Keith is now a missionary!

My cute brother Keith with my sister in law Heather and niece Chloe!
All the ladies (cousins, moms, nieces, sisters, aunts) talking after the dinner. We could talk for days. It's the best! I miss these times!
Dad and Jenna on his Harley! He is totally obsessed. Next time I've got to go for a ride with him.

Two weekends ago my parents flew me out to Arizona for Keith's farewell. I am so glad that I went. It was kind of a last minute thing. My Dad was upset that I wasn't going to be there and told my mom to get me a ticket!! Hooray for me! I was thrilled. It was so great because Brian was super supportive of me going. He was like "yeah you should be there." He was such a trooper with these kids. They had a great time with Dad. They especially loved eating all the fast food. I have smartened up after 10 years of marriage...I didn't even prepare meals because I knew they would head for the fast food anyway. He even cleaned the house really well before I got home. It was funny though...the night before I got back we were on the phone and he was a little bugged and tired from the whole day with the kids. He said he had just spent two hours cleaning up the house, and the kids didn't help at all and it will probably just get messed up tommorow. He totally sounded like the typical housewife and mother! When I got home he said "hon, I could never do what you do all day." It felt so great to hear him say that! Well and we all know I could DEFINANTLY not do what he does all day (boy would that be scary)! Anyway, it was a great visit. I felt like a kid all over again. On Saturday morning I slept in and then woke up to breakfast at the table with Mom, Dad, Jenna and Keith. I didn't even help cook it! It was so fun to see all the extended family that came to support Keith! Keith was amazing in his talk. He has such an awesome testimony and I know he is going to be the best missionary. What a huge sacrifice this is!! He is such a great example. We are praying for him every night!

Jenna is the best!

Ok everyone I cannot blog about my cruise and not have a post about my sweet sister Jenna. She really is the best Aunt ever! She was such a good sport about watching the kids for an entire week and leaving her husband whom she is madly in love with. When I first talked to her about it she said "that will be so fun!" Anyway, I think all in all she did have fun but it was a lot of work!!! She said she has a whole new appreciation for moms! She did everything with the kids. She took them bowling, to the zoo, to the movies, library and the park! They had crafts everyday and she had to do the driving to preschool, piano lessons, etc in my big suburban! She didn't even crash it! Good Job Jenna! My kids didn't even miss me. Ben actually was kind of mad at me. He wouldn't come to me for a whole night. He only wanted Jenna or Brianna! Of course that didn't last too long. This little photo is Jenna asking herself "what the heck was I thinking agreeing to this."
Oh and we got home from the cruise at like 9pm and she stayed up till midnight coloring my hair after watching my kids for a whole week because she was flying home early in the morning. What a sister!

Carribean Cruise

Brian ordered this Chocolate Cake almost every night after dinner. It was warm and hot hot fudge in the middle! It really was amazing!
Brian relaxing in the beautiful Bahama ocean. It was so amazing. Warm and clear and the perfect bluish, green color!
Alison being brave and picking up a shell with a little creature inside! She is so proud of herself!
Alison and I getting windblown!

Our cruise

The guys being goofy in our hotel room. We were all getting ready to go down to the jacuzzi (this is at our hotel the night before our cruise left) and Todd came down the hall wearing this crazy robe he found in the closet. So Brian of course, had to try his on! Us girls were laughing so hard at them!
Super windy from all the hurricanes! But we were still enjoying it! The background is Miami. This is when we were taking off! Bon Voyage!
At dinner, sorry for the cleavage. Oops...I didn't realize I was hanging out!
With our friends Todd and Alison. They are so much fun. It was the best because it was totally like old times. We laughed so hard. I swear people probably thought we were all drunk!
At Atlantis Hotel in Nassau, Bahamas.

I have really been a blog slacker lately! I have good excuses though, like always! Homeschooling has pretty much taken all of my free time. I am enjoying it though. Brianna is a really good student and loves to learn and I get to threaten her with going to the principal who is Daddy!!! I am not sure how long we will do the homeschooling thing, maybe a year, maybe 3 years but for now it is working out ok. It is a good feeling not having to send her to school with what I call the "ghetto hoodlums." heehee Ok so on to our cruise. WE HAD THE BEST TIME!!!!! It was actually so great that the week after I got home I was just fighting my life (you know diapers, messes, schoolwork, driving, Young Womens, Brian's work stress, budgeting...everything)! IT is just so nice to go away and forget it all for a week. Brian even managed to not be stressed out! It was kind of crazy though because on Friday (the cruise was ending on Sat) he started to feel the stress of going back to work!

TAGGED......
Answer the following with only one word.
Where is your cell phone?.......................................purse
Your significant other?...........................................asleep
Your hair?........................................................blonde
Your mother?.........................................................awesome
Your father?..........................................................working
Your favorite thing?..................................................golden spoon
Your dream last night..........................................decorating for a attending-weird!
Your favorite drink........................................diet anything
Your dream/goal..................................done w residency
The room you're in..........................................messy
Your children?...................................................finally asleep...ahhh
Your Fear?.............................................cruise cancelled
Where do you want to be in 6 years?......................kids in school
Where were you last night?................................mutual
What you're not?............................................relaxed
Muffins?............................................of course, but I dont have points left
One of your wish list items?....................10 more pounds off
Where'd you grow up?..........................California
What'd you read last?.......................Parent magazine
What are you wearing?............................jeans...comfy
Your TV?..........................................72 inches..too big!
Your pet?........................................no thank you!
Your computer?........................................love it
Your life?...........................................busy but good
Your mood?.................................tired
Missing someone?..................................YES, my family (and husband)!
Your car?...........................................fingerprints
Something you're not wearing?.................Shoes
Favorite store?...................................any discount store
Your summer?.....................................fun and relaxing
Like someone?..........................LOVE
Your favorite color?.........................Black and Red
Last time you laughed................................Today
Last time you cried?...........................................yesterday.. ok so I know I am supposed to be being concise but I have to tell you. I went in the toy room and Ben's diaper was seriously sagging (you know what I am talking about) so I took it off and went into the pantry to get a diaper as I was walking in I noticed that he had pooped on the floor, good thing it is hard (in the 3 seconds I went to get a diaper) so I scooped it up quickly w the diaper and then went to get another diaper. By this time he had crawled into the kitchen and then just as I was getting over there to put a diaper on Ben Brian Sr gets home from work. I get to Ben and pick him up and the floor is all wet-he peeed. I burst into tears...Brian of course is laughing! It was one of those days! A few days before that I started to cry because I went into the bathroom and Brian JR was brushing his you know what with his toothbrush! The things us mothers deal with!

I tag Mandy, Lauren and Julie!

Hooray for Preschool!

Happy boys!
Happy mommy-notice them putting buckets on their heads!

Today was Brian's first day of Preschool (2nd year). We are so excited for him. The great part is that he is excited too...it's a WIN WIN situation! I am showing you my happiness in this picture. I was so happy after dropping him off today that as I was walking down the hall and there were other parents coming the opposite way and I just couldn't help but say "hooray!" I just love this little boy of mine more than ever but he is just full of energy and is always bored. And worse, he won't sit for more than 3 minutes to watch tv (I guess this isn't a bad thing). My mom tries to reassure me by telling me that energy is a good thing when they are adults. I just hope he can learn to transform his energy in a productive way! My good friend Lauren and I made our preschooling days a little bit better too. Lauren is taking the boys on Fridays and I am taking on Wednesdays starting at 9am (preschool is from 1230-3pm) that way we have a whole day once a week and they have a playmate.

Hurricanes!

Ok I feel a little bit guilty complaining about this storm! I know there are worse problems due to storms like deaths, houses destroyed, and more but I am seriously upset about this storm because we have a cruise scheduled to depart out of Florida on Monday (we are flying in on Sunday) and it looks like it will either be cancelled or changed dramatically. On the carnival website it showed one cruise that was changed from a 5 day to a 3 day and all the ports were cancelled. They called it the cruise to no-where! Well, for now we are just praying that the storm will pass!