Almost

The roads looked good and the car was packed. We were on our way to spend Christmas with Ben's family.

Halle did have a fever yesterday and said she wasn't feeling good . . . but did not have a fever this morning . . . so we were sticking with our plan.

Once it was time to actually put kids in the car though, Halle seemed worse. She was shaking and felt really hot. She complained about her throat and stomach hurting. Off to the doctor we went, and strep throat she has.

Poor little thing. She feels pretty terrible. Needless to say, we will not be heading out to be with Ben's family.

What would we do without antibiotics?

Early Break!

I didn't know that schools closed here because of too much snow! But that is what has happened today! Christmas break is starting a day early!

It has snowed so much!

This blog has been incredibly neglected for a couple months. I'm not even going to try to blog about our lives the past couple months . . . I'll just put it in a nutshell version.

Halloween

I had a birthday

We were able to buy the house we wanted

We moved

The girls switched schools

Thanksgiving

Lots of family in town

House guests

Adjusting

Ben is 3/4 done with his MBA program

Christmas is coming too soon

I feel like scrooge this year . . . even though we have a lot to be grateful for

Better updates ahead!

Happy 7th . . . I Guess

Halle celebrated her birthday last week. I don't know what is going on with me . . . but I am NOT excited about her turning one year older. In fact, I have told all my kids that we will not be celebrating ANY more birthdays! No one is allowed to grow any more! I am on the lookout for something that will freeze time . . . so our family can just stay exactly the way we are forever.

My kids however, don't believe it for a second. I keep telling them that it isn't that great to be all grown up . . . but they just laugh and think I am joking.

Halle had a birthday breakfast of stuffed french toast (thanks Liz!), eggs and bacon. She got several mechanical pets. One day I am probably going to have to break down and let her have a real one!

In the past, since Halle's birthday is so close to Halloween, she has always had dress-up or costume parties at home. Not this time though. She has been thinking about how to have a "different" party than that for months.

Chuck E. Cheese was the kind of different party she wanted. I drove 7 VERY giggly 1st grade girls to Chuck E. Cheese. They had so much fun, and once we were there, I wished I had scheduled an extra half hour!

Happy Birthday Halle! I am happy you had a happy birthday . . . I'm just sad that you are growing up!

Fall Break

Fall break. I always love it! This year it was so warm though . . .

This year we spent time at Jolley's Ranch (no pics unfortunately), Trafalga in Lehi (formerly Liberty Land), and the Red Barn. I also tried to be a responsible parent by making the girls do jobs and practice the piano too. It happened sometimes.

Here is our first visit to the Lehi Trafalga. The girls had a GREAT afternoon! It was actually kind of hot! They rode a few rides, drove bumper boats, bumper cars, took a pony ride, and climbed a rock wall.

Every fall break we head to a pumpkin patch to pick out our pumpkins. For the last couple of years, the Red Barn has been that pumpkin patch. We took a hayride, picked out pumpkins, and had ice cream in the Red Barn afterwards.

Oh I LOVE fall! This is by far my favorite season. It is already moving by too quickly!

Gwen Turns 4

Gwen turned 4 today.

Sometimes I wonder if I should celebrate the day BEFORE their birthday. Yesterday was her LAST day EVER of being 3! I'm not sure I like celebrating the day that changes how old my kids are.

I remember the day she was born. I remember feeling like I barely made it to the hospital . . . she was born 50 or so minutes after getting there! And I was not sitting at home trying to be super-woman or anything . . . (in case anyone actually thought that was even possible) . . . super scary.

I actually do really like this age. She doesn't have any inhibitions. I love that she likes to go out in costumes and sing while shopping in stores.

She had her first birthday party today . . . well at least one where we invited friends. She only wanted girls to come . . . and they had to want to be a princess.

I made a cake! A princess castle cake. It may have been a little much . . . and didn't look quite as good as a store-bought cake. But my girls thought it was AWESOME!

Her birthday was so fun, and I think her party met all of her expectations.

For dinner she chose grilled ham and cheese sandwiches, grapes, apples, and bananas. (Thank you Gwen . . . that is sooo easy)!

Happy Birthday Gwen!

Fall Frolick

Back so Soon?

Football season is here again. Ben looks forward to this all year long! My girls actually look forward to their individual "daddy-daughter dates" to a game too!

Me? I don't really think about football much during the year . . . or even during the season. But since I like Ben so much . . . I'll go to games with him! Go Cougars!

Toothbrushes

First of all, isn't this little guy SO handsome? I sure think so. Check out his white blonde hair and his blue eyes and . . . okay, but back to the topic of this post . . . toothbrushes. Along with going to the dentist, toothbrushes are a huge deal at our house. Getting a new one is like getting exactly what you wanted for Christmas.

I guess Austin has caught on! He got his first toothbrush last weekend (I know . . . he's had a lot of teeth for awhile . . . it just took me this long for it to click in my mind that I need to start brushing all those babies)! He let me brush his teeth. And he REALLY enjoyed having his own turn to brush! He played this teeth brushing game for . . . I don't know how long. I finally had to PRY the toothbrush out of his tight-gripped hand so I could put him to bed!

The Dentist

I am pretty sure that I have NEVER been EXCITED to go the dentist. I wasn't scared of it . . . it just wasn't up there on the "fun thing to do" list.

My girls LOVE going to the dentist! They look forward to their appointments for MONTHS. Gwen could not contain her excitement last night when I told her she had an appointment along with her sisters in the morning. You would think Christmas is coming! Thanks goodness for great pediatric dentists!

We see Dr. Bret Sorensen in Spanish Fork. We have been going to him for a few years now . . . so if anyone is looking around for one . . . we highly recommend him!

Soccer + Fall = One Happy Mom!

I love it when soccer season starts! I love that Halle REALLY likes to play . . . and she's pretty good too! Abby wanted to give it a try this year also . . . some good pics of her playing coming soon.

And They're Off!

Abby and Halle are off to 4th and 1st grade! They both had a hard time sleeping last night, and it seems like I heard them talking before 6am this morning. They are both so excited and nervous!




I had to follow them to school this morning so that I would know for SURE that they made it okay. Now I am off to figure out what our new routine will be! (routines are my sanity!)

Summer's End

Today was the big day. Not the first day of school . . . but the day of the school open house!

Abby has been nervous about her teacher ALL month. She had heard through the grapevine that her teacher was the meanest 4th grade teacher! After meeting her though, Abby thought she seemed great! I did too.

Halle was so excited to meet her teacher. We had already heard really good things about her teacher . . . and so meeting her just validated what we had heard.

So . . . onto our traditional "night before school starts" routine! Dinner ( one that they like to eat . . . you'd be surprised at how many nights I seem to make the "grossest" things, ha ha), blessings, bike checks (they ride their bikes to school) and then onto the first day of school FASHION SHOW! Complete with treats of course!

Married 10 Years

Ben and I have now been married for 10 years!

We celebrated by leaving the kids for a night and heading out to Manti, Utah. We stayed at this cute bed and breakfast recommended by my sister. We REALLY liked it!

We ate at their little restaurant and went to the Manti Temple too. We had never been there before . . . it is so pretty and has some amazing history.

I actually didn't think we would really be able to celebrate much this year since Ben is so busy. But, he surprised me and had planned it all! Thanks Ben! I love you!