Wednesday Night Update

Two weeks ago way my 35th birthday so Wednesday=Family Night+ my birthday= Tubing at Soldier Hollow. It was Brett, me, Spencer, Monika, Tauni, Jordan, Raven, Brett's mom, and my mom & dad. There were no lines and "most" of us had a really awesome time.

This is the entire gang warming up after a cold night on the hills.




Mary Ann (Brett's mom) is always up for fun adventures like this.

A rare photo of Spencer and Monika together.


My mom and dad

I'm all bundled up like an Eskimo

Brett and Monika bundled up to stay warm

This was a really fun way to spend my birthday and family night. Thanks to everyone who came with us.
Last week, Family night=Build your own super nachos and root beer floats

The boys and their Nachos. I would love to say that Brett ate all those by himself but we actually shared.... and I think I ate more than he did.


Overall, Wednesday=Family Night+? has turned out pretty well the past couple of weeks so keep your fingers crossed and I'll keep you posted.

Wednesday = Family Night = ?

This past Wednesday night, Brett and I decided to implement "Family Night". Several months ago we had game night on Thursdays but had really slacked off so I decided it was time to spend more time together. Our nights have turned pretty predictable, consisting of eating dinner and the kids disappearing to their rooms or onto the computer to chat with friends. I feel like there needs to be at least one night a week where we spend some "quality" time together. At work that day I brainstormed some possible ideas:
Dollar movie
Miniature golf
Board Games or Wii
Make Banana splits
Bowling
Swimming
Make your own super nachos
Root beer floats
Order take out
Trafalga
Kids make dinner night
Decorate cookies
Build a snowman
Try something you've never tried at a restaurant
2 for 1 milkshakes at Rocky Mountain drive-in
As I said, I was just brainstorming and was definitely open to suggestions. My hope was to create a calender and assign everybody their own week where they got to pick the activity. That night we decided to go out to dinner at La Casita and talk about our future "Family Nights". Holy crap, you'd think we were dragging the kids to the slaughter house. Taking the kids to dinner but calling it something else is not a good idea. Spencer pointed out that there were no other 15 year olds there with their parents and Monika complained that she had come home from her friends house early but we didn't leave for 30 minutes. After dinner we went home and I had the intention of playing a game, watching a movie or using the Wii. Both of the kids disappeared to their rooms the minute we walked through the door, saying that "We already had our fun, and it wasn't even that fun!". I eventually got them out to the living room where nobody could agree on something to do and we ended up in a discussion about why "Family Night" was so stupid and how nobody wants to spend time with me. After accomplishing nothing more than an hour of discussions, the kids went to bed, and Brett thought the idea of "Family Night" was over. He asked me if I really want to try that again and my response was "Yes". Maybe I'm a glutton for punishment or maybe I'm just not willing to give up that easy but either way I know that it is normal for kids to fight against change and hold on to the existing routine even if it's a bad one. This Wednesday is my birthday so we will be doing "Family Night" again if they like it or not.

New Beginnings

Ok, I will try to keep this brief. I have been really bad over the past few months at updating the blog. It's not that we haven't done anything, quite the opposite in fact but I think I have a motivation problem. I get these random thoughts and ideas for things I would like to blog about but just don't ever sit down and do it. After reading through Jessica's most recent post on funny events in 2008, Kim's posts on the Holiday Season and Nick's accident, and Tiffany's posts on the kids and some of the health issues they have been dealing with I am reminded of why I started my blog in the first place. It's not fair for me to just look into other peoples lives without being able to share at least a little of mine. I want my blog to be an honest look at what goes on in our lives but sometimes honesty is hard when you are allowing people to look into your world. Some of you may know that I said that I don't make New Year's resolutions so that I don't have anything to fail. That statement is still true, while at the same time I am committing to do better with the blog and allow each of you an honest look into our lives. The good, the bad and the ugly. Wish me luck.