Icy Cold Cabin Fever

It's like those few really warm days last week were a cruel joke... getting us all excited for spring, spending our days at the park and going on bike rides, only to be trapped in our homes the next 5 days due to bitter cold and icy conditions. We're starting to defrost over here, but since our house faces north, you're greeted by this as you walk up to our front door...

If you don't slip and break your neck walking on that, there's still the jagged icicles hanging overhead to watch out for...

Despite the looks of it, it's actually a pretty nice day out where the sun is shining. Warm enough even for me to venture out to the backyard to get a few photos before the winter wonderland completely melts away...

I also thought I'd share a few photos of what we've been doing to keep the kiddos busy while we've been cooped up inside...

The boys (cousin Luke included) love to turn on the demo songs on the piano and dance. They have different dances for the different kinds of songs - fast and slow, crazy and quiet... it's pretty funny to watch them get into the music.

One night I got so desperate for something to do, I pulled out an old box of glow bracelets left over from Halloween. The kids were mesmerized...

Another thing we've been doing while we've been home-bound, although not so fun, is really focusing on potty training. I'm VERY happy to report that just yesterday Ben pooped on the big potty for the first time... WOOHOO! No, I don't have a photo of it to share (I'm sure you're all very disappointed), but here's one that sort of ties in with the potty training theme...

We found him dead asleep in nothing but his birthday suit the other night! I figure he decided to get undressed in case he had to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night? Or maybe he just has a new fascination with getting undressed now that he can do it all by himself to go potty. Poor kid was freezing, but at least the bed was dry!

Looking forward to a warm weekend out of the house!

Blue Skies & Bike Rides

We've had some amazing weather the last couple days...

And we've spent almost every minute of daylight outside soaking it up before it disappears again...

And the cherry on top is that Ben finally decided to give riding his big bike another try. You see, he's the stubborn type, and when he couldn't get the pedaling thing down right away this past summer, he gave up and didn't want a thing to do with that darn bike. I randomly pulled it out of the garage a couple days ago and he hopped right on and took off like a pro... and hasn't wanted to do anything but ride it since! The only thing he needed help with was slowing down and stopping...

So, we had a quick lesson on how to...

No problem. Mo had fun watching and doing what he does best...

And he has his most prized possessions (diapey, bear blanket, and binky) with him at all times these days. When he wasn't wandering the, thankfully very dead, streets as he tried to keep up with brother, he took a few minutes to check his messages (he's very popular)...

Apparently, they were a little too personal to share with me...

After taking care of his personal matters, he waited patiently to hear back from whoever it was...

Or maybe he was just waiting for an invitation from his cool big brother...

Hope you all have a beautiful day!

All About Ben

Ben just makes me laugh. Yes, he can be stubborn, frustrating, and very naughty (hello, he's 3) but he's mostly just entertaining and has a fun personality. In a few words, I'd say silly, creative, and excitable. I've been lucky enough to get some pictures recently that have his personality written all over them...

I love the sneaky smile he has when he thinks he's getting away with something.

He's such a curious little boy, especially about how things work. In this picture, he was opening and closing the drawer of the table from underneath so he could see all the working parts... maybe a future engineer?

Just being silly for the camera...

His energy and excitement are contagious...

The other day when I was getting him down from breakfast, he had a surprise for me, a secret...

Very Napoleon Dynamite... got any tots in there?

In short, you could say he's all boy... and we LOVE him!

Always Kiss Me Goodnight

I usually save this kind of stuff for my scrapblog, but the 2 readers who check it already know about this. So, for those of you who might care, I want you check out the latest creation by my sister, Jeni...

This is definitely my new favorite kit... so fun and HUGE too! Here's what I've made with it so far...

You can also get a little coordinating freebie on her blog right now... go check it out!

The Amazing Race

My sister, Jeni, and I have teamed up again for the Amazing Digi Scrapping Race going on right now. We're already finished with the first week's challenges, but there will be many more to come. If you're interested in checking out what we're up to, go here... Just thought I'd let you know in advance that I might be slacking off on the blog for awhile because of it!

Party Like It's 2009!

I know this is late, but Happy New Year! We're still recovering from spending the first few days of 2009 in the Crescent City...

First on the to-do list, go here...

There's so much to see and do in just these few blocks, you could spend all day. We saw the sights...

Classic, and a little crazy...

Please note his little silver friend riding in the basket :)

We even took...

And I do mean wild. There were whole blocks on this street where we had to keep our eyes strictly on the pavement, and even then you're not completely safe from seeing something you don't want to. It wasn't all bad though. We, and the other few Utah fans, amidst the sea of Crimson Tide Alabamans appreciated this gesture...

We also appreciated all the deliciousness New Orleans had to offer. You can't go to the French Quarter and not visit Cafe Du Monde...

We stood in line for half an hour to scarf down a plate of puff pastries in about 5 minutes...

We stood in another line for a half hour later that day to eat here...

But we had to take our time to get down all of this...

Just the hearty meal we needed to prepare ourselves for the long and exciting night ahead as we celebrated our anniversary... No, not that kind of long and exciting night, this kind...

Truth be told, the Sugar Bowl was really the main reason for our little road trip. I had been joking with John that a football game does NOT count as an anniversary celebration, but it turned out to be such a fun and exciting game, not to mention the front row seats thanks to John's nephew, Paul, on the team!...

Paul's little brother, David, is a red-shirt Freshman on the team too...

You could definitely say we were sitting in...

But it sure was fun! We even made it on the big screen a couple times thanks to the crazy red mo-hawk guy...

If you follow college football at all, you know that no one gave Utah a chance at beating Alabama. Not sure why seeing as how they're the only undefeated team in the country. Much to the dismay of the so-called "Crimson Tide", they kept it that way...

Most of the Super Dome cleared out in the last few minutes. I guess all those 'Bama fans I had to hear saying "Roll Tide" all day long in the streets of New Orleans just weren't in the mood to congratulate us...

They had strict security keeping any of the fans from getting on the field, but luckily, a lot of the players came to us. We had to wait a while to see Paul. Apparently, he's...

He must have done 4 or 5 interviews while all the other players were running around celebrating, but we eventually got to congratulate him in person...

Thanks again for the tickets, Paul! You had a great game!

We were going to wake up early and see some more of New Orleans the next day, but the big game wore us out. All we had time to do was check out of our hotel and stop to get a book on CD for the 8 hour drive home. I guess that means we'll be back someday to finish what we started. Who knows, maybe it'll be next year to see both the Kruger boys playing in the Sugar Bowl... go UTES!

P.S. We have to give a HUGE shout out to Dan & Bree for taking care of our little rascals while we were away. Sleeping in and being fancy free for 2 days straight is the best anniversary present I could ever ask for!