My friend Anna had these pictures on her camera and I just had to post them.

I love my friends!

A couple weekends ago I went to NYC with some of my girl friends. I was a bit worried about leaving the kids especially with me still nursing Kyle. However, my desire to go outweighed my concern and with Ben’s encouragement I went for it. I’m so glad I did! Apparently Kyle doesn’t care where his food comes from as long as he gets it and Hallie was so busy that aside from asking for me a few times she did great as well. Thank you Ben for being an outstanding dad and watching the kids so I could go! I love you!!!

Funny story about the bus trip: A guy in is 20’s got on the bus, saw all of us girls and decided to sit with us. (We were sitting at a table so you faced each other and could chat.) He sits down and starts up conversation. He tells us he came down to D.C. for a party then asks us what group we are with. We look at each other and reply “Ummm the stay at home mom group”  He laughed and said “no really what group are you with?” We confirmed that we indeed were stay at home moms. He still refused to believe us for several more minutes.  A few minutes later he disappeared only to be seen again when we were waiting or our bags.  Guess once he knew we were boring moms he jetted!

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As soon as we got off the bus we headed to the Today show. It was raining and freezing but we wanted to be stars and get on camera. I figured this was my big chance to be seen. Once Matt Lauer saw me he would HAVE to make me his co-anchor. Bye-bye Meredith! lol But alas, it’s not in the stars for me to become famous. Because of the Tsunami in Japan the whole show was spent inside talking about it. No one famous ever came outside. After waiting in the cold rain for 3 hours we decided it was time to feel our toes again and get warmed up. Very disappointing!

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While the rest of the group went to Broadway Kami and I went out on the town. The next several pictures are from our night.

Serendipity is the best restaurant in New York! It became famous when it had a movie named after it. The wait to get in is long but so so worth it. Dinner and dessert were mouth watering! I can’t wait to go back.

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Sad story: On the way to the Temple we were running late so we decided to take a taxi. After walking into the Temple and reaching for my temple recommend I realized I had left my wallet in the taxi. After tears and several phone calls I reported it missing and canceled my credit cards. I was devastated and pennyless. With that said it was an amazingly lucky learning experience. I learned that you always need to look at the number on the taxi cab and always check for your wallet before you get out. (I’m such a blonde sometimes) I say LUCKY because I only had $15 cash, 2 credit cards, college id, and my temple recommend inside. I mean really it doesn’t get much luckier than that-I didn’t even have my drivers license with me. Plus I had great friends who accept “I owe you’s”

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While waiting for a taxi at our hotel (to go to the bus stop) a limo driver approached us and asked if he could take 7 of us for $35. We jumped on that! It was so fun I just wish our ride would have been to more than the bus stop. People’s faces when we got out were priceless: like “who are they? Anyone famous?” We should have gotten out, spoken in accents and waved to our fans. Either that or said, “thanks for the ride Lady G!”

What a fun three days I had in NYC. I loved the company, the food, and the shopping. My goal was to feel young again- Goal accomplished.  I can’t wait to go back!

One of my favorite things is Hallie saying her very own prayers. She is so smart and wonderful and amazing and…… I could go on and on. 🙂

Here is the prayer she said all by herself tonight:

Heavenly Father, thank you for good day. Thank you for good food. Thank you for Mommy, Daddy, Kyle and Hallie. Thank you sleep good and stay in our beds. Name of Jesus Christ Amen.

Awhile back I was searching for something food related to send to my mom. I kept getting discouraged though when I would see the price. Cookies by Design and Edible Arrangements are just two of the company’s I looked into. They are adorable but WAY too expensive for this stay at home mom. I was really getting annoyed because I desperately wanted to send my mama something to brighten her day. It was at this exact time that Ben’s cousin Natalie started a new business called “Natalie’s Cake Pops”  I LOVE it! She makes the cutest cake pops then ships them wherever you want them to go. And they are afforable. YIPPEE! I have already made two orders and can’t wait to send more cakepop love to more of my friends. Here is a link to her website Natalie’s Cake Pops

Go order some!

Now!

Really!

Would you believe that this cute little girl locked me out of the house the other day?

Well she did!

Here’s the story:

We went on a walk and upon our arrival at home I pushed the stroller up to the front steps to unload. I unlocked the front door, placed my diaper bag inside (with keys and phone), and turned around to get Kyle out of the stroller. Hallie ran in and quickly shut and locked the door. I stopped dead in my tracks and thought “this can not be happening!” I politely asked her to unlock the door. When she tried however she couldn’t unlock it. I spent the next several minutes pleading with her to try harder and praying that she would receive extra strength miraculously. After her unsuccessful attempts I began hearing things like “I try for few minutes. I can’t do it. I sorry Mama.” in between tears and “I want you mom”. Soon the desire to beat her left me and I was stuck feeling sad, clueless, and at the same time grateful that Kyle wasn’t inside with her. I went to the neighbors borrowed their phone and called Ben, sure that he would know what to do (he always does). After calling a million bazillion times Ben finally answered and talked to me to keep me calm. (I am proud to say that I never lost control of myself. I didn’t yell or even cry. WAHOO!) haha Anyway, after spending 20 mins outside, fidgeting with the door knob, and explaining to Hallie exactly what she needed to do she got it! She yelled, “I DID IT!” We cheered and hugged each other for a few minutes then came the lecture on locking doors.

Kyle is 8 months old today.

He is such a wonderful little guy. He is an army crawling champ. (Which is new to us because Hallie didn’t scoot for long before she started crawling.) He gets up on all fours almost every time he begins his traveling but then falls to his belly and resorts to the army crawl.

When he wants me to hold him he scoots over to me and starts eating my leg until I pick him up. Sounds annoying but it’s actually pretty cute.

He still smiles all the time!

I fed him Mac and Cheese the other day for the first time and he loved it.

He no longer sucks his thumb but instead depends on his binkie to sleep.

He still does not sleep through the night. He wakes up at least twice and wants to start his day at 6 am.

He loves playing with toys. In fact it makes me laugh because now he has to be every where his sister is. This of course includes wanting to play with all the toys she is playing with. She hates this, that is until…… mom comes up with some clever scheme where “giant baby” eats the little people we are playing with and it becomes part of our people’s conversation. lol

With that aside Hallie really does want him to grow up so he can play with her. She hates when I put him down for naps and loves when he wakes up. She constantly asks “Can Kyle play with me?” It’s so cute!

So Kyle you have a dilemma. Mom wants you to stay little and Sissy wants you to grow up. I bet you will choose the later. 🙂

While our kitchen was being remodeled we visited with our good friends the Hoopers in Ohio.

It had snowed at least a foot the day we got there so we opted for some inside entertainment. The Columbus Zoo has an awesome Rainforest. All four of the kids loved it.

We had a great time in Ohio. I really didn’t want to leave. We love the Hoopers and miss them desperately in D.C. I’m so glad we went. We were worried about the long drive with the kids in the car. (Anyone who knew Hallie as a baby knows that she doesn’t do well in cars.) However, we were pleasantly surprised by both kids. They did great! More trips to Ohio may be in our future!

As I laid in bed last night I realized that I had had the perfect day. I am so blessed to have such a good life.
Here is why yesterday was so good:
*Ben watched the kids so I could sleep in.
*Kyle took a 2 hour nap before Church so I had plenty of time to get everything ready.
*Church was really good. Testimonies about being grateful for what we have were my favorite.
*Drove some little investigators home from church. They talked my ear off the whole time and I loved it!
*Came home and put the kids down for a nap then made Cafe Rio for dinner.
*Ate an amazingly delicious quiet dinner with Ben. (The kids were still sleeping.)
*Ben did the dishes.
*Played and read stories to the kids.
*Skyped with both families
*Bath time. (Nothing is better than clean chubby babies!)
*Read “The Work and the Glory” with Ben
*Feel asleep fast. 🙂

The kids before Church

While we were in Utah both sides of the family got family pictures taken. I think both turned out good.

We are so grateful for our families!

Ben’s wonderful Grandpa passed away last week and so Ben flew out to Utah/Idaho to attend the funeral. We were very sad we all couldn’t go but with us having gone to Utah only 2 months ago it was not in the budget.

I’ll be honest I was a little worried about being by myself for 4 days with the kids. I know that sounds lame but I am weak! I prayed that everything would be okay and I would get through the long weekend without breaking down. I have so many good friends who took care of me. Plus we had A.MAZ.ING weather so we were able to get out and enjoy the 70 degree sunshine. I told my friend Lindsey that God sent the weather for me to help but a smile on my face while Ben was gone. lol (I know, I know the world revolves around me!) Anyway, between my wonderful friends, great weather, and lots of outings we kept busy and enjoyed every second of what I thought was going to be a very long and hard weekend.

Here is just some of what we did:

That was a lot in four days and I didn’t even take pictures of everything. Thank you friends (Lindsey, Lindsie, Mary, Faith, Amy, Stella) who helped keep me busy so I didn’t go crazy at home without Ben. You are all the best and I am so grateful for you!

In other news. I wanted to post pictures of our new playroom. After getting so many toys for Christmas from Nanna we needed a place to put all of them. Ben is such a stud and gave up his office. He is wonderful! Now all the kid’s toys are in this one room which makes cleaning up so much easier. Me and the kids are in heaven!