To get my picture off the top:

I don't want to drive up to the pearly gates in a shiny sports car, wearing beautifully tailored clothes, my hair expertly coiffed, and with long, perfectly manicured fingernails. I want to drive up in a station wagon that has mud on the wheels from taking kids to scout camp. I want to be there with a smudge of peanut butter on my shirt from making sandwiches for a sick neighbor's children. I want to be there with a little dirt under my fingernails from helping to weed someone's garden. I want to be there with children's sticky kisses on my cheeks and the tears of a friend on my shoulder. I want the Lord to know I was really here and that I really lived. ~ Marjorie Pay Hinckley

Happy Valentine's, 80s style

So this is so funny, I had to post about it. My neighbor Danica is a photographer and she came up with the idea to give her husband an old school GLAMour shot for Valentine's day. She got some props and invited a bunch of girls to come do it with her. It was such a blast! I will always remember this! especially Cynthia, the closet makeup artist, Melissa: "I feel like my hair could be bigger", Laura who looked perfectly pretty no matter what she tried to do with her hair, Mandi who rocked the rock star, and of course our totally AWESOME photographer Danica who came up with the whole thing!

Honestly, I think us girls had way more fun doing it than our husbands loved their Valentine's surprises...Blake saw me after the photo shoot and told me how weird I looked in makeup, especially red lipstick!

So we went home again

Is it boring to have me report on another trip home? Sorry. But we did. And I took some pictures. It was a good trip. good enough for three blog posts. Sorry again. Don't worry, we're not going again for at least a year.

We played with cousins. Celebrated four birthdays. Met Brittany, my brother Chris' fiancee. Took her to the temple. Went to Brian Regan live--so funny! (Is it over? My cheeks are killing me!) Went to the play Who Shot Juanito Bandito? (Again, seriously, so funny. If you ever get the chance to see a Pickleville playhouse Juanito play, go. You will not regret it.) Went to Discovery Gateway 4 times with Grandma K. Went shopping alone. Went running alone. Ate like crazy. (I haven't dared weigh myself. Maybe in another week I'll take a peek, hoping I will have lost some of it...) Took care of two sick kids, both throwing up and having diarrhea.

James was sick for a while, actually. I was getting worried about him. I don't know how much he weighed before he got sick, but when we went last week for his 15 month check up, he'd only gained 11 ounces since his last visit three months previous. I'm pretty sure he lost like a pound. He threw up for three days and had diarrhea for another four. good thing we were out of town so we didn't have to clean our carpet. (Just kidding, I obviously would have rather cleaned my own carpet!) On our flight home, I decided to pack an extra outfit at the last minute for James just in case. Good thing I did. He pooped right when everyone had boarded. Of course you can't get out of your seat until the Fasten Seatbelt sign is off when you've been in the air for a while. I kept asking the flight attendants if I could please take my baby to the bathroom. After de-icing, taking off, and gaining altitude, like 30 minutes later after it had run down his leg, into his shoe, soaking through his pants...you get the idea--finally a flight attendant put me out of my misery and said, "Just go." It took me a while to clean that up, squished into that tiny bathroom cabinet. Put all the clothes in a plastic bag as a nice treat for when we got home.

I thought since James was sick he might sleep on the plane. actually, he did for about five minutes. Blake was going to take the metro home and get the car and come back for me and the luggage but the way the timing worked, we were able to grab the luggage and all make it on the train. It was a 40 minute ride and the last 15 minutes James was inconsolable.

Our trip home made the trip out where I was alone with the two boys and the man next to us was removed by security seem easy.

So now we're home and all better. Blake is on ER right now and he works 6 eight hour shifts a week. I don't know what kind of hours he's been working before, all I know is this is SO AWESOME. I feel like we see him all the time.

Legos with grandma

Screeching is a usual thing

Amazing how I loved this McDonald's set and now my kids do.

James' equilibrium was upset like the whole trip. Usually he's pretty even keel.

Our pirate snowman

Blake loves playing basketball with his dad and brother. We tagged along while he and his dad played in the church gym. James is in a ball phase right now. He could play with balls all day.

Mmm, fwafwa. (waffle)

I know, these pictures are blurry, but they make me laugh at how intensely they play basketball together.

Isaac got in the way of their game and they ran him over. sorry.

Only got a picture of Bekah's birthday, sorry to Karen, Justin, and Seth.

We tried Isaac on a real bike. He wasn't thrilled at first but had fun as long as Daddy was right there. And then it started pouring.

James still likes trikes.

The Yurt

Blake and I did a super crazy thing. We left our kids with their grandparents for 19 hours while we hiked to a yurt and spent the night. wow, did we really do that? My sister Anne put in a bid in the lottery for the Millcreek yurt and happened to get it while we were in town. We gathered up what gear we could that was laying around our parents' houses. Blake got stuck with some pretty old/heavy/not very pretty gear. But he was a good sport. It was so much fun! I would definitely do it again. Although there's nothing that will make you feel out of shape quite like hiking 4.5 miles uphill in snowboots carrying 20 lbs up a canyon in Utah.

And the kids even did fine overnight! They slept perfectly all night long, or so we're told.

Blake's awesome bibs

Let's get another shot, just for fun. Andrew was making fun of Blake with me and then I noticed what hat HE was wearing.

Ready to go. Come on, people, it's cold!

Ready to go. We should have had Andrew (instead of Blake) take the picture since he turned around halfway. Something about school.

The trip planner.

So beautiful!

Yes, that is her hair freezing.

We made it! Hooray!

Waiting for it to warm up. Did you know that yurts are made of canvas and dismantled at the end of the season? It actually got pretty warm in there considering there was one stove and some canvas separating us from the coldest night of our trip.

And what did we do in the yurt? Nothing really. Ate. Ate some more. Played Five Crowns. Can we go anywhere with my family and not play Five Crowns? Went to bed. Made Kevin tend the fire. Got up, ate again. Left.

Wow, this is a bad picture but it shows the layout more.

This is in the morning getting ready to leave. Inside I am freaking out: "Get me out of this cylinder to a place where at least there is cell phone service so I can find out how my poor abandoned kids are doing!"

Going home. A lot easier.

It was a true adventure!

Downtown Salt Lake City

Blake's mom planned a fun downtown outing for us while we were in Salt Lake. We went to the Book of Mormon exhibit, which was fun for the kids. My favorite part was walking across the street to temple square. It is so pretty! I loved getting a family picture in front of the temple that Blake and I were married in. Isaac always has so much fun with his cousins on this side. They are all so close in age and it is real mayhem when they are all together!

Walking to the city center. I love that this picture looks so much like St. Louis

with the cool brick and storefront.

A rare moment James was in arms other than my own.

I love it when Blake wears Isaac's backpack.

Playing with cousins in the truck, delivering Book of Mormons of course.

So many memories here.

Ellie, Jeanette, Todd, Abby

Isaac got a little scared up there. Or he's just hugging the temple.

So pretty!