Spring break... journal entry and endless phone pictures

This week the kids had spring break. Last year we stayed home during spring break and it snowed... A ton. We went sledding and played in the yard. Fun, but not an ideal spring break for anyone. 2 years ago we had an abnormally warm March (70-80° weather, it was soooo nice!). We spent time outside in the sprinklers eating popsicles (: This year, winter doesn't seem to want to leave, but at least we can see the grass and the snow that tried to make an appearance just melted away. Still cold though, blah.

On Monday the kids played with their good friends Brielle and Reid all day. (Their mom had a baby that day, so it was an exciting fun day for them... and us too!)

On Tuesday we headed down to Louisville KY for a day to get out of the house. We went to the Louisville slugger museum and saw how they make baseball bats. We all got our own mini baseball bat and our tour guide was really sweet and gave the girls a second bat that was pink! Now we have a bunch of bats that we don't know what to do with :)

Dallas and I took turns going to the temple and staying with the kids to swim at the hotel. The kids get so excited to swim, but they are terrified of the water at the same time. Oh well, one day they won't mind getting their head wet. (The next picture is Makiah refusing to look at the camera and smile. She wasn't getting her way, so no way was she giving in.)

The next day I got to choose what to do, so we stopped at an outlet mall on the way home, I scored some cute clothes at Charlotte Russe while Dallas wondered with the kids. Later we let kids get something... Shopping with kids is insane. We were crazy tired once we got home.

 (Rest stop and icecream at Mcdonalds, Makiah smiling adorably because she got what she wanted... a strawberry shake.)

Thursday we played it lazy and loved it (after waking up way too early to do an Insanity workout). Oh and later we HAD to make a Walmart run to buy Frozen, because the kids couldn't wait another day to watch it. This was after we watched the "Let it go" music video 30 times so Makiah could memorize the words. Later that night the kids and Dallas cheered me on at a volleyball game, it's nice to be playing again.

Friday, we slept in. After a week of no school this my first morning getting some extra sleep-thank goodness. 

At the beach

So, we decided we needed a little break from the Midwest and so we headed off to Cali...

Okay, okay. We didn't go to Cali. But for 2 hours it (almost) felt like it :) We went up to Chicago to go to the temple this weekend and took the kids to Lake Michigan. It was soooo very fun. I am kinda sad that we've lived here for three years and have never taken the time to play at the beach. It was the best! So relaxing.

The kiddos had been looking forward to this trip for a week or so. Every day Evan would ask how many more times we had to go to sleep before our trip to the lake. Makiah would tell me that Dad was taking her on a date to the lake and I had to stay home to make dinner or take pictures (apparently that's all I do). 

Finally the day came and (though I tried to warn them of the long drive) they weren't too happy when the drive took a little longer than planned. All I'm gonna say is that my original idea of how to get to the lake would've been a lot faster... and I really don't like the GPS. All it does is mess up our trip every time we drive anywhere. Grrr.

I wish I could tell you that was me sailing out there... I would love to go sailing. One day.

Before we left home I asked Dallas what else we should bring for the kids to do... besides sand toys. For some reason I thought they might get bored. What was I thinking? They could have played for endless hours without getting bored. 

The sand was so nice, I had fun just chillin'.

And that's about all I did... and I enjoyed every second!

My Dad

We got very lucky this past week and had a random visit from my Dad! He was actually working in Chicago and so we got to go visit him! It made me wish that family was only a 3 hour drive away all the time. So we headed up to the Windy City and had a short but sweet visit. I wish it could've been longer and I wish it would've been warmer... oh and I wish parking wasn't such a pain in Chicago :) BUT we did have fun! It was so nice seeing my Dad and the kids were SO SO happy to be with him. When Dad first got in the car we were trying to figure out where we were going to park (plan A wasn't working out for us) and so we were just talking. I looked over at Makiah and she had her eye on Grandpa... and she was smiling. When I told my Dad to say "hi" she looked away and became very shy. Haha, it was cute. No worries though, as soon as we got out of the car she was in his arms and good to go. We had a yummy dinner and then hung out at my dad's hotel. Both of the kids LOVED being with Grandpa... no shyness at all. I love that the kids know who family is, even though we only see them once or twice a year :) We did have a ton of fun though and we can't wait to see him and the rest of the family again. 

The next day we got to go to the temple. It was so nice to be there again. We saw some familiar faces and we felt so welcome. It was a nice trip! On the way home I wanted to head back into the city to see Dad again, but unfortunately we couldn't :( Thanks Dad for coming all the way out here just to see us! *wink, wink* Love you!

The Weekend.

For Valentine's Day this year Dallas and I decided to take a temple trip up to Chicago. Things didn't go quite as planned and we didn't make it into the city... but we had a lot of fun! We went to the Kohl Children's Museum that wasn't too far from the temple. We really LOVED this museum! The kids had so much fun pretending in each room. They had fun being shoppers, checkers, mommy's, daddy's, veterinarian's, librarians, painters, builders, chefs, waiters, musicians, and scientists. Basically, this museum had it all :) 

We could have spent the whole day in this grocery store... 

Ummm.... this is so, so cute...

Pickles anyone? I really just love her bright blue eyes and cute smile in this one...

We had a great time going to the temple this weekend. The kids did great in the car and at the hotel. Kiah usually has a hard time sleeping in hotels. After the museum on Saturday we headed to The Cheesecake Factory for lunch. YUM. I only wish there was one closer to us... and if only it wasn't so spendy... but we love cheesecake no matter how much it costs :)

A Good Day

This is what happens...

When I turn my camera over to Dallas :) 

We went to the temple yesterday. It was a good day. As I was getting out of the car to go into the temple, I explained to Dallas that he needed to take pictures. I showed him how to use my camera (he won't usually touch it), and I left thinking he wouldn't even pick the thing up. Then today I was stumped on what to blog about... then I checked the camera :) He took some fun photos! The above two are my favorites :)

Yesterday really was a good day. Temple days can be hard... driving to the temple, figuring out what to do with the kids while we are there, paying for gas, food, the works. Yesterday we barely got out of town in time to make it worth it. Dallas had to take the car in to get new brake pads and then we threw some food into the cooler and got on the road. Apparently I threw the food in all to fast because I forgot the bread for the sandwiches :( We ended up going to McDonald's instead. Other than that things went perfectly. The rain stopped when we got there, the kids didn't cry or whine much, I had fun shopping with the kids and Dallas took the kids to The Grove (a state park located just behind the temple). Then Evan slept on the way home while Kiah read books and played with her toys. I couldn't be a happier mom :) Dallas took some great photos while they were at The Grove which made me happy when I turned on my camera...

Sometimes the drive up to Chicago can be a drag... but yesterday I really enjoyed the time with my family. It was so nice to be able to talk to Dallas, and not have to worry about all the things that I needed to do. Just relax. We had some nice conversations... ahh it was just nice, you know? Just what I needed before another busy week.