Where has the time gone? Part 3

Five days after Eden and I got back from Utah we were packed again and loading up the car with Andy to drive to Houston to visit Matt, Karla, Alex and Noah. The drive is about 14 hours so we stopped in Oklahoma City overnight. I was anticipating a really boring drive (Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas don't sound like the most exciting part of the country) but I was surprised how interesting most of it was. There was a part of Kansas that was so bleak it made Wyoming seem interesting (I know!) but other than that, it was pretty fun. Houston was really nice and we were more than happy to leave the Omaha autumn weather to go to 70 degrees.

Eden and Alex picked things up like they had seen each other the day before and for the most part, they played really well together. Andy and Matt spent a lot of time playing Rock Band together (sorry again, Karla). I had a lot of fun talking with Karla and holding little Noah. We played some fun games and stayed up way too late every night eating junk food and laughing. We got to visit the zoo and the children's museum.





We also went to NASA and saw the Saturn V rocket (these pictures don't do it justice- it's absolutely huge) and see the Gulf of Mexico as well.

As we were leaving Houston we stopped briefly to see the Houston temple. It was really pretty.

On our way home we stopped for the night in Oklahoma City again and before we left in the morning we stopped at the Federal Building memorial. That was really interesting and touching. I'm glad we were able to see it.

Reflecting pool where the street in front of the Federal Building was.

You can see in the background a bunch of chairs. They are set up where the Federal building was and there is a chair representing each of the people who was killed in the bombing (some of the chairs were smaller than others, representing the children).

We got home about 5:30 on Halloween night. Eden had just enough time to get her costume on and Andy took her trick-or-treating. She had a blast and raked in the candy.

Where has the time gone? Part 2

After pumpkin patching, Eden and I took a quick trip to Utah for my friends wedding. We were there for just over a week and it was a lot of fun. The day we left Omaha, it was snowing and we had been told Utah was quite cold. When we got there, it was really nice and we had great weather the whole time we were there.

Eden had a lot of fun playing tea party with Grammy (and I didn't get a single picture of it!) and I had a lot of fun shopping with my mom and sister. I love seeing my family and I miss them when we leave.

Visiting with Andy's family is always an adventure. The kids love playing together and they are so fun to watch. Eden always loves jumping on Sha-sha's couch (something she doesn't get to do at home).

But the real fun begins when the kids go to bed...

Trying to get 4 children and 2 adults to look at the same camera at the same time while smiling is an almost impossible task- but we try it everytime we all get together.

Arica and I had fun walking around Gardner Village and looking at all the witches. Eden had fun, but would not let me take pictures of her. This is the best I could get...

However, I have been told I need to get in front of the camera more often and post pictures of myself on the blog so here are a couple pictues of me for your viewing pleasure:

Just a couple of witches- I'm the one on the right.

I got a much needed haircut while visiting with my parents. Eden was eager to take my picture when I was done.

We had a really fun time but we were missing Andy so we headed back home...

Where has the time gone? Part 1

We've been pretty busy the past month or so and I haven't gotten around to blogging for a while. I have to play catch up now. I'm thinking this is going to take a few different posts- I have a lot of pictures!

We took a trip to Vala's Pumpkin Patch in October. We were told it is THE place to be if you want a great pumpkin patch experience (and we did, I guess). They had tricycle races, pig races, rabbit town, hay rides, storybook villages, an old mine, a teepee, campfires, camels, goats a couple of unidentified smelly animals, and a pumpkin smashing dragon. It was really a lot of fun, although we went on a really cold evening and I think we would have frozen were it not for the campfires and the hot cider. Eden had a lot of fun looking around but her favorite thing was the Sleeping Beauty display in the storybook village (no surprise).

We even managed to get a pumpkin or two!

Eden isn't so sure she wants to be here...

Really big rocking chair- really hard to get out of!
Ernie!!!

We met a few famous people...

Happy Birthday!

This past week has been busy for us, but also a lot of fun. Andy's parents flew in last Thursday to spend a long weekend with us. Andy's birthday was on the 11th and we had a good time. We spend the weekend playing Beatles Rock Band and looking at animals at the zoo and the wildlife safari. We had an interesting experience with some large dive-bomber bats and some girly screams. We drank Sprechers root beer and ate cotton candy, played games and cheered for the Utes (go UTES!) and we laughed until we cried. A good time was had by all.

Eden's birthday was yesterday and she was all about the princesses this year. She asked for pretty much everything she could see that had a Disney princess on it, and she's so loved (aka spoiled) that she got most of it too. She played at the park with some of her friends in the morning and then opened her gifts after lunch. In the evening we had cake and ice cream and wanted to watch a princess movie she got for her birthday.

Eden shows us how old she is

Belle!

I can't believe my little baby is already 3 years old. How does the time go by so fast? It seems like I was just getting used to her being 2...

Last hurrah of summer

Last weekend Andy had a few days off so we decided to go to on a mini vacation in central Nebraska. Andy and Eden wanted to go camping and I'm more of a hotel girl. We decided to compromise and get a little cabin at a KOA. This ended up being a much better idea than a tent as it was extremely rainy both nights we were there and I think we would have been washed away in our tent.

We spent Friday in Grand Island looking around and found a really neat park with a playground called Kid's Kingdom. It was huge and had a castle, a pirate ship, a tree house, a fort, a barn and probably some other things as well. Eden really had a lot of fun playing there.

On Saturday we went to Hastings to celebrate the town's Kool-Aid Days. Hastings is the original birthplace of Kool-Aid, which is Andy's beverage of choice most of the time (unless there's a Dr. Pepper close by). We really had a lot of fun. We got to visit the World's Largest Kool-Aid Stand (with over 14 flavors of kool-aid) and play carnival games and meet the Kool-Aid man. Eden got to play in a bounce house and get her face painted too. In the evening they had a classic car show and then a band called Yesterday and Today played Beatles music and they set off fireworks. We had a good time.

(That's part of the Kool-Aid stand in the background) They had every flavor of Kool-Aid imaginable. My personal favorite is Mango, but it's hard to find in stores.

Of course, after that, it was back to work for Andy. I've only seen him briefly a few times since then. We're hoping to go back next year!

The Primary Colors

This is one of Eden's favorite songs right now. She sings it over and over again and I wanted to catch it on video before she stops singing it. I'm pretty sure she doesn't know some of the words she's singing, but that has never stopped her before.

Catching Up Part 2

My niece, Emily, who is 11, decided to come to Omaha with us for 6 weeks or so and we're having a lot of fun playing with her. Eden is having so much fun and it makes it easier for me to get everything done. I'm trying to convince her she should stay for the full year, but she's not going for that. I'm really glad she is here this month because Andy has a horrible schedule in July and I have hardly seen him at all. He's working 14 or 15 hour shifts and has been on call every other day doing neurosurgery, so it is nice to have Emily here for to keep me sane.

Emily generously shared her Nintendo DS with Eden on the long drive to Omaha.

She also threw Eden a 'Princess Party' one day, complete with princess snacks, appropriate music, princess coloring pages, and they made their own crowns. Emily is always willing to dress up with Eden and pull her around the house in her "coach".

Andy had the afternoon and evening off on the 4th of July so we set off a few fireworks. Eden loved the smoke bombs and they snappers but wasn't a fan of anything that whistled or was loud. She also liked the sparklers until she dropped one on her bare foot (she's okay).

For those of you who were interested in our landscaping, you can kind of see it here. I still need to take some better pictures. Also you can kind of see what the weather was like on the 4th. I think it was the coldest 4th of July I've experienced. We got rained on a couple times.

The biggest news of the month is this:

Eden is a princess! But it's more than that- she's a POTTY TRAINED princess. I wasn't sure she was ready for it, but we just started in one day and she's done great. She's only had a couple accidents and can do the whole thing from turning on the light to washing her hands all by herself. She's really surprised me with how enthusiastic she has been. I made her a potty chart that she could put stickers on and she gets a smartie for going. It was really much easier than I was expecting it to be and I'm really proud of her.