30 Days!!

30 Days until Disney!!!! ------------------------------------------------------->>>>>>>>>>> Just excited. That is all.

5 Years

This month marks 5 years of blogging and 505 posts. It's pretty fun to see where it's gone and to go back and look at old pictures and videos.  I also find it funny that the pictures that come from my phone now are much better than the pictures that came from my digital camera back then. Blogging is essentially the only way that I journal so I'm really proud to have kept it up this long.  I thought it would be fun to show a flashback of what I was blogging about 5 years ago...

Chandler announces that we are expecting Rowan with his big brother shirt.

 Marshall and I celebrated 3 years of marriage.

 Chandler and his friend Carson playing in the pool together, they are still good friends 5 years later.  When this picture was taken, we lived in the same apartment complex.  Even though we've moved to Utah, he only lives a mile away. :)

Chandler and his cousin Claire.  They look so little in this video!

Smiling because he got a new chair.

Back Yard

Marshall had been talking about wanting to do something around the back yard since we've kind of just let it go.  There were a ton of weeds, thistles and the boys were also getting splinters from our deck.  We decided that we would finally do something about it.  I didn't really get that great of a before picture, but I came out one morning and Marshall had torn out all of the weeds and thistles and even cleaned out underneath the house and deck.  The picture below is actually after all of the weeds are out, it was really bad before.  Marshall worked for a few summers during and after high school doing landscaping.  I remember him taking me to see some of the projects he had done and worked on, so I knew it was excited to redo this area.

I painted the deck and Marshall did the rest.  He put weed fabric along and underneath the deck and then filled it in with small pebbles.  He then tore the grass out by our window well and created a patio area.  I won a small patio set last summer that has been sitting in storage, and I'm excited to finally have it out.

It ended up costing more than originally planned but I absolutely love how it turned out.  It's nice to have a sitting area and we even got a new propane grill.  I got a fantastic deal on it and it's been fun to grill and spend some time outside.

We also finally got a cover for our window well. It's a bit unnerving to say the last when you have a deep window well and small kids. I found someone local who made this one for pretty cheap and it turned out nicely.

 

It's been fun to redo a few things and make improvements on our home. Our kitchen is about to get a nice appliance revamp. I'm part of a Maytag blogger campaign and will be getting about $4500 worth of new appliances. I'll be sure to post before and after pictures when they are swapped out at the end of the month!

Zoo

A few weeks ago, Grandma Snedaker and Parker came up for a few days.  We went to Hogle Zoo with them.  We saw a really fun bird show and all of the animals.  There were some new exhibits like the polar bears and penguins.

Grandma Snedaker, Parker, Chan & Rowan

 

 

 

The boys were excited to ride the carousel while we were there.  Of all of the animals that Chan could choose to ride on, he chose the Praying Mantis.  Total boy.

 

4th of July

This year the boys and I headed up to Idaho for the 4th of July.  Marshall only had the 4th off, and has so  much time off in August, that he needed to stay home and work.  The only problem is that when I was halfway up to Idaho with the boys, Marshall called and we realized that  the keys to his car were on the seat of my car.  It's a good thing he can work from home, but he was basically stuck at home for 2 days while we were up here.
We arrived on Tuesday night and jumped back and forth a lot while we were here.  My parents & Marshall's parents live only 10 minutes from each other, so trying to balance time between both homes is tricky sometimes.
Tuesday night, we went to Marshall's parents house and visited and did fireworks.  The boys were so excited to start out with Sparklers with their cousins.  A few minutes into it, Chandler started crying and said he hurt his foot.  It was then that I realized that neither of the boys had shoes on. Chan had stepped on a hot sparkler and it instantly burned and was starting to blister his foot.  Grandma Snedaker went inside to get a cool rag for him while I went to grab their shoes.  Just then, Rowan started crying too.  He had burned the bottom of his foot too. :(  We kept cool rags on them for a while and the boys didn't seem too bothered, but they both blistered now.  Lesson learned.

After Snedakers, we went back to my parent's to do fireworks there too.
The morning of the 4th of July, we went up to the Rexburg parade with Snedakers.

 Because my boys hadn't gotten a lot of sleep, Rowan was so SO whiny and kind of unruly.  It was a trend that continued on throughout the day which was hard.  I totally missed having Marshall with me to help with the kids.  I never realize just how much he does until he's not there.  After the parade, the boys got their faces painted and some cotton candy.

We then headed home to go to Rigby Lake with my mom, sister and the kids.  It's a lake that I grew up swimming in and they've done some nice improvements to it.  The boys had fun building sand castles and playing in the water.

Later in the afternoon, we went back to Snedakers to barbecue and had a really fun big water fight.  Good food, family & fun.

 We finished off the night with my family at the Idaho Falls Fireworks.  They always are amazing and I love coming up here for the 4th.  I'm headed home tonight and have a busy work week ahead.  The boys are going to be staying for the week to visit with grandmas.  I'm going to miss them but they are so excited to stay!

Perspective

This last week, I got a little bit of perspective on what life is all about.  Last Thursday, my friend texted me and told me to look out my back window.  There was a huge cloud of smoke, and it seemed rather close.  After reading further, there was a wild fire that started due to some Target Practice.  I didn't think much of it at the time.  Friday morning, I woke up and the smell was overpowering.  I got a text message from another friend that there was a mandatory evacuation starting a half mile from us and going east.  I quickly called Sara, one of my BFF's who lived in the evacuation area.  She was trying to pull some things together to get her family out of her house.  We had plans to go to the zoo that day since my mother in law and brother in law were in town.  I drove up to Sandy to get her, and after talking about it, we decided it would be good to go home and gather some things just in case the wind shifted and we did have to be evacuated.  Marshall came home from work and met us there.  Besides essentials like you would find in a 72 hour kit, I was at a loss at what to pack.  I got a laundry basket and started to put some photo albums, our computers & external hard drive, camera, and some important documents in the basket.  I then looked at the basket and realized that everything in there I could live without.  Sure, it would be hard to lose some old photos and such, but the real things that I needed were the people in my life, my family.  I honestly realized that I could live without a lot of things as long as I have my husband and boys.

The fire was finally contained yesterday and everyone was able to go back to their homes within about 24 hours of being evacuated.  Thankfully, no homes were burned, but it's amazing what kind of perspective a situation like that can give you.

A Fathers Day to Remember - Mets Game & Eli Manning

This weekend the fam went to New York.  We left on Saturday morning and got back reeeally late on Sunday night.  That's about 10 hours of flying within one day. :)  About a week ago, Pampers put out an invitation to all that are on the baby board to be flown out to NYC to meet Eli Manning and go to the Mets Game.  They had partnered with him for a Most Valuable Dads event and we were going to get to go!  We got up bright and early and left on our flight at 8 am.

The boys did really good until about 3 hours in.  They started to get restless, but can you blame them?  We got to New York at about 3 pm and the 4 of us piled into the back of a cab.  Once we got there, we were so tired that we hung out in our hotel room until it was time for dinner.  We walked with some of the Pampers PR reps and some of the other board members and their families down to a fabulous Italian Restaurant.  We were in the penthouse with windows all around.  The view was fabulous and the food was great too.

 Since we hadn't really eaten all day, we all ate quite a bit.  After that, we decided to go see Times Square.  Times Square on a Saturday night is VERY VERY crowded and dirty.  So dirty.  Both Marshall and I held on to the boys tight and we actually carried Rowan most of the time.  We made a couple of stops, one which included the M&M factory and the Ferris Wheel in Toys R Us.  The boys were impressed with all of the lights but after those two little stops, we were all ready to head back.

The next morning, we headed out to CitiField where the Mets game was going to be.

 We had a special Meet & Greet with Eli Manning where he answered some questions and talked about his 14 month old daughter, Ava.  We then got a picture with him which was pretty cool.

Before we headed out to the game, we got a nice gift bag with Mets merchandise, treats, gift card and some other things.  We sat with some friends for lunch and then headed up to find our seats.

Going to a major league baseball game is FUN!  Eli Manning and his daughter threw the first pitch.  I loved the music and how interactive the crowd was.  The boys did really great.  We did have to get up once to go walk around and get ice cream but Chandler really liked it a lot.  Rowan ended up playing the ipad a lot, but at least he was happy. :)  I think it's probably at the top of the list for Fathers Days for Marshall.  He definitely deserves it.  He works so hard for our family and does so SO much for us.

After the game it was time to go back to the airport to fly out.  It was a fast trip but one that we all will remember!