House Party/ Toy Party

 I am a sucker for free deals... Can you blame me I try and be "frugal' with somethings... I take surveys and that pays for our Christmas it has been a really nice budgeting another thing I do or try to do is a website called www.houseparty.com I love this site they have different companies who want consumers to try new things so they ask for you to throw a party take some pictures fill out a survey and you get the free things that they send for you to have a party... Sounds easy right well it is... This was my second house party and so far my favorite! Last year we did a Halloween house party that wasn't sponsored by any company. So the free things weren't so awesome for those who came.. But this party was a fisher price toy party and we were able to try the new big toys hat are out this year... Ben's favorite was the race car track... But he did like the oven... We gave all the toys but the race car track away to our friends because well we don't have the room and Ben isn't a girl so playing with a Disney princess castle was a no go for Kyle :) We had all of Ben's friends over and he loved it... he is still learning about sharing so this was a great chance for him to share. We had such a good time and are so grateful we had the chance to host it!
Here is to more house parties in our future!

Kyle

As I was looking through pictures this morning I decided to look through Kyle's pictures we have of him as a kid.... There are so many thing about Kyle that make me smile that seeing these pictures gave me a good laugh this morning

These next 3 pictures make me laugh because one of the funny things kyle does when he is working hard or thinking hard is stick his tongue out he always has (fun fact his Dad does too and now so does Ben) Note the tongue in all 3 pictures, In all these pictures it shows Kyle still has not changed a bit since he was 4 he loves to see how things work and loves tractors and well his cutting skills are just about the same :)

Kyle is ALWAYS getting more dirty then a project needs to be... I am always doing laundry and this is why!

Even as a kid he played with washers :)

Now he isn't this excited when we go bowling but when we do go bowling he does act like a little kid and instead of trying to knock down pins he tries to throw the ball the fastest ( they tell you how many MPH you throw the ball)

Note the band-aid on his knee.... there is not one single day that Kyle doesn't hurt himself not one he is always bleeding in some way

Kyle still does this.... yes its true any thing Ben isn't going to wear goes on his head... and when Ben was a new born he did this to him every time he changed his diaper.

He still gets this excited to play with Ben's toys I love going it to Ben's room and watching them play... even betting when Kyle is playing by himself and Ben is usually destroying something else where and Kyle is to busy playing to notice

Moab...... Kyle still loves this plays and off roading is one of his favorite things.... We have so many pictures of Ben doing this same thing in our cars it makes me laugh

This is a Ben face if I have ever seen one. this is normally the face I get when I catch Ben in the act of something naughty and we wonder where he gets it. Here is my answer...

I love these pictures because this is when we first started dating... Look at the awesome farmers tan.... The life of a construction worker! Him and his family took a trip to Mexico before he went on a Mission and I remember that trip very well... He e-mailed me and tried calling every day it was pretty cute since he had to pay big bucks to get internet and to call... I guess I was pretty fun to talk to at the age of 16  :)
The bottom picture has him sporting the goatee.... In all the pictures we had of us together when he had that he looks like he was robbing the cradle I looked 16 (cause I was) and he looked OLD

amazing what facial hair can do for you

Anyway not that any of you care but these just made me smile this morning and I thought I would share!
I am one lucky girl!

Yellowstone

We just got back from our big fall camping trip! It was such a needed break to go away for a few days. The week before kyle got a nasty cold and then the Day we left me and Ben came down with it add the 20 degree weather and lack of rest we are now home and all wanting to die of this evil cold. But the trip was a blast! One of the best parts is We finally made it up to see one of Kyles old Mission Companion and his sweet wife! They Got married almost 2 years ago and I didn't get to go to the wedding because I was working nights for Harry and David and for those two years me and Kyle have been saying we really need to make the trip up to Idaho to visit and we never have they have stopped by a few times on their way back up to Idaho so a trip up there was long over-do
We left Thurday after Kyle was done with his calls and Made it to Forrest's and Marisha's a few hours late stayed and vistied for a bit then it was off to the camp ground another 2 hour drive... We pulled in at about 11:30 and set up camp in record time to get our little Monkey in bed as soon as we could. We have been letting him sleep with us while we camp which has been so hard one would think a 34 inch child couldn't take up a whole queen bed but Ben sure can... it was a long night for me and Kyle but Ben got a good nights rest. We woke up and headed into the park the park rangers were not very nice about us entering the park because we have our name branded on the side of our jeep... it was crazy both times we entered they made sure that we would not be doing any commercial services in Yellowstone park... Silly Rangers.... We had a great time the first day we did the lower loop and were able to see alot Ben loved every second of it! He is still talking about it... He didn't do the best at old faithful but that is okay... As it was time to drive back to camp for dinner he fell asleep and of course that was when we saw the most animals and he missed it all I was so sad!
The Next Morning We took are time and played around the camp ground Forrest and Marisha came and met up with us around noon and we headed into the park to do the upper loop. We were able to see a lot of Elk a lot closer up and we saw a few wolves and a lot of stupid people getting WAY to close to the wolves.
We had a great time I can't wait to go back when I am not pregnant and do more hiking... On the first day I was having crazy pain in my legs on the hikes then I started noticing my veins getting darker and darker that night we got home and in my right leg I was able to see huge veins all the way down from my thigh to my ankle... I did as much research I could with hardly any internet connection to try and see how to get the varicose veins to stop hurting and how to make it better so I could walk the next so I slept with my legs propped up and I woke up in the morning and could hardly walk... I seriously thought cutting off my leg would be a better option then walking that day.. I looked at my leg again and the back of my thigh has like exploded  with veins from far away I am sure it looks like a bruise but up close it is the strangest looking thing I had seen in my life... Hopefully when i go to the Dr next week I will know what the heck happened but my hiking was way limited on this trip due to the veins of death I called them... By that night they looked much worse so i am having to take it easy walking doesn't hurt as much anymore the pain is getting so much better but my leg looks awful..
Anywho here are pictures of the trip! Enjoy!