Mini Indy

 Almost two weeks ago, Jon had the opportunity to participate in the Mini Indy Race. The race is a fun way to earn money for charities and for the scholarships put out by SkyWest Airlines. Jon got to miss two days off of work to go have fun and drive go-carts. He was on Team Securaplane. (they build the batteries that go inside the airplanes. So each team had a pit crew and drivers. Jon was driver #3 and part of the pit crew. Thursday they practiced with their teams, did team photos and auctions for charity. Friday was race day. This year they held the race up on the old airport tarmac. Each race was 10 laps long and required 2 pit stops. Each team did 4 qualifying races and then the finals but with almost 40 teams it took most of the day. Jon's team ended up taking 13th for the day.

 Jon and his team watching Leo (their head driver) make his way around the obstacles on the back side of the track.

 Coming around the turnpike. They made the final tight turn more challenging by hosing it down to be slick.

They had an actual race car and driver there for you to meet and a military officer had this tank that the kids could go inside and see how it works.

 Nathan testing out the car.

 Jon doing some repairs. 

 Jon carrying his jack. His job, in the pit crew, was to jack the car so that the tires could be changed and the drivers could be switched.

Spring Break on the East Coast

Back around November/December ish I told Jon that for spring break I wanted to go SC to see my parents. He of course agreed especially since its been 9 years since I've been back . (yep that's right, 9 YEARS). When the time came closer it was actually a very busy time for us here. Mainly because we moved into a new house about 10 days prior to spring break. Nevertheless, we were still taking our vacation. I mean really, we fly for free, we have no excuse, right! So Friday after school (every Friday is a half day for the elementary schools here) we packed up our van and drove 45 minutes to Cedar City to catch a flight to SLC. We waited around just to find out that there was only room for one of us on the flight. (trouble with flying standby). So we went ahead and drove to SLC. The boys were great in the car and were surprisingly well-behaved in the airport considering our flight didn't leave until midnight. Yep, we have officially taken our first red eye with the kids. They did great! They slept the entire flight ( I wish I could say the same about me). Once we arrived in Atlanta the boys and I boarded a flight to Charlotte and Jon turned around and flew back home. (Because we drove the van to SLC, Jon had to fly back in there and do the 5 hour drive by himself. Poor guy he finally got home around 1 AM.) 

Anyhow, once we arrived in Charlotte, my parents picked us up and we headed to there house in SC. *side note: an older lady sitting beside Kyler on the plane asked him where he was going and he said, "I don't know. I'm going to see my grandma in SC but this plane said we are going to NC". I gladly helped him clarify.

We spent the rest of Sat just enjoying my parents house and eat pizza. On Sunday, we of course went to Lancaster Branch. It was so wonderful to go back and see everyone again. 

On Monday, Grandma took all of us to Riverbanks Zoo. I told the boys that the last time I had gone to this zoo was for my 2nd grade field trip... they said I was getting old.

The Gorilla exhibit was great. We were very close to them and we got to see them get fed. I think it was the high light of the trip. We stayed there for about 30 minutes just watching them and listening to one of the trainers.

Feeding the Giraffe

 On Tuesday we needed to do some shopping but decided to take the boys for a picnic and small nature hike. We even got to see the bald eagle nest... but the eagles were on the other side of the canal. After lunch I had to stop by my friend Emily's house. She had just had a baby a few week prior so I didn't get to see her at church on Sunday.

Emily and baby Liam

We came back to Grandma and Grandpa's house and had dinner then Grandpa took us over for a tour of his new office building. It was amazing to see the new office and I loved that they took parts of Lancaster history and reused it. While we were walking around the outside we were crossing over the water and Nathan's foot missed the next stone and his shoe went in the reflection pool, so my mom quickly bent down to get it and ended up dropping her car keys in the reflection pool too. We were all joking that the security guard that was watching us on video was probably getting quite a laugh out of it.
Wednesday morning we loaded up the boys for a 5-6 hour drive to see my sister Krista.
After work on Wednesday Jon took a red eye back out east to spend the rest of the vacation with us.  Thursday we celebrated little Miss Halli turning one. She was so precious and the boys loved playing with her

 Aunt Krista let Nathan and Ky help make the birthday cupcakes

 Isn't she just too cute!!

Friday we all headed to the Lost Sea Adventure.

This date was burned into the wall of the cave with a torch during the Civil War

 Some of the pictures are hard to see because of lack of lighting... sorry

 When we got to the bottom of the cave we got on a glass bottom boat and went out into the water. There were tons of huge fish and the tour guide would throw food out to them and them were going crazy trying to get some. Halli loved the fish. She kept trying to get in the water and laughed and laughed when she could see the fish. Yes, the fish are blind due to lack of light for so long. So they stayed around the same area of the pond and would follow the boat because they knew that meant food. (above pic is the fish, bottom pic is from the boat)

Very early on Saturday morning (4:00), my parents drove us back to Atlanta airport to fly home. (it was a 2 hour drive from Krista's house) It was a great trip and the boys loved nothing more then to spend time with their grandparents and actually see their home. (and to finally put to rest the fact that NO my parents don't live in an airport, they actually do have a home) Hopefully it wont be another 9 years before we make it back out there. 

Flying Home!

Jon in NYC

I know I'm playing catch up again. We've had a lot going on the past few weeks. Okay, so in my last post I mentioned that Jon was in New York City for a week on business. Here are a couple of his pics. Now keep in mind that this is coming from  me not Jon , so if it's not 100% accurate I'm sorry. Jon flew out first thing Sunday morning, had classes/meetings from 9-5 Monday thru Friday, then fly back home Saturday. In the evenings he and two of his co-workers would go out and site see. ( Jon also had keep up on all of his school for the week back in the hotel room.)

 Times Square

9/11 Monument (at Ground Zero I believe). He also saw where the new World Trade Centers will be.

I know it's not a great picture but that's the Statue of Liberty in the distance. They were going to take the boat/ferry out to it but ran out of time. 

Inside the welcome center portion of the Manhattan Temple

 Walking across the Brooklyn Bridge

 Empire State Building

 The beautiful view from the top of the Empire State Building.

Love is in the Air

So, yesterday was Valentine's Day. Not my favorite holiday in the world but anything to celebrate LOVE with my loved ones is fine by me. Jon has been in New York all week on a business trip so this year it was just me and the boys.

 Thursday night, these beautiful roses and box of chocolates were delivered. I have the sweetest husband. Even when he's far away he still makes me feel so loved and blessed.

After the boys were all done taking showers we gathered all of the books about love off the book shelf and read them. And as I sat reading Love You Forever  with my boys , I realized how blessed I truly am to have so many people to love and that love me back. (and of course it did made me cry)

Young Love

Here is my sweet Landon. About a week ago a girl in his class named Jaden asked if he would be her Valentine. On Thursday, (Feb 13) Landon came home with this painting from Jaden. In the corner it says 'I hope you like it'.  Landon informed me that he wrote her a Valentine story and drew pictures in it too. Then on Friday (the 14th)  Landon asked me if he could give Jaden one of my roses. Of course I said yes, so he selected a pink one and I wrapped the end of it for him. That day Jaden gave him this little monkey holding some candy.

On the other side of the country... Here is a picture that Jon text to me. Its taken from the top of the Empire State Building. Which of course made me think of Sleepless in Seattle.

I will do a post of Jon's NYC trip once he gets back home.

A Full House

 I realized I haven't posted lately so I started thinking of what has been going on with us. We have been quite busy actually. As mentioned in a previous post, Jon's mom broke her right foot just before Christmas. She had surgery and was put in a walking boot for 6 weeks. Well, the beginning of January I received a phone call from Jon's Dad saying he had broken his right foot and was at the doctor's office and would need a ride. I seriously thought he as trying to be funny but he wasn't. He had surgery about 5 days later to fix 3 compound fractures in his right ankle. The doctor ended up placing a plate and 7 screws in his ankle to fix it. Dad Hum was but in a hard cast and was told not to put any weight what so ever on that ankle for 8 more weeks. 

The point to this story is... Jon's parents moved in with us so that we can help during this difficult time. (For those of you who are keeping track, that makes 11 people in our house). The boys thought it was pretty awesome to be able to have Grandma and Grandpa stay with us. 

 

 The boys loved carrying down dinner to them and serving them. This picture above is Gpa with 4 of his grandkids playing cards on the bed.

 

Here are the two gimps with their matching casts. (This was before Dad Hum surgery)

 

Dad had to get a little creative with being able to do some things. Here he is trying to shave with his leg propped up on one crutch that is balancing on the counter and bath tub.

I am happy to report that Mom Hum got her walking boot off and is mostly back to complete health (except she caught the boys colds).  Dad Hum had his first hard cast removed as well as the staples in his ankle and a second hard cast put back on. He is half way through and is doing well. He will be going back to work for a couple of half days a week now.

The Beach

After spending the last two days at Legoland we decided to head over to the beach for our last night in California. Our hotel was only about 3 blocks from the beach and the boys had never seen the ocean before.

 We told the boys to only get their feet wet... yeah right. they were wet pretty much waist deep and covered in sand. Nathan's pants weighed so much they started fall down.

 It was certainly beautiful

After getting everyone showered again. They boys just played some more of their new games

Here is the only picture of the two of us. I forgot to post about a few things in the previous posts so I shall do it now. Jon and I had a lot to celebrate this past week (aka Dec 22-27). Sunday the 22nd was Jon's birthday so the day before we took the entire family to see the new Hobbit movie (great show... I highly recommend it). On Sunday we went to church of course followed by a small dinner and dessert with Jon's parents. The next couple of days were filled with errands and Christmas preparation. Also I forgot to mention that Jon's mom broke her foot so she was having surgery. Wednesday was Christmas day as well as my 30th birthday... that's right folks I am no longer in my 20s. On Friday the 27th we celebrated our 10 year anniversary. It's hard to believe that we've been married that long but at the same time it seems as though we've been together forever. It's been a great 10 years and can't wait to spend many more with this amazing man by my side.

LEGOLAND!

The evening of Christmas while the kids played there new video games with Jon, I packed up the suitcases. It only took a few minutes and we were set. The next morning, we got up and ate breakfast, then threw the stuff in the van and...

We're on our way to California or Bust

 The kiddos ready for the 6 1/2 hour car ride

 My handsome hubby ready for the drive

We arrived at our hotel around 4:30. After checking in at the hotel and dropping off our bags we headed out to a store to get some food. We decided that instead of paying $10 a person for food at the park we would fill our cooler each day with lunch. The boys thought we were awesome parents because we let each of them pick out 2 lunchables (one for each day). We also grab easy dinners that we kept in our little fridge at the hotel and cooked in our microwave.

In the evenings we played games that the boys got for Christmas and watched some of their new movies.

 Here are the boys laying on their beds watching the new movies. I also want to point out the cool 'quillows' that the boys received from Aunt Jeni. They are quilts that fold into a pillow.

Finally it was time to go. Sorry if the sun is really bright/my kids are hiding their eyes from the sun. We enjoyed to lovely 73 degree weather.

 

Okay, so Legoland was amazing and I took over 200 pictures but of course I can't blog all of them so I will try to refrain myself and just hit the highlights.

 Chewie and R2-D2

 The X Wing fighter jet is life size.. it was amazing. The Death Star is still under construction but it looked awesome in the picture.  Also I should mention that Nathan was very attached to Jon the entire trip

Since this trip landed on mine and Jon's 10 year anniversary I told him that he took me around the world... at least in lego form

 

The Jungle Safari Ride. You drove zoo cars and got to see a lot of different animals all made out of Legos of course.

The boys each went to driving school and then were issued their very own Legoland driver's license.

It was split up by ages so Nathan was on a different track for just 3-5 year olds. Landon and Kyler were on the older track that was set up like a little town complete with stop signs and traffic lights.

 They had this awesome area set up just for the Holidays. They also made snow and had areas designated for just being able to play in the snow... but since we're from Utah and that white stuff is easily found, we decided to skip all the snow stuff. (Plus they had really long lines)

 During a walk-through quest, in which we had to find the 7 hidden keys, I decided to slip my hand in this polar bears mouth. The bear actually moves and bit down on my hand.

 

 Riding the Rescue helicopters

Shooting the bad guys 

 

 On this ride you have to peddle and it makes you go faster around the sky track

We learned very quickly that Nathan LOVES roller coasters. This is the newest ride... the Technic. (it is also the fastest and has the biggest drop) It was Nathan's favorite.

Our entire family with Lego Santa