Orlando

Day 1:

A few months ago we booked a trip to Orlando with some friends. Nate's friend from school has a time share so it was a perfect opportunity to get away without the kiddos. We left Tuesday morning and finally made it to Orlando about 6:00pm Florida time. When we got into town, we went straight to dinner. Garrett loves to try local restaurants that we don't have in Utah, so the first place we tried was Hamburger Mary's. If you can imagine the how the ESA and Gateway are setup close to each other, this is how Hamburger Mary's is to the Arena where the Magic play but the ghetto version. Out of all nights to visit this restaurant we were fortunate (Or unfortunate) to go on "Twisted Sister Bingo" night. Our live entertainment was songs and Bingo by two drag queens!! The first thing they (the drag queens) said was... "Oh, look at the the 3 straight men that just walked in!" Talk about jumping out of the Utah bubble just within hours or getting off the plane. Besides the entertainment, the food was really good, especially their chips and salsa!

Alicia, Drag Queen, and Lyndsay
Day 2:
We spent the day at Disney's Blizzard Beach. It felt so good to be in the sun all day, especially coming from our snowy weather just two days before this. It was high 90's and perfect weather to ride the water slides and layout.
Day 3:
Us girls spent the first part of this day shopping. We started by stopping at Downtown Disney and then later went over to the Florida Mall for some shopping at H&M while the boys stayed back at the rooms playing games, ping pong, etc.
After shopping and before dinner, we went out to the pool to relax and get some more sun.

Day 4:
This was our last day to play. We drove to Tampa Bay to go to Bush Gardens to ride the roller coasters. Here we are riding the train from the parking lot to the entrance.

Right as we got into the park this is what show was going on. I think this was the only time Nate and I wished the boys were with us because Jackson would have loved to see Elmo and Friends! Bush Gardens has a small section of the park dedicated just to Sesame Street. So many cute things just for kids!
Bush Gardens, along with the rides, has a bunch of animals all around the park. Nate took a picture with the snake just to show Jackson.
This is all of us waiting in line for my favorite ride in the park... SHEIKRA!

Sharing a foot long hot dog for lunch
All the boys as they were waiting on us girls to make a bathroom break right before we make the hour drive back to Orlando for dinner.
Day 5:
Consisted of us leaving at the crack of dawn (4am Utah time) to make our flight back home. We made it home around noon on Saturday so it was nice to still have some of the weekend left to play. Although it was nice to wake up to this view every morning...
It was nice to see this too. It was nap time when we got home from the airport so since Nate and I were exhausted from our early morning we took a nap with our boys. Nate and Andersen cuddled on one couch while Jackson and I took the other one. It is always so fun to come home to the kids after being gone for a few days. Jackson of course was so excited to see us, but Andersen wasn't quite sure what to think of it. It was as if he had forgotten us for the first ten minutes and then he was all smiles as he seemed to remember who we were.

Bath time just got easier!

Bath time with two kids used to take forever until now! I finally decided to put the two boys together and scrub them down at the same time now that Andersen is a little bit older and stronger. Jackson was so excited to have his brother in the tub with him and Andersen was just excited to sit up in the tub and splash around. After I was done soaping the boys down, Jackson took the honor of rinsing the soap off of Andersen. Andersen didn't know what to think of the never-ending waterfall over his face, but was still just as excited to be able to tub with the big boys now.

{SWIM, BIKE, RUN}

Clear back in December, just two months after giving birth to Andersen, I decided the only way I was going to lose my baby weight was to sign up for something and hold myself accountable for working out. I decided with the suggestion of my boss to do the Woman of Steel Triathlon. I can't say it helped lose the baby weight like I was hoping but this definitely was an experience I will never forget. My neighbor Nikki and my boss's wife Jennifer signed up as well. With our ridiculously cold weather that lasted all the way up until our race I had to do a lot of training inside. I started by just running on the tread mill at home. As time got closer, us three started Saturday work outs. This is when it all got real for me! I couldn't believe I was actually going to do this. The most I have ever done was a little 10K.... This was supposed to be 300 meter swim, 12.75 bike, and the 3 mile run. Saturday, May 22 was the big day. We all woke up early to go down to American Fork to pick up our registration packets, pick up our time chips, and get marked with our numbers on our arms, and age and "S" for sprint on our legs.
Next thing you know, our bikes and transition areas were all set up and we were waiting for it all to start. The night before, it rained and rained and rained and even snowed a little bit. It was FREEZING!! So to prevent hypothermia, they canceled the swim and added a mile run before the bike... So now the order we were racing in was run, bike, run. I was totally bummed because running is my least favorite part and swimming is my strongest, but its not like I could do anything to change it, so I got over it really quick. If only I would have known earlier I would have totally worn something else and maybe put on some mascara so WARNING the following pictures are scary!! Here we all are, smiles and all, right before the race was about to begin. The picture doesn't even come close to showing how cold we were and how nervous I was.
After a freezing mile run, an even colder 12. 75 bike ride with my fingers feeling like they were going to snap off because they were so cold, and another 3 miles of running, here Nikki and I are running to the finish line. Like I said before I have a love hate relationship with running and to be honest I was hurting that last mile of the run, so thank goodness Nikki caught up to me {Not that I was faster, but we started at different times because of the number of athletes participating} so we could finish the last mile together. She was so good to pace me and keep me going so we could reach the end together

What a good feeling it was to cross the finish line. All I could think about was how much I had grown to love Nikki and how grateful I was that she did it with me. As we were crossing the finish line all I could hear was the announcer saying our names. It was awesome and we even had a little moment as we finished with a big hug. We both even shed a couple tears together. What an accomplishment for me! {We even used this to pass off one of our personal progress projects} Here is the after of us 3 even though Jennifer had finished about 5 minutes before us.
And here is my personal cheering section! Thanks to everyone for all the support. My mother in law was always asking how training was going and encouraging me that I could do it and how great it was. Nate was always so willing to watch the boys as I would take every Saturday morning to train for hours at the gym, and the best little helper Jackson always getting my running shoes for me when he knew I was leaving for the gym. My overall time was 1 hour and 35 minutes and some seconds {I don't remember} Nikki was 40 seconds faster than me and Jennifer was the winner out of us three.

Colorado {Family Vacation May 2010}

It seems like every Mother's Day we tend to make a drive to Colorado to go visit my parents. Not only does it fall on Mother's Day weekend but my Dad and sister's birthdays are the same weekend. So this visit we got 3 for 1= 2 birthdays and Mother's Day for all the Ladies. Here are the kiddos as we are leaving. They both were so excited to go see my parents and their cousins!
It didn't take long for Andersen to crash
Jackson on the other hand, was a champ! He watched his movies for quite awhile, but eventually...
He crashed too!
Once we got to Colorado we had to hurry over to my Dad's surprise 50th birthday party. Here is Jackson and his cousin Kaden enjoying the party.
The rest of the weekend was left to let the cousins play and the adults relax. Jackson loves his cousins and was always right by Katelyn and Kaden's side no matter what they were doing.
Here they are looking out the front window with the binoculars at the baby foxes.
And all the cousins enjoying a little water and sun
Andersen is the youngest of the cousins right now, so he spent a lot of time playing with his own toys on the floor
or playing with Katelyn.
With the main reason of my Dad's party getting us all together this year, we had the pleasure of my Dad's good friend of 30 years, Bob, spending the weekend with us and allowing plenty of time to catch up.

The next two pictures I thought were just fun pictures. My Brother-in-Law Mike is hilarious and Jackson loves this guy. He also loves his cousin Riley! Mike is trying to get the boys to eat breakfast but yet its amazing how a 3 and 4 year old can read right through his WWF wrestler act.
Here is a little proof of what a content baby Andersen is. He fell asleep on the couch as he was watching everyone play the Wii.
In between the crazy party, and all the visitors, my Dad found time to take us and the grand kids fishing. Jackson has been asking to go for the longest time so he was so excited. The weather wasn't the best... to be completely honest it was miserably windy and cold but the kids still had a blast and could have cared less that they were in the middle of wind storm and didn't catch one fish! Here is Grandpa showing Jackson how to hold his pole and wait for something to bite.
Jackson holding his own pole only lasted a few minutes and then Nate had to take over, but you can tell the two of them are having just as much fun.
And of course the two partners in crime had to take a Cheeto break.

After about an hour or two of casting out, watching our lines drift away in the wind and waves, and reeling in "tree fishes" (according to Jackson) aka seaweed, we packed up and went home empty handed but filled with good memories of a great trip fishing with Grandpa.
Thanks Grandpa!

Five days later, we were back in the car watching these two snooze away in the back as we drove home. Both boys are great travelers for road trips. This ride home Andersen slept for at least 3 hours straight! It always feels good to be home, but it was a great week with my parents and sisters family relaxing.
Happy birthday Dad and Lynne, and Happy Mother's Day to us Ladies!

More Birthdays

This year we spent Mother's Day weekend in Colorado again. We met my sister and her family and my brother and his family to celebrate my Dad's 50th birthday. My mom planned a surprise party for my Dad with all of his friends and family from Utah and Colorado. I think he was shocked to see everyone that showed up. Even my Dad's friend Bob of 33 years showed up all the way from Oregon. The surprise was arranged to all be at a restaurant that has two levels. So the party was downstairs and my family, my sister's family and my parents walked in just like we were going to dinner upstairs. We all sat down at the table and was looking over the menu, when my Dad's friend Bob (They haven't seen each other for 8 years) came up to him and said hi. My Dad didn't know what to think and asked Bob what he was doing there? Bob responded with... "I heard there was a party going on and couldn't miss it!" After the initial shock we all walked downstairs to the real party of about 50 guests saying "Surprise" and singing Happy Birthday. After dinner and conversations, we did the cake. Look at all the heat coming off of that cake!

My Dad's birthday wasn't the only birthday we celebrated while in Colorado. My sister and Dad's birthdays are 1 day apart so we were glad she was around to celebrate hers as well. Sorry no surprise party Lynne! Her birthday also landed on Mother's Day so she got double party that day. Here is her cute cake that Grandma Kay and Katelyn made and decorated together. Not quite as much heat, but you are getting up there sister!


Happy Birthday you two! It was a fun celebrating all weekend as a family!