The Werner's

Watch Bands and Faces for Sale

2011-09-16T14:06:00.001-07:00

Hey all - I'm selling my watch bands and faces. Go check out http://twopeasinapodbow-tique.blogspot.com/ for more information.

~San Diego~

2011-09-16T10:49:00.000-07:00

On August 4th we started our new life in San Diego. What more can you ask for with beautiful weather, the beach and a pool!

We stayed in Fallbrook, CA on our drive to San Diego, at the hotel Bladen got to...

pick fresh lemons!

We were happy and relieved to be to our new home!

I don't know what we would have done without my parents! They drove all our stuff down to San Diego and then spent 2 days helping us unpack. We about killed off my poor dad having him carry furniture and everything else up 2 flights of stairs! Me and my mom were unpacking, cleaning and decorating fools!

After a full day of work, we went to Joe's Crab Shack on Pacific Beach. This was Nate's 1st time there and he was in heaven. It took him 2 hours to eat his pot (no really a freakin POT) of shrimp and crab!

My itzy, bitzy, teeny, weeny kitchen

Living room

B's favorite thing to do is make a big as splash as he can at our pool - belly flop and all!

One of my favorite things about SD is all the exotic flowers everywhere!

We bought B new underwear for school and he was showing me how big they were... "I can't wear them because they cover my button!"

Our 1st time to the beach. B was afraid of crabs :)

San Diego Temple

Prettiest temple inside and out

My beach boy

All time favorite thing to do in his spare time is go to the beach and jump waves

He eventually gets soaking wet! On this particular day I was laying on the beach watching him play when I saw what I thought was a shark fin in the water and was going to go grab him, but then about 3 dolphins started jumping over the waves. I didn't think dolphins came that close to the beach.

My baby boy ready for Kindergarten orientation.

He's been quite the poser lately!

Most nights after dinner we head over to Torrey Pines State Beach to listen to the waves and watch the sunset. Having the beach 3 minutes away is heaven!

Ready for his 1st day of school

I held in all my tears until I got home... then I spent most of the morning bawling my eyes out. It feels like yesterday he was just a baby and now he's off to Kindergarten at 4 years old :(

His teachers - Mrs. Mullins and Mrs. Barton

Oh and I am the room mom for his room... haha we will see how that goes!

Zerrusen Wedding

2011-09-15T17:17:00.000-07:00

On August 13th, I had the opportunity to be a bride's maid in my best friend's wedding. Not only are Jenna and I very close, but her and Ryan were both my co-workers at McGladrey! I had only been to San Diego for 7 days before I made the LONG flight back to Champaign for their big day! I am so happy for these 2 and Miss Kendal!

The Bridal Party at the shower - Jamie, Brooke, Jenna, Jillian and I

Candy table overlooking the Illini football field - the Zerrusen family are HUGE Illini fans so their reception was held at Memorial Stadium in the Colonnades Club.

Ticket table - all the decorations were made by Jenna/Ryan and their families. It was so much work but it looked so pretty!

Card Cake

We got everything set up the night before except for the flowers!

The Bride!

The Maid-of-Honor and the flower girl, Jill and Kendal

Our pretty bouquets!

Bride and Groom!

The wedding party getting pictures on the field

My other bestie and former McGladrey-ite, Raina, caught the bouquet... or should I say beat up the maid-of-honor for it! We had a great time dancing for HOURS!

My McGladrey Besties - Cory, Jenna, Raina and I

These 2 were my "sisters" away from home!

I had such a good time with Jenna and her family during all the wedding activities. And it was so fun to have all of my McGladrey buddies there... we sure did have fun out on the dance floor. I don't think I've danced that much since high school!

Glad to be Home!

2011-09-14T15:19:00.000-07:00

I am happy to report that I got to "live" in Cedar for 3 weeks during our move to San Diego! Once we arrived in Cedar City, we moved our stuff AGAIN out of the Budget truck and into a BIG trailer of my dad's where it stayed during our stop. While we were there we:

I guess I should say the Boys... put together B's new trampoline Papa and Nana got him

Visited our cousins from Guatemala

Brock, Kapri, Bladen, Lily, Trey, Mya and Parker

Spent tons of time helping Nana do yardwork!

Went up to my Nate's family's mountain house

The exact spot Nate proposed to me 10 years earlier.

Shaking his booty 1st thing in the morning.

Making mud pies

Swimming in the Freezing water at the pipe

Let off fireworks

Uncle Nick and Leanne bought B a whole backpack full of fireworks

Went to Sand Hollow

Uncle Nick was nice enough to take us out on his boat. Bladen LOVED jumping off!

Jumped on the tramp

... with Papa in his undies!

Went to the 4th of July Parade

B loves going to the Parade with the Harris kids... Kapri is Bladen's candy-catching cousin!

Played laser tag at the park

Went on a full day 4-wheeler ride

My dad took Bladen and Nate on a full day 4-wheeler ride with the National Park Service. Nate came back covered in mud as he said he hit ever mud puddle on purpose. B came back refreshed... he had a long nap in his carseat with Papa holding up his head :)

Went to the Aquatic Center

Went to the mountain for hobo dinners

Took the dogs for lots of walks

Went to Olive Garden and the Little Mermaid in St. G

We sure did enjoy our time in Cedar City and as always it went by way too fast!

Journey Across the Country

2011-09-14T14:16:00.000-07:00

On July 14th, we left Champaign, Illinois after 6 years of living there. Nate drove the big, ole Budget truck that pulled the Ranger and Bladen and I followed in my car.

The 1st day we drove through Illinois, Missouri and boring Kansas (picture above). Nothing eventful but 10 hours on the road. Our 1st night was spent in Topeka, Kansas!

The 2nd day we drove through Kansas and Colorado (pic above). The drive is so boring until you hit Denver and the mountains. Our 2nd night we spent in Frisco, Colorado.

We woke up in Colorado so pumped for our final day of driving. We had about 9 hours left to make it to Cedar City!! And then of course the following happened...

We were going through the Rocky Mountains when Bladen and I started smelling burnt rubber. I was a ways back from Nate so I called him and said are those your brakes we smell or the diesel in front of you. He said that an old couple had just passed in and had pointed to his trailer but from what he could tell nothing was wrong. Well I ended up speeding up to him and there was black smoke just barrelling out the back of the trailer. I told him he had a flat tire and needed to pull off, but coming down the mountain there are NO shoulders to pull off so I sped ahead of him to find the next exit. Thank heavens right around the turn was a rest area so I pulled off and called him to tell him I had found somewhere to pull off. I waited for him off the exit and when I say him stop at the stop sign I saw the tire roll on by haha. We get to the rest area and call Budget and they send a repairman to fix it. We knew there would be nothing he could do as the tire and the lug nuts came completely off the axel. He pulled up 90 minutes later rolled down his window and said there is nothing I can do you need a new trailer... well DUH! So Nate spent the next 5 hours arguing with Budget on the phone. They were telling us that there was nothing they could do for us as it was a Saturday and everywhere would be closed on Sunday and they had no extra trailers. At this point we had been there for over 6 hours, I started freaking out when they told us there was nothing they were going to do for us so I called my parents in a panic who were in SLC for my dad's race. My dad told us to start driving on 3 trailer wheels to Grand Junction where he would have one of his friends waiting for us with a trailer. I'm so grateful for my dad and his connections! So we headed off to Grand Junction going 35 miles an hour over 100 miles. We made it to Grand Junction safely, got hooked up to a new trailer and left Budget's trailer in a parking lot and told them to pick it up! After a disappointing day, we ended up staying in Grand Junction for the night to get some rest... it came out to be a good thing as Nate's grandparents and Uncle and Aunt were also staying the night in Grand Junction so we headed over to the KOA and spent the night chatting with them since we wouldn't be able to see them while we were in Cedar because they were starting a cross-country vacation!

Me and Bladen hanging out at the rest area... thank heavens we were prepared with food and water! And in 100 degree heat we were thankful for SHADE!

Nate arguing on the phone - we ended up getting the trailer for free and they paid for our hotel in Grand Junction! Only inconvience was the wasted time and the cost of my dad having to take his friend's trailer back to CO.

B was such a trooper on our trip! He did not make one peep! He had his DVD player, computer, games and snacks to keep him occupied!

On our 4th day we FINALLY made it HOME to Utah!!

Good-bye Play Date

2011-09-14T13:49:00.000-07:00

Bladen had some really good friends in Illinois! About a week before we were heading out, we had everyone over to our house for a play date.

Bladen and Kendal were like brother and sister. They wrestled and pestered each other just like siblings. K has a special place in my heart as I was the one who almost had to deliver her in the car! And her mom is one of my best friends ever! I sure do miss these 2!

Taylor, Bladen and Lauren walking to the park hand-in-hand. These 3 were born within 3 months of each other and all of us mom's worked together at M&P when they were born. They started swim lessons together when Bladen was just 6 months old. I can't believe they are all going to Kindergarten this year... where did the time go?

Kendal and Gwen - 2 years old

How many kids on one slide!

The crew - Gwen, Lauren, Taylor, Kendal and Bladen

I love how Bladen is acting like the girls have cooties :)

It's been almost 2 months since we left and we sure do miss our friends. The ONLY reason I was sad to leave Champaign was because of my "family" I came to love. When you have no family around, you build some of the closest relationships. I gained some of my best friends over my 6 years in Champaign and truely miss them!

Chicago Trip

2011-09-14T13:31:00.000-07:00

While my mom was visiting for Bladen's graduation, we decided we'd better go see Chicago before we moved. We rode the Amtrak train up since Bladen had never been on a train and we had a great time!

We got a sweet deal on a room that was right on Michigan Avenue off of Priceline! B was in heaven because he LOVES staying in hotels!

Right when we got off the train we headed down the busy streets to a boat for a river and lake tour. It was so cool to learn about the different buildings on the river and then to go out on Lake Michigan and see the Chicago skyline.

After the boat tour, we walked over to Navy Pier and had dinner at Bubba Gumps and then sat and watched a concert and the fireworks on the pier!

The next morning we woke up and jumped on the bus (us sitting in the bus stop) and headed to the Shedd Aquarium.

We got to see so many different fish, coral and other creatures.

Our favorite exhibit was the Jellyfish. I never knew there were so many different kinds of jellies!

We got to watch Dora and Diego in 4D!!

Ugliest fish at the aquarium!

Our hotel - the Palmer House

After 2 days of walking over 10 miles we were pooped and ready to go home by our 3rd day. The morning we were leaving, we took our time getting ready since we had time to spare before our train departed. My mom happened to turn on the TV as we were walking out the door and saw on the news that 2 trains had collided at Union Station and they had halted all incoming and outgoing trains. Needless to say we spent ALL DAY, I think almost 10 hours, in the station waiting for our train to leave! My mom got to experience a lot of NEW things on her last trip to Champaign!

The night she got there we had a tornado warning with the sirens going off and the house about ready to blow over. We ended up taking cover with all 4 of us stuffed in my closet! The tornado ended up touching down really close to our place. Poor mom was shaking and so nervous!

Then there was the train crash and us waiting for hours on end with thousands of other travels at the Union Station

Then to top it off she woke up the next morning with a black eye!

Champaign was like my mom's 2nd home - she came to visit so often. She really loved the city and knew her way around so good. I'm sure she will miss it as much as us!

Utah Bound

2011-06-27T10:13:00.000-07:00

All you Utah Peeps - I will be heading to the Cedar/St. George area in 2 weeks and will be there for a whole month. If you need any bows, etc. let me know.
http://twopeasinapodbow-tique.blogspot.com/

* Bladen's Graduation *

2011-06-08T18:09:00.000-07:00

I can't believe my baby is old enough to graduate from Preschool! He was so excited to graduate from the Hippo's class at Little Hearts and Hands... I on the other hand was devastated since this is where he has went to school since he was 12 weeks old. His graduation day was his last day at school for good since my mom and sister will be here to watch him until we leave for San Diego... p.s. 5 weeks from today!!!

My graduate :)

We were so excited that my mom was able to come and see us for 2 weeks!

He looked so cute in his cap and gown

L to R: Lauren, Kyle, Elise, Bladen, May and Payton

He couldn't wait to get his "graduation paper"

And his yellow flower. He told my mom that day that he wanted "a yellow flower with a surprise gift from my Nana for graduation"... we are thinking he got the yellow flower idea from this :)

All graduated! They sang us 3 songs, which made me cry like a baby - I'm a Little Graduate, Our God, and Jesus, Lamb of God. As you can tell this is a Christian daycare and we have absolutely loved him going here. We could not have asked for more wonderful teachers over the past 4 years!

B & Clara

B & Lauren

Clara and Lauren would fight everyday in class over who was going to marry Bladen and see who could make him the most love letters.

B & Sean

B & Ms. Jenny

B & Ms. Kelsey

B & Ms. Liz (Cheetah teacher)

I can't believe these 2 will be starting Kindergarten in the Fall. They have been little buddies since they were born.

I guess I shouldn't say Bladen will be starting Kindergarten for sure... in Illinois he would not be able to start because of his November birthday, but in California the deadline in December so he would be eligible. There are so many people that have given me pros and cons to both and so we are so torn on what to do! This is one of the major stressors at the moment! I am so proud of Bladen! He is such a smart, little boy and we just love him to pieces!

What we are up to...

2011-03-26T14:37:00.000-07:00

Life at our house has been out of control since we got back from Christmas. On top of it being busy season for me at work, which consists of long hours days, 6 days a week, we also have Nate trying to finish up his PhD. So the tension and stress is running full force! And on top of the craziness, we had to move out of our house a month ago and luckily found a nice apartment to sublease for our last 6 months here. We've come to learn that this move was the best wake up call for us... moving out of a huge 4 bedroom house into a 2 bedroom apartment opened our eyes as to how much CRAP we have accumulated over the years. We have honestly given Goodwill so much stuff that it just makes me sick; what a waste of $$$$$! But we will be living in a cardboard box in San Diego I'm sure, so we definately had to downsize!! I have really enjoyed this apartment though... fast to clean, no stairs to drag laundry up and down and Bladen can play in his room without dragging all his toys into the living room since we are all right here. Now if Nate's advisor would just let us go! He is holding onto Nate tightly and is having a hard time letting him go. We still don't know when we will be leaving here or a what Nate absolutely has to do before we leave, so that has been very very very very very stressful for us since our lives are on hold until he says go!

I have not taken hardly any pictures since Christmas but I did sneak up on Bladen the other night after work while he was outback looking at all the birds with his homemade binoculars he made at school :)

And if you've never been to Illinois, you can tell from this picture that it is flatter than flat and there is nothing to see but at least in the summer there is corn and soy beans in all these fields.

Christmas

2011-02-02T13:50:00.000-08:00

As always, we headed to Cedar for Christmas this year. We always have so many things to do and so many people to see, but what would the holidays be like without all the hustle and bustle.

Bladen and I flew back to Cedar a week before we were expecting to leave for Christmas for my Grandpa Bulloch's funeral. I decided to keep Bladen in Cedar for a week while I went back to work in Champaign and then Nate and I flew back out a week later.

Papa and Bladen matched for the funeral

Thank heavens Bladen was not with Nate and I on our flight to Las Vegas. We were supposed to get into LV at 9:30 and didn't get up getting to St. George until 4:30 in the morning due to the rain and flooding in LV. By the time we got to Nate's dad's in St. George I could not sleep because I was so excited to see Bladen so I pretty much pulled an all-nighter.

Our reunion

Bladen and his Aunts taking pics of their silly faces

Bladen and "his" Nana - he does not like SHARING HIS Nana

Patiently waiting to open his Christmas Eve outfit

Brandi, Mom and I at the Bulloch Christmas party

Bladen got a Chemistry set from Santa at the Bulloch party... he wants to make "reactions" just like his dad and be his dad's assistant when he gets big

I can't believe how big my baby is getting... people ask all the time if I'm ready for another one... nope good with just one!

I really enjoyed my time with my sister-in-laws, Camille and Kristal

By the end of Christmas Day, B was beat and fell asleep on Grandma Sus' lap

Brandi and Bladen... these two have a love, hate relationship... both are the babies.

Playing marble run

Playing basketball with Uncle Ty at McDonalds

Me and Brynn... I took over 50 bows back home with me and she was my biggest customer :)

Snowmobiling up Right Hand - Bladen's "girl" snowsuit is almost too little :(

Me and Brandi

Ty's 1st time snowmobiling

Me making some BIG snow angels

Bladen and I rode with Papa and Nate, Brandi and Tyler all rode their own. We were the leaders and after we went up a pretty steep hill, we stopped and waited for everyone else to make it up. Next thing we see is Tyler jumping off his snowmobile at the top of the mountain and running down the hill and a huge puff of smoke and snow just flying up into the air. Bladen and I jump off and my Dad went to see what happened. Brandi is so dang skinny and the snowmobiles are so heavy that her weight wasn't enough to get her turned up the hill and it ended up rolling and throwing her about 20 feet with the snowmobile landing on the throttle and blowing the motor on the brand new sled. Good thing we had dad there!! I ended up being towed back on the wrecked snowmobile so Brandi could calm down and ride with Tyler. I'm so grateful that the snowmobile threw her as far as it did so it didn't land on her or suck her leg into the track.

Being in the mountains is so peaceful... one of my favorite places ever!

Cedar City

Bladen playing fetch with Buck

We always enjoy spending time and playing games with Grandpa and Grandma Bushnell

Siblings

My time in Cedar always goes by way to fast. I dread the day when I have to leave and come back to real life here in freezing cold Illinois. Only a couple more months and we will be bound to Cedar for a month and then to San Diego!!

Slacker

2010-11-20T14:59:00.000-08:00

I have been such a slacker with my blog, but between work, making bows and Bladen's activities we have been busy.

Me and my good friend Jenna enjoy doing craft projects together and we started getting lots of requests to make things for others so we got a crazy, hair brain idea to sign up for the Chris Cringle Craft Fair 2 weeks before it started... let me inform you people prepare for this show for a whole year. We decided we were going to go with the hair bows theme. We worked our little guts out for 2 weeks to get as many things made before the show as possible. We ended up doing well at the show and had such a good time.

We have since set up a blog and have had lots of success - check it out
http://twopeasinapodbow-tique.blogspot.com/

Vacation #7 - Random

2010-07-27T10:17:00.000-07:00

During our vacation in Cedar we did so many fun things, but the thing I love most is just spending time with my family. Here are my remaining random pics from our trip home.

Bladen driving us to church

B's favorite - riding bikes and 4-wheelers up and down Nana and Papa's street

And of course, getting ready to go shopping. This picture is hilarious (and kind of sad) because poor B is getting a talkin' to by both me and Auntie :(

Bladen loved riding in Papa's '72 because it "goes SUPER fast"

We took Grandma Sus to Rusty's for her 50th birthday!

This was our 1st time to Park Discovery!

Bladen had to wash his 4-wheeler after getting off the mountain

Because we had to be up so early the morning we flew out, we decided to head down to Vegas the night before and take B to the Strip since he's never been and I haven't been in years. We stayed at the Excaliber and spent our night walking around all the casinos and watching the water show at the Bellagio and viewing the pretty flower garden display that they have. It was super fun and B was in awe with all the lights and all the crazy action!

Vacation #6 - 4th of July

2010-07-19T13:23:00.000-07:00

We celebrated the 4th of July in Cedar. We enjoyed the parade, park activities, Pizza Factory, fishing at Lake on the Hill, watching the city's fireworks and popping poppers.

Awww how sweet with his hand on his heart

Kapri and Bladen were candy catching fools. B was sooo good to share with the other little kids though when they didn't get any.

B's prized catch from the parade... a free blizzard!

Papa getting B's fishing pole ready

Cute cousins - they have a brother/sister relationship - nice one minute, mean the next thanks to B.

Bladen wanted to get a picture with Uncle Ben all day!

Bladen with Uncle Nick and Candice

I've come to realize my child loves to be in his underwear... hey it was dark out popping poppers so that's ok.

Nice bum, where you from?

"Aunt" Trent pestering Bladen

Vacation #5 - Sand Hollow and Deer Valley

2010-07-19T12:19:00.001-07:00

After our fun filled vacation in San Diego, we were only in Cedar for a couple days before we headed back out on more adventures, which include my 2 favorite places in the whole world - the lake and the mountain!

Our first stop was Sand Hollow where we spent 2 days, which included having a Bulloch BBQ with all my dad's family.

Before we left, B had to put on his "fire" tattoo to match my dad's race truck which has flames going down it

Waiting to load up and leave Cedar

Sand Hollow Reservoir

Packing up the Prowler and heading to the beach

Rylee, Bladen and Zoe could not stop splashing water and throwing mud at each other!

B using his life jacket for the 1st time... he did pretty good!

Marley was so content just playing in the sand with herself

Bladen was so excited to see Uncle Nick that he biffed it in the sand while running to him. Every crack and crevis was filled with sand.

Lindsey, Zoe and Marley headed down again on the second day to get some more playing time in. The kids play so good together.

Marley, Zoe and Bladen

Mmmm... coke and lake water mixed

After 2 sweltering hot and windy days at the lake, we headed to Cedar for a shower and go to the grand opening of the Lake on the Hill before heading to Deer Valley on Cedar Mountain.

Cedar definately needed something like the Lake on the Hill and the new Rec Center!

Papa's co-captain in the bus

Mr. B is obsessed with collecting sticks in his 4-wheeler. Right after this picture him and Nana unloaded the wood into the fire and left his wheeler parked right next to the fire because it wasn't going yet. Little did they know that the fire was still hot and next thing we knew my dad goes to check on the fire and B's wheeler was bring melted. Luckily it still goes and hopefully I will just be able to get a new tire for it. He was devistated!

The 4 beauties... this is off the subject but before we left for San Diego, my dad had Bladen with him down at the Fab shop. Bladen was playing with Buck and the next thing my dad hears is Buck crying. Bladen had slammed his foot in the door, which required surgery the day we left for California. I'm surprised B didn't get his butt kicked for hurting my dad's baby, but he told my dad it was an accident and my dad told me the only reason he didn't kick his butt is because it was Bladen. It's pathetic, in a good way, how much my Dad loves Bladen and vice-versus. No one else matters when them two are together!

B's new jungle gym

Our home for 4 consecutive days

The dogs needed a bath so we headed to Navajo Lake.

B and Nana playing with a broken fishing pole.

I have NEVER seen Navajo Lake as full as it was. The both sides of the damn were covered with water - it was so pretty up there!

Vacation #4 - Beach

2010-07-19T11:59:00.000-07:00

Our first night and our last day in San Diego we spent at the ocean. I couldn't believe how yucky the beaches were because of all the sea weed. When I was little they would clean it up every morning, but maybe that's how they are saving $. It was annoying though! B's 1st time at the ocean. Right after this picture the wave came up and he took off running back to Nana. He soon figured out that it was fun to jump the waves.

Watching the sailboat at sunset

My pirate eating Breakfast at the hotel.

Mission Bay ferry

Heading out to Joe's Crabshack our last night in SD

Moving to San Diego

2010-07-18T20:26:00.000-07:00

Many have asked since one of my vacation posts, and yes we will be moving to San Diego in the Spring of 2011. Nate has accepted a position at Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla where he will continue his work in Organic Chemistry research.

While me and my family were on vacation, we drove to Scripps so we could have something to show Nate... but mostly to get him motivated to get FINISHED at Illinois.

Nate's soon to be workplace

His commute home will he horrible. The only way off this hill from Scripps is this road, which was jammed packed with cars at rush hour!

At the bottom of the hill is the San Diego Temple. Must be getting a new paint job

And then I was curious to go find McGladrey since it is only 12 miles from Scripps. I would love to transfer to their SD office since I love what I do and I think it is a great place to work.

Vacation #3 - Sea World

2010-07-18T18:23:00.000-07:00

Day 2 in San Diego consisted of Sea World for over 12 hours! Sea World is my all time favorite place to go in California (my dream when I was little was to be a dolphin trainer... how in the heck did I end up being an accountant??) so I was probably more excited than Bladen.

Patiently waiting for the girls to get ready so we could leave

My mom should have been born a baseball player... whenever you turn around she has a mouth full of sunflower seeds.

Sea World had the cleanest grounds and it was so pretty with all the flowers everywhere.

I wish my hanging pots looked like this

State flags... it's sad that I wouldn't even know what the Illinois state flag looks like and I've lived here for 5 years

B watching the dolphins being fed before their big show

Sesame Street Bay of Play - this is a new addition to Sea World and it was definatley Bladen's favorite. It was super cute for kids.

Elmo's Flying Fish

Oscar's Salt of the Sea

Abby's Sea Star Spin

Play Area

Brandi and Bladen climbing through the nets

Blue Horizon Show - birds, whales, dolphins and acrobats

Clyde and Seamore Show

Shark Encounter

The one thing I learned at Sea World is that the reason Flamingos are pink is because they eat a lot of Beta Carotene.

Believe - Shamu Show

We were all paying attention to see if the trainers would get in the water with the whales, after the accident in FL, but they did not and didn't really get that close to them either.

Arctic Express

I wondered why it was so cold in this area... the walls were really made of ice.

Pet Show - I had know idea that you could train a cat to be like a dog... let alone a pot belly pig.

Cirque de la mar

Elmo in 4D - it rained, our seats splashed water in our face, wind raced through the theater and our seats vibrated. Bladen kept on reaching for the characters because it was like they were walking right in front of you and then he'd take off his glasses and wonder what was going on.

It started to get chilly after dark so we all went and bough sweat shirts.

The boys and their matching sweat shirts and B's awesome sword Papa bought him during the Rock Out with Shamu Show/Fireworks

The girls and our matching shirts - we all got a little fried from sitting on metal bleachers most of the day.

Vacation #2 - Wild Animal Park

2010-07-17T19:31:00.000-07:00

Our 1st major adventure out of Cedar was our family trip to San Diego. We hopped in the truck and drove 7 1/2 hours to sunny Cali-forn-I-A. Bladen did AWESOME and didn't make a peep the whole way.

B started off watching "Dora"...

and before we knew it he was out like a light haha!

Getting to our room!

We stayed at the Bahia on Mission Bay. B and Papa coming in from collecting sea shells on the bay.

Day 1: San Diego's Wild Animal Park

Bladen LOVES his Nana and Papa. You would think that Bladen gets to see my parents everyday based on his love for them! It's sad he only sees them a couple times a year!

I have no idea what the 2 babies are looking at!

Foot massage anyone?

They had the coolest flowers! Of course, my mom was in love with them and wanted to take them home and plant them in her yard.

He's still my baby... he doesn't measure up, YET!

Ape

Bird Show

The view of the African Safari. I really enjoyed this park much more than the zoo because the animals were free to roam around this big spacious area together. It was pretty neat seeing all the animals in their natural setting.

Train ride through the Safari

Giraffes

Lion

Lion with her tongue out

Bladen loves to get wet. There was this spray area for kids and of course I told him NO because he would be whinning the rest of the time because he would be soaked, but of course Nana and Papa let him go :)

These Kenyan guys were amazing and super flexible

Elephants

Month Long Vacation

2010-07-16T13:39:00.000-07:00

Brandi, Bladen and I packed up our bags on June 12th and left Champaign en route to Cedar City for a whole month of VaCaTiOn!

We started our trip by attending my cousin, K.C.'s, farewell. He left for the MTC on June 16th and will be there for 9 weeks and then will head out to Paris, France. I am so proud of him and can't believe he is old enough to go on a mission!

The fam over at KC's having hobo dinners, the last dinner he wanted before he left.

Walking the MTC grounds. He looks so grown up!

Our next adventure was the Summer Games rodeo. Bladen has never been to a rodeo before so we rumaged through Nick's closet and found this old Cowboy hat for him to wear. He thought he was quite the stud in it.

Why do you need pants when you have a cowboy hat?

Mr Attitude!

He was pouting because Papa stole his cowboy hat and was teasing him!

Kapri, Bladen, Me and Mom at the Rodeo

My best friends!

Uncle Ben knew all the right people... he knew the trainer to the clydes dale horses so he got to go back and sit on them and then also got to go meet many of the cowboys.

We then had the opportunity to spend Father's Day with my dad. We had a BBQ with Ben and Laur's family over at my parent's house.

B and Uncle Nick

My dad and all us kids and the ONLY grandkid

My cute family

May

2010-07-14T20:21:00.000-07:00

Since it's been ages since I last updated my blog, I figured I'd update by month.

We started off May by having my sister come and live with us for 6 weeks to be Bladen's "nanny". Her and Tyler were moving to Indianapolis for the summer for Ty's job and since it's only 2 hrs away she figured she might as well stay with me since he'd be gone all the time.

We also celebrated my 27th birthday... oh how I hate getting old! I woke up to my house decorated and a warm breakfast of german pancakes :)B gets soooo excited when there is any sort of celebration around.
B learning how to use the camera

After dinner at Minneci's, I came home to homemade cupcakes.

With the nice, warm weather finally here we had Taylor and Lauren over for a play date. Danielle, Lauren and Gwen showed up to our house first and when B and Lauren get together they are crazy. They were running around the house being out of control so I told them to run up to B's room to grab him some socks, next thing we know one of them is screaming bloody murder. I run up and Bladen had run into his room, jumped right onto his bed and hit his eye on the corner of the wood railing that keeps him from falling out. No worries though, it didn't stop him from having a good time at our neighborhood park with the girls.

It started raining during the middle of them playing so they took cover under the pine trees.

B's eye after his crash!

We spend a lot of time outside water flowers, mowing the lawn and playing basketball or soccer.

Dude where are your real sunglasses

My pretty lillies before the damn rabbits and squirrels ate them!

We took a trip down to Indy to stay with Tyler and Brandi over the weekend. We took Bladen to the Indianapolis Zoo the first day.

Getting ready for the Dolphin ShowB got to feed the giraffe a sweet potato for $1

This is what I see in the mirror most mornings!

On our way to the Zoo, we happened to see the Children's Mueseumwe headed there on Day 2... little did we know it's the largest of it's kind in the US. It was really cool!

Dinosaur exhibit

Must have to pee haha

Train Exhibit

Star Wars exhibit
Blown glass exhibit

Water clock

The 2 large exhibits they were featuring were...

Bob the Builder

and Barbie

Still gotta pee huh... wasn't too sure about meeting Bob

I was way excited to see all Barbie stuff!

They were really talking to Barbie

Fashion designing

Egyptian exhibit

Fun Center

Little Ms. Pris couldn't get his feet dirty. Happens when you have an OCD mom!

Before leaving Indy, Ty took Bladen out fishing at their apartment complex with the new Batman fishing pole they bought B.

We then got Mother's Day started off early by having a Mother's Day Tea Party at Bladen's daycare. Ms. Liz invited Brandi to participate in the fun too!

Me and my "baby"

Getting ready to sing songs to us

I am so grateful for Bladen's school. He has been going to the same daycare since he was just 12 weeks old. We have loved all of this classes and his teachers and he has surprisingly loved every minute of it. I am already starting to freak out about him moving schools once we get settled in San Diego :(

On Mother's Day, we all hopped in the car and headed to Allterton to have a picnic and hike around the grounds.

Brandi had Bladen on quite the schedule while she was in charge. Each week she had a different theme and in order to do something fun on Friday, they had a chart and each day during the week he had to have less than 3 marks to get his Fun Day.

The 1st week they learned about animals... he loved doing all of his projects!

Their 1st Fun Day they had they went to see How to Train a Dragon in 3D

That night we then took him to play minature golf for the 1st time.

He was a good shot for only being 3 and it being his 1st time.

The entire night all 3 of the adults were telling Bladen to stay away from the water or he was going to fall in. Well right after this picture we were all paying attention to whoever was golfing and next thing we knew Bladen had fallen off the bridge into the water... he screamed and bawled not because he was hurt but because it scared the living daylights out of him! Hmmm maybe he should listen to his parents :)

The 2nd week they learned about Nature and even took a fieldtrip to the Nature Center and went on a nature walk and caught different kinds of bugs.

The 3rd week they learned about space and these are the planets he made out of cookies

They had such a good time together I'm so glad my sister was able to come and stay with us for so long.

During space week, they made an Earth pinata.

We then invited the Matthew girls over help "crush" the Earth!

After the pinata, we headed over to Prairie Farms

We also did lots of shopping while my sister was here... imagine that!

Ready for a full day of shopping

B trying out his photography skills

Tyler was able to come up to Champaign for Memorial day so we spent the day as a family...

Playing basketball and having Bladen be Tyler's little shadow

Had a picnic at the park

Sweated our butts off while Bladen played

B LOVES to swing!

Then we tried minature golf again... luckily no one went swimming in the fountains this time!

ONLY TOOK ABOUT 2 1/2 HRS TO POST MAY, BUT HEY I'LL GET THROUGH JULY ONE DAY!

Easter and the Nature Center

2010-04-10T15:35:00.000-07:00

For Easter this year, we stayed in Champaign and spent time together as a family. The Easter bunny brought B tons of stuff and he enjoyed following the jelly bean trail from his room to his hidden Easter basket filled with TONS of snacks and then he was off to find over 50 eggs throughout the house and the backyard with lots of surprises along the way.

Opening all of his eggs from daycare's Easter Egg Hunt - thanks Ms. Liz for the cool glasses since B's old glasses "fell in the water and got eaten by sharks"!

Mr. B ready to go to mommy's work for a busy season meal of Olive Garden on his day off of school for Good Friday! Ohhh and there's only FOUR days left of BUSY SEASON YAYAYAY!!!

Easter Bunny loot

Bladen's "favoritest" thing from the Easter Bunny

Bladen and Nate ready for our picnic

Bladen's 1st time EVER eating Jimmy Johns... his response after I asked him if he likes it - "It was SOOOOOOO good"

Bladen and Nate plated 27 cups of veggies for our garden!

This weekend Danielle and I thought we'd take the kids out to the Nature Center since both of our husbands were out of the state. Bladen and Lauren have been buddies since they were born and get to spend a lot of time together since they are in the same class at school. They are also in a Sports class on Saturdays, so this morning we went to soccer, went to lunch at Mickey D's and then headed to the Nature Center in Urbana.

Putting money in the dinosaur

Walking over the "scary" bridge

They love being wild and free out in the woods!

Super CUTE!

Stopping at the yucky swamps

Bladen can never just SMILE... he has to CHEESE it!

Taking a rest

The Matthews girls - Danielle, Lauren and Gwen

Me and Bladen!

We are on our way to pick up Nate from the airport tonight, which will be nice. It's been a long 3 days without him!

Trip to Nauvoo

2010-03-28T16:34:00.001-07:00

We have lived in Illinois for almost 5 years and have not had a lot of time to travel around and see what's around us. My mom came over Spring Break, and she hasn't been to Nauvoo since her high school graduation and I have never been, so we hopped in the car and drove the 4 hours to Nauvoo, IL! Bladen was SOOOO excited to go on his 1st "road trip"
Bladen sitting on the throne in our 2 bedroom bed and breakfast style hotel room haha
On our way to Nauvoo we had no idea if there would be any hotels or anywhere to eat because we drove out in the middle of the country for 3 hours and didn't see anything but a house every mile and a couple of bars, but we were lucky to find the Nauvoo Hotel, which was more like a bed and breakfast!

Our hotel had the BEST buffet I've ever had and our waitress said that many locals drive 2 hrs to eat there every Friday night. We were there on a Friday night and it was PACKED! Mmmmmm Mmmmm Good!

Bladen and Nana

When I first came to Illinois I thought these things were just lsigns/monument things letting everyone know the name of the town, little did I know they were water tanks DUH - but hey I'm from the mountains so I didn't know any better!

Bladen learned A LOT about the church on this trip.

Bladen kept saying I want to go in this temple place.

The temple was right across from the Mississippi River - it was beautiful at sunset!

This is downtown Nauvoo from the temple grounds.

Nauvoo visiting center - we actually got Bladen to sit through the whole 70 minute movie... it was really good!

The missionaries were even given wagon rides in the snow!

We followed the river for 20 miles from Nauvoo to Carthage.

This is Carthage Jail

The keeper's kitchen

The keeper's dining room where him and his family slept when the mob arrived.

The cell - it was 120 degrees in here when the mob arrived so the keeper had Joseph and his crew in his personal bedroom.

Man he was a joy to take on a historical trip, but what else what I supposed to do with him haha

The room where the murders happened - you can see the bullet hole in the door

Joseph fell out this window to his death

I thought it was Spring???

Bladen and Roco on our way home!

This was the most interesting thing we saw on our 4 hr drive home. We did not go on one interstate the whole way... my navigation even took us through trailer parks and loops we should have never taken... I was about ready to freak out (thanks to my patience I learned from my dad) good thing I had mom there to tell me we were in no hurry and no where else to be.

Overall our trip was fun and it was a huge learning experience for both me and Bladen and a good refresher for my mom!

Valentines Day

2010-03-28T16:21:00.000-07:00

One thing that I love about Bladen's daycare is that is gets us all hyped up for every holiday! Mr B. shoveling out in the snowBladen brought home TONS of goodies from his Valentines party at school. His whole box was full of junk food... just what we needed!
Cupid brought Bladen 2 games for his Clickstart computer, bubble gum and new toothbrushes

Bladen's loot from Papa and Nana's Valentines package

Christmas!!

2010-03-28T15:20:00.001-07:00

I'm a slacker for not posting Christmas until March, but hey better late than never. BEware IT will be picture overload!!

Danielle and I took Lauren and Bladen to Monticello on the train to have lunch with Santa. The kids loved it! PB&Js with Santa what more could you ask for!

Bladen got "exactly what I wanted" at his daycare Christmas party... a Playdoh set!

Before we left for Utah, we got together with Ryan, Jenna and Kendal to let the kids open their gifts from one another.

Bladen got his regular and swine flu shots right before Christmas. In these pics he's "laying out the sections" of the newspaper.

Santa visited Bladen early in Illinois since this gift couldn't come back with us on the plane.

FINALLY made it to Utah.

Bladen helping Nana deliver neighbor gifts on his 4-wheeler

I surprised Nate with a 30th birthday party with all all of our family at Rusty's... it was great and he DIDN'T have a clue!!

The cake decorator asked me what he liked to do and I said all he does is work, but I guess you could put the Illinois logo on it since that's who he works for... poor guy doesn't have time for anything else!

As always on Christmas Eve, we have the Bulloch Christmas party down at Crystal Inn.

Bladen and Auntie sprinkling reindeer food on Nana's lawn.

Christmas Day breakfast... this is usually the only time I ever see dad cooking :)

Bladen and Pri riding his snowmobile for the 1st time

No we didn't plan to match on Christmas Day it just happened

Dad has gotten Bladen trained already

Bladen is such an animal lover that we can't leave Cedar without Ben taking us to the farm. It was fun this year since the baby lambs had just been born.

We spent New Years Eve back in Illinois with just our little family watching movies.

Halloween and Bladen's Birthday

2009-11-26T13:30:00.000-08:00

It's been FOREVER since I last blogged and we've had so many fun things we've done. This is going to be picture overload...

Bladen celebrated his 3rd Halloween as a DRAGON! I let him pick out his own outfit this year... thank heavens it wasn't Spongebob haha! We started it off by having his Halloween parade at school.

All suited up!

Patiently reading books before start time

Lauren and Bladen = classmates and friends in the Cheetahs room!

Bladen and Flat Stanley carving pumpkins

Our finished products!

Ready to go trick-or-treating for the 1st time!

Bladen ABSOLUTELY loved going trick-or-treating and would run house to house with Daddy chasing close behind!

All done and headed home!

SUGAR HIGH!!!!!

My parents came in on the Thursday before B's birthday to surprise him for his birthday! We told B he had a package coming in air freight and we had to pick it up from the airport (we never thought we'd get it past him since we only go to the airport to pick family up), but he ran around like a wild child waiting for his packages to be dropped off at the bottom of the escalators. When he saw my parents coming down he was THRILLED! He said there's my Nana and my Papa and then just started giggling his head off. He was SO excited to see them! I got to take Friday off of work so we spent the day just hanging out... me and mom spent lots of time shopping, Nate worked and Bladen and dad fixed things around the house (haha mom can't get dad to do crap around the house, but here he was Mr. Fixit).

Raking leaves and Bladen hiding in the middle!

Bladen and Papa painting the hitch on the truck (haha my child looks like a scrub)

Saturday we went to the Illini football game. My dad has never been and we all thought he'd hate it. He actually enjoyed himself, which is understandable because a game with 60,523 in attendance in not boring! Could not have asked for a nicer November day in Illinois!

Papa's already training B to stratch his back!

Sunday we had Thanksgiving for lunch and then headed off to Bladen's birthday party at the bowling alley! Bladen sang "Happy Birthday to Batman" ALL day and was SSOOOOOO wild and full of energy. He had a good time with all the girls at the party and came away with a HAUL of presents! Pretty much everything he got was Batman with the major item being the Batman Castle from Nana and Papa. Thanks to Auntie who veered from the theme and did dinosaurs :) I'm so thankful my parents were able to come out and spend Bladen's birthday with us... his Nana and Papa mean the world to him!

Eating Thanksgiving

Birthday boy playing air hockey!

Kendal Jenna and I

Bladen doing his annual Birthday Dance hahaha - he definately has rhythm and loves entertaining all the girls!

Bladen and his "sister" Kendal

The Party Crew

Setting up the Batman house with Papa

Bladen on his REAL birthday with his hat from school :)

Me and Bladen cooking Thanksgiving dinner this morning.... I am so grateful for my wonderful family, our health and my job so that I can put a roof over our head and food on the table! Happy Thanksgiving!

Fun Weekend

2009-10-10T21:37:00.001-07:00

We have had a fun weekend so far and it's only Saturday! Friday night we ate Bladen's choice of Mac n' cheese for dinner and then watched Monsters vs. Aliens. On Saturday we woke up early and headed to the Illinois Homecoming game vs. Michigan State. Ohhh man the Illini struggle this year but you can't pass up 50 yard line, $50 tickets for FREE!

Then a half hour after we walked into the door from the game, we had a play date over at our house. We had 5 kids under the age of 3 running around like they were wild indians, but they had a good time gutting and decorating pumpkins... with stickers of course because paint or anything else would have been SO messy! Then they watched a Halloween show with apple juice, apply donuts and chocolate chip cookies. These kids have all grown up together so it's fun to get them together to do stuff and they are now at the age where they can actually play and have fun together.

They all were holding hands :)

Illini Fan Day

2009-09-26T11:14:00.001-07:00

I took Bladen to the Illini Football Fan Day a couple week ago and I didn't know what to expect... he came out with over 100 autographs and LOVED seeing all the players on "his" team!

His shorts do not match his outfit, but I bought him this jersey 5 minutes before it started and didn't have time to change
This picture is hilarious! Bladen is flaring his nostrils and has the biggest, cheesiest grin! B was so excited to meet Zac - he is the son of a partner in my office!

One of the players WANTED to sign K's bum!

It was bright out so B couldn't keep his eyes open!

B's football was covered in autographs and then he got 3 of the best players and Coach Zook's autographs on his jersey.

Crappy Days

2009-09-26T11:01:00.000-07:00

These last couple of weeks have been quite crappy around our house. Labor Day weekend, Bladen and I were wrestling and when I went to stand up, he ran up behind me and pushed me over and I fell from standing up to the floor with all my weight on my right hand... breaking the bone under my pinkie joint! Since my job consists of working on a laptop and writing all day, not to add that I am like a single parent having to take care of B at night alone, they decided not to put a cast on and put me in a splint instead. It's been so annoying to get anything down and I feel so slow!

Then the next weekend, I wake up at 2 in the morning with the worst ear ache in the world. I was up from 2-6 shaking and nauseous because of the horrible pain... let me just say I would have rather popped out 4 babies than having to do that again. I went the Dr. the next morning and she said I had the worst case of adult ear infections she's ever seen. Because the infection was so bad, she put me on some strong drugs, which included a potent antibiotic and steroids. I'm such a sissy when it comes to medicine anyway, I can barely take Tylenol without get sick, so the medicine knocked me on my butt for a whole week. I literally thought I was going to die. I couldn't stand up or lay down without feeling like I was going to pass out because I was so dizzy and I couldn't keep anything down. They finally pulled me off the steriod and put me on the lowest dose of antibotics. So after a week of being in bed and another week of no hearing... I'm finally back to normal :)

Cancun

2009-08-23T21:22:00.000-07:00

Nate and I finally went to Cancun after having to reschedule 3 times since May! It was a really fast trip, but a much needed vacation. It was so nice not having to worry about Bladen since I knew he'd be happy and taken care of with my mom and Brandi watching him the 1st day we were gone and Brandi the rest of the time. My mom flew out to stay with Brandi and Tyler in Philly and toured NYC and DC the week before they came to stay with me. I got to hang out with them for 6 days before I left :) Mom had to fly back early to start work and Brandi had until Monday to start school so the timing was perfect.

This is the view of the ocean and the pool from our balcony

We stayed at the Moon Palace and it was SUPER nice!

Nate and I spend most of our nights on the balcony reading... I loved it in the hammock!

Day One - Our goal was to wake up early every morning so we could enjoy as much time there as possible! We woke up at 6:00 am and had room service breakfast on the balcony while watching the sun rise. We were then off to the pool for the rest of the day.

These things are kinda gross, but they hung out everywhere around the pool

This was after our first day in the sun haha... we were freaking whiter than a ghost and were stupid enough to only wear SPF 4 our first day and this was the result ~ fried and sore the remainder of the trip!

In the two pictures above we are on our way to a steak place for dinner. During dinner, I started feeling SO sick and the smell of the food was killing me. I had 2 bites of my steak and we had to leave! I got right into bed when we got back to our room, which was around 8. I kept waking up during the night thinking of the food we'd ate so far and I wanted to die.

Day Two - Nate ended up getting sick this morning so we both slept in until 11 and didn't eat anything the rest of the day! Once we got up and going we spent the day laying under umbrellas around the pool - no sun for us!

Day Three - We were up at 6 am again with our room service breakfast on the balcony. We then jumped on a bus at 8 for a 3 hour drive to Chicha Itza (one of the 7 Wonders of the World). I wanted to do something like snorkeling or swimming with the dolphins, but the snorkeling tour wasn't being offered and Nate really wanted to go on this tour so I gave in.

Cemetery on the side of the road

How convenient... our bus took a bathroom break at a big tourist trap, which ended up taking us another hour! The only thing I found that I liked was a really pretty necklace; however, they wanted $420 for it and I could buy a lot of clothes with that much so I turned it down haha.

They all said that their stuff was "unique", but everywhere you went everyone had the same stuff.

After 4 1/2 hours on the bus we finally made it to Chichen Itza!

The first Mayan pyramid

A tomb

Our awesome tourguide, Erik, and yes he pretty much talked over a microphone the entire bus ride there!

The second Mayan pyramid

An observatory

The last Mayan pyramid - notice that each one over the years got taller and taller... they wanted to get closer to their Gods.

This is me standing in the middle of one of their ball fields. The goal was to get the ball through that little hole above left of my head. Someone on the losing team was always sacrificed after the game.

This picture of me is SO not good, but I put it on here so that I could remember what a ronch (sorry no better word to describe myself) I was during the tour. As noted above, this was not how I wanted to spend my last day in Cancun. It was hotter than Haities and it was SO humid. I have never sweat so bad in my life. It had already rained on us once and there was no where to hide so we just had to stand there and get soaked (with a white see through shirt on no less) and then here Nate wanted to take my picture and I about bite his head off because I was miserable. After all my whining and complaining, I do feel bad because Nate really wanted to come here so I'm going to act better next time:)

A store on the side of the freeway on our way back to the hotel... not what we'd call WalMart and this was one of the nicer stores we saw.

A neighborhood - I've been to Mexico twice and both times its made me SO grateful for what I have.

After a 12 hour tour and being drenched twice by rain I was SUPER excited to be getting off this bus and back to the Moon Palace!

The next morning I was up at 3 am to catch our shuttle back to the airport at 4! Everything went smooth until we got to the American Airline counter and they asked us for our Immigration Form from when we flew in... hahaha we threw it away! Ooops... had to wait an hour for customs to open and it was only a little room in a secluded area of the airport. When the guy walked in he asked us if we knew it was $50 each and that it had to be "cash in bank" and that the banks didn't open until 8 and we had to board our plane at 6???? Hell I almost had a nervous break down... I just wanted to be home! After filling out another form, Nate asked if he should go reschedule our flight and he threw us the forms and told us to give them to the security people... WHAT?? He let us off... thank you, thank you, thank you was our response. Well once we got through security and to our gate I was sitting there reading the piece of paper we had filled out and he had stamped and in bold it says "issuance of this is free"... this guys tried to screw us over and we never even had to give the paper to anyone! If I would have paid the $100 I would have been SO angry! I'm keeping that piece of paper forever! I am so glad to be back in the US!

While we were gone Auntie and Bladen...

Went to the water park

Went to the park

and went to the mall everyday to play on the germ infested play place :) Thank you so much to my mom and sister for watching Bladen while we were gone!

Summer Activities

2009-08-07T16:15:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it's already August... where did the summer go? It has been the coolest summer on record here in Champaign-Urbana so it hasn't quite felt like summer yet and it's almost over! I need a tan so bad for our Cancun trip next week, I know that's why the sun hasn't been out. Anyways, I thought I'd post some random pics of some fun things we've been up to:

The not so fun thing... we lived out of a cooler for a week and half - had to throw out $150 of groceries we had bought a day before the fridge died and ate out every meal since the only things we could fit in the cooler was water, milk, butter, ketchup and some juice (does appliance stores really not carry any fridges in stock...uugggghhhh annoying!)

We took B bowling for the first time... like our socks hahaha
Jill Jenna Me

We tried having him bowl with all our us but he got too impatient so we let him bowl 2 games on his own lane

Our family

At most points during B's games he had 2 balls stuck on his lane because he couldn't get them going fast enough!

Taylor Lauren Bladen at Lauren's 3rd birthday party

Black frosting all over his face from the LadyBug cake

Jenna and I decided to take the kids to the Carson & Barnes circus since it was only $5! Paid $5 extra to sit on the front row!

Jenna Kendal

Bladen Me

Bladen LOVED the elephants

Last Sunday, we went to Kickapoo State Park with Nate's lab group. We canoed 8 miles in about 4 hours. It was B's first time canoeing and he did pretty good the entire time. The only thing that sucked is we lost his sunglasses in the river!

The little trooper!

All the nerdy chemists! I really don't fit in!

Ready, GO!

I wish the water was actually going fast so I didn't have to paddle my A off for 4 hrs straight!

My mom and sister will be arriving tomorrow and Nate and I will then be leaving for Cancun on Friday so we have a couple of busy, but fun weeks ahead.

Last 4 days in Utah!

2009-07-11T16:33:00.000-07:00

I figured I better finish blogging about our trip to Utah before it's too late!

July 5 - Dad, Mom, Brandi, Bladen, Kapri and I loaded up in the bus with Nick and LeAnne following behind and was off to Hogle Zoo.

Our first stop was the Bird Show. Uncle Nick gave B a dollar to give to this bird who would put the money in this donation box.

Next was the elephant show!

And of course we couldn't get by without riding the carousel twice!

All Bladen cared about was riding the train!

The girls!

We had such a good time at the zoo even though it was blazing hot! Bladen is obsessed with animals so he was thrilled to see so many of them. His favorite were the elephants.

After leaving the zoo, we headed towards the Lagoon campground!

July 6/7 - Good thing Lagoon doesn't open until 10 am... trying to get 4 girls and 1 picky 2 yr old ready in a small space took FOREVER (not including the time we had to wait for Uncle Nick to get out of bed and moving)! However, we made it there right around 10 and I must admit I was a little nervous about taking Bladen to Lagoon because I thought he would get bored and impatient waiting in lines, letting us do things we wanted to do,etc., but boy was I wrong... I forgot how many kids things they have!

We started out by taking Bladen on the Terroride. I thought he would get scared and not want to go on anymore rides, but he rode with Papa and Nana and loved it. Next we were off the bumper cars.

The first time he rode, he was a little confused but on the second try he did pretty good!

Papa drenched B in sunscreen before we left and by the time we got to the third ride we were already sweating and B started rubbing his eyes, which meant getting sunscreen in them and anyone that knows Bladen knows he HATES anything to get by his eyes because he thinks it's going to burn. So I ran over to a gift shop while they were in line and bought him these studly $7 glasses! We had no problems after that and he actually wore the glasses the rest of the day without throwing a fit!

Kapri was such a good sport to ride all the kiddy rides with B even if she didn't quite fit in them!

This is all of us older "kids" getting ready to ditch Papa, Nana and Bladen to ride the bigger rides. (Yes Uncle Nick shaved his head since he is pretty much bald anyways - sure didn't get my moms genes)

Of course he was happy as a lark to ride the train, especially with Papa. Bladen did not want my dad to leave his sight the whole trip and my dad was a good sport to do whatever B wanted to do!

Haha... B was the only kid who wanted to ride this ride!

This is a mini version of the Big Shot. I thought this ride would scare the crap out of him since it shoots you up and then drops you multiple times. While on the ride, he couldn't hold his head up and would shake like he was having convoltions waiting for the drops so I definately thought he would freak when we got off, but NO he wanted to go again... I talked him into riding the boats again :)

Late in the afternoon, Dad, Bladen, Nick and LeAnne went back to camp to take a 2 hr nap while me, mom, Kapri and Brandi rode more roller coasters and watched a show. We hadn't went on any water rides since we didn't want to look like complete crap walking around the park the whole day, but it was getting late so us 4 girls decided to go on the log ride. We get on our log and the log in front of us as a malfunction, so we get stuck in our log for 20 minutes... but that wasn't the kicker... me and mom were in the back of the log with Brandi and Kapri in the front so our log was pretty much sinking in the back with the front of the log in the air hahahahaha!! People probably thought we were real winners, but we thought it was funny and couldn't stop laughing at ourselves. We of course got wet on the ride and figured we might as well call the boring ones to come back over and go with us again. The second time.... it was even funnier!! Pri, Nick, LeAnne and Brandi went in the first log and hey they didn't get too wet, but here comes Me and Mom in the front of our log and Dad and Bladen in the back (opposite weight of our 1st ride). When we got to the top of the hill the worker said "You guys have the perfect set up to get SOAKED" and soaked we did! So next time you ride a log ride and don't want to get wet, put the heavy load in the back!

Since we were already wet, we decided to go on Rattle Snake Rapids. If you haven't been, you get in a huge, circular raft and go through river rapids, waterfalls, etc. All 8 of us piled in the raft and started down the river. Brandi was the first to get soaked when a rapid went up over the raft and down her back. Then it got mom, tried to get LeAnne and I but we stood up and shifted the weight of the raft and missed it. Then comes the huge waterfall, and with our luck the raft went right under it and everyone got SOAKED (LeAnne and I got it the least). After drying our eyes so that we could see I thought B would be freaking out because he was one who got it the worst, but he looks at all of us and says, "SHHHOOOOOOOOOTTTT, oh know!" and started laughing. It was SO cute!

The drenched bunch!

A view of the Lagoon from the Ferris Wheel

We were at Lagoon for a total of 12 hrs and all of us still felt like we didn't have enough time to do everything we wanted... oh well there is always next time! We all had a blast!

2 sleeping buddies after a fun and tiring day at Lagoon

I'm sorry to say I've given my child OCD - Clean Freak. There can be the tiniest piece of anything on the floor and he'll pick it up and throw it away and we (meaning both of us with our own vacuums) have to vacuum the house at least once a day! This is a picture of him helping Nana vacuum the bus before leaving the Lagoon Campground.

On our way home to good ole Cedar City

July 8 - On our last day in Cedar, Brandi wanted to take B swimming so we headed over to the SUU pool and they swam for a little over an hour. B is like a fish and could jump in "one more time" a million times before getting tired. Auntie is so good with him and they had a good time!

A year ago in August, my mom and Bladen dug up this tree on Cedar Mountain. My mom then brought it home and planted it in her yard and named it Bladen's Tree. As you can see, it's doing good and getting big. I hope each summer I remember to take a picture of him by it to see how much it grows in comparison to him!

I just want to say Thank You to my family for all of the fun times we had on this trip! It was so nice to have all 5 of us together again. With me in Illinois, Nick in Vegas until a couple months ago and Brandi now in Philly, we don't have much time to spend together so it was a much needed Family Vacation. We are hoping to continue a Family Reunion each summer, so Nick you better be thinking of our next summer's destination!

1st 4 Days in Utah

2009-07-09T20:09:00.001-07:00

Bladen and I just got home from Utah and we had such a great time! We did so many fun things and were pooped out by the end of the trip!!

July 1 - Bladen and I wake up at 4 am to catch a 6 o'clock flight out of Champaign. Everything is going fine until our couple hour layover in Dallas; however, we got into Vegas just in time to meet my sister flying in from Philly! My parents were there to pick us 3 up and we were off to Cedar City!

Pretty rainbow pulling into Cedar... much better scenery than the cornfields of Illinois

July 2/3 - We head up to Cedar Mountain for a Bulloch BBQ on Thursday and then spent the night. It's been so long since we've gotten all the Bulloch's together so me and my mom decided to send out invitiations for a BBQ for all of those who could come. All but 5 of the family members made it and that includes Nate and Ty who stayed in Champaign/Philly to work. Everyone brought up Hobo Dinners and stuff for S'mores. It was so fun to get all the little cousins together and they all got along pretty good, except for Bladen's tantrum, considering they never really see each other. Bladen's tantrum was over his 4-wheeler... you can DEFINATELY tell the poor kid is an only child! This is the first time he's been able to jump in his wheeler and ride it like a big boy (steer, gas, reverse and pay attention to where he's going all at the same time) and he was pretty proud of himself. So when the cousins got there and Jordan went to get in and have Bladen take her for a ride, B freaked and was being selfish and threw a fit for 40 minutes in front of the whole family! I wanted to kick his butt! After dinner he finally decided his cousins weren't going to steal his wheeler and he took Jordan for a ride and when she got in she said, "Don't cry when I get in; I am your friend" and Bladen's response was "I only love Papa". Let me tell you this was Bladen's favorite phrase of the our trip. He told EVERYONE that he only loved Papa, even both of Nate's parents, which made me so embarassed, but like Nate said, 2 year olds give their opinion whether you want them to or not and you can't change it either.

Auntie and Bladen with our sign on the side of the highway

Nana and Bladen gathering wood to make enough coals for 50 hobo dinners and lots of S'mores

Sitting around the fire waiting for coals to make S'mores (Nick's trailer in the back ground and my parents "bus" below were my home for most of our trip).

Lindsey, Marley, Bladen, Rylee, Zoe and Me getting ready for a 4-wheeler ride!

The 2 babies
Papa and Bladen "relaxing" for about 30 seconds. Bladen has ants in his pants constiently so trying to get him to rest is a chore!

Cedar Mountain

July 4 - We decided to spend the holiday in Cedar so we could take Bladen to the parade, the park and the fireworks and have a Dutch Oven Dinner with my mom's family.

Brandi, Bladen and I at the parade

Bladen has been asking me for weeks to go to Pri's house and ride horses, so Ben, KC and Kapri took B to their farm before the Larsen BBQ to see all the animals. B is a COWBOY!

Notice B's legs wrapped around Ben... he didn't want dirt in his shoes... pretty boy!

Riding Papa's rocking horse from when he was a baby - 52 yrs old!

Me, LeAnne (Nick's girlfriend) and Brandi after Dutch Over dinner. I LOVE LeAnne and was so glad to see her; she is like a sister! Her and Nick just recently moved to Cedar from Vegas so they were able to come with us on all our adventures!

Bladen throwing poppers and playing with Sparklers for the first time!

I will post about our last 4 days tomorrow!

Here Comes Summer

2009-05-24T21:09:00.000-07:00

It's been awhile since I've posted and so much has happened so sorry this blog will be LONG. We've been spending so much of our time outside now that the weather is nice. It's been around 75-85 most of the days this month and HALLELUJAH it hasn't gotten too muggy and humid here yet! We started off summer by taking swim lessons with Danielle and Lauren at the Urbana Aquatic Center and it was SO much fun.I've had Bladen in swim lessons since he was 6 mths old so he is quite the little swimmer for only being 2.

He is so FEARLESS! He has to "jump in and go under mommy" and not just a under a little bit; he has to go under all the way!

Then the week after April 15th our life turned to HELL! I started out Friday night... I went to my work's April 15th party and after dropping off all the drunks around 10:30 I get a phone call from Nate saying Bladen had a surprise for me when I get home. I get home, get out of the car and Bladen walks me to the flower bed and shows me that he chopped most of the tulips that had just bloomed that day down with his shovel while his dad was putting up his new basketball hoop (supposed for 3 seconds). This was the morning after I'd already cleaned them up and realized it wasn't a big deal that they would die in a week anyway!

After my ranting and raving to both Nate and Bladen about the tulips, I go yell at Neko to get out of my car that I had left open during my fit. I continue my complaining and by the time I'm done Neko is NO WHERE to be found. I didn't freak out because at our new house he goes and roams the neighborhood until around 3 morning and then I hear him barking at the front door. The next morning though... still no Neko. Nate's been telling me for the past 2 years that he'd wish Neko would run away (ok since he's the one who bought him for me 10 years ago but whatever). We continue the weekend with the biggest monster child ever! He ends giving me another surprise on Sunday - while Nate, Jenna, Jillian and I were out doing yard work Bladen was supposed to be having a nap. Well Nate goes in to get a drink and comes out and says Bladen wants to see you. I walk in and the first thing I see is a dozen eggs cracked all over the kitchen floor in front of the fridge. I lost it!! I don't have many patience and this weekend had put me over the edge.

This was Bladen the day of the egg incident. He LOVES his "sister"

Monday morning I call the pound to see if Neko had gotten picked up by the pound and the lady informed me that Neko was killed Friday night. He was ran over and they had to euthanize him because he had a broken back and pelvis. I cried ALL day at work and was devistated the whole week! It still makes me sad and scared to be here alone at nights. Bladen and I miss Neko lots! So enough of the complaining about my monster child... he really is a good boy! He is the best helper in the world!Bladen helping me put chairs away after our BBQ (aren't all kids obsessed with wearing their moms' shoes)

Brandi and Tyler moved to Philly for the summer so that Ty could sell alarm systems, so they came through Champaign and stayed with us for a night! It was so good getting to see them since we haven't seen any of our family since Christmas! We took Ty to see the town and he was in awe of the University and how big and old it is! We took them to Papa Del's (Chicago style pizza) for dinner and then the boys played basketball in the rain until 11:30 while me and Brandi sat in the back of the truck in the garage and watched. They then headed on their way to their new home at 5 the next morning. Fast visit but worth it!

Bladen LOVES Auntie and acted like he sees her everyday!

Austin/Annie and Tyler/Brandi in Philly. I'm so glad Brandi has friends back there to keep her company!

Nate and I were supposed to go to Cancun the first week of May... of course that didn't happen because of the Swine Flu outbreak, but the good thing is I then got to spend all that time with my mom instead. She flew out for a week to watch Bladen while we were gone. This was the first time Mom's been to our new house and we had so much fun!

We planted all my flowers, did lots of yard work, went shopping almost everyday, went on walks to the park, ate lots of good food and of course we did pedicures!

My mom was also here over Mother's Day and left the day of my birthday... for the second year in a row :) What we did on Mother's Day:

The 2 beauties ate Chinese leftovers to hold them over for an early dinner at Texas Roadhouse

Bladen and Nate gave me roses

Went for a walk

to the park!

I was WAY sad to see my mom go. You'd think it would get easier after being away for 4 years but I still cry like a baby when she leaves. Bladen also understood for the first time that Nana was leaving and cried his eyes out at the airport when Nana left. It's so hard!

Bladen and I also went up to Chicago with Wendy/Taylor and Danielle/Lauren to see Seasame Street Live. Lauren, Taylor and Bladen (3 carseats and 3 adults in a TrailBlazer all the way to Chicago... see me in back haha)

Bladen was SO anxious for the show to start Praire's Pageant

Nate and I have been working our butts off on our yard! It was such a mess when we moved in so we've had to do a lot of work. We've bought and laid 1,500 lbs of top soil and 1,200 lbs of mulch and that only covered the front yard! We've enjoyed spending time together working on the yard! Front yard
Back yard

Bladen sitting next to my 2 cent flowers... Nate was at Walmart last weekend and they were selling these flowers for 2 cents haha... but hey they are cute!

Then we are to this weekend. Nate has to work all weekend so me and Bladen have had some quality one on one time together. I told Bladen Saturday was his day to do whatever he wanted so we work up on Saturday and had Captain Crunch before we headed off to Old Navy for the $1 flip flops (mommy's only to do list for the day), then we were off to Pets Mart to see all the animals. Bladen now knows his way around the store and what we have to see next (the kitties, then the dogs getting groomed, the birds and the hamsters and then off to the Nemos to finish it off). We then headed to the car wash to wash - yes Bladen's favorite place to go and then home for a quick nap before we were off to the Farm with Danielle and Lauren. I swear Bladen should be a COWBOY he LOVES animals!

B and Lauren in the petting area. Bladen was hilarious... one minute he was chasing all the goats around being wilder than crap and then 2 seconds later he saw a baby cow laying down and got so calm and went right over and sat down by him and started petting him so nicely... his mood changes so fast! Then we we headed home to set up his NEW swim pool!
He was in it for about 10 minutes and then was freezing... maybe tomorrow when it's warmer he'll like it better!

So this has been our life in a nutshell the last 2 months! We are now looking forward to July 1 when Bladen and I fly home to Utah to see our family for a week!

March

2009-04-02T19:26:00.000-07:00

We have had a busy March! Nate has just finished up his last project until he defends next year (defending means we are DONE)! I have really enjoyed Illinois and will be really sad to leave here; I can honestly say it feels like home here. He has decided to move on and do a Post Doc after we leave here so we will be moving to ANOTHER place for 2 more years of schooling! I cannot wait until he is FINALLY done with school; you do realize he will be 30 this year and he's still going to school! As for me I have been working 6 days a week since January and it's getting pretty old! Thank heavens April 15 is here is a 13 days! Bladen is as busy and independent as ever. He is definately not a baby anymore. He's so smart and definately too smart for his own good. We have to watch every word we say around him! We start swim lessons 2 times a week next Monday so that will be good to get us out of the house, plus he's a water dog and has been in swim lessons since he was 6 months old. I think this time will be much funner for him and he'll actually be able to most of the stuff on his own (hallelujah because I'm sick of having to get in a swim suit to take him to lessons). As for my other kids... Jenna FINALLY broke down and we got Kendal's ears pierced last weekend on her 9 week birthday! She did so good! She got scared and jumped and cried on the first one and made just a little whinse on the second. We had about 50 people around us watching and of course Jenna and Bladen couldn't watch so they went down the mall.

Before earrings

Getting her ears pierced!

2 minutes after

So cute!!

My 2 babies - poor Bladen looks like he gets beat. He came home with all sorts of bumps and bruises from daycare last week from playing rough out on the playground with his buddies! I used to think there wasn't much difference between boys and girls when they are younger, but I was TOTALLY wrong. Bladen is such a rough little turd! His favorite thing is to wrestle with his dad and "fight" with anyone who is sitting on the floor! You have to be paying attention at all times when he's in his mood because if not you'll get hurt!

It's feeling more and more like Spring in Champaign; we are all getting Spring Fever. We've been trying to go on walks every night after work with Bladen riding in the "loller". Nate and I found out a couple of weeks ago that my parents are sending us to Cancun in May for my birthday for a much needed vacation so we are definately looking forward to that! My mom will be flying out here to watch Bladen while we are gone and is staying for 4 days after we get home so I can spend time with her!! Bladen and I also got our plane tickets to come home to Utah July 1-9. We always enjoy our time home during the summer because there is always so much to do. We will be taking Bladen to either Lagoon/Hogle Zoo or Sea World while we are there!

Who knew...

2009-03-01T14:27:00.000-08:00

Who knew I was a mother to a 2 and 23 year old! My best friend started working with me at McGladrey in September and we instantly became inseparable. Come to find out she was expecting in February and she had NO one to support her and she did not know one person in Champaign. I started by having her over every night for dinner, I took her under my wing and my nickname is now "Momma Mia". I guess I'm so motherly with her because she only had me to turn to for advice and I'd gone through pregnancy before. I went with her to birthing class, sonogram appts, gave her a baby shower and was her birthing coach (really her chauffeur).Jenna and her sister at the shower

On the Saturday of her 36th week, we went shopping for 5 hours and in our last store she started complaining about how tired she was and how much her back hurt. When we got back to my house, Nate and I were feeling her belly and it was harder than heck, but neither of us thought anything about it since she still had 4 weeks left. She left my house around 11 that night. Next thing I know it's 7:30 on Sunday morning and Neko is barking his head off. I take my ear plugs out (due to Nate snoring so freaking loud), roll over to Nate and ask if someone is at the door and he's like yeah it's the UPS guy... I'm thinking OK it's Sunday morning yeah right! The second I stand up to see what's going on, I hear someone walk in the front door and I hear Jenna yell at the bottom of my stairs, "Laci, I think we have a problem!". I throw on my robe, run downstairs and she's like I think I'm having contractions. I ask her if she's ate anything and she hadn't so I sent her to the kitchen to have some cereal while I brush my teeth and get ready. Nate then asks me why I am getting ready if Jenna is in labor. I run back downstairs after putting some clothes on and is about ready to die on my couch. I tell her we better go, so I grab my purse and we hop in her car. It was snowing and the roads were packed with ice. I decided to call the hospital to let them know that we are coming. While I'm on the phone I'm trying to time her contractions... they instantly were 2 minutes apart for a whole minute... where did those come from out of the blue?? We run 5 red lights, pull in the exit driveway at the hospital and run in to register. Once we got to the room (trying to find labor/delivery was fun with construction and a screaming pregnant lady in labor), we were told to get her robe on and they would be in to check on her.... 10 minutes pass and she is having contractions every 30 secs. I finally go tell the nurses she is ready to push. They are like yeah, yeah she is a first time mom. 15 more minutes pass and the nurse FINALLY came in. When she walked in and saw Jenna's face she definitely knew we meant business. She checked her and got the weirdest look on her face and then declared that the baby was already on it's way! Let's just say, the nurse had to deliver the baby with only 2 pushes! Good thing I looked at the clock when she was born or we would not have known when she was born because it was CHAOS! Kendal Lea was born on January 25, 2009 at 9:03 am. She weighed 6 lbs. 11 oz. and was 19 1/2 inches long. I love her like she's mine and we are so glad she is here!

Don't I look cute with no makeup and my hair not done!!

Bladen and Nate meeting "Baby K" for the 1st time

All bundled up!

We love to put her in bows!

Bladen and I got to give her a bath and get her ready on Valentines Day! She is too cute!

B thinks he's a girl :)

Jenna and I also got to go to the Jessica Simpson/Rascal Flats concert a couple days after Kendal was born! We had so much fun and of course my camera died right when we got to Assembly Hall so we got no pictures of the concert!

We didn't know our outfits looked so much like twiners until we saw this picture!

Utah

2009-01-07T21:30:00.000-08:00

After all the hustle and bustle that Christmas brings, we finally had time to enjoy some of the things we love in Utah. Bladen playing in the snow! He loves the snow because all we see in Illinois is ICE!

Auntie and Bladen having a bath!

We didn't get one good family picture this year because Bladen was so antsy and onry, so here's the best!

Bladen being Nana's little helper cleaning out the garage. He loves to help my mom Swiffer and clean the house :) We all say he's OCD about cleaning and it's all my fault!

Bladen riding Papa's rocking horse from when he was a little boy... 47 years old!

Continued...

2009-01-07T21:18:00.000-08:00

Bladen snowmobiling for the first time with his Best Friend in the whole world... Papa

Our family at MidWay!

Our FAT snowman!

Making a snowman... per Bladen you make a snowman by
"Cup, cup, cup, push, push, push"

Bladen is 2! You'd think he could rid of this stupid thing, but this is what happens when you ask him to give it to you!

Christmas!

2009-01-07T21:02:00.000-08:00

On December 17 and 18th we moved all of our belongings from our town house to our new house! It was so much work, but we got everything moved with minor damage... haha. We could have never done it in such a short time frame without the help of Nate's dad. On the 19th, we flew out of Chicago with only a 2 hour delay, but we still didn't make it to Nate's dad's house in St. George until around 2 am Saturday morning. Traveling days are so long and grueling, especially with kids! Later that morning after getting some sleep, we headed to Cedar! I was so anxious to get home to my family! I hadn't seen Brandi since her wedding in August and I was having withdrawls! We had such a good time in Utah and were so blessed to be with all of our family! Here are a couple of pics of our trip...
Bladen took like an hour to open his first present... WallE

Bladen had told everyone for months that Santa was bringing him tools. The kid was so excited!

Bladen on Santa's lap at the Bulloch Christmas Eve party

Bladen on Santa's lap at his daycare Christmas party.

I love this picture because Bladen would not stop looking at Santa right in the eyes!

I'm going to have to make another post to get more pictures on here... see above.

We had such a good time in Utah and are always sad to come back to Illinois! We hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!!

Our Crazy Life

2008-12-02T18:23:00.000-08:00

We had a crazy Thanksgiving Break and have 2 crazier weeks ahead. Over the break we got to take Bladen to his 1st Illini basketball game. A Partner in my office got us front row seats right above the band and we ended up being on national TV! Bladen was such a good cheerleader! Too bad Michael Jordan didn’t show up to that game (his son plays for the Illini) or he would have sat right to our left, maybe next time! We then had Thanksgiving in our little apartment with just us 3. It was quiet, but we did get most of our house packed up, which is a huge relief. I leave for training in Boston on Sunday and I don't get back until Friday. This should be an interesting experience leaving Bladen home alone with Nate... let's just say I've been a stress case! An hour after I fly in, Nate and I will head over to the McGladrey Christmas party. We then have the next couple of days to finish up packing our house. We then only have 2 days to be moved into our new house before we are off to Utah for Christmas break!! I hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving!

Bladen's 2nd Birthday!

2008-11-17T20:20:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was Bladen’s 2nd birthday and he had a great day! He started the celebrations on Friday at his daycare party. I took in frosted cookies for the kids and they made him his Birthday Boy hat. Yesterday he slept in and then we let him open all his presents from us and our families. He is quite the spoiled kid! Our house is so little and we wanted to have a party for him this year, so we reserved the basement of Monical’s Pizza and invited 14 of his friends! I was so worried about having the party at a restaurant with a bunch of 2 year olds because I knew they would want to run around and be wild, but I was so relieved when we got there and realized it would only be us and another party downstairs. The kids couldn’t wait to get their hats and cupcakes - they barely ate any of their dinner. And just before we all left, Bladen was being his usual entertaining self by spinning in circles until he got so dizzy and was crashing into everything to make the girls laugh! He had a good day and I’m so sad to see him grow up!

Halloween

2008-11-13T19:43:00.000-08:00

I'm a little late getting these posted, but we had a Happy Halloween this year! Bladen had a day full of fun! The night before Halloween we carved all 5 of our pumpkins... yes B had to have 5! The next morning he woke up so excited to have his Halloween party at school so he could finally eat his snacks... now he's ADDICTED to snacks! He then had the parade at daycare where they go up and down the street of the school for all the parents. He was a cute Mickey!

Time to Jump on the Blogging Band Wagon

2008-11-01T20:46:00.000-07:00

I've jumped on the blogging band wagon, but am having the hardest time figuring it out! Thanks to Danielle I've at least learned how to add friends and that's about it. I will continue to work on to see if I can get mine looking as good as the rest of yours :)