King of Prussia

        

Ever since we moved to Philadelphia I've heard about this town called King of Prussia that is just on the outskirts of Philadelphia. Now I don't know about you but I would feel pretty fancy if I got to say that I lived in King of Prussia.  Who just names a town something crazy like that?! I love it, I really do. It sounds like a country of it's own or some type of magical land. Aaaannyways, Last weekend my sister Ginny & her girls came up again & we decided to go to the infamous King of Prussia Mall. Pretty much the hugest mall ever! Seriously,  I heard that there are over 400 stores!!! Crazy. I'm usually not a mall person... unless I have tons of expendable cash & no kids in tow & I had neither. Gimme money and a babysitter and I will have the time of my life at the mall! So although my ideal conditions weren't met we did have fun! There were so many amazing stores and soooo much to do & see. We spent almost 8 hours there & shopped in like 2 stores, ate dinner & went home:) that's pretty much what happens when you go to the mall with 4 kids: 5yr, 4yr, & a deuce of  almost 2 yr olds & 2 mommies who wanna shop... it just aint gonna happen! The mall was sooooo huge!!! I could easily picture my sis-in-law, Karina, drooling in this place & trust me I've seen her drool before. (heh heh!)

Above pics are of Dylan trying on a hat at Janie and Jack (soooo cute!) & cute cousins after eating dinner.

Trash Day

This morning began like any other day, except for the cruel fact that it was trash day. Of course it's trash day. Why wouldn't it be trash day? Tuesday's are always the day for my trash to be hauled away to the landfill to rot for eternity without a hope of ever seeing me again. Why am I so hopelessly sad about my trash? Lemme expound a bit shall I? Ben, as always, was wonderful & let me sleep in today:) I got up took a shower, ate breakfast, fed the kids snack a few hours later, put Dylan down for a nap, came downstairs & saw my wallet just laying on the dining room floor... now I vaguely remember Dylan manhandling my wallet last night before bed, but he quickly lost interest and put it down & I totally forgot about it until this moment... I picked up my wallet & it felt unusually light, so I opened it up & ALL of my credit, debit, insurance, club, library etc... cards were missing. Do you see where this one's going? M'yeahm so did I. After searching for a few minutes I just knew the little rascal threw them ALL in the trash & they were ALL happily on their way to the dump. He is soooooo lucky he was a little angel taking a nap at that precise moment because I was so frustrated that I cried for over an hour about it! I know I was probably overreacting but I have had to report my cards lost like 3 times in the past year! I felt like screaming...ok well I did scream in my pillow, along with the crying;) It was just one of those days for me. Sigh* I even said a desperate prayer that I'd find the cards but even as I was praying the answer was "sorry lady, they are gone forever", So I called all the card companies and once again reported that I was lame. My life should return to normal in 7-10 business days. Darn you trash day!!!!!!!!

Early Birthday Surprise!

Ben wanted to get me a new bag for my birthday this year! For any of you who have seen my late diaper bag, you know this was an overdue purchase;) The poor thing has been through a lot of abuse from the kids, parking lots, parks, & being stuffed to the max everyday with who knows what! Usually the kids take the liberty of packing up my diaper bag with their "necessities" before we leave the house & that means half their bedroom & most of the kitchen pantry. So considering all of that, it has been really falling apart for the past 6 months or so & honestly I started wearing it on the least ripped up side because of the homelessness of it:) Of course Ben just told me to order the one I liked because, well he's a boy! He knew the likelihood of an exchange if he ordered it himself;) Smart boy! My sister told me about www.zappos.com & I found this bag & LOVE it! It's loud & it's proud & it makes me happy! Happy birthday to me... in a week! Thanks Ben!

Yay! They Fixed it!

Well, it's almost been a whole week since I blogged! Let's see, So one eventful thing happened (to me at least). So, the plumbers FINALLY found the leak that has caused the ceiling in our living room to fall out...well, not the whole ceiling just parts of it;) We have had to deal with a hole in our ceiling for a month! Pretty much since the day after we moved in. It's been a pain because 'stuff' was constantly falling out of this hole, getting all over the floor, furniture & everything! We had to move everything away from that area & couldn't really set up our living room until it was taken care of. It was a pretty messy ordeal, I probably swept the floor in that area like 3 times a day just so Dylan wouldn't eat it! Yuck. I guess it was a tricky leak to fix because it would only drip water randomly, like every couple of days or even just once a week. They'd come every week and try something new to figure it out, but nothing was working. So our landlord (apparently a retired plumber) came out himself and pretty much fixed it in 10 minutes. I'm just sooo glad the leak is fixed, the hole is patched, and I don't have to worry about debris taking somebody out in my living room! Yay!

Fall Pumpkin Festival

My sister Ginny & her girls came up from Maryland this weekend & we had a fun but crazy day getting lost, going to a *free* festival that was in no way free;), went to the mall, ate some food, & stayed up too late! I feel so blessed to be able to spend time with my sister & nieces while we live here in Philadelphia! Last time I saw her was 3 years ago!

Kissy Bird Lips & Wrestling Moves

I was just cracking up at how funny these two are all the time! Dylan ALWAYS bugs Claira when she's 'busy', he always wants her to play with him & he'll do anything to get her attention. Kisses, wrestling moves, turning off the TV & running away (because he knows he's gonna get it ha ha), climbing all over her. It's quite entertaining. So tonight I sat there and watched and hilarity ensued!

A Hairy Situation

Let's just start out by stating that I hate getting haircuts. For me, going to a salon can be compared to how some people feel about going to the dentist or gynocologist perhaps... weird? yes. At least I'll admit I'm a weird weird girl;) I've been meaning to go get a haircut for over 6 months now, and just can't build up the nerves! So today, with my massively huge scraggly long locks staring me in the face I could wait no more. I NEEDED a haircut! I got the scissors and just went for it. No salon. No sweaty palms. No $$$$. Here's a before & after... sorry that mirror is really dirty!

The Roadtrip of Roadtrips

We got a letter in the mail on July 3rd from Drexel University inviting Ben to apply to their Masters of Public Health program. All he had to do really was check the YES box and wait for an answer.... easy right? He already applied to their medical school and didn't get in, so they just used that application with no extra fees. So he said "why not?" and I said " Um because we weren't exactly planning on moving 2,000 miles next month... I'm just sayin'" So he checked the box and away it went. So, we waited. Ben prays he gets in, I secretly pray he doesn't....apparently Ben is more faithful or at least more persistent than I am;) The acceptance letter came on August 5th... boy was that an emotional day! After struggling (a lot) with the idea, I finally agreed to go with it. A crazy August followed, then a fun break for Claira's birthday on September 3rd, & we finally said a bittersweet goodbye to Utah on September 6th. We did have the way cool opportunity to see some historic LDS sites along the way though. We stopped in Winter Quarters, Nauvoo, & Carthage. The road wasn't too kind to little Dylan though, he ended up with a busted lip and a fever by the time we arrived in Philadelphia. Poor guy. He's better now & we're all getting used to our new home/school/ward/everything!

Blogging? What's that?!

Here's to blogging! Cheers!