A "Wicked" Night

(Note: The picture above is the reason you should never rely on the camera on your phone instead of a real camera for pictures. But, it's the only picture I took of the night, so here you go.)

Last night Ben and I went for one last hurrah before the baby comes and we went downtown and saw "Wicked." We had never seen it before, and were quite impressed by it: incredibly witty writing, fun songs, and great acting. It really was a lot of fun! I highly recommend it if you have never seen it.

I was a little worried I might go into labor while I was sitting there in the theater. I've had lots of braxton hicks this pregnancy, which is something that I have never had before. I made sure to bring my insurance card just in case. But, everything went great- I wasn't even uncomfortable in those uncomfortable chairs. Now the baby can come at any time- there are no more expensive date nights on the horizon!

The "House" That Audra Built

Survival

I've mentioned before that Claire tends to be a more difficult child. We have figured out some of her reasons: She needs order. When things are chaotic she can't handle it. She is very much like her father in that regard. Also, she needs down time. She can't handle jumping from one activity to the next without a break in between- and she needs to be able to play or color or do things alone to relax and decompress.  Just understanding some of those quirks of hers have really helped a lot.

But, even with that the last few weeks have been super difficult. She has been having multiple tantrums, meltdowns, and more aggressive behavior. By the time we put her to bed, both Ben and I are so frustrated and exhausted from trying to handle her that I knew something had to change. We could not go on much further on this track without somebody going crazy.

So, I came up with a behavior chart. It is incredibly simple:

The girls can earn 10 stars, and once they do they earn a prize. Originally, I had the rule that they had to earn all 10 in one day, but that was too many. Six or seven stars would have been a better number to have them earn them all in one day, so we changed it and they can continue earning them the next day. Each of the girls were given two behaviors to work on:

Audra: Having a good attitude and not whining.

Claire: Being a nice girl and following directions.

They are broad on purpose.

I went to the Dollar Store and bought a bunch of crap for them to earn:

They get excited for the "treasure chest."

By implementing this behavior chart, our lives have changed! Claire is a different person. She has only had one tantrum in the past week. She's happy, she's nice, she plays well with others. She gets SOOO excited to earn a star- it's awesome.

The best part is that it forces me to find the good in Claire and focus on her good behavior. Because I can't leave Audra out, she is a part of it as well, but really this is for Claire- and it is working!

Will it continue to work? I don't know. But we will use it for as long as we can and enjoy every day of it's success!!!

Eight Years

Eight years ago Tuesday (the 10th) was my first date with Ben. I've been wanting to write about that because a) We have been asked more than once "how on earth did Ben and you get together" (it is not meant meanly, but Ben and I are pretty different, so it's a common question)

b) I think it's fun to remember how we fell in love- I love reading through my old journals of when we first got together

c) I want to record it for our kids and grandkids

Ben and I met at an ice-skaing activity through the church in January 2004. He was with his sister, but I didn't know she was his sister so I went home wondering if it was his girlfriend or what.

Then, about a month later I was asked to organize a camp-out for our church and I was told I could ask anybody I wanted to be on my committee. I remembered Ben, thought he was cute, so I asked if he could be on my committee.

Ben had several other responsibilities at the time and had only been camping once in his life, but (as he says) he thought I was cute so he said yes.

So we got to know each other a little bit working together.

One Sunday night we were on the phone talking about some funding issues for the camp-out. It was strictly business. We hung up. Then, he called back and asked me if I wanted to carpool with him to the fireside (church meeting) that was being held that night. I wasn't planning on going to the fireside, but since he asked if I wanted to go with him, I said yes. I admit to thinking it was a little awkward for a first move. I was like, "do you want to drive, or should I?"

We ended up having a great time. I had just gotten back from Paris for a school trip, so after the fireside I invited him to come inside and look at pictures from my trip. He came in and we had hot chocolate and talked until after 10- super late for a school teacher and Ben, who likes his sleep. Ben still considers this our first date. I completely disagree.

I expected him to call. But he did not.

At least not for about 3 weeks. But finally he did. (He insists he called several times before then, but I was never home and he hated leaving messages. This is plausible since I was coaching track at the time and working 10-14 hour days). I was very impressed with his directness. He said:

"I want to take you to the movies on Friday night at 7 o'clock."

This was different than almost all other guys who "asked me out" by saying something like:

"I am going to a party on Friday night. Maybe if you go we can talk to each other."

I liked that Ben knew what he wanted and didn't beat around the bush.

We talked for a few minutes about what movie to see and decided on "Hidalgo."

On Friday he came and picked me up and another thing Ben did really impressed me. He said:

"I know we decided on  'Hidalgo'. But it's playing at the cheap theater, and I don't want to take you to the cheap theater so I thought we could go see 'The Prince and Me' instead."

I have no problem with a guy taking me to a cheap theater- you know I like frugality. But, I was really impressed that he wanted to do something nice and treat me special. It really did make me feel special. So off we went to Bowles Crossing, on April 10, 2004 to see "The Prince and Me." (We still have not seen "Hidalgo.")

We had such a great time! We had so much to talk about. After the movie neither one of us wanted the date to end. He took me to ColdStone (which he doesn't like at all, though I love it) and we went back to his parents house (because that's where he lived) and stayed up late talking.

From then on it seems we were pretty inseparable. I didn't even know he was shy until we had been dating for about 6 weeks and I had a party at my house and he sat in the corner all night long. I asked him if everything was OK, and he said, "I'm actually really shy." I can't get him to stay quiet and we always had a million things to talk about, so I know a different Ben than many of you. That's how I knew Ben was "the one": It was so easy with him. Nothing was forced- everything about us was always so natural.

So, that's the beginning of our love story- a love story that will never end.

Some Conversations

The girls said some things that made me laugh today.

First off, I took Claire to the pool. She likes to get on the edge, jump in, and have me catch her. After I caught her she excitedly said,

"Good catch, mommy!"

Then, Audra's jeans have holes in them. I saw a thing on Pinterest about converting jeans with holes into a skirt, so I told her I could maybe make her pants into a skirt.Later, she showed me her sock and said,

"This has a big hole. What are you going to make out of my sock?"

I love my girls!

Happy Easter!

Truth be told, I am glad today is over. Perhaps it was the sugar (even though they didn't have THAT much). Or having an Easter egg hunt. Or Easter baskets. But the girls were WILD today! They totally wore on my patience. I LOVE Easter, I love the Savior, and I love my family, but I am REALLY glad the kids are in bed right now.

But, parts of the day went well. Like when Audra spotted the baskets downstairs and came and woke us up and said, "I think somebody brought us something!" That was cute.

Here is Claire (and her drunken look) with the baskets. I made the skirts. I think they turned out really cute, and saved us at least 50 bucks from buying new Easter dresses.

 And the Easter egg hunt. This year it was warm enough to have it in our backyard. All through breakfast Audra kept asking, "where's the Easter eggs?"

 After church there were some trees with purple flowers. I thought they would match perfectly with their skirts and so I tried to take some pictures. "Tried" is the key word.

 This was Claire's tantrum as we tried to take pictures.

  I think this one is the best one:

Church ends at 4 so Claire misses her nap. But, she always falls asleep on the way over to Grandma and Grandpa's and sleeps on the couch for a little bit. Today when we first got in the car she said, "I'm tired. I'll sleep at Grandma and Grandpa's." We don't let her nap for too long, so here she is after her nap snuggling with me.

 Here's Audra wearing Grandma's glasses- she looks good with glasses:

 They got these bunny suckers and LOVED them- and they looked pretty cute:

 Audra just looked so pretty here that I had to keep this picture:

Here's our family Easter picture- it turned out OK:

Road Trip: Part 2

Here are some pics of our fun in Utah:

 We went to Wheeler Farm (that's probably not how it's really spelled). There was a chicken coop and the girls LOVED playing in it. They were there for almost an hour and didn't want to leave. It wasn't at all fancy or anything, but I guess they just loved the idea of it being two story and kind-of in a tree.

 They are pretending to ride a horse here.

 They both LOVED playing with their second cousins. It was really cute watching them play together.

 We went to the "This Is The Place" Monument and the Pioneer Village right next to it. I had always wanted to go to this monument, so I was thrilled for the chance.

 Unfortunately, it was incredibly windy and cold, but we still had a great time.

 We got to ride on a train. The conductor had a long beard and when we got on the train Claire said, "Santa is really excited to take us on a ride!" Believe it or not, there were even actual reindeer on the grounds so it all went together in a nice little Christmas theme.

 This is Claire having a complete tantrum. We were going on a tour of a mansion and Claire wanted to "get in the bed and take a nap." Of course, I couldn't let her. And of course, that set off a 30 minute tantrum. It was great.

So in a nutshell, that was our trip. I think I am now fully recovered. Claire has enjoyed being able to play by herself and have some downtime and both girls have had a lot of fun playing with Daddy and making up for lost time. It would have been even nicer if Ben had been able to come, but we really did all have a great time and I am SOOOOO glad we did it!

THE Reason For the Trip

 

Ben's Grandpa is 93 years old. I have been telling Ben for years that we needed to get the girls to meet him, but that blasted drive kept us from going. But, when the opportunity to go to Utah presented itself, I knew we had to take advantage for one simple reason: Grandpa needed to meet his great granddaughters!

We had a wonderful visit with him. We went to dinner at Chuck-A-Rama one night and the girls got to run off some energy in his backyard. This picture here made the entire trip worthwhile!

Road Trip: Part 1

This past weekend I drove with the kids, without Ben, to Utah. Thankfully, his parents were with me and helped with the girls and everything actually turned out to be really great- albeit exhausting. We ended up having a fantastic time and were able to do quite a few things. I even think Ben felt a little bad he missed out (he has been avoiding this trip for 5 years, and was able to worm his way out of it because his boss demanded he work tons of overtime. In 7 years, Ben has never had to work overtime, and it just happened to be when we were planning our trip. Coincidence? Perhaps. But, in the end, I think Ben would have rather been on the road trip than working incredibly long hours).

Here the kids are- ready to head out. Audra was so excited for a road trip. She had never been on one before, and she thought it involved an airplane, so I am not sure that it ended up meeting her expectations.

 We stopped at Little America for ice-cream- how can you not? It took us 12 hours to get there, and 10 hours to get back. I was worried about the kids so we took lots of stops to let them run out some energy. Really, though, they did great- I was surprised and impressed.

 Lessons I learned from this trip:

-DVD players in cars are GENIUS for road trips- that seriously made the trip so much more bearable!
-I will never live in Wyoming. Ever. That wind is awful.
-Audra is an excellent sleeper.
-Claire is a horrible sleeper.
-There is reason God's plan calls for both a mom and a dad: having another one to share the burden saves Mommy from going insane.
- Ben's family is awesome! I loved being able to get to know them all better!!!
-Claire gets motion sickness. Poor girl- she gets it when looking down (coloring). She also doesn't like  having throw up on her.
-Ben owes me BIG time.
-As long as Claire has a cat to love/annoy, she is pretty happy- even in a new environment with all new surroundings (though some time alone to play by herself also helps).
-Even though it was a little rough at times, I am really glad we did it. But now I need to go get some sleep...


Stay tuned for what we actually DID on the trip as opposed to just a round-up of the trip itself.