Babysitting

The best part of my trip, of course, was babysitting the kids. They were so good for my, and we had a lot of fun!

The first night on our own, I took them to In N Out and shopping for Easter dresses.

The Woods and my dad came over the next night to hang out. We had delicious pizza and great conversation! It was a fun night.

We woke up on April 6th to about an inch of snow. Adie spent the morning assuring me that school would be cancel. I finally was able to convince her that it wasn't, but she still insisted on boots, gloves, a coat, and a jacket.

On Friday night, my mom took us all to McDonalds. The kids had lots of fun playing with Will.

To back track, on Friday I took Andrew up to City Creek. He insisted on taking his piggy bank. I kept telling him no, but he kept insisting. I finally gave in and told him he could take it. We got up to City Creek and he really wanted to bring it into the mall. I told him no, but he kept fighting me. I finally told him he could. We stepped out of the car and within two steps it dropped and shattered. I felt absolutely terrible, mostly because I knew Adie had made it for him.

Adie got home from school and Andrew immediately told her what happened. The poor girl started crying and looked right at me and said, "how could you let this happen? You could have prevented this!" I was absolutely crushed. I promised her I would take her to Color Me Mine over Spring Break to make up for it. She was so excited, I think she forgot all about the broken one.

So on Monday we ventured to Color Me Mine. I was a tad nervous. I had never been before and it was the first day of Spring Break. I was expecting a mad house. It was the total opposite! There were only a few people there and the kids were so well behaved!

The artist at work. She chose another piggy bank. She was so organized and serious. She is a great artist!

Andrew apparently made himself at home... I didn't notice till now that his shoes were off! He picked a Lightening McQueen piggy bank.

Isabelle picked a cute little butterfly box. She did a great job, especially for having a broken thumb!

Adie's finished product. Future Cougar!

Andrew's car

Isabelle and her cute little box

Adie got a little bored waiting for Bellie to finish. She decided to add some polk a dots. I think it was a nice touch!

After Color Me Mine, we decided to go to the park. Andrew and Bellie played together almost the whole time!

Adie enjoyed cruising on her scooter

The kids wanted to have a picnic. We had already had lunch and it was close to dinner, so they brought their Easter Eggs to eat on the blanket.

Andrew got a bubble machine for Easter, so the kids got way into bubbles while I was there.

On Tuesday we went to the Zoo. We were originally suppose to go with my friend and her little girl, but then Isabelle got strep. She, understandably, didn't want to risk it. I was a little nervous taking them and being the only adult. Luckily it wasn't too bad, and no one got lost!

Waiting in line for the train!

They got to sit together. They thought that was pretty cool!

Andrew in the mole cave.

Snake slide. I was so proud of my little nieces and nephew. There were tons of kids running around like crazy, pushing other kids, cutting in line, and being so rude. Adie, Bellie, and Bubba were so polite and always waited their turns. They are such great kids.

Who wouldn't want to spend a week with these kids?!

Famous Lion fountain!

Oh I love them!

Elephants

Sweet little Adie.

On the Carousal

Alligator

Giraffes

Sleeping tiger

After the zoo we went to Sugar House to feed the kids before I dropped them off at Matt's sister's house so that I could have dinner with some friends.

A house in Sugar House. I don't think I ever realized how pretty spring is in Utah!

One of my favorite places.

We drove around Sugar House trying to find a McDonalds. After about ten minutes, I realized the Natalie lives across the street from a McDonalds... duh! We got there and Andrew opened the door on his toe. It ripped off part of his toe nail and it was bleeding. I knew Natalie would have band-aids, so we ran across the street and banged on the door. She saved the day! We invited her to come sit outside with us while the kids ate. She brought her adorable dog, Stella. The kids loved her!

Natalie ran back to her house to get some treats for the kids to give to Stella. While she was gone Adie said, "I really hope I get to see Stella again." I told her that she would be right back. She said "no, I mean after today." I will just have to take the kids to Salt Lake this summer so they can play with Stella again!

I really had so much fun with the kids. I really wasn't ready to leave them. While I was hugging them good-bye Bellie said, "I'm going to miss you so much! But you will be back in June, and that's not so far away!" She is right, not so far away! I can't wait to see them again and play all summer with them!! (and my other nephews and nieces, of course!)

Bubba!

Shannon and Matt left a week after I got to Utah. Then I was all alone and in charge! The girls where in school for the first couple of days that I babysat, so I got to spend most of my time with my adorable nephew, Andrew.

Andrew is one of the most hilarious people I know. He made me laugh all day long. I would get made at him for doing something and within minutes he would have me laughing and I would forget about my frustrations. I wanted to write down all the hilarious things he would say to me, but he kept me so busy I didn't have time to write anything.

There are two stories I clearly remember. The first involves my computer. He was obsessed with my computer, which didn't make much sense because Shannon's old computer that he uses is a MacBook just like mine. He never wanted his, he only wanted mine. I handed my computer one day and started typing disneyjr.com he said, "No, Stephanie (he always calls me Stephanie, my only nephew to do so), it's right there." I looked and he had booked marked Disney Jr! I just learned how to do that a couple of months ago!

The other story happened on Easter. There was an hour before he needed to get ready for Church and he said he wanted to go play with his bubbles. I told him I would be in the kitchen watching this extremely boring, four hour documentary about Utah becoming a state. This was our conversation...

Me: Ok, Bubba, you go play. I have to watch a boring video.
Andrew: Why? Did Jesus say so??
Me: Uh, no.
Andrew: Oh, did my mom say so??
Me: No.
Andrew" Oh, did the police say so??
He has the chain of commands all figured out!

Before Matt and Shannon left, my dad invited me over for dinner. Andrew really wanted to go so I figured it would be good practice for the week ahead! The Madsens were still in town so they came for dinner too. I wanted to get a picture of Andrew and Caleb. Caleb wasn't too happy with Andrew, but Andrew kept telling me to take his picture. Isn't he so handsome??

 Andrew was really good with Matt and Shannon leaving. He sure loves his mom, so I was worried he would be grumpy without her. He would turn to me randomly and ask, "My mom is coming home in this day?" I would tell him no and then tell him how many days were left. He would then answer with a firm "I KNOW!" Like he knew all along and was just assuring me.

We only had one really bad instance with Andrew telling me I was doing something differently than Shannon. I was getting him ready for preschool and I put some jell in his hair. I had seen Shannon put this jell in his hair before, but he insisted that she never had. He immediately started crying and told me to get it out of his hair. I told him we didn't have time to wash his hair. He then told me to "cut it out". He promised me that his mom cuts things out of his hair all the time!

He finally calmed down and we started playing before his ride got there. I was asked him if he knew that today was his mom's birthday. He responded with a firm "I know!!" (he doesn't seem to like people telling him things). He then started crying and screaming "I just want to go to Hawaii!!" Poor kid, I could totally relate! I think we all just want to go to Hawaii.

After preschool, we went to the mall. When we arrived he immediately started talking to me about a train and how we needed money to buy a ticket. I finally found what he was talking about, but it was closed for the day. I told him he could go on the carousal instead. He was very happy with that.

 The next day was our last day to ourselves. I had to go back to City Creek to pick up some pants. It had snowed that day, so we got to see the roof closed! I am happy I got to see both sides to this amazing mall.

 My dad was in Salt Lake that day and wanted to go get ice cream with me and Andrew. We had some time to kill so we went to lunch with Natalie. The best part of lunch was when Super Why came on the TV by our table and Andrew kept begging me to tell everyone to be quite and turn up the sound!

After lunch we stopped my friend and Natalie's sister's house to visit her and her new baby. Jessica went to find some crayons for Andrew and I was holding baby Ayla while she looked. Andrew was so adorable with her and kept singing her lullabies to get her to sleep.

 We finally met up with Paka and had some ice cream. 

I had so much fun with my little Bubba. I worry sometimes (ok, a lot of the time) that my younger nephews and nieces won't remember who I am. I felt like I was around enough when Will, Adie, and Bellie were young, but I worry about the younger ones. I hope they know how much their Aunt Stepie loves them! And I hope Andrew knows how much fun I had with him! I love you, Bubba! (to which he would respond, "I know!")

Utah!

When I was in Utah for Christmas break, my brother in law Matt asked me if I would be willing to watch his kids sometime in the Springs so that he and Shannon could go on vacation. My response: HELL YES!! He text me back in February and told me that he booked a flight for their vacation and was booking my flight to Utah. I was so excited. I immediately went over my classes to see how I could work ahead so that I could handle a two weeks break to go to Utah. I worked really hard and luckily got caught up enough to be able to really enjoy my time there.

Matt was kind enough to fly me out a week before Shannon left. This gave me lots of time to see family and friends before watching the kiddies.

One day I went up to Salt Lake with the Madsens. This is Caleb in front of John M. Bernhisel's grave. He is my great, great something grandpa. He was one of the first men to go to DC to fight for Utah's territorial status (glad I learned something from my boring Utah History class this semester!) 

We went out for Belgian waffles and Natalie came along. Delicious!

Not sure why I am dressed all in black. I guess I didn't realize how creepy my outfit was.

Such a cutie!

I also had the chance to go to City Creek for the first time with my whole family! It was the most glorious mall I have ever been to. It made me just that much sadder that I don't live in Salt Lake.

My nieces and nephews enjoying the fountains at City Creek

This is the stream that runs through the mall. A couple minutes after I took this picture a security guard came and told us that Caleb couldn't be so close to the stream. He then continued walking down the mall warning other children. What an exciting job!

After about five hours of shopping we decided to go out for dinner. We didn't want to deal with the crowded restaurants so we took TRAX to a restaurant. This was my first time riding TRAX, so exciting!

ALL the nieces and nephews. A rare occurrence. 

I sure love these kiddos.