A Day Out With Friends!

The other day the boys and I headed south to Greeley for a much needed day out of our house and some friend time! Our friends, The Lukes, moved to Greeley a couple of years ago from Bozeman, now we actually live semi-close again. It was so fun to go down and spend most of the day with some old friends! Cami took us to Denver and showed us around a bit. We were able to see the Denver Temple, play at a park (It was a beautiful day!), and go to the Children's Museum (for a short little visit!) Jack was in heaven. Here are the kids playing in the fire truck.

Here is Zander with the newest little Luke, Elle. She has more hair than both my boys have ever had....combined! What a cutie!

Jack and Jacob got along SO well. It really makes me wish we still lived just a couple blocks away from each other!

Jacob and Jack in a nest!

Jack in the Train Room.

Jack being a vet!

Z posing on a rock at the park.

Our VERY full van of children! Yes we had a lovely outing with 5 children all 5 or under!

We had a yummy dinner and Fazolis. The kids had fun doing art projects while Cami and I dealt with fussy babies!

Z trying to eat a cookie!

It was a fun day and so great to just get out and see some different sights. Plus the kids got along great, had fun, even though we did a lot of driving, and Cami and I had some great chats! Thanks to the Lukes for a fun day!

(P.S. I don't know I didn't get any pictures of me and one of my best friends, Cami, together!)

Valentine's Day

Valentine's was simple but nice this year. The most important thing - I got to spend time with the boys I love! Here are some of our activities:

Jack showing off his Valentine artwork and the countdown chain we made for Valentine's Day. On each link in the chain we wrote down reasons why we love each member of our family!

Jack and I made some Valentine's heart sugar cookies!

Here is Jack putting together a Valentine's bear that my mom sent him in a package. He was making it for his daddy! (Ha! Notice Z in the background trying to get into the garbage!)

The beautiful long stem roses that Dustin brought me home. He also gave me a very sweet card!

Dustin and Jack after they completed the Valentine's puzzle my mom sent in her package! (Dustin was amazing with how sweet and patient he was with Jack while they put this 10o piece puzzle together!)

Jack excited about the game he got in the package he received from his Grandma and Grandpa Enslinger!

On the Saturday after Valentine's Dustin finally had a Saturday off so we took a nice family trip to Costco (2 hours away) then that night our wonderful friends, The Lukes, watched our boys so Dustin and I could go to dinner at The Olive Garden! It was a nice little date and time alone! :)

Our tiny little 9 month old!

Zander is 9 months already! I cannot believe how fast time has flown by! He is getting more personality each day. Here is a little bit about Zander at 9 months:

*He still is just doing an army crawl, but loves to rock on his knees.

*He eats really good and wants to eat anything and everything! Sometimes I can't shovel the food in fast enough and he gets mad at me in between bites! He puts EVERYTHING into his mouth including dog food, Playdoh, paper, lint, pretty much anything he finds!

*He loves Jack, but also fears him. He flinches every time Jack comes near, but then usually laughs and smiles to see him!

*He loves Jack's guitar toy and will "dance" every time a song comes on.

*He is kind of a mama's boy and often cries when I leave his sight.

*He still only has 2 teeth and loves to give big toothy grins!

*He loves to have me stand him up and let him hang on to things.

*He is still waking up once a night.

*He poops SO much and his poop seriously reeks! :)

Our little man really is so cute! And he is our LITTLE man. Here are his 9 month stats:

Height: 28.5 (55th percentile)

Weight: 14'14" (Not even on the charts! He actually lost weight since his 6 month appointment!)

The good news is that his head is still growing on a good scale, so he is okay! (I promise I feed him!) He is SO active. The doctor called him an "aerobic baby". He just moves and moves and burns so many calories he isn't gaining weight. He suggested we feed him more protein. Anyway, we really do have two very skinny boys on our hands as shown in the pictures below!

I sure love our skinny boys! I am so thankful for Zander in our family. It is fun to watch him grow, his little funny, stubborn personality develop, and to see him learn and explore the world around him!

Pictures

I absolutely love this picture of my boys! Jack always gets into the crib with Zander and they play, yell, and laugh. I think this one is so fun!

Here is Z in his Johnny Jumper. He definitely doesn't get bouncing like Jack did as a baby, but he does like to spin in circles and swing in it!

Jack gives pretty good pushes!

Another weird position Jack fell asleep in.

In the morning or after naps, I always walk in to see Zander laughing and peeking out over the top of the crib bumper!

Or Jack is in bed with Zander and they are laughing, yelling, and playing!

This shows one thing Jack has done a few times that drives me nuts! He will just pull out all of his books or dump out all of his toys JUST TO MAKE A MESS! He doesn't even play with them or read them! Erg! It is annoying!

Jack drinking some purple Kansas State hot chocolate from Grandma Enslinger

Dustin and his boys!

Zander making a mess eating!

He smacked the spoon and some of his food went all over his high chair. Apparently he isn't wasteful....he leaned right over and was licking it up! :)

My funny boy! (Probably proud of his thriftiness in not letting good food go to waste!)

Practicing sitting and playing with a Christmas toy!

Z and Jack (wearing and stretching out Z's beanie. It looks like a yarmulke on Jack!)

SLCC Alumni Weekend

In January, I packed up the boys and headed to Utah. The main reason for the trip was for me to attend my Salt Lake Community College alumni weekend. I definitely think it was worth the trip. Lisa was nice enough to come down with me and help me out with my kiddos. She dropped off her litle one at her grandparents and dealt with my kids, crying and peeing their pants, while I got to play in my alumni game. Here is a picture of everyone that played in the alumni game.

There were two games played, one for "The Legends" - those who played before 2001, and the "Generation X" - for those who played from 2001-2010. I played at SLCC from 2001-2003, so I was in the second game which means I was literally the OLDEST person on the floor! Awesome. Only two of my teammates actually played, Anna and Ali, but it was lots of fun. Here is Ali and me. I think in this picture she was telling me that she was surprised how well I was running the floor and in shape! Ha! I actually was proud of myself for keeping up with the young-uns.

8 years, 2 babies, and lots of pounds later, I have definitely changed from back in the day when I looked like this when I played!

However, I played pretty good in the game. I even pulled out a few of my typical left handed drive moves to the middle and a not so typical drained 3-pointer! I had like 11 points! I was proud of my performance and had lots of fun! Gosh I forgot how good it feels to play basketball!

On Saturday, we got tickets to watch SLCC vs. Snow. We were "honored" at half time. Really , they just said our names and we stood out on the court awkwardly for a few minutes and then exited.

Saturday was for sure the highlight of the trip. I got to see, visit with, and reminisce with 10 old teammates! It was so great. I happen to have the worst memory ever, so it was so fun to sit and listen to the great stories from back in the day! I feel so lucky to have been friends and teammates to some amazing women!

Then - this picture was taken at our Christmas party my freshman year

Now. It is pretty amazing that we are now moms, wives, doctors, teachers, coaches, athletic directors, pharmacists, etc! (Candace Dow Eichmeir, Brooke Hanse, Anna Nelson Dennis, Ali Aird Marchant, Trisha Williams Beutler, Crystal Carpenter, me, Candace Mattson Joseph, Lindsey Karren Winn. (Not in this pic, but there also was Jenn Cook Towner)

Here is a picture of my team at our Christmas party my sophomore year. Some of these girls are some of my best friends to this day!

And here is the big group with Coach Val and Coach Speck (and many of our kiddos!)

This is me with all of my roommates my Freshman year - Candace, Trisha, Crystal, Haley, and Anna.

And here is us all today (minus Haley) trying to strike the same pose! :)

It was such a wonderful time to visit with and catch up. We definitely need to find a way to get together more often! It had been way too long since I got to see and visit with these fun, amazing girls!

I hated to say goodbye to everyone, but there was a guy trying to clean up and this is what Lisa looked like after trying to corral 3 kids, so we finally headed home. But what a fun weekend!