Halloween!

We had such a great month getting ready for Halloween! We had our ward Trunk or Treat, which was so fun! I had never been to one before, so it was hard to imagine that walking around to different trunks would be fun, but it totally was! Everyone had such fun decorations and the kids loved it! Dustin took off and went around by himself, and I'm sure he got WAY more candy than he was supposed to. Then we carved pumpkins for FHE with the Webers and they turned out great, (well, maybe I should say Tim carved pumpkins) and we also had Jenalyn and Corbin over to decorate Halloween cupcakes!
Next on the list...getting ready for Christmas!!! Woo Hoo!

In the past couple of weeks...

We DROVE all the way to St. George in ONE day, which went surprisingly well. The kids were great, and Audrey didn't have one single accident! I was so proud of her! The whole time Dustin kept asking how long this car ride would be, and he also mentioned a few thousand times that he, "really, really, wanted to get out of this car," but for the most part, everyone was happy. After we got to St. George, Audrey got her first hair cut from Aunt Jen,
which was totally cute! Dustin got his hair cut too, and Aunt Jen gave them special treats for not crying. Jen also gave me a super cute short bob that you will see in a later picture. Thanks Jen! The next few days were spent swimming, going to Jumping Jacks and putting up Halloween decorations. Grandma and Poppa had tons of fun crafts and things to do to keep our little ones busy which is so fun for them! Here they are with the pumpkins they made!
At the end of the week, my Mom came and stayed at Tim's parents house for the sole purpose of the trip which was so that I could do the...ba ba buummmmm...St. George Marathon! A marathon is 26.2 miles and I did it! I had never been a runner till I started training, so I was proud of myself for finishing. And if you're wondering how I felt, all you have to do is look at this picture 2 miles before the finish line...
Not my best, I know...really, I think the best comparison for a marathon is labor. I'll have to forget how long and hard it was before I decide to do another one! I have to give a big thank-you to my hubby who was so supportive the whole way through. Love you babe!
After a couple of days of recovery, we took off with Jake and Jen (Tim's brother and sister-in-law. They both married Jen's, isn't that funny!) down to SoCal. We played at Huntington beach, which was beautiful! The sand is so pretty, surfers were everywhere, and we took a walk down the pier and had lunch at the end.
But the day wasn't over yet! Then my mom came and watched the kids and Jake, Jen, Tim and I all went to Universal Studios to watch a taping of the Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien! I was totally excited! We love Conan, he's such a goof! This is a pic walking down to the Studio.
It was so fun to see how they do things, and we got to see Edward Norton and Kristen Stewart in live person! After that, we went to the Citywalk and had dinner at the Hard Rock, and then we drove down Hollywood Boulevard and saw the red carpet and people in tuxes and realized it was a movie premiere at the Chinese Theatre! How cool are we?!? Such a great date night, and Jake and Jen were really fun to hang out with. The next day was Disneyland Dustin was tall enough to ride almost all the rides!!! Some of them he liked, and some of them he didn't. Space Mountain was a Halloween Ghost theme, and he thought the ghost was a little too scary! But he loved Splash Mountain, Soarin, Pirates, and Bumper Cars.
We thought for sure he would love Thunder Mountain, and he was soooo excited to ride it. This is him right when we got on the train.
And this is him during the ride.
He decided the dark caves were a little too scary, and the train went a little too fast! But nothing held him back, we went on ride after ride! Audrey was a little trooper, she went on everything, and wasn't scared at all! We took time to see some of the Princesses and characters, and the kids loved it! It's so fun to see your kids so excited! Audrey kept hugging them over and over, everyone in line was laughing because she was so cute with them, especially Pooh and Tigger, she probably hugged them 10 times each!
We also met up with my Mom in the evening and we went to a Trick or Treat Party at California Adventure. The kids got to dress up in their costumes and go Trick or Treating all around the park! It was awesome! The decorations were so cool, they had dance pads and DJ's, and you could dance with the characters, and the lines were short! There was a Halloween parade, and Audrey got to dance with Jesse (her favorite). This is the kids in their costumes. Audrey is Cinderella, and Dustin was a pirate. We had so much fun that night!
A good time was had by all. We just love vacation!

Dustin Starts Preschool!!!!

Dustin started Preschool at Norkenzie and it has been great!! It was hard for me to drop him off the first day. It just felt so strange to not know exactly what he'll be doing for the next 3 hours, and completely trust someone I didn't know to take care of him. And it didn't help that Audrey started crying when we left, "My Dustin, my Dustin...in the classroom... don't leave him." Ug, break my heart! But I was able to go to the gym, shower, and put on a normal outfit with make-up, all before noon! I was so excited to pick him up, but our conversation went like this...

Me: So buddy! How was preschool??? What did you do???
Dustin: We just didn't do anything
Me: Whaddya mean you didn't do anything?? What about all these paintings in your backpack?
Dustin: Paintings?!?
Me: Yeah, it looks like you had fun! How was Miss Mary?
Dustin: Miss Mary?!?!
Me: Miss Mary is your teacher!
Dustin: Oh...Mom...I'm hungry.

I could not get a single detail out of him! He's such a guy! He seems happy when I pick him up, and a couple of times he's asked to stay longer, so I assume everything is ok! Plus he brings home little art projects, and his teacher says he's doing well, so it's all good, I guess. I've enjoyed having a little break and some one-on-one time with Peanut.

I was a little nervous about Preschool, because the week before, we went up the the Zoo and Ikea, which were both really fun, except that Dustin got to go into the playland for the first time, and he had only been in there a short time before the buzzer went off for us to come and get him. So we go down to see what's up. I walk up to the counter with Tim standing beside me and Audrey in the cart. The gal at the playland looks and me and says, "Um, are you Dustin's Mom?" Uh oh. Anytime a babysitter starts with Um, you know it's not good.
"Yep" I said.
She hesitates, "Well...he...uh... keeps on taking off his clothes and running around naked." Before she even finished her sentence, Tim does a U-turn with the cart and heads down some obscure isle, and leaves me, standing there to deal with MY kid. Thanks honey.
"Really," I say, "Huh, well, where is he now?"
"Um, (Again with the UM) he's in the bathroom. He kept saying he had to go potty, but then he'd come out without his pants and underwear on."
"Ooooh, ok, I think I know what happened."
Dustin has an amazing ghetto booty (between Tim and I, he never had a chance!) and it's really hard for him to get his pants up over his butt. So I'm guessing he had to poop, and decided to hold it, but couldn't pull his pants up.
Just then, I hear Dustin in the bathroom yelling at the top of his lungs,
"I'm doooooonnnneeee....come and wipe my buuuuuuummmmmm" over and over.
The babysitter looks at me.
"Well, we aren't allowed to wipe his bum or anything..."
"Oh, Don't worry about it, I'll go in and get him"
"Well, we uh, can't let you in without a supervisor," she sheepishly adds, "I'll call one right now."

And so, I was stuck waiting for 5 whole minutes listening to Dustin yell, with Tim pretending he doesn't know me, and the babysitter trying to make small talk. Alas, the supervisor did come, there was wiping of the bum, and a beeline outta Ikea, because Dustin was screaming his head off that he still wanted to play.
This same policy applies at Preschool, so I was nervous of a repeat, but so far, so good. I totally understand this policy, but at the same time, I don't know any 3-year-old who can do a reliable job in the wiping of the bum department.

As if there isn't enough bodily fluids in my life, we have also decided to start potty training Audrey. We thought she was ready because she's super vocal and smart and she was typically dry after waking up from naps. It's been three weeks now, and she still has no clue before she has to go to the bathroom! If I make an effort to put her on the potty every hour, she usually has a dry day. But she still has only been able to tell us a few times before she goes in her pants! It's getting so frustrating! I keep hoping she will recognize the sensation BEFORE she goes, but so far, not so good. She's all excited about panties, so I don't want to revert back to diapers, but what's a mom to do?? (Besides bite my knuckles so I don't scream and rip my hair out!)
Ahhh, the joys....

Happy Birthday Audrey!!!

I can't believe my baby is 2!!!! She is such a cutie, a week before her birthday, we had this conversation...

Me: So Audrey, what do you want for your Happy Birthday?!?
Audrey: Ummmm, a pink one!!!
Me: You'd like to have a pink Birthday party?
Audrey: YEAH!!!
Me: Ok, but what would you like to open for your birthday present?
Audrey: PINK one.
Me: You just want pink? Would you like a new dolly?
Audrey: Yeah! A pink one!!

What can I say, the girl loves pink! And so, we had a pink birthday. No theme, just pink. Pink balloons, pink streamers, pink wrapping; it looked like we were having a baby shower! My mom drove all the way up from California and my sister and her husband came down to be there for our little girl. We had a fun family day. We went to see Up, played at Chuck E. Cheese, had lunch at Applebee's and opened a pink frenzy of presents. She's so funny, she gets just as excited about new clothes and shoes as she does about new toys. She's such a girl, and getting so big! I love you so much Peanut!!

Ahhh Summer...

We had a really fun fourth of July, (So I'm a little behind....BUT at least I'm posting about things in the same month!) we went to St. George and stayed with Tim's parents in the hot, hot, sun. The kids had fun swimming the days away. Dustin went from being afraid to jump into the pool, to finding out he can float with a life jacket, water wings, and an inner tube, to just swimming with water wings, to jumping in over his head without any floatation device whatsoever!!!! (I had to jump in and grab him and then give myself CPR from my heart attack---Dustin was completely unphased, he wanted to jump in again) All within an hour. I cannot get that kid to slow down! Audrey still prefers the stairs on the side, but she's starting to get braver. It was relaxing. My mother-in-law cooked, and gave me breaks from the kids, gave me more awesome clothes. Heaven.
We've done some fun things so far. We had our first family camping experience, in which we did all the packing and setting up ourselves (we went last year with my Dad and Robin, but they pretty much did everything). We stayed up by Elkton one night, and in Loon Lake the next night. And I must say, we did pretty well! My Tenderfoot husband ( I mean it, he never made it past Tenderfoot!) and I, managed to set up a tent and cook in the wilderness for 2 days. A big accomplishment for our little family! Dustin and Audrey had their first s'more experience, and their first fishing experience. Dustin was so excited, and he got the hang of it so quickly! It wasn't long before he could cast better than I could! We got him a little Spiderman fishing rod. We didn't catch anything, but it was still fun. The Becrafts took us wake boarding, and Tim tore it up!
We've been to Splash, had some free lunches at the parks, and have been loving the free wading pool by our house.
This past weekend, we went on a fun adventure to Bend. We just packed up, and left our hot house for the night. All I can say is thank goodness for our Garmin, because it made our impromptu trip so fun! We went to the High Desert Museum which was surprisingly really enjoyable for all of us. They have some neat exhibits, and our kids got to dig for dinosaur bones, get up close to a tiny owl, visit a homestead and saw mill from the 1800's, and learn all about bats and other animals in the high desert. I was worried a museum would be too boring, but they did great, and there were a lot of hands on activities to keep them entertained. The best part...4 and under is free! After that, we cooled off at the Juniper outdoor pool which was so much better than I was expecting. They have a great outdoor kiddie pool with a slide and splash pad and all kinds of water doo dads. If you're going to Bend with young ones, I recommend either of those spots. Oh, and if you get hungry, Pilot Butte Drive-In has some amazingly huge yummy hamburgers. Make sure you split it! Let me know what ya'll are doing to fill your summer days! I'm always looking for fun things to do!

Craziness = Happiness

The past couple of weeks have been crazy! My Mom and sister were in town, and I got to go birthday shopping with them for a day. One thing that my Mom knows how to do really well, is shop. She finds the best deals! I don't know how she does it. I can look at a rack and not see a single thing. She digs through it and finds and entire outfit, on sale, and then she'll find shoes on clearance to go with it! Unfortunately, I did not get the shopping gene, but it's a talent I hope to develop! Hangin with my sis was really fun too. Everywhere we go, we quote movie lines and sing like we're living in a musical. It's not unusual for us to be in a restarunt and inconspicuosly start singing Summer Lovin' while swaying side to side. We've gotten better about not doing it in public, but as soon as we get inside the car, we bust out! It's fun to have someone who's theatrical like me around.
We had an awesome barbeque for Father's Day. The kids made Disney cards for Tim, and Dustin yelled, "Surprise!" when he gave it to him. So cute. We also saw Transformers 2 as part of Father's Day and Tim got to the theatre an hour and a half early so we would have good seats. You don't mess around with Transformers.
Anyway, having lots of family around was fun, and as always, our gatherings revolved around eating out which was great, but here's the problem I have with that...
As many of you know, I am training for a marathon. And it's going really well so far. I've improved my mile time, I feel stronger, and I'm starting to see myself as a real runner (something I never thought would be possible!). In fact, I ran 10 miles in 91 minutes today. And with all this running, one would think that I would most definitly be losing weight. Well, one would be wrong! How is this possible, you might ask? Well, I'll tell you. Everytime a food opportunity is presented to me, a little devil on my shoulder pipes up and says, "Of course you can have german chocolate cake with ice cream, you're training for a marathon for crying out loud! Eat the cake! You'll run it off later!" My left brain can't seem to find any false logic to this statement and so....I give in! All the time! Like a billion times a day! I need help people! Or I am going to be rolling the 26.2 miles!
Sheesh! Everything else is going really well though. I am so ready for summer! The kids are great. Dustin is saying the funniest stuff right now. Audrey is starting to potty train, which is so hard for me! It feels like so much work. And I'm in battle with myself over whether or not she's ready. She willingly goes on the potty, when I put her on it, but she isn't at a point where she can tell me if she needs to go--alas the struggle. But look at how cute she is!

My Forever Family

Saturday, June 6, 2009

We got to go to the temple today to have our little girl sealed to us forever. I have to say, I feel so lucky to be able to have seen both my babies in white inside the temple! My chaperon said it is our reward for everything we had to go through to adopt her. It was such a special experience. Nothing compares to the awesome feeling and power of a sealing. I felt the Spirit so strongly, and Dustin and Audrey looked like angels. When Dustin came into the sealing room he kept on saying, "Is this the flying room?" My dear friend Ann suggested that maybe that meant something because the veil is so thin to little children. I'd like to think he could see angels. He also kept calling Audrey and I princesses. I was so overwhelmed with love for my little family. Having Audrey's little hand on the alter was so precious. It definitely strengthened my testimony of families and temple work. My amazing Grandma surprised me again and was sitting inside the sealing room when we walked in. She drove all the way from Calgary just for the day so she could be there for the sealing. I have to say how much I love and appreciate my Grandma for coming to every special occasion. My sister and her husband also came down for the day which made it even better.

Tim's parents were there too, and we have been having so much fun with them this weekend. We've gone to the Science Factory, Hendricks Park, and had tons of great food and laughs. And then we topped it all off with a great trip to the temple.

Thanks to Brain and Ann, James, and Chris and Tricia for coming all the way up to support us. It was special to see you all there. And thanks to everyone else who wanted to be there, but couldn't! We still felt all your love!

She's Finally Ours!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Audrey Elizabeth Hess

Our final, final, final, paperwork finally arrived!!! I just have to say how happy and blessed I feel to be able to have this little girl. She is such a blessing to our family and I love her to pieces. Somehow the Spirit touched me the very first day she came to our door. I had such a wonderful feeling that we knew each other, and we had already agreed to be together. She has been the very best baby in the whole world and I am so excited to watch her grow into the beautiful girl she already is.

Our sealing is set for June 6th at 2:00pm. We would love any of our friends and ward family to be there. Just give me a call and let me know if you plan on coming so I can tell them how many people to expect. Thanks for all of your support through our long journey and for loving Audrey!

Craft Day!

Anytime I do anything arsty and crafty on my own, without help-- it's a big deal for me. I'm artistic, but not in a crafty sense. So the other day Dustin was bored out of his mind and I was feeling adventurous and found something online that we could do together. (It also happened to be the only one I had all the supplies for!) I'll give you my own instructions because the web site didn't have pics and was really vague.

We made a little crab!!!




You can do it too! All you need is

A paper plate
Sand
Egg carton (for eyes)
Red construction paper
Glue

Just take the paper plate and have your kid put glue all over the top of it. Then have them sprinkle sand all over the top till it's completely covered. Next cut out your crab legs and pinchers while the glue is drying. Then fold the plate in half and glue the legs on in between the plate halfs. You can either staple or glue your crab together (just know that glue takes longer to dry and needs some pressure to keep it shut) Then cut out two eyes from the egg carton and glue those on top! Voila!

Dustin had super fun making this and played with it for days afterward. Good luck!