April Fools!

So yesterday...I looked out the window and what did I see? April has sure fooled us all here in Utah; making us think it's a spring month, but deciding to torture us with more winter. Argh! Is the end of winter ever in sight? Will spring begin at all before summer gets here? Alas, I will just resort to checking weather.com every day.

Blogaversary!

I have been blogging for a WHOLE year today. Sorry I haven't posted much lately. There isn't much to say other than the normal: go to the gym, laundry, dishes, clean up toys, prepare meals, pickup carpool, bedtime, REPEAT. I am preparing to leave town tomorrow, and boy, I procrastinated a lot of stuff. So, I am tidying the house, packing and trying to squeeze in a doctor's appointment for Braxton, haircuts for Brax and Gabe, and Braxton's swimming lessons, along with showers for all the kids and get us all in bed on time to leave by 5am tomorrow morning. Wish me luck, I know I'll need it.

San Francisco Here I Come!

Okay, so I hate unpredictable weather. Two weeks ago I was outside enjoying the warmness, and today there is a foot of snow outside. Aargghh! However, there is a light at the end of the week. My sister called me about two weeks ago and asked if I would drive to CA with her and her kids. Both her husband and Colby need to stay home for work, so having two people driving would really help her out. After consulting with Colby, we decided that I could manage to the kids and myself on vacation with her. So, my sister Tyra, 3 of her 4 kids, myself and my 3 boys are all piling in a Suburban and making our way to Oakland for a family event. Then heading over to San Fran for some sightseeing and good times. We will be gone for 6 days with 6 kids and no hubbies. Wish us luck! Luckily she is the great bargain finder in the fam, and I have done long 12 hour drives plenty of times with my kids, so I have a general idea as to what to pack that makes it bearable for all. The two of us together is a great organized combo. It's the part of staying in a hotel room, and trying to get my boys to sleep with no help from Colby that worries me. Hopefully we can exhaust them every day and they will hit the sack with no arguments. Let me tell you right now how grateful I am for technology: laptop, ipod, dvd player and movies, Nintendo DS, are all items on my packing list to keep the little ones entertained and minimize the quarreling. A nice aspect is that her kids seem like siblings to my kids, a bad thing can be that her and my kids my start fighting like siblings. Oh well, with the youngest of hers that is going being my oldest age, it will help to have the other two older kids in the car to help with Gabe and Tristan. I know that area is usually cool in temperature, but I am hoping that it is at least warmer than Utah is right now.

Happy St. Patty's Day!

In honor of the holiday, I took a leaf from my mom's book. I made green oatmeal for my boys' this morning. I rarely cook a hot breakfast, but I was already up and at it from the gym, so I figured why not make it a fun day. A little green food coloring in the pot right before it's done and tada! St. Patrick's Day oatmeal. They were extremely hesitant to take the first bite. Braxton claimed it looked like oobleck. Whatever that is. But, after some encouragement, he announced that it tasted good. Thanks mom, for introducing me to fun holiday traditions as a kid. I remember having pink "Wheat Hearts" (like Cream of Wheat for those who don't know) as a kid for Valentine's Day. Here are my boys' in there St. Patty's Day shirts from Old Navy. And, I am proud to announce that I put the trampoline up all by myself today.

Finally...it's feeling like spring!

It has finally warmed up this week, and weather looks to be that way for a week or more. The boys' had a good time playing with our neighbor and friend Jacob on Saturday.

(Poor Jacob looks squished on his on Tricycle.)

Then later that evening, Colby's parents let us bring the grand kids' power wheels over to our house to play with. Their oldest grandson is now too big for it, so now my boys' don't have to wait to go over there to ride it. We had a lot of fun using it yesterday after the battery had been charged. We had our friend Ben and his daughter Riley over to go out to lunch with and play at the Treehouse Museum with Tristan while Gabe and Braxton were in school. After we picked Gabe up from preschool, he and Riley took turns driving. Then they washed the truck while waiting for Braxton to come home from school to drive them fast.

Xavier's baptism.

Colby's nephew Xavier just turned eight, and asked Colby if he would baptize him. Colby agreed and Braxton was excited to see what he has to look forward to. It was a fun day, for some. Tristan and Gabe gave me a run for my money, so afterwards, I dropped them at my moms' to enjoy a dinner at Bella's with Colby's family and Braxton.

Xavier and Colby before the baptism.

Xavier and his dad, Tyson afterwards.

Colby's family that attended, minus Braxton - he was being camera shy.

Spur of the moment Family Night.

Friday nights I love to go out to eat. I have been cooped in the house most of the week with the kids, and I usually beg Colby to go out. We wanted to get something to eat before the kids hit the sack last week. We tried our normal group of people that we hang with on the weekends, but everyone was busy at dinnertime. We were ready to just go by ourselves, when Colby suggested we call the Miles' family. They were already eating pancakes for dinner, but wanted to come along with us anyway. We eat really late, unfortunately usually around 7pm, so we headed to Costa Vida (my new fav' place to eat in the last year). For those that don't know, it is located in downtown Ogden, and next to a indoor surfing place. You can sit and eat while you watch people either excel at surfing or biff it. It's quite entertaining for adults and kids alike. We enjoyed our dinner, then decided to treat our kids to a game of bowling (something they beg us to do all the time). Although Heather and I spent most of the night entertaining our restless 18 month olds, the older kids had a blast with their dads.

Tristan and Jed playing some skeeball (spelling?).

Braxton surprising Kelly with a quick kiss.

Gabe and Bryce waiting for their bowling ball.

Warm day...

We had a warm Monday and Tuesday last week. The kids were excited to play outside. They had some fun on scooters and playing with Gabe's wagon. We had a nice, warm Sunday (enough to unload some outside toys from the shed), and now we have snow AGAIN! I'll tell you what....I'm done with this weather. I am already planning our next vacation and it will be someplace warm. Here's Tristan caught doing something creative while I was washing dishes last week. And Gabe at a preschool field trip, riding bikes/scooters.

Back from Las Vegas!

Warning! Lots of pictures ahead. I don't do slide shows, sorry.

Well...we got back Tuesday night, but we wished we had gone an extra day. A day for driving there, a day to play and another day for driving back? It's just not enough. We should have scheduled 2 days to play, but now we know for next time.

We dropped Braxton off Saturday night, and the younger boys Sunday morning. Then off to get some breakfast to start the vacation off right at IHOP. Colby and Mike drove to Nevada, usually I help but I got a break this trip. The weather was perfect. We checked into our hotel, The Palms. It is the nicest hotel we have ever stayed in. We all were extremely impressed and grateful that we got the good rates that we did. We rested from the drive and then we were off to eat German food. Bavarian style seating, that means lots of tables with benches, you won't always know everyone sitting at your table. Live polka music, and the workers all dressed for the occasion.

(Sorry, I didn't notice the food looked a little obscene when I took the picture but it was good.)

Yum! Colby, Mike and a bunch of our friends all used to work at The Bavarian Chalet in Ogden.

(Mike and Christina Peterson)

So, we miss the food and jump on every chance to eat it since the Chalet closed. If you haven't experienced a Bavarian restaurant, you should if you get the opportunity. Culture, tradition, good food and fun all rolled into one.

After dinner, we drove around sight seeing while looking for a store that Colby wanted to check out. The next morning we got to sleep in, wahoo! I haven't slept in for a LONG time. It was heavenly. A bit of shopping in the hotel and it was time for lunch at In-N-Out Burger. But first, we had to find someone to jump our car because we left a light on all night. Gotta love it! After our delectable lunch, we parked at MGM Grand and viewed the lions then visited the Rain Forest Cafe gift shop before walking the strip for some more shopping and fun.M&M shop, Coca-Cola Shop, a water show at the Bellagio, then to the Forum Shops at Caesar's Palace.

(Colby and Mike snuggling.)

We paid for some outlandishly expensive refreshments before walking the 2 miles back to the car. In fact, Christina and I were so sore and tired from walking that the guys offered to let us hang out at Bally's while they ran three blocks and drove back to pick us up. They were so thoughtful. We hit the Bistro Buffet in our hotel before heading to the casino floor for some light gambling.

(Colby wanted this picture with Mike in front of the Alien slot machine.)

I hate slots. I much prefer blackjack or nothing at all. But I'm not a big gambler, I prefer to use my play money to shop with. Colby loves to hit the tables, but he is a conservative player and sets a limit for himself. We had a good time, and our hotel wasn't saturated with smoke like some of the older hotels, so it was bearable. We had some of the best non-alcoholic Pina Coladas we have ever tasted.

Another morning to sleep in before we are back to the real world.

(Good morning!)

We snagged some breakfast and checked out our rooms. Had some more pina coladas and a bit more gambling fun before we all piled back into the car for the long ride home. Thanks to the Peterson's for going with us and all of their entertaining antics. And a huge thanks to our parents for watching our kids. Oh, and to our good friend Doug, for feeding the cats and checking on the house.

More antics from Gabriel...

Gabe is starting to get really good at writing his name, as well as other letters of the alphabet. In fact, he takes every opportunity to draw or write that he can...

With a sharpie. Thankfully, only with dry-erase markers.