Time for some more random photos before another holiday hits

I suspect I may be an inactive blogger for the next week and a half since the kids and I are heading to Utah tomorrow for the holiday. We're excited that daddy Ben will be meeting us on Thursday. We're also excited to get grandma Susan here at the beginning of December when we get back...just in time to celebrate a few birthdays with us. Now, the point of that long intro was to introduce my random pictures, so here they are...

Fun with Ellie-Hailey and Hunter just adore cousin Ellie. She just turned 8 months and is such a cutie.
"Don't you like it when I'm so stylish mom?"-Yes, that is a direct quote. Hailey found this hat that my friend Heidi made when Hails was just a wee babe. She's been wearing it around a lot recently and is very excited to get to wear it in the snow in Utah (hope there is some for her then).

You know how in all those Cinderella movies if someone is wearing a mask the other characters have no idea who it is?? Well, this scary one is my Hunter.
Ah yes, so this past weekend Ben and I went on this little lunch cruise on Lake Conroe. Long story short, we stayed at this place over the summer, there were a few problems with the accomodations and such (like, why did I leave there with a large swollen spider bite??) and when we complained a little they said we could do a complimentary lunch cruise on the southern empress. It was a lot of fun even if the boat was pretty run down. It was built to look like an old paddle boat, which was fun.

Here we are pretending to steer the boat-sorry the pic is so dark. I'm surprised that you can't see how ratty the "captains quarters" were. There were like missing knobs and things hanging from the ceiling. I did get to blow the horn though, that was pretty cool.

Here comes my favorite part: it was a two hour cruise and the first hour was this really good buffet lunch. We walked into the dining room and saw three tables of ladies from the red hat society. They were so cute. Well, for the second hour we could move downstairs where they played some music and we could dance if we wanted...

That's when the ladies really got down. (Keep in mind you have to be over 50 to be in the club)

Oh, and Ben and I got down too. I get really nervous dancing and the ladies were coaching me and counting out steps for me and such. It was sooo funny.
Bet you didn't realize I had moves like this!! I was so embarassed to do this one actually.

Something old something new

So it's a new post about something that happened like a month ago, and yes, sometimes I like to just have my title make no sense. Anyway...I don't really feel like I have anything current and intersting to post about, but I have been meaning to post these pictures of Hailey. She got to go to dance class with her friend Trinity one day and she had so much fun. One perhaps I will actually put her in a class of her own. It was fun to watch her through the window and to see how attentive she was and how much she loved being the center of attention (she kept creeping up till she was right in front of the teacher).

We've made it 5 years...so far!

This past Friday was our fifth anniversary. I've scrounged up a few photos of us as close to our anniversary as I could find...so now it's time to do some time travelling...first, it's off to 2003....

Here's what we used to look like.

And this is what I was doing five years and 2 days ago. Good times. Now for 2004. Let's see, this must have been 3 years and 11 months ago (Can we round up and say 4 years?). That glowing orb is Hailey, but I'll save the better pictures of her special day till next month. I mean, this is supposed to be all about me...oh, and Benjamin too.

2005. Here we are 3 years ago.2006. Two years ago. Nope, not a beachball under my shirt. (Recognize that cool apt. Kelly?)
2007. This is as close to 1 year ago as I could find...we had a really junky camera last year, so we didn't really take any pictures.
2008. And finally...here's what we look like now. I have grown out my blue hair.
Just want to say thanks to my husband for putting up with me, taking care of me and loving me so much. Love you bub!

New Calendar?

So I'm thinking I should start my own Hot Houston Firefighters Calendar...

Check out those muscles

Hooray for Halloween

Or maybe that is hooray that Halloween is finally over. It was a fun holiday, but I had a bit of a stressful week leading up to the big day. We decided to have Hunter dress up as one of his favorite things in the world...a basketball. And this meant I had to make the costume for him..and I don't sew. I finally found a pattern online for a small pillow, blew it up like a gazillion times and started on my way. Here's a picture of the first part of the process (just so you will be impressed when it all comes together):

So I stressed and called my mom like 20 times but I finally figured out how to get it to work and I'm pretty proud of myself. Now I'm going to finish stuffing it and sew it off to be a toy for his room. What a handsome b-ball.

Hailey got to be super-girly as a Fairy Princess for Halloween. She loved it. Take one borrowed recital costume from cousin, add a headband/tiara thingy, throw on some wings and some glitter and viola!

Trick-or-treating at their first house...the neighbors across the street. Lots of people set up shop out on their porches/driveways and just hand out treats there...perhaps it is a southern hospitality thing.

At the ward party Ben dressed as the (crazy?) basketball hoop and I was a the basketball player to go with Hunter. When we went trick-or-treating I threw on my Cinderella dress again and Hailey told people she was my Fairy Godmother. Cute cute.I found this cute little Cinderella twin trick-or-treating near my house...thanks for posing with me Brenna!

I know it's nearly Halloween, but...*Part 2*

And now for the second installment of the Swanson summer saga. I debated about splitting this up and making a part 3, but as you will soon see, I didn't...so this is the super post...and by "super" I mean post with tons o' picutres.

When the kids and I arrived home from our visit to my mom's in Washington we were blessed by the presence of another granparent. My dad actually got here a day or two before we did so he could spend some quality time with my brother's family before I demanded his attention. I'm sure I could rustle up a few picts...

The kids really do love travelling...hey, I suppose my airfare would be less if I just brought them this way...Hailey really enjoyed making cookies with Papa Ted. She didn't even seem to mind that all they did was open the package and put them on the cookie sheet.

The kids were obviously very excited for this photo.

To continue our summer of grandparent fun, a few days after my dad left we all flew to the other side of the country to visit Ben's parents. We had a fun week of visiting, relaxing, playing, jumping on the trampoline, and boating. I may have more than a few picts from this trip too...let's see if I can narrow it down.

One day we went to this tiny amusement park that Ben used to go to some when he was little. It was just a rinky-dink little place, but the kids had a great time. What makes it cooler is that Ben's mom also remembers going there when she was little!

The kids actually had to pedal this one with their hands to make it go around the track.

A ticket for you.

And you.

Hm, I wonder if these rides were built during wartime or something. The planes on this ride had built in guns that you point at eachother.

It's a good thing these two are too young to drive a real car.

I realize this picture is disgusting, but I just had to put it in because it was such a big part of our trip. For a little over four years now I have had some really strange problems with my hands. From rashes to warts to who knows what, it's just been a fun trial for me. Well, I had a particularly bad flare-up while on vacation and I could not even use my hands. This picture was taken after the worst of it. My fingers were so swollen and cracked and bleeding that I could not even bend them. On the bright side, I didn't have to change one diaper all week. The other good news is that for some reason, since then all the warts have disappeared and I am supposed to meet with an allergist soon to see if he can figure out what is going on.
It's nice to get to visit with Ben's grandma's when were are there (though I only managed to get a picture with one).

Hailey had fun meeting and playing with her cousin Greta.

Making cookies with grandma. Cute apron sweetie.

Sadly, I do not have any pictures of Ben hot-doggin' it on the lake. He was pretty impressive on those water-skis. I was sad that my hands were so miserable that I couldn't really show him my skills.

Wait a second...who's driving the boat?

Ok kids, time to cooperate for a nice family photo-op outside Niagra Falls. Oh, you don't want to?...ok

We did the Maid of the Mist boat tour right down by the falls again. It's pretty cool, as are these ponchos.

Here we are.
Here's Hailey and grandma and Hunter and me (yes, Hunter is on a leash...but we prefer to call it his bracelet...you have no idea how fast this kid can run away).

I drag Ben's family up to Niagra Falls every time we are out there. It's just so awesome and I thought it would be fun for the kids to see.

Whew, I think I made it through the super post...did you?

I know it's nearly Halloween, but... *Part 1*

I've really been meaning to post pictures from all the things we did this summer...cause it really was a lot.

We spent lots of time in our swimsuits (yes, even me, but sadly, I'm not posting any pictures of that just yet).

I'm very proud of this new playset that I scored. On my way out of the neighborhood one day I saw that someone was giving this away for free. Ben and I had to walk the big pieces 3 blocks home-they are heavier than they look. The kids love it. As previously mentioned, way back in early August the kids and I made a journey up to Washington to visit my fam and do my 10 year reunion. Here's a few picts from that trip.

Here's a bunch of cousin's when we got to go down and visit my sister's fam for a day.

The girls: me, mom, and my sister Tiffany
Hailey loved helping Papa Ken mow the lawn. She begged him to do it whenever he wasn't at work. Hunter wasn't so thrilled about the mower. He went on it with me once, but then I lost control and ran it into the fence...oops.

Here I am with my handsome date before the reunion. He was such a stud.

Me, Heidi and Tara. What cute girls. We were totally the life of the party.This picture would have been so great if it wasn't for that darn Jeff...maybe we could photoshop him out and put Mary.
Making and ice cream mess with Jonah and his mom Heidi

The kids having fun playing under this really cool quilt that my mom's mom started before she died.

My brother Evan-who cannot manage to do a normal face for a picture-and me.

Me and my stepsister Kristi. Is fun to be able to see so much family when we go up to Washington.

Stay tuned for "I know it's nearly Halloween, but...*Part 2*"...