December Fun

This picture was taken at night, so it looks a little crazy.  But, this is Ben and Mike's snow bunny

Ben wanted me to take a picture of his cool transformer block guy.  I was impressed with his block building skills



Ben playing on his snow fort



If Ben watches almost any commercial he thinks he needs what is advertised.  Ben has been asking for a shoes under for along time!  I was going to give him one just for fun for his birthday, but he got spoiled with his snowboarding gear.  So, I decided to buy both kids a shoes under and we had the 12 days of shoes under!  We put wrapped little toys in each of the shoe slots & the kids got to open one a day until Christmas.  They loved it!  We had that countdown, countdown blocks for the month of December, and chocolate advent calendars.  Ben and Hailey are at the perfect age, Christmas was so fun & exciting this year!



Where's Hailey?  We had a fun but very cold adventure in the Draper Park.  We went on a candy cane hunt!  The kids loved it and got fun toys afterward.  Eliza only lasted a few minutes.  It was snowing the whole time. 



After the candy cane hunt we surprised our kids with a trip to Incredible Pizza.  This was our first trip here and will definitely not be the last!  All 3 kids had a great time, this is a Ben getting ready to race!  Eliza was so cute and loved going on all the car rides and watching the kids play.

 12/4/2010-12/20/2010

November Randomness

Mike is a great project builder. We decided we wanted to do a deck. Here is a picture of the beginning of the deck. 11/6/2010
Hailey loves to be daddy's helper! Here is a picture of the 2 of them working hard. 11/20/2010

Mike and I taught Ben's church class in 2010. They were such a fun class! It was great getting to know all of the kids Ben's age. We believe in bribing children, so this is a picture of our class during their pizza party. They earned points every week in church if they were reverent and it took them about 10 weeks to earn enough points for a pizza party! It was a fun afternoon!

I love when Eliza does her tepee stand! She thinks she is so funny every time she does this. She looks through her legs and just laughs and laughs. Silly girl!

Well, the snow stopped the deck building fun. But, it brought on the sledding fun. This is Mike, Ben, Ben's friend Isabelle, and Hailey getting ready for some sledding fun just down the street. Ben, Isabelle, and Mike lasted about 3 hours and had so much fun!

Thanksgiving was a bit crazy for us this year. We go over to Mike's families for breakfast every year. We went to his Grandma Margaret's this year. We had been there a couple hours and had a lot of fun when Eliza got grumpy and tired. So, I decided to leave Mike & the kids there and bring her home. On the ride home she threw up all over! Poor little thing was such a mess. Then Mike hitched a ride home not to long after and he was sick too! We were supposed to go to my Mom's for Thanksgiving dinner, but Mike couldn't even get out of bed to watch Eliza. Eliza took a late nap, so I grabbed Ben and Hailey and went to my mom's. We actually made it through dinner then Mike called me when Eliza woke up and I went home to take care of the sick ones. It was quite the crazy day, and one we won't forget!

These Are a Few of My Favorite Things

For the two of you that read my blog...it has been a while since I have blogged. The main reason being that Mike got a new job!!! This is a great thing, he doesn't have to travel anymore! Maybe once a year instead of once a month! The only downside is that he no longer has his work laptop and that's where we kept all of our pictures. Now all we have is old bertha pc that we bought in 2002 and it takes way too long to download pictures and stuff. So I will just record some of my favorite kid things over the past few months.

Eliza always had hiccups when I was pregnant with her. One Dr. visit she was hiccuping when he was checking her heartbeat. When she came out she still got the hiccups all the time. But, a few months ago the hiccups stopped, I kinda miss them they were so cute.

8/5/10 Ben was reading a book and came to the word pal and asked what a pal was. I said that a pal is like a friend. Ben said ,"a pal is kinda like me and grandpa Buddy cause we really like each other". (Grandpa Buddy is my dad)

Hailey says mustard munsterd, and Ben still says aminal for animal

8/20/10 We went on a Daybreak amazing race where we followed clues through Daybreak and got prizes and ice cream and treats. At the end we watched Tarzan in the park. When Tarzan grew up in the movie, Ben said "he's a daddy now but he's wearing a diaper, weird huh?"

9/1/10 Eliza learned to super roll! So much for crawling, super rolling gets her across the room and wherever she wants to go. She can even change directions and go sideways

9/8/10 Eliza loves to eat her toes yum!

9/12/10 Ben was being crazy so Mike told him to go outside. Ben's feelings were hurt, so he went up to his room and was crying "mama mia, mama mia, mama mia"

9/25/10 We were at my families house and Eliza said Aly, it was so crazy

9/29/10 Eliza said mama without crying it

10/5/10 We were leaving to go somewhere and I was in the house getting Eliza ready. Mike and Hailey were in the garage. Mike opened the garage and then heard a scream from Hailey. He looked over and saw Hailey being pulled up by the garage. He ran over and was worried that her fingers were stuck because she was screaming, he didn't know what to do to lower the garage or try to get her. He went under her and she let go and fell into his arms safe with no harm. She told him she wanted a ride so held onto the bottom of the garage door as it went up. Luckily Mike caught her because our garage is higher than normal, she was hanging 10 feet in the air! She is a strong little thing!

10/19/10 Ben's 6th Birthday! On his big day poor little guy had to have his tonsils out. He was such a good sport, and had a really fun time at the hospital before the surgery. The nurses made him a happy birthday card and rounded up a truck and motorcycle for him. The surgical team even sang him Happy Birthday in the OR. When he was coming out of anesthesia the Dr.'s were really worried because he had his bear with him and they kept trying to give it to him to comfort him. Ben would hold it but then say it wasn't his bear. They let me come back and said he was hallucinating because he didn't know the bear was his. I laughed, he had brought the kinderbear to surgery, because it was his week to take care of the kindergarten bear. He was just trying to tell them it wasn't his bear but he was just taking care of it.

Eliza also learned to crawl backwards and clap

10/20/10 Eliza first tooth! (bottom middle right)

10/21/10 Eliza's second tooth! (bottom middle left) This explains why she was a crazy sleeper for a week!

10/24/10 Eliza is scooting crawling a lot more. She looks like a caterpillar when she crawls, she puts her head down then scoots, then looks up to see where she is, then keeps going. My favorite thing she does is to turn into a little tent. She puts her head and hands and feet down on the ground and pushes her bum up so she looks like a tent and looks between her legs at whatever is behind her.

October was the month of Eliza saying mama all the time, so cute!

11/3/10 Eliza said dada! Mike was very happy about this! Now when he comes home she says, dadadadada! Eliza also has learned to wave with her cute little right hand and she claps a lot.

Ben says "of course" all the time.

Happy Surgery Birthday to Ben

So, my cute Ben had his tonsils taken out on his 6th Birthday! I know this sounds crazy! It all started when we went to Heber. We were all sleeping in the same room & I listened all night while Ben would snore, hold his breath, then gasp for breath. He did this all night long! Ben has always snored, but I had never noticed the holding breath thing. So into an ENT we went, and sure enough his tonsils were as large as they can be & he needed them removed. We were originally going to have the surgery after Halloween because Ben loves Halloween, but then Mike got a new job. Mikes new job at American Express as an Auditing Manager is great, but the deductibles for his new insurance were not so great. So, we wanted to get his surgery done before his old insurance expired. So that left us with having his surgery on his birthday so he could still do Halloween.

We tried to make the hospital as fun as possible, and it worked! Ben had a great time before surgery; posing, talking with the doctors, and playing. The hospital staff was great when they found it it was his birthday. They rounded up toys (the motorcycle was his favorite) and made a cute birthday card for him. This was also the week that he got the Kinderbear from school. It is a bear that the kids get to take home for a week and dress up and take care of. Kinderbear got a hospital tag and got to go into surgery with Ben. We weren't in the OR, but the Dr's & nurses all sang him Happy Birthday before the surgery.

Post-op was not any fun! They came & grabbed me and brought me back as soon as he was coming to, and were worried telling me he was hallucinating and not understanding what they were saying. Of course this worried me a lot, I went back there and found my cute Ben. The nurses kept handing Ben his Kinderbear & saying here's your bear that should make you feel better, and Ben just responded by saying hoarsely "that's not my bear". So they were all freaking out because he didn't recognize his bear. I explained that it wasn't his, he was just taking care of it and everyone calmed down. Cute Ben! We ended up being in post-op for a few hours because Ben kept getting sick, poor little guy. Luckily he loves watching cartoons, so that kept his mind of his being so sick. They used every anti-nausea medicine out there and we were able to take him home. His recovery went really well. We kept him drugged up around the clock & he ate lots of boxes of push pops (those were the favorite of the 4 kinds of popsicles we bought). It was a perfect week to take care of Kinderbear! Ben and Kinderbear watched lots of movies & played his new Wii game Wii party. He was able to enjoy Halloween the next week and he no longer has sleep apnea! I'm sure his future wife will thank me that he doesn't snore anymore. A few months after the surgery he thanked me for letting him have surgery on his birthday! He is just the greatest kid ever! I don't know how I lucked out and got my cute Ben.

Future Dr???
On his way into the operating room

He did great recovering, this is 4 days after the surgery

Okay this is a silly picture, but I added it to show how much Eliza likes taking pictures. I couldn't get her to hold still so I could clip her fingernails, so I had Mike take pictures of her & she held still and did awesome! Yes she is a poser.

10/19/2010

Happy Halloween

Halloween was a lot of fun this year! Ben wanted to be a power ranger, so I tried to convince Hailey that she wanted to be a power ranger so all my kids would go as power rangers. But, Hailey only wanted to be a princess! So, my mom fixed up an adorable Cinderella costume for Hailey. Eliza's hot dog costume was irresistible, so Mike and I decided that we would be ketchup and mustard. My mom made our awesome pants, and we made the fabulous paper mache hats. (The great thing is we can use them next year and be crayons!!) I wore my outfit and hat to work the Friday before Halloween. I made it through most of the day, but the hats are very heavy and I couldn't make it the full 9 hours.

I don't have any pictures of actual trick-or-treating. We went to Mike's grandma Margaret's neighborhood and went trick-or-treating with cousins. The kids did great but it was pouring rain the whole time. We went up to my Mormor's house on Sunday and dressed up and had a nice dinner and lots of fun.

Isn't she just the cutest little hot dog!

This is a picture from Jana's Halloween party. Mike and I won for best condiments, come to think of it I think we were the only condiments, oh well!

Jake and Ben showing off their muscles!

We had a lot of fun at Jana's families Halloween party the week before Halloween. The only bad thing was that this was less than a week after Ben had his tonsils out. Ben loves to dance, and we had to tell him not to dance because of his surgery.

Ben's Impromptu Birthday Party

So, we had already celebrated Ben's birthday with some of his friends to the pumpkin patch and pirate island. But Ben asked what are we doing for my birthday party? I told him we had already had his party, but since it was the week before his birthday I guess it didn't count. So we invited my family and a few neighbor friends over and had pizza and some impromptu games. It was such a fun night, so I'm glad we did it. It was the night before his actual birthday when he got his tonsils taken out.

Mike, Ben, Hailey, Austin, Nathan, Will, and Ben

(Austin, Will, and Ben are neighbors in our ward)

Ben was whispering to Ben what his wish was!

Ben got snowboarding gear for his birthday! Yikes! He has actually now gone 3 times to Brighton with Mike and loves it. He is doing great and has had fun taking lessons. He loves going on the lifts and it looks like this will be one of his favorite sports. Now I just have to learn!

10/18/2010

Soccer Game and Hike

GOAL!!!!

Ben got more motivated to kick the ball after Mike offered him 25 cents every time he kicked the ball. Ben loves money and is great at saving it. So he had fun and made money playing soccer.


My kids love hiking! After Ben's soccer game we headed up Butterfield canyon for a little hike and picnic. Eliza thought the whole adventure was fun too.

Mike and Eliza

Cute Hailey taking her nap with one of her MANY stuffed animals. This is one of her "tigers" that she got from the zoo, and won't let out of her sight.

10/16/2010

Ben's Birthday Pumpkin Patch and Pirate Island Party

Our party animals; Ben, Ryan, Betsy, Hailey, Isabelle, Spencer, and Eliza.

If you were wondering where Eliza is, she is usually in her stroller having a great time!

Monsters in the Maze!

Ben and Isabelle (the birthday kids)

I love this picture of 3 cute friends. Look at the looks on the faces of Ryan and Spencer, priceless!

Happy Birthday Pirates!

This was such a fun day. We went to a great pumpkin patch/corn maze for Ben and Isabelle's birthdays. The kids loved going through the maze. Holly and Melanie got lost in the maze with Spencer, Betsy and Gavin. I made it out with the rest of the kids super fast so we just played with all the great stuff. The kids had such a great time. Our next stop was Pirate Island Pizza. Everyone dawned their pirate gear and we had a great time eating a pizza as big as a table and playing lots of fun arcade games. Ben still tells me that he is going to marry Isabelle and that she is his best friend. It is crazy that they are now 6 and have know each other since they were under 2 years old. What a fabulous birthday celebration.

10/11/2010

Bri's Shower and Wedding

My cute Eliza eating the camera cord while I try to take a picture of her.

My cute sister Aly & me getting ready for the wedding shower.

My fun mom & me

The bride-to-be Bri with Casey & my Hailey.

This was the funnest shower! We managed to fit 30 people in my front room! We had family from both our side & Jake's side of the family. The food was fabulous and so was the company. We had fun telling embarrassing or funny things about Bri & Jake and had a great time embarrassing Bri!

The Big Day

Hailey went and had her hair done with her Aunt Aly. She walked around all night telling everyone she was a princess! it was such a fun reception.

I stole these fabulous pictures that Jana took. I love this one of Ben and my nephew Nathan kissing Bri! Bri's wedding was so fun and perfect. We had such a great day!
09/11/2010 and 09/30/2010

Weekend in Heber

Ben and Hailey with their Hiking Sticks

Eliza's First Hike (She only stayed awake 10 minutes!)

My kids first time fishing!
I caught an Eliza Fish

Wheelbarrow games with Mike's family

This was such a fun Labor Day Weekend spent up in Heber! We went to a good friends baby blessing Sunday afternoon then headed up to Heber to Nicole (my sister-in-law's) cabin. My kids love it when we go up to Aunt Nicole's cabin. We have been in the winter a few times but this is the first time we have been up there in the summer. It was so beautiful, and we had a great time! We went on a hike and the kids had a great time with their hiking sticks. Eliza enjoyed the walk for about 10 minutes and then was asleep the rest of the time (probably why she didn't sleep at all that night). Hopefully Bri's hubby to be Jake wasn't too scared by all of our craziness. My kids favorite thing about the hike was seeing the bats come out, and Ben showed everyone how it is okay to pee in the middle of the road when you are hiking.

The next morning we headed down to Midway for some fishing. Mike is not a fishing fan, he finds it boring so we haven't ever taken our kids. We had a great time catching fish, and Eliza had a great time eating the fishing pole. Then we headed to American Fork canyon and did some more fishing and fun games with Mike's family. The kids loved being wheelbarrows. It was a fabulous weekend!

Real SL Game

We had so much fun at this Real SL soccer game! Mike bought 3 tickets at the first of the season and we thought we would get a babysitter for the girls and take Ben to the soccer game. The game with New York came up and we decided to bring the whole family! It was a great game and the kids loved watching the game. It was a packed stadium, and they had so much fun cheering for Real. Real won so that was even better!