Whilrwind Weekend

We survived our weekend apart and are happy to be together again! I know I'm a big sissy, but I think I have a good excuse. I was sad to not be in Utah to see everybody and to be at the wedding, sad that Hannah didn't get to see everyone, sad to be away from Running Man, and it KILLED me to be away from Em. I've never left either of my children for more than half a day...I dream about getting away with Running Man, but have never had the perfect opportunity. (Strike that, I had one chance when my wonderful MIL offered to stay the night with the kids when she was visiting last time. And being the smart girl that I am I didn't take her up on the offer. Smart, smart girl).
From all of the accounts I have heard it sounds like they had a fun, yet whirlwind weekend. I am so grateful to all of the ppl who stepped up and took care of them while they were out there. They had a great time, and even though it wore Em out, I heard she was a great little traveler.
Banana and I had a really great time. I cried a lot that first day, but I blame it mostly on sleep deprivation. I didn't sleep the night before and then we were up at 4:00 a.m. to take them to the airport. That was not fun. I'm sure people thought I was special when they saw me leaving the airport and sobbing like a baby. I had a nice Mother's Day with Banana, who spent most of the time cuddling with me and telling me "happy mother's day" over and over. So sweet. She missed her sister and her dad terribly, but is definitely tougher than I am :)
Now life is back to normal and we are looking forward to some visitors in two weeks and our trip back to Utah!!
Here are some cute pics of our "adventure" and the goings on the last few days. (I'm hoping to get some pics of the Utah trip, so those will come soon!)

Just the two of us.
Talking to her Daddy. I think at this point she was telling him it was time to come home...

Her Piggy she painted at the Painted Penguin. The girl working tried to tell her how she should paint/what colors to use/she wasn't doing it right...I kindly informed her that she was three and I wanted her to be creative :)
Together again! Banana is really into dress up and make believe right now so naturally she wants to include Em. Aren't they cute cheerleaders?!

She is so close to walking, but is being such a chicken about it. She is fearless about everything else, but can't bring herself to take more than one step without reaching for us...

Here's Em's first tooth. Now she is working on three more. Here's to hoping they all come in now so we can get it over with!


Banana loved to pull all of these dvds off the shelf when she was tiny, and Em has discovered the joy of it. She can clear the shelf in about twenty seconds. She wasn't thrilled with me telling her to stop so I could take a picture!

It's Gone

I think I fell off the wagon...(is that the right term)? The P90X wagon that is. I was doing so well, then I hit a wall. I have had one of those weeks that I can't even muster up a spec of motivation to get off my behind and do it. It's really not a good thing right now seeing I'm trying to get ready for the BIX. Blah. So if you see my motivation wandering around somewhere please send it back in my direction...(but only after I finish these cookies)! That's all I have to say about that.

The gorgeous weather just keeps coming! We celebrated Mother's day this past weekend because Running Man and Em will be in Utah for his little brothers wedding on the actual day. He planned out a fabulous day for us to enjoy together. After we finished working in the morning we went on a picnic at West Lake and had a great time. The girls loved running around and being outside. It is gorgeous there. Banana loved trying to skip the rocks, and Em showed no fear as usual by trying to repeatedly crawl into the lake. She wasn't impressed when we had to hold her to keep her from going in. After we put the kiddos to bed my awesome husband took me to see "Wolverine." Loved it. We only had a minor setback when Kyle (our sitter) txt us to ask how long he should let Em cry...this happened oh maybe two minutes after we bought our tickets. Running Man started to head home to help remedy the situation but Kyle insisted that he had in under control. And he really did. ( Keep in mind he's a single, twenty something guy with no children). He rocked her right back to sleep. We have some pretty awesome friends!
I'm super sad that Banana and I don't get to go to the wedding, but we lots of fun things planned for our "adventure." I'm sure we'll be plenty busy so the time will fly by. We aren't telling Banana that they're going to Utah because I fear the meltdown if she found out. I'm more sad that she doesn't get to go and see all of her grandparents and aunts and cousins. But we'll be home soon enough. And we just found out my mom is coming out for Em's bday and Banana's dance recital! My little bro and his gf are driving to Michigan to see some people and are dropping her off on the way. Bless my mom's heart for making that drive twice in less than two months!! We can't wait.
Ok...that's enough. Here are some pics from our fun day at the lake!

Em's first bite of pickles. She takes after me and loved them. Well she really just sucked on them, but that's basically what I do...

Banana asked me to take this picture of her. Doesn't she look cute?!Eating the dandelions. She also ate rocks, grass and some mud :)
We wore her out! Right before this she told us that it was the most perfect picnic in the whold wide world!

It's The Little Things

Just a little list of things I am so grateful for today...

1. This awesome lady (my MIL) who is so willing to share her amazing talents.

2. Friends who will listen to even your dumbest problems without judgment, and who love you in spite of your many flaws.

3. Gorgeous weather!

4. A Savior who paid the ultimate sacrifice, and who taught us how to truly forgive. Who helped me to be able to use that forgiveness in my life.

5. The blessing of comfort.

6. This amazing man who gives and gives, never expecting anything in return.

7. The gift of being a mother to these sweet two little girls.

A Post About Nothing

My husband told me that I should take a picture of my kitchen and put it at the top of this post, just to show you what kind of week we've had. I thought about it for about a millisecond then decided that it would be way too humiliating. :) It just was one of those weeks where the mess piled up little by little and before I knew it, it had taken over. It was so bad that I didn't even know where to start. So I just kept putting it off... This week felt like it would never end, but it all just runs together in one big blur. Luckily the girls were pretty well behaved so I didn't lose it completely! Running Man has been crazy busy with school/clinic/more school/more clinic/stupid paperwork/his calling...and so on. I'm lucky to have a husband that is so hands on with the parenting, and with helping around the house. So it a HUGE change when he isn't around as much. The weather was pretty gorgeous so we got to spend a lot of time outside which was another lifesaver.
To add to the mayhem I just had the constant feeling that I needed to be in Utah. Not such a huge change, but this week it was especially hard to ignore that feeling. And then my parents basement flooded. Not just a little, but a ton of flooding. It completely ruined the family room they had redone only a few years ago. My mom's dream room. She had turned it into her own little movie theater. I wish I had some pics to show you how cute it was. It was so hard to listen to the stress in her voice and know that I couldn't do a stinking thing to help her. And to show you how amazing she really is, she was more concerned with the things I have been going through lately in my life, and trying to find ways to help me. It was a true testament of how unselfish a mother's love can be, and how it never goes away. Does that make sense?

Running Man gets to take Banana to school with him sometimes, and it is the highlight of her week! He informed me that it's the highlight for a lot of his friends as well! He said they have started bringing little snacks and treats for her every day in hopes that she is coming. How cute is that?! I finally remembered to send the camera with him so here are some shots from Banana's days at Palmer.

Cheap Entertainment

That's right...we're all about pestering defenseless little animals around here. I'm just waiting for the day when they wisen up and and start chasing her...Is it so wrong of me to think that it would be slightly hilarious to see Banana chased by ducks?

So Much Fun!

We had such a fantastic time with my family this last weekend. I could go on forever about all of the fun things we had, and how much the girls loved having everyone around. We will never grow tired of having people come and visit us.

Nobody's recent post about her mom 's visit says it so well. She gave a pretty good list about why it's so great to have your mom around. I usually handle good-byes pretty well, but this time was not the easiest. Banana had a heart breaking meltdown as we were waving good-bye. Running Man was holding her and she just kept lunging for the car as it was pulling away, and crying hysterically for them to come back. It broke my heart.

Our Easter was so nice and relaxing. We held all of our Easter Bunny festivities on Saturday so we could spend Sunday focusing on the real reason for Easter. Banana got to have her first easter egg hunt and she LOVED it. We went to Devil's Glen Park which is where Running Man had his egg hunts when he was little. We followed it up with a delicious dinner at the Machine Shed. Fun was had by all and now we're counting down the days until we go home in June!

Swim time at the hotel! Em loved this floaty thing...I have no idea what it's called. She just floated all over the pool happy as could be.

The Family Museum has this slide set up and Em was intent on climbing up it. After many failed attempts with her shoes and socks on, we took them off and she made it to the top!

Decorating her princess easter eggs.

Banana and her loot. I can't believe the Easter Bunny stashed a five dollar bill in one of those eggs...



On the hay ride at the Machine Shed.

Showing Uncle Fanny her beautiful picture. She had him wrapped around her finger.


She was so excited when the "Easter Funny" came to visit!
Isn't she gorgeous in her Easter Dress?!

Finally... no visit would be complete with out Banana getting to make her "special treats" with Grandma. The sugar high lasted all night...

We're Still Here

Not having the internet in my house puts a damper on the whole blogging thing, but I really get a lot more done around the house. It has been good to take a step back and realize how much time I was spending on the computer. I get a lot more accomplished during nap time now. Good for my house...not so fun for me :)

This weather is driving us all crazy!! We have had a lot of sunny days, but the sun has been worth nothing because it has still been freezing. And then we had some sort of weird snow/freezing rain thing this weekend. Have I mentioned before how much I love the weather in the midwest?
We are super excited at our house because my parents and some of my siblings are coming to see us this week!! I get to see my little brother who just got home from his mission and I can't wait. Banana is bouncing off the walls and only driving me a little crazy by asking every five minutes how many more sleeps until they get here? Her excitement is very contagious.
Running Man starts at the student clinic next week! I think I might be more excited than he is. It's awesome to be at this point and to great for him to start doing what he loves.
Have a fabulous Easter weekend!

This is the beautiful pic she drew of me for the "arc" show.
Her awesome shades she has to wear while we do our "epercises."
Em's version of peek-a-boo