Emma is 3!!

Okay... she actually turned 3 a couple of weeks ago, but we had to hold off on a friend party until we got home from Utah. Melinda and I combined forces to have a double party for Benjamin and Emma who's b-day's are only a day apart. We had a great turnout and it was great to see my Emma-babe get a birthday party with her fun friends. Emma is just such a ball of energy and we LOVE having her in our family. She's so darn smart and loves to talk and play and be silly. Happy Birthday Emma Lou!

Utah: Week 4

I've been a little slow to post about our last week in Utah - we're back in Arizona now and we are getting back into the swing of things - it's been super nice having a month-long vacation! I've had plenty of people to watch the kids and I had to do very little cleaning and house tasks (thanks to my wonderful mommy!) Anyway, we were all really pampered while staying at my family's house - so now it's a bit of shock to come back and have to actually do stuff during the day! Well, despite the sudden busyness of our days, it's nice to be back with our own stuff, in our own bed, and our own cute little house. :)

So, to recap the end of our Utah stay won't be quite as epic as the previous posts - we finally ran out of birthdays and holidays to celebrate! But we did have a good week - Emma spent a lot of time playing with her birthday presents that she received over the weekend. Some of the presents that kept her particularly occupied included a train set, Color Wonder coloring books, doctor kit, a Dora writing book and a United States puzzle. In fact, we ALL really enjoyed taking turns with the Color Wonder books. They're fun - and great for church, since the markers only work on the Color Wonder paper. So, there's a little plug - if you haven't already tried them out, I recommend getting a kit the next time you're out. Anyway, other activities that kept me busy this past week included shopping, visiting friends, watching lots of Lost and American Idol, and eating out at a crazy German restaurant. Ben, Emma, my dad, and I all went out for lunch on Friday (since Ben got done with his rotation work super early!) at Siegfried's Deli in Salt Lake - it was definitely different - I've never tried German food before, but I really liked the spaetzle!

The drive home was alright - we didn't break up the trip this time and spend the night like we did coming up - so the drive felt really long. Ugh. We stopped a few times, of course, for fuel and bathroom breaks, including a stop at the In 'N Out in Las Vegas. After it all we got home safely and the kids did pretty well. We were particularly relieved to come home to a house that was intact and didn't smell horrible. I kept having horrible thoughts on our drive home that we would arrive to a house that was broken into with all our stuff missing - or at least a smelly house from leaving some garbage or something on accident. But, the house was fine and only smelt a little musty from not having the air going while we were away. Since coming home, though, we have run into a load of items needing repair - our dishwasher broke soon after getting home (but, thankfully, the owner is replacing the dishwasher for us - woohoo!! new dishwasher!!), somehow the Cavalier is leaking oil as it keeps leaving little puddles in the garage, our XBOX is flashing red lights at us and is apparently broken (we'll try taking it back to Costco!), and our vacuum is not working properly either. Oh man - and to add to the list of "broken stuff" - apparently my teeth need some work - a filling, cleaning, and wisdom teeth removal for me!! Oh man!! Well, despite all the stuff just falling apart on us, I'm quite happy at the moment. I've been enjoying the warm weather (capris and flip flops for me today, as the high is 83!!) and relaxing in my own house with my crazy kiddies. Life isn't too bad. :)

Utah: Week 3

Needless to say, I'm a little overwhelmed by everything I have to blog about... there's seriously been so much going on!! We've reached the end of our 3rd week here at my family's house - which means that we only have one more week left. We've been so busy with activities and such that it has gone by rather quickly. So, I'll do my best to recap our week for you - brace yourself for a lengthy post!! :)

Tuesday: My sister Sarah (and the youngest of the three siblings in our family) turned 19!! We spent a good chunk of the day over at my grandparents home in Salt Lake. We had lunch with them and chatted while the kids played. We also took a little field trip to the Salt Lake Cemetery to see Pres. Hinckley's grave, along with many of the other past prophets. I wish I had a camera while we were there - in addition to the gravesites, we saw a bunch of beautiful deer on the grounds. Emma called them llamas as first - I thought that was pretty odd! During our visit to my grandparents home we also tried on a beautiful Native American headdress. It made for some fun pictures! My grandma on my mom's side is 1/4 Chinook - so that would make me 1/16! Anyway, her home is filled with Native American artifacts and such; it's seriously like a museum!


Tuesday evening we had cake and ice cream and sang Happy Birthday to our dear Sarah. She also opened presents of course! Fun, fun, fun! After all that, we exchanged Valentines. This turned out to be really great! I assigned everyone the task of putting together 6 valentines to give to each member of the family. So, we each had our little baggies with our names on them and we gave out our valentines. It was really amusing because everyone's valentines were so different and original - some homemade, others purchased, but all were heartfelt and fun. I wanted to be sure we did this for Emma's sake since we wouldn't be home to do all the valentine activities with Emma's many little friends.

Wednesday: Wednesday was super snowy - it didn't really hit until around lunch-time, but it was like a blizzard outside with a ton of snow and a lot of wind, so the snow looked like it was coming in sideways. Anyway, we stayed home all day and Ben ended up having a crazy time getting home from the hospital. If I would have realized how bad the freeways were, I would have told him to spend the night at the hospital. He had a late shift that night and didn't get off until 8, but he was on the road for 3 hours traveling from Provo to Sandy - so ridiculous! He actually read his book all the way home - that's how slow he was going. I was so relieved that he didn't ever run out of gas and that he was able to get home safely. Well, the next day was actually lovely and the remains of the storm were evident in the huge mountains of snow in the front yard! That required some serious shoveling!

Thursday: Valentines Day was sooo awesome!! I was particularly spoiled this year by my dear hubby. He sent me to the spa in the afternoon to get a facial and my hair treated and styled. It was so rejuvenating. When he came home from work he presented me with some beautiful flowers. They are so lovely and it seems like they will last a good long while. I just took the picture of them this morning and there are still 3 more of the gorgeous white flowers that are still to bloom. How wonderful! For our date (thanks to Sarah for babysitting for us!!) we went to see a Ballet West performance of Cinderella. Before going I honestly thought that it might get a little boring in parts, but it was extremely entertaining and amazing! These people are so talented. I was telling Ben afterwards that I wish I had a talent like that. I was so impressed by the performance. We also went to a late dinner at Benihanas, which was located right next to Capitol Theater (how convenient!). The evening was just great. I love you Ben!

Saturday: Emma turned 3!!! Honestly, I feel like she's been 3 for a while now - so I'm just glad that she finally had her birthday and that I can officially call her 3 years old. Although, now she's no longer free at Disneyland!! Oh nooooo! ;) Well, we had a special treat to be able to spend the day with Ben's parents who came into town for the weekend. Emma shares her birthday with her Uncle Peter, so it was a day of birthday celebrating! We met up for lunch at Gateway and then went to the Children's Museum there. We took Emma there a little over a year ago when we were in town for Thanksgiving and she liked it quite a bit, but now that she's a little older, she enjoyed it soooo much more. She's much more imaginative and into creative play so the pretend grocery store and farm and house, etc were all right up her ally. It was a great time! Me, Ben, Emma, Becca, Peter, Lacy, Carol and Clyde attended the outing and it was hard to tell who was having more fun - the kids or the adults! This month the museum is hosting a Sesame Street exhibit on the body and it was really great. We were all quite impressed - there was a lot to do and it was all just so cute! They also had some rather funny parts - including a sneezing nose that drips "mucus" on you and a poop machine! We all got a kick out of that! After the children's museum we did some quick shopping and Ben's parents, the kids, and I enjoyed a ride in a heated horse-drawn carriage. So fun! After our Gateway outing, we went to my family's house to visit, eat cake, and open presents. Emma got very spoiled by her grandparents and received all sorts of fun stuff. In the evening we went out to dinner and to a movie (without the kiddos)- we saw Spiderwick Chronicles, which we all quite enjoyed. I've never read the books, but now I want to!

Utah: Week 2

So, we've continued to have a great time while here in Utah. Emma and Rebecca have especially been happy to get so much attention from grandparents, aunts, and uncles. Emma has been just talking up a storm and being so funny. Grandma Szymanski has been so nice to listen patiently to her chattering and play along as Emma paints her grandma's fingers and toes and attempts to do her hair with lots of detangler spray and ribbons.

We had a Chinese New Year celebration this week - it was especially fun to have Peter and Lacy come join us in the festivities. The evening consisted of Pei Wei (it doesn't get any more authentic than that!!), rice candy, fortune cookies, red paper lanterns (making them brought back memories of elementary school!), and money in red envelopes. Emma really enjoyed hunting for loads of coins - in fact, this evening she used some of it to buy ice cream at IKEA; she bought a cone for herself and one each for Ben and I... what a generous little girl she is! Eating rice candy was a first for me - it was actually really yummy! Each of the boxes came with a temporary tattoo, which we all proudly wore. Mine actually had Chinese characters, but everyone else's were pretty random. After putting Emma to bed, we played Curses - a game that Peter and Lacy brought up for us to play - it was a real riot. My face hurt afterwards from all the grinning and laughing.

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On Saturday we visited our friends, Eric and Kristi. It had been a long time since we had seen them. The last time we hung out with them, their little girl was only like 6 months old. Now she is 2 1/2 and they also have a little 7 month old boy, who is a real cutie (and, although 3 months younger, looks to be twice the size of tiny Becca!). We spent the afternoon eating lunch, chatting, playing with the kids, and rocking out with Guitar Hero. Ben and I totally are wanting to get it now! I thought it was even more fun than DDR, and I love that game too! Anyway, it was a great way to spend our Saturday and it was so fun to see their cute family. Come on Eric and Kristi - you know you want to move to Arizona!! ;)



Emma and Becca were really cute on Sunday wearing their matching Valentines dresses, which you can see in the picture at the top (both dresses were presents from their Grandma Dangerfield). And speaking of Valentines, we are anxiously anticipating this lovely holiday. I've deliberated in the past about why I enjoy Valentines Day - I think it's so fun. We've already spent a good amount of time making Valentines for family and friends. I love hearts and candy and cheesy I love you messages. Tomorrow we'll be having a Valentine exchange among our family, in an effort to make the holiday a little more fun for Emma, despite the fact that she doesn't have all her little Arizona friends to exchange Valentines with. It should be amusing - I'll be posting about that and other fun birthday celebrations at the end of the week. My sister, Sarah, turns 19 tomorrow and Emma (as well as her Uncle Peter) turns 3 on Saturday! And speaking of birthdays, Becca turned 10 months old today!! Can you believe it!! She's hardly any bigger than she was when she came out of me. Eeek! ;) And she still doesn't have any teeth! Where are the teeth?! Well, despite her toothless smallness, she continues to grow cuter and cuter everyday and we just LOVE her!

Utah: Week 1

Well, I've taken a little break from the blogging it seems. I've been rather distracted from the computer since we left for Utah - as always happens when we go on a trip. However, I promised my mother-in-law that I would blog weekly while away so she can see pictures of the grandkids - so I'm now attempting to catch up! Ben currently has a rotation for the month in Provo at the UVRMC (which is where we had Emma) and a nearby clinic. He's really been enjoying his time there - it's a great ward-based family medicine rotation with lots of other LDS students and residents- so it's been a fun change of pace from his other AZ rotations. It's also been fun for him to be spending so much time in Provo - our beloved newlywed home. I have very fond memories of the place! :) Anyway, we are spending the month at my family's home in Sandy for these 4 weeks and Ben is commuting to work each day in the crazy snowy weather. It's been a good refresher course in the art of scraping ice off of the car! We've had a fun time so far during our Utah stay - it's nice to get to spend so much time with my family - I miss them dearly when we are away! To backtrack and get you caught up on our activities, I'll take you through some of the pictures on my camera.

On our drive up to Utah, we stopped and stayed the night in Las Vegas. We stayed at one our new favorite places - the Hilton Garden Inn - it's on the strip, but on the far south end and away from the craziness. Well, we strolled into town on the same day as the Monte Carlo hotel fire. So, we took a few pictures as we were on the road. When we were looking at hotel prices earlier in the week, I noticed the Monte Carlo was quite reasonable and I considered it for a moment - guess that would have been a bad idea!

The first night in Utah we went to see Cloverfield - it was really fun! I mean, it wasn't a perfect movie, but I was definitely entertained! Getting out of the house that first night I realized how cold it was! I was shaking like crazy getting back to our car. It's seriously been super snowy while we've been here with a couple of decent sized storms. It's been a little winter wonderland of sorts. This past week we've also all been getting over colds, which maybe is for the best considering how rough the roads have been. So, because of snow and illnesses we've been in the house quite a bit - we've been reading a lot of books and doing lots of puzzles with Emma. She's getting to be quite good at it! I also have been enjoying snapping photos of little Becca - she's just the cutest little thing - I love her so much!


This past weekend was a lot of fun. The kids and I all started to feel much better and I was anxious to do some fun stuff! On Friday night, mom watched the kids while Ben and I went on a date - we went downtown to the Gateway mall and ate at Z'Tejas (yum!) and did a little shopping. It was a very pleasant night out. Saturday was an interesting day - we watched President Hinckley's funeral, which was so wonderful - it really helped me feel a little bit of closure and the comments and stories that were told were so appropriate. At the same time, I really felt like my feelings towards Pres. Monson grew - he is going to be an amazing Prophet for our Church - I'm so grateful for great leaders! Saturday evening dad's work was involved in a fundraiser for Junior Achievement that was held at Fat Cats. We had a great time bowling - Emma came along with us and she really enjoyed her little bowling shoes and the arcade games. Also, the evening was made extra special (and strange) with Dad and I somehow participating in a dancing contest. It was rather embarrassing, but I tried to be fun! Dad, of course, won because of his sweet moves. I have been asked politely not to include the video of us dancing - you never know - it might become a YouTube favorite and nobody wants that! ;)

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On Sunday we enjoyed a little SuperBowl fun with games and good food while watching the game. Despite not really caring about the game, we all enjoyed it - it was a real nail-biter! I have to admit it was a little weird for me to be watching the game and knowing that it was being held so near our AZ home, but that we weren't there. Oh well. We paid particular attention during commercial breaks - overall, I was quite disappointed, but there were a couple that I enjoyed. This one and this one gave us a bit of a giggle.

This morning my mom, sister, and the kids and I went to IKEA for a little outing. Since Emma is now potty trained, I thought I would see if she could get into the little play area they have there. You have to be 37 inches tall to get in and Emma just barely cut it - they had to take off her shoes to measure her and she was really a 1/4 inch too short, but they let her in anyway, since she's so close. Emma did so good going on in and playing - she didn't seem to care at all that I was just dropping her off. I was so proud of her! And our shopping experience was so great! ;)