Weekend Get-a-Way

I just love weekend get-a-ways! Especially when they are spent with my main guy!

Ben and I had such a great "kid-less" weekend!
Thursday we were able to meet
my mom in Fillmore so she could take the kids up north for a few days!
A HUGE shout-out to her for all her help! Thank you mom and Auntie Lou!!
Anyway... Friday I spent pretty much ALL day shopping...
(well looking is more like it.)

It's so weird doing that without kids! Really weird.
Friday night though we went to Cafe Rio for dinner and then
to Colbie Caillat's concert and let me just say it was freakin' awesome!!

This is the third time I have seen her in concert and I seriously just love it!
There is just something about her music that I love!
So after the concert, we were walking
towards our car and noticed her tour buses...
long story, short we waited outside them for about half an hour until she came out!!

I got her autograph and a picture.
I know, I am SUCH a dork! It was so fun though!
Saturday after work ,we headed down to Vegas
where we met up with Ben's brother and SIL.

We had a delicious dinner at Maggiono's and then caught Avatar in 3D.

Thanks Spencer and Heidi for letting us spend the night! :)

Sunday we did some shopping, ate out some more and saw Valentine's Day.

Sunday night we stayed out at Green Valley Ranch.

Monday however, we had to head back to the real world!
I had to work and Ben picked up the kids!

I was actually so ready to get them back!
I really missed their little faces!
Well, until our next mini-vacation...

I love you Babe! Thanks so much for that much needed down time! :) xoxo

Here are a few pictures so you know that I'm not making anything up!! ;)

Smiley Face

(Sorry about that awful glare!)

The other morning Benson spilled some of his cheerios on the table and got a little creative.

He called me over and said

"Look mom, its happy! It's a smiley face!"

So minor but it made my whole day! :)

Just a few pictures of the kids outside while we were in Montana. It was so cold, your snot would freeze. Seriously! It was so sad because they would fall into the snow to make snow angels and the snow was so hard and frozen, it was like landing on the side walk! They only lasted about 10 minutes but had fun anyway! :)

Such a slacker...

Don't mind that it is now February, almost Valentine's Day actually and I am just now getting around to posting Christmas. I wouldn't even bother if I wasn't planning on turning this into a book.... someday! Regardless, I should jot down some of my thoughts from that holiday anyway. We had a great time. We always do when we go to Montana. Something about that place on the hill makes me smile and sorta warms my heart, even though it was in the negatives most of the time we were there! :) My grandma, who has recently had part of her leg amputated due to diabetes, managed to have so many cookies and treats that it made Candy Land look amateur. (All of which she made and baked by herself!) She's amazing and I love her.

The kids had a blast this year. They both finally understood what was going on and totally enjoyed all the attention and presents. Benson's highlight was the sa-weet Transformer bumblebee scooter that Santa (ie Black Grandma) got for him. He also became the reigning Whack-a-mole champion! Hiley loved her soft new pink blanket and baby carrier as well as the Tinker Bell hair stuff. Ben and I decided to get new cell phones for Christmas so I got my iPhone a little later and we are still looking for one that Ben just has to have!

It was so fun spending time with my Uncle John and Aunt Jeanette who were visiting from Alaska! We also hung out with Kamery and Hayden, Kenzi, Cory and Kim. Lindsey and Zach were able to join us for a few days too and that was fun hanging out with them!

All I can say is that I ate wayyyyy too much this year but had a blast none the less. I was sad to leave. I always am. I just always feel so grateful to have such an amazing family and I always, always worry that it might just be the last time I get to see them. My grandparents are getting up there. They are both in pretty good shape, it just worries me. I'm a freak I know and I just need to take in and love the time I have with them. I can't wait to get back to the house on the hill. Hopefully, in March! :)

Family Pictures

Just wanted to post some of our family pictures we had taken for our Christmas card this year. If you like what you see, go here and get in touch with my very sweet and talented friend Tiffany!

So many Santa's so little time....

A whole new level of hardcore...

There's this movie that just came out. I don't know if you've heard of it. It's called New Moon? Hhhmm. I don't think it's very popular. Oh well, I decided to go ALL OUT for it anyway!!! Talk about being crazy. My husband thinks I am. I'm ok with that! So first, before I say anything else, I need to give my sweet, talented friend Brooke a huge SHOUT OUT! This girl is A-MA-ZING! She helped me with about 75% of this "project" and didn't get any of the credit so with that said... THANK YOU Brooke! You're the bomb!!!

Ok, so back to New Moon.... I hosted bunko this month and thought it would only be appropriate to have a party centered around the movie premier. We had a blast. (Well, I did at least!) I did a La Push type setting with "real" drift wood that Brooke and I went and loaded by ourselves from the river. We had a fog machine and a sa-weet moon with a wolf in the back ground. I hung up blue vinyl to give it an ocean-y feel and then to top it off , the New Moon soundtrack was playing in the background. Home-made pizza was served with a tossed salad and Bri made some awesome wolf cupcakes! I also made "puppy-chow" since Jacob is sometimes considered a "dog"! The top two winners won Twilight themed necklaces from Nordstrom's and the third place was the New Moon board game. Everyone left with the new Twilight scented lotion from Bath and Body that was decorated with a Moon. We also had Jacob covered water bottles and IBC root beer!

After we played our bunko game, we headed over to the theater to catch the midnight showing. We were there for about 2 1/2 hours before it started but had a great time talking and laughing before hand!
All in all, it was a great night! I'm just so glad it's over! ;) Thanks again to everyone who helped... especially Suz, Brooke and Ben! You guys rock!! Oh and hello. My sister Lou came all the way down from Salt Lake to see the movie with me and the bunko gals! Thanks Lauren!! It was so fun having you here!

P.S. I seriously loved the movie. I have always, for the most part been Team Jacob but now I know I made the right choice! ;) But seriously, I cannot wait to see it again!

It was dang good! Fantastic! Um, Edward who?

Now, just how many more days until Eclipse exactly???

To see some more pictures of this awesome night, click here http://allthingsthrifty.com/!