Monday, January 28, 2013

November

 November was actually fairly uneventful!  Basketball games got under way, so Dustin was home a lot less.  It was oddly warm, so we were able to be outside more, including one day when Jack didn't have school, so I decided to head to Fort Collins with the boys!  We had to stop and get an awesome picture by this sign!  :)
Then I did some shopping, at real stores, which was awesome, then we had yummy lunch at 
Chick-fil-a!   
 
 Then we headed to Fort Fun, the main reason for the trip! My boys were SO excited to go here, and pretty much have asked to go back there every week since! :)
 We had fun mini golfing!

Riding the Go-Karts, playing arcade games, playing air hockey, winning tickets, picking prizes, and riding the carousel!
It was a really fun day, fun but tiring, with my boys!  Hopefully we can go back in the Spring or Summer with Daddy too! (Some things are just easier with two parents!)  

This picture is of Jack eating his pizza that he yelled really loud for at a basketball game! My boys really love to yell for pizza and T-shirts at the game, or to try to get on the big TV! :)  This time it actually paid off! )
I cannot believe it, but our little Jackie Bean turned 5 in November!  I can't believe he is already 5! Time has seriously flown by!  I usually am a pretty  good party planner, but his birthday seriously snuck up on me this year.  So I threw together a kind of last minute bowling then pizza party for him! We invited a couple of our favorite families and went bowling!  
 It was lots of fun, except this is how Zander was most of the time..... erg!
 After we picked up pizza, pop, and some cupcakes and headed to our house!  Here are Jack's birthday guests!  Emma, Brady, Tanner, Zander, Wyatt, Jack, and Olsen
 Enjoying friends, pizza, and cupcakes! :)
 Jack of course got spoiled by family, like always.  He got a card and money from Great Grandparents,  a packages from Grandma and Grandpa Hansen,  the Minges, and Grandma and Grandpa Enslinger! He got games, clothes, Legos, coloring stuff, books, and money!

Opening more presents!

Hopefully Jack doesn't think it was a bummer birthday.  He kept asking when his real party was, and I had to tell him that was it.  Maybe I overdid it so much his first 4 birthdays with fun theme parties, that this was a disappointment!  Anyway, we did have fun, and he definitely got fun things for his birthday!  

 Here are few more things from November:

Jack's awesome spiky hair for crazy hair day at school!
On our way out to Utah, we took a pit stop to have a slumber party with our good friends, The Richins, in Green River. It was so much fun!  Although it was very difficult to get these 4 busy boys to settled down for bed time!  Here are cute boys (minus baby Quincy) Zander, Jack, Phoenix, and Dayton!  
I did go to Logan for Thanksgving, but all I have to show for it is this one blurry picture of me, Z, and my Grandma and Grandpa Belnap at our Thanksgiving dinner.

And just for one final shot:  Love this one of Z playing in a box in shorts, a halloween T-shirt, a sock monkey hat, and gloves! What a dude!

October!!

I am slowly but surely chugging along at catching up this thing! One day I will be glad I didn't just skip all these months, cuz heaven knows I don't keep a journal so this is it! :)  

The end of September and the beginning of October was a wonderful time for our family, but especially for Dustin.  He was able to go and receive his Patriarchal Blessing.  I was able to go with him, and it was one of the neatest experiences of my life.  Only a week later, was another amazing experience when we went to Logan for conference weekend.  When we got to Logan, that night Dustin went through the temple for the first time and went through his Endowment session.  It was such an amazing experience. Next step: Get sealed this Spring! :)  
This picture was taken after our session! Don't we look happy! :) 
It was so neat to have so many family members there: Kirk & Amy (Kirk was Dustin's escort), Rick &  Stacy, my mom & Dad, and my Grandma & Grandpa Belnap!
That weekend we were able to spend a lot of time with family, listen to General Conference, and we  went up to the cabin for some fun activities!

This view from the cabin deck will never get old! :)
The kids painting pumpkins.  Zander was so focused and totally intent on his art work.  That kid loves to do "art projects."  We were amazed how much time he took on his pumpkin.  If you notice in one picture he is the only kid at the table still working on his pumpkin! :)

We also went for a walk, played Halloween bingo, watched movies, climbed rocks, and my kids had tons of fun with their cousins!

Other fun at the cabin:  More climbing on rocks, cooking yummy food, making sugar cookies, playing a little football, and celebrating Rick's birthday!

What an amazing weekend it was! And such a spiritual week for Dustin and me!

Then it was back home and doing things like......spilling an entire container of Nesquick on the carpet!  The little stinker....
Having fun jumping over Daddy and his legs....I like how Z kind of looks like a ghost in this picture cuz of our crappy camera...
Enjoying our first snow, and attending the UW Homecoming parade in the snow!  
More October Snow fun, Z being silly, and in that tupperware container, under my cleaning supplies is the craziest little mouse you will ever hear about!  I don't know why I would really want to remember this but I am telling the mouse story:  We discovered we had mice in our house because we found some droppings.  I was horrified and completely grossed out and they needed to be gone!  One morning Dustin and I were in bed and we heard something in Chewie's food. We knew we needed to go catch it! So Dustin pinned it in this tupperware thing, pinning the mouses arm under the side in the process.  My mom told me it would suffocate, Dustin went to work, and that darn mouse did not die.  In fact, it chewed its own hand off then still did not die.  I was disgusted and felt SOOOO bad for it and its suffering, cried all day about it in fact, but did not want to take care of it on my own.  Dustin finally took it and threw it in a dumpster later that night. I joked saying that only a mother would gnaw her own arm off in desperation and that we probably had babies somewhere in our house.  Throughout the next week I believe our traps caught Daddy mouse, then a few days later, when they were starving, baby mouses #'s 1, 2, 3, and 4.  Yes when all was said and done, a whole family of mice died in my home. I felt bad, but vermin, you don't mess with my house!!  

And enough about mice, we also did many Halloween activities in October!  Even though Dustin doesn't like Halloween, me and the boys sure enjoy it!   
Here are the boys painting egg carton bats and pumpkins, doing a Halloween sticker craft Grandma sent them, Z showing off the scary Monster Pancakes, and the boys showing their Halloween necklaces they made that Grandma sent also!  
I had way too much fun decorating for Halloween this year!  I loved my glitter pumpkins and skeletons, my haunted bird houses I crafted this year, my boys cute art work on the wall, our pumpkins and bats hanging from the ceilings, and my gross skulls and cockroaches in a vase!  Oh the fun with Halloween decorations! :)  
Carving pumpkins!  
Zander trying on ever Halloween costume in the box! :)   I love, love, love him as the clown! :)  
At our ward Halloween carnival: a purple dinosaur and Spiderman!  
Downtown Trick or Treating:  An elephant and a skeleton!  We met up with some friends, then when they left my boys had to sit down and test out some candy! :) Zander especially could not wait to eat some candy! He is the cutest little elephant ever!  
And finally!  Halloween night!  We went trunk or treating at the Stake Center, then went around our neighborhood a little, then headed over to meet some friends for some amazingly delicious homemade donuts! :)  
My scary skeleton and my cute little elephant!  
Trunk or Treating!
Every year a cute little old couple brings all these props and sets up this cute area where people can take pictures!  


Eating donuts and being crazy with friends!  

One last look at Halloween.....Jack and I doing our scared faces before bed! :)  

Friday, January 25, 2013

September

Ahhh!  September how I love you!  I love Fall, I love Jack starting school, I like having a birthday! It is a great month!  It did not disappoint either!  Here are the highlights:

More mini golfing at the Oasis!  
Jack started Little Kickers soccer!  And he was awesome!  
Some action pics of soccer!  We decided Jack is totally defensive minded like I am. He is not all into scoring goals but is awesome at dropping back and defending the goal and taking good angles to cut people off! That's right! My awesome little defender, just like his Mama!  :)  
I love this pic of Jack right in the middle of all the red team!  Tongue out and fighting for the ball!  
Daddy actually got to sit with us at a Wyoming football game for once! :)  
My cute boys! Showing off their sweater vests and cute kisses! :)  
And a big deal......Jack's 1st day of preschool! He goes to Slade Elementary school for preschool. He thinks it is especially cool that he gets to do art, PE, Library/Computer time, Art, and Recess at this school!  He was SO excited to start!  It is a little weird having him gone every afternoon for 3 hours!    

Yes I took like a million pictures of him! 
Isn't he just the cutest little dude ever? :)
More soccer pictures!  
I love this picture of Zander with a rainbow behind him that I took at one of Jack's soccer games!  
Jack's cute little soccer team!  The Blue Sharks!  
Jack's Olmpic Games Field Day at school!

Jack's cute teachers and preschool class!

I just wanted to include this picture because one of my favorite parts of my day is snuggling with my boys in the morning!  :)  
Silly Jack!  
My silly boys wanted me to take their pictures with their stuffed animals in the rocking chair! :)  
 I was so excited to get to go to Time Out for Women in Denver with friends and ladies from my ward! It was so nice to get away, listen to amazing speakers and music, go shopping, and just hang out with other awesome ladies!
It has been great to be able to start running again since my knee surgery! This day I got caught out in a rain storm running while Zander slept in the jogging stroller! :) Fun times!

 And I had my 30th birthday! Yikes!  I admitted it! I cannot believe I am that old!  And let's be honest, I am not having an easy time with it! It has kind of rattled me that I really am 30 already! It just sounds so old to me!
For my birthday, Dustin and the boys took me to Cheyenne for a day to go mini golfing, play, and do some shopping!  We had a great day!  
Ya know, obviously other than Dustin beating me in mini golf which I clearly was very happy about! :)
And I will end September with posting some fun pics we took after church one Sunday! I love how these pics turned out!   
 I am so very thankful for my amazing boys I have in my life!  And all the unconditional love and craziness that comes with it! :)
 And I am especially thankful for my sweetie!  Isn't he handsome!? And do I seriously look 30!? :)