Yuck...

I have no idea why I get conned into buying these blasted things - my kids beg and beg and I cave. Here is the reason I hate them: they turn your fingers and mouth an icky orange color and then it smells. Ewww - I hate that Cheetos smell on Grady's little fingers - I can't get it off easily at all. I used to actually like the taste of these - I'm sure I get that from my Grandma (I think she still likes them), but now when I try to eat one, all I can smell is the icky orange fingers and I just can't bring myself to do it - so I guess that's a good thing right???

I'll Miss...

Grady's Crib... It's down and packed away for good - well, at least until we have grandkids and that is WAY off. He has finally decided that he can sleep in a big boy toddler bed and he is SO proud. I am too. We have had it up for months, but I was too worried that he would be walking around and playing at night, and I couldn't sleep - but not anymore. He has stayed in it and slept great! It was super sad for me to take it down - not because I want more babies (no way), but because of the memories. I remember when I was pregnant with Kendalyn and we were out looking for cribs and we finally found "the" crib up at Babinsky's in SLC. We both LOVED it!! I am not sentimental about most things, but sometimes a little button goes off and I become a little emotional. I'm okay now, but I am going to miss that thing - besides the fact that it made for a very "cute" room...

Arms of STEEL

Okay, I may be a bit obsessed with Kelly Ripa's arms lately - I mean have you seen them - they are amazing. I know there is this whole whoopdi doo about Michelle Obama's arms, and while they are lovely, they are not Kelly's. I watch Regis and Kelly pretty much everyday, and I just love looking at her arms - she ALWAYS has them showing - well, I would too if I had them:)
Anyway, she has been endorsing this new workout DVD called Physique 57 http://physique57.com/shop/products/ which is actually a studio that she works out in, in NYC. Well, of course I bought it and my first day trying it was yesterday - it was SO hard and I only did the 30 minute DVD, there is a 60 minute one (can you say OUCH?)and an Ab and Arm Booster - woo hoo! So, I can barely move today and the sides of my bum KILL - it was a great workout and I can't wait to try the rest - wish me luck with those arms!!!

Bye Bye Binky

Well, it is that time again - time to get rid of that retched binky! Don't get me wrong, I LOVE the binky from the time they are born until about 2, after that it just becomes a BIG, FAT, PAIN - which is precisely why it was time to dispose of it. Grady kept getting this rash around his mouth from putting the binky on the side of his mouth and letting it hang out there with his lovely saliva - and, frankly, I had been debating on the timeline of the binky disposal anyway, so it worked out perfect!

With each of our kids, we have had a "Binky Party" to get rid of it. We give them ice cream and make a HUGE deal out of the whole thing. THEY get to use the "big" scissors and cut it themselves and we take pictures and get the whole thing on camera - it really is quite the production, but it WORKS!! It has been gone for over a week now and although naps are a bit harder(at least he IS still having them - YEA) he is doing GREAT!!! Sometimes he says "binky, bye-bye" with a bit of sadness in his voice, but we just clap and tell him what a BIG boy he is and talk about the "party" - and just like that, he moves on...

I've Been........

BUSY!!!

Kendalyn moved down to our basement about 5 months ago and her walls were in desperate need of some COLOR!! It was so sterile, and now - well, it has some real personality! She picked out the color and we found this great bookcase and pink bins at IKEA - love it... I am still a little hesitant about how bright it is, but I think it will just take some getting used to. In the meantime, she absolutely LOVES it and I love that...

A FABULOUS FIRST DAY

The Girls
Bongos (aka: Adri)
Little Miss Skinny Jeans (Kendalyn LOVES them)
Today was the first day of school and it was SO great to be back on a schedule, although I am feeling the "tired" effects about now. I LOVE that suddenly, my kids are jumping out of bed, making them, and getting dressed all enthusiastically and if you can believe it (I barely can) no fighting - hurray for school days!!! Kendalyn started 3rd grade this year (that's right - I'm getting old) and she LOVED it and loves her teacher too. Adri had a "meet and greet" with her teacher who is amazing and really nice, but doesn't officially start until next Monday(boo)- it didn't stop her from thinking that is was her first day and wearing her "first day" outfit - oh well, she did look super cute.
So, all in all, a successful first day to a hopefully successful year....

I HEART My Sister!!

So, my cute sister Cindy just left back to Minnesota and I am seriously missing her! We honestly have the BEST time together and I just LOVE being with her. My kids absolutely adore their "Aunt Cinny" and she adores them even more I think. We always have tons of laughs - and I mean TONS, and I am SO glad I have such a fun sister.
Here are some funny pics of our week together and maybe they are only funny to us - who knows!! We went through THE best carwash ever - it was even free, we also saw some super yucky fashion trends that I hope go away VERY soon, we bought four containers of Ice Cream - it really wasn't all for us, we watched Empire Records - a SUPER great movie from our teenage years, and we saw Julie and Juila - a great flick! Anyway - lots of fun - MISS YOU CIND!!!

-Empire Records - I don't know why this pic is SO small
-The "yucky" silver leggings
-At Chucky Cheese it seems I am better at Ski Ball than Cinders
-Yucky STIRRUP trend
-In THE best carwash ever - okay, it helped that it was FREE90FREE
-At WINGERS celebrating my bro. Brent's B-day - worst waitress I think I have ever had

Ticket to Ride - 177 - SERIOUSLY!!!

Our Routes
Me and Cinders
My "nice" 177
Cindy - trying to look mad
Brent and Spence ALSO trying to look mad
Brent - always making us laugh

So, I just had to post this - I cannot believe I have beaten my two (yes, TWO) previous high scores on this game - it is INSANE!! Now, I am SURE someone has gotten much higher than this, but I personally have never seen or heard about higher and we have played this game ALOT! My first highest score was a 169 (see older post) and last Sunday night I pulled off a 171 - AMAZING.. You have to be incredibly LUCKY to get this score, which I was each of the 3 times - hee hee.. Anyway, we got some nice photos I thought:)

Timpanogos Cave

This year the 24th was completely different for our fam. We usually go to Idaho and celebrate up there with the big parade and fireworks, but this year we stayed here and just kind of did our own thing.
Spence had never been to the cave before, and I had been with my family but I think it may have been about 15 years ago (I still think it is crazy that I can say something was 15 years ago and I was like 15 - ugh) and I remember it being really fun - so we decided to go up. We got there and ended up having to wait for a bit, but we just went to Cabela's (Spence's dream store) and then took the kids to lunch. We stared hiking around 12:30pm and the kids did great. Spence had Grady in the backpack and the girls drank water about every 10 seconds with only the occasional complaints. They loved being in the cave and it was fun to see it all again for me. Grady was a bit of a struggle, but once he got back on the trail we were good. Good thing there was an outhouse at the top as well, because you can imagine where all of that water they were drinking went:) All in all, a really fun day and definitely something we will do again..

So Long PRIVATE!!

I was getting SUPER annoyed at having a private blog - I know, I made a HUGE deal about the danger and bad things about not being private, but I find it super annoying not to have it updated on the blog roll. Seriously blogger - you need to figure that one out! Anyway, I think you might have to re-add me to your blog roll(if you want to:) so that my blog will show when last updated! Thanks...

NYC - LOVE this Place...

Okay, it's taken me a few days, but here is New York '09!! We honestly had THE BEST TIME! We saw shows, went to live tapings of shows and to be really honest - ATE our way through the city. I have been compiling a "list" of things to do in NY for the last two years through the help of my brother Brent (lived there for a few years) and through blogging, the Food Network, Travel Channel, and other web sites. The last time we went, we did all of the really touristy things, but this time, it was pure city stuff (along with a few touristy things). We crossed off almost everything on the list - it was great. We took a ton of pics, so I will do it by day - it is super long so keep scrolling - enjoy - and if you ever go, call me for a copy of the "list"!!

Monday

On the Plane - Spence thinks I'm a little picture crazy - but I always have blogging on the mind..

The famous Shake Shack - in Madison Square Park..
Yep - super yum!!
Me, hiding a spot on my shirt that I spilled ice cream on - just keeping it real folks
In front of the Flat Iron Building - so unique..
After our fab meal we just walked around the Village for awile. We saw a movie being shot - no idea what it was, but it had kids and a ton of balloons. Great shops and tons of people watching to do.