The Semi-Frozen North

My parents invited our family to share their timeshare in Flagstaff again this year and we were happy to take them up on it. It's been a few years since we've been and I'm a little glad we waited - I think things were much easier now that the boys are a little older.

We scrounged snow clothes for the boys and the boys played in the quickly-melting snow around the condo. When we arrived at 8pm, Roland wanted to go right out. We obligingly left him on the porch in his PJs, where he shivered for a minute and declared it too cold that night. But the next morning we suited the boys up and sent them out. While the sun wasn't great for the snow, it made it much more comfortable to be outside for more than few minutes.



I couldn't resist this picture of Roley crying with a face covered in snow. His brothers got a little rough.



We had a great few days, hitting McDonald's, Bookmans, church, redbox, etc. And on Monday we went sledding with the Rasmussens, who drove up just for the day. It was a beautiful, warm day, with lots of slushy hills. We left our camera in the car, but imagine Alden as the young daredevil, who would go off the tallest and steepest hills face down! He loved it so much and we're pretty sure he's going to become an Olympian in some winter sport. Emmett and Roland had fun too, going down the hills plenty of times. Roley constantly wanted to have a snowball fight and would throw handfuls of snow constantly while giggling - he's a cutie. Alden went off with the Rasmussens to build a snowman and have a real snowball fight. Kirk & Jody said that even when he had a faceful of snow, he was smiling wide and laughing. Here are a few shots from the car afterwards. We were all soaking wet because of the barely-there snow, and I loved Alden's face covered in dirt from going face first down the hills.

Thanks for inviting us, Ma'am and Grandpa - we want to go again next year!

Week in the Pines

Our family headed "up the mountain" to Pinetop Lakeside last weekend to spend some time with Aaron's parents and sisters. Aaron flew home on Sunday but the boys and I stayed all week, getting back yesterday evening. Here are some pictures and highlights of the week.

We had a great time.... during the days. The nights were pretty hard on me - I haven't gotten this little sleep since Roland was a newborn. We are glad to back to our own house, with a locked, dark room for the boys to sleep in. We put them to bed at 7pm last night and didn't hear a peep until 7:30 this morning. Ah, bliss! If we could move our house up North, we would - it is so beautiful there and we love being around Aaron's family. A huge thanks to all of them for so much help the last week - the boys love their Nana & Papa, and Auntie Mette, and Candice's family too!

Last Minute Trip to DC

Aaron found out on a Thursday that he would be spending the next week in Virginia for a training class and called me to ask if I wanted to go too. We had a free ticket we had been hoarding and this seemed like a good time to use it. Turned out to be a $1400 ticket at the last minute - but free for us! So after a few frantic hours of arranging babysitting, and getting over the guilt of missing Alden's 3rd birthday, we were set.

A humongous thanks to all our babysitters, which consisted of sisters, sister-in-laws, and a generous friend. Funny how grandmas aren't always around at your beck and call. Apparently they have lives of their own, go figure. But Aaron's mom did take them the last day, when I flew home. Obviously I wouldn't have been able to go without all this help.

We stayed at Tyson's Corner, which is a big, fancy mall place with lots of restaurants, shopping, etc. Which is great since Aaron was in class all day. But we did have the evenings together. I saved any touristy kind of stuff for another time, since I have been before anyway. As luck would have it, 2 of my girlfriends moved out to DC in the last few months. So I spent the first day helping Lindsay & Kim move into their new house with their sweet girls. They're the ones who let us mooch off them for like 3 weeks this summer in Provo. So I seriously owed them. But man! They're slave drivers - so I feel like we're even now. But I was so happy to hang out with them, which I did a couple other days too. And they had to pick me up everytime. But I'm pretty sure Lindsay was looking for excuses to drive her brand-new, fancy minivan. And I was able to see Colleen Wheeler and her cute family in their new house. I doubt that all houses in the DC area are wonderful, but the 2 houses I spent time at were frankly amazing. So beautiful!

I also spent a day shopping, and plenty of time sleeping in a watching television or reading. Plus a very healthy amount on a video for my grandmother, whose 80th suprise birthday party was 2 days after I got back. Which was great, because I got way more done out there than I could have at home with my 2 monkeys.

So, wonderful to spend some alone time with Aaron, see my friends, take some personal time, and just have a great vacation in general. And the boys (and their sitters) survived, even if Alden had a lot of potty mishaps and Emmett apparently picked this week to become a complete Mama's boy. But hey, you gotta take these chances when you can.

The Big Utah Trip

Okay, this is the worst part of not blogging for so long. Now that I'm finally getting around to posting about some older events, I can't remember all the details. And this blog is supposed to be our family journal, so that's kind of important. At least I took a lot of pictures, so I'll try to recreate what I can of this monumental, 2 week trip.

First of all, our warmest thanks to Kim & Lindsay Moore of Provo, UT for putting us up... the entire time! Yes, they are the bestest friends ever. And a big thanks to Marcy Wilkinson and Lori Young, for being willing to put us up for part of this - somehow it never worked out and we just stayed and stayed in Provo. Alden still tells me 2 or 3 times a week that he misses Lauren and Ella. Well, we did make a lot of good memories with them. I miss all the Moores too, even Kim. But I'm so glad we did this - because by now, I think the Moores have actually relocated to Virginia, where Kim has a new, fancy job. And I think that might be too far for a road trip for us. But hey, we'll save our money for plane tickets.

Amazingly the trip up went pretty well. I drove alone with the boys, and they were much better than I anticipated. Thank goodness for DVD players. Even Emmett seemed interested for a minute or two. Once we hit Provo the fun began and we went to a BBQ with the Moores at Salem Lake. The boys had their first canoe ride, which was all of 5 minutes long - but good enough. Emmett cried the whole way because he didn't want me to hold him but I wasn't about to let him down. During that first week we spent time with the Youngs in Orem. Alden loves those boys and would follow anything they did. They jumped on the tramp, rode bikes, and played in the water. All while I tried to keep Emmett out of trouble and enjoy visiting with Lori. We also spent a morning with Shannon, her sister Marcy, and their 5 girls. Very fun, but kind of weird. Considering Shannon and I hadn't seen each other in 9 months, we should have had a lot of catching up to do. But since we talk constantly on the phone - we didn't have any new stuff and we just picked up where we left off. Except I was the one pregnant - and she is super skinny now. I love her newest, Lucy, whom we had never met. Emmett was quite taken with her too - as I posted previously, with a very cute picture. Alden and Callie get along much better now that they're a little bit older, and their boy/girl differences are much clearer now.

Meanwhile, at the Moore's, we played in the sprinklers with our old BYU roommate, Molly, who was in town with her two girls. And the next day Molly's clan joined us again at the Wilkinson Center for a little more bowling. I swear this is the part of our last trip Alden talked about most. We had fun with just the Mom's this time, and Lauren had the high score. Of course, we topped this outing off with kid's hamburger combos at the Creamery on 9th. Mmmmm!

And the last day of our vacation sans Aaron we spent at the Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake. Kim even took the day off from the bar review and came along. I wish I could say it was worth it. First of all, the zoo is approximately 679 miles from Provo. And hard to find. We wandered for quite a while and called for directions 3 times before we finally found it. And compared to the Phoenix zoo, this one is pretty small. But the kids enjoyed it, especially the white alligator. And the train, which is always Alden's favorite part.

Thanks goodness Aaron flew up after only 4 days, but I gotta say - if Lindsay were around all the time life would be easier. She watched kids while I took naps, helped discipline, feed, etc.

Our first family outing was the Childrens Parade down Center Street in Provo. This was so fun! So many kids and families; dressed up, decorated bikes, wagons, and everything. I posted about it in my last MMSM post - Alden had a wonderful time pedaling his trike the entire way.

After a favorite (Tara's) El Azteca lunch on Saturday, and a not too eventful sacarament meeting, we spent Sunday afternoon and dinner with Marcy, Shannon, & families. Aren't we so cute, all paired up! I swear Shannon & I are not holding hands.

Thanks you two for the wonderful dinner of pulled pork, Shannon's homemade refried beans (which we really miss), and all the good fixings for burritos.

The next day, Monday, we headed to the new Utah Ikea for breakfast and shopping. Marcy & Shannon brought their babies, and Lindsay even skipped swimming lessons and brought the girls. We had fun showing off our favorite store to the newbies - and lamenting the differences between the restaraunts in UT and AZ (AZ is better). We couldn't buy much, having to get home and all - but Marcy sure seemed interested in a lot of things. She'll have to bring a moving van next time to pick up all her new stuff.

Monday was also July 2nd, and Lindsay's birthday! We had a little girl time (shopping) together and I made her a cake. Yes, that is a pink peep on top - and yes, they do light on fire. Ask Lindsay.

The next morning (Tues 7/3) we tried to go the the hot air balloon festival, but missed it by an hour. This was the only time all trip that we put the boy's sweatshirts on. We continued the party with breakfast at Cracker Barrel, a Carpenter favorite since Florida. The food was good, the kids (ours) were decent, and Emmett ate his first cigarette butt. Yes, ate it. Well, mostly. My poor baby had smoker's breath for hours, even though I wiped out his mouth with a wipe.

We got together with Aaron's sisters, Rachel & Sally, and their families for picnic that evening. Alden loves playing with his cousins and we really enjoyed visiting with everyone. Alden like kickin' it with Jarren too! Gotta love all the BYU apparel from last trip.

Ahhh, the 4th of July in Provo! And being only 2 blocks from the parade route! And having friends who saved awesome spots and provided a yummy breakfast! Obviously the parade was lots of fun - Alden enjoyed it tons, being his first parade of rememberance. His favorite part was probably the group of Star Wars costumed people who walked in the pre-parade. Yes, this is a real thing. The costumes were pretty awesome and Alden couldn't stop talking about it. Too bad Aaron missed it - he stayed home with Emmett until after morning naps. We would have skipped the naps, but Emmett woke up with a pretty good fever and was obviously not feeling well. They did make it for the parade and Emmett was happy to sit on my lap a watch, a testament to his illness. Alden also liked the "soldiers," of which they were many kinds, and the flag. He waved to everyone.

The whole vacations kind of went downhill from there. Emmett got worse and worse and after two days of sitting on my lap crying and us cancelling plans, I took him to the doctor, who diagnosed "raging" ear infections in both ears and put him on the expensive antibiotics. The pharmacist told me not the break the (glass) bottle or spill it because it was like $100 retail. We just sat around a lot after that and Aaron & I took turns doing some fun stuff - golfing for him, more shopping for me. Poor Alden was stuck at home for a few days, and he and the Moore girls started getting on each other's nerves. Thanks goodness we left early Saturday morning - giving everyone a much needed break.

Man, what a trip. I know this post was super long - it took me like 9 days to write about it. Thank goodness for autosave on Blogger.

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggedy Jig

What a trip! We had a wonderful time and for me the whole thing was very relaxing. Probably not as much for Aaron as he watched the kids a bunch of times while I played with my girlfriends. But if it weren't for the 2 car rides, it would have been darn near perfect for me. We did make it back in record time, despite the tears falling from at least three of our faces. Just two pictures of me and my friends. Lori and I love to do the self-portraits - we have tons! Lindsay and I somehow forgot our cameras at women's conference. We are wearing the matching pjs that Katy gave us for Christmas. Thanks, Kate! Our thanks again to the Moores and Youngs for putting us up - we miss all of you already!

Showing off the new BYU apparel.

Now back to normal life. Anyone know where you can take your car to degunk the filth of two tired parents and two small boys traveling in a too small car for way too many hours? We are so getting a minivan before we have another kid!

Utah, Take III & IV

Highlights:

• meeting new friends
• J-Dawgs
• bowling at the Wilkie
• kids meals at the Creamery
• spending time with family & old friends
• Emmett's
• Thanksgiving Point Dinosaur Museum

Is it sad that 3 of the 7 items on the list are places we ate? Don't judge us - we love food! We are having tons of fun hangin' with the Moores, visiting cool people & places, and enjoying the quality family time.

To Utah We Will Go...

Well, we somehow survived the car ride and made it to Orem, Utah. I'm not going to lie; it was very hard. We took these pictures early in the trip before Mom got ready to gag everyone. Emmett was pretty good, just didn't get enough sleep and doesn't like being stuck in the carseat that long. And Alden was about as good as he can be - which is probably like any 2 year old boy. My backpack of fun activities didn't last as long as I wanted - but thank goodness for portable DVD players! The 11 hour trip took us 13 1/2 - but we're here now and having fun!

Alden is in little boy heaven - we are staying with my friends, Lori & Blake, who have 3 boys. Toys and friends galore! And Emmett follows all 4 of them around. He has learned to go up the stairs by himself. We went to church with the Youngs - Alden enjoyed nursery as always. They even said he was good. Aaron's sister, Sally & her family had us over for dinner and the boys loved meeting their cousins, who are big and could take them to play. A thanks in advance for the babysitting these same cousins will do later this week.

A Week in the Snow

The boys & I at our favorite snowy playground.

Emmett & Gram.

Tami & the cousins/snowman builders.

The babies on the swings. Emmy & Rex, with Brooki helping.

Mons spent hours pushing all the kids down the hill on the toboggan.

Thanks to Aaron's parents, we were able to spend last week in our own timeshare in Flagstaff, just 2 doors down from my parents. My parents have had the 3rd week of January there since I was in Jr. High and I have many fond memories of the family, friends, and skiing. No skiing for me this year, as I spent my time with the boys. Aaron was able to come up over the weekend with us, when it was very snowy and cold! Fun, as long as we stayed inside by the fire. On Sunday Aaron went home and my sister, Tami, came up with her 4 kids. Most of them stayed with us, as my parents enjoyed the company of our long-time family friends, Mons & Sally Ellingson. Alden had a wonderful time with his cousins and playing in the "ho" and building a "ho-man" as he admonished everyone, "no eat lellow ho." The things Dads teach their boys! Tami and I really enjoyed our evenings together once the kids went down. We discovered that we like a lot of the same tv shows, and both our husbands hate them. So things were crazy, but fun, as most vacations are. We even had Aaron's sis-in-law, Missy, and her kids, Gabe & Corinne, come stay the last day & night with us. We are glad to be home, but thankful for a great vacation!