zoo

My sister called early this morning to see what I was doing, normally when she calls she is asking for a sitter but I didn't have anything that needed to get done so I took the bait and told her nothing really and she asked if we wanted to go to the zoo. It was her second oldest sons last day of preschool and they were taking a field trip. So I packed up lunches and the kids 40 minutes later she came to pick us up. What a blast I had with my kids. They were having so much fun looking at all the animals Kendall really liked the Elephants and the porcupines
(go figure) Ben really liked the Zebras (Mom Z starts with Zebra) the turtles and the flamingos. When we were all done seeing the animals and getting ready to eat lunch Ben was ready to go back for round two. We stopped and played on the playground before we left. My sister had her little baby and he really needed to get home to take a nap but I am sure that my kids could have stayed all day. We will have to go back and ride the train next time.

Day out with Thomas

Yesterday our family went to Heber to ride on Thomas the train. It was a prize for Ben because he is a big boy now. I made him a countdown potty chart and he finally made it we had to give him some prizes in the middle because Thomas was so far away and we didn't want him to give up. In the end it was all worth it. bye bye diapers. yeah!!!! Thomas was a fun family trip and Ben was excited to see the big Thomas "pulling" the train but when it came time to climb aboard all he wanted to do was play with the toy trains that were out on the train tables.
If we would have known that we would have just bought him some new trains and save some money. Oh well he liked it enough that he is still talking about it

late Birthday wishes

this is a very lame public attempt to make things better with my darling SIL Angie to whom I am very sorry for forgetting her Birthday. hope it was a wonderful day we really were thinking about you just a day late but because you are in China that makes it two days late and I felt awful,sorry. I put my kids to work and they had a blast, they wanted their picture taken with every letter but we were trying to spell Happy Birthday!!

Girls Night Out

This weekend My Dad took Tyler,Ben and my sisters husband and boys camping for a Boys night. So my Mother sister and I (with our babies) Had our own girls night out. We started out with some shopping for shoes (of course) when we were all worn out we went to my Mom's house and made a huge chef salad for dinner. After dinner we watched a chick flick 'The Devil wears Prada' cute movie I had never seen it before, I don't get that many girls nights and I don't enjoy watching movies like that when Tyler is around because I know he doesn't enjoy them. As soon as the movie was over we ate Brownie sundaes (we had to make up for the healthy salad somehow) It was a nice night but it was lonely coming home to an empty house I missed my husband and my son. surprising I know. With the boys still gone and to continue with the girls only status Kendall and I took my niece for breakfast. The food was nice but the company was better. I don't see her enough now that she lives with her dad and Kendall has been asking for her for a week or so. To my surprise when we were done with breakfast Tyler was calling to say that the boys were home early. Yeah! It was nice to have a break for a day but I missed them. I would have some pictures of the girls night but Tyler had the camera with him. I wish I had some pictures of Kendall at the shoe store she was trying on every pair she could pull off the displays, she takes after her mom. ;) here is the only picture Tyler got on his camp out I am sure he was pretty busy chasing the boy around the great outdoors.

My very bad day

we tried to have pictures taken with all three of the grand kids today so we could send some home with my MIL. it was not happening, I think Kendall could sense that her "yaya" (grandma) was leaving so if she could not see her she was screaming and if "yaya" was not holding her then she was crying. Ben was the only one who was cooperating and we got some nice photos of him but neither one of the girls would sit in front of the backdrop let alone smile for the camera. I thought I was going to loose my mind. It is a good thing Kendall had her 'yaya' because she would have been in a serious time out all day, lets put that another way I would have been in time out so I didn't hurt her. Lesson learned we cannot do pictures with Grandma around because they cannot be taken away from her for one moment. After our picture attempt we stopped by Tyler's office to take him to lunch. Now I don't know if all girls are alike but when Kendall has something happen that she doesn't like it effects her mood for the entire day, so the rest of the day was about the same. She would not let me touch her and all during lunch she only wanted Tyler to hold her. When we got home she took a nap and woke up in a better mood but I was still a little awnry with her. Grandma pulled out some piggy banks that my SIL Heather sent with her for the kids to decorate
and Kendall started acting more like herself and that made me happy. The piggy banks and a total mess but the kids had fun.
They love to do craft projects like that but I don't do them often enough because I don't like to clean up the mess. Selfish I know. It is always nice when someone is there to help entertain and then I don't mind the clean up so much. After dinner was time for 'yaya' to leave was such a heart breaker. I will not even pretend to understand what she is going through as she pulls out of the driveway because I am there to comfort the kids as she is leaving and it breaks my heart. She is the best! And it is nice to know how much my kids love her even if they don't express it in the most convenient manner. So even though it was a bad day for me it was probably worse for my kids and their grandma something I need to remember next time they are crying because they want to spend more time with her.

Mothers Day Weekend

I was able to spend time with my Mom and my MIL this weekend it was great. On Saturday we had a dinner for my mom but before that I got to help but the finishing touches on her Birthday present. Liz Ward came and decorated her living room, it was a birthday present but she took her time calling Liz. When Liz saw how much she liked mirrors she thought it would be cool to do a wall of mirrors instead of picture frames but when my mom gave her the budget she was worried she wouldn't be able to do it. My mother is a hard one to shop for so When an opportunity like that falls in your lap you cannot pass it up so my sisters and I bought her mirrors. It turned out so neat. You should check it out on Elizabeth's blog.

My MIL and SIL Crystal arrived late Saturday night. Mothers Day morning Tyler surprised me with tickets for a concert later this summer. I am very excited that we have a date coming up in Aug. We all went to church on Sunday Kendall and Natalie (Crystals girl) wore their cute little geisha dresses that my MIL brought back from China.


On a side note this Sunday was my first Sunday teaching the Mia Maids it went okay, I get so nervous and excited about things sometime that I forget to take a breath when I am talking so I end up talking faster than normal. So the lesson was done in record time but I think it was a good learning experience for me and I had time to chat with the girls and get to know them better. I am more and more excited about this calling everyday. That afternoon Tyler's grandparents and his aunt Wendy came down from Brigham City for dinner. We all got to talk to my SIL Angie when she called from China it was nice to hear her voice again. At first it was kind of funny talking to her I couldn't think of anything to really say, but it didn't take long before I was talking her ear off I am sure mostly about the kids. Tyler's family stayed until late just hanging out, it is nice marrying into a family that likes to spend so much time together and that I like to spend time with. It was a nice relaxing Mothers Day.

class of 2008

Ben finished Joy School this week. We held a graduation for the kids it was so cute they wore plastic table cloths for gowns, cardstock hats and handed out diplomas. They sung songs they had learned throughout the year and got a treat when they were done. There was a lot of parents(and grandparents too thanks for coming Dad), cameras and confusion I am sure they had no idea what was going on but they were all as patient as a three year old can be. This year has been so fun I was a little unsure about participating because now Ben still has two more years of pre-school. I may have jumped the gun alittle but we made some good friends and it has inspired me to do a little more education at home. It is sad to see it end I am reminded how fast time flys.

free ride

Yesterday we rode on the Front Runner from Salt Lake to Ogden with Ben's friend E. It was a last minute decision we did it because it was free. And as some might say there is no such thing as a "free" ride the train was free but it came with a price. First of all we still had to pay to ride trax to the station. The station in Salt Lake was not crowded at all we got on and found a seat and it felt like we were in Ogden in no time. Getting off the train in Ogden we thought we would find some lunch and ride back no problem. We finally found a restaurant that we could take the kids to, the part of Ogden we were walking in didn't seem to family friendly.
After lunch we took some pictures and played on an old steam engine then headed back to the station. There was a huge line and the train was so late. By the time we got on the kids were getting fussy and we couldn't find a seat so we had to stand the whole way back to Salt Lake.
Ben and E sat on the floor and played their video games and ate pretzel sticks Kendall sat in her stroller. E's mom had to hold little T I felt so bad because her back was killing her and he would not go to sleep. When we got off the front runner and had to get back on a trax train I thought Kendall was going to go crazy. She had been so good all day long sitting in the stroller most of the time, even on the trains because there was not always enough room for us all to have a seat. But the thought of another train ride sitting in the stroller caused a mini meltdown until she saw that she was able to get out. Thank goodness we were the first people on the trax train. She was so excited to be out of the stroller she would not even sit in her seat. She stood the whole way home and loved every minute of it. So the train ride was free but it almost cost me my patience, we had fun and the kids were so well behaved for the most part it gives me hope and makes me excited to take them on more adventures this summer. I am so lucky that I have good kids that will go with the flow and listen (most of the time).