Shopaholic??

Wade's brother Quinitn just got a job down here in Salt Lake, so he and his wife Amanda have been staying with us for the past week. Since they are both blind, I've been helping them run their errands and whatnot. So the other day, we were running around and Quintin needed to go into Old Navy to exchange some pants. The kids and Amanda decided to just wait in the car so we could just run in and out. Amanda knows that I LOVE to shop, and I do it pretty frequently, so while they waited in the car she was talking to the kids about it. She asked them if they would rather be shopping or stay home. They both answered that they would rather be home. Then she asked them what they would be doing if they were home...Keaton says "I play my games to KEEP MY MIND OFF OF SHOPPING"!  I swear, the things that kid comes up with crack me up! He's too much! :o)

A long overdue update

I've been a slacker about updating our family blog. It's kinda tough keeping up 2 blogs, and I'm always updating my photography blog, so this one gets put on the back burner :o(

Averie went off track a couple of weeks ago, and she went to stay with Uncle Quintin and Aunt Amanda up in Logan for the week. I went up there a day or so later and hung out with them and shuttled them around, since they're both blind. We had a great time. It was like a little "stay-cation". It's been SO long since I've been on vacation that it literally felt like a vacation to get away to Logan for a few days. Can you say PATHETIC!! We went out to dinner, shopping, went to the Fun Park and I helped them decorate their house. I also told Quintin about a job with the State as a Braille Proofreader and helped him apply for it. He's so excited because he got called for an interview this Thursday! I hope he gets it!!

So, let's see...Thanksgiving week was great. Wade actually headed to work that Sunday night, but the storm made the roads a SUPER big mess, so he made it passed Evanston and then turned around and came back home. Since it was going to be a short week anyway, he was able to stay home with us all week. Averie has been off track, so we were all together every single day. We needed the quality family time...it was great!

We had Thanksgiving at my mom's house, as usual. It was pretty low key, which was nice. All of us, minus my mom,  took a short trip up the road and did some family pictures for our Christmas Cards this year. They turned out pretty cute!

Then of course, we had a sleep over so we could wake up and go BLACK FRIDAY shopping!! Even Wade got up at 5:30 to head to Home Depot for a Shop-Vac, which he didn't end up getting. He said there were only a handful of people there, but they were all there for the vaccuums and he wasn't going to fight anyone over it. We ended up going to Lowe's and paying $10 more for one. But he was a trooper. He tagged along with my mom and I while grammy Shelly stayed home with the kiddos. He even suggested that we hit the mall...I almost had to take his temperature, because that is WAY out of character for him! So to sum up Black Friday...Wal-mart, Home Depot, Lowe's, Smith's Marketplace, Southtowne Mall, TJ Maxx & Ross...then La Frontera for dinner...YUM! We took a short break for leftover Thanksgiving dinner for lunch :o)

So, we're excited for Christmas around our house. I put the tree up the day before Thanksgiving because I knew the day after would be full of shopping! I've also been a little crafty and made a "Christmas Countdown".

Wade is back to work this week in Waldon, CO...which is where he's been for the past several months. The job is winding down, and he'll probably be laid off in the next couple of weeks. But....he's heard there's quite a bit of work coming up in UTAH, so keep your fingers crossed for us!

The kids and I are getting ready to take a trip down to Moab with the Grammy's. Shelly has a case down there and we're going with! It should be fun, since I've never been to Moab. Isn't that crazy? I've been here my entire life and never been to Moab?! I'm taking the camera, so hopefully I'll have some good shots to share when I get back.

Halloween Fun...And not so fun!

We were really excited for Halloween this year because Wade was actually able to be home! :o)  We went to a couple different Halloween parties. It's so fun to dress up...We LOVE it!!

My mom and I went to Averie's Halloween Parade at school and then I volunteered to help out with her class party. I don't know how teacher's do it EVERY SINGLE DAY!  I really admire them!!

Miss Fairy Averie (excuse the date stamp)

Ave in the School Parade

Averie with her teacher Mrs. Beckstead

Halloween day was off to a great start until Keaton started getting a cough and a fever around 2:00p.m.. We put him down for a nap, hoping that would help, and he woke up even worse. The poor kid was whiney and clingey and only went to 5 houses trick-or-treating before he wanted to go home. He was shivering and teeth clattering, and it was probably the nicest weather we've had on Halloween for years. Wade took him home and I stayed out with Averie. We went around with Danielle, Lisa, Shannon, Jesse and all of their kids. This is such a great neighborhood!! Then Keaton wanted to go trick-or-treating with my friends Brandy & Steph's kids, so we bundled him up and took him out in the stroller. He only went to 2 doors. I felt so bad for him! I didn't want him to miss out!! I made Averie carry his bag around to get some candy for him. I just realized that we didn't even get any pictures of Keaton in his costume :o( He was the Bumble Bee Transformer. We were just hoping that he didn't catch the stupid swine flu, but he's been feeling much better. Too bad Averie, my mom and Shelly aren't feeling well now. I'm just waiting for my turn :o(

PiNk EyE

Isn't it Lovely??  I've had it one other time, several years ago, and this time it's different. It's not itchy and there's no goopey eye boogies that seal your eye shut while you sleep...Nope, not this time. That's a good thing I guess, but it feels like someone threw a handful of sand into my eye! Not very fun!!! I'm hoping the antibiotic drops will help it to heal quickly. It's kind of hard to do photoshoots when the eye that you use to look through the lense is all screwed up!

The last few weeks...

Here's a recap of the last few weeks.

1. Went to the Nickelback concert with a bunch of my friends. I wish that Wade could have come too, because he really likes all of the bands that played. Nickelback, Papa Roach, Saving Abel, and Hinder. We had a great time. I was the D.D. and I am a master at getting out of the parking lots at the Usana Ampitheater. I had us out of there in 2 minutes flat!

2. I turned 29!  I started the day out by going to breakfast with my Aunt Neen, my Mom, Wade and the kids and my friend Danielle. We ate at Mimi's and it was an Awesome breakfast. Then Danielle and I went shopping for awhile and then I met up with my mom awhile later to continue shopping. Wade was an awesome daddy and took care of the kids all day so I could do whatever I wanted. Then I had dinner plans with a bunch of girls from my neighborhood. We all went to Tsunami in South Jordan and we ended up at Club Allure (the old Sandy's Station). I had never been there before and that was pretty fun. The next day we had a tee time at River Oaks and I played golf with my Mom, Shelly, Wade, Matt and Kirk. That was alot of fun, but I need to get out more often. My game was less than Stellar. Then we met up with my sister-in-law at Iggy's for lunch. That was fun. That night, I thought we were going out to dinner with my friend Mindy and her husband Johnny. Little did I know, Wade and Mindy had planned a surprise birthday party for me. It was so much fun! The only thing that would have made it better is if I could remember what happened from about midnight on. Never let your friends talk you into doing shots just because you're the birthday girl! I was puking from about 2:00a.m. until almost 8:30 p.m. the next night. It was terrible!! I guess you only turn 29 once, right?

Breakfast at Mimi's

Mom & Shelly

Matt (Brother), Wade & Kirk (Father-in-Law)

I may have missed that one :o)

Lunch at Iggy's

Me and Mindy (Party Planner)

Me & my Honey!

3. Wade and I and a group of friends went out to see Larry the Cable Guy in Wendover. He is HILARIOUS!! It was totally worth it, and it was a nice little get-away! We stayed the night at the Golden Nugget and gambled a little bit. Too bad neither of us won any money :o(  Also, I don't have any pictures of this outing, because I failed to mention in my birthday post that I dropped my camera at the party and broke it! Don't worry...it was just my little point and shoot camera...Not my Missy Lee camera :o)


So, that's what's been going on in our little world!! I've also done some new photography shoots, so you should check out my other blog... http://www.missyleephotography.blogspot.com/

Camping

Some friends of mine own property in Duchesne at Starvation Lake. Every year, they take a week off and go camping. They invited us to come along, and since I don't have a job right now I can go wherever and whenever I want! Wade was working, but I decided that I could handle it with the kids by myself. So, I packed up and we left Tues. night. Averie was coloring on the ride up there and I kept asking her if her tummy felt OK because "car sickness" runs in the family. She kept saying she was fine. We pulled into the gas station in Heber to get some ice for the coolers and right as we pulled in she said "Mom"! I look back and she's got her hand over her mouth. So I flung my door open and jumped out to open hers. Well, she couldn't get her seatbelt undone to get out, so as I'm leaning over her to get the belt undone, she PUKES!! ALL DOWN THE FRONT OF ME! I was wearing a v-neck shirt and I ended up with CHUNKS in my bra! Seriously SO DISGUSTING!! I almost lost it about 7 times, I swear. My friends that I was following loaned me a t-shirt to change into because my clothes were burried somewhere in the back of the car. I went into the restroom and tried to wash my bra out with soap and water because it was totally disgusting. I wish I could have just thrown it away, but I didn't take more than one bra cause we were only going to be there a couple of days.

After all of that, we get back on the road for another hour or so and we make it to the property around 6:30 p.m. Since Wade is working in Colorado, he has our trailer so we were really going to rough it in a tent. After owning a trailer, I realized how big of a pain in the butt it is to camp in a tent! So anyways, there's tons of stuff that I need to unpack and get set-up, but no big deal, right? That's what I thought. The kids are playing around with all of the other kids and there are plenty of adults to keep an eye out. After about 30 minutes or so, one of the guys tells me that he can't find Keaton & his son Vance. Well, I didn't get too worried about it because the property is fenced off and they always wonder, but have never gone too far (we've been once before). Then a few more minutes goes by and I ask if anybody has seen them yet, and no one had. So now I start to get a little worried and walking around yelling their names. Vance's mom and Dad and I can't find them anywhere around the camp. So we go back and tell everyone we're going to need their help. We drove up and down the main dirt road and we don't see anything. Now I'm starting to panic, because there is a ravine that leads down to the lake. I start making my way down there all the while screaming and yelling their names. I can hear other people yelling for them too, but I don't hear them! The sun was starting to set by this time and I was getting sick to my stomach. I can't imagine it being dark and still not have found them. After about an hour of searching for them, someone finally found them playing in a pile of junk on another persons property. I'm guessing that they were about 1/4 mile away from our camp. I was obviously so relieved to find them, but I was pissed off at the same time. Keaton and I had a BIG long discussion and then he had to spend the rest of that night in the tent! Being grounded while camping is no fun, but I'm hoping he learned his lesson...I know I did! Don't go camping without your husband!!

Here's a picture of the two "Troublemakers" Keaton & Vance

The rest of the time, we had a lot of fun. We spent about 5 hours at the lake one day and 7 hours the next day. The water was pretty choppy for the most part, but the boat rides were still fun. I went out on the tube with my kids. Keaton loved it and Averie hated it! She's not very brave when it comes to that kind of stuff, but then again, neither am I. I've always kind of had a fear of water...? Maybe because I almost drowned at Raging Waters when I was a kid. I took Keaton for a ride on a waverunner, and he didn't like that. The water was so bad that it was almost a continuous wave of water in our faces. So we only did that for about 5 minutes.

I couldn't wait for Thursday night because that's when Wade was able to come. I was so glad he made it. It's SO much easier when you have the extra help. He didn't get there until about 9:30, but we hung around the campfire with everyone. Then we got up and headed to the lake at about 9:00. Wade prefers to wakeboard, but nobody had one so he just kneeboarded and skied. He makes everything look so easy! He had never tried to Slolomn ski, but he did it on his 2nd try! Then we got Keaton out in the lake to get him used to the water and slowly convinced him to get on the kneeboard. He screamed the whole time...poor little guy was scared out of his mind. But Wade just drug behind him on the board, and everything was fine...that is until Wade lost his grip and fell off. Then Keaton really started to freak! We went for a little ways and he wrecked and went under. He did not like that one bit! He did like to watch the little video of it though.

So, in a nutshell....that was our camping trip! I don't think I'll try it again without Wade. At least for a few years, and by then, he better be able to go with us! :o)

One of the trucks got stuck the first day when he was launching the waverunners.

Jaedyn & Averie with their twinner hairdo's

The kids used this shallow part of the lake for boat races in their rafts

Steph, Brandy & Kellie

Keaton's first time on a kneeboard...scared to death!