Back to PA where we got some snow that we could actually play in!

Is there anything sweeter than than a baby in snow bibs??? Nope I didn't think so.

Boys at work:

And ended with some oh so rosy cheeks.

Cousin time

The favorite activity of choice while in Utah for Liam is to spend as much time with his cousins as possible!!!
I think he got a large dose this trip.

There were Cousin jumping wars:


Cousin lets run through Temple square as fast as you can to see the lights without getting frostbite. Seriously FREEZING COLD THAT NIGHT!!!

Cousin Ice cream sundaes:
This would be Owen's favorite activity. (And Reese's too! All the drips from Owen somehow landed on her face. LOL!)




















Nannie always has the best treats when we come. And fun decorations. These were my favorite!


And a new favorite:
Cousin SLEEPOVERS!!!
Liam and Tess got to have a sleepover at Papa's house, they were so cute cuddled up next to each other. One of the days these two were hanging out in the pantry/toy closet and I heard Tess say, "Liam kiss me." Liam: "No I don't think so." Tess: "Liam, JUST DO IT!" Liam: "Fine." Sigh.
I was totally loving it!














But one of my favorite things to do while in Utah is to see my pseudo little sister Erin. This is (was) my sister Ali's best friend. She became part of the family during high school and I still feel like she is a part of it. She reminds me of Ali. Isn't she cute!

Really it was a blast to be out there. I stayed a little longer than Nate and got to see some other friends, family and eat at a few more of my favorite places. It makes me miss being home, and only furthers Liam's love of Utah.

A little Vaca to Utah

We try to get out to Utah any time Nate has vacation. 1-to see family 2-to appease Liam 3-To watch in person the "Holy war" BYU vs Utah Football. Nate hasn't been to a game in 4 years, so this was his moment, and thanks to a very generous Dad/FIL who gave us his tickets and watched our boys. (Thanks DAD!!!) And to the rest of the Poulson clan who watched them after the game. This wish came to fruition!!!
And oh what a glorious game it was. A little too close for my comfort, but it kept it exciting up until the last play of the game! Overtime. Ute's score a field goal. BYU down by 6, Cougars have the ball. Hall looks left, throws into pressure to George. TOUCHDOWN COUGARS!! We win by three points. One of my shining moments! And yes 31 year old Nate and his brother stormed the field afterward. So totally worth the 12 hour flight to get to Utah!!!

Snowed in...

Since I'll be stuck inside today, due to snowmageddon II, I figured now is a great time to catch up on my blog. Like I said last time, we lost our hard drive and all our pictures, so I will be starting with the pictures that were left on my camera, to now.


To start, let go back to Thanksgiving:
Liam had a school program where the kids sang songs and dressed up as indians. As you can tell, Liam was the ONLY child that didn't want his face to be colored. SO Liam.



And the proud Mama! What parent doesn't love a singing program? Especially one where your childs name is Silver Wolf. (Do you think they named him that because of his hair?)



A little taste of you missed out on! The next American Idol I tell ya!

These are more random pics of the boys being boys. Owen has figured out how to put on his own shoes. Very two year old like, wants to do it by himself, but puts them on the wrong feet! Doesn't bother him though.



Liam on the other hand went through an obsession stage with his swim vest. He put it on first thing in the morning and only took it off when forced. One night he begged to sleep in it. (I choose my battles carefully, so I said yes to this request.)

Dormant

Oh my poor little blog. Here you've sat for over a month with no love, no laughs no memories. WHY???

I'll tell you why. Our computer crashed, re-crashed and then the company that was supposed to retrieve all my precious data LOST the hard drive. How you ask? Not sure! But alas it's gone and all the pictures, music, videos and files too!

YES I cried my eyes out, yes I wanted to yell profanity that could have come spilling out my mouth, but really I am just plain sad about it all!

So this is the time where you BACK-UP those things that cannot be replaced. NOW! Yes Now!

So really although the pictures may be compressed and pixelated, you my Little blog, the Life and times of the Poulson family are all we've got!

I hope to return to you soon, but until now I will just reminisce on all the fun things we've done the last 5 years. That's right 5 years!

With love!

Jen

Sams club kitchen aid blog giveaway

So our computer crashed this week and I may have lost all my pictures (Except for the ones on this blog, thank heavens!)

We've been using Nate's really OLD laptop (Liam helped peel off some of the keys when he was a baby.) to check emails and pay bills, but the disc drive is broken so we can't install any software to set up our printer or download pictures, so I am posting about my friend Mandy's blog, Gourmet Mom on the go. Today she is doing a blog giveaway of a kitchen aid mixer!!! Given by sam's club.

Go here to enter to win. But I'm going to win!!!

Do you know what it means...

To miss New Orleans?

I DO!

10 years ago I never thought I'd utter those words, or know why I'd miss it.
For instance that New Orleans is in Louisiana, (The boot shaped state right?) Yeah that's right when Nate said he was applying to Tulane I had NO idea where that was.
That my home would be adorned in Fleur De Lis.
I'd like fish (well white fish, and really the Mahi Mahi at Jacques-Imo's.)
That 65 is considered cold.
That mold can grow in most amazing places.
That I'd be a Saints fan. "God bless you boys!"
That my first child would be born there.
That I would evacuate for 3 hurricanes and return to a partially gutted home to start over, after one particular Hurricane.
That I would get all defensive when people would say is there really a reason to re-build New Orleans?
Or that I would meet some of my dearest friends there?

Nope! This list could go on and on.

We left New Orleans in 2007 and I had no hopes of returning before our tender was done here in Hershey, but all that changed when we found out that the ASA (American Society of Anesthesiologist.) conference was going to be held there in October this year.

AND that the school will pay for you to go if you submitted a medically challenging case and were picked to display your poster for 2 hours during the week.

I told Nate I make him the medically challenging case if he didn't figure a way to get us there.

He totally did his part and thanks to a lady with Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension, (Ask Nate what this means, cause I'm not exactly sure even after he's told me 10 times.) we made our poster and headed South.

I went a few days early so I could soak it all in. Immediately after picking up my luggage and walking out those airport doors I was immediately reminded of the smell of mildew, the 100% humidity and that heat that doesn't let anything breathe.

We packed my two into my friend Lora's car along with her two and headed straight to Lebanon's. I got my Chicken Shwarma and it was just as good as I can remember. We then headed to Audubon park where we were greeted with a HUGE New Orleans welcome. Me and Owen were attacked by fire ants and had to run away through puddles of mud.

The rest of the week was spent enjoying all the things I missed. Me and Bryn took the kids to the Aquarium. (Still one of my favorites.)





They were so excited they were running up and down this tunnel screaming!





Not so sure about being this close to the fish.



This just freaks me out!





Liam touching his first sting ray. I think I squealed a little myself, they're just freaky feeling.





The boys watching the shark tank.
Nate's parents came too, who wants to pass on a trip to New Orleans? Here is Liam's response to seeing them after exiting the Aquarium.



So happy in fact that he walked back to the hotel with them instead of driving with me and Bryn.


We did some Halloween activities at Canal place. Trick or treating at Mignon Faget, Making masks and Caricatures of my crazy twosome.


And last but not least, to my favorite zoo. Audubon Zoo. I love it here and so do the kids. My favorite part is the elephant show. They teach you all about the elephants, then let you feel the side of one of them.

I found this picture of Liam at about the age Owen is now!
They both touched, but had that concerned look about doing it.



Besides these captured events, we also ate at all our favorite places, (I still think Commanders takes the trophy! But only brunch, dinner is a little too pricey.) Went shopping at UAL, ate Beignets and hot chocolate while walking through the quarter after an evening of Preservation Hall. Had a crazy guy yell at me (actually a compliment) in Jackson square, but best of all was seeing some of our best friends. They let us camp out in their living room on couches and on air mattresses. (Thanks Ryan, Lora, Bryn and Mark!)





All in all a fabulous trip "home." in the words of Louis:
"Do you know what it means to miss New Orleans? I miss it both night and day. I know that it's wrong...this feelings gettin stronger the longer I stay away.
...And that's where I left my heart."

I'm ready to be Stupefied!

To say the least, Halloween is a BIG deal in Hershey. There are all sorts of things to do during the month of October and I think we hit most of the big ones. We went to two Halloween parties. One for church which was actually a "Cowboy Roundup" Party and we were supposed to dress like cowboys, but when Liam saw me put Owen in cowboy gear, his first thought wasn't where's my chaps and hat, it was "If he's going to be Woody, then I need to be Buzz Lightyear." So that's what he went dressed as to the party. I didn't get a picture of it, and these pics were taken by Eden and Mike, but it was pretty funny!

We also had to cancel our PIM trunk or treat event due to rain, but moved it to my friend Beth's house and we all stood in different rooms of her house and let the kids Trick or treat at each door. They seemed to enjoy it. And Liam got to do some treating with his "girlfriend" Bannah (Savannah.) Always a plus!



















We went to the traditional Halloween Egg hunt at the outlets. (yes I said egg hunt. Haven't you heard of the Halloween bat that lays orange and black eggs? No? That's funny cause that's what they do here.)

I only took Liam to this event, it can get a little scary with some of the Moms out here. You'd think they were laying golden eggs. I swear I saw a few moms motioning to elbow out the kid next to their kid.
Liam's favorite part? He got to egg hunt with this other friend Samantha (Pocahontas.)






But most the month was spent pretending we were Harry Potter, Hedwig, Hermione and the Golden snitch. As you are all well aware, Liam has been obsessed with Harry Potter for awhile now. He still likes it, but I can tell it's losing it luster. Maybe because he dressed up so much that we started to ask each other if we'd seen Liam anywhere and the on going game was for Liam to take off the Potter glasses and for us to say. "Oh there you are Liam. We thought you were Harry," and then he'd put back on the glasses and we'd repeat.





I'm not sure if I will ever get the Harry Potter theme out of my head since Liam and Owen both hum it all day. Hmm Hm Hmm Hm Hmm Hm Hmm Hmm...... It was another great Halloween. The kids got more candy than I can count, or that I've already eaten. I was ready to take down the decorations and was hoping to be stupified for a couple of days to recoup, but alas I'm still here, decorations down and onto Thanksgiving...