New Years

I don't make resolutions. Like I never really have. I tend to really suck at achieving goals so I try my best not to announce them to anyone, that way I don't feel so dumb when I don't follow through. This year, however, Im going out on a limb, putting myself out there and telling anyone who might stumble upon this blog what my (one and only) New Years resolution is.... Its this blog. Im going to regularly (oh heaven help me) post on this blog. My goal is once a week but Im going to go ahead and give myself a little allowance and say at least 2 times a month. I know what you are thinking... its already the end of January. You are completely correct. I am failing already. I have a legitimate excuse I swear. But Im not gonna get into that right now. ;)
With all that said... I have sucked at the blog the last year. I have so much catching up to do that it completely overwhelms me. As a result, Im not... not going to catch up that is. Im going to take all the photos Ive missed posting (which aren't many cause Ive sucked at picture taking too) and Im going to throw them up on this here post. If you are lucky, you might get a brief explanation. If not, deal with it and just enjoy the viewing pleasure.

We went to the coolest park in Aurora (Illinois) We got to do free train rides, pony rides, hay rides, paddle boats... it was just a good time in general.

Tree climbing obsession. (notice how two of the three don't have shoes on?)

Remember how we moved back to Utah? The kids got to take turns riding in the moving truck. Pretty sure it was the best thing that ever happened to them.

As soon as we got to Utah, AnDee went right to works selling cornstalks in order to earn money for her club house.

We also went right to work helping Gayle harvest her garden and get her yard ready for winter.

 Ike learned how to use a leaf blower.

Halloween... Im so proud of my little Christmas tree. Coolest Halloween costume ever.

Both AnDee and Pep have worked really hard to learn how to cross there eyes. Sadly I have no photographic evidence of Pep... Ill have to get on top of that.

We got to sneak up the canyon a few times before we got too much snow.

Our kids built this bridge. Not kidding. We gave them the supplies and they just went for it.

In between yard work and trips up the canyon, we occasionally got cleaned up. (complete with starters bowties)

Uncle Jake got married. If you are lucky I might find some more pics of the wedding and post them later, but for now this is all you get. 3 generations and Ike is really happy about all the picture taking.

We had to say goodbye to an old friend. It was completely heartbreaking. I don't want to talk about it.

We brought in a new friend who has become Andrew's best bud. His name is Beefcake and he smells really bad.

 We had Thanksgiving at Uncle Phil's house and the ENTIRE family was there for a minute.

We rocked the gingerbread house thing this year and made this wicked cool pretzel cabin.

I took a bunch of pics of Christmas morning and not a single one turned out. ALL of them were blurry. Im still mad. We did get a few pics of Uncle Caleb running the sleds behind the 4-wheeler. There is no question why Uncle Caleb is hands down the favorite Uncle. They spent HOURS out there while the rest of us lazy parents hid in the warm house.

We went to St. George for a few days and enjoyed being outside snow-free.

 Yes. He has a leash on him.

We have been practicing our old school type writer skills/boxing skills.

Lastly, Andrew and I went snow shoeing last week. It was seriously SO fun. Poor Bernie turned in to a snowball but she didn't seem to mind.

Ok... So... See you next week?

The Rest of Our Summer

So after we got home from Utah we got to hang out with dad for a few weeks. He initially tried to go back to work a few days after we got home but they sent him home and told him he couldn't come back... and who is going to argue with that??
So we took advantage of our extra dad time and played a little. We made a trip to the zoo (which is pretty much a weekly thing for us but with dad its better)

If you ever get the chance to get passes to a zoo that isn't very far from you, I highly suggest it. We have explored so many nooks and crannies of our zoo that we never would have if we didn't have passes. Having passes really allows you to slow down and see all the little things... and the little things have turned in to our favorite things. It also allows you to just play while you're there.

 and to make friends with the local peacocks...

 He was literally eating out of our hands..

We spent a day at the Indiana dunes and it was THE COOLEST!

 For those of you who (like me prior to moving here) don't know what "The Dunes" are, its basically just a bunch of giant sand dunes on the beach of Lake Michigan. I dare say this beach rivals most beaches Ive been to in California.

We also took a day and went in to the city. We stopped at this ridiculous giant McDonalds for lunch and then spent a few hours on the Magnificent Mile where we saw the American Girl Doll store (crazy. just crazy) and the Lego store!! 

Then we headed to the other side of town where we went to the Maggie Daley park....

I honestly have never seen anything like this park. It was hands down the COOLEST park I have ever had the pleasure to observe. The best part about it was that we were there on a school day and it had stopped raining just a few minutes before we got there so the park was essentially empty. My kids had free rain of the entire gigantic place! They had wet bums from the rain on the slides but it was totally worth it.

After the park we walked across the street and spent a few minutes at The Art Institute (yes... wet bums and all... we are very classy) We didn't spend an overwhelming amount of time there because... well because three kids but it was very cool and Id love to go back one day without the kids so I can spend more time.

So.... heres some news... Andrew had his surgery! Crazy right?! It finally happened in August and Andrew is doing fantastic! It has already done so much for him. Im SO excited for him and to see the changes as he recovers.

The whole family got to go out with him to Utah for the surgery (thanks to Papa who wouldn't  even hear about us staying behind)  Sadly (or as usual??) I didn't get many pictures but as always, my kids were in cousin heaven and thought the entire thing was a big party.

The kids missed their dad like crazy for the couple of days he was in the hospital and were really worried about him. Pep couldn't have been more happy about getting to snuggle with him during his visits.  Luckily he only had to stay a few days and then he got to come back to Nana's house with us.

 We got to spend some good quality time with the cousins before their school year started and of course we had to take a trip up to the crystal pits.

  Thats its... those are all the pics I got from our two week trip to Utah. And this one of Pep getting snuggled up on the plane for the ride home. My kids are amazing on airplanes. I love them for it.

 And this is what the girl looked like for days after we got home. She missed her puppy a lot.

Lets Take it Back to July

Before I begin this post I need to preface. I need to preface and apologize. I have to be in a certain mood to blog. I HATE blogging when Im not in that mood. I struggle with words and the post ends up boring and kind of depressing with absolutely no creativity. I, currently am not in the mood to blog. I haven't been in the mood to blog for a very long time though and my posts are piling up (like they always do) and I missing so many moments I want to remember. So here is my apology: Im sorry. Im sorry if you are reading this cause Its going to be boring and less than entertaining.
Here goes...
One time, Andrew spoiled me. Ok... not one time... lots of times. But this particular time was in July and guess what he did? He bought us tickets to a Barcelona vs. Chelsea game. They were both touring the U.S. and so he splurged and got us ticket to the game as well as train tickets and a hotel in Washington D.C.  Thats right, we rode the train (through the Appalachians) to D.C. to see my absolute favorite soccer team play against one of the teams I simply hate.
The train ride was magnificent. I tried over and over again to take a picture that would do the Appalachians some kind of justice... it was in vain. Those mountains were absolutely gorgeous and SO different than the mountains I am used to in the west. Ive never seen trees and vines like that.
We shared our train car with lots and lots of Amish people and we got to meet people and see so many things that we never have before.
At dinner one night we shared our table with a man... Hold up I have to explain this man to you. You know that show Armageddon? And the HUGE black guy on it? ... This guy was like his clone. He was one of the biggest human beings I have ever seen. His shoulders were so wide and large that when he sat down his shoulders bumped the other man that was sharing his side of the table but there was ample space between them on the actual bench. He was exceptionally quite and was staring at the ceiling though most of the meal. While the rest of us shared in casual conversation, he never said a word. The meal was almost over and I couldn't bare to let him leave without saying anything to him. Some how I opened up a conversation with him. I can't even remember how, I just know I asked him a question and when he responded I was surprised to find that he had a New York accent so thick I struggled to understand him. He told us his story. He grew up in the Bronx and got in with the wrong crowd. He decided he had to make a huge change or end up in a life he didn't really want. So, he joined the Marines. He spent the next 12 years of his life in and out of deployment serving in the middle east  5 times for a total of over 2 and a half years in Afghanistan and Iraq. When he retired from the military he got in to the oil industry and began working on big oil rigs "swinging a hammer and cussing (his fellow workers) each other out" (See he really is the Armageddon dudes clone) He explained to us that just a few days before boarding the train we were on (heading to Pennsylvania where he will spend the winter on a rig)  He had sent a letter to the White House. He has spent years fighting for his military compensation and wasn't receiving any.
It was completely fascinating to listen to his story. I love that. I love when complete strangers share little pieces of their lives with me. And Im angry. Im angry and embarrassed that someone who devoted so many years to our country has been tossed aside. How often does this happen?

It was a party spending a week in D.C. Just me and Andrew (Andrews parents were So awesome and stayed with our kids) This was our first real trip away from our kids and Im not going to lie, I was a nervous wreck about leaving them but it was SO good to be able to just hang out with my best pal (AKA Andrew)
We decided that instead of renting a car, we would just take our bikes and see the sights  and city that way. It. Was. So. Fun! Although it did require that we pack extremely light because we had to carry everything we had on our backs from the train station to our hotel. It was worth it though. It was so convenient and cheap and it really was just fun. I forgot how much I like biking.
D.C. was gorgeous. We saw Arlington (which was probably my favorite sight. There is SO much I didn't know about that place) We saw Lincoln, Washington, Kennedy and Einstein memorials. We went to The Smithsonian (which is actually like 15 different museums all under the same name) We went to the zoo ... which was way fun but what was even cooler was the bike ride there. I couldn't decide if I was in the Amazon or if I was in D.C. I have never seen so much green, leafy, viney stuff in my life. It was awesome! Plus the zoo had elephants so....

Barcelona had an open training session the day before the game so I made Andrew take me, of course. I think I might have enjoyed the training session even more than the game itself. It was much more personal. There were probably a couple hundred fans there (vs. 80,000 at the game.) and it was fun to see the players just hang out and show their personalities. Pique (a defender) spent a great deal of his time trying to peg people in the stands with balls. By the end of the training session about 3/4 of their balls had been lost to the crowd as a result.
The game was awesome. It was held in the Redskins stadium and was sold out. It was pretty incredible and even though the game wasn't overly serious (doesn't have anything to do with their actual record) it was fun to watch the players just enjoy playing and not stressing over a win.
Last but not least we found the best hamburgers known to man. If you ever go to D.C. and want to know how to find them, let me know ;)

Pics: