A Few Trips and Ben's Boy Vacation...

over a week ago, ben embarked on what i call his 'boy vacation' with some old college roommates. me and the boys dropped him off at the airport on friday morning, 6 a.m. he met up with marcus, brodie, thayne, and dono in denver where they had a great time doing whatever boys do (i'm still waiting for a picture)...spend money, pamper themselves, toot a lot, ruin rental cars. your basic, good time! :) meanwhile, i took bentley and bridon and stayed with lisa and her family a couple of days at their new place in thatcher. they had so much snow and as you can see from the picture, got more while we were there! bentley tried to enjoy it with cousin blaiz until he lost his boot (not too familiar with the deep stuff). it went downhill from there. we went to the children's playhouse museum in ogden where the kids had a blast building a huge castle, milking a cow, playing musical instruments...and bridon ran. so much fun when i'm huge and have to chase after him only to have him run farther until he falls down or gets his fingers smashed by another, unattended child. it's true, he is somewhat of a difficult child, but i'm sure he doesn't mean to be...and he does much better on his own little routine at home. we ate lunch at this crazy place that turned out to be a buffet, bummer, and we also worked on a few home decor projects and made valentines cookies. it was way fun! bentley even got to sleep with blaiz in a tent downstairs! they had so much fun playing. on the way home, we stopped at mom and dad's and monday morning, bentley and then bridon got to go with grandpa to feed his calves. bentley loves to get out and be helpful, so he broke the ice and helped feed some of the hay. bridon just loves animals in general! we picked ben up in the afternoon and made it home to clean carpets. it was wonderful! (traded some hay for carpet cleaning!)
in only a day ben decided he needed to leave us for another trip, but i guess this time wasn't quite as fun and leisurely, although he did go with his brothers. he took our pickup and 5th wheel up to spokane to a salvage place they scoped out with tons of parts and things needed for the shop for cheap. on the way home, after a few calls and then no service...he ended up bringing back a ford excursion. we've been talking about getting one for a long time, but they are super spendy around here for diesels. i am still not sold on the idea, since we didn't quite have the cash saved up completely for it...so, he has a time frame to sell the yukon, or else sell what he drug home :) as you can see from the picture, our yukon may be old, but the girl has had tlc. custom wheels, big tires, custom lights, intake, exhaust, stereo...the works. that is not to mention all the repairs. whoever buys it, will basically get a brand new car.
i think the only thing we haven't replaced is the actual engine. good grief! needless to say, when he finally got home, i needed some kid-free time. i was about to go nuts with the boys. is that bad to say? so we used some free movie passes and went to the blind side. recommended! and then yesterday hit the marsing disaster auction, i played a little volleyball and then ben watched the boys while i went on my first 'girls nite out' since having kids. i have to admit, i've never felt like going, but it was fun. i did, however, fade out by 10. my idea of a girl vacation would be to the middle of nowhere with good friends and something awesome to do like raft or hike a cool peak (like a remote, tropical island). if you're ever up for it, let me know! ha! someday, someday...