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. :)
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!
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.
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!
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! 
On Saturday we had a fun and eventful day. We spent the morning/afternoon at the Anthem Outlets. I got a new dress from Ann Taylor, Emma got a new sweater, and Ben got a cool new universal remote (so we no longer have to use 3 remotes to watch the TV!). Anyway, it had been awhile since spending time in Anthem - they have a new playground/splash pad area, 
which was fun. It's a little too brisk for the water aspect, but I imagine they'll turn that on in a few months. Anyway, Emma loves running around like a maniac on playgrounds and going down the slides and such... Becca enjoys spending time eating (even though she has no teeth). So Becca and I watched Emma from the side, while Becca finished eating her lunch. She could seriously just sit and eat forever! She finds it to be quite an enjoyable activity. What a funny girl - and I guess all those calories are going straight to her head!
On the 18th we continued birthday celebrations for Adam and Carol (since this was their actual birthday) with a little gathering at Emily's house. She cooked us a yummy dinner and then we had cake (a little Adam sized cake), and opened presents. It was a fun evening!
Our driving day went smoothly with no bad weather to slow us down. We timed it just right - the minute we drove into my parents driveway it started snowing! And this was the beginning of quite the little blizzard! It filled up the yard in no time. Soon after getting our stuff in the house, Emma was anxious to go play... so Ben helped her bundle up and they went in the front yard to get a little playtime in the snow. Emma loved it!
The day's leading up to Christmas were filled with lots of shopping, visiting the grandparents and extended family up in Salt Lake, playing games, and watching movies (we saw I Am Legend in the theaters and also rented The Simpson's Movie - and a note to those wanting to see I am Legend... it was super freaky!!! I hid in my jacket most of the time and was practically hyperventilating through the whole thing - and if that's what you're going for, then have fun!! It's quite the scary little thriller).
For Christmas Eve breakfast we went to Market Street Grill in downtown Salt Lake. I had the Eggs Benedict, which are so yummy! After eating, we shopped at the Gateway for a bit (with dad taking a brisk little jaunt in the fountain) and then rode Trax to a fun bookstore for some browsing and hot chocolate. Later in the day we went on a marathon shopping trip (because this is dad's favorite thing!). He likes to take note of closing times for stores on the night before Christmas, so that he can cut it as close as he can. :) Within the span of about 2 hours we went to - Costco, IKEA, Home Depot, Seagull bookstore, 
Macey's grocery store, and picked up gift cards at Cafe Rio and the movie theater. It was crazy... and should have been a world record! Anyway, this little shopping trip was sooo much fun and the snow was coming down like crazy, making it even more memorable. :) Before going to bed that night Ben was very good about doing all the the traditional Christmas Eve traditions with Emma - they made pictures for Santa and wrote him a little note and put out cookies and milk for Mr. Clause and oatmeal and carrots for the reindeer. Emma was so fun this year for Christmas!
Christmas day was just super! We were all so spoiled! Emma got some great presents from her grandparents and aunt and uncle. I'm super excited about my new camera from my family! Woohoo!! My blog readers will reap the benefits of my new toy as well! :) I'm also all ready to try out the KitchenAid I got from Ben. I went to the grocery store today and was sure to pick up stuff I need to make bread - I can use the handy dough hook attachment to mix up some yummy bread dough! Yippee! Hopefully it will turn out!
We drove back to AZ on the 26th and spent the night at our house. The next morning we went over to Ben's family's house in Gilbert and had Christmas morning with them (hooray for 2 Christmas's!). Once again we were spoiled - Emma got a fun playhouse that we'll be putting on our back porch and Ben and I got a ton of wonderful new clothes. We stayed with Ben's parents for a couple of days and just came back to our house this morning. As in Utah, we also watched movies and played games with Ben's family. We watched National Treasure in the theater and watched Stardust at home (a gift from Peter). Stardust was awesome! You all need to see it! The closest movie I can think to compare it to would be Princess Bride - it was really fun, so everyone go rent it, or just buy it!
I hope this first picture doesn't make me look like a bad mother/babysitter, but I recently had Addy and Benjamin over at our house and I let them watch a little Sesame Street. I gave them a snack and a drink and I just thought that all three of them sucking on their sippy cups was an amusing sight. I hope Aubree and Melinda don't think poorly of me plopping their kids down on my couch to watch TV! I promise I don't do this much! :)
We've attended a number of Christmas parties lately, giving Emma and Becca a number of opportunities to sit on Santa's lap. Let me just say that Emma hates it! She doesn't throw a tantrum or anything (although Becca truly freaks out at the sight of Santa!... there's a great picture of her in a page done by Jess which you can see here), 
but she makes the saddest and most concerned faces and tells me afterwards that Santa is too scary. Poor thing... but she was happy to get a candy cane from him. In fact, when I ask her what she wants for Christmas she just tells me "candy canes!". So innocent and so easy to please... what a joy! :) At the Christmas party we had with friends, Craig and Aubree made us all dress up in the ugliest Christmas clothes we could put together. I'm bummed that we never got a picture of us all in our frightening Savers Christmas attire. Just use your imagination... it was lovely. :) And so great that we were required to run around in public doing a video scavenger hunt. How embarrassing! But so fun!
Emma's Grandma and cousin, Adam, both have a birthday on the same day (on a side note- Emma and her Uncle Peter also share a birthday... weird!). Anyway, b-day time is coming up for Carol and Adam in a couple of days, but for an early birthday outing we went to see A Winnie the Pooh Christmas Tail play at the Valley Youth Theater in downtown Phoenix. It was a lot of fun and Adam and Emma both really loved it, especially since we were all Winnie the Pooh characters on Halloween. After the play we ate lunch at Sam's Cafe and I had the best enchiladas! I also enjoyed sharing in the birthday ice cream. :) While on our outing I tried to get a good picture of the kids in their Christmas attire, but Emma was being rather silly... but they're cute anyway.
I never posted about Becca's follow up appointment to check her weight. At 8 months, she weighed in at 14 lbs 8 oz, which is still quite small, but she gained 1 1/4 lb in a month and that pleased the pediatrician... she said to just continue what I'm doing and she should catch up just fine. Phew! I've been nervous about the whole thing... I'm glad that little Rebecca is eating and growing well - thank goodness for formula! I just can't believe how expensive it is. The Similac stuff is like 25 dollars for the larger sized container, which doesn't even last a week. Goodness sakes! I'm glad she'll only be needing the formula for another 4 months and then we can switch her over to cow's milk - much cheaper! Outside of formula, Becca has been getting acquainted with a large variety of foods - yogurt, bread, bananas, raspberries, strawberries, mashed potatoes, and many other soft foods (she still doesn't have any teeth!). Becca loves eating!!
