Back by popular demand....

So i have gotten scolded by pretty much everyone I know for not updating my blog forever. I have been seduced by something called Facebook and if i have some time to kill, i am usually on there, finding out what everyone is doing. However, several people have expressed concern and disappointment, (yes Jeff said he was disappointed) that the last post on here was several months ago! My other problem is that i got a new camera and for some reason, it is like a 12 step process to download pictures. I am gonna get a dock for it that will make it easier and faster, and we will be back in business! Just to give you an update on what we have been doing since the first of the year.....absolutely NOTHING! We finally broke away on Wednesday and are down in St George, enjoying the sunshine and NO SNOW! We are also visiting my grandparents who are in Mesquite for the winter. So... i will post pics and give a report on our trip next week when i get back in town. :)

"toast is done!"

I thought this was funny and had to share it. yesterday I was trying to do everything at once- as usual- and was juggling laundry, breakfast, and working. I put in some toast for Linc and got out the cinnamon sugar to put on it when it was done. As it was cooking, i went into the laundry room to fold some towels. When I came out, Linc looks at me and says "toast is done!". He had climbed up on the counter, got the toast out of the toaster, poured about half of the cinnamon sugar on it and was basically just licking the sugar off. I am so thankful for Lincoln being so independent and being able to feed and take care of himself when his mom is busy! :)

Hawaii Highlights

I have been so busy since we got home that I haven't even had time to post pics on here of our amazing trip! This top one is probably not one of the "highlights" but funny anyways.

This was at the Black Sand beach on the road to Hana. This was one of my favorite parts of the drive.

The drive was pretty long and windy, but some of the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen. they say that it is "the most beautiful drive" or something like that.

Awwww. So sweet!

This was at dinner on our actual anniversary. Part of our package deal was a free dinner at this restaurant at the resort we were staying at. Well, up to $80 anyways. Everything there is SO expensive!

This was after Jeff got knocked down by a wave. We spent most of our time either SCUBA diving or snorkeling. We were underwater more than we were above. Just how we wanted it! We saw a sea turtle 2 different times. One was when we were snorkeling up the beach from our hotel at a place called Black rock. It is perfect for snorkeling and SCUBA there because the visibility is so good. Anyways, I looked to one side of me and saw this HUGE turtle swimming right for me! I moved out of it's way and was in awe as it swam by me like it didn't even know I existed! it was probably one of my top 3 things from our trip.

This was our view every night from our deck. jeff had a hard time getting me to leave that chair. I could have sat there all day long, every day and just enjoy the view. I could see turtles in the water every morning, right out from our beach. I also saw some whales out a little further one day.

This was at the Luau at our hotel. We had a great time. The food was amazing! They bbq'ed some beef that Jeff LOVED! Every night after that, he could smell them cooking it and he wanted to go steal some. All in all, the trip was fabulous! A week is plenty long to be gone. We were missing the boys a few days before we came home. They were happy to see us, but had a great "vacation" of their own at grandma Nancy's, grandma Debbies, Nate & Leslie's, and Randy & Ash's. I am so lucky to have such great family members that are willing to watch the boys so we could go spend some time together for our anniversary. :)

Downside to a week in paradise

As I am sitting here in the Honolulu airport at 12:45 am (Utah time), waiting for our 6 hour flight that will arrive in SLC at approximately 7:45 am TOMORROW, it occurs to me that this may be the first of several down sides to escaping to paradise for a week. I have a hard time sleeping on a plane, but that is just what I must do or else be a total wreck for the next week, while my 32 (yes that's right...32) year old body recovers! Not to mention the 10 loads of laundry that will awwait me once the bags get all unpacked. So for all of you that may have felt a little jealousy that you weren't coming with us, go ahead and be glad tomorrow morning when you wake up and have had a good night's sleep and aren't picking up the pieces of being gone for a week. :) I will be sure to post pictures tomorrow when I am putting off doing the laundry and reading blogs instead.

11 reasons

A week from today is mine and Jeff's 11th wedding anniversary. I can't believe I am old enough to have been married for that long, but it's true. Last year was kind of a big one for us and so we took off to Hawaii for a romantic getaway. We stayed at the Grand Hyatt in Kauai and it was AMAZING! I absolutely loved that place! Besides the beautiful scenery, ocean all around you, green everywhere, it had a small town feel to it. There was not one highway or freeway on the whole island- just 2 lane roads everywhere. The morning we were supposed to leave, I was sitting on our deck/patio which had an amazing view of the ocean and I could see the whales swimming by as I was sitting there, I told Jeff he was going to have to go get the boys and bring them back because I wasn't leaving. He dragged me out, kicking and screaming, and then on the way to the airport, when we passed the COSTCO, that sealed the deal. I was moving there permanently! I can live anyplace as long as they have a COSTCO! He said that we had to go back to reality but he would bring me back to my new favorite place next year. Well, what do you know.... it's next year already!!! We are leaving on Tuesday and are going to Maui this time. I hope they don't have a COSTCO or you guys might have to come visit me there if you want to ever see me again! Anyways, I just wanted to write down some reasons (1 for every year of marriage) that I love Jeff. If it gets too sappy, just stop reading...

1. He always gives me the last bite of something we are sharing

2. He turns on my seat warmers before I get in the car

3. He lets me put my cold feet on him in bed to warm them up

4. He does the dishes!!!

5. He is a absolute genius with the BBQ grill

6. He thinks I am beautiful even when I clearly am not

7. He is very hardworking and dedicated to his job

8. He has great lips...ewwwww I know, i know... bear with me here...

9. He can fix anything!!!

10. He loves spending one on one time with the boys so I can have some free time

11. He is the best dad and husband i could ever ask for

I could go on and on but those are just a few of the reasons why I am so grateful that I saw him and his awesome mullet while I was cruising State Street about 13 years ago. I am also glad that he decided to marry me even though he was given a fair warning that it wouldn't be easy. It hasn't been easy all the time, but there's been more good times than bad and we always seem to work it out. I am a very lucky girl to have him!! Love you Jeffrey!!

Batman and R..........BATMAN!

Now before you think to yourself, "Nicole has really gone too far with her obsession of dressing her boys alike every chance she gets", we did not intend on having 2 Batmans for Halloween. However, due to a wardrobe malfunction, we ended up with Dawson being Dark Knight batman and Linc was regular Batman.

We had a party at my mom's house with all the cousins. We had homemade chicken noodle soup, rolls and Mummy Dogs. (hotdogs in a blanket that look like mummies, all wrapped up) We had some bubbling witches brew (homemade root beer) to drink and LOTS of candy!

Grandma Debbie bought them these suckers that have a funny mouth on the other side. They were a big hit!

Earlier in the day, we went to Jeff's parents and his grandparents house to trick-or-treat and so they could see the kids in their costumes. Then we went to Dad's work to the party they have there every year. At night, we went to my grandparents house and then my parents. We made quite the rounds- as usual. Jeff's brother Randy and his wife Ashley came over and went trick or treating with us and brought the boys a huge treat! I wonder how long it's going to take us to eat all of that candy. The only things that we tempting to me at all were the full size bag of swedish fish that Ashley brought each of them and the GIANT Butterfinger that one of our neighbors was giving out. Amazingly, the boys really haven't been asking for candy that much today. Maybe they ate too much yesterday!

Lincoln didn't really know or care what was going on last year so it was all new and fun to him. He loved his costume- which is rare for any of the 2 year olds I have been around. He wanted to leave it on all day. I had to take it off to spot clean it after we left Dad's work and he ate a bunch of M & M's on the way home. He LOVED trick-or-treating and would beat Dawson to each door and yell "Trick or Treat"!! He would run and/or skip from house to house. It was the cutest thing ever! I was so sad that I didn't take the video camera.

Mini-Golf With Grandma and Grandpa

We got a call from Grandma today asking us to go mini-golfing. Every time we drive past Mulligans, Dawson asks me when we are going to go mini-golfing again. The last time we went, I was carrying baby Lincoln in a Baby Bjorn carrier. So it was time. We decided to do the Haunted House course, being 2 days before Halloween and all.

Lincoln was interested in golfing for about 2 holes. They gave him his own little putter and he mostly wanted to hit people and/or things with it. He loved running up and down the hills on the different holes. Luckily, we were pretty much the only ones there, so he could run free and not bug anyone. I am not sure why he was crawling here.

Dawson is a great golfer! He would tell us on each hole if we got a par, birdie, etc. We didn't see many hole in ones!

Grandma and grandpa had to show us all the correct form and golf etiquette. I am pretty sure we failed at the etiquette part. Grandma and Grandpa were thrown off a bit with the little putters. They are both excellent golfers and they are used to the real putters and so me and Dawson had the advantage. We have only practiced with the mini golf ones! :) (well recently anyways) It's a good thing we weren't keeping score or else we might have made them feel bad. That might fall into the "grandparent abuse" category and we all know how serious those consequences are!!!

I was a PERFECT autumn day and great for mini-golf. We all enjoyed being outside in the beautiful weather and spending time doing something fun with grandma and grandpa! It was A LOT better than Stink-e-cheese!!!