beyond exhaustion

While I was in New York with some friends, Kevin took the kids to the beach with my side of the family. While they were at the beach Van fell asleep like this on my dad's shoulders. Sadly this was one of the only pictures Kev took of the whole trip- But at least he got this one. It cracks me up!

New York New York

Can I just say I love these girls. I had such a great time. And I have to thank Miss Natalie for hooking us up backstage at "Mamma Mia!".

(In central Park)

Monica met up with us and took us to one of the greatest Italian restaurants in Little Italy.
We had a great time. (this is a rushed version, I'll have to do it later)

All I have to say is this was a much needed trip with just the girls. Loved it!

Can't thank all our hubbies enough for taking the kids!

Happy Birthday to you!

OK SO I KNOW THIS WAS IN MAY... I'm just playing catch up :)

Our little Van turned 1 at the end of May. It amazes me that my little guy is 1! He has such a low key and relaxed little personality. We had a great party with him. We invited family over and had cupcakes. we kept it small (just family) and I think it was the perfect way to do it.

1...2....3 strikes your out at the old ball game!

We have had such a great time this spring watching Boston play t*ball. He has amazed me. He hits the ball pretty darn well for a 4 year old. We have enjoyed getting to know all the kids on his team. Go Falcons!

G.I. Van

Or little guy hasn't figured out how to put his knees up when he crawls. He's our little army crawler.

Swiper no swiping

So Boston really is quite a sneaky little guy. Somehow he got a hold of our camera a while back (last summer) and I loved these pictures and never posted them. There were over 50 pictures, but I thought it would be fun to have a sample of them on my blog. He's one little guys that know what he wants and goes to great lengths to get what he wants.

This is by far my favorite one because it is a classic Avery face when she sees that Boston isn't doing something he's supposed to do. She always says "oooooooooooooooo.... I'm telling" and just looking at this cracks me up. He nailed it! I couldn't have captured it better than this.
I love it.

And this one I love because it's a self portrait taken of him mirrored through the cell phone. Yes, I know he had no clue what he was doing but he had a great time and this is one of those times that even though he was doing something he shouldn't have, I was secretly grateful for the memories I have of him just being himself.

Introducing...

The newest member of our home

Found this on Craigs list for $250. I thought it was a fantastic deal and love the look of it. I wanted to get a piano because Avery is taking piano and really enjoys it.
It's almost 100 years old. Now where to put it....

Bonjour!

So I have been a major slacker, BIG TIME!
We just got back from Quebec, Canada where they speak french. Let's just say the only thing I knew how to say was "Parlez-vous anglais?" Which means "Do you speak English?" and "Merci!" Most of the people we met knew a little English so were able to get around pretty easy. We stayed in a little ski town called Mont Tremblant so luckily for us most people knew both English and French, It's Canada, right? I was shocked at how French everything really was. But I guess that is how Quebec is. I just didn't know it until we were there. I guess I just thought everything would be in both English and French. Most of the time it was only in French so it was a little hard to get used to.

This was a very unexpected trip. We knew we wanted to go skiing and so we did some research. We wanted to go somewhere we had never been before. Kevin found this awesome deal on airfare from Allegiant Air. Keep that airline in mind, they have awesome deals to random smaller airports. We flew out of Sanford which is only 35 minutes from our house. It's one to definitely look up. Our whole family (4 plane tickets) flew for $360 round trip! Isn't that awesome. They have all kinds of deals. They do charge you to pick where you are sitting but they always keep young kids with there parents, so we decided to chance it (just incase you book a flight). It worked out beatifully and I would highly reccomend them. We flew into Plattsburg, New York and drove two hours to Mont Tremblant. The drive wasn't bad at all and Mont Tremblant was amazing!

The first day we put the kids in Ski School for a couple hours. Van went to the Activity center. This is the first time I have ever left any of my kids as an infant to be watched by an "activity center" but it was right next to the tram and I had there phone number so I could check up on him at anytime. It worked out great. Kevin and I were able to have some alone time and despite Kevin's fear of heights and cold weather, we actually had a great time and he actually did awesome! Way to go Kev! My sister-in-law Michelle has always said "There isn't ever bad weather, just bad gear" So we were prepared and weren't cold once. It was great. The kids did great. The resort had a really cool "magic carpet" tram (pictured below) that was easy to get up the mountain for beginners. It was so much easier than a tow rope. I was shocked at how independent they were on the mountain, so the next day we went skiing as a family. We had so much fun. Boston now wants to move to Canada and talks about it all the time.

I do have to mention this. It's one of those "you had to be there" stories but worth telling anyways. When we were at a restaurant (remember everything is in french). At the end of the meal Kevin was acting all smooth and when our waitress picked up his plate to take it away he smiled and said "Gracias" in his suave voice like he was fluent in french. She turned to me like nothing had happened (obviously she didn't know any spanish) and asked me a question but I was laughing to hard to answer because I couldn't believe he had just gotten confused and said thank you in spanish instead of french. It was so funny. But yes, I understand, it probably isn't that funny to you but a memory I will have forever.

Tubing In Mont Tremblant

Although all of these different snow trails look the same, they really aren't. Each one is different with it's own spin of bumps and steep parts. This tubing park was a blast. This was the first time I have ever been to a tubing park with a tow rope and everything. It was great fun. Avery and Boston loved it. Kev and I rotated so Van could watch and take in all the excitement.He is such a sweet little guy and loved every minute of it. Boston was Mr Independent and wanted to do it by himself all the time. Avery was my sweetie who wanted to make sure Kevin and I didn't feel left out when it was are turn to be with Van. It was such a great thing to do with the fam.

Skiing at Sundance

Can I just say that I love SUNDANCE. It makes me feel at home. It is by far my favorite resort. Maybe because it was 15 minutes from home and I grew up skiing there but there is just something about it. I love the small ski resort feel. When I think about it, it makes me smile. So many fun childhood memories. And because of that. the one thing I was determined to do while we were in Utah is take the kids skiing. When I got sick I didn't know if it was going to happen. On the last day of our trip I finally felt strong enough to go. I was so excited. I didn't know quite how it would all work out. Kevin was awesome and came with me. He isn't a fan of the slopes so he hung out with Van. We stayed on the tow rope and the kids loved it. Kevin would stay in line with Boston while I took Avery up and then by the time we skied down the mountain Boston would be near the front of the line and then I would take Boston up and Avery would wait in line. It was perfect. Avery surprised me because she was so determined to ski on her own and she didn't want me to hold on to her so I would ski backwards and she would follow me. Boston was pretty brave as well, but he liked to ski fast so he skied between my legs. We had the best time and Kevin was such a trooper. Van was fascinated by all of the people and didn't get fussy at all. It was great. The only thing that made me sad was not being able to experience this all the time. That's one of the things I truly miss about Utah- the beautiful mountains and the snow (sigh).