January/February 2011

January was a pretty slow month after the excitement of the holidays and our trip. But the most important thing happened this month... Jeremy got a job at Adobe!! We had a feeling it was close and were hoping and praying. We were so thankful to be employed again.

We ordered ants for the ant farm from Uncle Aaron and Aunt Rachel. The kids had a lot of fun watching them build their tunnels. Those ants were only supposed to live for 3-4 weeks. We got a good 2+ months!

I went to a hair class with Nicole to learn a few new things and styles. I had no idea I could use a hair straightener on her hair. Not too often of course, but look how cute!

A fun sunday night activity: CTR pretzels. Yum!

Natalie started gymnastics this month. This gym wasn't her favorite though and she begged me to quite after 2 months. During the summer we put all 3 kids in at a different gym, and then she was excited get going again. Isn't she so cute up there?!

Kai and his lego skills! This kid has an amazing brain.

February was slow, but we got to escape the cold and run to St. George to get our taxes done. We love our taxman, all because he's somewhere warm and because he does ours on a saturday so we can come down for a weekend getaway every year!

Jeremy, his dad, and his brother finished building the shed. So exciting for both of us! I get more room in the garage now and he has somewhere more convenient to put his yard stuff and tools. 

Pinewood Derby! Jeremy let Kai build his all by himself, which was a good experience for him. However, since we followed the rules (unlike most parents), his car got last place in every single race! Poor kid, he wasn't too upset though. And we promised him this year we could improve the car and make it a lot faster.

Our new favorite park in St. George. There are a lot of fun things to play on. 

Natalie got a new bike! Her old one was too small and went to Nicole.  The one she was using was Kai's old Spiderman bike that we spray painted purple in an effort at girliness, and added a basket to the handle bars. This was much better.

Kai did a science project about the ant farm, they had made quite the tunnel system.

Toward the end of the month we went to a train show here in Utah with Grandpa Hermes. The kids got to ride in a big train and look at a lot of amazing set ups.

Kai received an award at scouts this month too.

First Day of School 2012

Nicole started school a week later than Kai and Natalie

Lego Land Day Two - December 2011

Jeremy and I debated whether Natalie should go back to the park another day after being so sick the night before. We finally decided that we didn't know when we would be back, so we could go and just take it slow that day and do 1 or 2 rides and let them pick out their promised souvenirs. 

Here we are with our Lego mom friend in front of the entrance. I can't believe some of the statues they've made from Legos, it really is amazing!

We all went on a jeep safari ride. We had to hold Natalie a lot waiting and hour an a half for this ride. She seemed pretty tired after this so we headed to the Dinosaur area.

There was a big dino dig area where you can check out buckets and shovels. The kids played here for quite a while, relaxing in the sun. The girls picked out one of their toys here. A cute little purse with a stuffed animal inside. We gave the kids the choice of buying one higher cost toy or two smaller items, they all chose to get 2. All the kids got a Lego set from the gift store, and you'll see what Kai's other toy was down below...

We saved the aquarium for this day, which was great since Natalie was not as energetic.

It was a really fun aquarium, we all really enjoyed it. Here's some video of a giant octopus and some sharks.

Kai was really into angry birds this month and wanted one so bad! The night before Jeremy played this same carnival game. Kai was so hopeful he would win, but we didn't. Luckily the carnival area here is not as overbearing as a normal one. The worker was really nice and apologized and said we could go to walmart to get some. haha Poor Kai was devastated though. He wanted one from Lego Land!

So, our last day he asked if that could be his small toy. Jeremy told him he would play until he won one! Best dad of the year!! However, I was really scared how much this dumb stuffed animal might have ended up costing. Jeremy paid for 3 games. On his first try he missed and didn't win, but he had success in the second round. Kai had his precious bird. Well, Jeremy had one more try and he scored again. Kai got 2 birds! I guess I need to have more faith in my husband's throwing skills. 

(Look at how excited Kai is before Jeremy even started. Then with his first bird, and finally with both). It was a great ending to the day. We left the park early that day and relaxed at the hotel the rest of the day.

We were lucky to be able to visit Jeremy's Aunt and Uncle while we were out there our last day of the trip (I didn't get a picture...next time!). We took the kids swimming that day too. 

We drove home on the 30th, my birthday. The same day my brother Kael and his wife Heather were driving back to California from Utah. We texted each other for quite a while trying to find a city to meet in for lunch as we would be passing each other. After a few hours we were nearing the last possible exit to meet up, it was in the middle of nowhere! But we did it, we got to see them and light off one firework. haha They stayed behind to set more off. We, however had to fly to St. George, where we were staying the night; Jeremy had a surprise birthday present for me - A message at a nice spa! 

We were already behind, so after our short visit, we took of, Jeremy driving like a maniac. Arriving only 10 minutes late to my appointment. Just late enough though that I didn't have time to shower and to rush right into my appointment. But it was ok, it was heaven!!

I got done with my massage and waited for Jeremy, and waited, and waited. My phone has died so I tried calling Jeremy twice. I finally got a hold of him and he told me they had a situation and would be there in a while and to check out the gift shop and buy something! Bonus!! I bought some lovely face cleaner and moisturizer that I love.

So the situation....Jeremy finally picked me up with the kids, but Nicole's car seat was missing, and the car reaked. He explained the ordeal, that went something like this- right after he dropped me off, Nicole exploded! And I mean, hadn't pooped for 3 days, exploded! It was everywhere. Jeremy got to the hotel and realized he couldn't even peel her out of the car seat in that condition, so left the kids in the car to check in, then sent Kai up to the room to get a big towel. I think it took a few trips for him to get it. 

Once he had the towel, he still didn't know how to get her out. And he happened to be parked by a bus full of older ladies, so he was trying to wait until they left so he wouldn't look like a horrible parent (sometimes we do worry that people will think we are racist or not taking care of our black child, or treating her different than our white children). Can you picture it, Jeremy pulling two cute, put together kids out of the car, then lifting nicole out of the car completely covered in poop, in front of all these women? That would be pretty embarrassing. 

Anyway, he managed to wrap her in a towel and they all ran to the room. he got her undressed and bathed her. I think she was in the tub when I called. After she was clean, he took her clothes, the hotel towel, and the car seat to the dumpster. It was that bad! 

The next morning on our drive home we stopped at Target to buy a new car seat and had to assemble it  in the parking lot! Good thing we have a tool set in the car. We got a lot of interesting looks from other customers. haha But we made it home safe, with a ton of memories from our adventurous trip! 

Thanks again to Santa (you know who you are) for a wonderful trip!

December 2011 Part 2 - Lego Land Day 1

Early the 26th, we set off in our car, making pretty good time. Until...we stopped for lunch in Vegas. The rest of the drive was wall to wall cars! It was the longest drive ever! That's the last time I travel anywhere a few days before or after Christmas. 

14 hours later, we checked into the hotel. The kids had gone a little stir crazy in the car and turned into wild monkeys when we settled into our room.

We woke up early the next morning too, excited to get to Lego Land for a full day in the park. The kids were so amazed by everything, especially our Lego fan, Kai!

Kai's favorite was surely the Star Wars themed area.

Many people don't know that there are plenty of rides in the park too. Nicole wasn't big enough for this one.

I was pleasantly surprised that they had a special princess area for little girls, who may not care so much about Legos. The girls got their faces painted, and Natalie got her hair done (I already did Nicole's special before we left) while Kai and Jeremy went on a dragon roller coaster.

Kai talked me into riding the robotic arm with him. You can choose how intense you want your ride. I told him we wouldn't go upside (level 2). Whoops! We did, and I think it scared him a little, he didn't want to go back on.

Although there were lots of rides, like any theme park, they were extremely long! However, most had a play area in the middle for kids. It was a mad free for all to scavenge bricks to build with.

One of the rides Nicole was big enough for. Riding in a car shooting things with a laser gun; Nicole was actually pretty good!

We watched a fun show at the end of the night. The kids played in a snow area for a while. A place with a slide and a place to build a snowman. 

We stayed until the bitter end...and then went out to dinner! Surprisingly they made it through dinner ok and crashed at the hotel. Well, somewhere in the middle of the night Natalie woke up and threw up all over the bathroom floor. Like, the kind I don't even want to go near. We mopped it up with the hotel towel and tried to rinse it out the best we could. I really hope they just threw that one away! Poor Natalie always seems to get sick on our trips, she has a sensitive tummy. 

Jeremy and I laid awake thinking about a plan for the next day at the park.....

December 2011 Part 1- Christmas

I don't remember much from this month except that we were tired of being unemployed and the stress that comes with it. Jeremy and I had no idea how we were going to do Christmas this year and told the kids numerous times it was going to be a very small Christmas with few presents.

Jeremy has wanted a shed since we moved in, so I gave the go ahead to build one (he needed another project to keep him occupied). He worked on that many many hours with help from his dad and brother. We really appreciated all your help, it turned out so good! And it freed up a lot of space in our garage. haha

Keeping up a family tradition of picking out a tree. This was before we found the winner.

Trimming the tree. I usually go with more of a designer look with the tree with everything coordinated and pretty, but this year we went old skool and decorated only with homemade ornaments. It was a nice change. 

We were lucky enough to get a visit from Uncle Kael and Aunt Heather on Christmas Eve! So of course we had to include them in another tradition...making an ornament!

And boy did we make ornaments! haha Look at these crazy snowmen! 

We were so truly humbled and blessed this year. We thought Christmas was going to be so disappointing for the kids, but through the generosity of so many friends, family, and neighbors, we had the best Christmas ever! Our tree was overflowing and a few extra special people even helped us plan a much needed vacation to Lego Land! Thank you!!! ; )

We were so excited to surprise the kids with this gift from Santa. We packed a big box wrapped with car activities and snacks and the tickets. 

We made the kids wait to open that one last, and they were so excited!! We told them we got to pack that night and leave in the morning, they couldn't believe it. Jeremy and I were excited too, we needed to get out a town for a breather.

Part 2...Lego Land!