Vegas Baby!

Our week with no kids ended with me driving to Las Vegas to pick up the kids. I had my babysitter, who just got back from college, come with me so I wouldn't have to drive by myself. She was a great help and the kids were mostly excited to see her. We met up with my inlaws and the kids at the MGM Grand. It completely reaffirmed how much I hate casinos and Vegas, or the Strip, in general.

We were able to have lunch at the Rainforest Cafe. We went to the M&M store and took some fun pictures. It was super hot and just yucky there. The kids were great on the drive home and Kaitlyn and I taught them how to play the semi-truck game. I had to make the car ride interesting because I forgot the DVD player. Every time the kids got a truck drive to honk his horn by pulling on their imaginary horn in the air, they got $.25. It entertained them the whole way home. It was hilarious. I remember doing that as a kid, but my dad hated it and would always freak out every time a semi would honk their horn.

The kids are back. The kids had a great time with their grandparents. They miss their nana so much already. The house is filled with laughter, noise and overall chaos again. I think maybe next summer I might try for a 2 week break.

The Construction Continues

The house is turned upside down now. The den wall is sealed up. The door frame is cut and waiting for a door to arrive. New wall built, dry walled, and spackled. There is dust and stuff everywhere. We have all been hanging out in the family room because that is the only room that hasn't been invaded by the remodel. Next up... call the drywall/paint guy to come texture walls and paint them. Damon also has to redo the electrical, which always makes me nervous. Good times. Thanks to our friend Greg who came over and helped. Damon got it done in 3 times the amount of time he would have had he been working on it by himself.

Happy Anniversary... early edition

It isn't our real anniversary, but we decided to celebrate it a little early this month. We went and saw, "Wicked" tonight and it was enjoyable. We saw it 2 years ago in New York and since we got there 30 minutes late it was not as enjoyable. We got to the theatre with plenty of time this go around and really enjoyed the music and the acting. We had great seats too. It was a great night. If you haven't seen it yet and have the opportunity go. You will be entertained.

Out with the Old, In with the New

Goodbye Jeepy. We will miss you. Well, sort of!

Hello Runner! Welcome to our family!

As many of you know we have been having serious issues with our Jeep. After Thursday we had finally had enough and traded it in for a new car. We got a Toyota 4Runner. The features inside aren't as fun, but it rides smooth and with the Toyota name hopefully it will last us long enough to be Noah's car.

Free time

When the kids wanted to spend a week with Nana during the summer I thought, "Wow! Think of all the free time I will have." Well, I have 1 full day left without the kids and I would like to know where all my free time went. Here is my list

House-hanging up curtains in the living room, hanging up pictures, packing up office for remodel, finding paint for new room, fixing broken toilet, trying to save the garden, listening to dry wall being sawed apart and endless errands

Cars-Jeep is in the shop yet again. We are down to one car so I have had to take Damon to and from work as well as the car doctor. And after driving over 3200 miles on our vacation my car is in need of another oil change.

Training-with another triathlon in a week and 3 days I have spent time training. I have been running, biking and swimming. I need a vacation from working out.

I have also been working. I thought this would be a fun week with me reading and lounging at the pool or beach, but it didn't work out that way. Maybe next time the kids want to spend a week at Nana's house I will clear my calendar as well so I will actually have free time.

We're home! Well sort of...

Damon and I are home, but the kids are still gone. The house is so quiet. The kids are in St. George, UT with their grandparents. Hopefully this week will be very productive. This is going to be a long post. We did so much and I haven't posted in a week. My apologies.

The rest off our trip was great. We had so much fun seeing our friends in Oregon. The kids were happy. Damon got right back in to his old schedule of early morning basketball, late night volleyball and a couple rounds of golf a week. He even got some naps in. It was his idea of a perfect vacation. He even had time to do pretty princess stuff with Lily.

I am just really happy to be out of the car and am going to try to avoid it as much as possible this week. We finished the rest of our 2800+ miles road trip late last night. The most interesting thing we saw was in the Cajon Pass. On the side of the road a semi truck as well as its trailer was on fire. The cab was actually melted. Some where in South Eastern Oregon Damon saw big horn sheep on the side of the road. I missed it because my nose was buried in a book. We saw lots of lightening once we hit Nevada and had the smell of Desert rain follow us the rest of the way home. I miss that smell.

Monday we had a picnic at the park where our old friends, who were in town, brought their families and we all relaxed and caught up. The kids played really well together. It was almost like they hadn't been apart for 4 years.

Tuesday we went to the Oregon Zoo. They are adding a lot of great things and it was fun to go back and see all the changes. My most favorite part was the Bald Eagle exhibit. They are very beautiful. The hippos made for a great show this time. We only used to see their rear ends. They walked around and jumped into the water for us. After the zoo the kids got to ride home on the max train. That is the trolley system that runs all around Portland and the suburbs.

Wednesday found us traveling out to the Gorge. I have driven through that area lots of times, but have never stopped to enjoy the hiking and the waterfalls. We were able to enjoy both as well as the fish hatchery and the beautiful views of the Columbia River. The kids were so exhausted by the end of our excursion. We were lucky to have Noah's friend, Jonah, join us that day. At the fish hatchery we were able to feed the rainbow trout and see strugeon that were over 400 lbs and 10 feet long. Now that's a big fish.

Also on Wednesday we had our late night girls night at Applebee's. The girls had a great time. I lived through so much with these girls and we struggled through the joys of early parenthood. I can say that I have learned something from each one of them and I am truly blessed to call them my friends.

Thursday was our last day there and we ran around and enjoyed sales tax free shopping. The kids got their pictures taken. I bought a laptop. Yea!! The last thing we did was go out to dinner with some great friends. The 6 of us always went out together. It was hard to say goodbye that night.

Damon kept driving past our friend's turn to get to their house and ended up on the street we turned on to get to our old house. I found that particularly funny. It was weird seeing our old house. Our swing set is still up. They are using the garden box I built and our wheel barrel is still out in the back. I miss that house, but I don't think I would move back to it.

Friday brought us a long 12 hour drive from Portland to Salt Lake city. That was exhausting, but the kids did well and the drive was well worth it. I was able to see my college roommate who was also in town. We went out that night just us and then Saturday morning we went out with our families. Right afterwards we left and headed to St. George and then on to San Diego.

We stopped in Baker, CA to get gas, change drives and eat. They had a Bob's Big Boy. Damon was so happy. They even have the same dessert they used to. Damon thought he had died and gone to heaven. I just thought I had died because it was so humid there.

It was a great family vacation. Next year we will NOT be going on a road trip.

Birthday Princess

Our baby turned 4 today. We can't believe it. It seems fitting to celebrate her birthday at the place she was born. We are staying right down the street from our old house. Our friends, who we have shared to many birthdays to count, came and we had a lovely taco dinner and a great cake. Lily had a great birthday and a fab cake. We love you Lily!