All In A Weekend

I love it when our family can be together and just have fun. The feeling it brings of love, togetherness, fun and bonding cannot be replaced. We had one such weekend, and it was great.

Ben took the day off on Friday and we decided to go see "The Lorax." A move the kids have been asking to see. William sat through the entire movie! We watched it in 3D, and it was pretty cool.

It is a very cute movie, and it was fun to hear the kids giggle and laugh during some scenes. It made me want to go sit in the sun and plant a tree.;)

Then it was off to see the new City Center downtown Salt Lake. In a word...WOW! It was pretty amazing, and very nice. All of the stores, the restaurants, the music, the ponds, the decor, and the whole package were pretty phenomenal. There was so much to see and do, and so little time. The place was huge. We plan to go back soon. We ate dinner there, and then headed off to the hotel.

Right when we got to the hotel, the kids ran to the pool...literally ran.


Sam has been asking for 5 solid days about swimming. "How many days, how many minutes, how many hours." He loves to swim. They swam for over an hour that night, and then we ate taffy and oreos, and watched TV until we all fell asleep. Nice.

The next morning after breakfast, it was back to the pool for 2 1/2 HOURS!!!

William didn't swim, but he was fine romping around the hotel with me and practicing his monkey face.

The kids swam and jumped and flipped and played. They had so much fun. It was fun to see them enjoying it so much. When they got to the point where they were just floating around the pool on their backs, we decided it was time to go. They did one last "goodbye jump" into the pool and then finally got out.

Then it was off to the aquarium. That place was so cool! We all really enjoyed it.

They had some awesome exhibits.




Our favorites were the baby otters, the shark tank, and the lion fish (in the picture above).
This exhibit was our most favorite though. Wouldn't you agree?

We spent a good chunk of time there and had a lot of fun.

We came home after that and crashed for a while (well, Ben and I did..the kids played outside in the warm weather with friends and sidewalk chalk). Then it was dinner and off to Brighton for some night skiing.

I haven't seen Ben and the kids ski for a while, and I couldn't believe how much they have improved. Of course Ben is an amazing skier and makes it look so smooth and fun, but I was impressed with how well the kids did too. They have a great teacher. ;) They laughed, yelled and sang on their way down the mountain. We parked right at the chair lift, so William and I were able to watch them from the hill and/or from the car. Perfect set up. It was a very warm night, so we were all able to enjoy it without getting cold at all. It was pretty neat for me to see Mary and Sam with their daddy, doing something they all love. They skied until they dropped.


By the time we got home, the kids were completely out. In fact, Sam walked in the door and layed down in the doorway. He fell asleep right there on the tile. Ski pants on and everything. It was hilarious!

We all crashed that night, and enjoyed a nice relaxing Sunday the next day. The warm weather and blossoming trees made it a great day to hang out outside. William helped me make cookies and we ate them in the yard. We took a drive up to a place where we would love to live in the future (hopefully somewhat near future), and Ben and I did some dreaming and future planning. It was nice.

It was a great weekend, and something that really makes fun memories and brings us together as a family.

Questions

Sam is full blown in the question phase. Most of them are about dinosaurs (his true passion at the moment), but we are getting all sorts of other questions as well. He can spend an entire 30 minute car ride asking questions. It is amazing!

It is a phase that I think is great, and it is the phase where I feel dumber by minute and he gets smarter and smarter. ;)

Here are some of the latest.

"Mom, would it hurt a dinosaur if it bit its own tail?"

"Could a Raptor fit through our car window?"

"What does a cloud feel like?"

"What would happen if you ate 500 strawberries? What about 1000?"

"Can a dinosaur bite through bricks?"

"Is a jet faster than a rocket ship?"

"How does a mermaid go to the bathroom?"

"What do dogs dream about?"

"Who as more magic, Jesus or Santa?"

"What is bigger, dinosaur poop or our car?"

"Do we pay for food in heaven, or does Jesus just put the food in the cart for you?"

And with each answer we give him, about 20 other questions emerge.

The hardest part of all....not to laugh hysterically at some of the amazing questions he comes up with. Sam will be a smart little guy.

The Peeler

William loves to peel things.

Anything.

Among his favorites are canned food labels.



Labels, or tags on everything.

Pages from books.

Tape. He will pull tape off of anything.

Stickers.

Anything with vinyl on it.

Can you find the missing letter?

And just last week, he discovered that the keys to the laptop can pop right off.

Yup, this is AFTER we put about 15 other keys back on. The rest cannot be fixed. The laptop still works, it is just makes typing very interesting. Thank goodness we are already in the process of getting a new computer soon.


I guess peeling is better than a million other things he could be doing. We sure love our little peeler.

Jumbled

For the past few months, I have been slowly putting together a new look for our home. I have a big fat binder full of pictures, furniture, paint colors, color schemes, textures, lighting, wood colors, and all sorts of stuff. It is my Home OCD binder, and it is so organized and detailed, it would make you puke.


My main focus at the moment, is the family room. I decided to start there. Our old style was Victorian, traditional, and very classy. I really liked it, but it is just not us. I want a look that is more cozy and fun. A look with more personality and conducive for a home full of kids and laughter. I am going for something more bright, fun, and personal, but still relaxing.

I decided on a cottage/rustic look, with spurts of fun color here and there. Basically, I am mixing two different styles and adding some of my own personality in there as well.

SO much easier said than done. The "spurts" of color keep taking over and making it look like a starburst room. Eek! It just won't come together, and my mind is on overdrive trying to get it to work.

This week I have been to 16 different stores, returned and bought numerous items, maneuvered my pregnant belly around all sorts of isles and parking lots, driven in snow storms, taken at least 2 kids each time, and have re-decorated the room so many times I can't see straight anymore.

I know the look I am going for, I just can't seem to get it down.

Hopefully, it will all come together soon enough. For now, I am just going to have to leave things be, and sit on it all for a while. I think that some bigger items of furniture and some paint, are what will really make it come together. I am just not ready for all of that yet. Not in this house anyway. ;)

So far though, this is my absolute most favorite purchase this week! Love it!


And this picture now hanging in the room, is my other favorite find, and my color scheme.

I just can't seem to find curtains to match. What color of curtains go with this? Burnt orange? Red? Yellow?

Maybe someday, I can hire an interior designer to figure it all out for me. Then I will be able to sleep without waking up at weird hours with new inspiration that just HAVE to be written down. (sigh) Someday.