February 2012

The big news in February is that we went to Disneyland. A few months ago Mike's brother, Brian, invited us to go with his family. Mike said he couldn't go because of tax season, but since the boy were free at the parks, I decided, what the hey, how hard can it be to go on vacation with 2 two year olds? The answer is, kind of hard. Ha. But seriously I didn't' have anything else going on and Brian and Pam said their kids could help, so I decided to go. Since we were staying in the timeshare Mike's parents own, we decided to invite them too. :-) I know nice of us huh!?! The trip was a lot of fun, a little stressful, but fun. Brian and Pam's family along with Jim and Karin, were super helpful with the boys and besides some missed naps, which made them ornery, they did quite well. Mike was able to talk to his boss, who said as long as he put in his 60 hours before he left, he could go, so we booked him a ticket to fly to California for Thursday night. I drove with the boys, which was the one part of the trip I'm not sure I would do again. We drove to St. George Saturday night and then the rest of the way on Sunday to break it up a little bit, but I was still bored, tired of driving and asking "are we there yet?" the last bit of the trip. (Quick Story: We stayed at the condo in St. George. While I was unloading the car the boys kept running out in the road, so I put them inside the house. I was out there a while organizing and getting everything we would need for the night. When I went to take all the stuff in the house, guess who had locked me out. That's right Owen an Caleb. And guess where my keys were, inside on the table. I had them come over to the door and tried to get them to unlock it, but to no avail. I finally broke down and called a lock smith. $60 later and just in time, because when I was able to go in, the boys had climbed onto the counter and were playing with the knives. Can you say trouble!)
We spent three days in Disneyland, one day at Seaworld and then the other two days we just took it easy. We stayed at the Newport Coast Villas. It seemed like the boys had a good time. They seemed to enjoy most of the rides and as long as the lines weren't too long and we had some snacks, they were ok there too. Our first day we spent most of our time at California Adventure. Some of the rides the boys liked were the Carousel and Toy Story Mania. I think one of their favorite things was the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Stage Show, the loved watching all the characters. (Probably because it is just like TV and they are little TV addicts. Side Note: Whenever Caleb wakes up in the morning or from a nap, usually the first thing is says is "Elmo", in that he wants to watch Elmo. Not "Hi" or "Let's play", no it is "Elmo". I probably need to cut back on their TV time.) Anyway, I was brave and went on the roller coaster, Screamin Over California. It made me a little nauseas the rest of the day but I did it. :-) I think the boys favorite part about the parks were exploring, touching and climbing on everything they could. They loved Toontown and climbing on the cars and sticking their hands in the fountains. Our Second day was spent in Disneyland, we rode on the train and went on Small World. We came home a little early this day, because the boys were starting to break down around 3:00. They wouldn't nap in their stroller, which made it hard, but they took a power nap in the car on the way home, so when we reached the hotel, they were good to go. We spent the afternoon exploring the grounds of the Villas. We played in a little park they had and went to see the fishes and played in the kids area where they had legos and trains and cars.
We spent part of one of our 'free' days at the beach. The boys had a good time running around and getting all sandy. Owen almost got attacked by the seagulls when he was eating his bag of chips.
Thursday night arrived and Mike is going to be here soon. But no, he calls me at 9:45, when he should be on the plane and tells me he missed his flight. After a small breakdown by me and trying to talk to Delta, which by the way they were absolutely NO help at all, he was on a flight for the morning. He arrived around 10am at the LA airport, so we picked him up and then drove to his first day at Disneyland. He loved it. He wished he could have stayed another day. We had park hopper tickets, but he only wanted to go to Disneyland. We went on all the old favorites: Pirates, Haunted Mansion (which was his favorite), Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, and a few others the boys liked, like Autopia and Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage. I was sooo happy to have him there and the boys were too. It was fun to be able to hang out in Disneyland together as a family.
Our finally day was spent at Seaworld. We thought the boys were going to like it a lot, because of all the animals, but they didn't seem as excited as I thought they would.. However, Mike and I had been to Seaworld about 7 years earlier and we loved it, and this time was no exception, it was great. They do such a great job with the shows. It was cool to see Shamu, the dolphins and all the sea animals.
My good friend Katie J, lives 5 minutes away from San Diego, so afterwards we stopped by her house and went to dinner. We met at Dixie and have been friends ever since. She always visits me when she is in UT and I'm glad we could return the favor. It was fun seeing her and catching up a little bit and she was even good to put up with Owen crying in the car the whole time from her house to the restaurant. :-)
Sunday we drove home. It was long and boring. (Hopefully not at all like this post.) :-)
A few tips on Disneyland. February is a great time to go. Most of the lines were 10 minutes or less. If you want to spend lots of time at the beach it was a little cold for that, but the weather at the parks was great. During the days the temperature was in the low 70's so you didn't get too hot.
Hopefully the boys will remember some of this trip, if not, I'm sure we will return again soon.
The rest of February was spent going to Young Women's activities and Young Women's meetings. I was called at 2nd counselor. And for Mike it was spent working.

January 2012

We are going to try this a little different. Back in the day we used to have a family newsletter that we wrote in once a month. I'm going to see if I can keep up with that a little better.
Slade's Fun in the Sun, January 2012
Most of January was spent getting settled into our new house. We love it so far. I'm trying to decorate a little differently than our old house. I want to be brave and do modern/hip things, but I find myself being drawn back to what I know and what is safe. So far we had only purchased the big ticket items like the couch and dining room table (which were safe choices), so hopefully I can be more brave with the art work and accessory items.  We went the first couple of weeks without any window coverings, but the beginning of the month we got shutters and they look great. We have really only had one issue so far with the house. The heater sometimes will blow cold air, which isn't ideal in the winter time, but we have been working with the builder and contractor, so hopefully we can get it fixed soon.
We celebrated my Dad and Kim's birthday with a dinner over at Mariah's house. For a gift all the kids are pitching in and we gave them a gift certificate to get a family picture taken. The last one the Bill Beesley familhy had, was taken six years ago, so we figured it was about time for another one.
Our ward split three weeks after we moved in and I got called to be the second counselor in YW. I had just gotten out of my calling as Laurel advisor and was looking forward to RS, but it looks like I need to improve my "game" in YW, so I'm back in. I'm trying to have a better attitude and put my best foot forward in this calling and so far that seems to be working. Plus now I'm dealing with the Beehives, which are always a fun and loud group. For some reason I just didn't feel like I connected well with the Laurels in our last ward. Being a counselor is a lot busier than being an advisor. We have church and Wednesday activities and meetings and are often exchanging texts and emails through out the week, but again it is all about the attitude. And I'm trying to have a good one. :-)
I attended a girls luncheon that my Aunt Linda put together with all the girl cousins. It is always fun to get together and see everyone and get caught up.
The boys, to be perfectly honest with you, have been driving me a little crazy lately. :-) Some days of the week I find it necessary to put them in "structured playing time" which is playing upstairs in one of their bedrooms for an hour or sitting them in their booster seat and letting them watch "Elmo", Seasame Street while I get some stuff done around the house. The funny thing is Owen or Caleb alone is manageable. And they don't get into near as much mischief as the two of them together.
We have wood or tile floors on 90% of the main floor and so we bought a rumba, which is a robot vacuum. It is saving my life, I didn't know how I was going to keep the floors clean, but I just turn it on and away it cleans. The boys are OBSESSED with it and that is putting it lightly. Whenever they are awake, they want me to turn on the "on on" as they like to call it. I will be sitting at the counter or getting ready in my room and they will come and grab my hand drag me over to the base and wait for me to press the on button. I usually turn it on in the morning and let it clean my floor, but there have been times that the vacuum will be in the kitchen and the boys will be playing in the entry and so I'll turn it off cause I think no one is paying attention. A few seconds later they will both come running around the corner saying "on on" with a look on their face like, "why did you turn that off we were still paying attention to it." They will follow it around the house for about 5 minutes, but then just ignore it, but if I try to turn it off, I don't hear the end of it. There are some days I have to hide it because they want me to turn it on so much. They will roam around the house looking for it, asking "where is it?"
Their speech continues to improve. They are getting really good at repeating words, so if I'll say a word like cupboard, strawberry, etc... they will try to repeat it. They are also getting a lot better at identify objects they already know the word for. They still grunt and point a lot, but the therapist we work with says that is normal, and to just keep giving them choice when they can't come up with the word for what they want on their own.
Mike has been working and is already gearing up for tax season. He usually doesn't get home until 6:30/7:00 and the other night he didn't get home until 9:30. Mike also got a calling. He is the CTR 5 teacher.
I've been going back to the gym. My sisters and I signed up for the Little Red Century bike ride which is in June, so we figure we need to start training and get "into shape". We have also been doing some craft projects. We made a cute Christmas wreath that Mariah found on pinterest and I painted and decorated the letters, L-O-V-E with scrapbook paper and embellishments for a Valentines decoration.  I love having them live so close. It is fun to be able to get together for these types of things and not have to drive far to do them. 
We had a follow up eye appointment for Caleb and the Dr. said it looked good and is healing how it is supposed to. We have another appointment in six months to just check and make sure it looks good and that he can see correctly out of that eye, but we are glad that this seems to have taken care of the problems of his "wandering eye".
So there you have it. Until next month (hopefully).

Boys Birthday

The boy turned 2 on the 21st of Oct. We had a birthday party for them. We had a yummy dinner, ate cupcakes and ice cream, opened gifts and played a little game. I wrote up this quiz about the boys and whoever got the most right won a prize. If you read the blog, you will probably get most of them right, since I took most of the questions from here.

All the party guests

Caleb & Owen blowing out their cupcakes.

Owen & Caleb’s 2nd Birthday                  

1. We like to destroy lots of thing, but recently what appliance did we break?
    a. Television
    b. Oven
    c. Refrigerator
    d. None, we never break things.

2. True or False: Caleb had to wear an eye patch.

3. What month did the boys move out of their cribs and into beds?
    a. Last October
    b. August
    c. September
    d. This October

4. True or False: Only Caleb got tubes in his ears

5. True or False: The boys weigh the same?
Bonus: How much do they weigh?

6. According to their last Doctors visit, in September, Owen was ___ inches tall and
Caleb was ___ inches tall.

a. both the same

b. 35 and 33

c. 33 and 35

7. We aren’t afraid of very many things, but we get scared and cry every time ____________ gets turned on.  

8. True or False: We are really good eaters.

9. Our favortie show to watch is:

a. Survivor

            b. Seasame Street

c. Martha Speaks

d. Wild Krats

10. True or False: We share a room.

Answers: 1.A , 2.True, 3.C, 4. False, 5. False, Bonus: Owen 33lbs Caleb 31lbs, 6. A, 7. Roomba Vacuum, 8. True, 9. B. 10. False

Misc Stories about the Boys

Vent - The boys love putting toys down the vent. They go around the house and take all the covers off and then shove as many toys down them as they can. At night when they were supposed to be going to sleep, they would get up out of bed and you could hear the clank and clatter of the cover coming off and toys being dropped down the vent. I finally had to nail the vent cover down in their bedroom. I think Owen likes to do it more than Caleb, because when we put them in different rooms, he still does it, where as Caleb really doesn't.

Splitting the boys up - Owen apparently doesn't need as much sleep as Caleb and it was starting to become a problem. Since we moved them into beds, and they've learned to turn the light on, they would stay up for hours just 'screwing around' in there room, when they were supposed to be sleeping. We decided it would be best to put them in separate rooms. It has been going a lot better. Owen still stays up late sometimes, but Caleb can at least get the sleep he needs.

Chewing Food - Something gross that they did for a while was put huge amounts of food into their mouths start to chew it up and then, I guess when they started to feel like they were chocking or their jaw started hurting from so much food, they would spit it out into their hand and drop it on their tray or want to give it to me. Yuck and no thanks.

Owen attacks Caleb - He only did this a couple of times, but it was funny. He would come up behind Caleb and bear hug him from the back. Caleb didn't like this very much and would wiggle and try to escape. So picture it, Owen bear hugging Caleb and Caleb wiggling all over to get away, they usually both ended up on the floor crying. Another one of Mike's favorite quotes that he would tell the boys, "Its all fun and game until someone gets hurt."

Building a House

I've been meaning to blog about this since we broke ground, but we are building a house. In 2010 we bought a piece of property about 1/4 mile away and just sat on it for a while, trying to decide what we wanted to do. Finally the beginning of this year, we decided we wanted to move forward and build a house. Our friends built a house and we love the work and detail of the house, that we decided to go with their builder. We work with an architect and came up with a plan and are now building a new house. We should be in the beginning to middle of November. I knew it would be stressful, but I didn't realize how stressful. I'm going to happy when we can move in. I hope all the many decision we have had to make will come together nicely.  
Here are some pictures of the house in progress.

The boys had fun playing in all the dirt.

Fear of the Roomba

My sister recently got a roomba at her house and yesterday the boys were playing with it. As they were touching all the buttons they turned it on and got it going. I hadn't been paying too much attention, but all the sudden I heard crying and saw them both running towards me. The roomba had started and was just vacuuming away, but it really scared Owen and Caleb. These two are brave little boys and not a whole lot phases them, but I saw real fear in their eyes. Funny how such a small little thing is so scary to them. We turned it on today so we could get it on video, I'm sure when they are older they will laugh at this. Poor little guys.

350ish Miles

I was going to tell you all about my sore butt and burning thighs, but my friend Jessica said it so much better that I'll just post what she wrote. 



This weekend I participated in the Salt2Saint relay with 7 great friends.

We experienced:
8:00 am start time at the State Capitol on Friday morning.
Taking turns riding each leg of the race, ranging from 13 - 22 miles each.
Temperatures ranging from 40- 90 degrees.
 Rain, rain, rain and more freezing cold rain.
Headwinds.
Flat tires and tire blowouts and tire replacements.
Healthy food and junk food.
Riding in middle of the night on semi-lit highways and pitch-black bike paths.
1-1/2 hours of sleep (from 6 am to 7:30 am)... sitting up or crammed between the seats of the Yukon.
Beautiful scenery.
Hills and valleys.
Crossing the Utah/Arizona border.
Skipping 4 legs at the end because we were running out of time.
Riding together across the finish line at 5:00 pm on Saturday evening.
Rewarding ourselves with 4 pizzas, breadsticks and soda.
Ridiculously sore buttocks.
Laughing and talking and cheering on friends who we know we will cherish forever.

Biker Chick -  That's Me!

That doesn't look good.

I'm smiling on the outside, but on the inside I was crying and asking myself, "Why am I doing this?"

Nate Anderson: Even if he has been up all night, he still likes to look nice.

Alan Bingham riding, Justin Adams running him in.

Cami Bingham, Me, Kristin Anderson, Jessica Adams. Nate Anderson, Justin Adams, Craig Petty, Alan Bingham.

Love these Ladies!