We're still alive!

I'm pretty pathetic. It has been a very long time since I have been on here. We have had a busy two months so I will just give the short version. We don't have our own computer hooked up to the internet so hopefully I can get some pictures on here soon. The girls are both growing up so fast!

As you know we moved at the beginning of October. It was a lot harder than I expected. I miss so many of our friends and neighbors, but I know this was the right thing for our family. We are living with Richard's parents until we find a house. We have been looking as soon as a new one comes up, but so far no luck. We are looking into building, but haven't decided if that is the route we want to go. We are really enjoying being at Steve and Jeanne's. They have been so great and are really making us feel at home.

Richard is just busy working and driving around Weber County. He loves being closer to work. I am constantly surprised when he gets home as quickly as he does. He went elk hunting in Montana with his Dad in October. He had a great time staying at his Uncles cabin. Unfortunately they didn't see any elk, but the day after they came home the guys who were still up there got one. Thanks to Uncle Dave for inviting them.

I am feeling a little bit like a taxi cab these days. I am taking Arcadia to school in Riverton 2 times a week so it is a lot of driving back and forth. I am trying to get us as comfortable and organized as possible when you are living in someone elses house. I've been doing a lot of Christmas shopping and I am proud to say I only have one thing left to do. Oh and I hate the cold and snow!

Arcadia is LOVING preschool. I told her I wasn't going to take her yesterday because of the snow and she said, "But mom, my friends and Miss Lindsey will miss me." Even though I kind of doubted that I ended up taking her anyway. She is learning her letters, numbers, colors, Christmas songs and is very proud of herself. For Halloween she was a witch. It was so cute and she was so excited when we got to the ward party and her favorite nursery leader was dressed the same.

Mekensy is getting really big. She is almost walking. She can do it by herself, but a lot of the time she chooses to walk around on her knees. She is a happy girl and is always willing to let you know what she wants. She does this by screaming, loudly.

We had a great Thanksgiving with Richard's family and we are looking forward to a great Christmas season. I'll post pictures soon!

SOLD!!

We finally sold our house! It is under contract and after having the inspection and appraisal it looks like we are moving! We are supposed to be out on Nov. 5th and I have a lot of packing to do. We don't have a house to move into yet so we are moving in with Richard's parents. Just in time for his sister to move out and us to move it. We are really excited and happy it all happened before the holidays. Now we can sit back and enjoy the holidays without the stress of having to show the house. Hopefully we will find something soon though! We are so glad that Richard's parents are letting our crazy bunch move in though! Thanks Steve and Jeanne!

Arcadia Starts Preschool

While in New York Arcadia had her first day of preschool! I was very sad to miss being here, but it couldn't be changed. Richard's mom took her to Wendy's for lunch and off to school they went. She, of course, had no problems going in and seemed to have a great time. My mom and sister picked her up afterward and went out for ice cream. She has been back once since and when we got there she took off running and yelling, "TEACHER, TEACHER!" She never looked back. It is so fun to see her starting this new thing in her life. It makes me sad to see her growing up, but she is loving every minute of it. Richard's mom has the pictures so I will post them soon!

Mekensy's 1st Birthday!

Happy Birthday, Mekensy! Okay so it was a couple of weeks ago, but I'm a little slow. We had a Winnie the Pooh party for Mekensy's 1st birthday. I made a beehive cake that turned out pretty cute, until you had to cut it up and then it didn't look so appetizing. We had some famiy and friends over and had a great time. It is bittersweet seeing her grow up. It seems like she has grown up so much faster than Arcadia. She is crawling, pulling herself up on furniture, screaming when she wants something, and she is into everything! She is really a good baby. She enjoys her sleep and really enjoys eating. We love having her in our family and love watching her do new things everyday!

I'll post pictures later. For some reason I can't get them to upload!

I Heart New York!

As a surprise for my birthday Richard took me to New York. I have wanted to go there for as long as I can remember. For our six years of married life every vacation we have gone on has involved water and sand. Two things that I don't care much for so I told him that I was not going anywhere that involved the two until I have been to New York. Much to my surprise he listened and now I can blog about it! We had an amazing time seeing all there is to see in New York City.

Our trip started off a little rocky when we sat on the plane at the gate in Salt Lake for almost 2 hours before they decided that the plane was not working and we had to get off. We ended up catching a flight about an hour later and much to our dismay we arrived in New York, but our luggage didn't. After a 12 hour fight the hotel finally tracked down our bags and we were free to enjoy our stay.

I'm just going to give you run down of all the things we did and post some pictures at the end. There is so much to see and do in New York it was amazing. We saw The Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, The Empire State Building, Ground Zero, Central Park, Rockefeller Center, Central Park, Serendipity Restaurant, the Hello Deli, Yankees game, Ripley's Believe It Or Not, Times Square, Wall Street, riding the Subway, Trump Building, pizza, Mary Poppins, Jersey Boys, NY city cops (which everyone gets pictures with, except us!), Arcade games at Dave and Busters, and nightly stops at the 7 Eleven. I'm sure there was so much more, but I can't remember it all!

Thanks for taking me Rich. It was a great surprise. I had a great time spending time with you and getting a break from my kids. Thanks to my Mom and Dad and Richard's Mom and Dad for watching our girls. They also had a great vacation with out us!

Fun in the Sun!

Playing at the park with Daddy while Mommy was at Girls Camp!

More pool fun! Arcadia, Dallin, and Hayden enjoyed playing in the tiny pool together!

Fun with Cousins!

On our way home from California, way back in July, we had my cousin Loren come stay with us for about a week. Arcadia loved having another big girl in her house. Richard enjoyed having yet another girl living in the house- me, Arcadia, Mekensy, Staci, her Dog, and Loren might have been a little more than he could handle! We had a fun week playing in the mini pool outside, swimming at Richard's mom's with the Young Women, shopping, going to the park, doing crafts, and going to lunch with Grandma and Grandpa Jensen. We had a great time with Loren and were sad to see her go! Hopefully she will make it up for a visit again soon! Here are some pictures of the events! This was Arcadia's 3rd time in the pool with all of her clothes on! She listens really well!

Doing crafts that Aunt Kris brought over. Loren made some really cute little bugs!

Lunch and playing at the park with Loren, Arcadia, Dallin, and Hayden!

Slacker!

I can't believe how long it has been since I have blogged. It is pretty sad that in order to do any blogging I am having to look through my pictures on my camera to remember what we have done. Since our last blog we have celebrated the 24th of July, been swimming, had my cousin come stay, celebrated Mekensy's 1st Birthday, Richard and I went to New York, and we went to the State Fair. I'm sure there is much more things we have done, but that is the only thing I took pictures of! So be ready for a long list of blogging!

Fun in the Cali Sun!!

Richard's Mom and Dad treated us to a great vacation in Oceanside, California. We stayed in a condo with his family and enjoyed all of the fun things California has to offer. We started off the trip visiting with Amanda's Aunt and Uncle in Las Vegas. Thanks for letting us spend the night Bri and Koami! We played at the beach, went to Disneyland and Sea World, saw a Dodgers game, went to visit Richard's mission in East LA, put a corndog in the Jeeps air vent (explanation to come), threw up on the way to the Dodgers game (thanks Arcadia), walked the pier in Oceanside, Richard learned to surf with his cousin Miles (unfortunately I saw none of it so I have no proof), Steve and Jeanne took the 4 grandkids + 1 cousin to the Wild Animal Park, saw dolphins swimming in the ocean, and Amanda cleaned up sand, sand, and more sand. As you can tell we had a great week in California and really enjoyed the time we spent with Richard's family. Thank you so much Steve and Jeanne for giving us the chance to do all that fun stuff!!On one of our drives Arcadia was eating a corndog in the backseat. Later we found it in the air vent. Fortunately she did take it out about 30 minutes later and finish eating it!
The girls playing in the sand. They both loved the sand, especially Mekensy. I didn't like it so much. I have never cleaned up so much sand in my life.

Disneyland with Richard's family. Yes, Mekensy is there, but she is behind everyone.
Arcadia fell asleep for about 2 hours after a long, hot day in Disneyland. She later woke up and enjoyed the Light Parade at California Adventure.

After a second attempt at making it to a Dodgers game- this is Arcadia feeding Grandma Jeanne her nachos. The first trip ended with us getting only 2 miles from the stadium, after an hour and a half drive, when Arcadia threw up all over the backseat. Unfortunately for me I was sitting next to her.
Arcadia playing in the water in California Adventure. She was soaked!!

Baby for sale? No, Grandpa Steve likes to put the babies in interesting places. It keeps them from crying. Notice how happy she is!!
Arcadia relaxing on the balcony after a long, hot day at the Wild Animal Park. Thanks for taking them Grandma and Grandpa. I don't know what was wilder, the animals or the children!

We really had a great time. Arcadia did not want to come home. The only consolation was that on the way home we picked up my cousin, Loren to come stay with us for a week!! Thanks again Steve and Jeanne!!

Happy Fourth of July!!

We had a great 4th of July. It was a little more low key this year than in years past. Richard and I were very happy about that- with two kids now who both have short attention spans we knew we couldn't do all the usuals. Mekensy and Arcadia at the Murray parade. Arcadia was so excited to have candy thrown to her. The only problem was that she would only look at one person and unless she saw that one person throw the candy she didn't see all of other candy falling around her. It was a good thing she had Grandma Jeanne to help her.

Daddy and his girls swimming at Grandpa Steve and Grandma Jeanne's. We were the only ones who swam so it was like having our own private pool. Thanks Rama and Rapa!
After a fun day of Parades and swimming we went to my parents house for a BBQ. It was a yummy meal. Thanks Mom and Dad! After we came to our house to do fireworks. Sorry about the funny pictures Mom and Staci. They were the ones Arcadia picked! We hope everyone had a great 4th!

No Mom really I can!

My sister and her dog, Diamond, spent the night at our house last night. Richard was out of town so we decided to make a little girls night. Well, my sister left Diamond here for the day while she worked. Arcadia LOVES this dog, but I'm afraid the Diamond doesn't feel the same way. After Staci took Diamond home I had Arcadia sit on the potty before nap time. As she is going to the bathroom she says, "Mom, I can just go outside and go potty like Diamond." I replied with, "People don't go potty outside, only animals." She says, "No mom really I can." So if you are ever driving past our house and you see Arcadia going to the bathroom outside she is doing it because, "really she can."

Tomorrow, tomorrow...

I love ya tomorrow! I forgot the most important part of the St. George trip. My mom, sister, Arcadia, and I went to see Annie at Tuachan. Arcadia was really confused at what we were doing. She really enjoys watching Annie and singing the songs, but when we told her we were going to see Annie I think she thought we were actually meeting her. When we got to Tuachan she kept asking for her ticket because she needed to give it to Annie. It was so cute. She did get a little bored towards the end of the first half, but all in all she did well. We had a great time and the play was terrific! Thanks mom!!

St. George Trip

This past weekend we went to St. George with my family. We had a great time. We stayed in a super nice condo, which I think my sister may have stayed to live in it if she had her dog and car with her. We swam with the girls. Arcadia was a little leary of the water the first day, but Mekensy loved it. Kids were splashing on her, my dad got her mouth a little far under the water, but no fear Mekensy didn't even flinch. The girls shopped, while the boys golfed (three times). We saw my Aunt and Uncle who live down there and went to lunch and to swim at their house. My mom and dad were nice enough to watch the girls for us the last night so my sister, brother, and Richard and I could go to out. Our intention was to go to a movie, but we ended up wandering through Target where Richard and my brother threw balls and rode on the electric shopping cart thing. We bought gifts from the dollar store for Mom and Dad and then we dragged St. George Boulevard. We had great "bonding moments" and Richard and I enjoyed a break from the girls. I hope you enjoyed your gifts Mom and Dad!! Haha! Thanks for the awesome trip Mom and Dad, we all had a lot of fun! Here are some pictures of the fun at the pool! Notice there are no pictures of my mom, sister, or I. You would never even know we were on the trip!

Blogging...who has time for that!!

I obviously don't. Well, actually I just haven't been able to sit at a computer for more than two minutes. I am doing better now so I thought I would post a few pictures of the girls.

I'm pretty sure this might be the only picture we have of the girls both looking at the camera. It is so hard to get both of their attention. As soon as you get one the other one looks at the other to see if they are looking!!

When Richard and I were in Las Vegas for our anniversary we went to a hotel (don't ask me which cuz my mommy brain doesn't remember) and they had these really cool bugs made out of flowers. I thought they were fun!

The Surgery

As you all know I had my surgery on the 20th. Everything went pretty well, other than when they got in there the disc was no longer herniated off to that side. All they were able to do was open up the nerve opening a little more to give it some more space. The doctor said it may have worked it's way back in the 6 weeks since the MRI or it dissolved. The recovery has been a little longer than I really anticipated. Thanks to my wonderful husband who let me sleep the first few days away. My steri-strips came off the other day only to reveal a whole a little bigger than the size of a pencil eraser where they obviously did not put any stitches. Obviously I am a little unhappy about that, but we will see the dr. on Monday to share those feelings with him. I must say that after two stays at the big, new wonderful hospital both have gone bad. I'm not quite sure what is going on over there, but I don't really like it.

Thank you so much to all of the family, friends, and ward members who helped with the girls or brought in meals. And a great big thanks to my mom and sister for cleaning my house. It has been a bit neglected in the past few weeks!

Happy Anniversary!

Richard and I celebrated our 6th Wedding Anniversary this last weekend. We went to Vegas and left our sick kids with my mom and dad. We had a great time shopping, we saw Le Rev and watching the weird people who visit Vegas. It was nice to get away together without the girls. We haven't done that in a long time. Arcadia and Mekensy had a good time at my mom's. I'm not so sure my mom and dad could say the same. Arcadia was sick and didn't sleep very well, and Mekensy was just starting to get sick. Thanks Mom, Dad and Zach for putting up with our kids for a couple of days.

I love you Richard. Thanks for taking me to Vegas and giving me a break from the monotony of staying home. I had a great time. I can't believe it has been 6 years, time flies!

What's been going on in the Habel house

I am a really big slacker these days. We have had so much going on, but not necessarily anything exciting to blog about. Here are some updates.

Mekensy turned 8 months at the end of April. She is getting so big. She knows what she wants and when she does not get it she has quite a scream. She is a happy baby and really enjoys watching her sister. She is sick again and on top of that her top two teeth are coming in so it has been a pleasant few days. She is still not really rolling over or even attempting to crawl, which is fine by me.

Arcadia has been quite a handful the last couple of weeks. Maybe that is why I haven't made it to the computer much. I'm not quite sure what kind of a mess or disaster she is going to make. She has learned to tell me things that only a teenager would say to their mom and dad. It is a good thing I love her! She also cut her own hair the other day. Richard thought she slit her wrists by my reaction. Let's just say it was not pretty. She has had lots of fun playing with my cousins at my mom's and destroying her house. It is not uncommon after a day of play at my mom's that my mom calls and says, "Do you know where she might have put this or that?" Sorry mom! Overall she is being pretty good. The time outs work- she doesn't like it when you start to count.

As for me I still continue to be a mess. It is pretty sad that one person can single handedly reached the deductible on your insurance, but if it is going to be done rest assured I will do it. For those of you who don't know I found out I have a hurniated disc in my neck that is pinching the nerve that runs down my left arm. After weeks of pain and many doctors visits we discovered this. The sad part is that it all started with a stiff neck. I am having surgery on the 20th. The doctor is going to go through the back of my neck and clear out the part of the disc that is herniated and pinching the nerve. This is much better than the alternative of going through the front and fusing my discs together. I have had to postpone the surgery twice now because of other issues so cross our fingers that the 20th works!

Richard has been busy with work. Working for a bank right now does not always make him the most comfortable, but lucky for him Key seems to be doing well. He has been working hard to get our yard in shape. He and the dandelions have had it out quite a bit and lucky for him he is winning. He is planning on going to banking school in August so we will miss him for a few weeks, but it is better than the alternative of going to get his masters for 2 years.

We hope everyone is doing well. It has been crazy around here, but hopefully I can get some things organized and be a little better a blogging!!

Happy Easter!!

Arcadia started off the Easter celebrations by coloring Easter eggs with Richard's mom and dad and his sister and her kids. She colored a green one and a pink one. She was so excited to show us when she got home. Richard's parents also took her to see Monsters vs. Aliens. She seemed to have a great time. It is easy to make her happy when you give her popcorn and a treat. Thanks Steve and Jeanne for taking Arcadia! It was a great break for us and she had a lot of fun!! Easter pictures to come later!

Mekensy's nemesis....

THE BLUE BULB SYRINGE! (Ours isn't this cute and maybe if it was she might not mind it!) Mekensy has had a nasty cold for the last week and everytime she sees the blue syringe she starts flipping her head from side to side. I can't imagine that it feels very good to have all of your mucus sucked from your nose, but the alternative of not breathing is worse in my opinion. The poor girl is constantly being wiped and having something stuck up her nose. To make matters worse Arcadia thinks she needs to take care of her also and was caught trying to put a Q-tip up her nose!

Making Cookies with Rama Nene!

My mom had this "GREAT" idea to make sugar cookies with Arcadia the other day. We went to the store to get everything we needed and I think by the time we left the store she was already changing her mind. Arcadia was not being very nice to say the least. My mom started the cookies and I think by the time she had the first thing of dough rolled out she was wishing she could go back. For those of you who don't know Arcadia very well, she insists on doing everything herself. My mom had to deal with a determined 3 year old. I must admit I wasn't much help because I knew I didn't have the patience to deal with it. Needless to say they finally finished and the turned out great! Thank heaven for Grandmas because I would never have been so adventurous!

Party Time!!

We had Arcadia's birthday party on Saturday. She was so excited and she woke up that morning saying, "My birthday coming up?" I had been telling her that her birthday was coming up soon for about a week so she wasn't quite convinced it was really the day. She picked out her cake, which was of course, Disney Princesses. We had all of our family and a couple of friends over. She got lots of fun gifts. Of course most, or maybe all, of her toys were Disney Princess related. She got a new bike and helmet from Richard's mom and dad, and thanks to my parents a Barbie guitar and a CD player shaped like Cinderella's carriage, which included a microphone. Thanks Mom and Dad! Last year a darn goldfish that I have to clean up after and this year very noisy musical items. I must say even though they are a bit obnoxious she loves them. I certainly hope she was blessed with more of a singing ability that either Richard or I because she sure loves to sing. She loves watching American Idol, although she comments more on their clothing than their singing! Here are a couple of pics and of course I didn't get a picture of the cake!

Happy Birthday Arcadia!!

Arcadia turned 3 last Friday. Wow how time flies. I can remember the day I found out I was pregnant with her and it seems like yesterday, but here we are 3 years later. She started off the day with the tradition of waking up to balloons on her floor. My parents did this for me and I decided it was a fun tradition to do with our girls. We didn't have much planned for the day because Mekensy was sick and I didn't want her out. We hung out at home and played with some of her toys and watched movies. When Richard got home I took her to pick out a movie and some treats. Much to Richard's dismay she picked out "Barbie and the Twelve Dancing Princesses". We then let her open her gifts from us. We made her close her eyes while Richard wheeled Mekensy in on the new wagon.

We then ordered pizza and watched the movie after Mekensy went to bed. Arcadia doesn't get to stay up late unless we are out so it was fun for her to stay up when Mekensy had to go to bed. She loved the wagon and insisted on watching the movie in it. And if Richard thought he would get out of watching the movie by falling asleep he was wrong. Arcadia kept checking on us to see if we were watching and if we weren't we were in trouble.

We hope she had a fun day and knows how much we love her. We can't imagine our lives without her, other than they would be much quieter. We love all of the energy she brings to our family and look forward to many more fun birthdays. We love you Arcadia!!

St. Patricks Day!

I am really late in posting this, but Arcadia thought it was pretty funny so I thought I should post the pictures. We had a fun St. Patricks Day. Arcadia enjoyed her GREEN breakfast. Complete with Lucky Charms in a green bowl, green milk in a green sippy cup and a green spoon. Mekensy also joined in the fun with green oatmeal in a green bowl, and her formula in a green bottle. Arcadia thought it was funny and every once in a while asks for some of her food to be colored. I have found it is a great way to get her to drink milk without chocolate or strawberry in it if it is a different color.

House for Sale

Well, we have decided to put our house up for sale. We are looking for houses and have made on offer on one. Who knows what will happen, but we are giving it a shot. If anyone is looking to move give us a call. Wish us luck!!