Happy Birthday Nicholas!!!

Yesterday, the 23rd, Nick turned 32!!!!! We started the celebration on Sunday. My family all got together for dinner and cake. It was a fun evening to get together with everyone. Kaylee has become so photogenic, and she loves to smile for the camera. Here she is with Uncle Chris.

Hallie was even there to celebrate with us! Isn't she adorable? She is still so tiny, but she has the biggest blue eyes!

We ate Cafe Rio Pork salads and wraps and 7 layer dip. It was yummy! Then of course, we opened presents and played a game of Knock Your Neighbor. Nick got an green Ipod Shuffle and a pair of basketball pants. He is trying to work out more and so I think those will come in handy!

Again....our little camera cheeseball Kaylee.....she was so funny and loved having her picture taken, and then she wanted to see it on the camera afterwards.

Thanks again everyone for coming, it was a lot of fun!!!! On Monday, his actual birthday, he went to work, but when we got home we headed to Texas Roadhouse for dinner. His parents, Ted & Karen, came up and went to dinner with us, so it was a fun time!

We went pretty early for dinner, but it was nice because it wasn't super busy and we got a free appetizer!!

Of course, we made Nick sit on the saddle while we all wished him a Happy Birthday! I think secretly he was dying to get on the saddle all day!

Happy Birthday Nick! We love you!!!! Thanks again Ted & Karen for celebrating with us and making it such a great day!

New Hair & NEW MOON!!!!!!!!!!!!

When I found out I was going to have a girl, one of my first concerns was having to do her hair! But she has been an angel about getting her hair done and usually will cooperate and sit still while I do her hair. Now that she is finally getting more hair, I really love to do it! I always tell her how pretty and cute she looks and she just smiles at me when I tell her that. And now she LOVES getting her picture taken! Then she likes me to show her the picture on the camera. I hope I am not creating a diva...but she is such a cheese!!!!! I got her ready the other day and I thought she looked cute so I took her picture, and she was more than happy to let me! The night before, I had my hair done and I had cut my bangs again. So I also took a picture of my new hairstyle. It is always fun getting my hair done. It makes me feel like a new woman! I am not sure if I want to keep growing it out, but we will try for a bit longer. But I do like my hair shorter too. It is always an ongoing battle, isn't it?!?!!

The best part about Kaylee when you take pictures WITH her, is she leans her head into you all cutsie like! She is just a gem!!!

So after getting a NEW do.....I was even more excited to go to NEW Moon!!!! A bunch of us gals in our neighborhood got together and got tickets to the Friday Night show at 11:30. My mom also came with us, along with my brother Chris and his friend. It was a LATE night, but totally worth it!!!!

Me, Jana, and Chrystal.....we were all pumped up for the big show!

Me and mom....and our cool Sweeatheats New Moon Candy....(I found it at WalMart a while back and saved it for the movie).

The whole gang!

Me, Jana, and Tiffany......

I loved the books, and I liked the first movie, and I loved the second movie even more!!!! I can't wait to see it again!!! Thanks ladies for such a fun girls night out!!!! Can't wait for June 30 (the release date of Eclipse!)

Field Trip to the Supermarket & Library

On Wednesday Carson's class went on a field trip. I was able to go with them as a chaperone. We first went to Dick's Market in Bountiful. They did a great job accommodating the kids.
The took us back to different parts of the store, like the dairy and produce sections. The kids thought it was so neat to see where they stock the milk!

Then we visited the Meat Department. They had a fun machine that wraps the meats all by itself. The kids really got a kick out of that!

Then of course we saw the bakery and deli....they gave out cookies and potato wedges as a snack.

According to Carson, this was his favorite part. The Cake Decorator!

We stayed for a bit after to let the kids eat their snacks. They also got a fruit leather from produce department and a balloon from the Service Desk.

I love going on these field trips with Carson. It is fun to see him interact with his classmates. He is just getting SO big!!!!

After the grocery store, we headed to the library for reading time and a tour.

They even had a chance to do a little dancing!

It was a fun morning! On Monday, his class is doing a "Thanksgiving Feast" at school. Which makes me amazed that it is already Thanksgiving this coming week! Where did this year go? We are all excited for the holiday season though and we get to start the celebrations off with Nick's birthday, which is Monday!

What we have been up to....

Wow....the past few weeks has been super crazy, but in the middle of the craziness we still have found time to play and just enjoy being home. When Carson & Kaylee were at Grandma Karen's house, she made them playdo. They love it! So they begged me to let them play with it the other day. It is better than normal playdo, it doesn't go crumbly as easily and is safe in case they (mainly Kaylee) decides to eat it!

My two kids are probably like most other siblings....they get along great most of the time, but still have moments of fighting, toy taking, and screaming. On Sunday after church, after I got home from Choir practice, this is what I found them doing....they LOVE playing with the bar stools. I also like it when they ARE getting along and playing with one another! It makes my life not as stressful!

On Monday, we made a yummy chocolate cake and invited some friends over to help us eat it. I think it was a hit with both of my kiddos....what do you think?

Life has continued on since the explosion and repairs are coming along nicely. We should have the painters here on Monday along with the three basement windows. Then we will get NEW carpet installed the next week. In the mean time we are having fun playing with friends, preschool, parties, and of course the Premier of NEW MOON tonight! Yeah!

9 Years

November 10, 2000 was the day it all really began. Our journey together as Husband and Wife. The past nine years have just flown by! It is fun to think back about when we first got married, lived in a small one bedroom apartment and thought that $9 an hour was awesome! Nine years later things have really progressed from where we started! We have two adorable children a nice home and a career. I wish I could say that it has all been a breeze, but anyone else who is married knows it isn't just that easy....it takes work, sacrifice, dedication, and most of all humility. Life is crazy and you never know what kind of things you must face! But I always have to remind myself that whatever doesn't break you just makes you stronger! I still can't believe it is has been nine years, and next year will be ten...a whole decade!!!! So to celebrate we really wanted to get away and do something fun, so we thought Las Vegas would be perfect. We had gone to Vegas for our 2nd anniversary and had fun and it also worked out great since we could drop our kids off at Nick's parents house to stay. It couldn't have been better timing for our trip, since the explosion of the refinery and other real estate issues have been stressing me out. So I was so ready to get away. Nick worked on Saturday, so after he got home we finished packing and headed to Holden. Our plan was to stay there Sat night, and then take off Sunday morning. After we got to Holden that night, I started feeling a little nauseous, and thought it was just because I was working on my computer while driving, but it didn't go away. I spent all night throwing up! I hardly could sleep because I felt so horrible!! I was hoping to feel better Sunday morning, but after getting up I just couldn't get going, and spent the rest of the day sleeping and throwing up! We decided to stay Sunday night and see how I felt in the morning and then try and leave for Vegas. I slept MUCH better Sunday night, so Monday morning we got up and out the door and headed south! Ted & Karen let us borrow their Toyota Prius, which gets like 45 MPG. It was amazing the amount of money we saved on gas! And it was a great comfortable ride! I was impressed! We got to Vegas around 2:00 and checked into our hotel, the Stratosphere. Our room was on the 19th floor (24 floors total in the hotel). I couldn't believe how many elevators they had and how FAST they were. It was a great hotel, and we only paid $25 a night! We got settled and walked around the hotel for a bit and then decided to go sit in the Hot Tub before the pool closed and before dinner. The pool was on the 8th floor outside. It wasn't hot in Vegas, but it was a perfect 72 degrees while we were there! Then we ventured out and about the hotel and did some window shopping.

I love how in Vegas the Hotels are all so inclusive, so you don't have to leave the hotel! There is food, shopping, and entertainment! We also went to the top of the stratosphere and checked out the view. I didn't know it, but the stratosphere is actually taller than the Space Needle and Eiffel Tower! Later that night we went to the show "American Superstars" there at the hotel. It was a show full of impersonators. They had Elvis, Britney Spears, Tim McGraw, Carrie Underwood, and Michael Jackson. It was pretty good! And for being a guest at the hotel we got 2 tickets for the price of 1! After the show, I was SO tired and still didn't feel great so we were in bed pretty early! The next morning we were up pretty early and got a good start on the day. The best thing we did in Vegas was doing a session at the Las Vegas Temple. It is so pretty! It isn't like all the other temples, and I found it so interesting. It was a great way to spend our actually Anniversary! (Tues was the 10th....our actually anniversary day!).


On our way back to the hotel, we stopped at In & Out burger for lunch and some tshirts. That is Nick's little weird hobby...collecting In & Out Shirts! So he was glad we found one!

It has probably been at least a year since I have had a hamburger...(I do turkeyburgers normally). So it was pretty yummy, but since my stomach was still trying to repair itself I didn't quite enjoy all the food I wanted too! But it was good!

A view of our hotel on the way back from the temple.

After we got back to the hotel, we decided to go to the top again, since the day before we didn't bring the camera. We both wanted to ride the rides at the top, but since I wasn't feeling to hot, we decided it wasn't worth making me feel worse! Maybe next time!

On our way back to our room we decided to spend a few dollars on the Nickle slots for fun. And I had no luck what so ever, but after only playing like $2, Nick won $23.15!! Then turned around and used $1 from that, and won another $15.05. We cashed out the tickets and stopped while we were ahead!

We got back to our room and decided to rest up a bit. We ordered the movie "Ghosts of Girlfriends Past" and watched it in our room. It was actually kind of fun to just relax and watch tv! For dinner we decided to head down to the strip and find a restaurant to eat at. So we got ready and headed out. We walked through Treasure Island and the Mirage, but all the restaurants were SUPER expensive, and since I knew I wouldn't be able to eat a ton, we kept going until we found an Outback Steakhouse. It was a great little place and was a very romantic environment. We weren't super impressed with the menu, but it was still good food. I was really hoping we would have found a Texas Road House! We had our own little quiet booth and ate a yummy greasy Bloomin' Onion! Nick enjoyed his Baby Back Ribs, while I tried to eat some of my Chicken Ceasar Salad. I mainly ordered it so I could have the chicken, which was the only thing that sounded good to me at the time.

I am getting pretty good at taking pictures of ourselves with one hand! Good thing I have long arms!

However, when we were walking through the Venetian, an nice man offered to take our picture once he saw us trying to take pictures of ourselves! So alas, a picture of the two of us, that isn't a close up!

We walked around a few hotels and shops and just enjoyed the beautiful evening.

When we got back to our hotel, on the way back up to the room we stopped and watched people play all the different Casino Games. It was so amazing how much people would bet! I found it just as entertaining to watch them play then maybe playing myself! I think we will just stick to the Nickle Slots!

We got up early on Wednesday and got all packed up to head home. We got checked out of the hotel and on the road by 9:30 AM. We pulled into Holden around 2:30. It was so good to see the kids. We knew they were in good hands while we were gone. In fact while we were enjoying ourselves in Vegas....the kids were having a ball in Holden! They did everything from riding fourwheelers, playing in the dirt, watching deer, going up to the field and cabin, to this....

The had a ball with the leaves! I asked Carson if he missed me and he said "no". I asked Kaylee if she wanted to go home, and she said "no". Again, I know that they were in good hands! I just felt so bad, because Carson was sick during the nights while we were gone, and I felt bad that I wasn't there to be with him. But Grandma Karen took good care of both of the kids!

I can't wait to go back to Vegas someday when I feel 100% and can really enjoy the food and the sights a bit better! But honestly, it was kinda nice taking it so slow and easy! We didn't have to spend a lot of money and it was SO enjoyable to just do what we wanted and not have a list of things to get done! I recommend the Stratosphere Hotel if you ever stay in Vegas. It is a bit off the strip, but isn't too far to still enjoy the experience!

Thanks again to Nicholas for the past 9 years! For putting up with me and my craziness! Can't wait to do something AMAZING for our 10 year!!! I better start saving now....I have always wanted to go on a cruise!!! Love ya!!!!