Last weekend before school

I have thoroughly enjoyed the last couple of weeks with no school. I told the kids we could try and do some things this weekend as a last weekend before mom goes back to school. Friday night, we cleaned the house so that we could play the rest of the weekend. Saturday, we left to go over to Bear River City to have my cousin cut mine and Maisie's hair. Then we went to the Garland City Boutique. My sister had a Scentsy booth set up. Kyle and Misty met us there. I wanted to go to the Bountiful Costco to have some scrapbook pages printed. Kyle and Misty decided to come with us. I couldn't believe how packed Costco was. We could hardly find a parking spot. We walked around for about an hour and then my pictures were done. Then we went to Target. Kyle and Misty left from there cause they had a family party. I took the kids to Golden Corral for dinner. We still weren't ready to go back home so we stopped at Wal-mart in Brigham City and decided to go to the late movie. We saw Paul Blart Mall Cop 2. The kids really liked it. We didn't get home until just before midnight.

Sunday, today was Mother's Day. Today is a great reminder of the reason I love being a mom. I have two beautiful kids that I am so proud of. I don't need presents or flowers. I just need my kids to give me hugs and kisses. That's all I need.

We went over to my parent's for dinner and dessert. It is always nice to get together as a family. I love having family so close. I wish we could see Eric's family more often.

Spring Semester

I am so glad this semester is over with. I took Math 1050 and Music 1010. The music class wasn't all that bad, but very boring. Math 1050 was a killer. It was so time consuming and consumed most of my life for the past four months. I am so glad to have my math classes out of the way and moving on to bigger and better classes (wink wink). I have had the last two weeks off of school and have enjoyed every minute of it. Still going strong with a 4.0 gpa. Not sure how long I can hold it, but still working at it. This summer I am taking a business class and a geology class and am kind of excited for both of them. I am just hoping I can still fit in lots of fun this summer.

Camping Trip - Easter

We always try to make Easter our first camping trip of the year. Because it is still pretty cold we have to stay a little bit lower in the mountains. We decided to go up by Hardware Ranch. We took the trailer up on Wednesday because Eric had to work until 7:00 on Friday. It is a good thing we did cause there were a lot of trailers up the canyon. We had to go past Hardware a little ways to find a spot. I left work early so I could take a one year old's pictures and then we finished packing and then headed up. Sallie and Jerry camped with us this weekend. It's the first time they have stayed the night. It was really fun having them there. The kids enjoyed dyeing eggs and searching for eggs on Easter morning. Parker was so excited about finding eggs that he did not see his new bike sitting by the trailer. He saw Maisie get her new scooter and wondered why he didn't get one. Maisie had to point out his bright new green bike. We now see what is more important to that boy, CANDY. We fixed breakfast and cleaned up camp and then headed home. We are looking forward to lots more camping this year.

Las Vegas Monster Jam - 2015

Thursday, March 26th, 2015

This is our fourth year (third for the kids) of Monster Jam. Maisie and Parker have been counting down the days for a month. It's as good as Christmas. Kind of fun to see their excitement and anticipation. Sallie & Jerry (neighbors) and Krista & Kendrick (friend and son) joined us this year. They came with us last year and loved it so much that they wanted to come again this year. Eric, Jerry, and Parker left in Sallie's car at about 12:00 because they were stopping at Cabela's to buy a new gun. Maisie had a few tests that she didn't want to miss, so I worked until 2:00 and then went home and picked her up. Krista and Kendrick met us at the house and we left about 3:00. We decided to stay in Mesquite the first night since we were going to arrive so late. We checked into the Virgin River at about 9:30. We got settled in and then walked across the street to the gas station to get some drinks. We visited for awhile and then hit the sack.

Friday, March 27th

We weren't in a big hurry to get to Vegas since we couldn't check into the hotel until about 3:00. We ate breakfast at the Virgin River Buffet. It was actually really good. We packed up the cars and then were on the road, but first stopped at Wal-mart to check out their drink section. It is amazing that Wal-mart's in other states have aisles dedicated to Wine and end aisles with Whiskey. I'm sure we looked like a bunch of goofs reacting in awe.

We arrived in Vegas about 2:00 and was able to check into our hotel room. We stayed in a little hotel just off the strip, Rodeway Inn. As we pulled up, it looked like a total dive. The parking was horrible. There was only parking along the sides of the building and was a very tight driveway. There is no way a big truck could park there. But once we got into the rooms, they were actually really nice and spacious. We let the kids go for a quick swim, but they didn't last long cause the water was really cold. Krista and Kendrick left and went and met some of her family from California and then we met at the Jack in the Box for a quick bite to eat before heading to the Monster Jam. There were eight of Krista's family that had ticket's by us. We arrived at the Sam Boyd Stadium about 6:00 and went and found our seats. It's so fun to be back. There is just something about it that our cute little family just loves. Friday night was the racing night. A fairly new driver won this year, Metal Mulisha. It was a great show and we had a lot of fun. After the show, we always hang out in the parking lot and let the traffic work its way out so we don't have to fight the crowd. We hung out and got to know Krista's family a little better. They invited us back to their condo for cake and ice cream for Kendrick's birthday. They were teaching Eric all sorts of California slang. It was kind of funny watching this city boys teach a redneck cowboy some serious slang. We didn't stay too long cause it was late and we were all tired.

 

 

Saturday, March 28th

Eric, Jerry, and Parker went to the Monster Jam at 11:00. Krista took Kendrick to her family's so he could birthday shopping with his aunt. The girl's went to the grocery store to get food for our tailgate party. We got to the stadium about 1:00. Thank goodness we brought the canopy cause it was pretty hot. Us girl's went and walked around monster jam, but only for a little bit. It was a little too warm. We started cooking our hot dogs at about 3:00 and hung out and visited until 6:00 when they opened the gates. We had a lot of fun tail gating and I think we will for sure do that again. It kind of breaks up the day. Once again another great show. I think one of the great things about monster jam is you never know what is going to happen or what they are going to do. They just got all out and see where it takes them. Overkill Evolution won the freestyle. They had a Zombie finale which hasn't been the best finale. They turned off all the lights to help with the whole zombie feel, but it made it really hard to see what was going on. We hung out in the parking lot again and had a great time visiting.

 

 

Sunday, March 29th

We checked out of the Rodeway Inn and into Circus Circus. The kids were so exciting to go see what Circus Circus was all about. When we got to our room we opened the door and was overwhelmed by this stench. It was nasty. We tried to bare it for a few minutes and then decided it was way too bad to stay two nights in it. We called the front desk and they moved us down the hall, but it took them about 2 hours to bring us a new key. In the meantime, Krista took the kids swimming and Sallie took a nap. Eric and Jerry just hung out. When the kids were done swimming, we went back to the room and they called all showered and cleaned and then we went over to Circus Circus to check out all the attractions. Maisie was dying to go on the rides. She loves roller coasters. Krista and Kendrick went off and rode some rides. Parker, Jerry and I walked around and played some arcades. We finally met up about 9 and ate at the buffet. Sometimes I hate buffets, but sometimes it just works out better. There's always something everyone will like. We went back to our room and visited for a little bit. We were all pretty tired.

Monday, March 30th

We woke up and got ready for the day. We didn't want to drive any where for breakfast, so we walked back over to Circus Circus and ate at the McDonald's. Krista and Kendrick left to go home after breakfast. We then went to the Shelby Mustang Museum. Eric and Jerry and be waiting to go to the museum. They both love cars. It was amazing to hear the story behind the Shelby Mustang. Afterwards, we went to the Mandalay Bay Shark Reef. It was pretty cool, but something you probably only have to do once. We parked our car at the Excalibur and walked up the strip to Bubba Gumps and had dinner. By the time we were done eating it was about 7:30. Eric and Maisie wanted to ride the New York New York, so we headed over there. They had to wait in line for about an hour. Me, Parker, Sallie, and Jerry waited by the arcades for them. By the time they were done, we were all pretty exhausted, so we headed back to the car and back to the hotel. We stayed up for a little bit and then headed to bed. We wanted to get up early and get on the road, so we didn't get home too late.

 

 

Waiting patiently for dad and Maisie.

Tuesday, March 31st

Nothing like driving home from Vegas on your birthday. Sallie wanted to eat breakfast at the Black Bear diner. It was located on Tropicana Ave, so it was a little bit of a drive, but was worth it. It reminded me a lot of Angie's restaurant. We were on road by about 10:00. It was a long drive, but we made it. We all had a great time and look forward to Vegas next year.

Dinner with old friends

A couple of weeks ago, I got a phone call from a long lost friend, Sherry. She married one of Eric's old roommates Dave. We haven't seen or talked to them in nearly 10 years. It was so good to hear from her. They moved to the Salt Lake City area about 10 years ago and haven't been back to Logan since. We decided it was time for them to make a visit. Wet met them for dinner at Texas Roadhouse and had a great time. They came over to our house for a little bit afterwards. Sherry's daughter is getting married in May and we look forward to attending her wedding and seeing them again. It is too bad that time slips through the cracks and we don't get to spend as much time with friends. It was so good to visiting with Dave and Sherry and catch up.

January 2015

January is always that time of year when it's too cold to do anything, but some how we stay really busy. This winter has been surprisingly a little warmer. We haven't had much snow, which could mean a very dry summer. Not looking forward to that. I have been busy doing homework most weekends. I am currently taking Math 1050 and Music 1010. Music isn't too bad, but math takes a lot of time to stay on top of it and not get behind.

With this warmer weather we are looking forward to camping season. We can't wait to get out of the house and spend some time in mountains. We are planning our summer vacation to Glacier National Park in Montana and Waterton National Park in Canada. We are all looking forward to that road trip.

Painting Maisie's Room

I had decided several months ago to paint and re-decorate Maisie's room for her birthday. It was hard keeping this a secret and putting her off. She has been begging to redo her room for months. I had to make up every excuse in the book to put her off. She would get upset with me and not understand why we just couldn't start buying a few things here and there. She was constantly looking at things online and getting ideas on how she wanted to decorate it. I took all her interests into consideration when coming up with a plan. On Friday, December 19th we headed over to Kyle and Misty's, so she could stay the night with her cousin Maddy. We met them at a church house and watched Maddy & Peyton perform at their piano recital. Than Parker and I headed home to get working on her room. I waited until the drive home to tell Parker what I would be doing, cause I knew he would not be able to keep a secret. We didn't get home until about 7:30. I realized a couple of days prior that I needed to get started on repainting the headboard or there would be no way it would get all the coats of paint and be dry. The headboard was a laminate one that we had in the basement. I had to put two coats of primer, two coats of paint, and then two coats of acrylic. I managed to get the two coats of primer on before Friday night. When we got home I put one coat of paint on the headboard and then started on her room. The thing that always takes the longest is taping. I was able to get her room painted by midnight. Saturday morning, I put one coat of acrylic on the headboard and then started putting her room together. I had to switch out the beds and move furniture around. She wanted the full size bed that was in the basement. I spent most of Saturday morning getting everything in place. I kept Misty updated through text. It was so fun seeing it come together. The girls really wanted me to go shopping with them, so I busted my butt and was done by a little after 1. Parker kept saying, "Mom, Maisie better like this, cause it is a lot of work." It was a lot of work, but totally worth it.

Parker stayed with the boys at Kyle's house and then all the girls headed to Ogden. The one thing I needed to get was envelopes for my Christmas cards. When I had picked them up the week before, I forgot to ask for my envelopes. We went to Costco, JcPenney, and Sear's. I really wanted to try and be back home before Eric left for work so he could see Maisie's reaction. We missed him by a few seconds. He was pulling out of the drive-way as we were pulling in. It worked out fine, cause I caught her reaction on camera and was able to show him. She could not understand why I was in such a hurry to get home. Parker had a hard time keeping it a secret. He kept trying to tell her that she needed to open her present when we got home. She said she didn't want to, cause her birthday wasn't until tomorrow. I put a Birthday banner across her door and when she saw the banner she still had no clue what as going on. She opened her door and screamed. She couldn't believe that I did all that work in one day. She kept saying it was the best birthday present ever. It was totally worth it. I was a little worried that she might be upset that she wasn't involved, but she said she loved that I surprised her.

 

She got the Live, Laugh, Love wall hangings for Christmas.

 

She got the cube shelf for Christmas.