Enjoying Life

Ben and I finally decided that we needed to get out and do something fun instead of doing the normal clean the house, mow the lawn, etc. Ben had the day off so we took the Frontrunner downtown. Max thought is was so cool to ride on the train. He loved looking out the window and seeing the mountains.

We went to the Gateway and had dinner at Applebee's. It was the first time that we went out to dinner with both the boys and Isaac was good. He had his baby food and then played until we left. Then we went to the Clark Planetarium.

Max's favorite part was seeing himself on the tv. They had a map of the United States and when you stood infront of it you could see yourself on the tv so you could tell the weather.

He also liked being on the moon and mars. It was really good to get out and do something in the warm weather. We've been stuck inside just a little too long. We'll have to do it again because Max keeps asking to go on a train again. On Sunday we are going to San Francisco for a few days. We are trying to get Max excited to fly on a plane, but all he wants to do is go on a train.

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!

Max's latest thing is he LOVES to sing. We sing all the time. I am impressed how many words he remembers. He loves Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. I have been teaching him his shapes and when we come to a diamond I have tried to teach him it is not a diamond, but a rhombus because when he gets into first grade he has to call it that and it really confused a lot of my students. Now when he sings the song he says, "like a rhombus in the sky" instead. It is funny that he made that connection. His new favorite movie is "Bolt". There is a pigeon in the movie that says, "oh, snap" and so he has started saying it too. It is so funny.

Isaac learned to roll over on my birthday. He is doing a little better about crying all the time, but he has had an ear infection for about a month now. It is getting better slowly, but he isn't sleeping through the night and doesn't take good naps so he is just tired all the time. He is getting really fun though, he started saying "dada" this week, which Ben really likes. He still just loves Max. Max likes to get into Isaac's crib with him and they both lay there and look at the mobile and spit at each other. It will be really fun when he gets older and they can really play together.

I am really enjoying staying at home and watching my boys grow up. There is no place I would rather be. There are the days that you feel so overwhelmed and you don't really get a break, but it is all worth it. I was listening to Dr. Laura the other day. She read an email that really made me start to think about how I acted as a mom and wife. The email was about a lady who loved being a stay at home mom and the thing she said that really hit me was she loved being able to serve her husband when he gets home because he had served her all day by working so she could stay home. I always knew that, but never really put it all together. It just opened my eyes to how to be a better mom and wife.

Las Vegas

Ok, so it was a month ago, but we had a great vacation to Las Vegas. Max still talks about it. On the trip I finally realized the difference between a Family Trip and a Vacation. After a family trip you need a vacation! We had fun though. We drove straight through to Vegas, it was suprisingly not too bad with the two boys, even though I got a speeding ticket on the way down. I know, shocking! I think it was like my 11th ticket. I can't help that my car likes to drive fast.

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!

The next day we went to Hoover Dam. We went on the tour and Max was a little bored until we got to the top and could look down at the dam. He loved looking at the water. It was actually the second time he had been there. He was 9 months old the last time. I went there with my mom and sister on our way to California. My sister and I were a little disappointed that there wasn't a state line pained on the road like on the movie "Fools Rush In". When I went again this time I was still disappointed.

We spent the next day on the strip. It was fun, but we got really tired of trying to find what we were looking for in the casinos while pushing our double stroller. We went to Circus Circus to watch the Circus performance. It took us like 45 mintues to find out where it was and when we finally found it, it turned out really lame and Max didn't really like it. We then headed up to Mandalay Bay to the Aquarium. It was really cool. Max loved it. He loved looking for Dory, Nemo, and Crush. He also liked the jellies. After it took us forever to get through to the street. We went through the casinos which normally isn't a big deal, but when you need to find an elevator for our stroller it was hard. They put them in the weirdest places. We finally got to the M&M store. Max loved looking at all the "num nums". When we got out of the store it was getting dark and the lights came on. Max just liked looking at the bright "num nums".



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.