Omaha

We drove out to Omaha, NE at the end of May. We decided it would be best to drive overnight so that the trip wouldn't seem so long to the youngens. It wasn't too bad, except that around 2am, we stopped for all of us to sleep, unfortunately, Anabelle decided to wake up and sat there crying until we started driving again. The little stinker. Luckily I had gotten some sleep before we stopped, so it was my turn to drive. We arrived at Grandma Jill's apartment early Saturday afternoon. Some of Matt's brothers and a wife came over and we had a fun time catching up and playing scrabble with each other on smartphones. Mom and I were totally excluded because we don't have smartphones. We had one of Matt's favorite meals that his mom makes, for dinner that night, Italian sandwiches. So yummy! It will kill you, but you will die happy.

The kids were so excited to be with their Grandma Jill. They had so much fun with her. One of Matt's sisters, Heather, brought over a bunch of toys for Mom to keep at her house, since she got rid of all of them when she left on her mission. One of the toys was this foot high, remote controlled T-Rex that walked, roared, and did all kinds of stuff. Beckett was so funny with this toy. At first he was really nervous about it. He would just watch it from a distance. Then he realized it wasn't real and that he could play with it and after that, it was his favorite toy. He had a hard time sharing it with other cousins that came over while we were there. I personally, am very glad that we don't have one of those. That thing would move all by itself without anyone touching the remote and it kind of freaked me out.

Belle's favorite thing at Grandma Jill's was her deck she loved it. I think she was out there every chance she got.

Matt left Saturday night to start his Brothers Baseball Trip. They did one two years ago, and decided they had so much fun, they wanted to do it again. This time they stayed at their sister, Tris's house. She lives in Ohio, so they went to Cleveland and Pittsburgh. They had a blast on this trip too. Tris made shirts for all the boys.

Matt's family loves Balderdash, a game about making up stuff and getting people to believe what you wrote is the right answer. On their last baseball trip, the boys played the game and they got the name George Dawes one round. He has since become a huge inside joke for all of the guys and at our family reunion, the joke only continued. Tris remembered it all and made a T-shirt for them. Isn't she so cool?

While they were on their trip, they also went to Cedar Point, the roller coaster capital.

It looks like so much fun. Someday I will get to go too. I love roller coasters. Hopefully turning 30 and having kids hasn't ruined that for me.

Back to Omaha. We had a lot of fun of our own. Monday was pretty tame most of the day. We went to a park and had a picnic with another one of the wives and children left behind.

All I have to say is the humidity is killer. I am seriously considering NOT moving to Omaha, just because of the humidity. I moved into the shade and it was literally no different than in the sunshine. I was melting. And Anabelle just wanted to swing the whole time, in the sunshine. I had to talk her out of swinging and going and playing on the playground with her cousins and brother because I couldn't stand it another second longer.

That night, after making pizza for dinner, the fire alarm went off in the apartment above Mom's. Mom immediately grabbed the kids and told them to get their shoes on. I grabbed my camera and phone and then left. As we were going down the stairs, the girl in the apartment on fire came out and said it was a cooking fire and they had put out and that we didn't need to leave. Mom and I left anyways because the alarm was still going. We walked across the street and watched the fire trucks come and then played at the park at the elementary. After a little bit, Mom's neighbor came running towards us and told us the fire fighters needed the keys to the apartment. I ran back to open the door for them to find them already inside and pots and pans everywhere. Apparently those sprinklers are crazy. They spray about 55 gallons of water per minute, so there was a few inches of water in the apartment above, and it was all coming down into Mom's place. We had to pack up and go sleep at my sister-in-law, Erica's house that night. It was crazy.

After a nights sleep, we felt better. Erica and I decided it would be a good day to take all our kids to the children's museum. As we were leaving it started to rain, then it turned into a downpour. It was lightening like crazy. I saw lightening strike a radio tower like a mile or less in front of me. Kind of scary. The streets were flooded. When we arrived at the museum, we got drenched running from our cars to the museum, and I am really not exaggerating. Here are some pictures of the kids at the museum after we had been there a half hour and you can still see the water in Belle's hair:

It was a really fun place. It is a lot like the Discovery Gateway. There was a YMCA children's group there so it was super crowded, but the kids had a blast anyways. There was this ball area that had all kinds of machines that moved the balls in all kinds of ways. Beckett loved that area. They also had an area for putting on stage make-up. Belle really liked that area as well as the grocery store. It was so fun. And it was free to boot. She had a year pass that lets in 2 adults, and 4 kids. It was perfect!

When we got back, Mom and I thought we would be able to go back to the apartment. Nope. We had to go back and get clothes for another night. I hadn't planned on living out of a suitcase, living out of a suitcase, if that makes any sense. Beckett and Anabelle were fine with it. They were having so much fun playing with their cousins that they never get to see, Beckett especially.

Wednesday, we thought for sure we would be able to go back to the apartment. We went back to only find big huge fans blowing. There was no way we would be able to stay the day there. So we went to the visitor's center by the Winter Quarters Temple. It was fun. They had all kinds of neat stuff and things to look at, even dress ups.

I highly recommend going there if you are ever in the area. The temple is just gorgeous as well. The visitor's center has a beautiful view of the temple and the graveyard right next to it. (In case you didn't know, the temple was built right next to the cemetery for the saints that died there before they could begin their trek out west. It actually is really beautiful and even more peaceful than most temple grounds)

Well, when we got back to the apartment, it was still blowing. So we went shopping! We went to Joann's, where Jill works, and she helped me pick out some fabric for curtains to put in Anabelle's room.

Didn't they just turn out adorable? I just love them. I like how they match her blanket as well.

Just a reminder of what it looks like

The only problem is, that as soon as we came home, Anabelle started insisting on sleeping in Beckett's room. So, now those cute curtains are up with no blanket to match. Oh well, they look cute anyways.

After our purchases, we decided we couldn't sleep at the apartment that night, and trespassed on another sister-in-law, Taffy. Luckily, we arrived just as she was finishing up making chicken pot pie, so we got to have a delicious dinner and a place to stay. Beckett and Anabelle got acquainted with more cousins that they never see and had a lot of fun. Everyone that we stayed with was so hospitable. They were so kind and gracious.

Well, now we are up to Thursday, and that was the day we went to the Omaha Zoo. Which is huge! I have never been and it was so cool. At least 3 or 4 times bigger than our wonderful Hoogle Zoo. They have the 2nd largest indoor rainforest in the world. How cool is that?! We didn't go in though. There was just too much to look at and two little kids and two adults that got a little weary of walking everywhere (oh wait, the kids were in the wagon that I rented, so they really had no excuse for being tired).

We did go in the desert dome, which didn't feel very new to me, but they did have an exhibit in the basement that was so cool. It is called Creatures of the Night. It is dark down there and they have all these nocturnal creatures on display, even bats in open cages that are netted off, but you can see and hear them flying around. It was really cool.

All the boys thought it was so fun to be down there and that they were so tough, even though they are only 4 and 5. Then we got to the end, which is where they have a bayou, complete with alligators. You walk through on a wooden platform that is maybe a foot off the water with thin metal netting on the sides, hanging from the railing.

At first I thought, "Those alligators are fake. There is no way they would have them so close to the public." Then I asked Taffy if they were real and yes they were. Beckett was scared to go in, but once he got in he wasn't scared. Once I got in and found that out, I was a bit nervous. Those gators could easily chomp through and eat somebody. I did calm down after she told me that they are really lazy and well feed. They better be! They had an albino alligator in there and that was really cool. It was maybe 3 feet from the walkway, so I didn't stay too long to gawk.

After that, we went to the aquarium. That was so fun. They had all kinds of ocean creatures. I think the kids liked this place the most.

I didn't get a picture of it, but they had a big column filled with water and Jelly fish. It was so amazing and beautiful. It was just like on Finding Nemo.

Due to Beckett's insistence, after seeing the cat house, we went and saw the giraffes, but I didn't take any pictures there either. I am terrible. I did get a picture of the next thing we went and saw though:

That was definitely the best thing there for Beckett. After that, we were all spent and went home. I got an amazing parking spot, in the shade, real close to the entrance. I was so lucky and so happy when we were able to just pull right out of there. That was a highlight for me.

After that, Mom and I decided that we had had enough of sleeping at other people's houses and went back, loud fans and all. They had now added dehumidifiers, so it was even noisier, but we didn't care. It was nice to be settled finally and not putting anyone out. Plus, we made up our own recipe for chicken salad that had just what we wanted in it and it turned out great. I am craving it now just thinking about it.

Friday was the day the boys got back, so we decided to not do much. I sewed my curtains and that was about it. Saturday we spent at Matt's brother's house helping him with yard work, and then had Chinese for dinner (you should know by now that the meals were just as much apart of the trip for me, as everything else was). Sunday we had a big picnic with almost all of the family in Omaha, plus some from Utah, and the kids just had a blast playing with all of their cousins. Here is a picture of Anabelle chasing a squirrel with her cousin Ally (also from Utah):

After the picnic, Matt and I decided we would leave as soon as we could, instead of the next day, so we could drive while the kids slept. I think it took Matt's mom by surprise because she started crying when we said it. It was hard for us to leave as well. I think Beckett knew it we were leaving too because this is what he did when we got back to Mom's apartment:

Then Anabelle couldn't be left out, only she didn't look quite so melancholy.

We had so much fun with family and especially with Mom. One of our best trips out there.

Out with the old, and in with the new.

Merry New Year! It sounds like everyone had a wonderful Christmas. I guess that is one of the advantages of doing my Christmas post this late, I have already read all of yours, and now I will try to outshine you all.
Christmas started with Matt's work party at the beginning of the month. Santa showed up and "surprised" us. He gave Matt his Christmas gift from the company ($50 gift cert. to Chili's - I kind of felt like Micheal Scott picked it just for us - and some chocolates). Then, all the kids were invited to go up and sit on Santa's lap. Belle was hesitant, but she still did it. Beckett was placed on Santa's lap and would only remain there as long as Matt was next to him. Oh, and as long as Beckett didn't have to look at Santa either. See what I mean.

Belle on the other hand, couldn't stop staring, possibly out of fright.

Our next encounter with the jolly red guy was at WSU's bookstore. Santa came to visit and brought his reindeer and a lot of student elves, to help the kids make some Christmasy crafts. We made a picture frame for our pictures with Santa to go in and Beckett won an ornament craft to take home and do later. Pretty cool. Then we stood in line for the Big Guy. We waited probably close to an hour. I was able to get the kids sit in the stroller almost the whole time. I was surprised how well they did. As we got close to Santa and could easily see him, I held each of them up so they could get a good look. Belle got to see the crying, frightened children when she looked, so as we got closer, the more she wanted to run away. When it was our turn, it was all I could do to keep her from crawling over the top of me and running down the aisles of the bookstore. I tried to convince her to just sit in the stroller while brother saw Santa, but she kept trying to climb our and run away. I quickly got her to the other side of Santa, so Beckett could get his picture taken (which they still haven't sent me - grr). I was afraid Beckett was going to freak out having to go up all by himself, but he marched right up there, sat on Santa's lap, told him what he wanted (a train toy), and gave a wonderful smile for the camera. I was amazed. Santa then gave us our candy canes and I quickly got out of there so as not to traumatize my daughter any longer.

Outside of the school's bookstore, they had set up a Grinch Stole Christmas photo shoot thing. The kids loved it.

After our photo session, we went outside to see Santa's reindeer. I think this was Anabelle's favorite part. She does love a good craft though.

You can just barely see that she is smiling really big

We were able to get together with Matt's roommates the week before Christmas. It was wonderful, full of good food, lots of laughing, and of course, "School of Rock", their movie from when the boys lived together. We ended up staying the night because we were just having too good of a time and couldn't leave. Thanks Sam and Jenny for having the party and letting us crash there, and thanks Caleb and Jessica for coming back from Omaha so we could see you guys. We had a wonderful time and Matt is now boxer-puppy hungry.
The last Holiday thing we did before the big day was go to the Christmas Village in downtown Ogden. If you haven't been there, you should go. They have some really cute displays. Dress super warm though. I can't believe how cold it was. I was surprised the kids wanted to go through the whole thing and didn't complain once of freezing. I for sure complained, especially when the Coffee shop taunted us with their fire barrels that you can't use unless you bought something. How Christmasy is that?! It was fun though.

We spent Christmas Eve with Matt's sister, Analisa and her family. We had a wonderful time. We ate delicious glazed ham and my yummy new gourmet mac and cheese. It was quite the feast. Then the kids painted ornaments. Beckett had a Santa Claus and Belle an angel. In the end, they were unrecognizable because they just mixed all the paints together and so they turned out a funky brown-grey. They had a blast though. I was just glad it was at Ana's house and not mine, especially when she said she loves to let her daughter paint and get messy.

After that, we did the Jacob family tradition of busting open a pinata. Not your standard Christmas tradition, I know, but it is super fun. After the candy all fell out, Beckett quickly grabbed a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup and immediately started to chow down on it, as if that was how he was going to keep all of his candy. Matt had to explain that he needed to pick up the candy and put it in his sack, then he could eat it afterwards. Lucky for him, the only other children there were Anabelle and their cousin Ally, who is a month younger than Belle, so there wasn't much competition to worry about.

Then we let the kids play downstairs (not with their candy), while the grownups played games upstairs. It was great. Finally, we read about the Christmas Story and our little family headed home. This was our first Christmas night spent on our own. It was really nice. The kids fell asleep on the way home and went straight to bed. Santa came and put out all the presents and Mom and Dad got a wonderful night's rest. It was awesome. I know this wont last for long, but we definitely enjoyed it this year.

Anabelle's gift from Santa

Beckett's gift from Santa

 Our living room is typically set up with the couches against the wall. Santa decided it might be nice to have them surround the tree and make a nice little nook for us all to be close and enjoy Christmas together. Unfortunately, I think it kind of upset Beckett because when he woke up and came out of his room Christmas morning, he said, "Oh no, what happened to my room?" He repeated it a couple more times until I could jump out of bed and go tell him that Santa had come. Then we grabbed Belle and Matt and proceeded with the festivities.

Belle got her art easel, chalk and crayons for the easel, Candyland (which she loved and we played that morning), and play food.

The children enjoying their toys after all of the unwrapping was done

Beckett got a Gordon train, a car for his Dinosaur train that came with a dinosaur, cars (for his road rug), a Sponge Bob Memory game, and a big model train that let off steam from one of his uncles that just couldn't help himself. The model train was his favorite. He played with that all morning. It went too fast around the track for him to really watch the wheels go or keep it's cars attached to it, so he took it off the tracks and held it in place while he watched the wheels go around. Unfortunately this broke it. It no longer goes. It still gives off steam, but doesn't move. I felt bad when it happened, but honestly, what do you expect from a 4 year old. Besides, he has more fun making it move himself while it is making noise and puffing steam.

This was Christmas night

I got a beautiful new Thomas Kinkade 1000 piece puzzle (which I will never get to do until I no longer have children, believe me, I tried) and some new puzzle books. Matt also ordered me a kitchen tips book (totally awesome) and a vegan recipe book. I actually wanted a vegetarian cook book, but he gets an A for effort. I can't decide if I want to exchange it or keep it. I am trying to incorporate more veggie dishes in our home and try to have a little less meat, so I need recipes to help me with that venture. The vegan book has some tasty looking recipes in it (especially the soups), but it is a little extreme (they don't even let you use honey or sugar!). Plus they look super complicated. I want recipes that I can just run to the Stop and Shop down the street and get what I need (which, by the way, does not carry Asiago cheese. They hadn't even heard of it! What is wrong with those people! So maybe it will be Smiths that I run to)

Funny story, Matt and I both ordered each other books from Amazon, and all of them did not arrive in time for Christmas. Luckily, I had a brilliant idea. I got two empty boxes and printed off the pictures of the two book I got him. I cut them out and placed them in the boxes. I was going to just wrap them like that, but then I thought, he will get suspicious if they are both lite as a feather, so I went and grabbed our clothes iron and placed it in one of the boxes, on top of the picture. Then I wrapped it up. I put the other picture in an empty Quaker oats bucket and wrapped that up. He had no idea and was mad that my gifts had arrived before his, especially since I ordered mine the day after his. His face was so confused when he opened the one with the iron in it. I was laughing so hard. I told him to move the iron and then he saw the picture. It was some pretty smart thinking on my part. In case you are wondering, I got him books written by his favorite TV show, Top Gear, the British one (which is much better than the American one). He also got Bananagrams, which is one of our new favorite games. We also bought each other Lindt chocolates for each other's stockings, his milk chocolate and mine hazelnut. We are too much a like sometimes it is borderline cheesy.

We spent the rest of the weekend with family and had a wonderful time. Possibly one of the best Christmases so far.

I cut my hair during the week after Christmas, but you have already seen those pictures, so no need to put them on here again.

Matt had to work New Years Eve - Lame. But we did get to spend the night with my family playing games and making a cornucopia of delicious foods - fondue cheese, shrimp, clam chowder (I would not have ordered this dish), salmon, and I made brushetta for the first time (which was awesome, I am so going to make that again). We also watched the fireworks going off all over the Bountiful valley. It was wonderful and made up for the fact that Matt had to work that day.

On to the new year. I was able to visit with my roommates again on New Years Day and see some of them that weren't able to make it to the last one we had in November. It was great. I love those ladies. They all have super cute kids too.

Things have been pretty quiet so far, which in my opinion, is a good sign. My counselor has gotten mad at me for not doing my assignments lately, so I am starting the year off with making those my goals for the new year. One of those is making sure Matt and I have a date once a week (one of those can be one where we stay home and after the kids go to bed, we have a datish night, playing games and watching movies). Last weekend, we went bowling up at WSU. It was fun, but you could tell we were out of practice, both at bowling and dating. We acted so normal, not at all like the flirty couple we used to be. I think it might be because most of the dates we have been on since having kids have been to the temple, and you can't really flirt much there. I am positive this will improve as we go on more dates that don't involve the temple, not that we aren't going keep up the temple dates, just have other ones too. :)

My reason for bringing up the dating thing is because of this picture:

My little sister came up and watched the kids for us while we went on our date. When we got home, they all wanted to sleep together in the pull-out bed in Beckett's room. This is the results. Precious!

Remember our friend that was in the Doritos Xbox contest? Well he got 2nd place, but because the games did much better than the companies expected, both finalists were given the 1st price winnings. So everybody won. And now his cute wife has quit her job so she can be home with their cute little boys, who I have been watching for her two times a week (which has been nice to add a little extra income to the budget). This week was her last week. Their oldest is a couple months older than Anabelle. We joke with our friends that they are betrothed. This picture was taken on Tuesday, as they were leaving.

Wont that just be so cute if they do get married? I mean, how cute will that picture be at their wedding reception.

One more thing, Matt has started up school again this semester. Hopefully he can be done next year in the spring (fingers crossed).
Well, we are all caught up now, and hopefully I can keep it that way. Happy New Year to you all and I hope this year brings you all much joy and happiness.

Wow! I am doing really good

So Beckett has been addicted to PBSkids.org lately and the only way to keep him and Anabelle, who is addicted to sesamestreet.org, off the computer is to have it off completely, which means I never am on and I never get to update on here. Sorry.

Well, here is the month of September: It was a crazy month, but let's face it, what month isn't. The first part of the month was spent (and by that I mean mostly the $$ kind of spent) getting ready for the big Jacob Family Reunion. I can't believe I spent as much money as I did. But it wasn't my fault that everybody was having sales on everything I needed so I just bought two so I would have extras for after the reunion (that and I really wanted to buy everyone's affections). Matt's mom came and stayed with us the Saturday before so she could ride with us to the family extravaganza. We were so excited for her to come. We had not seen her for more than a year and a half, due to a little thing called a mission in Australia. The kids soon fell in love her and we had a great time before we had to share her with all the other Jacobs. Beckett kept saying, " I just love you Grandma Jill." We are all doing our best to become her favorite and I think Beckett is well on his way.

The reunion was in St. Anthony, Idaho. Matt's brother actually found a place that could house all 50 of us. It was called the Three Peaks Lodge. It was awesome. There was no way anyone could be bored at that place. The 2 slides were awesome and were almost constantly being used by someone. The kids had a blast playing with all the toys and big wheels that they had their. The big boys did too. They kept riding them around the big rumpus room and then skidding it across the floor. Boys will be boys.

A lot of the family went to see Yellowstone and to some beautiful waterfalls that were near by. We weren't one of them. We liked just staying at the lodge playing games. I wish we had gone to the waterfalls, but I have grandparents that live in Idaho Falls, so it would be easy to go see the falls another time. Besides, I had to stay at the lodge to keep baking more cookies for everyone when they got back from their sightseeing.

One of the days of the reunion we attempted to take a family picture of everyone. It turned out pretty good considering the size of the group.

We also had some family olympics. The first event was a race to move an Oreo across you face. They started at the forehead and then move it to their mouth. If they did it, they were rewarded with eating the Oreo and a point for their team, if not, no point and no Oreo. Matt totally did it.

I was not able to participate because I had to watch Anabelle on the playground. Don't pay any attention to Matt's brother standing there. He had his own child to look after, so therefore he could not possibly watch Anabelle. It is a shame. I really wanted to participate in embarrassing myself. :)

There were many different games played, mostly scum and 2s & 10s, and of course it wouldn't be a Jacob gathering without playing a rousing game of Balderdash. That was one of the most silliest versions that I think has ever been played. It was hilarious.

Matt's mom came home with us from the reunion for a day and then caught the train to Colorado to be with Matt's brother. Her train left at 4am on a Sunday. So rather than risk sleeping in and missing the train, we all stayed up (well, I tried) and watched Matt's new favorite show, Rubicon, which was super intriguing. It easily kept us awake until it was time to leave.  I recommend the show if you are looking for something similar to Lost and the Bourne movies.

The next few weeks were pretty boring, honestly. We did get to have some friends that we hadn't seen in a long time visit one afternoon. It was wonderful to visit and catch up with them. Unfortunately, as they were getting into their car, Beckett was running to come inside and he tripped and fell. Usually when kids trip, they scrap up their knees, but Beckett went from his knees, to his chest, to his face and scrapped it off.

It was the worst thing to watch happen. It really went in slow motion. Luckily for Beckett, he is related to Wolverine and his face was almost all better in about a week. He still is a little red around the eye, especially when he cries, but I am so happy that it healed so quickly and well. It was so hideous to look at. Honestly it started to look worse after I took this picture.

Matt got a raise from his work in September also. That made our month.

Um, I can't remember anything else about September.