Once Upon A Time....

Once upon a time, there was a neglected blog and a neglected camera. Before a quick trip to California, 6 months of pictures were discovered. Here are a few that I found...

Once upon a time, it was still warm...warm enough to go to the zoo!

And once upon a time (when it was still warm), a sweet baby boy named Jack was born who changed our lives forever...Once upon a time there were field trips to fun places like the pumpkin patch!

Once upon a time, we were late to the field trip, and mommy had to console a sad 4-year old boy as we drove up and watched his class driving by on a hay ride. "Driving" a tractor did the trick!Once upon a time there was a Halloween parade!And trick-or-treating at Primary Children's Medical Center!Once upon a time, a boy named Joe missed his wife who spent every extra hour with her sister at PCMC, so he whisked her off on a quick Vegas get-away. Phantom of the Opera and a few full nights of sleep were all she needed before heading back to reality!Once upon a time, we celebrated Thanksgiving at the hospital with Baby Jack. It was the best Thanksgiving EVER! And we decided to make the Festival of Trees a new Christmas tradition!Once upon a time, there was Christmas morning. Somehow Santa actually came! There was a rocking horse, a firetruck, and lots of wrapping paper!

Once upon a time, my angel baby girl turned 3! And once upon a time, I ruined the princess cake I'd planned and had to go with the WinCo plan B version for the party!Once upon a time, we went to Build-A-Bear for the 3rd birthday celebration and woke up at 2 in the morning to a boy and girl who just couldn't wait a few more hours to play with their bear creations!

Once upon a time, Lily was big enough to sit up in the bathtup! Somehow I blinked, and she was 8-months old and crawling!

Once upon a time, we were living, but not blogging... someday I'll catch up! To be continued...

Gratitude AFTER the long drive is over....

When we left our house early the Saturday-before-Thanksgiving morning, I sort of thought to myself WHY are we doing this? Do we really want to go? I kept these thoughts to myself...Joe didn't need any reason to stay home to watch this game. I knew the drive would be worth it. As weird as it sounds, I actually enjoyed the drive (for the first few hours, anyway). I liked having my little family packed into Michael's little Versa. (Thanks, brother...we got AMAZING gas mileage). I saw parts of the country I've never seen before. In Wyoming, we saw the exact spot where Joe's best friend Brian was killed. Then Nebraska was, well, boring. We also happened to be listening to the *%&$#& game in Nebraska. We moved on to Iowa for about 30 seconds, then entered the land of SLOW drivers...Missouri. Apparently folks in Missouri aren't in a hurry to get ANYWHERE! It's redeeming value was AMAZING gas prices. (We filled up one time on the return trip at $1.39/gallon.) Hallelujah! We eventually stopped at 3 am in Columbia, Missouri...wherever that is.

The next day we crossed into Illinois...pretty exciting. We met Superman! Parker was terrified, and refused to stand by himself anywhere near the monstrosity! After Superman, we entered Kentucky, then Tennessee AT LAST! I was seriously NEVER coming home.

When we made it, we remembered WHY we'd driven 20 billion miles in the first place.

• For kisses from Nannu.
• For breakfast at the Loveless Cafe.
• To unorganize the organized cupboards, and to climb on unclimbable surfaces.
• For teething. (My kids always get their teeth in Tennessee. Coincidence? I think not.)
• For a trip to Gaylord, Opryland.
• For a 3D movie after an amazing turkey meal.
• For Grandpa and Nannu spoiling.
• For running up crazy hills.
• For Monopoly and Settlers matches.
• For Ping Pong fun.
• For chillin' time with Uncle Michael.
• For wishing the big sister and fam were there.
  
  
  
• And mostly, for spending time with the ones I love most...LOTS AND LOTS of time...
  
  
  

We have SO MUCH to be thankful for!

Twilight!

OK...I have lots of catching up to do. Most of it involves NO sleep, lots of driving (3400 miles worth), lots of poop (all in the potty!), lots of food, and lots of fun. The fun began two nights before the first 27-hour leg of our journey to Nashville. I'm not sure why I agreed to see a movie at 12:15 am (which didn't actually start until 1 am due to technical sound difficulties), but HELLO, it was Edward. I'm not sure if I would've loved it if I hadn't read the books...low budget at it's best. And actually, I'm not sure I loved it anyway...because I couldn't stay awake! I would say that I must be getting old, but let's be honest. Even in High School, I couldn't watch a movie after 10:00 pm. But the girl's night out was a blast (even though I only knew three of the girls...we were all BFF's fighting over Edward...ha ha!)

Here's what Kandis had to say about the night...

Ok, Ok, we all knew the movie wouldn't meet our expectations, and if I hadn't read the book I would have been sitting there wondering why I was at such a craptastic movie instead of sleeping. But hey, Edward was cute, there were only a few really awkward scenes, and I was with my girls--so all in all, I'd consider it a great night! (Half of my fun came from looking over every few minutes to see Robyn dead asleep with her mouth hanging open:) Sorry Robyn, you've been outed! It was hilarious! Aren't you glad you didn't snore?!


So yes...I guess I'm glad I didn't snore! But I have to see it again...who wants to come? I'm totally up for a matinee!

As for our ROADtrip to Nashville, it was great. The kids did amazingly well. Parker pooped in THREE different gas stations. And these poops usually coincided with Avery's poopy diapers. Tender mercy? I think so. When we finally arrived in Nashville, however, I was really tempted to inform you all that we were NEVER coming home. I couldn't fathom turning around and driving across the $%@# country again. But we did. And we survived. And MAYBE we'll do it again...in like 10 years. I'll never complain about a layover again!

Before the trip, we subscribed to Sirius Satellite Radio so we could listen to a certain football game. Joe now hates the state of Nebraska, but I won't go into details. 'Nuff said. Go Utes!

More on the trip later...I know you're all dying to see pictures, right? So am I! Send me some, mom!

Edited To Say: Parker is POOPING in the potty, but far from potty-trained. I actually gave up yesterday after cleaning pee off the floor 5 times. So for now, I'm happy with the poop in the potty, and the pee still in diapers!