guys from our ward. It's a 5K race on a motocross track that includes crazy obstacles like crawling under barbed wire, trudging through mud waist deep, running straight up crazy steep hills, over climbing walls, down water slides, etc etc. It's wild and according to Jeff it's TOUGH! It was a gorgeous 80 degree October day so the kids and I watched him race.

Here are a few shots before the race when the racers are still nice and clean and have no idea what they're really in for.

And they're off...

Notice the mud goes up his thighs. (he's in the black shirt and grey shorts)

It's hard to see but he's going over that rope climbing wall.

Up the final hill...

...to the Finish line!

Victory!

The guys after the race. All muddy and very tired.

Way to go Jeff! You did awesome. Next year when I'm not pregnant I'll join you...maybe. :)

One Week in Utah

2011-11-03T14:59:00.000-06:00

For those who don't already know Jeff switched jobs about a month ago. He had a really great opportunity to move to a different energy company called, Linc Energy, where he'll still be doing mergers and acquisitions only it's a better company with more opportunities for growth (and more time off...yea!). So, in between leaving High Sierra (his old company) and starting his new job he decided to take a week off to decompress. We thought we'd head to Utah to visit family and friends. It was the perfect time of year to travel since we got to see all the gorgeous Fall leaves along our way.

I haven't been to Utah in October in years, so I had to visit my favorite Fall spot...Sundance! It did not disappoint. We met up with our good friends, Blair & Kim Smith and their daughter Sophie for lunch at the Foundry Grill and then headed outside to enjoy the beautiful Fall weather.

I can't believe I didn't take more pictures. This shot does not do the beauty of this area justice. Trust me, it was unbelievable with colors.

The weather was SO nice the first few days we were there that we were even able to swim in Grandma's pool. It doesn't hurt that she heats it to 94 degrees either. :)

We were there over General Conference weekend, so during the Saturday night Priesthood session the girls and the babies went to Gardner Village to see their witch display and eat dinner. I had never been, but had been hearing about it for years. It was fun to finally see it and the kids did great!

Three cousins playing together. (Anders, Eliza & Adelaide)

We headed up the canyon for FHE to roast hot dogs.

We got to visit all three living grandmas starting with Grandma Lind, but unfortunately we forgot to get a picture. Then we visited Grandma Richards, who is 101! She's adorable and amazing!

I love this shot of her with Jeff. She just loves him and told him while we were there that he's always been one of her favorites. She's his favorite for sure!

We got to go out to dinner with Craig and Kristin Mills at the Bombay House. Still the best Indian Food I've found (and I've had it in NYC & London), bar the Indian Wedding we attended. That food was pretty amazing too!

I met up with some college girlfriends at Thanksgiving Point one day to see the petting zoo.

The kids all got along so well. Here is Jack & Addie with Kristin's little guy, Sullivan. 3 little toe heads.

After Tpoint we went to lunch. Unfortunately Karissa had to bail early, but here is Jeno & Kris and the kids. Some of Jeno's kids are missing since they are school age.

We got to have dinner at the Kesslers, our dear friends from Denver that moved to Utah a year ago (we're still mad), but we forgot to take any pictures. After dinner we drove to Bountiful and slept over at the Edgington's new home. It made the whole they moved to Utah thing seem real. It was sad, but also great to see them again.

We drove to Ogden to spend some time with my grandma Stratford. It's always so much fun to see her and get caught up. She's 86 but you'd never know it. She runs around like a 50 year old and even made us a delicious peach pie.

In all of our traveling around for visits our kids took a lot of their naps like this.

We spent some time in North Salt Lake at my brother, Rick's house. It's always so fun to visit there. It's like a mini Disneyland with their indoor gym, endless toys, tons of cousin love & of course Aunt Jodie doling out candy.

Here's cute Blake with Addie watching Sesame Street.

Jeff & Josh playing basketball.

All the Stratford cousins with Jack & Addie.

Rick & Jodie with Jeff and me

Last, but certainly not least here is Brent & Rosemary, our amazing hosts for the week. Thanks for all the meals, kid tending & good times! We always love to visit home.

Stopped at a Sonic along the trail home.

We had such a wonderful week with family and friends. We had many more good times that we forgot to take pics of (seeing cousins Adam & Ashley and their new baby, breakfasts with friends, visiting BYU's campus, just to name a few)...seriously it was a jam packed week...and we still have so many more people we would've loved to visit. It's always a challenge when we go home to balance family time with friends we want to see. Since we both grew up and went to college in Utah there is an endless supply of dear friends we like to visit and unfortunately don't always have time to see them all, but we packed quite a few in this time.

Everyday while we were there we'd ask Jack if he was ready to go back to CO yet, and every day he responded, "No, I'm not ready yet. I want to stay in UT a while longer." Then on the last day he said, "I want to live in UT!" Break my heart. What he doesn't realize is that if we lived there we wouldn't be spending every day visiting family and friends. It's all packed in when we visit. I'm sure he'd still love it though. So many cousins and friends. I always feel a little sad when we have to leave, but once we're back in our home (and our own bed) it's always so nice to be home.

Aspen

2011-10-29T13:34:00.000-06:00

For our 9 year wedding anniversary I surprised Jeff with a weekend get-a-way to Aspen. After striking out with babysitters we brought the kids along with us and it ended up being a fun family trip. Again, I planned this trip 6 months in advance, so I didn't know I'd be pregnant and sick when the trip came around, but Jeff was amazing at taking the kids and letting me nap or sleep in. So much for his surprise anniversary get-a-way. Sorry babe. The good intentions were there.

We stayed at a resort just off main street so everything we did was within walking distance. The weather couldn't have been more perfect. Not too hot but not too cool. We rode the gondola up to the top of the mountain and played on the obstacle course they have at the top. There was also a band playing so we sat outside enjoying the gorgeous view and listening to the music.

We walked around the quaint streets and enjoyed some good food.

Then after two days we packed up and took our SIX hour drive home. Ugh! It's only supposed to be a 3.5 hour drive, but we got stuck in horrible holiday traffic (it was Labor Day weekend) going through the canyon on the way home. I officially decided on that drive that we will no longer vacation in the CO mountains over holiday weekends. We made the same mistake when we went camping over the 4th of July weekend. I should've learned my lesson the first time, but I'm a slow learner. ;)

Okay, minus the traffic situation we had a lovely and relaxing time in Aspen and I'd love to go back sometime in the winter when I can ski. It really is a beautiful part of the country!

Mom & Dad Visit

2011-10-27T17:10:00.001-06:00

As I mentioned in my last post I'm very behind on my blog due to the pregnancy so this post is all about when my parents came to visit last August. I was so excited for them to come and had all these fun things planned and then I found out I was pregnant just a few days before they arrived. I was hoping the sickness wouldn't settle in until after their visit, but of course I started feeling sick right at 6 weeks on the dot, which is the day they arrived. Such is life. At least they were incredibly understanding, helpful and sympathetic.

Despite my upset tummy we stuck to our plans and had lots of fun together. We ate at Firehouse subs.

We got a babysitter on August 24th since it was Jeff and my 9 year wedding anniversary. We went out to eat at Gumbo (a delicious Cajun restaurant in Denver) and they even gave us a delicious free dessert in celebration of our anniversary. I think this was the last meal I really enjoyed for 6 weeks to follow. Good thing it was so delicious!

(Sorry about the poor pic quality. I forgot my real camera and the iPhone doesn't do great indoors.)

We headed south to Colorado Springs for a day trip to see the Garden of the Gods. My Dad took some great pics of the gorgeous scenery. Apparently the author of the song, America the Beautiful, was inspired to write that song after her visit here. It really is beautiful.

Jack is in a major "posing" phase. It can be really frustrating to take pics of him, but then recently I was looking at pics from my childhood when I was about his age and I totally did the same thing. I'm hamming it up in every picture! What goes around comes around. Sorry Mom!

After Garden of the Gods we drove around the Air Force Academy's campus and in their lobby they had a T-38 on display, which is what my Dad flew when he was in the Air Force. He loved seeing the plane and showing Jack what he used to do.

We drove to Estes Park for an overnight trip, stayed in a hotel for the night, and the next morning toured around Rocky Mountain National Park.

We had been here once before with the Edgingtons when we first moved to Colorado, so we were excited to show it's beauty to my parents. They LOVED it!

We stopped at a little lake town on our way home for some food and ice cream.

Notice Jack's ice cream is white but his face is blue. That's because he and Adelaide LOVED my bubblegum ice cream. He barely touched his own cone. I'm not a big fan of ice cream and only eat it about once every year or so, but when I do I always get bubblegum. I think it's because the last time I really remember liking ice cream was when I was 8 years old and that's what I would get. Jeff teases me about it, but my kids are fans.

Marzi patiently waiting and hoping for anything to fall her way.

We also got to celebrate my Dad's birthday while they were in town. It was so fun to be with my Dad on his bday. I don't remember the last time that happened.

We put a candle in some Rocky Mountain turtle chocolates...his favorite.

When we weren't off on adventures we spent time in the backyard watching the kids play.

I wasn't feeling so good this day, but I hate to miss a party so I laid down outside with everybody.

It was so fun to have my parents visit! I wish they could come all the time!!! My kids were in grandparents heaven!

Where have I been?

2011-10-12T18:08:00.002-06:00

I just noticed my last post was on August 18th...it's now October 12th. Well that's because on August 14th I found out I was having another one of these...

(looks like I got that triathlon in just in time)

Hooray for Lind Baby #3!!!

I'm now 13 weeks along, but needless to say (of course I will though) the past 6ish weeks have not been great. A lot of naps, messes not getting cleaned up, children watching way more than the recommended amount of television and many MANY baths have been the story of my life as of late. However, I did squeeze in a few fun times during the course of my ill-feeling 1st trimester, which I will try to catch up on and post in the next few weeks. In the meantime I'm just enjoying my desire to eat again and counting my blessings that the sick feelings are fading. Pretty soon I will be 100% in my golden 2nd trimester just in time for the Holidays! What a perfect time of year to be in your 2nd trimester. You feel great & you're already showing so you can eat all the yummy holiday food without having to suck in afterwards. LOVE IT!

(So so SO very sorry to those of you out there who are sick the entire 9 months. My hat goes off to you and if it were me I'd probably have stopped after Jack. I can barely stand it for 2 months and that's with the help of Zofran.)

Jeff and I are very excited to welcome a new little person into our family on April 19th (or sometime around then...preferably a bit early ;)) and while neither of us care whether it's a boy or a girl Jack keeps telling us, "I want a brother just like me!" Only time will tell what the sex is, but I'll be sure to announce it as soon as we find out.

Personal Goal Triathlon

2011-08-19T16:07:00.005-06:00

My sister Stacy made a goal after having her first baby that she was going to run a marathon after having each of her children as a way for her to have motivation to get back in shape. I always thought that was such a cool idea, but I hate to run more than 6 or maybe 7 miles in a row. So I knew a marathon was out for me. After I gave birth to Jack my other sister Missy talked me into doing a sprint triathlon with her. At first I didn't think I'd like it, but after doing it I fell in love with the triathlon format. My problem with marathons is I get bored. I love that with a tri you never get bored because you are constantly moving from one exercise to the next. It fits me perfectly and so my post baby getting back in shape goal was born. I would do a triathlon after every child.

As I searched for triathlons to compete in this summer they all seemed to fall on dates when I was out of town or on a Sunday. When I was explaining my disappointment to Jeff about not being able to reach my goal before the end of summer he suggested I just do my own. He'd chart a course for me and I would just head out and do it. I hadn't thought of that. So, last Saturday I got up and headed for the pool where I swam 1/4 of a mile, then I cruised back home and Jeff had my bike waiting for me. Then I biked 12 miles and ended up back at home where I ditched my bike and set out on my 5K run.

I returned home victorious having completed my goal!

I was feeling pretty strong. :)

For my own record keeping and for comparison sake on my future triathlons I want to record my time. I did this sprint tri in 1 hour and 48 minutes. That however does not include transitions since I had to go home in between events. If I were to add typical transition time I'd have to add 5 or so minutes onto my time. I have no recollection of how fast I ran my first tri nor do I have any idea how my time compares to what's good. I'm sure it's slow, but that's not the point for me. It's all about the exercise and completing a goal. So for that I'm proud of myself.

2 babies born + 2 triathlons completed = goal accomplished (for now;))

PS that was not meant to be any kind of announcement.

Codycoma 2011 (part two)

2011-08-18T16:03:00.000-06:00

Anna is a professional photographer and throughout the trip she was running around snapping photos with this awesome old film camera she has. So here is a look at Cody through Anna's lens...

The cabin...

The springs...

The owner of the store where we got our feather earrings, Rockstar Cowgirl.

The town...

Anna had me pose for one of her photos. I love the color of the wall behind me.

The people of Cody...

I love how brilliantly Anna captured Cody. You are so talented Miss Anna!

After our eight hour drive Wendy and I rolled into Denver just after midnight. Luckily her flight didn't leave until 10pm the next day so we had some time to hang out.

We met Jeff for lunch at Wahoo's in Cherry Creek.

Then I took Wendy to see the beautiful view from Redrocks. Unfortunately we couldn't stay long because it was raining.

I dropped Wendy off at the airport that evening.

So there you have it. Another coma bites the dust.

Note to Wendy & Harley: Please, Please, PUHLEASE get a job in Denver when Harley graduates next fall and move here.

As for you Anna & Jessica, I don't feel like your options of moving here are as available, but if they ever become so you know you have to move in next door.

I LOVE YOU GIRLS!!!
Two thumbs up for our Codycoma!!

Codycoma 2011

2011-08-18T15:44:00.002-06:00

In 2009 three of my college girlfriends and I started a tradition of getting together every other year without kids or husbands so that we could just go into a coma. Relax, hang out, talk, stay up late and sleep in, eat good food, escape from real life...you know, a coma! Two years ago we had a Calicoma and this year it was a Codycoma. Why Cody, Wyoming you ask? It's cool. I've gotten that question a lot. :) Answer: this girl...

Our dear friend Jessica Taggart was born and raised in Cody and has since moved back to her hometown where she teaches K-12 (English and Spanish) in a small school in a town just outside of Cody, called Meeteetse. No one has hometown pride (yes, including Texans) quite like Miss Taggart. This girl LOVES Cody! So since Anna and I had never been to Jessica's hometown (Wendy went once in college) we decided it was high time we saw what she was always talking about. But, I'm getting ahead of myself. Before there was Cody, there was Denver. Since Cody only has one small very expensive to fly into airport, Anna and Wendy flew into Denver a day early so they could road trip with me to Cody. The three of us went to dinner at Gumbo's and then to D-Bar for dessert. Delicious!

The next morning we headed out on our adventure. I look pretty tall in this pic huh?

Oh, that's because I'm on my tippy toes. Let the unbalanced pictures begin. :)

After eight hours of non-stop uninterrupted talking (it was heaven) we arrived in Cody. Jessica had gifts and personal size Martinellis waiting for us. Yes, she is amazing and thoughtful.

Then we grabbed a pizza and headed to the springs. This is one of Jessica's most favorite places on earth. It's a natural water springs (not hot, but not cold, very temperate) next to the river where they've built a pool so you can swim safely. They also built a deck/entertaining area. The only drawback is it smells like sulfur and the water makes your skin tingle after you're in it for a while, but the setting really is gorgeous!

Anna set the camera timer so we could get a pic all together, but she kept not quite making it in time. I'm only including one of the mess up pics, but it took at least 4 tries before we got a good one. :)

The next morning we hit the town of Cody.

For the record we aren't so much going for Charlie's Angels here as we are trying to hold our guns out like the cowboy on the sign.

Our first stop was to the church murals, which are amazing by the way, but unfortunately we didn't take any pics there. Check out that link I put in though because I really feel like it's a gem in the church that no one knows about. The man who painted the mural wasn't even a member of the church, but he studied the church history for a year so he could do the painting. It's really a beautiful work of art.

Okay, next up we shopped!

Anna and I got into the Cody spirit and purchased some feather earrings.

Here we are standing on main street in front of the Irma Hotel. Irma was Buffalo Bills wife. Oh, have I mentioned Buffalo Bill yet? He, along with the pioneers settled Cody, WY as well as ran a huge traveling variety show. He's a big deal in this town. More on him later.

We didn't so much buy these.

After shopping we went to the Silver Dollar and watched Jessica's boyfriend, Rick, perform with his band, Rude Diary. He's the drummer. They even called Jessica up on stage to sing a few songs with them. She has a gorgeous voice! Here are Jessica and Rick singing a duet.

Here are a couple short video clips of Jessica singing with Rude Diary.

After watching the band and eating dinner at the Silver Dollar we headed to Cassie's to dance. It's a restaurant/bar with a live band and a dance floor. We were about the only people dancing, with a few odd couples here and there, but we didn't mind. We had fun!

The next morning we headed for Jessica's family cabin. Upon arrival we discovered hundreds of bugs outside and maybe just as many flies inside. There was also a distinct odor of dead animal, but we were all too scared of what we'd find if we searched for it. So we lit a TON of candles and tried to mask the smell.

Then it was time to get dinner ready and it took three of us to figure out how to get the grill working. I do all the cooking around my house except when it comes to grilling. That is totally Jeff's forte so I've never even bothered to learn how to turn it on. Sad, I know. We eventually got it going only to discover 15 minutes later when we went out to put the chicken on that it had gone out. The propane had run out. So, back to the stove the little chickies went. We eventually got everything cooked and enjoyed a delicious meal, but it wasn't easy. We realized that cabins are more fun when our husbands are there to take care of things. Who knew cabins were so much work?! :) We kept joking to each other, "where's our staff?!" I think next time we'll skip the cabin and opt for the Four Seasons. ;)

One thing you can't beat at a cabin though is the scenery, and Anna and I even managed to get a fire going. My young women's camp skills really pulled through for me.

Oh, and it's purely coincidental that Anna and I both brought our bYu shirts to wear at the cabin. Not that I'm above planned matching as you'll see in a bit.

The best part of the cabin experience was staying up late. My friends used to joke in college about how at 2am I would catch my second wind and get real punchy and funny. Basically that's when I'd come alive and good times always ensued. Well, 10 years later 2am Mindy turned up around 11:30pm. So sad what getting older will do to you. However, through a series of events we did still end up staying up until 3 am talking, painting our nails, drinking Martinellis, and laughing, laughing, laughing...

...especially at this. Turns out this group of 30 year olds still know how to make fun happen at 2 am.

The next morning we packed up and went back to Cody. We headed straight for the Buffalo Bill Historical Center. We saw all sorts of western art, old west clothing and taxidermy animals. Sounds awesome huh? haha I'm just kidding Jessica, it really is a legit museum. I was pleasantly surprised at how well done it is and really enjoyed learning more about the old west and Buffalo Bill. And the best part is we got in for free! Turns out the Taggarts are kind of a big deal in Cody. When we walked in Jessica started explaining to the man at the counter that she was able to get us in for free and the man looked through unconvinced eyes at us until he asked for her name. When she said Jessica Taggart he immediately said, "Oh, yes, go right in." It pays to be with a Taggart in Cody. ;)

After getting cleaned up and enjoying a delicious meal prepared by Jessica's parents we got dressed up for the rodeo. But first we had to take a couple of pics in the matching shirts we all bought at a store on main street. Are we 12? I know that's what you're thinking. The answer is yes! And we don't care. :)

Now onto the famous Cody nightly rodeo!

We may have spent more time chatting and laughing and taking pics of our cowgirl get ups on our iPhones than we did actually watching the rodeo (I know, the people sitting by us hated us), but I definitely caught the bull riding. Those cowboys are crazy!

Check out the boots. Three of those four pair are Jessicas's that were borrowed for the evening, but the light tan ones on the left side are all mine. They were actually my mom's that I inherited and after carting them around for years I finally had a reason to bust them out. See Jeff, it was totally worth moving these bad boys five times. ;)

After the rodeo we took a soak in the hot tub.

That pretty much sums up our trip. The next morning our plans got ruined due to the torrential rains, so we had a quick lunch with Jessica's uncle and parents and then packed up. Wendy couldn't stay out of Jessica's candy jars even though she has them for display...not for eating.

Anna, in lieu of having a girl yet (she has three little boys), french braided our hair. We were laughing at how we ended up looking like sister wives. Yikes!

Anna flew home out of the Cody airport and Wendy and I drove the eight hours back to Denver. It's always sad to say good bye to these beautiful and amazing girlfriends. We had such a fun time all together and I'm already looking forward to our 2013 coma. Location is yet to be determined. Although, Jess, I have to say Cody was pretty awesome! :)

Thank you SO much for being such a FABULOUS hostess!!!

I have a few more pics and experiences to share, but blogger won't allow this post to be any longer. So I will finish in a second post. Stay tuned...

My Mom Rocks...literally

2011-07-20T17:35:00.008-06:00

Do you ever think about what your mom did before she was your mom? Growing up I didn't much. She's just, well, mom. But as I've gotten older our relationship has changed from mother/daughter to friend. It's not something that happens overnight, it just sort of develops over the years until one day you find yourself on the phone with your mom and she's asking YOU for advice instead of the other way around. I absolutely cherish this new relationship with my mom and genuinely love spending time with her, in person or for hours at a time on the phone. (Thank goodness for mobile to mobile free minutes!) So back to my original question...do you ever think about what your mom did before she was your mom? Well, turns out my mom was a rock star! Okay, maybe not a rock star, but she did rock. Here's the story...

When my mom was in college at Utah State University she was asked by one of her friends to accompany her to an audition for a folk group called The Balladiers. Her friend needed someone to play the music and harmonize with her while she sang and knowing my mom played the baritone ukulele asked her to do it for her. My mom agreed and as luck would have it they asked my mom to be a part of the Balladiers and not her friend. My mom wasn't even auditioning! Don't worry her friend ended up becoming the head cheerleader and there were no hard feelings. :)

Thankfully for my mom though she'd been asked to that audition because the Balladiers ended up being a HUGE part of her life. They toured around various US cities doing proselyting concerts (trying to get kids to go to USU) and performed at the Capital Theatre for the premier of the movie, Duel at Diablo starring Sidney Poitier. After that performance Dan Valentine, from the Salt Lake City Tribune, wrote, "Utah State University Balladiers - My vote for one of the best singing groups in the West. They should be on the Ed Sullivan Show." This group also included, Craig Jessop (you know him from the Mormon Tabernacle Choir), who joined when he was just 18 years old, fresh out of high school.

After my mom's senior year and just 6 months after marrying my dad she headed out on an 8 week USO Tour to Southeast Asia (Japan, Korea, Okinawa, Thailand, Taiwan, Phillipine Islands, Guam and Hawaii.)

Here are some pictures of the Balladiers from their USO tour and some of their proselyting concerts, but as you scroll through these pictures click play below and hear The Balladiers sing the song that they led all their shows with (more on how I got this recording later)...

Balladiers - Road to Freedom by pilotsace

Aren't those costumes amazing?! I actually wore her dress to a 60's themed dance in High School.

It was awesome.

Here they are performing at Disneyland. I love the above pic. It's such an awesome snapshot of what the 60's looked like.

My mom is the blonde with the BIG hair...and yes, it's ALL hers. Have I ever told you about my mom's crazy thick hair? Yeah, my sister Missy got those blessed genes.

On the USO tour she wore a pig tail fall for the concerts.

I would actually wear this green skirt and blouse she has on. So cute.

This yellow suit however...not so much. And no, those sunglasses aren't a joke! :)

In Japan

My mom pointing to North Korea

Here she's standing with Richard Deacon, who played the part of Mel, on the Dick Van Dyke Show.

So, why am I sharing all of this with you? Because on June 4th the Balladiers got together for a 43rd Reunion Concert at USU. Jeff and I were headed for Hawaii the next day and were planning to get to Utah late the night before to drop our kids off with my parents so they could watch them. When we found out that we could attend the concert we knew we didn't want to miss it, so we woke up super early and drove to Logan, Utah in time to make it to the concert. I've heard stories my whole life about the Balladiers and grew up hearing my mom sing songs they sang all those years ago, so it was SUCH a treat to see my mom, in her element, performing with all those beloved, lifetime, friends of hers. The love and energy in the concert hall was palpable. According to my mom they didn't sound near as good as they did in their day (umm, they only had 2 days to rehearse) but to me it sounded GREAT! To say I enjoyed this concert is an understatement. As soon as the first song began my sister Missy and I both swelled up with tears of joy. We both agreed that this was one night we'd never forget.

Here are some pictures of the reunion...

My mom and Marilyn Miller holding up some of their old costumes.

My mom hugging Craig Jessop.

My cute mom and dad.

All of the Balladiers (minus Craig Jessop).

My sister, Missy, and me with our mom outside the concert hall.

The reunion concert.

At the end of the show they asked all the kids in the audience to join them on stage for a hootenanny. We all sang along to, "Where Have All the Flowers Gone" and "This Land is Your Land." (Do you spot Jack front and center?)

Here's a little clip from the reunion concert of one of my mom's solos to, "You've lost that lovin' feelin.'"

See? My mom rocks! :)

Now that you've heard what they sound like 43 years after their tour listen to what they sounded like on their tour. Get this, a soldier had just bought a new tape deck and wanted to try it out so when he heard a USO group was coming to his base he set it up and recorded this group. Well that group happened to be The Balladiers. Then in 1995 he saw Kent Smith (one of the Balladiers) at a fireworks stand and recognized him. So he went up to him and asked him if he'd been on a USO tour in 1968 and told him that he had a recording of his group. The Balladiers never did get any recordings of their music on the USO Tour (oh how that would be so different today) so this was meant to be! Now they all have a copy of their concert in Tachikawa, Japan! Here's that same medley recorded 43 year earlier. My mom's solo is 1 minute and 24 seconds in.
Balladiers - Lovin' Feeling Medley by pilotsace

Thank you for inviting us to this concert Mom. You're an amazing and talented woman. I only have one gripe...WHY DIDN'T I GET ANY OF YOUR MUSICAL TALENT?!?!

Adelaide's 1st Birthday

2011-07-11T19:23:00.004-06:00

Adelaide turned one on Saturday, July 9th and I know everyone says this, but seriously where did the last year go? I can't believe she's one already, I swear her first year went by faster than Jack's did. At any rate it came and we celebrated! There are a ton of kids Jack's age around us so for his 1st birthday we had a party with his friends, but there really aren't any other kids Addie's age except for Lyla so it was a party with the Edgingtons again! Just how we like it. :)

I planned to serve tres leches cake as dessert since we were having a sort of Mexican BBQ, but I wanted Addie to have a small personal cake she could smash around. I don't have small cake pans so I used my regular 9 inch pans and then just cut a small circle out of the middle for her personal cake. But, when I tried to frost this small cake the sides crumbled and it turned out looking like one giant mess! Ugh! Remember my Spiderman cake? Oh how far I've fallen. :) I ran up to our local grocery store to see if they had anything that would work and to my surprise they sell little round cakes for only FOUR dollars! Why in the world did I spend my time baking my own?! It's one thing if I was going to serve it to everyone, in that case I'm all about making my own because I think they taste better, but for a one year olds personal smash cake...no brainer. From now on I'm getting my smash cakes at the grocery store. I got it plain white and then just decorated it myself at home.

The birthday girl on the morning of the big day.

The decorations and cake.

We had green chili burgers with an avocado spread, chips & salsa and grilled pineapple.

The kids had hot dogs.

Are you ready for picture overload? I promise I did narrow them down (from 200)!

Time out for a bottle break.

Present time.

Jack was a good helper.

Looking at her cute present from Lyla, a stroller & hand made hair bows. Nachelle makes the cutest bows!

Her first purse, courtesy of Grandma & Grandpa Stratford, and it even came complete with chapstick and money inside.

Opening her present from Jeff and me.

It's her first doll and she likes it!

Of course it went straight into the mouth.

Oh I love this picture. After having a boy this picture epitomizes to me now having a little girl!

Time for cake. She's looking with anticipation as I bring it out and we all sing Happy Birthday.

She wasn't so sure about the lit candle. She just sort of stared at it until the wind blew it out. :)

She's never had cake before so she wasn't sure what to do with it at first, but once we gave her a little taste she dug right in.

Once she'd had her cake it was time for everyone else to have a little tres leches.

I think next time I'll just put Jeff at the kids table.

All cleaned up from cake and time for another bottle break.

Something fun that happened on her 1st birthday...she started walking!

The party was a lot of fun! I don't think Addie really got what was going on, but really it's for the parents to mark the milestone at this age and I loved it!! What I didn't love was the clean up afterwards, despite my happy face shown below. Too many dishes.

Marzi always enjoys a good clean up though...or in her case a pre-clean clean up.

I can not tell you how much I have LOVED having a girl this past year! Boys and girls are so different. Both wonderful in different ways. I'm so blessed to have one of each.

Happy 1st Birthday Laides!!!

4th of July Weekend

2011-07-09T13:54:00.004-06:00

This summer has been non-stop fun and the 4th of July weekend was no exception.

It started off with a birthday party for Jack to attend. It was a water party and he had a ball!

That evening we hit up Chuck-e-Cheese with the Edgintons. Somehow we've escaped going there thus far, so it was our kids' first time, but I have to say it was pretty fun...albeit a little gross. :)

Jack ran from ride to game to ride to game all night long. He LOVED it and has been begging to go back ever since.

Addie got a kick out of the rides.

I even took a turn on a few rides while Jeff played pop-a-shot all night.

(PS Jeff told me to make a tough face since I was riding an ATV...I think I look more mad than tough. Whatever.)

The next day we woke up early and headed for Hanging Lake (just past Vail and on the way to Aspen) to go camping. Unfortunately the main hike (to the lake and waterfall) was full. Well, the parking lot was full I should say. They had the exit barricaded off so that no more cars could go in...it was that full. Turns out trying to do a popular hike over the 4th weekend was a mistake. Live and learn. Instead we headed for our campsite early and actually ended up scoring a better site than the one we'd reserved. They gave us the group site so we had 3 picnic tables and tons of room and privacy all to ourselves. It was awesome!

We borrowed our friends gigantic 10 person tent and all slept in it together. There was enough room for 2 queen size mattresses and a pack and play with lots of room to spare. I love this tent!

That evening we went on a small hike near our campsite.

Jeff, the pack mule.

That night we roasted hot dogs over the fire for dinner. There's something about eating food outside that makes it taste 10 times better than usual.

When it got really dark we busted out the glow necklaces and bracelets. I highly recommend these for any camping trip. The kids love them and it's nice for the adults to be able to see where the kids are going in the dark. Plus, you can get them at the dollar store. Love it.

We of course roasted s'mores.

Then late that night after we got all the kids to sleep in the tent we played a couple rounds of Settlers of Catan. It was a girls night with me winning the first game and Nachelle winning the second. Love that! :)

We finally made it to bed sometime around 2:30am. Side note: I always forget just how many stars there are in the sky until I go camping. Seriously it's amazing and beautiful.

Lookin' good on about 5 hours of sleep. ;)

Jack woke up refreshed though! By the way he LOVES camping. How do I know? He's told me probably 55 hundred times. "Mama, I love camping, I love it!" On the way home, "Mama, let's go camping again!"

Camping really was wonderful except for about 10 minutes while we were all breaking down camp and loading up the cars. I was busy cleaning up all the food on the picnic tables and the boys were busy taking the tent down. Addie was safe drinking her bottle in the pack and play and Lyla was in our car playing Jack's Leapster. Just setting the scene. Okay, so as I'm putting food away it suddenly dawns on me that it's been a while since I've seen Jack or Miya. So I yell to the boys if they've seen them. They tell me Nachelle and Miya went to the bathrooms. No one is sure if Jack went with them or not so I set out to check. The whole walk there I kept thinking to myself that he for sure followed them to the bathrooms. Where else would he be? So I wasn't too worried. Okay, quick pause, I forgot to mention that just below our camp site and right next to the bathrooms is a RAGING river. Back to the story...so I finally get to the bathrooms and open the door to find Nachelle and Miya. I asked Nachelle if Jack was with them and she says no. Immediately I PANICKED! I took off running back to the camp site and started yelling to the boys, "Jack didn't follow Nachelle! I don't know where he is!" Jeff took off in one direction, Jay in another and I in another. We were all yelling his name and the longer we yelled with no response the more terror swept through my body. I can not describe how many horrible thoughts of my baby boy being swept away down the river went through my head. I've never been that scared and panicked in my ENTIRE life. It. Was. Horrible. Thankfully, when Nachelle returned from the bathroom she found Jack sitting quietly in her car playing Miya's Leapster! UGH!!! Why didn't I think to look in her car? I had checked my car, but it didn't even dawn on me to check her car. Jeff says he assumed I'd already checked her car, which is why he didn't check there. I blame the fact that as soon as Nachelle said he wasn't with her I immediately went into irrational panic mode and was not thinking clearly. She yelled to all of us that she found him and we all came running. I've never been so happy to see Jack as I was then. I asked him if he could hear us calling his name and he said he could, but when I asked him why he didn't respond he didn't seem to have an answer. Then he said, "You were all looking for me?!" with a surprised tone. He had no clue that his mother had just been to hell and back in those 10 minutes. When we got in the car to drive away I broke down in tears. I know he was fine all along, but my heart was racing so hard and my adrenaline was pumping so fast that I just sort of needed an emotional release to calm back down.

What I learned from this experience is that it's always when the adults are busy working that bad things happen. When we were just hanging out we all were on constant alert about where the kids were and what they were doing, but when we got busy cleaning up that's when we let the kids out of our sight. Thankfully we'd had a long talk with Jack when we first arrived about staying by us always and NEVER wandering off, but when they are only 3 years old you just never know if it all sinks in. In the future I will be more conscientious of my kids while I'm setting and cleaning up in addition to all the time.

The drive home.

Both our kids passed out in the back seat. It made for a quiet drive home.

We got back from camping Monday afternoon on the 4th of July and after unloading the car and immediately throwing every smokey smelling item into the wash it was time for us to wash ourselves. It was 100 degrees that day (not normal for these parts) and our AC decided to freeze up while we were away so our house was sweltering. I decided we needed to go swimming to get out of the heat. It was a perfect way to cool down and wash the smokey smell off of us! :)

That evening we got dressed in our festive clothing and headed to the Edgington's for a BBQ and fireworks.

Once again trying to get these two to smile and look at the camera at the same time is nearly impossible.

Addie LOVES watermelon!

Jeff entertained the kids with his throw an olive in the air, catch it in his mouth, and turn it into a carrot routine. It killed every time.

Just look at these delighted faces!

Jeff also taught the kids how to put olives on their fingers. They thought that was pretty awesome. And it is.

When it got dark we started our fireworks show with Jeff as our main pyro technician. Jack and Miya loved helping him place the fireworks and then RUN back to their seats once it was lit.

Whew! What a weekend. We played our little hearts out and it was fun!

I LOVE holiday weekends!!!

2 weeks+2 cities+lots of crazy kids=one tired mama

2011-07-08T13:27:00.001-06:00

As I mentioned in my previous post my parents were kind enough to watch my kids while we were in Maui. What I didn't tell you is they were also watching my brother's youngest boy, Blake, who has downs, while they were in Lake Powell with their older kids. They just had Blake for the first three days, but still...my parents are saints!

Here's Adelaide with Blakey in the tub. Isn't he the cutest?! Not only the cutest but seriously the nicest most easy going little guy. I just love him!

After my long red-eye flight from Maui to SLC I hopped in my car (that I left at my brother's house) and drove to St. George to my parents house to pick up my kids. Here's a pic my Dad snapped as Addie & my mom watched me walk up to the front door (it's a glass panel door.)

It was so fun to see my kids again! It's amazing how much more you love them after a week away. :)

After spending a few days in St. George hanging out with my parents we loaded up in my Dad's car and headed to Mesa, Arizona. My sister, her husband and their 3 oldest kids along with my brother, his wife and their 3 oldest kids all went to London/Paris for 10 days so my parents offered to watch my sister's 3 youngest kids along with my brother's second to youngest kid. Once again, my parents are saints. So all together we had three boys (the twins & Jack) who are 3 years old, two girls who are 7 years old and Addie, who was 11 months.

(L to R: Abbie, Jack, Luke, Maddy & Max)

The girls were a dream...seriously so nice and helpful and just played together nicely non-stop. Addie slept practically the whole time. I had her sleeping in a pack and play in the closet of the room I was staying in (don't worry it had air vents) so it was pitch dark in there 24/7 and I guess that's why she seriously took 4-5 hour naps and slept 13 or so hours at night. She was easy peasy.

As for the boys....well...aren't they cute?! ;)

The first Sunday we were there was Father's Day so my brother Ryan & his family, who also live in Mesa, came over after church for dinner and dessert to celebrate.

It was fun to actually spend Father's Day with my father. It's been a LONG time since that's happened.

My mom and I made green chili enchiladas & salsa, and my sister-in-law, Emily, made a delicious salad and fresh guacamole. Then we had tres leches with strawberries for dessert. It was my first time making this dessert and it's now my new favorite. So yummy!

On Monday night we went to my sister-in-law's parents home in Paradise Valley for Family Home Evening. We ate a delicious meal Emily prepared, swam and had a lesson on talents.

This picture isn't what it looks like, but it makes me laugh.

For the rest of the week there was a lot of watching movies...

...swimming (we did this everyday as it was the only way to be outside in 115 degree weather)...

...dressing up (in fact the little boys lived in costumes this week)...

...eating good food...

...sometimes in the buff...

...going to In-n-Out Burger...

...and Coldstone...

...enjoying chocolate popsicles...

...playing computer games...

...and generally acting silly!

All of this fun resulted in very tired kids...

...and one VERY tired grandpa!

Every other night we bathed the boys in my sister's giant tub and then...

...marched everyone up to bed. Literally we marched, left, right, left, right, left. The boys loved it!

On the last night I sent my parents to my all time favorite restaurant, Tia Rosa's, for dinner to say thank you for watching my kids and they brought me back some of the delicious food.

(Please excuse the outfit here...I'm in my running clothes since the ONLY time to go running in Arizona is 10pm or later. Okay, I suppose you could wake up at 5am and go, but who are we kidding, I don't wake up that early...ever. So my Dad and I went running late each night and even then it was still 95 degrees outside, but at least the sun was down. I always love running with my dad, even if we have to do it in the blow dryer state!)

On our final day (which was a Sunday) we snapped a few group photos before church.

Getting my kids to look at the camera and both smile at the same time is like moving the children of Israel. Ugh!

Although it was a very tiring 10 days with LOTS of noise (how old do I sound?!) I'm so glad Jack got to spend so much quality time with his cousins. He had so much fun and loves them SO much! I LOVE these three CRAZY boys!!!

After our stay we packed up and drove back to St. George on a Monday and then I woke up and drove my two kids all the way back to Colorado the next day. Here we are at an Arby's somewhere along the trail home.

Ahhh, home at last with their daddy! They were SO excited to see Jeff! Jack pretty much hasn't let Jeff out of his sight (except for work) since we got home.

It's so nice to be home. I missed Jeff and I missed home. I had a wonderful 3 weeks away, but as cliche as it is to say, there really is "no place like home."

PS to my Mom & Dad...I LOVED being with you for 2 weeks. I loved our late night chats and I always have a blast hanging out with you two. I LOVE you!!!