Do polar bears get married?

I was sitting on the floor playing with the kids the other day and
Alex asks, "Mom, Do polar bears get married?"
I said, "Nope I don't think I have ever seen a polar bear wedding."
Alex: " Well if they aren't married where do the baby polar bears come from?"
Me: " Ummm from the mommy bears..." hoping this satisfies
Alex: "Oh, Okay"
I know she wasn't happy about that answer, but she wasn't sure what else to ask.
Yikes! she is only 7 I am not ready to have that conversation yet! Soooo glad that there can be mommy bears and daddy bears and no follow up questions YET!!!! But I am sure I am gonna have to come up with a better answer then that next time.

Ghetto Christmas Tree!

I am embarassed to say check out our ghetto tree! With Reagan walking and getting into things and having a new puppy running around chewing EVERYTHING! I wasn't even going to atempt a tree but Alex was sad and Bob said "We gotta hava a tree!" So he brought home THIS!

It has been knocked over more times then I can count, and most of the ornaments have gone missing! I sure hope Santa relises we are in Washington, and the tree is just for traditions sake!

Lesson from a 6 yr old

Yesterday I broke a tooth so I have to go to the dentist today. ( I HATE the dentist, I know everyone hates the dentist, take your hate for him and X 100 then you might get close to how I feel!) Anyway so I have been in a little bit of pain for the last 24 hours, and more then a little grumpy. Then this morning Alex over heard me talking to a friend How I don't want to go to the dentist this morning. after I get off the phone call she says, "Mom I want you to go to the dentist, cause he will make you feel better. Please don't be scared, I know I was scared when I went to the dentist but it wasn't bad and now I have braces, so I think you should go and get better and maybe you can get braces too." I smiled and told her she was right I should be glad to go and get my tooth fixed, but I don't think I will need braces, I already had them once! So on my way to the dentist this afternoon I will try and remember he is going to fix my problem not make it worse! Thank you Alex

Santa

We took the kids to go see Santa at the Mall, Alex was so excited all the way there were endless questions of, " Are we there yet?" " Where is Santa going to be?" " Can I ask for anything I want?" " How come Santa is at the Mall and not at the North Pole?" ect....













Once we got there Alex hoped up on his lap and asked for a Nintendo DS,

Then I let Santa hold Reagan for the split second it took to take the picture and the crying began. (The picture is so funny she looks so stressed) All this was happening while Bob was trying to talk William into looking at Santa. No such luck, we did drag him into the general area so we could get a picture. Oh the things we do, Tell them not to talk to strangers all year long, and then ask them to sit on a strange, bearded man, dressed in a strange red suit, all for scrapbooking!

My favorite Christmas Poem

Every year at home, my Dad recites this poem for us, I love to hear him tell this funny poem, and am amazed he tells it from heart

On the night before Christmas, it's still in the house
My family is sleeping, so I'm quiet like a mouse
I look at my watch, and midnight is near...
I tink I'll sneak out for a cold glass o' beer.
Down at the corner, the crowd is so merry
I end up by drinking about twelve Tom 'n' Jerry
I get to bed late and, gee whiz, how I'm sleeping
When, on to my bed, those darn kids they come leaping
They sit on my face and they jump on my belly
And I'm shiverin' all over like a bowl full of jelly
They scream, "Merry Christmas!" My poor wife and me
We stumble downstairs and she lights up the tree
My head is exploding; my mouth tastes like a pickle
I step on a skate and fall on a tricycle
Just before Christmas dinner, I relax to a point
Then relatives start swarming all over tha joint
On Christmas, I hug and I kiss my wife's mother
The rest of the year, we don't speak to each other
After dinner, my aunt and my wife's Uncle Louie
Get into an argument; they're both awful screwy
Then all my wife's family say Louie is right
And my goofy relations, they join in the fight
Back in the corner, the radio's playing
And, over the racket, Gabriel Hader is saying,
"Peace on Earth, everybody, and goodwill toward men"
And, just at that moment, somevone slugs Uncle Ben
They all run outside whooping so the neighbors'll hear...
Oh, I'm so glad Merry Christmas comes just once a year!

Happy Birthday Bob!

I want to say how much I love my husband! He is an amazing Daddy, and even better husband! No one works harder, he will work a 12 hour day and still get up in the night and help with the baby. He is always fun to be around (except a game of cards)Bob can talk to anyone and get them laughing. I don't know how I got so lucky as to have him love me, but he does and I treasure every day with him!

Our new addition

Here is our newest addition to the family! Denali is a 10 wk old Siberian Huskey, isn't she pretty!!! We picked her up while in Pocatello, so we have had her for 5 days and already she has learned to sit and lay down on command! We are still working on th potty training thing, but she is getting better! The kids love her, Will goes around all day calling her to follow him and SHE DOES! Alex has dressed her up a couple of times already, and Reagan tries to eat her! She is really a good pup so far and we are enjoying her!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a great Thanksgiving! We drove to my mom and dad's house in Pocatello. Had all the traditional stuff turkey, frog eyed salad, orange rolls, and pie! It was really good and I ate WAY too much. We played a few games and enjoyed having the family together.

Twilight Movie Review

I am what some call a "twilighter" I am obsessed with the books, read them, loved them, read them again. I have been so excited for the movie. Scavenging the internet for clips and trailers. I bought my tickets 3 days ago to the midnight primere, wait in line for an hour, just to get a seat. I am so sad to say it didn't live up to my expectations. YES they were sky high for this to be good, but I was very let down. It was an OK movie, the plot was great from the book, but the acting, camera work, and special effects were just not there.

It is Official!

Reagan is now walking!!! How stinkin cute is that? She is only 91/2 months old! I am so glad she waited for me to be here to see it! I just get all excited to see her walking around now. William loves to shout "Baby Walking" and it usally gets her so excited she falls down! Our house is full of excitment and alot of laughter lately. I love it!! PS. Don't look at the mess! The kids were having a toy war and my living room lost!

Snaggle Tooth Grin!

Look at that little QT! I left for a week and I come home to a new smile! While I was away she had a tooth drop in and change her smile into a Snaggly Grin! I love it! It makes it a little easier to get used to reality. This week I have had a hard time getting back into my schedule of diaper changing, laundry, and cooking. Having a sweeet little snaggly grin to remind me why I do it!

Cruise Slideshow

Our Cruise!

Okay we had so much fun I don't know how I will ever get back to the real world!

Day 1 LA: Fly to LA, find the shuttle to take us to the hotel, right on long beach, our balcony looked out to the ocean. Beautiful view. Had a dinner at the hotel and then went to bed early (and slept all night without getting up to fix a bottle!) VERY NICE!

Day 2 PORT: Catch a cab from airport to the pier, we had the hotel call the cab and didn't expect the very nice black, tinted, leather, Lincoln towncar to pull up! The driver was a maniac driver, we got there in like 3 min! But nice ride while it lasted! Boarded the ship about 11:00am and had the day to explore all 14 decks, locate the pool (where I was commonly found), and unpack our luggage. We had a mandatory boat drill where we go up on deck with these really not so cool looking, oversized life vests, and listen to how safe we are if we sink -GREAT! Once we were at sea Bob and I both had a slight case of diziness, niether of us were sick, just had to get used to the swaying of the ship. We went to the very entertaining Juggling Show, by Romano Frediani, his family pretty much invented the circus he is a 6th generation circus act. Very nice first day, again I went to bed early, and slept all night! I really enjoyed the sleeping! Bob stayed in the casino until 1:30 in the morning.

Day 3 1st full day at sea!: I went the the gym and worked out and then a quick seminar about staying in shape while cruising (Lame I know, but I really don't want to gain the average 6-14lb!!! ) Plus I can't complain, the gym over looked the ocean so I could work out with a great view! I met up with Bob and we went up to deck 13 and layed by the pool and enjoyed the poolside grill. We went and saw a movie, but I left early so I could be ready for formal night! We were looking good! Bob in his black tux with silver tie and me in my sparkly somethin, I had to get the professional pictures taken that night.( I am happy to say, More about that later) My sweet hubby was awesome, cause I was a little dissapointed I forgot to pack my earrings that I had bought for my dress, Bob left immediately to the gallery and bought me some gorgeous Diamond earings!! We went to Dinner at the Beautiful Versailles and then went to the Broadway showing of "Music of the Night" after this amazing show it was "Monte-Carlo Night". In the casino Bob enjoyed winning a few rounds at the rioulette table and I got addicted to the stupid quarter game. We shared a few laughs about the staffs attire, they had to wear a tuxedo T-shirt. I could have fit right in, those of you at my 27th birthday will get this inside joke.!It was such a perfect night!

Day 4 Cabo San Lucas: We left the ship and found our own tour boat to take us out to the famed Los Arcos we toured around this amazing rock formation and saw the Sea Lion colony, very stinky creatures! The beautiful "Lover's Beach" named for its calm and loving waters, and then on the opposite side "Divorce Beach." We rented snorkel gear and saw mass amounts of fish and we even found our own little private cove, we played in the warm waters and soaked up the sun! We cought our boat back to Cabo and did some flea market shopping, were offered marijuana and cocaine several times,and saw some of the local fishing boats come in. Someone had caught a HUGE Marlin and they hung it up for everyone to see. Very cool lookin fish. We got back to the boat had a wonderful dinner and enjoyed Murry the Magician show. This was Great because Bob was called up to help. He needed his shoe to preform a magic trick, and do a few card shuffles,I have never laughed more!! The rest of the Cruise he was known to complete strangers as "Boise Bob" We had some more fun in the casino and then enjoyed another full night of sleep!

Day 5 Mazatlan: We left the ship early,by Tender boats. We were one of the first off the boat! We walked along the beach all by ourselves with no one around (very romantic) enjoying the view. This is where we found all different kinds of sea shells for Alex's collection . After our walk our feet were all sandy so we walked out to this little rocky pennisula where the waves were crashing in and there were crabs crawling all over, to wash off our feet. I'm sure we were quite funny to watch trying to get the edge of a huge wave and not get splashed into the ocean. Finally we were cleaned off enough to put shoes on and go shopping, only to find that right off the beach they had a nice tiled off area where you could wash your feet! We went looking for the bus to get to the local flea/meat market. Rather than take a cab for 12 bucks, we were told we could hop on the bus for 50 cents a piece. A nice lady must of thought we were lost, she spoke english, and led us to the right bus, and although we had a couple hundred dollars worth of pesos, she paid our fare. The meat market smelled aweful! I had to stay away from that market, too afraid of losing my lunch! We did shop a lot and got most of the souveniers here, we met some very nice people who spoke spanish and bartered the prices for us and got things cheap! We went back to the Ship for lunch cause we were a little nervouse to eat the local food, and we were getting tired of avoiding all the pedalers trying to sell us timeshares. We went poolside for the rest of the afternoon and then changed for dinner at Cagney's the ship's steakhouse. Very yummy food!! We went up to the Spinniker Lounge briefly to find out who our new President was, I had to distract Bob from being really grumpy when he found out Obama won. So we went to the casino for the evening.

Day 6 Porta Vallarta: This day was by far the most adventurest day! We left the ship and found a tour with a group of about 6 others, One couple wanted to tour the "old city" and another couple was going for the tequila tasting and then we were going for the ziplines! So with all of us in one van we all got to do everything! The Old city was beautiful, and we got a chance to get out and walk the board walk and see all the sand sculptures and then we got to shop a little more. We Then took a scenic drive along the coast and into the jungle where we stopped at the tequila maker. He gave us a brief tour of how they make it and then everyone could taste different kinds of tequila. ( We refrained from this part of the tour.) Then another short drive and we were at the ziplines.The rest of our group had lunch at the little restaurant while we hooked up to our harnesses and had a brief explanation of what to expect. The first Zipline was a short hike up a muddy path where we hooked up to a cable hanging over the jungle and then we were "zipping along to the next platform! It was very scary but way fun! We did this ten different times hiking up about 500 ft into the jungle. On the tallest, longest and fastest line I handed my camera to Bob to get a few shots of me coming in.
So Bob went first and about 3-4 sec into his line I saw the camera fall out!!! YES we lost the camera! I panicked I told the guy what I saw and he and a few others went into the jungle to look for it. After about 30 min of no Luck Bob and I asked if we could join the search. This is where it gets exciting!We cross a hanging bridge that is missing quite a few boards and most of the railing into the Jungle with complete strangers that don't speak english, and the only thing I do understand in broken english is "Careful" "amiga" "SNAKES" as we enter the grass 3 ft above my head! At some point after crossing the river on step-stones and the Barb wire fence I crawled under I notice I am all by myself!! I go wandering around trying to find one of the group and the only guy I can find is hanging on the zipline 200 ft above my head, he points vaguely to the left but that could be anywhere and I am a little nervouse to loose sight of the line. I eventually hike to the top of the hill to come upon a small hut and a not so friendly dog growling at me. The lady comes out and says a bunch but I understand none. I get the impression she wants me to go back into the jungle so I walk around her little area and right into the path of a BORE! Yeah one of those wild(on a short rope) pigs with really sharp tusks! Its snorten and barken at me. By now I think Screw the camera I just want to survive! Finally one of our group finds me and leads me back to the van and we head back to port without my camera, but definitely an adventure to tell. I must Thank the members of our group for being so patent with us, as they waited almost 2 hrs while we looked, and some even offered to email some of their shots to us! When we got back to PV we found a local super market and purchased a new camera and I took as many shots as I could of the Ship. I will always have great memories of this trip but unfortunately I lost all the pictures from the first days of our trip. That evening we went to a very entertaining comedy show and then later went to the late night pool party.

Day 7 day at sea: We spent the day by the pool, It was perfect, a little overcast and breezy so you wern't too hot I was so comfy sitting there reading my book that I did doze off a few times and got a little too much sun. We had lunch poolside at the grill and then went in to get ready for an evening of fun. We had Dinner at Versalles, it was very good. Then the evening entertainment was the Juggler and the Magician. Then we went to the Chocoholic Buffet where there was everything edible covered in chocolate. There were Chocolate carvings of motorcycles, bird houses, towers
, and even the Chocolate of Liberty! It was amzing! After we made a brief appearence at the White Hot Party where everyone wears white and they were giving out glow sticks. It looked really cool! So we sat and listened to the music and people watched for awhile. Staying up late and playing in the casino.
Day 8 LAST DAY at sea: We had a very relaxing day poolside and then went to the drawing for a free cruise..WE DID not WIN! Then we took a very long relaxing nap, got dressed for the evening dinner and comedy show. Packed up our bags and went for a walk to enjoy our last sunset.

Day8 LA Tour: Arrived in the LA port early in the morning. We disembarked for our tour of LA. We rode a big city bus down by the Hollywood sign, Long Beach, San a Monica Beach and Rodeo Dr, ending at LAX airport. We boarded the plane to SaltLake City on time but as the plane was ready to taxi out to the runway it lost all power lights and air. The plane was having electical problems so we sat for about 30 min before getting in the air. The Pilot tried to make up the time, but we still missed out connecting flight by about 10 min. So Delta payed for dinner in the terminal (kind of a big let down after dining on a cruise ship all week)and put us in a small hotel out in the middle of nowhere!Bonus day of vacation! sort of.

Day9 Going Home: We caught the 9:30 am flight to Boise Landing at 11:30am a little late to make our Primary Program, Grandma said Alex did really good and all the kids sang really loud! Grandpa brought William to the airport with him so I saw him first, I couldn't believe how much kids can grow in a week. He was talking more and I swear he grew 2 inches! When Grandma came home from church with the girls Alex told us what a great girl she had been all week and showed us her list of all her good deeds she was excited to get her surprises of seashells and a special necklace with a pearl from an oyster! Reagan was a little cold toward me. She let me hold her, but as soon as grandma came near she was leaping toward her. She is slowly warming up but even today she has been quite grumpy with me, I hope it is just because she misses her Mema. Thank you Mema!!

PS More pictures to come!

I am almost ready!

YEAH!!! Check out my little ticker! Only 1, yes read that again ONE day left til I am on my cruise!!!( okay 2days, to marrow we leave for LA, but I will be on vaycay!) I have a ton of things to do today, Costco,finding a sub for my primary class( any volunteers?) cleaning, start PACKING! and keeping the house relatively clean, my awesome mother in law is coming tonight to take care of my little ones (even though she has read my blog about how "wonderful" William has been this last couple of weeks... I LOVE YOU MARY!) She still has offered to come with out any physical coercion. Did I mention I love my mother in law?
Everyone keeps asking if I will be okay leaving my kids, and every time I have answer most defiantly YES! Well I guess I am having second thoughts, I know they are in good hands and Mary will probably take better care then I would, but Reagan is getting her first tooth in on the top, and she is soooooo close to walking. I just don't want to miss that first. I am a little nervous to hear about all the things William will figure out while Im gone, and Alex always has such great stories about what happens at school. But on the other hand... I think I can manage while Im sitting on a white sand beach sipping a Margarita! It is only a week Right? Okay I talked myself into it I am still going!

Early Halloween

Today was our Early Halloween, We carved pumpkins,Alex had a little too much fun playing in the goo, and William didn't want to put his hand in the pumpkin, and the pumpkin is missing half an eye, but I think he turned out pretty cute!



Dressing up was an interesting experience, Alex wanted to be a mummy...Easy enough, just hope she doesn't have to go potty!! Not a fan a wrapping! (Due to me being a mean mom and forbidding any extra liquids we didn't have this problem)
Reagan found the drawer a fun experience while mommy was busy trying to paint faces.

For spiderman I had the cutest face paint I was going to do...






but Will was not happy about his face turning red, I think I should have waited to show the finished product!

So we washed him off and he was happy to go get some candy...
Reagn fell asleep before it even started but that made my job a little easier! Over all it was a Happy Halloween!

Playing in the Pans

I had to share these cute photos! Reagan was playing in the pans making quite the ruckus! I know Mom will get a kick out of it cause she has pictures of us doing the same thing when we were kids, I guess entertainment doesnt change much after 2o-odd years!

Picking a Pumpkin

This weekend we wanted to go pick pumpkins with the kids. So we drove out to the local pumpkin patch/hayride/corn maze to find that they were closed on Sunday, I was a little disappointed and was afraid the kids would be really upset by this. I noticed William and Reagan were both sleeping soundly, Alex was the only on awake and she really wanted to find a pumpkin. So instead of all the hyped up stuff we found a local farmer just down the road and asked if we could pick a pumpkin, they were more then happy to let us, and even supplyed a huge pair of clippers to clip it from the stem.

Bob stayed in the car with the kids and took a little snooze with them, while Alex and I searched for the perfect pumpkin. It was fun, and I enjoyed the one on one time with Alex. She was excited to find the biggest one and even carried it most of the way back to the car. Maybe next weekend we will try again on a Saturday!

The Geen Smoothie that wasn't...

I have been very health conscious lately, I have joined a gym that I have actually been going to. I have been trying to cut back on my sweets, and eating healthier food. Well I struggle with breakfast food, "Breakfast is the most important meal of the day" Well I usually skip it and jump to lunch. I don't like eating waffles and pancakes cause they just sit on my stomach all day. Oatmeal is gross, and I am not a big cereal fan. I could eat bacon and eggs but that blows the healthy part. So I have been looking for something I might enjoy in the morning to get me going. I was playing on the Internet and came across an interesting topic of the "GREEN SMOOTHIE" I read the article and it hyped up raw foods and how good they are, how if you eat these Green Smoothies you have energy and mind control. ( okay not really but it was going in that direction) The trick with the Green Smoothie is that there is no recipe, you just add the ingredients that you like trying to stay close to the 60-40 fruit to veggie ratio. Well I went to fix me my DP for the morning and I thought "Hey I have all this fruit and veggies in the fridge I think I will give it a try." So I pulled out the blender and all the stuff and started throwing in an apple, a few grapes, an orange,and some strawberry yogurt, so far so good, it is pretty color of pink with flecks of red. Now I had to force myself to throw the veggies in, a handful of salad, there goes the color to a sickly green tinge, and a stalk of celery, Well I didn't have spinach, any really green stuff so i though Hey Carrots are good and WOW that changed my sickly green smoothly to bright orange! OOPS! I add a little honey to sweeten and a little water to thin out this concoction and pour it out.....

OH MY GOSH IT IS DISGUSTING!!!!
not even able to choke it down! So it is back to DP in the morning and I will continue my search for a healthy breakfast.

Don't worry i didn't wast all that good food, I couldn't bring myself to drink it but i couldn't throw it away either, I found a fan. William loved the stuff!