2011 Recap

I sort of died off on blogging in a bad way last year so I'm going to do a quick little re-cap.
January:
I spent most of the month sick from pregnancy and the hardest part was trying to hide it and act normal.
Landon began having separation anxiety (first time ever) and it was BAD!

February:
We finally told our families and some friends that we were expecting a baby in August.

March:
Jeff's job at BD Medical ended (unemployment = scary).
Jeff turned 29.
Luckily Jeff got a job quick and started at Overstock.com

April:
We found out we were having another little boy.
We found an apartment and moved to Bountiful.

May:
Jeff sprained his ankle.
Landon got hand-foot-mouth disease.
We celebrated 5 years of marriage.

June:  
Everyone complained about there being so much rain still, I loved it.
Daily walks with Landon, sometimes the only thing that could calm him down.

July:
I tried to endure the heat.  I'll admit I didn't endure it well but I did endure it.
House hunting.
Trip to Island Park/Yellowstone with my family (so fun!).

August:
In the thick of Landon's behavioral and emotional issues.
House hunting.
I turned 30 (holy!!!!!)
Weston was born!
Landon hit rock bottom when we brought Weston home.  I wish I could say it was joyous...it wasn't at all.
My sister, Stacie, came and helped for a couple days--definitely helped ease Landon's issues.
Other than Landon's tantrums, going from one to two kids was easier than going from zero to one kid.

September:
Pretty much just got through the month.
Got a break from the heat, it was bliss.
House hunting.
Pediatrician wants Landon tested for Autism (or some other neurological disorder).
Landon had his yearly ultrasound, is was a massive fight with Jeff and I pinning him down so they could do it but all looked well.
Landon started seeing a developmental specialist (in addition to the vision specialist and speech therapist he's already working with) and started a sensory toddler group.

October:
House hunting.  Found a house we liked.  Made an offer.  Didn't get it.  Got a call a couple weeks later saying we did get it!!!
5:00 am becomes our new wake-up time, but that's a blessing if Landon sleeps through the night since he hasn't been for a few months.
Jeff got a new job.
We got called to serve in the nursery.

November:
Home buying preparations.
Trip to St. George to celebrate Thanksgiving.
Black Friday shopping.
Landon went to nursery for the first time EVER without mom or dad.

December:
Closed on our house.
Lots of cleaning and fixing up to be done on it.
Decided to set up the Christmas tree 6 days before Christmas.
I got the flu, ended up in the ER.  Got home to stay awake all night taking care of Landon who also got the flu.  Jeff couldn't help much because he was sick too.  I ended up infecting many, many family members...but I thank those who came to help watch the boys and those who took me to the ER.
Celebrated Christmas.  Neither boy "gets" it yet so it was pretty anticlimactic.
Moved into our first home.
Got colds in time for New Years.

This year was great for many reasons and lots of good things happened but I'll be quite honest, it was likely the hardest year of my entire life.  Landon is the cutest boy in the world at times but much of the year he was a major trial.  We're all learning together.  2011 was great and we realized even more how wonderful our families are.  Here's to hoping 2012 is a better year!

Island Park & Yellowstone Vacation

I have slacked off on this which means I've left out a few things from July but I'm due to have the baby in 3 weeks (gah!) so that's my excuse. 

At the end of July my whole family (minus 2 brothers-in-law that couldn't get off work) went up and stayed in a cabin in Island Park for a few days.  We drove into Yellowstone and did some stuff in Island Park, it was so much fun to be all together and I can't wait to do it again.  This may be surprising since Landon is nearly 2 years old but it was his first vacation.  He did as well as could be expected in the car and with as much driving as we did those few days that was a blessing!  I must also say that the weather was awesome, so much better than the hot (read: miserable) Utah heat I've been enduring.   Below are some of my favorite photos from the vacation.

I love my family!

St. George Vacation

Jeff and I wanted to get away somewhere but needed it to be cheap so we decided on St. George and our friends, Matt and Joree, went with us.  The boys golfed a couple of times, the girls shopped a bit and relaxed, we got to go hiking (my favorite!) and it was SO nice to get away from life for a few days...wish I could do that more often.  I really wanted to take Landon but after much deliberation (and two amazing sisters offering to watch him so we wouldn't be weighed down with his schedule) we decided to leave him home with them.  It was hard.  I may have shed a few tears.  But I'm so glad we did!  He won't remember it, he got to spend some time with his cousins who absolutely adore him (he needs more time with other kids anyway), and it would have been tricky to do our hikes and such because that boy still loves taking 2 naps a day.

I've lived in Utah my entire life and had never been to Zions so that was my one request.  We did some small hikes in the Snow Canyon area one morning before the guys went golfing and it was gorgeous.  We pretty much spent all of the next day driving around and hiking in Zions.  Hiking is one of my favorite things to do but I don't get to do it much since Jeff isn't much of a hiker so although we didn't do anything even remotely difficult, it was so nice to get out and do it again!  I will also say that it was amazingly beautiful!!!  The leaves were all changing and so pretty, it wasn't too busy (other than when we tried to find a place to eat lunch), and the temperature was perfect.  Matt and Joree left to see his sister and Jeff and I decided to do a session in the St. George temple...another first for me.  It was a great vacation.

Vegas Vacation 2009

We ventured down to brave the HEAT (113 degrees) of Las Vegas last weekend. We had a really good time and, as always, it was so nice to get away from work and life for a few days. We didn't do anything super exciting but we went to a furniture design show that Jeff wanted to go to and I was pretty impressed with some of the stuff there. We also went to a really cool car show at the Imperial Palace--there were a few cars there that Jeff would have gladly taken if we had a couple million dollars to spare.

There was lots of good eating (Sammy's Pizza, In-n-Out, Chicago Brewery, Capriottis, etc.), lots of swimming thanks to the 24-hour access to the pool at Larry's house, and some shopping and sightseeing. We went up to Red Rocks--I would love to hike around sometime when I'm not pregnant and when it's not so darn hot.

It was fun spend time with my two cute nieces that were down there as well. It was great to see my mom and Larry (a big 'thank you' again for letting us stay with you!). We've both determined that we are never going down there again in the summer but all in all it was a really fun trip.

New York

I just love this city. There is a lot to do and I love the hustle and bustle of everyone. I wouldn't want to live there while raising children but we had a great time on our trip. I won't bore anyone else with details but here is a quick run-down of what we did each day.

Sunday:

• Long travel day. We had direct flights (thank goodness) but it still seemed so long with the time change.
• Our hotel was super close to Time Square so we just walked around and got dinner

Monday:

• Museum of Modern Art (cool but the part we most wanted to see was closed for a new exhibit installation)
• Empire State Building
• Chrysler Building
• China Town (very fun and cute when Jeff spoke Cantonese with the people there)
• Rockefeller Center

Tuesday:

• Today Show
• World Trade Center Site (all new construction now)
• Statue of Liberty/Ellis Island
• Pizza at Lombardis (yum!)
• Shopping in SoHo
• Japanese noodle house for dinner (Ippudo), very good!

Wednesday:

• Guggenheim Museum
• Central Park
• Manhattan LDS Temple
• Grays Papaya (hot dogs)
• FAO Schwartz
• Dylan's Candy Bar
• David Letterman Studios/Hello Deli (we saw Jennifer Garner there and neither of us really knew who she was--we don't care about stuff like that--but it was hilarious watching all her fans/paparazzi)
• Mary Poppins on Broadway

Thursday:

• Wandered around a bit before heading home. Had the WORST experience with our shuttle driver, saying he was the most horrible driver I've ever encountered would be a huge understatement.

We had a great time, walked a lot, ate a lot of great food, and just enjoyed being together as well as a break from work/school.

I Want To Go Back

Two weeks ago I was enjoying life on a cruise with my family. It was great to spend the week with them, good to have a break from work and life, so nice to get away from the cold weather here, and fun to see new places and spend 24-hours a day with my husband. Though I ate way more than anyone should in one week, I loved every minute of it and wish it could have lasted longer.

Thanks again mom, we had a great time!

Vegas Vacation

Jeff and I just got back from Las Vegas. We both needed a break so we decided to head down to Vegas to see my mom and Larry. Jeff hadn't been there since he was young and it had been a few years since I had been there too.

We did some swimming, a whole lot of eating, sightseeing, shopping, and Jeff and Kory were able to go golfing (which made the trip for them!) It was a perfect mix of relaxing and experiencing stuff and it was hard to come back to life.

At Fremont Street I got to try some deep fried Oreos...sounds gross but they were really quite good. And if you're asking yourself if there could be a less healthy snack the answer is YES! Carlee had deep fried Twinkies which, in my opinion, beat out the fried Oreos.

We walked the strip and I love seeing the different hotel themes, I think my favorite is the Venetian but I absolutely love the fountains at the Bellagio. I wish we could have seen more but we were all exhausted from the EXTREME heat there (yes, I am a wimp when it comes to heat).

On the way home, Jeff and I went to see the Las Vegas temple and drove through Valley of Fire. I would have to say this was one of my favorite parts. The rock formations and colors were absolutely beautiful. I really wanted to get out and do some hiking around there but it was too hot so I've added that to my agenda for my next Vegas vacay when it's cooler...much, much cooler. But I definitely recommend this.

Here are a few of our pictures from this past week. Thanks mom and Larry for letting us stay there with you, we had a blast!