February & March 2013

We had a long and cold February and March in Chicago. A lot of rain and windy cold days. We stayed inside most of the time.

Addy wanted to make her preschool class treat bags for Valentine's day. She die cut and stamped her own valentines this year. We had so much fun making them together.

Chris made the kids and I green pancakes for breakfast on St. Patrick's day. We decided last minute to spend the day in Chicago and take the kids to see the Chicago river. It was barely 30 degrees and we were freezing out walking around, but we really enjoyed the day! The kids were excited to see all the people dressed in green and wearing crazy things from the parade. Addy got a green shamrock hat necklace that she wore proudly. The kids picked a stuffed animal from the Disney store and Benson went to the Nike store on Michigan Ave for the first time. That boy was in heaven! So many "swoosh" things to look at. He really wanted some basketball shoes right then, but I talked him into getting a dri-fit shirt instead. He wore that shirt for three days straight and I had a hard time getting it away from him to wash it. It is his favorite!

We finally had some sunny days at the end of March just in time for Easter. The kids went to an Easter egg hunt on Saturday and colored eggs that night. Easter morning we surprised the kids with a new wagon and some treats in their baskets.

January 2013 and our trip to Utah

January was not a good month at our house. We were pretty much sick the entire month.  I ended up getting H1N1, which I didn't even know was still going around, and stayed in bed for 8 days straight. I have never been this sick and hope to never experience anything like it again. Christian took off an entire week of work and took great care of the kids and I. Unfortunately, I passed it on to Benson. We caught it very quickly and he was treated the first day. His fever and body ache only lasted about a day and a half, but still had to stay away from the public for 5 more days. Longest 2 weeks for my family!  We were worried about the flu being passed to Addy so we had her treated as well. She never caught the virus! 

 I started doing project life this year and these black and white pictures are some from my cover page from the album. The pictures are all from the first weekend in January.

On the 24th I finally had my 12 week app and the Dr. cleared both the baby and I. We were both healthy and doing well! I was so worried about the baby the whole time I was sick. This was such a relief! Christian and I decided to tell the kids that night about the baby. Addy was excited and Benson didn't quite understand. I showed Addy and Benson the ultrasound pictures and here is the conversation we had.....

Me- "do you know what this is a picture of?'

Addy- "no"

Me- "look at it again"

Addy- complete blank stare

Me- " here is the back, head, feet, arms, ect....."

Addy- "a dinosaur?"

I started to laugh! Seriously so innocent and cute.

Chris- "it's right here in mommies belly"  

Addy- "you have a dinosaur in your belly?"

Haha! How cute is that? I explained to them that I was going to be having a baby. Addy said she understood but wasn't super excited like I hoped. Benson couldn't stay in the room long enough to have a conversation. He was running around like a crazy boy. When I told him he just kept say "no it isn't" and ran away laughing.

That night I went up to bed and Addy was still awake laying in her bed. She said she was having a hard time sleeping because she kept thinking about the baby. ( she really was excited!) She came and got in bed with me. I was laying there with my eyes closed and our foreheads touching. Addy wrapped her arm around me and said " I just hope you have a really good time having your baby. I hope it's really good for you." It made me tear up! She was trying to process all that info, congratulate me, and be the sweetest little thing all at once. Love this girl!

Two day later we caught our flight to Utah. We hadn't been home since last summer and we had news to tell everyone which made the trip a little more exciting. Our first day there Addy and Benson got to meet my sister's new dog. If you know my kids this is a huge deal. Addy had some serious anxiety the whole way home from the airport. She knew the dog was all ready at my parents house. We pulled in the driveway and Addy had Allyson hold the dog so she could walk in the house. Addy immediately ran to my mom's couch and sat on the arm rest. Betsy was running around playing. Addy was shivering, broke out in hives, her little teeth were chattering, but she was so happy to see that dog. After about an hour and a half I talked her into getting off the couch. Within minutes Addy was letting Betsy jump all over her and they were playing. Such an accomplishment! Benson was nervous for about 5 seconds. I think he fed more off of Addy's fear than anything. He was rolling around on the ground wanting Betsy to lick his ears. 

All Addy could think or talk about was Betsy for the entire trip. That girl loves this dog and overcame a fear. I am not going to lie and say I didn't want to pull my hair out! Love my daughter, but there is only so may hours in the day we can talk about a dog.

The following week my family had a surprise 60th birthday party for my dad. It turned out great and my mom did such a good job organizing it and keeping everything a secret. There was a great turn out and my dad was excited to see a lot of his friends. 

We celebrated Benson's birthday a little early so he could spend it with all of his cousins. He picked a trampoline/ bounce place. The kids all had such a great time! It is so fun to see all of our kids together. Benson really latched on to Hayden this trip. He wanted to be everywhere he was and thought Hayden was super cool.

We went with my family bowling the night before we left. The kids had so much fun! Addy loves to bowl and did a really good job. She was doing the cutest cheers for everyone. Benson had fun for about his first 3-4 turns. It took way too long and he wanted to go play video games instead.

Saying goodbye is always the hardest part. We went over and said bye to some of Christian's family and met my parents and sister's in Sugar House for breakfast. 

One of my most favorite pictures of my kids with nanny Jamie. I caught one of the only real smiles from Benson from the entire trip. I torture that poor boy with all the pictures I like to take.

We had a really great trip and loved spending all the time with our families.

November 2012

 Benson started tumbling at the community center. On Monday's we drop Addy off at school and then meet Cailyn and Chelsea for our class. Benson runs circles around most of the kids in there. He has so much fun trying the different courses that coach Brittany sets up each week. His favorite is the huge blow up jumping area and doing flips on the bar. I look forward to our time together each week.

The second week of November I went home for a weekend by myself. It was awesome! I haven't been  alone on an airplane since before I was married. I read almost an entire book on my flight there and took a nap.  I had so much fun with my family. I of course shopped a lot, ate at all my favorite places, made some crafts, stayed up way too late every single night, and met and held my twin little nephews for the first time. I went to a wedding at the Bountiful temple and afterwards my family took me out to dinner to celebrate my birthday early. My family surprised me with a Michael Kors watch for my gift. I love it so much! I definitely need a trip alone once a year!

The next week I got together with some friends to see the late showing of Breaking Dawn Part 2. We had a lot of fun sitting around waiting for the movie to start. That weekend four of our friends rode the train into the city to celebrate Liz turning 30. We had such a fun night! Dinner was delicious and I think Sunda is my new favorite sushi restaurant. We walked to sprinkles to get cupcakes and then walked Michigan Ave and checked out the lighting of the city. It was such a beautiful night and I enjoyed the fabulous company.

Thanksgiving this year was spent with friends from our ward. The food was so delicious and we really enjoyed our time at the Callister's home. We are so grateful for all of our amazing friends here!

July, August, and September 2012

We celebrated with a few of our friends for the 4th of July. We had a low key BBQ at our house and visited through out the afternoon. Later that night we drove to watch some fireworks that were close by our house. We all sat on the car to watched them. Of course my kids were mesmerized by all the bright colors and the loud noises. They love fireworks!

Pretty much all of my free time from about February- July was spent preparing for girls camp. I did the crafts for our stake camp in Wisconsin again this year. We had a great turn out and the girls all seem to love the crafts. We had an amazing opportunity for our girls this year. Each ward was assigned a country and we filmed our girls for the other country to see and they filmed their girls for us. We asked the girls to answer a few questions and to bare their testimonies. It truly was amazing to hear all the responses from around the world. It was a great thing for all the girls to see that they truly are the same. Even though they don't live the same way, the youth are all experiencing similar trials in their life. Each night we would gather on a big grassy area and watch the movies under the stars. It was an awesome experience! Our ward had Zimbabwe and a woman there beaded our entire stake these cute braceltes. Such a fun memory for these girls to have. Our camp was being filmed the entire time by the church so that added a little stress for us. I was trying to stay out of the cameras way because I did not want to be filmed! They are using the footage for training purposes for future girls camp. The youth videos just released for the new curriculum for 2013 has some of our camp footage on it. 

In August my sister Andrea and her husband JC came to visit us. We had a fun weekend with them! We spent two days in Chicago shopping, eating delicious food, sitting in terrible traffic, and checking out the aquarium. This was JC's first time coming so we had a lot to show him. On that Saturday we went to the Arlington racetrack. It was a very big race, the Arlington Million. My kids love to be there and of course it's one of Christian's favorite things to do! We went out that night just the four of us to a restaurant in downtown Naperville. It was fun to walk the river walk with them and stop off at the end to get some treats at Napersweets. Probably my most favorite store here in Naperville!

My kids wait all summer for The Last Fling. We have gone very year since we have moved here and it has become a tradition. Benson was big enough to ride the rides this year so it made it extra fun.

The dragon coaster of course is still their favorite ride! Nothing makes me happier than seeing these two laughing and having fun together.  We got a delicious funnel cake and snow cone to share. It was extremely hot but my kids didn't mind at all! 

We went out on the paddle boats for the first time this year. It was really fun! I was very nervous at first not being able to strap my wild boy down. Benson did great and only climbed around a bit. Addy helped her dad paddle and steer for almost 30 min of our boat ride. It was very relaxing and fun and something I  hope we will do again next year. 

Addy started her second year of pre-school the beginning of September. Her teacher this year is Mrs. Buscher and she has 3 other kids from our ward in her class. Addy loves school and wishes she went every day like all of her older friends do.  We are excited for this school year and look forward to all the learning and things she is accomplishing! She is a very smart girl and she loves to learn new things. She is very interested in learning how to read. I am not sure how to teach her, but I am trying!

More Utah in June....

My mom's side of the family had a reunion at East Canyon right after Christian's family reunion. We camped in my parents trailer for two night and three days. My kids loved being around my family and all my cousin's kids. Benson still wasn't walking on his foot, so he spent most of the weekend on his daddy's shoulders.  Of course they loved all the time they were able to spend in the pool. We stayed up long enough on Sunday to celebrate Father's Day with a yummy breakfast and gifts to my dad. 

 

 We were able to get together a few times with all the cousins. On this day we celebrated two nephews and an aunts birthday. The kids all had so much fun playing in nanny and papa's back yard.

At the time these were all the grandkids on Christian's side. So fun to be able to all be together. Since then we have added a set of twin boys to the family. We are so lucky to have such amazing families! Wish we lived a little closer so we could spend more time together. 

My sister Allyson turned 30 and so we had a party to celebrate the big day. Love when my kids get to spend time with my grandparents. 

My kids love going to the fair so we went to South Ogden Day's for a few rides, yummy food, and some face painting. I loved seeing Benson and Addy laugh together on the rides. They loved the dragon coaster the most and still talk about how much fun it was. They both got their faces painted for the first time. It use to make Addy very nervous for some reason. Benson was a little concerend while the girl painted his snake, but loved the end result. Addy loved her butterfly!

On our last day in Utah we went to watch my nephew play baseball and see a few cousins one last time. They boys played a great game and we enjoyed slushi's while we watched. Benson loved watching Hayden play. He wants to play baseball just like him when he gets bigger.

June 2012

My family flew home for two family reunions the middle of June. We had quite the adventure to get there. It all started when Christian found $60 tickets to Vegas. Anyone that knows me well knows I do not like Vegas, especially with my husband. We have had some really bad experiences and I try to avoid going there. I agreed to his crazy plans and we flew to Vegas and stayed for a few days before we headed to Southern Utah for our first reunion.  It turned out to be a fun little trip. We never do anything like this just as a family, so I loved having this time with Christian. 

We stayed on the strip the first night, but the rest of the time was spent off the strip at the JW Marriott in Summerlin. The kids loved swimming and the pool was beautiful! Benson jumped off the couch and hurt his ankle really bad two days before we left. It wasn't broke but he definitely couldn't walk. So he loved the freedom of being able to move in the water. I was really concerned how he was going to be. The boy doesn't sit still for five seconds and is all over the place. But he ended up spending most the vacation in the stroller and on his daddy's shoulders. He couldn't get away from me even if he wanted to!

We rented a car and drove to Manti to the Palisade campground for Christian's family reunion.  Addy did great on the drive, but Benson had a rough trip. He cried for most of the time and kept telling us his back hurt. I felt so bad for him. Those carseats are not the most comfortable things to be riding in for long periods of time.  

The kids were so happy to see Nanny Jamie and Papa Dave and get to camp for the first time!  We ended up sleeping in their trailer both nights so we had it easy. The first morning Addy saw kids outside playing and said "when do I get to have a playdate with her?" It was so funny! She didn't realize she could play with all the little cousins outside all day. Christian's cousins little girl was so sweet to Addy. The first day they played the whole day in the water and rocks right outside the trailer. They all took turns filling the buckets and dumping them right back out. It was so nice for Benson to be able to sit with the girls and play. He still wouldn't put any pressure on his foot so he just scooted around on his bum.

We went down to the lake both days to play. Jason and Alisa took Addy out on her first boat ride. I was really nervous to let her go! She was so brave and sat in the back with Cohen. I might have shed a tear or two watching her! I love seeing her experience all of these fun things.

 More pictures of playing at the lake with cousins.

Four of my cute nephews. Addy had so much fun playing with these boys.

Christian got to golf one morning with his dad and some cousins and uncles. When the finished up he came down to the lake to play with the kids. He was catching little fish for them to save in their buckets. Addy was in heaven. We got Benson to stand up and put pressure on his foot for the first time in a week. He was so proud of himself but was still in a ton of pain. He loved throwing rocks and golf balls into the lake.

We packed up that night and went to Northern Utah to my family reunion at East Canyon. That post is coming up next!