Vacation, Day #2

The second day, was a day at sea. Our staterooms were so dark, you could never tell what time it was. We would always end up sleeping till 10 or 11 am, because it was so dark. Very nice. After a yummy buffet breakfast, Tim and I found a spot on the deck to lay out in the sun. It never got too hot on the boat. There was always a perfect breeze. After basking in the sun we had a buffet lunch. Oh the food!!! It was insane. There was food everywhere, all the time! Then we had a nap and got ready for formal night at dinner. After dinner we went to some shows and played shuffle board. It sounds like a pretty lazy day, but it's just what I needed after coming off a week of graveyard shifts. I don't want to forget to mention, the day we were leaving for our cruise I woke up with a HUGE cold sore. I was totally bummed. I took the medicine and used Abreva, but it was too late. It was already giant and had to run it's course. I swear everyone in the airport was staring at it. I wanted to hide!

The fun people we went with.

Tim and I at formal night. I wore an outfit I wear to church. Not very formal, but oh well.

Some cool pics of the lobby of our HUGE ship:

Our Vacation, Day #1

Tim and I were able to go on a 7 night cruise to the Western Caribbean last week. It was AMAZING. We went with 13 other people, which made it even more fun because there was always someone to hang out with. My mom was so wonderful to stay with the kids for a whole week, well actually 9 days if you include our travel time. Thank you so so so so much mom! You're the best! When we dropped the kids off before we left, I was an emotional wreck and had no idea how I was going to handle being without my kids for that long. I missed them lots, but I have to admit, it was nice to have a kid-free week, only having to worry about ourselves for once and really enjoying one another. All of the people we went with work at the same place, or at least their spouses do. We all used our September bonuses to buy the cruise. All work and no play is never good, right? At first I was having some buyers remorse about going, but now I'm SO glad we went!

This is a picture of Miami taken from the ship before we set sail.

A view of the classic red, white and blue whales tale on Carnival cruise ships.

Dinner the first evening.

You know on cruise ships how they're always taking your pictures and then if you want them you have to buy them. Well I got clever... we would go look at the pictures and then I'd sneakily take a picture of the picture. Shhhh. Don't tell! ;)

and the PACKERS WIN the XLV SUPER BOWL!!

Just have to give a shout out to the PACKERS!!! They won the SUPER BOWL! My husband is soooo stinkin' excited!! Go Packers! :)

Here's Tim headed to the super bowl party in his Packers attire. One of our friends' parents owns the Payson movie theater, so they invited us to come and watch the big game on the big screen. It was lots of fun and the kids and fun too! So excited the Packers won!

Addi's 1st Time Skiing

Tim took Addi to Sundance on Saturday for her first experience skiing. He thought it would be pretty easy to teach her himself, but after the first time down the bunny hill and her falling the whole way, he decided to buy her a lesson. Her teachers name was Scotty and after her two hour lesson, she did awesome! She was SO excited to tell me all about it when they got home and she can't wait to go back!

Merry Christmas

I'm trying to catch up with my blogging before I get too far behind. For Christmas 2010 we went to Cedar City. It's always fun to spend time with the Stubbs' clan. On Christmas Eve we went to Kyle and Lori's house. We had yummy food, opened pajamas and the kids did a live nativity for us. Then we went back to Grandma and Grandpa Stubbs' house to sleep so Santa could come.

Christmas Eve:

Christmas Day:

Waiting to see what Santa brought.

Addi got a Fur Real Dog, a camera, a fake snowboard and a Lalaloopsie doll.

Hally got six Tinker Bell fairies, a Hello Kitty gum ball machine and a Lalaloopsie doll.

Kendall and her cousin Slade. They're only 1 month apart.

Making messes is what she does best!

Beautiful Slade!

Back at Kyle and Lori's on Christmas night to open gifts from grandma and grandpa.

Addi with her favorite cousin, Laynie.

Tim with his brothers and sister, mom and Grandma Challis.

Kyle striking a pose.

Larry and Becky.

Tired...

Is the best word to describe how I feel at the moment.

The 411: I started working a full-time graveyard shift at the same company Tim works for. Yes, I'm still doing daycare. Yes, I get a little bit of sleep. My day starts, well actually it doesn't really have an end or a start anymore, it feels like one continuous day. So anyways, I get off work at 7:30AM and make it home by 8AM for my first daycare kid to arrive. I wake Addi and Hally up and we do the normal before school routine. Then off to school they go. Then I come home and my other daycare kid comes. Next we play in the basement while mommy dozes on and off on the couch. Before we know it the kids are home from school and it's lunch time, reading time and homework time. Addi and Hally are begging for a friend to come over, which I generally allow, but only one at a time. Nap time for the little ones is at 1 pm. I have a nap while they're napping. About 2 hours long. Then it's up from nap, snacks, diaper changes, more playing and if I have time I start dinner. Daycare kids leave between 5 & 5:30. I jump in the shower and hit the hay by 6pm. Then I sleep till 10pm, get up and head to work, which starts at 11:00pm. See what I mean about continuous?

WHY?: This job is temporary. We would like to save, save, save for a bigger house/pay off some debt and GET AHEAD. Please tell me you know what I'm talking about when I say it would be nice to get ahead. My plan is to expand my daycare and I need a bigger house to do so. I feel like I could really do well with it. Ideally I'd like to find a house with a finished walkout basement. Daycare would be in the basement and the kids could just walk right outside to play. Then the upstairs would remain untouched. The daycare that I imagine in my head is so fun and beautiful!! :) So anyways, off to work I go so I can hopefully make this vision a reality!

What I'm doing: It's a manual labor job. I'm lifting and operating giant machines all night. It's actually kind of cool. I feel cool anyways. I'm the only girl in my area, which is a little intimidating, but I'm handling it. The whole graveyard thing actually isn't as bad as it seems and the pay is pretty good.

What I've learned: -It's tough to be a full-time work outside the home mom. Kudos to all those who do it. All the time I used to have for everything fun, is now gone. I keep telling myself this is temporary and I can do it!!! -I've also learned how to use calipers AND it's nearly impossible to get 2, small, curiously, insanely, strong, magnets apart. They're dangerous buggers and caused me multiple blood blisters. I'm tougher than I thought and I kind of like working where I do. If I can't preform all of the tasks I will be moved to another area. I totally want to learn how to use the huge and scary looking machines. I want to be the cool girl that can run the machines! :) -I look so hot in safety glasses! *sarcasm* :D

What I'm thankful for: -TIM. He tried to talk me out of it, but I'm a stubborn one and wanted to work graveyards anyways. He's been such a good help to hurry me off to bed when he gets home. He makes dinner for himself and the kids, then puts them to bed when it's time. He always has the house tidy when I wake up. He's perfect! Love him! This working mom business is a serious sacrifice for EVERYONE in our house. Not just myself! -I am also thankful for Beyonce. For some reason her CD (I know, I'm probably the only one out of everyone reading this that still listens to CD's) helps to keep me awake on the way to and from work. -5 hour energy. Half a bottle of this stuff gives me a good boost to finish my early morning at work. -My kids have been really sweet and understanding. Love them so much! Addi said on my first night at work, "Mom, you don't need to work, I like our house and want to stay here. We don't need a bigger house." She also told me several times to drive safely. She was very concerned about me.

Goodnight all. I better catch up on some sleep while I can.

***I always proof read my posts like 3 times, but I don't have time tonight so please excuse any errors.***

Christmas Dresses

Sweet Sisters...