Christmas in the Caribbean Day 1

This year for Christmas Shane's sister invited us onto her boat, which is currently in the Caribbean. That was a no brainer, not to mention it was -5 when she called. Most trips in Shane's family are last minute or some call it spontaneous and this was no different. We booked our tickets, got my sister Amy to agree to come along and 3 days later we were on a plane to St. Martin. So, let me translate what that really means. Day 1 booked tickets, arranged people to cover teaching, dog-feeding etc. Day 2 All of the Christmas shopping, shipping it and lots of laundry. That evening just as we got the kids to bed there was a huge blackout (really there couldn't have been a worse time). That meant packing and wrapping all Christmas presents were done by flashlight and lanterns. Day 3 load car, clean house, head to SLC to catch a flight.

The kids played and slept and then we woke them when we arrived in St. Martin. Ah, the humidity and heat hit as we got of the plane. What a change from the snow we had just come from. I think my body was in a little bit of shock. My hair definitley was, it was growing in thickness by the minute. (refer to the Friends episode when Monica travels to the bahamas and ends up looking like Diana Ross)

Gunnar and Livy are making sure the captian doesn't hit anything as we leave the port. We headed out to St. Bart's which is beautiful and has some great beaches. This is our host Robert and Shane's sister Heather. It's a nice way to travel when the weather is good.

Halloween 2009

Happy Halloween! My kids were so excited this year. I think they all grasp the concept of this holiday. CANDY, CANDY, CANDY! To start off, a week before Halloween, Gunnar had a school carnival were we saw a spook alley, took a hay ride, and played lots and lots of games. Izze doing the cake walk was pretty funny. The music would stop and she would keep walking and run into the person in front of her. She won a cupcake but then got mad because everyone else got a laffytaffy. Go figure!

Next was the Church Party. It was outside so Livy decided to be Mr. Incredible with a full sweat suit underneath. Izze decided she couldn't be Tinkerbell again and decided on a moonboot fairy. Lots of games and not so great food. Izze is learning though, during the cake walk she just walked right over to the cupcake table and took one for her and one for dad!

There were preschool parties, gym parties, a school Halloween parade, and our first snow fall. Shane let the girls out the door to taste the snow. Izze with no shoes. Way to go DAD!

Finally, time to trick or treat. Izze's alteration to the princess protection costume. She was the only one with warm hands at the end of the night.

I am kind of glad we are done with Halloween this year. I believe there were a total of 6 different costume parties in all. Livy and Izze did come up with some interesting costume variations.

Hope you all had fun. I sure did and now have a Halloween candy hangover. Good Times!

Gunnar's First Day of Kindergarten

So this post is a few weeks late but here is a re-cap of my first child going to school experience.

Gunnar was so excited to start "Big School" as he refers to it. He is in afternoon kindergarten. He gets to ride the bus (if we were still living in phoenix there is no way I would put him on a bus.) Luckily in little town, USA I feel totally comfortable. Gunnar had his shoes and backpack on 30 min before the bus was suppose to come. The bus stop is right in front of our house. I sent Gunnar outside 10 minutes before pick up time and went to grab the camera. As I walked outside the bus was in front of our house and Gunnar was already on it. So my picture turned out to be just the bus. Shane was outside in the garage and informed me that Gunnar saw the bus, turned to Shane and said "bye dad!" and then ran up the stairs of the bus without ever looking back. At least I got a picture of the bus. Then I decided to drive to the school and get a picture of Gunnar getting off the bus. They have all the kids line up and then walk into their class. Gunnar saw us in the car across the street and gave us his famous (I'm not trying to smile) - Smile -

2nd Day of School I was going to get my picture of Gunnar getting on the bus. I sent Gunnar out 20 minutes before pick up time and went to get the camera and wouldn't you know it. I walked out the door to see Shane waving good -bye to Gunnar on the bus already. Just my luck.

3rd Day of School I got the camera walked out side with Gunnar 30 min before pick up time and 10 minutes later the bus came and I got my picture. Turns out the school gave me the wrong bus stop time and I just got lucky Gunnar didn't miss his bus on the first day of school.

He loves School. Hates the weekend when he doesn't get to go and panics when he fell asleep on the couch after lunch and woke up thinking he missed the bus. I spent 10 min trying to explain what an in-service day was and that there was no school that day.

Izze Fashion

Kids don't come cuter than this! She decided on a miniskirt and I suppose to be modest she added the leg warmers (aka Shane's motorcycle socks.) Somehow she was able to fit her crocs on too. I love it when she dresses herself.

A Tramp blew into our backyard.

The other night we had a little more than just a storm blow in. Our neighbors trampoline (2 houses down from us) caught by a gust of wind, took flight and flew over our 6 foot fence and landed in our backyard right next to our trampoline. Luckily Shane had just moved ours while mowing the lawn so there was space for a 2nd. The next day, contrary to advice received that we should just keep the extra tramp, the men stood around trying to figure out how to evacuate the trespassing tramp:) They decided to just lift it back over the fence. I really really wanted a picture, but unfortunately I was called upon to help lift it. Therefore you are left with only getting a description. 3 of us lifting the tramp overhead and passing it to 2 men on the outside of the fence. When the tramp was halfway across the fence the 3rd man from our side ran around the help the receiving team. I (being the shortest) was left holding 1/4 the tramp by myself and on tippy toes trying to hoist it over the fence. The fence wasn't injured at all but the tramp sadly has seen better days. They tried to bend it back into position and it looks functional. Ah, you gotta love the wind in this town!

Gunnar's Birthday

Gunnar's 5th Birthday Party!! It was suppose to be an outside swim party but the weather wasn't cooperating. At the last minute Shane came up with some relay's inside. We moved all the furniture in the basement and had some races, Indian leg wrestling and a crazy tug-of-war. Aunt Lizzie and Amy came up for the festivities and brought baby Asher (aka lil mike). Gunnar decided on no girls allowed at this party but was willing to share cupcakes with his sisters. Izze devoured hers and left half the chocolate frosting on her face. Shane was most excited for the gifts. He gave Gunnar a fully automatic nerf gun. It's been shot on every wall in the house. The gun slept in Gunnar's bed, had it's own pillow and at 2am this morning I had to threaten to take in away if it was ever fired before the sun comes up again. All-in-all a fun day!!

A saturday of birthday parties

Saturday we had three different birthday parties for the kids. I admit the princess party for the girls was the most fun for me. Aunt Amy was here visiting so she curled Livy's hair and loaded it with hairspray so it would stay. It is still cold outside so I decided to make them wear long sleeves, they were both resistant to this idea but I won in the end with "because I said so." It was fun to see so many little princesses. They played for a while and then out came a Tinkerbell pinata. All these dainty little girls swinging a bat couldn't break it open. Izze was so cute, half her hits were with the proper end of the bat and the rest were with the handle. Livy has a good swing but her aim needs a little help. No one was blindfolded and they pretty much put the pinata right in front of them. Still the girls couldn't break Tinker Bell so big brother came in with a good strong whack! Livy had no idea there was candy inside but started gathering up everything in front of her and making Aunt Amy hold whatever she couldn't. Izze I don't think realized where the candy was coming from, she just saw it appearing on the floor and wanted to eat every piece she found right then and there. Then time for pizza, cake and presents. My girls left with pinata candy, goody bag candy and a serious sugar high. What fun!

At this same time Shane was taking Gunnar to a party at the gymnastic center with many running and jumping boys. There was a huge foam pit to jump in and a coach leading them through an obstacle course that really wore him out. Then he was loaded up with candy, cake and ice cream. All 3 kids came home and crashed on the couch. We had to wake Gunnar up for he 2nd party that afternoon. A spider man party with painting and games.

All in all it was a fun and busy day. I realized I'm probably going to wait a few more years before I start the huge birthday events. For now small family parties seem so easy.

A little bit about Isabel

Isabel is almost 2. She is the happiest little girl ever. She has recently figured out how to climb onto the counters. She loves to pull all the dishes and glasses out of the cupboards and try to stack them on the counter. I thought it was cute at first, when she was using the plastic dishes, but recently she has started pulling out all the real dishes which freaks me out a little. So far nothing has fallen off the counter (including Isabel) but I'm over the cuteness now and would just prefer if she stayed on the ground.

She loves to play hide-n-go seek. She stands right next to Shane and tries to count. Every number sounds like two. Then she follows behind looking for the Hiders. As soon as she sees them she yells "rrrraaaa" as loud as she can. When it's her turn to hide she likes to jump out and try to scare whoever is looking for her (before they actually find her.)

As a side note to all those who knew me growing up: The ponytail on top of her head is in remembrance of the whale spout hairdo I had in junior high:-) Like mother Like daughter.

Sleding Trip

We tried to take the kids sledding since we have so much snow. I thought it would last maybe a half hour since the kids are so young. Gunnar marched right up the hill with Shane, jumped on the sled and took off down the hill. He continued this pattern for over 30 minutes and never did he look were he was going before he got on the sled. For the most part he had a clear path but randomly he would cause a stranger to dive out of the way. Once while Shane was getting him on video he came straight at Shane (good for video, bad for Shane and Isabel standing in front of Shane) At the last second, realizing Isabel was in some danger, Shane grabbed her out of the way and Gunnar slid right under Shane's left leg.

Livy and Isabel turned out not to be big fans of sledding. I waited in the car with them after about 15 minutes when they got cold.

Superbowl Sunday

The Superbowl is always a favorite holiday for our family. The thing I enjoy the most is seeing how many times Shane makes a comment BEFORE (this year) John Madden makes the same exact comment. I lost count it happened so many times.

This year was especially exciting because we actually had a home team to cheer for. Since lived in Phoenix for the last 6/7 years (I lose count) we were forced to watch all Cardinals games. The networks usually play the best match up in the area but we would always end up with the Cardinals. So we suffered through awful games, huge blow outs and depressing games. So we've watched them slowly build this team. We've been to a few games and great to see them make it to the Superbowl. To bad it wasn't last year though. Then they could've had home field advantage. We were sad they didn't win but as a football fan I couldn't have asked for a better game.

The kids don't know what's going on but Gunnar loves to yell touchdown. They were especially hyper during the first half (probably a result of all the sugar) and then slept through the second half so we just put them to bed. All in all a great Superbowl this year.

The Cookie Game

Shane made up this game for Family Home Evening one night. Mostly because Shane loves cookies. The rules of the game are simple. Everyone has to sit reverently for the time is takes to bake the cookies, about 7 minutes. If they talk to loud of get out of their chair (NO COOKIE FOR YOU!) yes, I get to be the cookie Nazi. It feels like an eternity for the kids, but they watch the timer and are usually reverent. For me it's quiet and peaceful. Even Shane is reverent. I think he's worried he won't get a cookie either.

The human jungle gym

It's cold outside and the kids aren't used to being in the house all day long. They have come up with their own way to keep their climbing skills up. Izze is the most daring of them all. She always wants to be the highest up. She has found an alternative when Dads not around. We have a 1/2 bath with a pedestal sink. She likes to hang upsidedown from it. It makes me a little nervous but she seems to be quite the little acrobat.

Shane the master negotiator

As many of our friends know first hand, Shane is a master negotiator. He has a crazy way of getting his friends to buy quads, rc vehicles, paintball guns, 5th wheels, cars, computer upgrades, etc...Whatever he's interested in. He loves to research his hobbies, thank you internet. Personally I think he just gets so excited about something you can't help but be sucked into his vortex. Not to mention he can justify anything to his advantage. So for all those that have been sucked into this vortex, I thought I'd give you an inside glimps at how this goes down on my side. I actually enjoy this, but I've had 14 years to develope counter measures.

Background: Shane has been waiting for this new Yamaha quad to be released and it finally did. There is only one at our local motor sports dealer and he just went to go test drive it. The following conversation happened a few hours after he got home.


Beki: Hey do you like this swimsuit? I think it's pretty cute...oh never mind it's $190.
Shane: It's great! and it gives me an idea.
Beki: I know that look...
Shane: Why don't you buy that swimsuit now even though you won't be able to use it until summer and I'll get the new 450R(quad) now even though I won't be able to ride it until summer?
Beki: hahaha...how is that even fair?
Shane: They are both things that we really want. And I think you'll look great in it!
Beki: How much is the quad?
Shane: Oh I worked them down to the best price. It's an amazing deal.
Beki: Don't you already have FIVE OTHER QUADS?
Shane: Yes but this is a NEED. It has fuel injection so I don't have to re-jet (yada yada yada)
Beki: What color is it?
Shane: White and Red, it's beautiful
Beki: Ummm...no deal I like it better in blue.
Shane: .........blank stare.......
Beki: (can't stop laughing)

The playful banter will continue for weeks or even months depending on how long I can hold out for. Some people don't believe me when I tell them Shane & I have never had a argument. How can I when I end up laughing at the end of most conversations. Shane's the cutest guy I know:)

France cont..start at the bottom

Last is the night life. You can sit around and try to watch a movie with the kids. A favorite is playing Rock Band and getting the chef to make chocolate chip cookies, or visiting one of the many parties going on. I do love the fact that you get dressed up to go out then you have to take your shoes off because no one is allowed to wear shoes on the boats. That's okay though because the supermodels they fly in are tall enough without their stilettos on.

Fifth, Back to another merry-go-round or the only park in the town. Notice there is no grass and only one piece of equipment. I thought I'd add the security protecting the strollers and diaper bags for fun. Poor guys. Shane loves to play practical jokes. He can keep a straight face through the most blatant lie, its amazing. One evening our 2 Israeli security men were going to watch a movie in one of their rooms together. Shane suggested that they would love Broke back Mountain. They had no idea what it was about and Shane explained it had won a lot of awards, it was a western. I couldn't stop laughing after they left and was still laughing 15 minutes later when they came storming up the stairs demanding to know "is this movie about homosexuals!!!??" Ah, I love Shane.

Then it's time for dinner. I love that my sister Lizzie was the first to the table and always knew what time dinner was being served. She was pregnant though, so she has a good excuse.

Fourth, We sit on the beach!! This is my favorite part. We get all the kids into the tender and the crew does everything else...Heaven. They gather and load/unload all the toys, masks, boogie boards, towels, snacks, water, sunscreen and a walky talky so you can call when you're done and they'll come get you. When the water is rough or a little deep they will even carry you to shore. I only did it once because I was in clothes and had medicine for Livy that I didn't want to get wet. I admit it was a little embarrassing. Then you just relax and let the kids run around and burn off all that energy. The little islands we went to were the best. Not very crowded and the water was shallow so the kids can play pretty far out there.

Third, time to eat lunch. Everyone loads into the tender. (small transport boat) They take you to a restaurant with a dock and I pray they have a kids menu or at least plastic cups which they never do. Then you try really hard to remember the french you learned in high school so you kinda know what you are ordering. The french like to take their time, so in other words they are slow. That's why if the kids want to eat their lunch under the table, it's fine with me. If they aren't bothering anyone, no harm done. Occasionally you see a celebrity. I tried to get a shot of Bono behind Isabel at Club 55 but some lady walked by. Then you load into the tender and go back to the big boat.