Why I love Utah

The mountains in Utah have always been one of the top things I love about Utah. They're a HUGE part of why I never want to move far away. It's been a long time since we've gone for a drive up the canyon, but we picked the perfect time to do it, because the leaves were gorgeous! I don't remember ever seeing them so bright. Noah was quite the mountain climber, he's a natural! Pretty soon he'll be snowboarding down them. Bostyn wanted to walk around too SO bad, but she didn't have shoes. She kept getting so mad at me. When Chris and Noah climbed up further and I was taking pictures of them, she got scared and was freaking out. As soon as Chris came down, she hugged him so tight. It was cute!

Our sunny-filled weekend

We had a nice weekend this last weekend, and it could be our last of the year. So we decided to take the kids to Murray Park and play for a little bit. The next weekend will be filled with Halloween-related activities, so we knew this would be the last trip to the park. It's the first time Bostyn's been able to run around and play. Except for the trip on the curb and landing nose-first on wood chips, she had a blast!

Family home evening

Last weekend, Chris & I dropped the kids off at Oma and Opa's for family home evening. Chris and I went out to Tepanyaki (and ate sushi for the first time together!) Here are a few pics from that night of the kids playing.

First snow

Thanks to our crazy Utah weather, when I stepped outside to get something out of the car at 2am, I discovered our first valley snowfall. The snow was still there this morning, but just in case it wasn't, I grabbed the camera to take pictures and show Noah when he woke up. When we woke up this morning, I didn't have to show him the pics but just had to open the blinds instead. The first thing he said to me as soon as he saw the snow:

"MOM! Should we go to my BIRTHDAY party?!"

This is the second thing he said to me (after I told him that his birthday was still a while away):

"Should we go outside and throw snowballs?"

Bostyn's idea of doing the dishes

Bostyn helped me do the dishes today, except that she felt there was a better place for them than the dishwasher.

Fight breast cancer

On Wednesday night, the fam & I went to Sunflower Market on State to pick up some fruit (gala apples .39/lb, bartlett pears .38/lb WOW) and they were selling bags to replace plastic bags, and the bags were pink & said something about fighting breast cancer. They were also selling the rubber bracelets to show your support in a cause and Chris surprised me and bought one. I put it on right away and wore it the rest of the night, until I went to bed. I took it off and put it on my nightstand. In the morning when I woke up from my alarm clock on my phone, I kind of slammed my hand down where I'd hit the snooze button, but I couldn't get the snooze to work; there was my bracelet, on my phone & in my way! So I threw the bracelet off of my phone, hit snooze & went back to sleep for 5 minutes until my alarm went off again. I was more awake & looked at my phone to shut off the alarm and I saw a message that Chris had written me in my phone before he left for work at 5 am:

If you don't wear this that means you want cancer to win. Which in turn means you love cancer. Don't be a cancer lover cara. Don't be a cancer lover.

MUSIC.......?

Not to take away from Amber & Matich's special day but does anyone know why my wife got rid of all our good music on this thing? This new stuff is horrible. XchrisX

Happy Anniversary AmberMatich!

In honor of your one year ann, I'd like to post some pictures, mostly of Noah, that I think are great memories from that wonderful day!!!

Homemade meal

Here's our fend-for-yourself dinner night:

Mac & cheese
canned carrots
chips & salsa
chicken patty sandwich
smoothie
teddy grahams
I don't know what happened to the canned beans Chris said he was going to open...

Who's hungry?!

Thank you Rosy, again

Welcome to the new 2008 edition of getting to know your friends! Here is what you are supposed to do, and try not to be lame and spoil the fun. Change all the answers so that they apply to you. Then send this to a bunch of people you know, INCLUDING the person who sent it to you. The easiest way to do it is to hit 'forward' so you can change the answers. Have fun and be truthful!

1. What is your occupation?
Good Ol' Dana Orthodontics, West Valley office

2. What color are your socks right now?
white ankle socks. I washed them last night, so they were crispy clean out of the dryer this morn

3. What are you listening to right now?
Not music, I'm at work! But we are watching Toy Story

4. What was the last thing that you ate?
Breakfast: one packet of high fiber Quaker Oatmeal, Maple and Brown sugar

5. Can you drive a stick shift?
It's been a few years, but yes. Chris taught me. I remember being scared out of my mind!

6. Last person you spoke to on the phone?
If texting counts, Chris. But the last person I talked to on the phone was Margie at 5:30pm last night

7. Do you like the person who sent this to you?
Heck YES! Rosy is the best!

8. How old are you today?
26...going on 40

9. What is your favorite sport to watch?
No sports-watching on TV, I have to be there in person. It's a toss-up between baseball and football.

10. What is your favorite drink?
Depends on my mood. If I need caffeine, RockStar. If I don't want caffeine, sweetened iced tea

11. Have you ever dyed your hair?
Yes. I think I've only done it once or twice myself and I will never do it myself again! I need to get my hair dyed, it's been a year since my last cut and dye!

12. Favorite food?
That also depends on my mood, but I will never get tired of: salmon, pork, steak, sweet potatoes, chocolate cake

13. What was the last movie you watched?
Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Chris bought it last night on DVD. Tonight: Iron Man!

14. Favorite day of the year?
Thanksgiving/Christmas. I just love seeing and spending time with all of our families

15. How do you vent anger?
Rarely. I just get quiet and snappy

16. What was your favorite toy as a child?
Barbies

17. What is your favorite season?
Fall

18. Cherries or Blueberries?
Rainier Cherries

19. Do you want your friends to e-mail you back?
Yes, or post it to your blog

20. Who is the most likely to respond?
I'm hoping Judith R, and it'd be nice to see Amber & Margie do it too

21. Who is least likely to respond?
Chris

22. Living arrangements?
Currently stuck from buying a house due to the drying up of loans, we are still in our 800 sq ft 2-bedroom condo that we were only planning on living in for 6 months to a year. It's been 2. I'm ready to move!!!!

23. When was the last time you cried?
On the verge of tears right now, thanks to the last question! Um, I cry all the time. At movies, tv shows, when I'm happy with my kids or Chris.... Specifically, I cried at the end of the season premiere of Life the other night.

24. Who is the friend you have had the longest that you are sending this to?
Judith R

25. What did you do last night?
Chris and I went on a date to Red Lobster. Amber had the kids, so we decided to go out. I got invited to go out with Rosy & Co from work, but I really wanted to spend time with Chris.

26. What inspires you?
My kids. I want to be better for them

27. What are you most afraid of?
At the moment, our economic status. and spiders. They just really creep me out!

28. Plain, cheese or spicy hamburgers?
CHEESE!! With bacon.

29. Favorite dog breed?
I always loved mini collies, but I don't think I'd actually ever want to own one. I like little dogs, like Yorkies.

30. Favorite day of the week?
Friday! I get to take Noah to school and pick him up, and spend time with Bostyn in between. Saturdays are my next fave cuz we spend time together as a family.

31. How many states have you lived in?
Wyoming, Utah, Alabama, back to Utah

32. Favorite TV shows?
The Hills, Life, Top Design, Family Guy

Converting

So I got my Christmas present this weekend ( a little early, but getting pretty necessary ). Chris and I are taking the big step and converting from PC to Mac. We've spent the weekend going over all the features our new iMac has to offer (yes, I've been up past 1 am every night) and so far, so good. Next up.... a new tv! Our tv is also hanging on it's last thread, it's going to be black and white instead of color within the next year or two, hahaha! So if the cards are paid off before Christmas, that will be Chris's prez, a brand spanking new shiny tv.

First school pictures

Noah had school pics done today! I did his hair, but it was flat by the time I picked him up, so I'm not sure if it even made it for the picture. When we get the pics, I will post them on here! If anyone wants a copy, let me know and I'll request extra prints.

Today was also his first Show-and-Tell. He took his favorite Dinosaur pop-up book, where it counts the number of dinosaurs 1-10 and the size of the numbers get bigger and bigger. By the time you get to 10, it jumps off the page and out of the book and is the size of Noah's head! The teacher said that he only made it to the first few numbers and got too excited, he made the teacher turn right to 10! He also made his first paper clock so he can learn to tell time. Will this mean he will get up faster in the mornings?

Thank you Miss Rosy...

Rosy emailed me this today. I erased her answers and filled out my own, you should comment and fill it out too!

45 ODD things about me.

1. Do you like blue cheese?
Sick! When I worked at Einsteins and I had to put it on salads, I thought I was going to throw up every time.

2. Have you ever smoked heroin?
God no! I have never done any kind of drug EVER in my life!

3. Do you own a gun? I made Chris get rid of his.

4. What flavor do you add to your drink?
All my drinks are pre-flavored.

5. Do you get nervous before doctor appointments?
It depends on what kind of doctor appt it is! But not usually.

6. What do you think of hot dogs?
CostCo has the best ones. And they make a great dinner on the run!

7. Favorite Christmas movie?
Home Alone. I used to have a HUGE crush on Macaulay Culkin

8. What do you prefer to drink in the morning?
I pretty much drink RockStar all day, and I usually wait until 10, 10:30am before I open it.

9. Can you do push-ups?
Push-down? Yes. Push-up? No.

10. What is your favorite piece of jewelry?
My wedding ring. It's the only jewelery I wear with the exception of my Monroe piercing and my one ear piercing.

11. What is your favorite hobby?
Blogging!

12. What is one trait that you love about yourself?
Physical trait: my eyes
Personality trait: I always appreciated my ability to be patient, but that flew out the window once I had kids.

13. What is one trait you dislike about yourself?
Physical: my nose!!! Chris loves it, Noah has it.
Personality: I'm too quiet.

14. Middle name?
Dawn, after my dad Don

15. Name 3 thoughts at this exact moment:
1) Man, I have to pee
2) Dear Lord, my house is a mess
3) When will we get to buy a house?!

16. Name 3 things you bought yesterday:
1) RockStar
2) All the ingredients for Better Than Sex Cake
3) Dinner at Chick-fil-a

17. Name 4 drinks you regularly drink:
1) RockStar
2) RockStar
3) Pepsi
4) water

18. What you are worried about?
Money

19. What do you hate right now?
Our government

20. Favorite place to be?
Depends on my mood. Most of the time, Rock Springs

21. How did you bring in the New Year?
With Chris and Noah, sitting at home, watching the ball drop on tv. I think Bostyn was in bed.

22. Where would you like to go?
Again, depends on my mood. I'd like to travel all over Europe with Chris before we die, Hawaii for our 5-year anniversary, Canada, Seattle to see Judith, Cali to see Jessica and her beautiful family, Rock Springs to see Pat and Joe. We just came back from Rhode Island, so for now, I don't want to go back yet. I want to travel around a bit closer to home.

23. Name two people who will complete this?
Margie
Chris. I will make him.

24. Do you own slippers?
Never!

26. Do you like sleeping on satin sheets?
Hate them! and silk.

27. Favorite color?
Grey.

28. Would you be a pirate?
Hell yes! I want a big pirate ship tattooed on my right side.

29. What songs do you sing in the shower?
None, I only sing in the car when I want the kids to rock out

30. Favorite girl's name?
Chloe

31. Favorite boy's name?
Harley. For a rocker!

32. What is in your pocket right now?
a kleenex

33. Last person that made you laugh?
Davi made me laugh so hard today that my gut hurt. Here's the story: For Diana's bday today, Dr. Boyack brought donuts for everyone. Davi was the first to eat one, but she didn't want people to know that she was the first one to take one I guess, so she went outside and was eating her donut. Rosy was looking for her and poked her head out the door. For some reason, Davi panicked because she thought she was getting busted and she literally SHOVED THE REST OF THE DONUT IN HER MOUTH! It was hilarious.
Bostyn made me laugh tonight because as we were watching the movie Cars, she kept pointing at the tv, looking at me, back at the tv, back to me, on and on... talking the whole time, like she was telling me all about the movie. It was cute

34. Best bed sheets as a child?
Care Bears

35. Worst injury you have ever had?
Never a broken bone, a sprained ankle swollen the size of a small grapefruit. I had to use crutches to get around.

36. Do you love where you live?
YES! I love Utah, I always have. Chris wants to move and the thought of leaving here makes me want to cry

37. How many TVs do you have?
Chris and I have 1. Noah has a Red Sox tv. Bostyn has a Giraffe tv.

38. Who is your loudest friend?
Amber V

39. What is your fav book?
The last book I read was the second to last Harry Potter. Not my favorite.

40. Favorite season?
Fall. Hands down.

41. Favorite holiday?
4thofJulyHalloweenThanksgiving

42. How many friends could you call your BEST friends?
2. and neither of them live in Utah.

43. What song do you want played at your funeral?
Nothing sad. I want happy but cute songs. and maybe something by James Blunt.

44. What were you doing at midnight?
I was actually in bed. I was downloading Diner Dash 2 on my Sidekick

45. What was the first thing you thought of when you woke up this morning?
I don't want to get up. It's usually what I think first thing in the a.m.

If you want to, copy and paste, then FILL IN YOUR ANSWERS and SEND it to all your friends! It's fun :)

long time, no blog

Not much has been happening in the lives of the Vanderstappens... we tested ourselves to see if we could go 2 full weeks on one tank of gas, which meant no going anywhere... we did make it on the gas though, but if we keep doing this, I'll shoot myself! We did go to the park not far from our house and I got 2 really cute videos on my phone of the kids swinging, but I can't figure out how to get them on to our computer to post them. If I ever figure it out, I'll let ya know. Its cute, Bostyn gets super excited & squeals & Noah slowly slides his butt off the seat while he's swinging. So for now, just imagine that!

On another note, we are getting pre-qualified for a mortgage but thanks to all the shit going on with foreclosures and our wonderful government.... we won't be able to until we manage to save about $10,000 for a down-payment. Its a joke. Will keep you updated on that as well...

Happy birthday to Diana today! Sorry we can't make it to your party, but I hope you enjoyed your cake!

She's a walker!!!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Utah State Fair

Chris and I took the kids and Travis to the Utah State Fair on Saturday night, and this is how it turned out:

And here are my kids the next day snacking on cotton candy from the fair:

Gap baby?

I'm entering my beautiful children into Gap's Casting Call and these are the pictures I decided to send in. Who knows, maybe one, if not both, of my kids will be a Baby Gap model! My greatest dream to ever come true...

Finally...!!!

I've been working on getting our pictures posted, but due to the computer problems (see below) I haven't been able to! Here are a few slide shows of about the first half of our trip.

We had a long flight on Thursday from Salt Lake into Warwick, RI but we managed to get both of the kids asleep after much fighting. Noah just wanted to play with his toys and Bostyn wanted to crawl around. We got our rental car, then drove to Aunt Becky's to borrow a car seat and visited for a little while with Becky, John, Aunt Arlene and Cousin Lauren. Then we went to our hotel to check in and get all situated. We didn't stay in for long, though, if I remember right, we were out the door and to Walgreens to get a few things like snacks & drinks to stock up on.

Friday we went to Providence Place Mall, the biggest mall we've ever been in! On our way to Dave & Buster's for lunch, we spotted Nicole Richie with her boyfriend and his brother, standing in line at Subway! She's so little! I was hoping she had her baby with her, but she didn't. Later on, I ran into them in the Levi store and I flashed her a smile. That night, Aunt Becky took the kids at her house so Chris & I could try to go to the Patriots vs. Eagles game, but we weren't able to get tickets. We went out to dinner instead to the best restaurant we've ever eaten at in our lives!

Saturday my Aunt Nadia had a bbq ("cookout" as they call it) at her house. We also celebrated Aunt Becky's birthday that night. Uncle John took the grandkids and Noah for a tractor ride in their huge backyard and through the woods behind their house. Noah had a lot of fun playing with his cousins and Bostyn went with whoever would help her walk all over the backyard.

Sorry...

So I accidentally got a pretty wicked virus on our computer recently, so we haven't been able to really use our computer for almost a week now. Chris saved the day (and our computer) so now I will be able to start blogging again, but only when I have time! This is a short post because it's 1:30 in the a.m. and I'm going to watch The Hills and go to bed. More to come!

1st Day of preschool!!

Noah started his first day of preschool today! It's at this lady's house in what I swear is the cutest neighborhood in Murray and she is so nice! His schedule is MWF 9-11:30. What is Bostyn going to do with herself?! She'll finally be able to play with Noah's toys without him grabbing them out of her hands! I'm so excited for the both of them: Noah will get to play with his friends and play games and do his "homework" and Bostyn will get to play by herself too. Plus Margie will get a bit of a break, which will be nice for her. Margie will be the one dropping him off and picking him up every day and I am so thankful for her being willing to come out to our house twice a week to get him up and dressed and take him, it's so great to have someone else willing to do that sort of thing! Of course, she loves it.

Chris & I both took the morning off today though, to be there for his first day. We got some great pictures. At first, Noah didn't want to go to school, he wanted to stay home and "take a nap", despite the fact that he just woke up less than an hour earlier. He was crying and Margie had to carry him out to the car, but as soon as we pulled up to his school, he got all happy and immediately started playing with toys. Bostyn wanted to stay and play too. When I gave Noah a hug and said goodbye, he said, "and Bostyn will miss me?" Yes, Noah, she will. Love your gutts. As Chris & I drove away, I didn't even make it to the end of the street, I started crying. I'm just so happy for him! He'll have lots of fun.

Noah

Noah is already a big music fan. He asks, "what is the name of this song" for almost every song he hears. Then he remembers who it is the next time he hears it. I usually just tell him the name of the band, so he can learn to recognize different songs to the same band. Plus its too hard to remember names of all the songs! So we're driving in the car today & as usual, he asks me.

Noah: What's the name of this song, mom?

Me: The Killers.

Noah: They bad?!

Me: No, it's just the name of the band.

Noah: Oh. (pause) They hurt people?!

Bostyn's first haircut!

Don't worry, it was just a trim, but it was desperately needed! She now officially has "bangs" and her curls look 10 times better. Noah got his steps done better, and Chris got his much needed pro haircut finally! Now it will be my turn next, I shouldn't have cancelled my appt last month- I'm nearing my year anniversary since I last had it cut & dyed! Oh well, maybe after vaca.

Salt Lake County Fair 2008

We finally made it to the fair! Both Chris and I haven't been to the fair since we were little, so it was a lot of fun to be able to finally go, and take our kids with us too. As soon as we got there, the first thing we saw were the 2 helicopters that were giving people rides. Chris wanted to take Noah on a helicopter really bad while we are going to be in Boston in a couple of weeks, but it's really expensive. So we decided to compromise and take a short, much cheaper ride over the beautiful state we live in! I sat up front, whilel Chris sat in the back with Bostyn on his lap and Noah in his own seat next to him. Bostyn just hugged Chris and held on for dear life the entire time and Noah just had a cute little smile on his face the whole ride. Once we got off the helicopter, we realized that Bostyn had been so scared, she actually pooped her pants! (diaper) We went inside to change her and it started pouring rain outside. so we waited just a few minutes for it to stop, then we went outside to ride rides, play games, and catch glimpses of the demolition derby that was going on. Noah and I rode a super fast ride and I got sick to my stomach for the rest of the night, but Noah had alot of fun, then it started to rain again and we got almost soaked, but kept on riding the smaller, much slower rides. Noah won a few games and even won a goldfish (which is not really a goldfish). We ate cotton candy and started to leave when a talent scount stopped us to ask about Bostyn and Noah. So we will see how that goes when we get a call from them in a few days.

p.s. Who knew that pink cotton candy is vanilla-flavor and blue is blue raspberry? We didn't!

For Wade and Margie

This is late, but it has to be done!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY WADE! We all wish you a very happy birthday, and... we didn't forget, Wade, we didn't forget! You're a super fabulous Opa, a fantastic dad, and a great cowboy/farm keeper. We love you!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY WADE AND MARGIE! We wish you all the love and happiness that will make this anniversary year special for you both. We love you and congratulations!