Updates! PART 2

Alright back to work...

We picked the snowiest day of the trip (not on purpose) to go see my good friend Beka who is about to have her first baby any day now!  Luckily driving in the snow came back to me like riding a bike.  It was a lot more tense having the kids in the car, I only drove 20 mph :)  We ate at Elements which was super tasty!  It was fun seeing Beka and her baby bump!

While in Utah I was introduced to Zupas by my cousin Kaeli.  The kids and I met up with her there for dinner and then got to go see her new apartment.  Zupas is one of my new favorites!  It was so good!!  They give you a chocolate covered strawberry.  How could you not LOVE it??  Also spending time with Kaeli is one of my favorite things.  I just wish I could have seen her more! 

Once Ben got to Utah we had a long list of things we wanted to do but sadly we didn't get to do all of it. One of the first things we did was go see great Grandma Scott.  She was so cute with the kids.  She kept saying "these kids are so cute!  My kids were never this cute" I love that lady! The second thing we did was go to the zoo.  We LOVE going to the zoo if you've read this blog before you probably already know that.  Ever since I was little I wanted to be a Zookeeper.  That dream died long ago but my love of animals didn't and was passed down to my little ones.  We met up with my friend Calli, her mom, and her little boy Nash.  Sadie and Nash had more fun kicking the snow and playing in the water fountain together than actually watching animals.  Despite the cold the kids held up longer than I thought they would.  It was a fun day!

We headed down to St. George for our GIGANTIC Larsen clan Thanksgiving!  This is the reason I decided to come in November rather than wait until February.  I missed the last Larsen reunion and hadn't seen some of my Aunts and Uncles in years.  It was fun to show off my kids to everyone :)  It was especially good to see Uncle Graig who is currently kicking cancer in the butt (YAY!). 

There's a lot of love in this family! 

After Thanksgiving Ben and I skipped town and spent a night in Vegas!  We have history there so it was fun for us to go back.  Plus we are basically awesome at roulette so it was a fun time! 

I wanted to make sure to take advantage of the mountains while we were there so the last Sunday we went on one of my favorite hikes (waterfall canyon).



While in Utah I worked on 17 photo shoots (PHEW!)  Which was exhausting but it paid for the trip!  You can (Eventually) find them all here http://chubbytoesphotos.blogspot.com/ (Oops I still need to update that one too!) or find me at http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=hp#!/pages/Chubby-Toes-Photography/283163307854 and like my page!! 




*Sorry my writing is so bad!  Hopefully some of the pics make up for it!?

Updates! PART 1

Being gone for a whole month really sets you back!  I'm finally feeling caught up on life here in NC.  My house is finally as clean as it can be.  When you have a 2 year old tornado running around its hard to get anything perfectly clean.  I've gotten back into a routine (for now).  Time to start blogging again!  Not that anyone has missed my writing but I feel like I need to do this.  It's fun for me :)  So here goes nothin'...

UTAH!!

The plane ride to Utah was awful.  But not so awful that I would never do it again.  Still now that Tyson is mobile I'm pretty sure he would not tolerate sitting in my lap for 5 hours.  He can barely hold still long enough to finish a bottle.  Oh well we'll worry about it when the time comes!  I was really lucky that there were so many people willing to help me carry my bags and hold the baby.  I only hope that someday I'll be able to return the favor by helping some desperate young mother thats in WAY over her head. 

When I saw the mountains and the beautiful fall leaves it was all worth it.  I went straight out into my parents back yard and took hundreds of pictures.  I miss it.  I get so dang sick of looking at pine trees and trailer parks here in NC.  Don't get me wrong there are beautiful places here too but nothing like home.

Sadie had her 2nd birthday while we were in Utah.  I was sad that I didn't get to do a big birthday party for her.  I don't know if I'll ever be good at making a big deal out of birthdays.  On the day of her birthday she woke up to a room full of pink balloons.  I made her her favorite breakfast (Oatmeal) and gave her a princess crown.  That day was really windy and cold so we weren't able to get together with any of her friends.  James came down from Logan and Stephney came up from Salt Lake so we had a nice family party.  She got spoiled big time and she loved all her presents.  It was a fun time.  I love that girl!

Potty trained!!

We got a chance to see my Utah bestee's Marilyn, Shelly, Bonnie, Eva, Beka, and Calli.  Sadie got to see HER Utah bestee's Wes, Parley, Olivia, Bryatt, and Nash.  Tyson even made a couple friends named Cody and Ambrie!  We miss them all! 

We went to the Kangaroo zoo & Dinosaur park with Marilyn and Wes.  Sadie took a while to warm up to the Kangaroo zoo but once she got comfortable she had a blast!  I had to force her to go down a slide.  I think that might have traumatized her a little!  I didn't get any pictures :(  Sometimes its just SO much easier to leave the camera at home.  I DID however get LOTS of pictures at the Dinosaur Park. 

This little sequence is named "Give me a bite of yo samich woman!"

I'm SO SO sad that I didn't get any pictures of Shelly and Parley :(  They came over and played one day and then I met them at Kirts for some lunch another day.  It was fun just chatting and catching up! 

Sleepover!  Bonnie had a great idea that we should have a sleepover :)  It was so fun!  I was a little worried that the kids wouldn't sleep in a new place but they did fine.  Eva, Bryatt, and Ambrie came for the night but didn't sleep over.  I love getting together with those girls!  I seriously laughed my buns off all night.  If 4 years ago you came into the plasma center and told me that I would be such good friends with Bonnie I probably would have laughed in your face!  I don't know how many times she made me cry but I know it was more than once :) 


Ok its 1 am so I'm going to have to say TO BE CONTINUED...