The pumpkin monster rises!

At Lagoon

 Wesley at Black Island Farms

 The kids riding a train

Waiting in line for The Fear Factory

The kids met a friend at the straw maze 

Jeremiah did it again, pulled off another great pumpkin monster.  This all started in Halloween 2010 and he is been creating masterpieces for 3 years in a row.  The day of Halloween is not necessarily the most exciting.  It just means a bunch of children will be stopping by wanting candy.  It's the weeks leading up to Halloween that are fun.  We have done so many fun things already.  At the end of September Jerry and I finally went to The Fear Factory in SLC (http://fearfactoryslc.com/).  I love spook alleys.  I don't know when I started loving them, but it has always been fun for me to run around getting chased by monsters every Halloween season.  We have season passes to Lagoon and have been going to Frightmares (http://www.lagoonpark.com/attractions/frightmares).  The kids love the spook alleys for kids and the monster shows.  I think our kids are going to grow up loving Halloween as much as Jerry and I do.  We have also been out to Black Island Farms where they  have a fun courtyard full of fun slides and the corn mazes (http://www.blackislandfarms.com/).  This last Saturday we decided to check out a straw maze at the Tri City Nursery in Kaysville (http://www.facebook.com/Tricitystrawmaze).  We all had a lot of fun. This maze had tunnels and hidden areas where you had to find all the shaped hole punchers that corresponded to the pictures that they gave you on a card.  I know the weather will soon take a turn for the cold and stay that way, but for now we are enjoying some really fair weather.

Yellowstone trip!!!

 Kids Painted like rodeo clowns at the rodeo

 At the Buffalo Bill dam

 Xander dancing

 At the grave of the man he was named after, Jeremiah Johnson

I can't believe the summer is already over.  I do love fall but I am going to miss it.  I love the warmth of the days and all the fun stuff that you can do outside.  We did go boating a couple times this summer with my parents boat up in Bear Lake.  We had Lagoon season passes too.  Both kids love going on the rides.  We finished off the summer with a road trip to Yellowstone.  I was scared to go on this trip.  The thought of being stuck in a car with two little kids for hundreds of miles scared me.  We brought a portable DVD player with plenty of cartoons, food to keep their mouths quiet and toys.  They still drove us a little crazy but I felt like the trip was still a success.  Yellowstone is beautiful.  I'm pretty sure that the last time I went was when I was a little girl.  It's crazy to me that tourists flock to this super volcano and walk casually around the park every single day.  We saw plenty of geysers and lots of wildlife.  Xander's favorite animal was the buffalo.  We drove through the Idaho side to get to the West Yellowstone entrance.  We made a stop outside of Rexburg to see Bear World.  I think that was the most fun place for the kids on the whole trip.  We drove around a fenced area of the park where Bears wander around freely.  You can't get out of your car or roll down your windows  nor did I have any desire to.  Bear World also had a petting zoo and rides.  I recommend it to anybody visiting that area. 
  Our hotel was 53 miles from the East entrance in Cody, WY.  That was a fun town to visit.  There is lots of history there.  We went to the Buffalo Bill dam, the Old West Town, the Buffalo Bill Historical Center and the Cody Rodeo.  It was my first time going to a rodeo.  I wish we had more time to spend in the Buffalo Bill Historical center.  It is a very large museum and we were only able to get through a fraction of the exhibits.  Our kids were also getting bored and tired so we couldn't stay long.  It was pretty good for one of our first family vacations.   

Happy Birthdays!!!

The birthday Parties are finally over...phew!  It is tougher then I thought it would be to have two kids born in the same month and have two parties for each one.  If I was smarter I would have just one big party, but the fact is that I wanted to honor each child individually.  Those two kids are growing so fast.  They just had their well checkups today.  Xander is getting tall.  He weighed 40lbs (80%) and was 41in (65%).  Wesley gained nearly 10 pounds during his second year.  He weighed 29lbs (63%) and was 34.5in (53%).  These two are brothers and they do fight, but the good news is that they do seem to be buddies as well.  They love seeing each other when they first get up in the morning.  They share toys at least 50% of the time.  I have seen Xander try to read a book to Wesley or do something to help take care of his little brother.  I really hope they continue to be close and be the best friends that I know some brothers can be.  Taking care of those two kids is fun, and crazy and stressful.  Just being a mom and putting the needs of two little ones above my own is a sacrifice, but I don't regret it.  Despite all the challenges of motherhood, I know that it really is a huge blessing in life to have this experience.

We had Xander's 4th birthday party at Cherry Hill on 7/6, one week before his real birthday.  He really wanted an Angry Birds party.  I did my best to follow the theme.  I have a very talented sister-in-law, Kristen who makes specialty cakes.  She made cakes for both parties.  I could never pull off the kind of things that she does.  We ate food, played a few games and just watched Xander have fun with all the kids who stopped by.  I'm sure that his next parties after this will be more friend centered rather then family.

 Cake made by http://www.facebook.com/pages/My-Sweet-Fancy-Cakes-by-Kristen/228682690496797

 Aftermath, it was so delicious!

We celebrated Wesley's 2nd birthday this last Saturday, 7/21.  We had the party at Boondocks, a family fun center.  Since Wesley is still kind of a baby to me and I don't know what he likes, I picked his party theme.  We did kind of an Elmo/Sesame Street party.  Kristen came through again and made the cutest cake.  Xander loved helping him open all his presents, especially since I think he knew that he would get to play with them anyway.  Whatever Wesley gets, Xander will play with and visa versa.  We are so grateful to all the friends and family who made it to the parties.  It was special that Jerry's dad, Grandpa Stephenson, was able to stop by while visiting from Texas. 

 I think one reason I justify doing two parties is because I hardly throw any other events during the year.  My kids are one of the most important parts of my life so why not celebrate them?  I can't be too horrible of a mom if they have made it this long.  I just remember when Xander was born.  I had no experience with kids.  I didn't know how to a change a diaper.  They handed him to me and I was terrified to hold this tiny 6 pound newborn baby.  I was thinking in my head, "Wow, you seriously trust me with this little creature?"  It's amazing to look back and remember that.  Sometimes I'm still blown away when I look at my life.  I think about how I have been in a wonderful relationship to Jeremiah for over 9 years now.  We met 10 years ago next month!  I have two healthy kids.  It's amazing how much can happen and how fast it all flies by.     

  

Enjoying Summer

 When I saw the date this morning I realized that two months have passed since I have made a blog entry.  I have been wanting to make a post but it seems like something always keeps me busy.  It's more difficult with young kids to go anywhere and do anything but we try.  It just means that there is extra preparation, even to go to the store and then you never know if they are going to make things difficult.  We have gone to a few places still.  We have Lagoon season passes and have already gone many times.  We went to the zoo in June for my company party.  I'm still hoping we can find a way to go camping.  I know people who camp with young kids all the time but the idea just terrifies me.  I love sleeping out in a tent, but I worry that we would go and our kids would stay up all night or they would find some other way to make the trip difficult.  If we do go camping, it will be just a quick overnight trip somewhere close to see if we enjoy it. 

Hanging out on the beach at Pineview Reservior on Memorial day

@Lagoon

Lagoon again



This was the first trip to Lagoon where it looked like Wesley was actually having fun!


 We are making preparations for our possible move coming up at the end of the summer.  If everything works out we will be moving into a brand new townhouse in Lehi.  It is a slight down grade from what we have, but I'm sure it will still be a very nice place to live. 



Basement of townhouse

  For a few years we actually owned 3 cars and they were getting very old.  The first one to go was the 1997 Saturn.  It still ran, but it had some problems and we knew we needed to say goodbye.  In June, both the 99' Honda CR-V and the 98' VW Jetta were due for state inspection.  Over the past 3 years it was a huge struggle to get the Jetta to pass and would cost us a lot of money.  That car gave us so many problems that we finally decided it was time to say goodbye.  We needed something more reliable and more comfortable for a family of 4 with two young kids in car seats.  I have decided that I love Honda's, so we found ourselves a 06' Honda Pilot.  It is a nice vehicle and we are enjoying it so far.  I don't have to drive anything fancy, all I require in a vehicle is that it stays reliable and we get our money's worth out of it. 



Very roomy new car, I think Wesley likes it. 



Having a good summer!!

 I will try to post more when I have time.  I hope the rest of the summer goes well, especially if there will be a big move at the end.  July is birthday month and I hope I can pull off some great parties for my two kids.  I can't believe my first baby is already 4 and that my sweet little one is going into the terrible 2's.  You know time flies when you watch your babies grow right in front of you. 

April Update

I don't have the most active or exciting blog out there but I still try to make a post at least once a month.  We celebrated Easter at the beginning of the month.  I wasn't enjoying it because I had to work all weekend.  I actually found a part-time job which is extremely rare in my field.  It would have been awesome because it was only Tuesday through Thursday for 8 hours a day.  I was so excited..but I didn't get the job.  I'm stuck working my seven on seven off double life schedule.  I am so sick of it!!  Jeremiah took the kids on an Easter egg hunt at the Ogden dinosaur park.  We did color eggs later when I got home from work.

Easter egg hunt

 Egg coloring!

We did a very crazy thing on April 13th..we put down an offer on a brand new townhouse in Lehi.  It is so new that it hasn't been built yet. We would be downgrading from our beautiful house in Kaysville.  We are willing to do this to find a way for me to stay at home with the kids and for Jeremiah to not have such a ridiculous commute every single day.  I still might have to keep working, but I might be able to find a PRN job at a hospital.  We will see how things go.  We are doing all we can to do what is best for our family.  We are praying like crazy and I hope something works out for us and this will be a good choice.  Nothing will be happening until the end of the summer, but I'm starting to do all I can to prepare now.   

8 years of marriage and a cruise!!

 

Anybody who knows me well knows that my most favorite type of vacation is a cruise, so if I get the opportunity to go on a free cruise..I'll take it!  Leave the kids at home..I'll take it!!  As much as I love our kids (my little bundles of joy and challenges) it was so nice to get away for 3.5 days.  This was my 3rd cruise and it was the same type of cruise as our first where we just went to Ensenada Mexico.  It was so awesome to just get away from the challenges and business of life and just be a couple again instead of stressed out working parents. 
  We left the kids with my family.  They were so awesome to help us out.  I don't have any nieces or nephew to babysit, but if I did, you guys know I owe you one.  We got to the ship way too early, but it was awesome because we got to tour the famous Queen Mary ( http://www.queenmary.com/) It is a retired luxury liner built in the 1930's and retired in the 1960's.  They converted it into a motel, restaurant and museum.  It reminded me of the Titanic and had this very classic feel to it.  We took the haunted tour which was fun.  We really enjoyed the cruise with plenty of food and entertainment.  I have been really strict with my eating which is how I lost 50 pounds, but I just let myself enjoy the food and luckily haven't gained weight from the trip.  I'm getting back on track now. 
  We tried something new in Mexico, at least I did.  Jeremiah used to ride horses when one of his aunts owned some.  I have sat on a horse before but never ridden one.  It was scary when I first got on this powerful animal.  I thought he was going to take off on me.  I kind of got the hang of it and it was a fun horse ride.  We were up on some cliffs overlooking the ocean.  I might go on another horse ride again someday.  It was an awesome trip and much needed.  Jeremiah and I are busy working parents.  We love to spend time alone together so it was so nice to have this opportunity. 
  Today is our 8th wedding anniversary.  We started dating about 9 years ago as well.  I was 18 and Jerry was 22 when we first met in the Weber State symphonic band.  A few months after we met we were going to hang out and become friends but it quickly turned into so much more.  I had resolved to just leave boys alone and focus on school when Jerry came into my life.  It is interesting how fate works.  Here we are still happy, still going strong, still best friends.  Who could ask for more then to be with the one they love forever?