A Chicago Getaway...

Medieval Times

The brave knights before their joust.

Ky cheering on our brave blue knight

Jayden and Talan loving it!

This is inside the castle.

Last week, Jarrad had the entire week off of work. Since we went to Disney World for spring break our vacation fund was pretty much depleted, so we decided to go up to Chicago for the night and take the kids to Medieval Times. Jarrad and I have been wanting to take the kids for years, but we have been waiting until the boys were a little older so they could really enjoy it. It also helps that we are living much closer to Chicago. :) The boys loved watching the knights fight and also enjoyed eating with their hands. There are no spoons and forks allowed in the place...it's called Medieval Times for a reason. Nothing like eating a whole chicken with your hands. Kylen was scared in parts because it gets dark in there a lot, but he still had a great time.

The next morning, we headed out to downtown Chicago to take the kids to The Science and Industry Museum. Jarrad's work gets two people in the museum for free, so it cost our entire family $20 to get in! I loved going to this place when I was a kid, so I was very excited to take our kiddos there. It was a little busy, but the kids had a blast. Kylen loved the train area and the other two loved the coal mine and the science area were you saw real lighting and tornadoes.

Ky and one of his favorite things.

All the boys!


Jayden as the astronaut


Ky's turn
Talan's turn now.

I'm really enjoying going on family trips, now that the boys are getting older. It's nice not having to haul half of your house to go away. There is honestly nothing that I love more than going on trips with my family, too bad I don't have the budget to support it. Better start saving for our next vacation!!!

Jayden's Baptism

On June 26th, 2011, Jayden made the wonderful decision to be baptized. We are so proud of the boy he has become. He is most caring and kind hearted boy you'll ever meet. There was a lot of people there for his baptism. My mom and dad were there along with all of Jarrad's brothers and their families made it and also Jarrad's parents and grandfather were also there. It was a wonderful day! Afterwards, we had Jarrad's family to our house for a cookout since many of them hadn't been to our new home.

Happy 3rd Birthday, Kylen!!!

Daddy did such a good job on his cake!

Ky's about 9 months here. Now he's 3.

Where does the time go?

Kylen's birthday hat at Hacienda

Happy Birthday, Kylen! I can't believe you are 3 years old today! You are a crazy fun, little boy who loves anything that is a truck or a train. You love singing Katy Perry songs and beating up your big brothers with Star Wars light sabers. You're favorite things right now are fire trucks and garbage trucks and of course trains. We love you so much and couldn't imagine life with out you!

We did a small little party at our house with Grandma and Grandpa Lipply. Jarrad made Ky a garbage truck cake, which he loved. He got a car garage and Thomas the tank boat from Grandma and Grandpa and we bought him a Thomas the train set, Garbage truck and Firefighter outfit. We're going to get him a bike also. He also received a scooter and fire truck from Grandma and Grandpa Asay, so he cleaned up this year.

Later tonight for dinner we are going to take him to eat at Hacienda where they will sing to him and give him a sombero, it's a new birthday tradition we started. I'll post pics soon.

Baseball Time!!!

Jayden running to second base
Jayden

Jayman getting ready to hit the ball

Talan playing pitcher

T running to home

I'm way behind on my blogging, but in the next few days I'm going to try my best to catch up. This past spring Jayden and Talan decided they wanted to give baseball a try this year instead of soccer. So, we signed Talan up for T-ball and Jayden up for coaches pitch. I wasn't sure if they would like it, since it moves a lot slower than soccer, but they both really liked it.

They both did a great job considering they never played before. Jayden only struck out once the whole season, I was afraid he would be so far behind since he never played before, but he surprised Jarrad and I both.

Talan caught on really quick and loved chasing after the ball even if it went to the outfield! He absolutely loved playing the 'pitcher' position since that's where most of the balls went. It was so fun to watch both of them play, besides sitting there for two hours with back to back games. :) They already told me they want to do it next year. Luckily, we have July free of any sports, so we can at least have a few weeks with out going to games!

Talan really got into it

.

Happy 8th Birthday, Jayden!!!

Jayden's Jango Fett cake, compliments of Jarrad

Jayden and his crazy expressions

Eight years ago today, this little boy decided to scare us to death and come to us 6 weeks early! He had the cord wrapped around his neck 3 times and around his whole body twice and it also wrapped around 1 foot. I happened to go into the hospital that day for high blood pressure, which ended up being fine and they were going to release me. Long story short, I ended up going into labor and Jayden's heart rate plummeted and I was sent for an emergency c-section. He came out screaming, but he was in the NICU for 7 days and I didn't hold him until he was a couple days old. It was a miracle that I was in the hospital that day and I know it was not a coincidence, he was meant to be apart of our family. He has turned out to be such an awesome kid. He is extremely funny and kind. He has a heart of gold! He is always so concerned about others and I hope that never changes. He will be getting baptised later this month and I'm amazed how quickly time flies.

Today, Jarrad is getting off of work early to take Jayden out for lunch, since he's still in school. I sent in cookies for him, which he's never done before because he's always been done with school by now. He's already recieved lots of Star Wars presents from his Grandparents and had a slumber party with friends a few weeks ago. Basically, the kid has had a birthday month! We got him an Ipod touch, since Talan got one for his birthday. We also got him a couple of Star Wars toys to open. It should be a pretty fun day!

Happy Birthday, Jayden!!!!

We love you!

A weekend getaway!

It was freezing, but still pretty

Pretty view on top of a sand dune


Jarrad and I at the beach

The view from out hotel

A few weeks ago, Jarrad and I decided we needed to get away for the night. I was trying to figure out a new place to go and stumbled upon a place called New Buffalo, MI. It's only an hour and a half away and is right on lake Michigan. It is such a beautiful place and fun getaway. The hotel we stayed at sat right on the harbor and had free movies to rent and free bikes to ride.

Although, it was too cold for the bikes it was still a lot of fun. I loved it so much, that I came back a couple weeks later for a girls night with my BFF's Jackie and Shanna. I'll post about that later. It was nice to relax and have a night away with Jarrad, I'm sure we'll be back up here with the boys this summer!

Talan has glasses

Doesn't he look so cute? Jarrad likes him without glasses, but I think he looks cute both ways. We thought we were going to luck out with Talan not needing glasses, but after a quick check at his preschool we were told he needed to get his eyes checked. So, I took him the next week and were told he is very farsighted in one eye...just like Jayden(except not as bad...thank goodness). Now, two out of three kids already have glasses, Ky's chances aren't looking to great. I'm still going to cross my fingers anyway. :)