Love is in the House!

Love was in the air at the Belanp House this past weekend.  

We had a lot of fun getting the girls' Valentines ready for distribution at school!  Libby and I decided to make these fleece monster plush animals to hand out to her class.  Holy smokes.  The project took a little bit longer than I originally anticipated, but I got to double dip and use them as a blog post for Get Away Today, so it was worth the effort.  I dropped by Libby's classroom on Valentines Day to take some pictures, and was happy to see all of the kids holding and loving on their little Monsters during story time.  I got a big Thank You from all of her little friends.  I think Libby was pleased!

 

Natalie and I spent one afternoon crafting up some fun Valentines for her class!  She had a purple feather boa lying around her room from one of her dance competitions last year.  It likes to leave feathers all over the house and make a serious mess.  So, we decided to pluck off all the feathers and glued them onto her valentines.  Natalie cut out all of the birds and glued on the feathers.  I was proud of myself for letting her do it.  It is hard for me to not want to take over and make things perfect.  They turned out really cute--especially for a kindergartner!! 

I was lucky enough to be the mom helper in her class on Valentines Day!  It was so fun making valentine cards with the cute kids in her class.  I love 5-year-olds.  They are so funny and nice and creative.  Natty is a social girl and has some great friends in her class.

After I helped at the school, Cord, Gage, Oliver, Natty, and I hopped in the car and drove to Salt Lake City to attend the Trailer Expo.  We like climbing in and out of the RV's.  It is fun to see what kinds of layouts and styles are available.  Maybe one day we will take the plunge and buy one.  I guess we need to get a bigger vehicle first! :)  We also stopped by REI.  Cord checked out some backpacking gear and I got a new purse.  It is really cute.  YAY!

Cord and I took a minute or two to be silly.  :)  He is my best valentine! 

Eva picked Libbers up from school and took her home with them to the valley because we were in SLC.  That night, we went up to Liberty.  Cord and I took nice long soak in the hot tub with Ryan and Eva.  The night was beautiful!   It was fun to chat and relax and enjoy the evening.  Natty and Libby talked us into letting them sleep over. 

******

Saturday night, we cooked up some yummy cupcakes and each of the kids got to choose someone to deliver one to.  We left some anonymously by ringing the doorbell and running.  The kids think it is fantastic!  They seriously get so into it.  I love watching them run and hide and laugh afterwards.  Hopefully we made some people feel special tonight.  If anything, we had fun!!

 

It was a great Valentines Weekend!  I love my handsome Valentines so much.  They are my whole world. 

Birthday Twins

Sunday, we had a birthday bash for our two little babies--Pepper and Oliver!  It was simply adorable.  I am so happy that Ollie has a cousin twin.  I am certain they will be the best of friends!  

We decorated the house with bright balloons, a birthday banner, and lots of colorful tablecloths.
Matt and Brooke (with Libby and Natalie as assistants!) took care of most of the decorating.  I think they did a mighty fine job.  It is nice having a crew to help with everything.  Joint parties are the way to go.  

Cord fried up about 6 dozen doughnuts and I dipped them in glaze and decorated them with sprinkles.

My whole family came to celebrate with us!

Grandma and Grandpa brought gifts!

Libby wanted to know why Pepper's story book had lots of words like a real book, and Oliver's book only had a few words and mostly pictures.  She then decided it was because Pepper is "older."  :)  I am sure that 13 days makes a BIG difference in the reading department...

Brooke and I decided it would be cute to make the babies these portable play tents for their birthday gift.  The boys did the building and Brooke and I made the covers.  I think they turned out so fun!  We can't wait to use ours in the backyard and at that beach this summer!

Here is Pepper playing Peek-a-Boo!

I think the kids had the most fun when we stuffed the tents with balloons and let them crawl through the tunnel!

We had a tasty"baby friendly" dinner with Chicken-Pot-Pie, Salad, Mini Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins, and all sorts of Yummy Fruit!  The birthday babies each got their own little pot pie.

I think my favorite part of the whole night was watching Pepper and Oliver eat their birthday doughnuts.  They sat and ate their treat at the tiny picnic table, side-by-side, with their birthday hats on and everyone watching.  It was so stinking cute!!

 

It really was a darling little party for two very special babies!

I can't belive Oliver turns ONE next week.  

He has stolen our hearts.

Condos and Backpacking

Cord and Dax were itching to try a winter backpacking trip.  Monica and I decided that if the boys were going to be sleeping over in the cold mountains somewhere that we wanted to have an adventure as well!  So, we planned a weekend up at East Canyon Resort.  It was a perfect location because the boys could leave from the condo and snowshoe up into the wilderness area of the resort and Monica, me and the kids had a fun place to "camp" as well!  Lorna came through and booked us a great condo and invited the rest of the Belnap crew to join us.  The kids were thrilled to have most of their cousins around to play with.  And boy did they play!

The first night was the backpacking adventure.  Cord and Dax had a great time.  They said that it was so quiet and beautiful in the back-country.  They built a fire, dug in the snow to make a spot for their tent, stayed warm in their sleeping bags, went for a snow shoe hike in the clear morning hours, and then made it back to the condo just in time for a hot yummy lunch! They didn't get attacked by any bears or wild animals, although Cord thought perhaps they were being ambushed.  Luckily, it was only an airplane!

Monica and I watched a cute movie all cozied up in our blankets on the soft couch in the condo.  I'd say it was a good night for everyone!

 Saturday, Gage woke up an immediatly put on his swimming suit.  He was so excited to take a dip.  I made him wait for daddy to get back before he could go over to the little pool.  The kids were all troopers to swim in the tiny warm pool.  They had to keep moving or else their jaws would start to chatter.  They didn't complain.  Afterwards, they warmed up in nice hot showers!

After lunch, Grandpa gave all the kids $5 to spend at the store.  My kids were thrilled!  They each picked out a treasure.  Yay for Grandpa!  Then we all headed over to the big game room in the lodge.  The kids ran around like wild Indians.  They played tag, catch a tiger by the tail, did an obstacle course, and rode on each others backs like horses.  Cord and Dax played Pop a Shot Pig for a long time.  I chased the kids around until I felt sufficiently exercised and then sat and played with Ollie.  We had the whole place to ourselves!  

That evening we had a nice dinner at the other condo and the kids played fun games with Granny B.  Once they were all settled down we watched another show and had some tasty snacks.  :)

Sunday morning we ate a big breakfast and then bundled the kids up to go play in the snow.  The sun was shinning and the snow was sparkling like crazy.  It felt so good to be out in the winter wonderland.  Cord was the champion snow helper man.  He pushed the kids down the hill and helped them back up again.  Brighton even got to get in on the sledding fun!  I took a few pictures and pushed Oliver around the grounds in his stroller.  He is still too little to keep up with the big kids.  Luckily, he got sleepy, so I took him back to the condo and laid him down for a nap.  Cute Aleigha agreed to keep an eye on him and I sneaked over for a soak in the hot tub.  It was the perfect way to warm up my cold toes.  Ahhhh.....

After lunch, it was back to the lodge for more ping pong, basketball, tag, and train building.

That night we had a mini Super Bowl party.  We ate yummy food and sort of watched a pretty lame football game.  Then it was time to pack up and head back home!  It was a great little weekend getaway and I think the start of a very good tradition!