Liam's 12th Birthday

 November 10th was Liam's 12th Birthday!  It is so crazy to me how old my kids are, lol!! So, for all the kids' birthdays this year we have been having a small gathering of immediate family for cake and ice cream, and for their present from us, they get a "Day Out with Mom and Dad".  They get to choose where to go, where to eat, what to do, where to shop, and basically pick out whatever they want for their birthday.  It has been a great thing too!  Getting one on one time with each of them and getting to talk to JUST them, discover new (and existing, lol) parts of their personalities, and be relaxed and just have FUN with them.  So anyway, Liam's actual birthday fell on a Thursday so we just had a small family dinner at Grandma Kelley's with Pizza Hut Pizza and a DQ Ice Cream Cake that Liam picked out himself. 

 Vivianne was very clingy that night. 

 It was either right in my lap or right in Liam's lap, all the time, no exceptions, lol!  

 Eden thought it would be funny to eat her cake like a puppy! 

 On Sunday, the 13th, Jeremy and I took Liam out for his special day.  He had chosen to go to Iowa City.  We went to the Mall and ate at the Mellow Mushroom, shopped at cool stores, had yummy snacks, and at the new Popeye's!  Liam had a ton of fun shopping for clothes and picking out cool new stuff for his room.  He actually didn't buy any toys at all!! Crazy!  He loved Hot Topic and picked out his cool new Fall Out Boy jacket there.  All in all, he ended up with a crap ton of new stuff and he was happy as can be!  

 We had a great day together!  I love Liam's personality.  Right now he is very in to listening to music, Star Wars, Harry Potter, and techie gadgets.  He is a goofball that likes to make people laugh, even if it means getting himself in trouble doing it, lol! I love this super duper 12 year old!

The BOM

One of my best friends in the whole world, Tuesday McLeod (Carstens), got me a ticket to see the broadway play, The Book of Mormon, that was coming to Peoria!!! She did it as a thank you for me taking their family pictures.  So, I left home about 2 or 3 on a Tuesday and drove to Peoria.  I was planning on spending the night but, ended up driving home at one in the morning(that is part of the stupid story with Chenille and Mother) afterwards.  Anyway, the play was freaking AMAZING and SO FREAKING HILARIOUS!  There were so many funny references that you would only "get" if you had been immersed deep in the mormon culture!! I literally could not stop laughing.  The music was good and so was the company!! Thank you Tuesday!  A great life experience. 

Taking The Train to Philmont

 Last Friday(Aug. 7) Tristan and Troop 110 boarded the Amtrak train headed for Cimarron, NM and the Philmont Boy Scout Ranch.  We had him prepared as best as we could.  We got him the nice new hiking boots, new hiking socks($18 a pair, they better be worth it and not give him blisters, lol), hiking backpack with water bladder, camp gear, new moisture wicking hiking clothes, bear bags, rain gear.  Do you think I thought to get him a camera to take along??  No.  No, I didn't think of that very important item to take on a 10 day expedition across the country.  Ugh.  So annoyed with myself.  He took a little trac phone with him but, I am betting the battery didn't last long and the picture quality is going to suck.  Oh well.  Hopefully the memories will stay with him throughout his life.  

 I also forgot to get a good pic of he and Jeremy standing together, him in his uniform.  I was just so flustered at the train station.  I think I was the only parent freaking out about every single thing.  He is my first born.  I worry about every single little thing.  It is because I care so much.  Not because I don't want him to do things or have fun.  I just know there is so much that can (and usually does) go wrong.  But, I bet he is learning and growing so much in these 10 days!  I am so happy that the church provided this for the whole troop.  I know that the train fare, the week in Philmont, food, etc.  was a pretty penny. I each boy was about $1500 for camp/hike fees and train fare.  We had to pay $100 to sign him up, get him a physical, and pay for hike gear which came out to about $600ish.  Oh and he needed money for the train food, bus fare from train station to Philmont Ranch, and money to spend at the base camp trading post.  We sent an extra $125 for all that so hopefully that covered his needs.  Though it is an expensive endeavor, it should be well worth it for the life experience.  Travel was such a BIG part of my life growing up and it taught me a lot of stuff and gave me some street smarts.  We haven't been able to travel as much or as far as I imagined traveling with my own little family but, one day soon....we almost have this figured out, lol!

Okay, so it is really weird to me that this is my little baby, Tristan.  What the heck happened?!?!  For reals.  He will be turning 15 years old in 8 days and he is starting to turn into a young man.  I never realized how strange and confusing it would all be.....FOR ME.  I knew this time was strange and confusing for the adolescent but, who knew that I would have no idea what was happening either, lol?!?!?!  He just looks so grown up. 

The boys were supposed to arrive in their scout shirts but, Jason Skog (leader) had t-shirts for them when they all got to the train station.  Oh, and Tristan knew everything that day.  The heavens parted and the knowledge of all things hiking was bestowed upon his humble being.  *sigh*  It's okay, I knew everything once too.  Smh.  He won't always know everything, right!?!?  Lol! 

On the whole, he was in a pretty good mood and was probably just embarrassed that his mother is an emotional basket case.  Whatever. I am who I am and he is just going to have to deal with that! :)

He was in a good mood despite me freaking out about a lack of camera.  He was just so sure that if he put his trac phone in airplane mode that it would last the whole 10 days for pictures.  I think he is living in La-La-Land but, whatever.  So, they all boarded the train and were off .  They were supposed to arrive by 10am Saturday morning and start their hike into the mountains Saturday afternoon.  We heard that the train broke down in Colorado and they had to bring a new engine in to push them back to Grand Junction.  So they didn't get to Philmont until Sunday morning and left on the hike Sunday afternoon. I hope he is having a blast and it is a positive experience for him and not a miserable one.  Time will tell.  He is supposed to be home Sunday(16th) at 11am.  Unless the train breaks down, which from my experience happens almost every time. (I've ridden the train A LOT.  And every time there has either been a break down or we are late, late, late. You would think they would know how to prevent this by now since trains have been in operation for nearly 200 years now but, whatever.)  I hope he gets home in time for school to start on Monday. 

A Day Out With Thomas

 Wow!  This seems so weird looking back to when we were a family of FOUR!!!  Oh my goodness!  This was for Tristan's fourth birthday.  I was about 6 months pregnant with Liam and you can barely even tell!! Ha! Liam was the one that I had just lost a ton of weight when I found out I was pregnant with him.  And he is the one I gained the most weight when pregnant with a whopping 70+ pounds!!! How embarrassing, lol!  But, anyway, we took the boys to Chicago for an event called A Day Out With Thomas.  Both boys were super into Thomas the Tank Engine at the time.  We spent all day at the little Thomas festival and even got to ride on Thomas the Train.  I remember that we bought the boys a GIGANTIC Thomas balloon that cost us like $12 or something ridiculous and it took up the whole dang vehicle we were driving!  We also got to meet Sir Topham Hatt(pictured above). 

 I remember this day being awesome.  I look back on it with fond memories of not being and overwhelmed lunatic! :)  Oh, I thought I was overwhelmed then but, little did I know then, that it could get even  more overwhelming.  Live and Learn.  But, a learning experience that I would never ever change.  

Look at how tiny they are!  I can't believe it.  We were still such new parents even with two kids and one on the way.  I hope the boys look back on things like this with fond memories as I do.  

Bears, Oh My!!

Oh my goodness.  I am going to be a basket case while Tristan is in Philmont.  I am reading over the list of things they need to bring.  And one of the most important is a FREAKING BEAR BAG  to put all smellable items in so as to not attract BEARS.  Yep.  So, he leaves on the Amtrak train on Friday evening of the 7th of August.  They will ride the train all night and part of the next day until they get to Raton, NM.  Then they get off the train and take a bus the rest of the way to Philmont.  They will be hiking through mountainous terrain for 6 days and hike 45 miles.  Along the way I guess they are learning to shoot rifles, climb poles, ride horseback, and learning to survive off the land.  I am really, really nervous sending him off to do all this but, SO excited for him to experience it all!  They will be back on the train and arrive in Ft. Madison on Sunday the 16th.  I can't wait to hear all his stories from his adventure!!

More of our Father's Day Campout

 I only got a few pictures on our Father's Day campout.  Liam and Asher were playing tic-tac-toe and getting along really well on Saturday morning.  Liam can be a great big brother when he wants to be.  He is responsible, kind, and helpful. 

 I got a great video of Eden pretending to be in a Dora the Explorer episode.  She was marching through the woods, singing "I'm the grumpy old troll, that lives under the bridge".  Then she would turn around and say "Solve my riddles!"  It was super cute! I will have to see about loading it on here. 

 The night before we had to set up camp by the light of the cars and we had two tents and lots of stuff to arrange.  The kids were real trooper and team players.  Tristan got his tent up by himself with help  from Ced and Liam.  We all pitched in on the 8 person tent but, Jeremy was at the helm.  We had the boys looking for sticks to start a fire too.  The walked just a little way into the small woods that were around our campsite.  The next morning when we woke up, we could see finally, and saw that we were literally right next to the lake and the kids almost walked right into it!  It didn't make us feel any better when we went to rent paddle boats about 100 feet from our campsite and saw three poisonous snakes and a huge bullfrog just hanging out on the shore.  *shudder*

We tried renting paddle boats after getting back from the beach.  The guy had to chase away the snakes and frogs and actually EMPTY ALL WATER OUT OF ALL OF THE PADDLEBOATS.  What.the.heck!?!?  It looked like they didn't keep them up at all.  Me, Cedric, Liam, and Asher all went out.  The guy left.  Well, turns out the dang boats don't even work and we pedaled and pedaled until our legs were limp nothings but, just keep going further out into the lake.  Jeremy finally had to go get some rope from our campsite and then throw it out to me and pull us in.  Did I mention that the little lake at The Landing is completely surrounded by RVs, tent sites, cabin and condo sites?  Yeah, well, it is.  lol!  It was quite the experience!  

Also, on our mad dash to Hannibal during the storm, Jeremy was driving his Vibe in front of me with Tristan, Cedric, and Liam.  We were flying to try to beat the main part of the storm.  The sky was dark but, the constant flashing of the lightening was allowing us to see all the cloud formations.  The wind was trying to blow us off the road the best it could.  Well, I was following Jeremy pretty close because we had a few turns to make before getting to Hannibal and Jeremy had the GPS and I had no phone.  Apparently, as were were cruising down the road there was a truck pulling a huge boat and it was losing shit left and right.  At one point, Jeremy scared the crap outta me because he swerved really fast outta nowhere and then I see a HUGE inflatable thing for about 10-12 people.  It was massive and covered our whole lane even deflated.  Jeremy's little car whipped right around it but, I had less warning than him and couldn't swerve fast or far enough(without wrecking the Expedition) and smacked right into it!  Scared the heart outta me!! Then before I could recover my nerves from that, there was a case of beer in the road we had to swerve for too! Gah!! We finally passed the boat once we got on the two lane freeway and he was losing everything. I don't think he even knew it.  I bet he was super annoyed when he got home.  

Cullen was cracking us up all weekend too!! That kid says some of the best things all the time!  I wish I could remember them all or always record them somehow.  Anyway, these three little gems are from the ride to Hannibal on Friday night. It was me, Asher, Eden, and Cullen in the Expedition and we talked the whole way to Hannibal.  

1) "Mom, when I grow up, I think I want to be a kid again."
2)"I really really like Sarah. (Sarah Clark) She is so nice. *pause* And polite."
3) "I wish my name was Jesus."

Our 15th Anniversary Getaway

 We decided to go to Indianapolis for the weekend (June 6-8) to celebrate our 15th Wedding Anniversary.  We had a secret agenda....that will come later in the post though, haha!  For the first night of our stay we decided to FINALLY try the Sybaris Pool Suites.  We have been wanting to do this FOREVER but, it was always too much money to spend.
These are private bungalows with pools (and other ammenities) right in the room with you!
We very much like to create memories than to spend money on actual items.  Stuff ends up broken or lost or you don't care about it after awhile.  But, memories are forever and are worth more than anything we could ever  buy.  We figured the money would be well spend to create something special that last forever. 

Click here for Sybaris website

Anyway, we got there and checked in....I took a crap ton of pictures because the little bungalow we stayed in was AMAZING! 

 The carpet had flowers vacuumed into it!  I have never seen that in ALL the hotels I have stayed at.  I tried to get a good picture of it but, you really just have to see it in person.  Every inch of the carpet was vacuumed into a design.  

 A toilet and a bidet.  I still don't understand how to use it!! LOL!

 Th massage chair on the end there was super duper.  I must have one.  It is called an i-Joy.  Best massage chair I have ever sat in. 

 View from the bed into the pool room.

 Hot tub next to the bed. 

 The pool!  It has a waterfall falling from the leaves in the middle but, rain/shower water is so hard to pick up on film. 

 The pool was awesome.  It was the perfect size and Jeremy is convinced that we will have a pool in our bedroom now when we get our dream home!  

 The shower/steam room.  We turned the steam room on while we were unpacking and went to check on it when we were done and DEAR GOD, it was like walking into the pits of hell!! BAhahaha!  We couldn't see anything and nearly choked to death!  I think we turned it on too high.  Anyway, yeah, we turned it off and couldn't use it right then.  

 I found this surprise in the mini fridge!! Jeremy had arranged for them to be in the room when we got there!  I LOVE chocolate covered strawberries! 

 We also made a quick run to Skyline for supper to bring back to the place.  Skyline Chili is what my parents grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio.  Therefore, I grew up on it.  It has the most unique, yummy flavor ever!  I introduced Jeremy to it when we went on a trip out East with my parents before we were married.  It has been something we both have loved ever since.  

 This is what each little bungalow looked like on the outside.  Completely private and secluded rooms.  Loved it.  

After we checked out, we went shopping for a bit to get me a new outfit.  I got one and then we went to Red Robin for lunch.  We love Red Robin too.......Red Robin, YUM!

After that we headed across town to our appointment at the tattoo place.  Yep, we were getting tattoos to commemorate our anniversary!!!  I will post pics of that next post.  Gotta get them on the computer. 

We were at the tattoo place from about 3pm until about 9:30 or 10ish.  We didn't want to spend the money on TWO nights at Sybaris so we pricelined a hotel in downtown Indy and got a SUPER nice one!!  Score!  Only downside was we didn't get a king bed, we got two queens.  I seriously don't know how in the world we ever slept in a queen bed with each other much less with kids.  Good grief.  They are so stinking small.

On the way home, we stopped at Dixie Truck Stop.  Now, this may not seem like a big deal to anyone else but, to me, I was lost in nostalgia.  As a child we made the trip to Cincinnati A LOT.  Both my mother and father grew up there and we still have lots of family there.  So, Dixie was where we stopped every single time to pee, eat, play, whatever.  It's huge and full of fun stuff for kids to do and see when they are on a road trip.  It isn't quite as entertaining as an adult but, I still loved the trip down memory lane!  

I will post more about our tattoos and our feelings in the next post.