Spring Training

Last weekend Jeremy, Dallin and his dad went to Mesa for some baseball games. They saw a Giants vs Diamondbacks game and a Cubs vs White Sox game. They have done this a couple times before and always have a great time. I think it's a great tradition that I hope they continue, next year hopefully Carter will be old enough to go and have fun with them.

New York, New York

Last week I went to New York with my parents, Marilyn, Noelle and Josh. We stayed with Stacy and Taylor who are living in downtown Manhattan- there apartment was not really made for nine people but we made it work and had a blast all staying together . Kera (Deco's Girlfriend) is Nannying there and she spent most of the weekend with us. I'll give a quick rundown of what we did. Noelle and Marilyn went a day earlier than the rest of us and did a few things the day before we got there, the best thing they did was buy 27 cupcakes from a bakery that is famous for it's cupcakes- we managed to eat most of them before we left. We flew all night and got there at 6 am, we were welcomed to NY with a fight between two drivers over who would get to take us into the city, it was actually pretty scary- they yelled and pushed for about 20 minutes and we were sure we were about to see a fist fight but eventually they got in their separate cars and drove off. We got to the apartment and got showered and ready for the day. We went to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island that morning, it was cold but fun. That afternoon we went home for a short nap (remember we flew all night) and when we were all rested we went to time square. By this time it was raining so we all bought umbrellas and headed out for Time Square. We had planned on going to the top of the Rockefeller center but due to the bad weather we decided not to so we got some dinner walked around a bit and headed home.

The next day we got up bright and early (OK maybe not, it was around 10 or so) and we got ready and went uptown, we saw the temple (which is not your standard temple, it's more like a big square building with an angel Moroni on top) it was really cool, we then walked through Central Park (which is way bigger than I imagined) and on the other side we went to a few stores. The coolest one was FAO Schwartz, which is the huge toy store in the movie Big. We played the huge piano that Tom Hanks plays on the movie. Then, the highlight of the trip happened, we saw "Jon and Kate plus eight", for those of you who

don't know who that is they are a family that has a show on TLC, Jon and Kate are parents of eight children (twin six year olds and Sextuplet two year olds), they were shopping there- without the camera crew so we won't be on the show, dangit. We asked Jon if we could take their picture but one of his security detail stepped in and said "they're shopping" so we just watched as they shopped, the kids were soooo cute and it was way cool to see them. After a little shopping we went back to the apartment to get ready for the Broadway show Grease that we thought we had tickets for. When we got to the theatre we found out that only four of the nine tickets had been reserved so we stressed a little but were able to all get tickets, not all together but at least someone didn't have to wait outside for us. It was a fun show, after we got some dinner and headed home.

The next day we mostly shopped in China town, buying 20 purses/wallets between the five girls- and most of us aren't really into purses but we got all caught up in the moment. So the next time you see me or my mom at Clark's sporting our Dolce & Gabbana handbags you can rest assured that it's a knock off, we didn't pay hundreds for them.
That night we returned to Time Square, this time it was clear enough to go to the top of the Rockefeller's Center- the view was amazing.

The next day our vacation was over and the long trek home began at 5 am, we got back to Blanding at 10 that night (and we gained two hours) making it a very long day. But it was well worth it, it was super fun and I'm so glad we all did it.

Blue Eyes

All of our kids have blue eyes which is surprising considering between Jeremy and I we have only one blue eye, that's right one blue eye. Jeremy has one blue and one green eye, and I have hazel eyes so I have been happy that all of our kids got his left eye genes.

Jeremy's Twenty-twelfth Birthday

Tag I'm it

So Leslie tagged me so here goes some info on me. By the way Jeremy hasn't done the best job at keeping up our blog, in case you haven't noticed, so I'll be adding posts now too, hopefully I do a little better job.

A- Attached or single: Attached for 10 years- which is really crazy to think that I've been married for 1/3 of my life. Still happy and looking forward to the next 10.

B- Best Friend: Of course Jeremy. I also still consider Bev and Mel my best friends cause I haven't done the best job since highschool of making new ones- I probably need to learn how to be a better friend.

C-Cake or Pie: hmmm, depends on the mood, but probably usually cake, as long as it's covered with tons of whip cream.

D-Day of Choice: Probably Sunday- it's the only day that I never work and I devote the whole day to my family.

E- Essential Item: Right now unfortunately probably diapers, nothing worse then being stuck somewhere with a stinky baby and nothing to change him with

F- Favorite Color: I think I'll say Brown- love it to wear, decorate my house with, everything.

G- Gummi Bears or Worms: I like them both, but in my family they are pronounced like Goomy thanks to Grandma Halliday- not sure why but she always called them that so we do too.

H- Hometown: I'm a true blue Blandinger, and hope to always be

I- Indulgence(s): Naps and taking Baths (I'd like to have time for both every day but unfortunately I don't)

J- January or July: July for sure- I love the summers in Blanding.

K- Kids: Three, or four, depending on the day: Camryn is 8, Carter is 6, Logan is almost 2 and Jeremy will be 32 tomorrow!!

Life is incomplete without: Definitely family- I can't even start thinking about life without them without tears welling up.

M- Marriage Date: November 21, 1997, Bountiful, Utah Temple

N- Number of Siblings: 6- Marilyn, Jeremy, Stacy, Deco, Noelle and Little Josh (who's 18 by the way which is seriously wrong, he's still supposed to be 12)

O- Oranges or Apples: I like both but being married to Jeremy makes me not get fruit too often since he does the shopping and he doesn't eat fruit (hasn't had a peice in about 25 years- yeah I know it's seriously weird).

P- Phobias or Fears: I'm not afraid of much, just something bad happening to my family. I always hate it when Jeremy and I go on a trip by ourselves and I think about something happening to the two of us and leaving the kids as orphans- again got to stop thinking about this before I get too emotional.

Q- Quote(s): "M stands for mother, not for Maid" lately I want to plaster that all over every wall of my house.

R- Reason To Smile: My family of course, sometimes Carter says the funniest things, the other day at parent teacher conference when the teacher asked what he wanted to accomplish this year in school he said "Oh that's easy, I want to grow a dorsel fin and some gils." We're still working on that.

S- Season: I just love having seasons. I am always completely ready for the next season, like right now I can't wait for spring but when it started snowing and Winter really hit I was just as excited.

T- Tag Three: Bev, Mel, Bridget, really anyone who reads this and feels like doing it consider yourself tagged.

U- Unknown fact about me: Hmmmm, I'm pretty much an open book, I guess not everyone knows that I have a tattoo (stupid teenage mistake).

V- Vegetarian or Oppressor of Animal: Bring on the meat!!!

W- Worst Habit: I don't have any bad habits, just kidding. I would probably say coveting what others have and not just being happy with what I have- which is tons and I should be super greatful for.

X- X-Rays or Ultrasounds: I don't remember any x-rays being all that eventful so I'll definitely say the Ultrasounds of the kids were the best. Finding out Cam was a girl, and that all her parts were accounted for, there's nothing like that- Carter was a surprise and that was also cool, looking at the ultrasound and knowing that all we had to do was ask and find out what we were having but having the patience to wait. And when you get three for three that are all perfect, what more could you ask for.

Y- Your Favorite Food: I really like most food- which is really unfortunate for my pants sake, but Jeremy's Ribeye steaks are definitely at the top of the list, he makes tons of awesome food for which I am TRUELY greatful.

Z- Zodiac sign: I'm not actually sure, I think it's taurus, I don't pay much attention to those kinds of things but I think when I was driving my dad's Ford Taurus I noticed that that was my sign, I could look it up but I don't really care enough.

So that's it, I expect a few of you all to fill this out for yourself.

Zion Reunion

The last big trip of the summer. The family loaded up and headed West to the outskirts of Zion National Park where we met the Mihlberger family for 4 days of fun. My grandma rented a cabin for us in the Zion Ponderosa Resort and we had a GREAT time! The kids enjoyed swimming, horseback riding and the zip line.

The last day of the trip, we were supposed to take the guys to Zion for a hike. A bunch of them decided to be ladies and stay home. The hike ended up Mike Moulton and I, but we had a great time. We hiked Angel's Landing in Zion, which is a 5 mile hike with a ton of elevation gain that ends with us hiking out to a pinnacle the last mile. That part of the hike uses chains to make sure you don't plunge to your death. We are two out of shape guys, but we made it to the top. Unfortunately my camera ran out of batteries so we don't have the buddy shot at the top. The picture is the last mile up to the top of the peak. I highly recommend this hike to ANYONE in search of a great hike and a little adventure.

Timpanogos Cave Hike

The last week in June the Lyman family took a trip to Provo to hike to Timpanogos Cave. Kristi's Great-Grandfather was the first caretaker of the cave and was killed driving back to Pleasant Grove from the cave. A family reunion was planned for his ancestors to go to the cave.

We took off around 9:30 with all of the kids. Logan was carried in a backpack up the hill. the total hike ended up around 3 miles, with all of it uphill and then downhill. The cave was really fun and the kids had a blast. Afterwords we went to a picnic area close by and ate lunch.

Next Post: Stacey's Wedding.