Right at home

We decided to head out to the Rangers game last night as a family. The kids did awesome. Natalie learned about the pitcher, batter, and home runs mean fireworks! Boots didn't love that so much. But one thing for sure, we love baseball! This was the first game of the season for us and I LOVE IT!

So on the way, we stopped for gas. You gotta love the out of order sign.

And on the way home at 1030, we fully expected two sleepers. NATALIE totally got her second wind though, and devoured popcorn the whole way home.

I haven't talked about the kiddies little diddles lately, soooo here ya have it:

-I love how in Natalie's mind, everything happens tomorrow. "Mom, tomorrow we see Meewa k?" (that's Melia) "Mom, tomorrow my baby sister will come out ok?" "Tomorrow we can go to Canada." She says it about everything. It's either that or "Everyday ok?" "I see cousins, EEEVERYDAY!" "Eeeeveryday I will eat cookies."

-Then we always have to take turns with songs in the car. "Mom, after you listen your song, I listen my song k?" Or even when we sing together primary songs, she has to have her own turn making up songs about necklaces and puppies, then give me a turn for my songs (aka, the real songs). But she can sing all the words to 2 verses of follow the prophet now and is so proud of herself.

- a skirt or dress have to be worn daily. Shorts and pants always hurt. And sparkles have to be someone, shoes eyes, clothes.

- her prayers are getting so great and she is starting to have her own imagination with the things she prays for. She is learning to be super reverent and really getting into her scripture stories at night.

-Stephen on the other hand is a bucket of worms. He is all over the place. Not only physically but he will say ANYTHING! His favorite things to see are planes, tractors, and firetrucks. Sometimes even just cars on the road get him super excited.

- For a while, he said no to everything, even if he meant yes. He is now starting to shake his head when he really means no and then yes is just a softer nicer "no". You always have to ask yes after he says no to see if he means yes.

- he loves to give my tummy kisses and raspberries (the baby of course) but sometimes when you ask where the baby is, well most of the time, he aims for the bumps a little higher. REDIRECTION PLEASE.

- he is the happiest little boy ever and laughs at everything. He and Nat play together so well and are besties. I love to hear them together, usually causing trouble. I am learning to be a lot more lenient when it comes to what they get away with. I used to have a strict no jumping on furniture policy, but with monkey boy around, that is a lost cause. Not only is he laughing but he makes us all laugh ALL day long. He is hilarious.

- He will sit with his arms folded through all prayers, well he keeps his hands folded in his lap, that is folded. And Amen is heard WAY too many times through prayers.

- This kid loves to sing. He sings along and dances to all radio songs and anything that nat is singing. He has also gotten an attitude to the songs he doesn't like and will do this pig squeal until it stops. So annoying!

Anyway, that's all for now. They are doing good and they are both healthy which makes me happiest! Love these 2 Little's and cant wait for another to join our little fam!

The Nana

While we went on our trip, my mom came down to stay with the kids, which is totally the nicest thing ever! We appreciate it soo much! And the kids cant stop talking about Nana.
They are kinda crazy...

A city

Each year for our anniversary we chose a new location to go and visit. The only things that it HAS to have close to it is an LDS Temple. Other than that, we like to go for something new that neither of us have ever been. So this year we chose CHICAGO, IL. Why? We had free air tickets, and this was one of the better choices they had to choose from. Also, obviously we have always wanted to go check it out.

The few days before we left, numerous family members around us were coming down with a mystery bug. We didn't know if it was food poisoning, or the flu. Well the day before we left, Natalie got it and was throwing up all day (starting out in my bedroom where I just so happened to be steam cleaning my carpet. Thank you very much). So The night before we left, I was surprised to hear Brian up all night in the bathroom. Not fun.
We got up and headed to the airport, Brian holding his bowl the whole way there.

Check in, and get on the plane. Brian was taking his time as his tummy was obviously just kinda off from the night before. I mentioned to the stewardess that if there was a seat at the back of the plane, he would greatly appreciate it, he wasn't feeling well.

*NOW, PLEASE NOTE, at this time we had said nothing about throwing up or why he was throwing up. He could have had NERVES, he could have had food poisoning, or anything in the world that one could throw up from.*

Back to story, we are on the plane and he heads for the bathroom asap. He didn't NEED to throw up, but thought it would be considerate to make himself so that he could travel without the worry or bothering people on the plane.
The flight crew thought this was a horrible idea and told the captain that he potentially was a threat to the entire plane. Without asking us ANY questions, they immediately asked us to leave the plane. WHAT?!?! We were soo mad. Brian, who felt 100% better, was extremely upset. He was arguing, as we wanted to get to Chicago, and so of course the only logical thing to do it CALL SECURITY.
We were escorted off the plane, still no questions have been asked directly to us and the captain never even said a word.
We were re booked, and didn't arrive until 6 hours later than planned, which totally took away one of our precious days in the Windy City. ARG! It made me soooo mad! (Pregnancy + upset = crying pregnant women who you don't want to deal with!)
So here is the proof of sicky on our layover, trying to catch up on some needed sleep!
That night was BLUEMAN GROUP. We had no idea what to expect but it was AWESOME! We would recommend it to everyone. I haven't heard Brian laugh like that, Ever! It was so funny and entertaining! GREAT show!

Then we headed to our first deep dish Chicago style pizza recommendation, Giordano's.It had the atmosphere of a old time mobster movie. The Pizza to 45 minutes to cook and was SO worth it. This is the BEST pizza I have ever had and we would both go back to Chicago JUST for this.

The next day we checked out the Navy Pier, I am sure this is cool but on a rainy Thursday, it is not.

Then lunch time came and we needed to try a Chicago Dog. Portillo's was the place for this. I like Hotdogs, but I am not a huge fan of tomatoes, onions and pickle on mine. Next time, I will go with the plane old Dog!

Then onto our front row seats at a White Sox game. All I will say is, it really made me appreciate the Rangers! Of course baseball is always fun, but NOTHING like in the Arlington ballpark!

Oh, and it was cold and ended up snowing.

That night we went to the other deep dish place, Gino's. This did not come close to the first place and we were extremely sad we waisted the time to go there. We stopped at Giordano's on the walk back for some dessert and we see Rob Sneider in there too. As he left he told the manager that this was the BEST pizza he has ever had. It was.

Last day we went to the temple, which of course I forgot the camera.

Then it was onto Millennium Park. I didn't know what to expect but it was really cool. The whole city is super artsy.

And the bean. I have no clue why it is here or what relevance it has but it is pretty cool. We couldn't get any closer though because they were filming a new movie and had security everywhere. Maybe it will be a Rob Sneider movie?? What are the chances?!

Happy 5 years though hun, it was a lot of fun. If Brian wasn't completely against Oprah, I would have loved to go to her show, but other than that we hit everything we wanted to and had so much fun! Brian had to remind me that our main goal was to spend time together and that was accomplished! Love you babe!

Now I can move onto my planning out next years!!! So many options!!

Now completely unrelated to the trip is a quick dream story. Last night I was woken up by a horrible nightmare. All night I was shaken up, and until this morning I couldn't get it out of my head. Then while I was driving today I realized how dumb it was.

I was waxing my eyebrows and decided to do Natalie's too. She is a very hair little girl and will need it someday anyway! So I wax one and it turns out great, then I move on and she wont sit still. The wax ends up over her entire brow and I continue to put the strip down. It wont come off any other way than to RIP. AHHHH!!! It was horrible. Then I work up.

Pregnancy dreams are so weird and dumb!

Way Back

The kids are not allowed to play in certain rooms in the house. This keeps my messes, well their messes, to a minimum. I also hate it when they get into my stuff and color on scriptures, walls, or pictures, find makeup or toothpaste, and really just about anything bad you can think of. So Bathroom doors, our bedroom, and the office doors are always shut. On occasion they will sneak in and place. Well I couldn't find my camera cord FOREVER, hence no pictures- no posts! But Stephen snuck into my room and found my camera cord where I would not have otherwise looked!! Yeah for sneakiness!


So here are my backed up photos. We will start with trek. Here was morning we left all ready to go, I think it was 5am. Ugh! But again it was a blast and I have NO complaints! It was an amazing experience to be able to re enact our heritage! Some may think we are strange, but it was wonderful!



Next Item is EASTER!

Nat and I have been having a lot of fun with her hair. This little beauty is called a "braid" in her vocab. It looks so cute on her!

We went over to a friends for decorating eggs, yum food and some hat decorating!

This friend is totally 9 months preg in this picture, isn't she TINY!?

Yes, that is dog poop in his hand and by the look on his face and the "yucky" he said afterward, you know he thought he had found a "treat!" poor kid.

And last, and totally least... my belly. I am 18 weeks and I hate these belly pics(I never know if I should smile or look!) but I just wanted to prove and those all those non believers out there that indeed there is a HUGE bump. Lets also clear the air - ONE BABY, NOT TWO. Stop the gossip that I am having twins!! haha (although I totally thought I was when my tummy started to grow so fast!)

Rest of the updates coming!!

Holy Smokes

Why am I so lame this year? Well I have a million things to catch up on. ok 4, maybe 5 but it feels like a lot!

Easter
Apparently Easter bunnies are scary. As I started to think about this tradition, I realized that the idea is kinda creepy. A giant Rabbit coming into our house to leave candy in our rooms. I always thought this was awesome, but Natalie made it very clear to me that this was indeed creepsville.
The night prior to Easter she had a rough time sleeping, waking up several times to tell me in tears that she doesn't want the Easter bunny in our house, especially not in her room.
After calming her down and convincing her that he would leave the baskets in my room and he wouldn't come close to hers, she asked through her tears that she wanted me to also tell him that she wanted a pink basket. There is always room for pink I guess! haha
But after he came and delivered a plethora of Candy and goodies that morning, we headed to Grandma and Papas for Conference and Easter. More baskets and a huge egg hunt. They spoil us all!! Of course I forgot the camera that day. I also forgot their Easter clothes, neither of which really matter since boots slept through the whole thing anyway!
But it was an excellent day, filled with Christ. Natalie learned this year what Easter really is, "Jesus Died and he lives again." Perfect. I have to tell ya, there isn't much that makes me happier than to hear my children already being righteous and talking to me about Jesus Christ.
Something that does make me just as happy is hearing a new 17 week old fetus' heart beat, just like we did today when we heard our baby girls!!

updates to come SOON, I swear:
Chicago Anniversary Trip
My fantastical cute kids
My awesome Mother

a tad more

A few last hawaii pics.
Ah, I miss it soo much!

Mango you Mango

Natalie had a fantastic week. We went on a little mama daughter trip to Hawaii!

The first few days we were able to see my mom and sis, Then they left and we headed over to my My bro and sil -Dan and Robyn's house! We got to live like the locals! haha not really since we were the obvious pastey main landers!

Melia and Natalie are the same age and they got along for the most part! They bonded over kittens... I wont go into how they bonded but they bonded! I was so proud of Nat for how awesome she did with them!

And Troy, my Nephew is SUCH a cutie... class of 2025 watch out, He is a stud!!

I was kinda worried about the 8 hour flight but she did awesome. She loved everything in Hawaii except one, She wanted boots there for everything! Such a good sis! It is so good to be home though!