Chore Chart

We have a chore chart for Oliver that we have found to be very helpful. Basically on the chart, it breaks everything down from the chore he is suppose to do to the day he is suppose to do it on, but that was too specific for our liking so we just listed some things that are expected of Oliver. Every night we would go over the day to see how many stars he had earned. This has been so helpful especially when it came to taking showers, saying prayers and putting his clothes and toys away. Ever since we have started the chore chart, Oliver has been behaving so much better (not that we had big problems in the past). This past weekend, Oliver filled all 64 boxes and was rewarded his promised five dollar bill. He was so happy and quite frankly, so were we. He said that he can't wait to get more money so that he can buy a new Skylanders toy. Only 64 more boxes to go, buddy.

 

Week Review

A lot happened this past week, but I wasn't able to take a picture of every single thing. Anyhow, here is a re-cap our our week 3/4-3/10 (my weeks run from Monday to Sunday)

 

Monday:

We had a few friends over for some dinner and ping pong. It was a lot of fun to just hang out and talk and eat good food. I wish I would have taken a picture of  it.

 

Tuesday:

Nothing really happened on Tuesday except that Wreck-it Ralph came out. We went to see this movie with Oliver on New Years day and we loved it, so Oliver was very excited when I surprised him with this movie today. Best part was that as I grabbed the movie, a lady turned to me and asked if I wanted a coupon for it. Of course I did, so she handed me this 7 dollar off coupon. So awesome when you buy a blu ray for only $12.99 and when others spread the love. Thank you stranger.

 

 

Wednesday:

Luke's cousin was having a Mac/Hot Mess make-up party at her place and Amy, Brooke, Jenny and me went together. Some of us had our make-up done and others just shopped around. In the end we all bought some fun make-up and had a great time. Before heading home we grabbed a bite to eat at The Training Table. It was fun spending a night out with the Jensen's and looking fabulous...or like a trannie...

Thursday:

Grandma Holly night is really the best night of the week. She is so nice to take all the grand kids once a week for a few hours and not only watch them, but feed them and make crafts and play with them. The best! Since the parents are kid less, we take advantage of this night and occasionally go out together. (sadly, Cade and Em already had plans) This night, Trent, Amy, Luke and Me went to dinner together. We headed to a new place that Amy had recently eaten at, Melty Way. It was great and following dinner and some ice cream, we headed back to watch Argo before all the kids got home. It was perfect.

 

Friday:

I had a visitor today at work. Oliver came to hang out for a little while. I think he loved it as much as I loved having him. He drew on the board for a little while. He drew our family, Wolverine and Jesus(not pictured), but he had some super awesome long hair. We ate M&M's and he ran down the hall ways with Izz. After my work got out, we headed over to the salon so that I could get a hair cut. I needed to go shorter and I was very pleased with the results. Loved it more this way than the first way I cut it. Oliver did very good while I got my hair done and he ended up falling asleep on the couch. That night we watched another movie and hung out.   

Saturday:

 

I woke up early Saturday morning and lounged around. Oliver came into our room and asked to snuggle and watch cartoons. I got a phone call from Amy shortly after letting me know that she was on her way down so that we could go running together. 9 miles later we were done and it felt so awesome. We treated ourselves (and husbands) to some Kevas and cinnamon burst bread. It was the best recovery meal and tasted so good. 

 While we were running, Luke started tearing out the other bathroom so that we could start remodeling it. It was so great to walk in to find a torn out bathroom. Seriously, can't wait to have a brand new tub.

Sunday:

Woke up early because of daylight savings to make it to 9 o'clock church. Napped after church. Had dinner with the Veigel side and capped off the night with a little Walking Dead. A Sunday at its best.

 

It was great having a weekend of watching movies, hanging out and not having anything major to do.  

 

This coming week is going to be busy busy and already can't wait.

 

 

Weekend Review

Thursday night Luke bought tickets to Radical Reels where they take the best videos from BANFF and combine them into a three hour film festival. We have been going to this for years now and it's something that we look forward to every year. Before heading to Kingsbury Hall, we hit up the Pie.

Friday night we took Oliver to Pace's followed by soccer registration and swimming at the rec center. Oliver loves swimming and could stay in there for hours.  

Saturday we had dinner with my sister and her family at Goodwood BBQ. It was really good, but it was so far away. Still worth it to be with them.

 

On Sunday we headed out to Eagle Mountain for my Cousin's baby blessing. As always we love spending time with these cousins and love celebrating the blessing of a new baby. My cousins daughter, Melanie loved going to Luke because he would hang her upside down. She is so crazy and would belly laugh and clap when he would do this.

And in between we got our running in (Luke included), Christmas lights away, Snow and ice cleaned off the roof, house cleaned, watched movies, and relaxed. 

Perfect Conditions

 

Amy and I have been running together for weeks now. I don't know about her, but I love it. This girl can run and she pushes me to run faster, harder and in the end, better.

 

So she showed up Saturday morning and we decided to do 6-8 miles that day. She did say that there might be a storm coming in so we took off hoping to beat it.

 

About half a mile in it started to hail and become very windy and it whipped us in the face AND it hurt. I really didn't know how much of that I was going to be able to take, but we kept going.

 And then it really started to snow

Amy introduced me to the beast, also known as Val Verda. It's a steady uphill climb all the way to Davis Blvd. It sucked.

 The snow really started to stick. Snow plows passed us again and again but we kept on going.

 

 After 6 cold, wet, crazy miles, we were done...and it was awesome!

 

That day I wore fingerless gloves, a cloth headband and regular running pants instead of my warm fleece lined running pants. I was frozen! Not even the hottest shower got me warm after that.



 

However, I was so happy that I was done running that day. Thanks Amy, for being my running coach and pushing me to do hard things like running in a snow storm.

Tater-Tot

Our nephew Tayten turned 11 this year. I can hardly believe it. I remember the day he was born like it was yesterday.

 

This year to celebrate him, we were invited to have lunch at Ihop with him and the families.

 It was a party of 27 so we had a whole section reserved for the group.

Afterwards, they put together a party back at their house. Taleesha did such an awesome job with the decorations, cake and activities. Seriously, I was very impressed.

 

Happy Birthday, Tate!

"Can I borrow some nickels"

Nickel auction has been going strong in our neighborhood for a while now. I however, have been slacking when it comes to attending these things. Last night I decided it was time to start up again, so I called some of my girls and we hit up the local NA.

We had a great time sitting around bidding and laughing and eating. I forgot how fun these can be when you have some good Friends with you.

I have to note that this was Melissa's first time ever. She showed up to see what the show was all about and in the end she was so into it, that she even had to borrow some nickels and even went home with arm fulls of new treasures. I promised Luke that I wouldn't buy anything, but broke that promise when I bought a Gone With the Wind antique book for a buck twenty five. Good times.

Cabin

This past weekend we had the opportunity to hang out with the Jensen's up at their family cabin. In previous years we have gone without kids, but this year they all came along and it was fun to have them up there.

Before going up, we stopped to get some food at Cafe Rio which was much needed. It was no secret that I was a monster because I was so hungry so this stop made me very happy.

 

Party of 10

 I didn't take a single picture the whole time I was there so I couldn't show you how funny it was to pull Oliver 2 miles up a mountain on a sled. He had his head lamp on and acted like we were his horses telling us not to stop and that he even needed to rest his legs. Trent came to pick us up on the snowmobile once they had dropped off all the kids and cargo. We were pretty happy to see him. As he pulled us up the rest of the way, Luke was so giddy riding in the back in the toboggan (sp?) hitting bumps. smelling fumes, getting snow in his face and squishing me. He didn't stop squealing the whole time. It was great!

 

We settled in and got cozy by the wood burning fire which is an absolute favorite. We also watched movies, played games, ate really good food, went sledding, Luke made a cave for the kids, Amy and I napped and read all weekend, we played hide and go seek, talked, and overall had an awesome time.

 

Only downside was when Oliver and I got the stomach bug that lasted for about 12 hours. No bueno.

Andrew was a gimp on the trip, so I was trying to help him stretch his sore legs.

 

Sleeping arrangements.

 

 Jensen kids plus Oliver.

 

 Snowmobiling back down with Oliver. We usually sled out, but since I was feeling like crap, I was so happy to ride down this way...actually I loved it!

These two were so hard core, they broke their sleds. 

Love him and Loved this weekend. Thanks Jensen's!