Ricky is home for good! Yeah! And we all survived the first week! It is an adjustment having him home all the time! I LOVE it and don't want him to leave again!
My blog has been on the back burner for a while now. I don't know why, but I haven't been in the mood to write/type about my life right now. I am keeping busy with everyday things, but don't have anything too exciting to write about. I guess I am just going through a phase in life and I hope it is over soon. I enjoy looking back at what was going on in life and seeing my beautiful babies grow up! So, until next time.
Friday, May 27, 2011
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
My little Get-a-way
I had the wonderful opportunity to get away for the weekend with Ricky! I can't tell you how much I needed it! We had not been on any vacation alone since Dylan was 7 months old! Thanks for the generosity of our parents in helping out with the kids and making this possible! It was so relaxing, almost like being at the beach! (Even though we had snow while we were visiting Mount Rushmore!) I had forgotten how peaceful nature can be!
We got to Rapid City, South Dakota at 10 in the morning, so we headed out for the day. The day started out nice with a free upgrade on our rental car! We got a small SUV instead of a compact car! It was a brand new Nissan Rouge with only 300 miles on it. (We more than doubled the miles!) We started out going to Mount Rushmore. It was amazing! I had never seen it before, and Ricky had only seen it when he was little. It was so incredible to see what they did with such little resources! The men hung down from the mountain on one cord to use a huge jackhammer to carve out the faces. Fascinating!
Even though it was snowing and we were freezing, we walked around the Presidential trail which takes you as close as you can get to Mount Rushmore. 
As we were leaving Mount Rushmore, we saw a mountain goat just chillin' and eating some grass! Crazy!
The rest of the day and Sunday were spent exploring the mountains in Custer State Park. It was beautiful! We took some lunch with us and had a picnic at the top of the mountain! We drove down Iron Mountain Road and up Needles Highway. They are both curvy roads that go straight through the mountains.
And we drove through some awesome tunnels! Part of the road was also a pig-tail, where you go around in a complete circle!
We saw the eye of a needle made from lava under the ground.
And some buffalo right next to the fence!
On our way back to the hotel, we stopped at Bear Country USA. It is like a zoo, but much bigger and you drive though the 250 acres and see unique wildlife park from your car. It was so awesome! They had mountain lions, arctic wolves, elk, bobcats, buffalo, reindeer, big horned sheep, and bears! I loved seeing all the bears! They probably had about 30 or so! The bears were walking back and forth in front of the gate almost staring us down. They also came up to our car and were sniffing it. I'm glad it didn't smell too good! These bears started wrestling. It was so neat! They would get up on their hind legs and paw at each other. 
This one was scratching his neck on the tree. 
This one was just chillin'! So cool!
They had a small area where you could walk around and see some other animals. They had some Grizzly bears, some beavers, otters, red fox, black ducks, and baby bears. The baby bears were born in January or February of this year. They were precious! They have to take the babies away from their moms when the moms come out of hibernation so the other male bears won't kill the babies. 
Monday morning, we headed over to Spearfish where Ricky was staying for work. It is a nice little area, but with nothing around! I loved visiting there, but do not want to live out there! We drove through Spearfish Cannon and it was beautiful! Here is Bridal Veil Falls.
And then we saw Spearfish Falls, where we got to hike around on a little trail. We parked at the top of the falls and had to walk across a bridge to get to see the falls. 
We went before tourist season, so it was so peaceful! There were hardly any people around us!
For lunch, we went to Cheyenne Crossing Cafe and had some AMAZING Indian tacos. The manager at the store Ricky was working at recommended it and it was great! It was all the taco fixings on a piece of fry bread. So yummy! Then we had to get a fry bread with cinnamon and sugar on it. Well worth it! We drove back through Deadwood, which is a major gambling town and Lead. We stopped to see the grave sites of Wild Bill Hickock and Calamity Jane. It was interesting and had some pretty views. We also stopped at a Gold Mine and it was huge! Ricky then took me to Belle Fouche, which is were his main location was. I met some of the people he worked with and then went to the Geographical Center of the Nation.
We took advantage of the hotel pool and had fun on the water slide. The water was freezing, so we had to warm up in the hot tub after. We had an amazing time and it was great to see where Ricky had been working for the past month and a half. Thanks for sharing this beautiful place with me!
We got to Rapid City, South Dakota at 10 in the morning, so we headed out for the day. The day started out nice with a free upgrade on our rental car! We got a small SUV instead of a compact car! It was a brand new Nissan Rouge with only 300 miles on it. (We more than doubled the miles!) We started out going to Mount Rushmore. It was amazing! I had never seen it before, and Ricky had only seen it when he was little. It was so incredible to see what they did with such little resources! The men hung down from the mountain on one cord to use a huge jackhammer to carve out the faces. Fascinating!
Even though it was snowing and we were freezing, we walked around the Presidential trail which takes you as close as you can get to Mount Rushmore. 
As we were leaving Mount Rushmore, we saw a mountain goat just chillin' and eating some grass! Crazy!
The rest of the day and Sunday were spent exploring the mountains in Custer State Park. It was beautiful! We took some lunch with us and had a picnic at the top of the mountain! We drove down Iron Mountain Road and up Needles Highway. They are both curvy roads that go straight through the mountains.
And we drove through some awesome tunnels! Part of the road was also a pig-tail, where you go around in a complete circle!
We saw the eye of a needle made from lava under the ground.
And some buffalo right next to the fence!
On our way back to the hotel, we stopped at Bear Country USA. It is like a zoo, but much bigger and you drive though the 250 acres and see unique wildlife park from your car. It was so awesome! They had mountain lions, arctic wolves, elk, bobcats, buffalo, reindeer, big horned sheep, and bears! I loved seeing all the bears! They probably had about 30 or so! The bears were walking back and forth in front of the gate almost staring us down. They also came up to our car and were sniffing it. I'm glad it didn't smell too good! These bears started wrestling. It was so neat! They would get up on their hind legs and paw at each other. 
This one was scratching his neck on the tree. 
This one was just chillin'! So cool!
They had a small area where you could walk around and see some other animals. They had some Grizzly bears, some beavers, otters, red fox, black ducks, and baby bears. The baby bears were born in January or February of this year. They were precious! They have to take the babies away from their moms when the moms come out of hibernation so the other male bears won't kill the babies. 
Monday morning, we headed over to Spearfish where Ricky was staying for work. It is a nice little area, but with nothing around! I loved visiting there, but do not want to live out there! We drove through Spearfish Cannon and it was beautiful! Here is Bridal Veil Falls.
And then we saw Spearfish Falls, where we got to hike around on a little trail. We parked at the top of the falls and had to walk across a bridge to get to see the falls. 
We went before tourist season, so it was so peaceful! There were hardly any people around us!
For lunch, we went to Cheyenne Crossing Cafe and had some AMAZING Indian tacos. The manager at the store Ricky was working at recommended it and it was great! It was all the taco fixings on a piece of fry bread. So yummy! Then we had to get a fry bread with cinnamon and sugar on it. Well worth it! We drove back through Deadwood, which is a major gambling town and Lead. We stopped to see the grave sites of Wild Bill Hickock and Calamity Jane. It was interesting and had some pretty views. We also stopped at a Gold Mine and it was huge! Ricky then took me to Belle Fouche, which is were his main location was. I met some of the people he worked with and then went to the Geographical Center of the Nation.
We took advantage of the hotel pool and had fun on the water slide. The water was freezing, so we had to warm up in the hot tub after. We had an amazing time and it was great to see where Ricky had been working for the past month and a half. Thanks for sharing this beautiful place with me!Friday, May 6, 2011
One week off!
Ricky is home for 10 days! I don't even know what to do with myself! April was a very long, hard month. Ricky was only home for 5 days, not including traveling back and forth from Indy, the whole month of April. I still can't believe that it's May already! We got things figured out so that I can fly out there with him next week and spend 3 days with him before he works for the last time out there. I can't wait to get back to our normal schedule, but who knows what normal is anymore!?! I certainly don't! We have spent a TON of time with my parents, since we are traveling back and forth each week. It has been so great to have such wonderful parents to help out when you need them! Last weekend, I went to Illinois with my mom to visit with my grandparents. They are doing good and it's always nice to spend time with them!
Things have been difficult for me. When I get all of the kids to bed at night, I almost can't think to do anything. I try to update my blog, or search the internet, but my brain seems to be fried! I guess it's just different struggling to get all the kids in bed after spending the entire day with them. It makes me extremely greatful for such a wonderful husband who does so much to help our family out! I love you baby!
Dylan had his spring program today! He was really excited about it earlier this week, but didn't want to sing today. He gets kinda shy in front of people. He only has one week left of preschool, which is crazy! It seems like he just started! He has been such a great helper with Ricky gone. He can get ready for bed by himself, and be so proud of himself! He told me the other day, "Mom, I really do love you." What a sweet boy!
Lauren is growing up so fast! She is talking like crazy! I know that some people can't understand her very well, but I can! (Most of the time. Dylan can usually interpret if we can't understand her!) She is doing great with the potty. She wants to do it all by herself, and she is so close to being able to! I can't wait until she can do everything by herself! She stays dry for naps and some nights, too. She is very much a girlie. She loves her dolls and purses. It's funny to see Dylan want to play with her toys, too! They are so cute when they put on heels and push their strollers around the house together!
Ethan started walking! My baby is all grown up! He took his first steps on April 18th, while Ricky was home. And then by Sunday (when Ricky got home again), he was walking all over the place! He does a great job of keeping up with Dylan and Lauren. He is very curious and wants to get into everything. He loves to scour the kitchen cabinets trying to open them all! He is going to be my little climber! He is always getting on the couch and he even tried to climb over the baby gate to get to the stairs! He likes to test his boundaries to see what he can get away with. He also started throwing tantrums. He will start crying and throw his head back. I hope he stops throwing his head back soon, because he is going to get some bumps from hitting the ground so hard! He is a great baby and I love him very much!
Things have been difficult for me. When I get all of the kids to bed at night, I almost can't think to do anything. I try to update my blog, or search the internet, but my brain seems to be fried! I guess it's just different struggling to get all the kids in bed after spending the entire day with them. It makes me extremely greatful for such a wonderful husband who does so much to help our family out! I love you baby!
Dylan had his spring program today! He was really excited about it earlier this week, but didn't want to sing today. He gets kinda shy in front of people. He only has one week left of preschool, which is crazy! It seems like he just started! He has been such a great helper with Ricky gone. He can get ready for bed by himself, and be so proud of himself! He told me the other day, "Mom, I really do love you." What a sweet boy!
Lauren is growing up so fast! She is talking like crazy! I know that some people can't understand her very well, but I can! (Most of the time. Dylan can usually interpret if we can't understand her!) She is doing great with the potty. She wants to do it all by herself, and she is so close to being able to! I can't wait until she can do everything by herself! She stays dry for naps and some nights, too. She is very much a girlie. She loves her dolls and purses. It's funny to see Dylan want to play with her toys, too! They are so cute when they put on heels and push their strollers around the house together!
Ethan started walking! My baby is all grown up! He took his first steps on April 18th, while Ricky was home. And then by Sunday (when Ricky got home again), he was walking all over the place! He does a great job of keeping up with Dylan and Lauren. He is very curious and wants to get into everything. He loves to scour the kitchen cabinets trying to open them all! He is going to be my little climber! He is always getting on the couch and he even tried to climb over the baby gate to get to the stairs! He likes to test his boundaries to see what he can get away with. He also started throwing tantrums. He will start crying and throw his head back. I hope he stops throwing his head back soon, because he is going to get some bumps from hitting the ground so hard! He is a great baby and I love him very much!
Happy Birthday Ricky!
On April 25th, Ricky got to celebrate his birthday with all of us! Yeah! He got to fly home for Easter and then stayed for his birthday. It was really nice to have him home and the kids really enjoyed having him here. We spent the whole day at home relaxing and enjoying eachothers' company. Just wanted to put a shout out to my wonderful hubby!
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