Rascal Flatts

We were lucky enough to get a sweet hookup this year to see Rascal Flatts in concert out at Usana Amphitheatre.  It was so fun!  Michael and I hadn't been out in awhile and it was fun to get away.  Thanks to my mom who babysat long into the night, seriously, it was after midnight when we got home!  The traffic in and out of that place is so bad!  It's okay though, well worth it.  The fall night got a little chilly and I was glad we'd brought our blanket from the car.  We had pretty good seats, but didn't really use those seats, mostly just stood up.

Before the concert we went to Chili's for dinner.  I LOVE their chips and salsa!  We ate super fast because we were running a little late but we ended up getting there in plenty of time.  Sarah Evans (who opened for Rascal Flatts) hadn't even started when we got there.  She sang for almost an hour, it was like a concert of her own I swear.  Then it took awhile before Rascal Flatts started and so that's partly why it took so long to finally get home. 

It's so funny at concerts to people watch.  I thought this concert brought a wide range of people.  Old and young, crazy and drunk and then pretty normal.  I like to consider myself in the pretty normal group, but my brother my disagree. 

I like going to concerts because it's just different to hear someone live versus on the radio or cd.  I love going to Rascal Flatts because I most all their songs and I love their voices.  It was fun and thanks to Michael who worked to get us some tickets because he knew I really wanted to go. 

Lucky me

Sorry Suzy, don't be mad I posted this picture.  :-)

Today I turned 27 and it's been such a fun day.  I shouldn't say just a fun day, but a fun weekend.  I am so lucky, I seriously have such a great husband!  He surprised me on Saturday with a day of shopping with my friend, Caprice.  He had called her and set it all up to be a surprise.  When I walked out of work on Saturday she was sitting there ready for a day of shopping.  Michael had given her an envelope with money telling me to go and have fun.  And we did have fun!  We went to lunch first, made a quick run into Costco, and then headed down to South Towne Mall.  I found some new cute boots for winter and some great clothes to wear during the next few months as I get bigger and bigger! 

On Sunday we went to my parent's house for dinner.  My mom made Curry Rice, which I love.  We also had gyoza (potstickers) from Costco that were yummy, too. 

Monday I got up and made a cake and got ready.  Then Michael's sister brought lunch from Paradise Bakery for me and the kids.  It was so nice of her!  The food was great, too.  It's nice to have something taste good after having food not sound good at all (pregnancy).  She stayed for awhile and we talked while the kids played. 

Just before dinner I made icing for the cake and then we ran down to my mom's to get leftover Curry so I didn't have to make dinner, that was super nice and it was just as good as last night. 

Michael's mom, sister and her two kids then came over for ice cream and cake.  We enjoyed an hour or so together and it was fun.  Then Michael told me to look on my phone for the rest of my gift.  He had sent me a text that said tomorrow I get a day off.  In the afternoon he's going to take me to lunch and then to look for a new cell phone.  My phone likes to shut off whenever it feels like it, drives me nuts!  I'm telling ya, this guy of mine is full of surprises.  After Saturday I wasn't expecting any more.  So he is taking the day off tomorrow so I can sleep in and he'll help with the kids.  Then my mom is watching them in the afternoon so we can go look for a new phone. 

I feel so lucky to have all these people that care about me.  It's been a great birthday, much of which I didn't even know about, so that is fun too.  I like surprises!  Thanks, everybody, for making it such a fun day!!

Pre-school round 2

Last Thursday Kayleigh started her second year of pre-school.  She is going to the same place as she did last year.  She knows four of the eight kids in her class and she's happy about that.  Six of the eight kids are already four and her teacher is excited about that.  I'm excited that we will be carpooling with two other kids so I only have to drive every third week, yay! 

Her teacher's name is Mrs. Cyr.  Kayleigh was excited to go back to her house and see her again and tell her that we are having another baby.  Because we were the first ones to arrive, Kayleigh got her color choice of what bag she wanted for the year.  Of course she picked pink and she was thrilled with that.  She quickly wrote her name on it and Mrs. Cyr commented that she must have been practicing over the summer because it looked better.  She also wrote her last name on it, something that last year would not have happened.  She was the only one in her group (on the first day they come in 2 groups of 4) that could write her name and I'll admit, I was proud of her! 

She goes back again tomorrow and I think it's going to be another good year of pre-school!

Camping with family

 The blue jay we saw

 Kayleigh with her flower

 Landon just chillin by the fire.  This shot was a rarity, he hardly just sat, he's always on the go and we were so worried he'd end up in the fire.

 Grace, Kayleigh and Phoebe coloring.

 Since I am hardly in pictures I told Michael to take one of me.

 Kayleigh with her s'more face.  Yum!

 Our little fam

 Landon loved when Yasuko sat and tickled him

 Kayleigh holding a moth.  Phoebe is obsessed with bugs and I think they caught about 20 moths.  Kayleigh got brave enough to hold one.  Yuck!  I hate moths.

 Daddy and son

 Grandpa with Landon

All the kids playing horseshoes

Last weekend we had fun camping at the Spruces.  It's up Big Cottonwood Canyon and it was beautiful!  It's a little cooler up there too, which was great because it was so hot in the valley.  I headed up with the kids and my mom around noon on Friday.  We made sure we got a couple spots for the family to share and then waited for everyone else to come.  My dad got there next with Nathan and Yasuko. 

Yasuko is from Japan, here visiting right now, and my dad knows her from his mission to Japan many, many years ago.  She has stayed a family friend over the years and it was fun to have her come.    Landon was pretty shy to her at first, but after he realized she would lend a hand when he was going up or down a hill in the campsite they got to be good friends.  He would just go stand by her and raise his hand up and that was his signal to her that he needed help, it was cute.  Kayleigh also took a liking to her, too, because she had brought Kayleigh a gift.  It was 2 pink pencils and  a little picture album book.  I told Kay we'd print some pictures from camping and put them in it for her to remember.  Yasuko also brought some yummy Japanese crackers and candy.

We brought along our newly purchased tent and we all seemed to fit great, including the port-a-crib for Landon.  We tried to just lay him in a sleeping bag, but after an hour of trying to get him to sleep I said forget it and we got the crib out.  Shortly after he was asleep.  Once we all got to sleep we rested for a little while til the sun was up and then it's time to get up when you are camping, no sleeping in. 

It was a gorgeous morning up in the mountains and it was fun to have a fire going and put a sweatshirt on.  It makes me excited for fall, my favorite season!  After a cereal and fruit breakfast we had to get going pretty quickly to head down south to watch Grace and Phoebe in their gymnastics performance.  We wish we could have stayed longer, especially with how much work it is to get ready to camp, but the schedule didn't work that way.  Maybe next time...

I love the Spruces campground.  I went there many times as a kid and it holds good memories for me.  It was fun to share that with the kids.  I think they do a great job of keeping it nice as well.  Even though it was short, it was nice to get away and enjoy some of God's creations.   Happy camping!



Church History Museum

The week before school started we went with my mom and sister to see the Children's Exhibit at the Church History Museum.  The kids just loved it!  If you haven't been, it's a great activity that's free and the kids love it!  I wasn't sure how Landon would do, but he stayed plenty entertained the whole time.  There was a part of it that you could watch dancers on a screen and try to copy them.  For some reason, Landon just LOVED it.  It seemed he wandered off quickly that day and I'd always find him watching the dancing.  He even tried to dance himself. 

Unfortunately, my camera was not on the regular setting and I didn't know (I never change it so why would I think to check?) and all of my pictures are pretty blurry. 

I loved how the they had little stories by each activity and wish my kids were older to read them.  I summarized a few for Kayleigh, but she didn't seem too interested.  I liked reading them though. 

Before coming home we walked 2 blocks up to eat at the food court, got ice cream cones, then walked 2 blocks back. Now, I was pushing the stroller with Landon in it, holding my melting ice cream cone and we were in a hurry to get back and get my brother off the bus. So I was wasted by the time we got home. I don't have much energy these days and this took it all from me. It was really fun though and Kayleigh had fun so I am glad we did it.

 Kayleigh getting to practice her quilting skills.

 She caught a fish!

 Fishing off of Nephi's boat

 Sweet Samantha

 All dressed up and ready to dance

 He looked so cute with this vest on!

 This bike tire had little balls in it that would bounce when you turned the wheel.

 Landon helped Mormon abridge lots of the plates.

 Picking food from the garden

 Landon getting food ready to feed the missionaries.

Us just before our walk to go eat.

Something to celebrate

It has now been 9 days since Landon has had a binki.  Yahoo!  It actually wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.  He was pretty attached to it but the nice thing is that he can't say the word binki so there really was no way for him to ask for it.  I think he called it a "bah bah" sometimes but I would just tell him he had his bottle already. 

We were down to 2 binkis and I left one at my mom's and I couldn't find the other one so he had to go to bed without it.  He cried for a little but then went to sleep.  The next morning I figured we should just be done with binkis.  I feel kind of bad because he really did like it, especially at bedtime and nap time but he'll be 2 in December and I didn't want him to have it then. 

So now on to the bottle, this will be harder I know.  We've kind of already tried taking them away and I gave in.  He refuses to drink milk from anything but a bottle.   I figure at his age he still needs the whole milk so I just gave his bottle back to him after 2 days of no bottle.  I am not looking forward to taking it away again.  We are also thinking about getting him a big boy bed.  When Kayleigh was his age she already was out of the crib and she did great with the transition so I am hoping he will too. 

So why the push to do all these things?  Well, baby #3 is on the way!  Yep, I am due March 18th, 2012.   We are excited!  Kayleigh wants a girl very badly and I think we might be in trouble if  it's a boy.  I'm almost past the 1st trimester and I hope that I can get some energy back and not feel sooo tired all the time.  

Lagoon

Yesterday Michael and Kayleigh got to go to Lagoon!  (Aren't they lucky?!)  We figured since Landon won't really know what he's missing this year we'll just save on the ticket prices while we can.  It's so expensive!  What's great though is that yesterday was the last day of 2 for 1 (courtesy of 2 News) at Lagoon.  You just had to mention 2 News when you bought your  tickets. 

They went with Michael's sis and her family.  Kayleigh loves being with Tyler and Brooke, her cousins on Michael's side.  Over the past year Kayleigh has grown a ton and passed the 46 inch mark.  At Lagoon this means you can go on a lot of the "big" rides.  So my little 4 yr. old got to ride Wicked, Colossus, The Spider, The Rollercoaster and the Wild Mouse.  I know, what 4 yr. old gets to ride Wicked?  She absolutely LOVED it!  She says her favorite ride is Colossus.  Michael got a video of her on Colossus and Wicked and while they are way shaky, it's so fun to see her faces and hear her.

Even though she could ride some of the big rides, she still enjoyed the rides in Kiddy Land, too. She likes doing the Bumper Cars and riding the swings. They did Dracula's Castle, for Kay's first time, and she wasn't a fan of that.  They won a couple stuffed animal prizes and enjoyed some junk food. They followed my directions and brought me home some cotton candy, my favorite treat from Lagoon. :-)

Hopefully next year we can all go together as a family. I'll admit I was a little sad I wasn't there to witness Kay going on those rides for the first time, but the videos helped a little. Glad Michael got to spend time with Kayleigh.