A short jaunt...

Have you ever gotten into a rut, where you just NEEDED to GET OUT!?!

Well, our family has seemed to be running on auto-pilot for a while now. We've been so crazy busy, that we have all only seen each other in passing. SO - to REMEDY this, we decided to get out of the house for the weekend.

So - we made the LONG JOURNEY down to Salt Lake :) LOL~!

We planned some fun activities with the kids. We hit up the Clarke Planetarium, the Children's Discovery Museum, and roamed the Gateway. I love downtown!!

Jenna absolutely love, LOVE, LOVED, the freedom of walking all around! She hardly had us carry her at all -- she booked it everywhere we went!

Luckily - we had some very fun moments down there, to counter the unexpected bickering and whining that came along too (I don't know how they made their way though -- argh!).

Here are the highlights :)

This is the closest Hailey's going to be coming to driving for at least a few more years :)

This was Derek's absolute favorite! He stood in the play store inside the Children's Discovery Museum for the longest time. He'd scan his groceries, then take them back and restock the shelves. It was really cute!

Hailey made an awesome parachute for the little wind-tubes they had.

The best part of this place is that it has something for EVERY age! Jenna had a ball playing with the blocks!

We are alive!

So after inspiration to get back to blogging, here I am with an update. No pictures for now, since I've taken just a handful of pictures since Christmas. Slacker, I know.

In January I started back to school. Full time. What was I thinking?! After a couple years off, I reevaluated and realized I was only 2 semesters away from finishing my degree in Sociology. SO - after some serious contemplating and some encouragment from Dave I decided to jump in. I am gone all day Monday & Wednesday and half of Friday. Every moment in between is spent either studying, doing laundry or toting kids between activities. Thank goodness for this only being temporary. Thanks to my MIL for her help in watching the kids a couple times during the week to help out!!

Dave & I both signed up for the St. George Tri that is in May. Due to our chaotic schedules we don't get to train much together, but are doing our "things" where we can squeeze it in.

The kids are great! Hailey & Derek are in gymnastics (gyNastics as Derek says) and they both LOVE it! Hailey's still doing the school choir as well. She just finished up the 5th grade science fair. ATTENTION: For anyone who's child has not yet reached 5th grade-- DO NOT, I repeat - DO NOT, procrastinate getting the project/presentation board, oral report and written report until the weekend before it is due. It is NO fun! Luckily we all pitched in, but Hailey did a great job getting all the data together. She analyzed the relationship of temperature and placement in the deflation of balloons. Go Hailey! :)

Jenna is almost officially 18 months old! She has been SO much fun. She sleeps great, loves to eat all day. Among her many healthy options, she is often to be found sitting on the bottom stiar with the box of fruit loops as happy as can be! She loves her brother & sister. She folds her cute arms during prayers, gives many hugs and kisses, brushes her teeth ALL the time, loves to play in the dog's food and water (ew!) and many other little things! She is tons of fun for our whole family.

Dave's staying busy with lots of work! Things have been busy, but good for him over the past few months. We're looking forward to taking a little break once I'm done w/ school & his work has settled down a little. *Dreaming of vacations for now*.

Alright - so on the Valentine's day, I'm pledging my love to my blog, and I promise not to neglect anymore!

But of course that is a distant second to how much I love my sweet Hubby and my kiddos. I'm such a lucky lady to have such a great family!!

Happy Valentines Day all!