Why I'm Not God

I've been thinking a lot about God lately. I mean, as a Christian I am taught to never cease praying, but I've been thinking about God even more than usual lately. After finding out some life-changing news for some friends of ours, it's gotten me thinking about a lot of different things and how my own life is going.

I have been thinking about why God does things. It's so frustrating sometimes to be the one on the other end of things and not have the big picture. Not that I'm frustrated with God; I know that He has a plan and does all things for our benefit. Sometimes I just have a hard time seeing the good that is coming out of it.

But then I sit down and watch my children laugh and play together before bedtime, or my amazing husband who does the dishes for me 10 minutes before he has to leave for work because he knows that it will be one less thing that I'll have to do that day. I notice these things a lot more now, and am thankful for the blessings that God has given me. I don't understand how bad things happen to people who are so much more "good" than I am, and wonder why God has blessed me so much, and yet taken from others. I don't feel like I am worthy of such blessings, but I'm thankful that God loves me enough to bless me anyway. I only hope that I can turn around and be a blessing to someone else in return.

I know I'll never understand any of it, and I'm ok with that, as long as I have faith that God really is looking out for me.

Encouraged

I just got home, and am feeling so encouraged. I hope that one day, my children will read this and understand how important it is to surround themselves with the right people.

Tonight, I was finally able to go to a bible study that the girls in my Sunday School class are doing. I made it to the first one several weeks ago, but just hadn't been able to make it since. The devil really tried to keep me from going tonight, too. He knows that I have a soft spot for my kids, and Evan started crying before I left, saying that he didn't want me to go. He even blew kisses to me, crying, and saying to catch the kiss so that I could save it in the van for later. Melt. My. Heart. But, I made it, and I'm so glad that I did.

The bible study was great, and I learned about having people around me that influence me in the direction that God wants me to go, and to also be that kind of influence-er for other people. On those lines, I feel so honored to have been surrounded by the girls at tonight's study. It was so great to hear their prayer requests and praises, and to be encouraged by their struggles and also their wisdom.

I went to the study feeling like I was headed in a million different directions. I left feeling a peace and calmness, and very encouraged. I even heard the song "Hallelujah" tonight on the way home, and saw a rainbow on a tv show right after getting home.

~Thank you, Lord, for showing me that I was on the wrong path, and that I need to focus on You constantly to feel this peace. Thank you for the wonderful women that you have surrounded me with, and who will continue to encourage me as long as I am willing to listen and learn from them. And thank you for showing me "You" tonight, because I now know that I've been truly missing "You" for a very long time.~

My Favorite Things The Kids Do

Here are some things that I think about during the day, but always forget to write down:

I love how Aubrie still kicks her right leg every time I carry her.

I love how Evan still hugs me tightly when he's feeling shy.

Aubrie has the cutest face when something surprises her, and then she'll say, "Oh, no!!!" She gets really into movies, and says "Oh, now!" all the time!

I love that Aubrie and Evan already know how to really relax. There's nothing cuter than seeing them all sprawled out on the couch, with a pillow and blanket, and just chillin'. (That'll probably come back to bite me one day...)

I love that my kids have such good friends in Kaytlynn and Delaney. I love watching them all play together and knowing that they'll have lifelong friends.

I love how Aubrie likes to walk on her tip-toes.

I love how Aubrie and Evan love to dance with me (Aubrie especially).

I love it when the kids put their arms around me, or when their little hands touch me. Evan likes to place his hands on my arms when he sits in my lap, and Aubrie will take my face in her hands and pull me in for hugs and kisses when she's going to sleep. It's my favorite.

I love how Aubrie loves to sing! She'll sing along to almost any song that she hears, especially the "moon" song that is from her favorite movie, "Moonbeam Bear." She'll sing, "ah ah ah meoon, ah ah ah kye (sky), ah ah ah light, ah ah ah bight (bright)." So. Cute.

I love how Aubrie likes to sit like a frog.

I love how Evan wants to blow us kisses and then catch them to save for later.

I love how Aubrie likes to spin around until she's really dizzy, and then the look on her face when she stops!

New House

Ok, y'all. I'm going to put this out there so that you can all encourage me and keep me going. Chris and I have decided to put our house up for sale in April.

I need encouragement to keep the focus on what is important. I get discouraged when I think about our house; thinking that we'll always be stuck her, that we don't make good financial decisions, that our kids won't get the best childhood experiences if we don't have a better house, that life would be easier if we didn't have to drive forever to go to church, etc. I get focused on all of the negative things, and forget that I have no control over any of that, anyway. So many times, I just try to do everything on my own, and forget that God is in control of it all, and has a plan for me and my family that is better than anything I could think of. That's how we got into this home in the first place! If we had waited on his timing, I KNOW that we'd be in a different place in our lives. But I choose to look at all of the positives that He has provided while we've been in this home.

I need encouragement to keep energy when it comes to cleaning out the house. I have this need to throw out everything in our house. But then I get busy with life, my new Thirty-One business, (plus I think I'm literally addicted to the computer!), and I don't work on things that I know are important. I even do that with Chris and the kids. I need energy and focus to get all of my work done, but everything else done, too. Oh, and I'd like to feel no guilt when I can't get it all finished!

Please pray for our family. We'd like to know that we're making the right decision, and that it would all go smoothly. Thanks so much!

3.5 Years

It's been 3.5 years since I gave birth to my first child. That seems like such a long time ago, and then I look at how fast my son is growing up and realize that it's gone by all so fast. My son is growing up to be such a wonderful young man. He's brings love, happiness, and kindness to our home, and to our hearts.

Evan is such a sweet little boy. He is getting big enough to actually play on Chris' phone without me having to tell him how to get to his favorite games, which blows my mind! I'm so used to doing everything for him, that it's crazy to think that he can do something techno without any help. I mean, I can't even figure out how to use Chris' phone sometimes... :)

He's still our talker, that's for sure. He'll explain every little detail of a story, or when asking a question. He can also remember every line of some of the movies we watch, like "Rio." He even does the facial expressions on the characters, which cracks me up! He's really paying attention to what we can and can't say, and is always asking, "Can we say that?" while watching a show. He said "shut up" to Kaylynn a few weeks ago, and got in BIG trouble. I know it's from "Rio," and it just goes to show that even when we try to protect the kids, (we don't watch cable except for PBS, and have Netflix so that we can screen anything they watch ahead of time), they're going to pick up on things that they shouldn't. He'll ask me, "Mommy, he said pepperoni. Can we say pepperoni?" So, it's a work in progress.

He almost never takes a nap nowadays, but he still has "quiet" time in his room. I've had to create a rule that he can't get out of bed except to go to the potty, because he'll get up and play with toys the whole time. But I'm so bad, because I never go back in the room once I'm out (cause he'll try to talk me into staying or cry when I leave again!). So even if he is out of bed, I don't go back in. At least he's being quieter up there than he would be downstairs!

I'm going to actually go right now, and find a board int he garage so that I can start tracking his growth. I've neglected it up until now, because I knew we'd be moving one day, and didn't want to leave anything important like that behind. But I look at him, and just want to have that board to keep forever on how much he's grown. Just looking at him makes me think he'll be a teenager before I know it!

I love having a little boy, and love him to pieces!

Aubrie's 20th Month

Ok, so I'm just now getting over the fact that my baby is 1.5 years old... and now it's already two months past that... In just four short months she'll already be two. Does that sound crazy to anyone else? Guess I should jump on planning a birthday party. Last year I waited until after Christmas to do it, and I got too busy and felt rushed. I can't believe it's time again already!

My Aubrie is such a wonderful and sweet baby girl! She definitely has her moments of drama, but it makes her so fun to be around! She loves to snuggle, too. She hasn't been taking naps at MDO lately, so on the way to the front door yesterday, she just whips her legs around and makes me carry her like a baby, and she was totally happy! Of course, I loved every minute of it! The other day, she saw me sitting in the rocking chair in her room, and she came up and said, "Eat! Eat!" But she was holding a sock, so I thought she meant "feet." "No, eat!," she said. She crawled up in my lap, and just snuggled down into my arm. It was a sweet moment, because she sat still long enough for me to just hold her again. Then we went and ate some cheerios; yummy!
She loves her brother! Every time she wakes up, and when I pick her up from MDO, the first word out of her mouth is, "Evan." And if I tell her that he is still asleep, she says, "No Evan leep." She loves to yell at Evan to wake up if he falls asleep in the car, "Evan, akeup!" She just wants to play with him all the time. That is, until he puts her in a head-lock (what he calls a hug...).
She is really talking a lot lately! It's so neat to watch her start to string her words together! When we get to her class at MDO she'll say, "Fun. Fens (friends)." I love that she is starting to express herself with words. She still signs a lot of things, though; I guess from habit. She'll still sign "please" and "more" almost all of the time, while she says the words, too.
I am still watching Kaytlynn & Delaney two days a week, and both of my kids are in love with those girls! It is so fun to watch them all play together. And these are good girls, too, so I'm happy that my kids will have life-long friends with good people. One of Aubrie's favorite things to say to Delaney is, "No, Naney." She calls both girls "Naney," even though we're working on her saying Kaytlynn's name, too.

Random, because I'm behind...

This is going to be a random post about whatever I think of because I've been so bad at blogging our lives lately!

1. I finished nursing Aubrie about two weeks ago. I nursed her a lot longer than I was able to with Evan, and I know that is because I was staying home with her, while I was working while Evan was nursing. It was so much easier this time around. In fact, it was so easy, that I had the opposite problem with Aubrie; she didn't want to stop! Around 18 months old, I started dropping one feeding a week. So we went from 3 to 2, then the next week, 2 to 1, and then I went from 1 to none. Although, I have to admit that I was having a hard time stopping, too, so we spent 2 weeks with her feeding just once before bedtime. Evan was 11.5 months old, but I was pregnant again by the time he was 13 months old, so I didn't worry too much about it. It was harder this time because we're not sure when we're going to have another baby. But, I'm going to enjoy having myself to myself for a while before going through it all over again.

2. Evan has been in big boy underwear for about a month, too! All of a sudden, he just started telling us when he had to go every time. He still sleeps in pull-ups at night, but he'll usually tell us in the morning that he needs to go, even if he's still wearing the pull-up. He's actually only had a few accidents while in the underwear, too. Once on the first day of MDO a few weeks ago, but I'm sure that was because he was so caught up in seeing new people, playing with toys, etc, that he didn't think about going. I'm so proud of him! It's so cute to see him running around like a big boy in his Thomas the Train or Cars underwear!

3. I've become a Thirty-One Gifts consultant! I was really thinking about it last Spring, but they were in a hiring freeze until August. It was great timing, because it gave me time to think about ways to make extra money, and when the time came it was still a great idea, so I did it! I'm really struggling with what the future may bring, financially. Not to the point where I'm worried because I know that God will provide a way for us. But I'd like to stay home with the kiddos as long as possible, and if we don't start making a little more money, then I'm going to have to go back to work next year. I think I'd be able to find a half-time elementary music position in Klein, but it's still more time away from the kids with a less flexible schedule. I'm really hoping that Thirty-One works for our family, because the changes in the school schedules has really changed how much I'm receiving for doing private lessons. I know that God has a purpose for everything, and I will just trust that He has led me Thirty-One so that I can give it my all and use it to help my family! (Plus, it's really cute stuff that I get a discount on, now!).

Naptime Conversations

(Evan talking while going to the potty in his room before naptime, heard through the monitor).

Peter Pan?
Peter Pan? I like Peter Pan.
And I'll blow your house down.
And I'll huff, and puff, and come to your party!
Try to get me! Hehehehe! Wheee!
(whispering...)
Gluegluegluegluegluuuuk.
Oookkk. And I peepeed, and I poopooed like the big bad wolf,
and I chased Peter Pan.
Ho ho ho. Ho, I'm going to bed.
(singing...)
Yes, you're a big bad wolf at our house!
Little piggies! Little Evan, let me come in!
I will blow this down! (puff)
But it's a brick wall! The first little pig, the first little m&m.
Built his house out of sticks. First little piggy, out of straw.
He comeded to a man that had straw, hehehehe.
(pretending to be pigs running with his hands)
Agghh, you got me!

My Cup Runeth Over

I just came down from putting my daughter down for the night, and I'm on cloud 9! I love my children so much, and they delight me in so many ways. Every night, my daughter just smiles at me and lets me hold her so sweetly. She wraps her arms around me, and gives the best hugs and kisses. Today she put her arm around my neck and started patting it, saying, "ok? ok?" She smiles at everything at night, and loves it when I squeeze her tightly giving her kisses. She is so hard to put down sometimes because I know all too well that this time will pass quickly, and in just a short time, I won't be able to do that anymore. Tonight I laid her down in her bed, and she looked at me and said, "appy?" (translation, "happy"). She wanted me to sing I've Got the Joy Down in My Heart, but I know that she was also saying that she was happy. I am happy, too, and I'm so thankful for what God has given me!

Life Since Utah

It sure is great to be back home! Two days after we got back from Utah, the kids and I left to visit my Mom's house, and ended up staying until Wednesday, August 3rd. My sister's boyfriend, Dave, was in town, and it's always nice to visit with him when he's around. We basically did a bunch of nothing; but it was nice to just enjoy each other's company. My Mom bought a water table for the kids, and even though it was 100 degrees outside most days, the kids loved it.

Since we've been back in our own home, we're starting to get back into our routine. Aubrie really seemed to miss her bed, because the first morning back, she just laid in her bed and kept looking around and falling back to sleep. I think she slept until 9:30 that morning, on and off, just enjoying her room. It took Evan some more time to readjust to his room, though. He kept yelling for us if an airplane got too close to the house. I think he was scared that it was going to hit the house, or something. But he's been fine for the last few days, and I think he's adjusted back to the sounds.

There are some things that we definitely miss about Utah; one being the weather. It's just SO hot around here, and it makes it hard to do anything outside. Chris and I have plans to put in some shade in our backyard soon, so hopefully that will help a lot and we can be outside more often. This is going to sound strange, but we also miss the recycling. It feels so wrong to throw out some of our trash when we know that it could easily be recycled. It's just so much harder to do that around here. And, of course we miss the company of some great people! Evan hasn't mentioned Ansley as much as I thought he would, but I hear him whispering her name, or saying something about Bud & Joy's house, when he's playing to himself.

Now we have to get ready for another school year to start. Chris is already hard at work again, getting ready for his first year as a Head Band Director (alone). The girls (Kaytlynn & Delaney) will be coming in another week or so, and my kids will start Mother's Day Out again at the end of August. I will hopefully be able to start up my lessons again very close to the beginning of school, but we'll see how that goes (there have been some crazy scheduling going on with all of this education stuff happening this year). But we are happy to be home, and ready to start another fantastic year!

Evan's 39th Month (3 years, 3 months)

I just realized that I hadn't written any monthly updates for Evan in 4 months! Wow, how time flies!

The biggest change in Evan over the summer, is that he is now fully into the "why" stage of life. For example, this was a conversation he and I had yesterday in the car:

Evan: Why is that Daddy's truck?
Me: Because Daddy is driving it.
Evan: Why is he driving it?
Me: Because it's his truck, and we're following him in case his truck messes up (battery issues).
Evan: Why is he in front of us?
Me: Because he drove off first.
Evan: Why did he drive off first?
etc, etc, etc.

Chris and I feel so lucky to have the kids that we do, because even on their worst day, it's not really that bad at all. They are still cute and sweet. I have to admit that I feel like I'm pretty good at dealing with them when they are having "one of those days," but sometimes I need a break, too. Chris is amazing when he comes home from work and can tell that I'm on a short leash with all of the "why" questions. He just picks it up from there and lets me have a little space, which I definitely need! I don't want to fly off the handle with Evan just because I'm feeling tired of answering his legitimate questions. I know that he needs to ask them in order for his development to be on track, but sometimes it's hard to answer the same thing 15 times. (Love you, Chris, and Evan!).


We haven't been making him take a nap for the last few weeks, and I'm still not sure how I feel about that. In my heart, I know that he probably still needs a nap. But he actually does alright until we put him to sleep at around 7:30. I can tell by 5:00 or so that he missed his nap, and he consequently gets into more trouble because he's tired. He's also been waking us up early to take him to the potty (which is awesome!), but it makes for one tired kid. I think I'm going to try and put him down around 1:00 today and see how he does.

Speaking of potty training, he's doing really well! I think that I am the lazy one when it comes to his training, because I feel like he should already be in underwear (except at night). But he is doing really well most of the time in telling us that he needs to go. He's doing great when it comes to pooping, so that's nice not to have to change any of those kind of diapers anymore! We'll see how it goes, though.

SLC Day 13

We woke up this morning ready to head outside again. We ate a yummy breakfast of pancakes, and then loaded everyone up in the car, along with some friends and family of Alia. We went past Snowbird, up a mountain named Alta, to the Secret Lake trail. Actually, we never made it to the trail. While driving up the mountain, the road was closed about 2 miles ahead of the trail for snow (even though there was no snow on the road as we were walking later...), and then another mile up the trail to Secret Lake. So, everyone decided that we could walk up the rest of the way... We made it about 3/4 of the way before one of Alia's younger cousins fell and twisted his knee. Then he felt lightheaded because he hadn't been drinking water. Then some policemen drove by, and called the ambulance to check him out. As we were waiting for the paramedics, our kids got to play in some snow on the side of the road. We were able to pass out snacks and more water to recharge all of our batteries from carrying the kids in backpacks, etc. The kids really were toast by the time we got to this point, so we decided to turn around and head back to the car. It really was a good hike and workout, and I hope that the kids had fun, too. The scenery was beautiful as always, and well worth the burnt calories.

After naps, we are heading out to Alia's Aunt Rhoda's house for dinner (enchiladas, I think). So that will be fun!

SLC Day 12

Yesterday was a great morning for us to kind of sit back and relax a bit. We enjoyed some breakfast, and just took our time getting dressed. Then we decided that we'd like to go to Trolley Square (kind of like a little mall area) and take the kids (& me!) to the saltwater taffy store. I LOVE saltwater taffy, and it is really good here. It was a fun trip, but there was hardly anyone there. I guess that is why the security guards decided to keep an eye on us, because there was a security guard who kept watching us to do something wrong. Nick actually had to go and fill out a form to take pictures of Aiden while inside the building, and Joy was asked not to take Aiden up and down the escalator. I guess that's why not too many people were there......

Then, again, we just came home and enjoyed the rest of the day together at the house. The kids have so much fun playing outside up here. It's going to be such a shock on so many levels when we go back home! But we will do our best to get them setup so that they can still do some of the things they were doing up here.

After the kids were asleep last night, the 4 of us and Joy walked over to Five Guys (a great burger and fry place), and then to Wing Nutz to pick up food, and then back home. We enjoyed some yummy wings and fries while we watched The Kings Speech on demand. It was such a good movie, and a good time being together.

SLC Day 11

On Friday morning, we all woke up early to head out to Heber, Utah, so that we could ride the Heber Creeper (a train). It was a 3 hour train ride that went from 11-2, but we had to leave around 9:30 to get there and buy tickets. While we were on the train, the kids were having a blast. After we had been on the train for about 20 minutes or so, the train stopped at an old train station. We all jumped out of our seats as we heard a shotgun go off right next to our window! We looked, and someone dressed as a train robber was getting onto our train! They did a great job of running through the train and asking passengers where the money box was, etc. The kids thought it was really neat. Evan kept saying, "But they are nice train robbers..."

After we got back to the original station at 2pm, we pulled out some lunch that we had brought in the car, and let the kids run around in a sprinkler that was setup there. When we got back home, and after kids napped, we all just played in the water table and backyard some more before bedtime. Another great day in Utah!

SLC Day 10

Thursday morning, we woke up and decided to take the kids up to Snowbird (a ski resort) to ride the tram and see the mountain and snow up there. Of course, it took us forever to get ready, so it was lunch time by the time we had all the kids fed and everything together. So we went to eat lunch at one of Bud's cousins' restaraunts named Philly's. It was really yummy.

We saw Bud's cousin while we were there, and she took Alia and I to her Day Spa to get a henna tatoo on our legs. It was a lot of fun, and neat to see all of the different businesses that they own.

Then we all headed up to Snowbird. We all had a blast riding the tram up the mountain, even if it did make me feel sick when the tram would move over the rollers and sway... It was so beautiful once we got to the top! You could see over the entire valley, and the mountains in the distance were just amazing to see. It was also neat to take our kids back to the place that we visited the last time we were in Salt Lake, before we had kids. Now we have "before and after" pictures, since that was 6 years ago. Aubrie loved playing in the snow, as that was her first time to see it. Evan wasn't quite sure about it because he kept slipping, but he liked throwing snowballs at people.

After the tram, we decided to let the kids (Evan & Aiden) jump on the bungee trampoline, and they had so much fun! I wasn't sure if Evan would really do it once he got all hooked up, but he had so much fun! He looked like such a big boy! He kept hanging from the bungee and asking, "Why am I jumping?" After that was finished, and as we were headed back to the car, Alia saw a moose with her little baby! It was so neat to see!

SLC Day 9

Oh. My. Goodness. I haven't written down what we've done since last Tuesday! Yikes! I'm glad that we have all taken pictures so that I can see what we did and when, or I'd never remember everything. Isn't that sad?

On Wednesday, we woke up and headed over to the Aquarium. It was so much fun! It was such a neat little aquarium, with great ideas and exhibits for all of the animals. It was also helpful that the workers were positioned throughout the building to answer questions and explain things about all of the animals. I felt like I learned a lot on this trip. The building was also very family friendly, which was really nice for all of our kids.

After the Aquarium, we all went back and let the kids nap and play at the house. Then Bud & Joy were so sweet and offered to babysit all of the kiddos (Miles included, Alia's cousin's baby), while we went out to eat at the Red Iguana. It is a cute little mexican food place that has been featured on the Food Network. It was sooo packed when we got there; we were glad that we had a reservation! The food was so good. It was a different flair on mexican food, with really interesting combinations of flavors in their food. Nick ordered a jalapeno margarita, while Chris had a cucumber margarita. They were both super yummy! They are also famous for their mole (pronounced mol-ae), and had all different kinds to choose from. It was fun to go out on the town without the kids and have a really great meal.

It was such a fun day!

SLC Day 8

This morning, Alia invited her friend Chelsea and her son Caleb over for a play date with all of the kiddos. He and Aubrie are only 4 days apart, so they were cute together. Caleb was really shy, though, and played mostly to himself. Although, our kids seemed to have dynamite running through their veins this morning, as they were running all over the house as soon as they woke up. I think that all of our traveling is finally catching up to them...

We played outside a lot with the kids this morning, while the boys helped Bud unload more of his garage. Then for lunch (a late lunch around 2:30), we decided to go to the family restaurant, O'Falafel. It was so delicious! It is always fun trying new foods. I was proud of Evan, as well, because he tried a lot of the foods that were brought out, and loved them! Ansley was super cute, too, because we could really tell that she loved going to the restaurant. Chris got embarrassed because Aubrie pooped and some peepee got on his pants, but that seemed to be the only casualty to the afternoon.

We were thinking about going to the aquarium after naps, but then we ended up babysitting Carolyn (Alia's cousin) and Josh's son, Miles (5 months old). So we basically just played outside some more! What am I going to do when we get back to Houston, and my kids want to be outside every minute of the day??!! We're going to have to get some sort of shade going so that we can be outside for more than 5 minutes at a time. I know that Evan is going to have Ansley withdrawals when we get back to Texas, too. They have really seemed to bond since we've been here, and seem to be the best of friends. It will give us another reason to come back to Utah more often; to see Ansley.

(pics later).

SLC Day 7

Today we woke up with intentions of going to the aquarium, but by the time we were all ready to go, the kids were already starting to get tired. Plus, it was such a nice and overcast morning, that we decided to head over to a place called Gardner Village. It is somewhat like Old Town Spring, but supposedly had a nice little petting zoo for the kids. When we got there, however, we learned that the petting zoo had been shut down by PITA (or whatever organization it is called). So we just walked around instead.

First, we went to the bakery and bought the kiddos a cookie. They were yummy, and everyone got to pick their favorite kind of cookie, so it was super fun. Then we just walked around to a few different shops (the girls girls going into purse and quilt shops, while the boys decided to head in a non-girly direction). There were so really cute little shops, and we enjoyed the time together. There was a cute kiddie toy/book shop that we saw, and looked at some really cute things in it. There was a fun toy that looked like a bear that you put a tennis ball into it, and then shoot it out at something. Aubrie didn't like that at all! She started screaming because it scared her! So then the owner put a fun little ball with glowing lights, and it helped calm her down... So we bought one for each kid. :) We ended the trip by going to the little pond in the town to feed the 3 ducks. They were kind of boring ducks, as they would have rather eat algae than our bread, but the kids had fun.

Then we took Aiden and Aubrie back to the house to sleep, while the rest of us went to Crown Burger. Chris has been dreaming of this place since the last time we were here in 2005! They had the coolest drink dispenser that we've ever seen, and of course the burgers were just as good as we remembered. Aubrie woke up after only a bit, so we didn't hang out too long before going back to get her.

After that, we took the kids up for a family friendly hike to Doughnut Falls. It was so much fun! Aubrie looked so cute in the backpack that Karim let us borrow, and Evan did great by walking most of the way up the trail, and halfway back down. Once we got there, we couldn't go all the way up to the top, but the kids liked getting to touch the really cold water and look at the beautiful scenery. By the time we got back the kids were basically toast. So we fed them dinner, and then hit the sack by about 8:45. Such a fun day!

(again, pictures once I download them).

SLC Day 6

Today, we woke up and had a great breakfast together. We have so much food leftover from the rest of the week, that we ate leftovers all day long; bran muffins, granola, potatoes, veggies, yogurt, etc. Then the "grandparents" offered to watch the kids while the 4 of us went to church. We went to Joy's church, K2, which was amazing. When we came home, the kids had been playing all morning and having a blast! Then we put Aubrie & Aiden down for a nap, while Evan and Ansley kept on playing. We finally had to put Evan down for a nap at around 3:30 because he was bouncing off the walls. He ended up sleeping until 5:30 before Chris went in to wake him up! Then we ate again, took a 2 mile walk around the neighborhood with the kiddos, made root beer floats, gave the kids a bath, and had them in bed by 9:45 (yes, PM) or so. Then the grown-ups stayed up playing scrabble and eating s'mores dip (ok, Alia, Chris and I ate the dip... along with giant smarties, chester's hot fries, and cotton candy...)...

(I'll ad pictures the next time I download them).

SLC Day 5

Yesterday was a very easy-going day. We woke up, and basically just played all day long! Bud & Joy were hosting a dinner for their Care Group, and we had a yummy baked potato bar for dinner. After dinner when the kids were all asleep, Chris, Nick, Alia, & I went over to Alia's cousin's house (Caroline) to hang out, eat s'mores, and have a little cerveza. It was such a fun night of talking, joking, and telling fun stories.

That is basically all we did today!

SLC Day 4

Today the kids slept in a bit. Aubrie didn't wake up until 8:17, and Evan would have slept longer if Aiden and Aubrie hadn't jumped on him to wake him up! Then we all got our stuff together and headed up to Mill Creek Canyon to eat breakfast on the mountain. Evan has been wanting to go on and "inside" a "green" mountain ever since we got here. So, he was pretty excited on the trip over there! It was freezing when we got up there, so we had all of the kids wrapped up in towels to help keep them warm. But it was so wonderful eating bagels from Einstein Bros and drinking hot coffee on the mountain! Then we all took of and went walking around to see the beautiful scenery. The kids loved looking at the waterfalls coming down out of the mountain. On our way out, we drove up to the top of the mountain, and it was just gorgeous.

When we came back, Aubrie went down for a nap (easily, I might add, yeah!), and we started getting ready for Aiden's party. Then the kids played outside again all afternoon. The kids just love being outside here! They have played with the water table for hours every day since we've been here. We MUST try to get something going in our backyard when we get home so that the kids can play outside more often.

Aiden's party went really well! It was a great gathering of people, and the kids had a blast playing in the bubble machine and with sidewalk chalk. Aubrie was walking nonstop all over the party, and Evan had a blast playing with Ansley and eating cake. Can't believe that Aiden is two years old already! He is talking up a storm and repeating anything that he hears. Such a sweetheart.


After the party, Chris and I went on a date to see the final Harry Potter movie. It was a great movie, and it is always nice to get some alone time with Chris. (Love you, honey!).