Tuesday, November 27, 2012

On the Road Again

     It seems like we are ALWAYS going on a road trip...because we ARE!! We are always planning some sort of vacation and heading out of town. Yes, we are crazy but the road trip we planned for Thanksgiving was fun! We started our trip in Eager to see Wes and Amanda (and family). They are so awesome and we always enjoy our time with them! The kids had a slumber party in the front room and played lots of games. The fan favorites were "Duck, Duck, DUCK, Goose" (you had to say it 3x), cat hunting, and the Wii. Mollie lost her front tooth and as adults we stayed up late talking (although not as late as usual because there were 2 pregnant ladies who couldn't keep their eyes open!)
Cousins playing Wii

Baby Belly Time!! Look at the difference! Wow, I'm huge compared to her! Amanda is only 3-4 weeks behind me :)

Mollie's lost tooth :)
      After leaving Eager, we headed down to the Valley. We met up with more cousins and had another slumber party!! All the girls slept over at Grandma Whitings (a tradition) while the adults went out to dinner. It was a blast! Forgot to take a picture of the adult group...maybe next time!
      After our 2 days full of cousins (and driving) we went to the Webers for the Whiting family Thanksgiving Dinner! It was nice to sit and enjoy each others company, all while stuffing our faces :) Since our family won't be coming back down again for Christmas this year, Grandpa Whiting took the time to do his usual tradition of giving money to the grandkids. Each grandchild gets a dollar for each year of their age. The girls were happy they didn't miss out on that one! After dinner with the Whiting family, we drove to Aunt Susan's house to see Grandma and Papa Dare. They drove down for the day from Bagdad to celebrate the holiday so we could see them! Unfortunately, we couldn't stay too long because we were headed to VEGAS!! Yes, Vegas for Thanksgiving!
The girl cousins with Grandma (missing Maddi)




      Vegas is something we have NEVER done for a holiday before, but this year Carli was invited to play at a soccer tournament as a guest player for the Vail, CO Elite Team. We left the decision up to her and she wanted to do it! It was actually a ton of fun! We went to M&M World, where the girls got to meet the "green M&M" and see all 4 stories full of anything M&M you can imagine! They loved it!!

The wall of M&M's...it was amazing, even for an adult!!

The M&M car. Its their favorite race car in NASCAR :)
      We made another long stop at the Coke Store. We bought what is called the "Around the World" where you get 2 trays full of different flavors of Coke from around the world. It was TOTALLY worth the $7 just to see their faces!! Each of us liked a different flavor, but overall, most of them were disgusting!! So worth a visit :)
16 different flavors of Coke

Kind of nervous for you to try that one...

Check out those faces! So gross!!

I thought Carli was going to spit out this one from Italy!

"Not sure if I can try another one!"

Mollie liked most of them...must not have very good taste buds :)


(picture courtesy of Carli)
      The "real" reason we came to Vegas: SOCCER!! Carli played a total of 4 games and did fantastic! The first game she was a little intimidated and seemed a little hesitant, but once it was over, the rest of the games she came out on fire!! Carli is such an amazing little ball player; tough, persistent, "scrappy" (as the other parents refer to her), smooth, and fast! I love watching her play!! She rose to the occasion of playing such talented teams and played the best we've ever seen her play...EVER!! The Vail team asked when they could sign her on to play with them permanently :) It was a great experience! So glad she had the opportunity to do it!
     Game 1:

She had nothing but solid passes to her team mates, even though she was hesitant
      Game 2: Under the lights for the first time!!
More solid passes and quick feet

A little blurry but nobody could seem to keep up with her!

Love this shot! She isn't scared of anybody's size...she'll just come in to steal that ball no matter what!
      Game 3:
These girls were BIG! Look at the size difference!

Right through her legs to keep it going!

The spectators! They found this pink goal stand and used it as a perfect seat :) 
      Game 4:
The Vail Elite Team waiting for their field time

One intense little player

After the tournament

The GJ Invites: Carli, Addison, and Mia

Monday, November 19, 2012

Sneaky Service



     I woke up early today (no good reason other than can't sleep late anymore) and got a little surprise. Regan had gotten up early to do what she called "Sneaky Service". She was making us breakfast :) It was cereal, raspberries, and hot chocolate. It was so sweet (and I am so pregnant) it made me tear up. What a sweet girl!! And such a great way to start our day! Sure love this girl!!

Saturday, November 17, 2012

A little gift for me...

     Chad got me a little something I've been needing...a NEW CAR!! As our girls would say, "I don't just LIKE it, I LOVE it!!" With the new baby coming we wouldn't be able to fit in either truck, and my old truck was starting to cause us some problems, so we were desperately in need of a new vehicle. This one has everything I wanted and more. Thanks for the gift Chad!! :)

Friday, November 9, 2012

Breakfast, "Who Knows", and Candy

      Happy Halloween!! What a great day this year! The weather was beautiful, I planned ahead and had costumes done over a week before the big day, and the girls are old enough where they were pretty independent while trick-or-treating (we just walked down the side walk and they ran from house to house...so easy!) A little recap of our day:
     We started off the day with some "scary" scrambled eggs and these cute little sausage mummies, courtesy of Chad. He is such a great dad! He makes us a hot breakfast every morning :) Spoiled, aren't I?
      To stay along the theme of breakfast, Chad and I were bacon and egg this year. It was one of the most fun costumes we've done (for me atleast) because I got to use my pregnant belly as the egg yoke :) This is the first time I've ever been able to do this...I've never been pregnant over Halloween before! It was so fun!!
      After school, we carved our pumpkins and then got in our costumes. I had an amazing idea for the girls' costume this year, but I had a problem...they didn't want to be what I wanted them to be!! WHAT?! They wanted to be specific players from the US Women's National Soccer Team. Boring! They are soccer players everyday, why not be something fun and original? Chad gave me a little "talking to" about how I manipulate them to be what I want them to be every year, so just let them decide this year. I gave in and guess what? Nobody knew who they were BUT they were cute anyway!!! Here they are: #20- Abby Wambach, #13- Alex Morgan, and #1- Hope Solo. Three amazing soccer players dressed as three amazing soccer players :)

     We had our traditional "Soup Night" with all our friends before heading to the trunk-or-treat at the church. After that, we met up with the Munchs for some old fashioned door-to-door trick-or-treating! The kids got so much candy! I love how the first thing they do when they walk through the door is dump out their entire bag and sort the candy into piles :) I always did that as a kid too! The girls had a great day and are already thinking about what they'll be next year!!

Pumpkin Carving




I made the girls do their own pumpkin cleaning this year. If they are big enough to carve, they are big enough to clean it out too!

I seriously love this picture! It is exactly what all their faces looked like having to pull out the "guts" of their pumpkin! So stinkin' funny!!

 
     The finished faces! As usual, the girls wanted to name them. They are (L-R)
1. Carli's pumpkin- Curly (because of the curly mustache)
2. Mom's pumpkin- Smiley
3. Mollie's pumpkin- Freckles (Mollie put freckles all over its face)
4. Regan's pumpkin- Toothless
5. Dad's pumpkin- Butt (yes, he carved a hole in it...sorry if you're offended)

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

"Last Run of Your Life" aka The Zombie Run

Chad and Carli part-way through their run. Keep it up!

Carli dodging a zombie :) She took them all VERY seriously!

Darrin and Darcy prepping for the upcoming zombie...gotta come up with a strategy!

Getting tired, but only 1 mile left!

The finish line was FULL of zombies! The runners had to dodge and weave to get through them all without  losing any tags they might still have. Check out Chad's mad skills!!

Go Darcy! Check out her quick feet!

They survived the last run of their life!! Great job!

I'm so proud of our Carli! Not only did she finish the race with an amazing time (she didn't even train!) but she made it through all the zombies and finished with one tag left! 

She didn't make it through without injury though...a picture of her "flesh wound"! Tough girl!!
      The City of Fruita had their first ever "Last Run of Your Life" Zombie 5K. It was a race where zombies were placed along the course to take the tags off your belt. You start with 3 tags and you want to end with all 3. If you don't have any, you didn't survive. Not only did you win prizes for finishing time, but also for finishing with your tags! Our friends Darrin and Darcy were running it and Chad wanted to run it and (obviously) I can't this year, so Carli took my place :) They both did great! Neither one of them trained at all, but that didn't matter. They had a great run and the zombies added a whole new level of excitement!