August was spent getting ready for Tricia's wedding. We had tons of showers for her. We did take a time out and go to our favorite place in Park City, the Westgate Resort! We have been there twice now and we never want to leave. They have activities all day for the kids. Everything from magic shows to making ipod cases. They have four swimming pools. We mostly just swam. The boys loved it! All three of them! It was nice to just go somewhere and relax. It will be nice when the boys are a little older and can do things like the Alpine Slide and stuff. There was a miniture golf course by the Alpine Slide, but it was really lame so we didn't do it.
After Park City we stopped in Heber for lunch at this really cute train resturant. They had a train that you could sit and eat at. Then we went to Seven Peaks Waterpark. Max was so brave. He went down all the kid slides and Isaac loved being in the water. Their favorite part was the wave pool. Since we were so close we went to Tricia's house and she made us dinner.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
August
Love Ben and Brooke at 8:48 AM 1 comments
July
We also took Max to the Treehouse Museum in July. It was really neat. He liked all the little houses and all the hands on activities.
Love Ben and Brooke at 8:25 AM 0 comments
The Parable of Dolly
The end of June we bought a 2002 Dogde Durango. We got rid of the White Malibu. It was so nice to see that car go! (I think Ben was more excited because he gets to drive the Altima now). We bought it from the TNT Auction. It was a Police K-9 unit. The only way we could tell was it the title was from the Salt Lake Police Department and there was tons of dog hair in the back. We had to do a lot of repairs, but it was still worth it. About a week after we bought it we noticed that the headlights had about an inch of water inside of them. We thought this was weird, but didn't think anything of it. Then one night when I was at my mom's house one of the headlights burned out. The next day the boys and I went to Provo to visit Tricia. It was about 10:00 p.m. when I left. I got in the Durango (which we named Dolly) and turned on the headlights and nothing worked. I had no headlights and no brights. I very carefully left Tricia's apartment and headed home with only parking lights. Driving around the city was fine, but as soon as I got onto the freeway I couldn't see a thing and to make things worse it started to rain. It rained and rained and rained. I think it was the scarest I had been driving. Luckily the boys fell asleep before we even got on the freeway. I tried following cars and staying close to them, but the cars kept getting off the freeway or going places I didn't want to go. I couldn't see the lines on the road and I couldn't see when the road turned. Finally when I got close to Bountiful I called Ben. He was at work and had just gotten off so I told him to meet me at a gas station so I could follow him home. Once I had Ben to follow I was amazed at how calm I was. All of the fear and tention was gone and I finally had peace.
Here is what this experience taught me. In life if we don't have any direction or light of our own and try to life off of someone elses light or follow people that we don't know if they are trust worthly they will lead us to places we don't want to go. They may take us off of the straight and narrow path. When you don't have any light yourself you don't know which way to go, but when you follow the Christ's light you will be at peace and he will lead you safely home.
To finish the story, yes, I made it home safe. We found out the problem was the water in the headlights touched the hot lightblubs and broke them. We drained the water, fixed the wholes, replaced the bulbs and it works fine now.
Love Ben and Brooke at 8:08 AM 0 comments
Bad at Blogging
I have been horrible at blogging. I am hoping by the end of this week to be all caught up. I started a new business and have been spending every change I get to work on the website. If you want to see it the web address is www.ashiningdesign.com. It's still not finished, but it's just about there.
Love Ben and Brooke at 8:06 AM 0 comments
Saturday, June 6, 2009
A Full Week!
This week has been filled with a lot of fun stuff. On Monday we left for Smith and Morehouse to go camping. We were excited for our first family camping/fishing trip with Isaac. We got up there and had dinner and right after Ben made a fabulous fire it started to rain and it rained until 1 in the morning. We had fun playing games in the tent. The next morning we woke up to things a little wet, but it was still looking like a great day. I made breakfast and then we went down to the resevior to go fishing. We didn't catch anything, but Max had fun casting and saying "Here fishy, fishy, fishy." We got back to our campsite and had lunch and then is started to rain again. It rained and rained and rained. I didn't have a lot of things for the boys to do in the tent so they started getting a little crabby and started bouncing off the walls. Finally at 6:00 we couldn't take it anymore so we packed up our stuff. About half way through packing up the rain stopped and the sun came out. I was tempted to stay, but Ben was done. He didn't want to go camping anymore and was just done. So we came home two days early.
Love Ben and Brooke at 3:38 PM 1 comments
Monday, May 25, 2009
Catching Up
We have had a lot of trips and things to catch up on. The beginning of May we went to San Francisco. Our friend gave us some buddy passes so we got to fly there. We got to the airport in time for our flight, but it was delayed by two hours so we decided to walk around and have some lunch. When we got back to our terminal the flight was moved up an hour and it had left without us. So we had to wait for the next flight. After six hours at the airport we finally got on the plane. Max was exhasted by now and while the plane was backing up he fell asleep and slept pretty much the entire flight. Isaac did pretty well too. We got to San Francisco and had to find our luggage because it was on the flight that we missed. Then we got on the BART and went into the city. By the time we got to our hotel it was 9:30. We left our house that morning at 8:30. It made for a very long day.
The next day we rented a car and drove around. Ben has applied for a lot of jobs in the Bay Area so we went to check out the areas that we want to move to. The city that we really liked was called Discovery Bay. It is a small town, population about 9,000. It was really cool. It has a river in the city and the houses are built right on the river so they all have docks in their back yards. We saw the schools and parks. There were tons of parks. We stopped and let Max get out and play for a while since it was a long drive. It is about 1 hour and 15 mins outside of San Francisco. We are now really excited to move there, now Ben just needs a job.
The next day we went back to San Francisco. Max played at the beach. He loved throwing the sand into the ocean until a big wave hit him and he fell in. Nothing like a wet, cold, sandy two year old. After we got him changed we walked the wharf and had to get Gharradelli sundaes. We are now addicted. I have learned to make their fudge sauce and make it about once a week because we have hot fudge sundaes every night.
Our flight left at 7:45 in the morning so we got up early and went to the airport. The shuttle from our hotel was late and we kept getting in the wrong lines. When we finally got in the right line there was no way we were going to make our flight, so yes we missed another flight. So seven hours later we got on another flight home.
Love Ben and Brooke at 10:24 AM 1 comments
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Enjoying Life
Love Ben and Brooke at 10:11 PM 1 comments
Friday, April 10, 2009
And then there was one!
I am very happy to say that we only have one child in diapers!!!!! I can't tell you how exciting that is! We have been trying for the last two months to get Max potty trained. He would kind of go in his potty and then just didn't care if he went in his diaper. We tried a few times and after a few days gave up each time. Last week Max wanted to wear a pull up so I told him if he went in the potty then he could so he did and he has been great ever since. We are still working on going number two, but he does great even when we go out of the house. He is so proud of himself!
Love Ben and Brooke at 10:26 PM 2 comments
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Las Vegas
We stayed at Sam's Town. It was pretty nice. The middle of the hotel had a walking park that had trails and a big waterfall. At night they have a show that has mechanical animals moving and a laser and water fountain show. It was pretty cool. Max really liked it. It was nice because most of the people that were there were retired and didn't mind our kids. It was funny, we got a lot of double takes with our two boys in the double stroller. There weren't a lot of little kids there. Ben was sick so the first day we just hung out and watched movies and went bowling. Our hotel had a 56 lane bowling alley in the basement. It was huge! Max was in HEAVEN! He loves loves loves bowling!
On the way home a trip that usually takes 7 hours took us 11. Changing diapers in the car, letting the boys out to run and play, and stopping to eat just took a long time. We decided we are never taking two kids in diapers on a road trip again.
Love Ben and Brooke at 8:56 PM 2 comments
Friday, March 6, 2009
And the two years begin!
Love Ben and Brooke at 9:45 PM 2 comments
Sunday, February 8, 2009
The Piano Project
Well, the rest of the fam is doing good. We started potty training Max this week. It is going pretty well. He is kind of getting the hang of it. We have to use a lot of bribes though. His newest thing is he can make himself burp. The other day he was trying to burp and he couldn't so he said, "oh, lost it" then he finally burped and said, "got it". He is such a boy! He really likes Nemo. We have a book of fish and he looks at it all the time. He can name all kinds of fish. I think we might have to break down and get him a fish. If any of you know me, you know that is a big deal because I still have my fish phobia. We are going to Las Vegas in March and we are planning on going to the aquarium. I think he is really going to like it.
Love Ben and Brooke at 11:19 PM 2 comments
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Joy in the Journey Now
I attended Women's Conference today and it was just amazing! The theme was Finding Joy in the Journey Now. I had a few eye opening moments today that I thought I would share. I went to a class that was entitled Finding Joy in Parenting. During the class it reminded me of a precious moment I had with Max a few weeks ago. We have the late church schedule so before church Max and I made a tent in the living room out of our kitchen chairs and sheets. We got our pillows and blankets and cuddled up in the tent and watched his favorite, Finding Nemo. I thought of all the other things that I should or could be doing, the dishes, vacuuming, cleaning up the toys, etc. Then it came to me that Heavenly Father has given me a most precious spirit to teach and take care of. I only have one chance to teach him and create memories that he will have for the rest of his live. Then and there I decided that I wanted to give him the best experiences he can have on this earth. I am so grateful that I have the opportunity to stay home and give my boys the experiences that will shape their lives forever.
One of the speakers at Women's Conference made a comment that stuck with me. She said that happiness is always inside us. It is an attribute that we all have. There are so many good things in our lives that bring out that joy we have within us. I think Max and Isaac bring the most out in my live. Another speaker talked about how our lives are filled with the noise of the world and it causes us to not feel as happy as we could. She named 10 different "noises" in our life. The on that stood out to me was "stuff" in general. The world wants us to have stuff. Stuff is what will make us happy. It made me think about that happy times in my life and it was always with the people I love most and times when the spirit was so strong.
I had another big leap as a mom today. We went down and visited Tricia in Provo and Max had a sleep over with his uncles and Tricia. It is the first time that he has sleep away from home, except for when I was in the hospital with Isaac. It was a very strange feeling leaving Tricia's house and not taking Max with me. It was a little sad, but I knew that he was in good hands with people who loved him. As I drove home and I was contemplating that happenings of the day I thought how Heavenly Father must feel when he has to send us to this earth. He knows that it is for our good. Some he sends down knowing they are going to people who will love them and then there are some he sends down knowing what a hard life they are going to live. I am sure that he has a hard time sending some of his choice spirits down to this earth knowing the trials that they will face. I felt very grateful knowing that Max was in good hands. I am sure that he will have a great time, again creating those experiences to enrich his little life.
I am so grateful for the little pieces of Heaven I get to enjoy every now and then. I just felt like I should share the little insights that I had today.
Love Ben and Brooke at 12:00 AM 1 comments
Friday, January 16, 2009
A little Gentleman
I was so proud of my little Max today. I was getting home from my mom's house and was following the same routine when coming home by myself. I got Max out of the car and told him to go inside as I went around the car and got Isaac. I then went to go inside and there was Max. He had opened the door and was holding it open for me. What a cute kid! I guess I will keep him. Lately I wasn't so sure. He just really knows how to get on my nerves. He is back in a throwing mood and thinks he has to throw everything at me. He throws something at me and then says "Good catch".
Isaac is growing and growing. He still spits up all the time and now cries about 85% of the time. We are doing better. I am just really glad that he is sleeping through the night. When he is not crying he does have a really cute laugh. When he smiles he crinkles his nose. It is really cute. He loves holding his hands and eating his fingers. We recently tried putting him in his walker and he really liked it.
Love Ben and Brooke at 9:59 PM 1 comments