Downata hot springs

Every year over Memorial weekend we go camping with my family to Downata Hot springs.  This year the weather was a little colder than usual but that didn't stop the kids from playing.  There was a total of 16 little kids in our group and they all did very well playing with each other.  They played kickball, soccer, baseball had races, and whatever other games they came up with to play.  When it was rainy we piled in Grandma's trailer to hang out and watch movies.  I'm sure it drives her nuts but she let's it happen and we enjoy being all together.  Even though the weather was cold the pool is warm so it didn't stop the kids from swimming. We hung out by the camp fire and roasted marshmallows and enjoyed being away from home.

He was so thrilled to go swimming with all the kids:) He loves having to get into a swimsuit like I do.

Logan likes to go down the water slides but ended up getting stuck on this one.  He had to lunge himself off the slide or he got scared and stopped himself but according to him he got stuck.

Wyatt and daddy had a great time having water fights and somehow I ended up in them.  Since I was pregnant the water temp was to warm for me to be in it and parts of me was somewhat relieved.  I was still sick and it was nice just to watch the kids and take lots of pictures.  Plus it was nice not having to get in a swimsuit and then freeze when you get out of the pool.

Kennady attempted her first water slide.  It was the first year she could go on it without her arm floaties so she was excited to try it.  It was a little faster of a water slide so I think it scared her a little bit when she flew into the water but she kept on doing it and loved it.  She still isn't the best swimmer without the arm floaties so Aaron was always there to help her.

I'm Pregnant

For the past probably 6-8 months Aaron and I have been back and forth on whether to have one more kid.  I have always felt like there was one more but I had many selfish reasons getting in the way of just making my decision.  We both have been back and forth many times...if I thought it was time, Aaron wasn't so sure and vise versa.  I think we both have felt that we are in a good spot in our lives and why mess that up?  Needless to say we made our decision and it happened that fast.  Are we crazy?  Wyatt and Kennady are 5 and will be entering Kindergarten in the fall, we are practically starting all over.  What have we done:) 

Today was my first prenatal appointment and to be honest I was very nervous but yet excited.  There are always the many concerns about if everything looks good, heartbeat, etc.  My main concern though was to make sure that there was only 1 baby.  We have been down the road of having twins and as much as I wouldn't change a thing....I do not and probably wouldn't be able to manage going through that again.  My doctor new my concern and as soon as she could tell she gave me the glorious news that there was only 1.  I can't describe how relieved I was.  Happy to say that our new little one had a strong heartbeat and everything looked good so far.  I am 7 weeks along and my due date is January 11th. 

I am very excited and have felt peace with our decision and know that our family is complete.  The kids are excited to have a new brother or sister and Kennady thinks it will be a girl and that we will name her lily.  We will see :)

Dancing with the stars:)

This past weekend my sister-in-law and I took off to California to see a live taping of Dancing with the stars.  My wonderful father-in-law put his name in for lottery tickets back in November for Jocie's birthday and they emailed him saying they had tickets for the Tuesday night show.  He had to know quickly so Jocie called me up and we made quick arrangements to make it happen.  Needless to say we were both dang excited to go and what a fun way to have a girls weekend.  This is a sum of how our trip went:

Sunday:  In order to make the trip as cheap as possible we decided to save alot of money and fly stand-by with Todd being a pilot.  Most of the flights on Monday were half full so we decided to go a day earlier and have a little extra time to ourselves.  Our flight left bright and early and we arrived in California at 7:30am.  We checked into our hotel and went straight to a local denny's for breakfast.  Our hotel served breakfast but it was $13.95 a plate. What?  I thought most hotels these days serve continental breakfasts....oh well!  We later found out that we also had to pay $10 a day to park our car there.  Whatever!  So after we were stuffed we headed back to the hotel to unpack and decide what we wanted to do the rest of the day.  As I was unpacking my suitcase, Jocie was on her cellphone talking with her brother when I hear her take a deep sigh and say "this is not my suitcase".  I looked over and she had a suitcase full of guys clothes.  I however thought it was kindof funny and couldn't stop laughing mostly because I can't believe that it happened.  Even though she was somewhat laughing herself I know deep down she didn't think it was funny.  I know I wouldn't be happy if it were my bag that was switched. She was a good sport though and let me get a picture for some good memories and laughs later on. 

We immediately went back to the airport and turned in the bag.  Jocie's bag had not been turned in yet so we gave the lady all of Jocie's information and headed back to the hotel.  We decided not to waste a day hanging around waiting for the airport to call so we headed up to Universal Studios to walk around all the shops and try to enjoy the day.  We grabbed some lunch, watched a movie, and headed to target to get Jocie some extra clothes since we hadn't heard a thing about her luggage yet.  We were both worried that he had caught another flight maybe to Hawaii or was going on a cruise.  She bought just the necessities and we ended the night back at the hotel. 

                                                        WHOOPS!!!!

Our day at universal studios.  Ya always need a picture in front of the hard rock cafe:)

Monday:  We got up and decided to head to the beach to hang out for the first half of the day and to try to stay close to the airport in case her luggage was turned in.  As we were getting ready to head out Jocie yanked the tags of her clothes and within a couple seconds of doing that she got the phone call from the airport that her luggage had been turned in.  Luckily we took the clothes along with the yanked off tags back to target and told them what had happened and they were nice enough to return them.  Jocie was in a whole different mood with her bag being back.  YAY!  We went and grabbed her luggage, she hurried and changed and we were back in good spirits to head out for the day.
We started at the beach, walked around the little shops, took a stroll out on the pier, saw a film being made, and to my surprise saw marijuana being sold and used since it's legal there.  We even got asked to buy some.  We headed up towards hollywood blvd and stopped for lunch at the cheesecake factory.  It's Jocie's favorite place and I had never been there before.  It was really yummy and we ate plenty.  Our goal was to go and walk hollywood blvd to see all the stars on the sidewalk but with our wonderful gps....wound up in the hills of hollywood.  It was actually kindof fun to see the houses but eventually found our way back to the main blvd. We hung out there until it was getting late and went back to the hotel to watch monday nights dancing with the stars so we would be caught up for tuesday night. 

 Had to get a picture of her with her glorious found and returned bag.

                        Our day at the beach and on the pier. 

I have a few favorite stars that we were able to see and get a picture of.  We weren't able to walk the whole strip but we did find Kirstie Alley's who is on Dancing with the stars this season.  Go Kirstie!

 

 

My all time favorite singer is Celine dion.  I loved her when I was younger! She sometimes doesn't have the greatest songs but is one of the greatest singers around.  (That's what I think)

                                                         

                                                 Another all time favorite!

Tuesday:  Today was the big day!  We spent about 2 Hrs getting all fancied up and looking cute and for some reason neither one of us had a picture of our hot little selves. :)  We tried with my camera but the auto timer wasn't working and I had the lower half of my body and Jocie's face showing.  It wasn't cute and then we both left the camera's behind at the hotel because we couldn't have them at the show.  So we have no pictures of that great event. The gate opens at 3pm to start letting everybody in.  We got there around 11:30 to check on the line and a few people were all ready waiting.  We decided to park the car and go and get some lunch and keep checking the line.  It had been an hour and as we walked around the corner there were already about 20-25 people standing in line.  We decided since our tickets weren't guaranteed that we better step in line and wait it out for 2 1/2 hours to make sure we get in.  We sat by some really nice ladies who were quite entertaining so our time in line actually went by pretty quick.  They took us back by the cbs studio doors where we went threw security and had to have our phones put with a number and taken away.  We couldn't have camera's, cell phones, food, or even gum in our mouths. We waited about another 1/2 hr to get in our seats and it finally hit me that we were really at Dancing with the stars.  We were up on the balcony but our seats were pretty decent.  We were right in the middle and were facing the judges.  It was really fun to see all the celebrities and just be there!  Stevie Nicks performed as well as Neo and the show was amazing.  We didn't get to see all of them perform their dances but it is something I would love to go back next season with a bigger group of girls and watch the Monday night showing.  I am so grateful that I even got the opportunity to go and be a little star struck for once.  It was awesome!!!!!

Wednesday:  Our trip was at an end and we were both pretty sad to go back to our normal lives at home.  We both enjoyed the peace and quiet we had for 4 days and being able to sleep in if we wanted.  Unfortanately I had some bad luck on the flight home.  I hadn't been feeling very well and half way into the flight home I was really hot and clamy and felt a little dizzy as well as that feeling of maybe throwing up.  I was trying to do all I could to keep occupied but the feeling kept getting worse.  I went back to the bathroom but someone was already in it, i sat down in an empty seat and the flight attendant happened to be going down the aisle with a trash bag collecting everyones beverages.  I asked her for another bag and told her I wasn't feeling well and that I wasn't sure if I would hold out until the bathroom was free.  The bathroom came available and I just sat down on the floor and took some deep breaths and tried not to throw up.  I went back to my seat and swapped Jocie places so I could sit by the window.  Within a couple of minutes I lost it and was throwing up.  How freaking embarrasing!  The flight attendants were bringing me more bags, cold cloths, and an ice pack to put on the back of my neck.  I'm pretty sure at this point everbody knew I had thrown up.  Jocie took her moment to get back at me for laughing when her luggage got switched and said well we started with a bang and ended with a bang.  I told her I would rather loose my luggage:)  It was not a pleasant flight home and I hope I never have to experience that again.  The worst thing was I had to hang onto my "goods" until our flight landed and then I had to carry it and hand it to the flight attendant to get rid of it.  I had never been so excited to land in SLC.

Toads Fun Zone

A few months back I finally decided to get the kids season passes to Toads.  Every Wednesday that we can we head straight to toads as soon as Logan gets off the bus.  We have found that if we go right after school gets out it's not to crowded.  The kids look forward to it every Wednesday and have fun with a few of their friends that always meet up with us.  Their passes includes unlimited laser tag, go carts, batting cages, and indoor and outdoor mini golf.  It has been a great thing to get the kids out of the house on short days and we have already gotten our money's worth.  It has been totally worth it!  Here they are with their fun attractions. 

Wyatt was not to happy in this picture.  He hit his ball way to hard and it went into the pond.  Logan being the good brother that he is was able to get the ball out for him.  Wyatt still hit it as hard as he could the rest of the way.  He thinks it's funny now.

One thing I dislike about toads is the arcade games.  With three kids you can blow through alot of money really quick. The kids LOVE to play them so they can get tickets and earn prizes but I think it's a total rip off and would rather go to walmart and just buy them a decent toy.  They now each get a few dollars on their cards (which they earn by doing chores) and when it's gone it's gone.  They are learning that if they put their tickets on their card they end up getting a bigger prize instead of the dinky ones they lose, brake, or I throw away:)

Logan got lucky and ended up winning a 1000 tickets.  Way to go!  He ended up buying a small blue and grey basketball. 

Jericho Sand dunes

APRIL 28TH-MAY 1ST
This is our first trip to the sand dunes this spring and is just another of our many trips we will be taking to the dunes.  Of all the times we have been to the dunes I would say that this one was probably the worst of them all.  The weather was freezing cold most of the time and both Aaron and his mom were hurt in an accident.  We have been very very lucky that as much as we have been to the dunes, none of us have ever been in an accident or hurt.  We were not so lucky this time around.  Here is the scoop on their accidents:

• Aaron was out putting around with his dad in the razor when they saw all the kids having races on the dunes.  First of all I didn't think it was such a good idea in the first place but the kids were having fun and were being careful.  Little did I know it was Aaron I needed to worry about.  Our friend Mark told Aaron to get on his wife's NEW 4-wheeler and to race his son Jace.  As they were racing- Jace cut the obstacle short so Aaron tried to catch up and as he came over a dune he hit a bump which threw him off head first into the sand.  The 4-wheeler was right after him and hit him in the lower back.  He said it kind of knocked him out a little bit and he was shaking.  He said that he was fine but I knew he was hurt pretty good when he came back to camp and immediately started working on Alicia's bike.  He was quiet and to himself and I think tried to stay occupied fixing the bike.  I knew he felt really bad to that he had wrecked her new bike.  After talking to him later on he said that he had that same feeling when he fell 60ft from a building years and years ago....which was not good to re-live that moment and is why he was shaking.  I can't even imagine the feeling he felt falling from the building but having to feel that again was something I know for sure wasn't pleasant for him.  He wasn't wearing his helmet so I am grateful that he came out of it with just a bruised and sore back. 

Grandma Stewarts:

• Sunday was our last day and of course it was the only decent day weather wise.  The sun was out and the wind was not blowing.  The kids wanted to be pulled around one more time on the chair behind the razor so while Aaron was pulling them around a few of us got on our 4-wheelers and started putting around on the dunes.  There is one hill that we call the "bowl" that I love to zip around.  I had done it a few times and noticed Aaron's mom kind of looking at it but she would just ride by it.  I had gone over a few other dunes and when I came back I saw her lying on the ground not moving.  That is never a site or feeling anybody wants to see or feel.  She had tried to attempt the "bowl" but she wasn't going fast enough and when she tried to turn out her 4-wheeler went one way and she went the other.  Aaron had gotten to her first and told me to head back to camp to get some help.  On my way back I had some difficulty as well.  I was riding Logans 4-wheeler which is a clutch and I'm not use to that.  I was trying to hurry so fast I came over a dune and tried to slow down but didn't clutch down in time and the 4-wheeler shut off on me.  I was sideways on the hill and it started to roll, luckily I was able to stop it and then instead of trying to get the bike situated I just started running.  So long story short Logan saw that his bike was sideways on the dune and I was no where by it.  He told Aaron and he thought that I had rolled as well.  Before he started to head over to check on me, Grandpa Todd & I had came over the dune to head back to willie.  When we got to her she was standing up but in alot of pain.  She has had problems with her right hip and that's the side she landed on.  We all headed back to camp got her some ice and pain meds to help with the pain.  We sat around the fire and talked about what happened and all kind of laughed about my incident.  It would of been alot easier and faster for me to turn the bike and start it back up again then me having to run over 2 dunes to get to camp.  It is not easy running in sand!  I guess I had to much adrenaline running inside me. We were very blessed though that both her and Aaron were not seriously injured.
• After we brought grandma back to camp after her accident, Kennady kept on saying that she was glad that grandma was okay.  She said her tummy hurt though and she can't get it to stop because she keeps on thinking about grandma getting hurt.  She even mentioned it on the way home and when we got home that she had that same feeling in her tummy.  We explained to her that she has that sick feeling in her stomach because she loves grandma and doesn't like seeing her get hurt.  It was really cute that she kept on telling us that whole day. 

Here's the pictures of our weekend:

Oops forgot to turn it before I down loaded it.....oh well!  Logan is driving with his friend Jace.  My sil husband borrowed this kids razor from a friend who is trying to sell it so they brought it along to try it out.  All the kids loved it and took their turn driving it, the boys didn't even mind that it was pink.

We found this old office chair by a camp fire pit next to our camp.  Aaron and his cleverness unscrewed the legs and viola we had entertainment for the trip. 

The kids always like trying to surf down the hills or just roll down them.  We bring lots of sand home with us.  I always shake out their pants but every time I do laundry, more and more keeps falling out of them. 

The weather was freezing cold.  It was windy practically the whole trip and for the first time we got to experience snow at the dunes.  It is almost may....why is there snow gosh darnet!  I'm sick, sick, sick, sick, sick of the cold weather.

                Kennady and cousin Sammy getting warm and watching a movie

                                                           
                                                            All the kiddos!

As the men were hooking up trailers and doing last minute packing up, Grandma and the kids warmed up by the fire.