Christmas Present Camping!

For Christmas Keith gave me several "coupons" have you. One was for ballroom dance lessons, a date night to do whatever I wanted, and one was for camping (with homemade firestarters attached). (The camping had an asterisk in the corner that said one night only--no winter camping allowed, preferrably April. ) Well, he did take me on that great date, haven't done the ballroom dance lessons yet, but for my birthday (August 29th). He finally took me camping. It was the first time we have camped with the kids. We just went up randomly to Mt. Nebo to a place called Blackhawk campgrounds just above Payson Lakes. The kids loved it. Except for right when we were going to bed Luke wanted a drink, and Keith and I were not getting out again. We said too bad Luke. Then Keith threatened Luke that if he didn't go to sleep and stop whining we would go home (bad empty threat). And then what Luke said surprised us, "I want to go home, I want to sleep in my bed."

We had smore's that night, and the kids didn't know what they were. Kayla refused to eat them cook, but kept eating them raw. I was going crazy thinking how she was wasting all the marshmellows eating them raw, but then I just let her do it. Luke liked the s'mores. When we woke up I said "Let's make breakfast," and Luke said," yeah, I want a chocolate sandwich." Except for the fact that we forgot our pillows and the grand wasn't really level, and we didn't realize how cold it would be....we slept great! The kids really did sleep good. Being a kid, you can sleep anywhere it seems. Lucky.

On the way home we stopped and walked around one of the small Payson Lakes...with the kids it took probably an hour. But it was fun. It brought back memories of my freshman year camping up there with the team, and running up that road for five miles. Any trackies reading this, do you remember that? Killer workout.

Guys Night OUT!

So Keith saw that I blogged for the first time since June, and he was dissappointed that i didn't post more pics of our NYC trip. So, I will do that, but for now. I will try and stay up to date. Keith was very excited to come back to Provo to hang out with all his buddies from the MBA program. They decided to have a guys night out last week. They went to Ironman--he said it was lame. But they all met at our house. I think some of their faces are hilarious.

Ok, I know i titled this guy's night out, but i added this picture too. Darren is growing so quick and crawling around a bit now. Don't you love his drool? He's got one tooth on the bottom now. :O)

The Million Dollar Summer

Okay, okay I'm the worst blogger. I blog every two months about. So actually I think I'm even behind in that schedule. We are back from our wonderful trip in NYC. We loved living there for the summer. There was so many fun things that we did that I can only name a few, but from broadways, to eating out at all the yummy restuarants, to china town, central park, times square,....we had a blast. I think one of our favorite things about the summer was all the cool friends that we got to see who either lived in NY or on Long Island(from where i grew up), or those who came and visited us. Right after we flew home we drove to LA for my brother's wedding. It was a crazy summer with two weddings in my family. Man weddings are a lot of work. After the whole shin dig...we took my family to Disneyland. They had never been before.

Of course we enjoyed the Buzz lightyear ride. But it was awesome running into some running buddies there in Disneyland randomly. Small world.

Keith received a job offer with Proctor and Gamble. We haven't fully accepted yet, but we probably will be going there, and living in Cinncinnati. For the time we are excited to be back in Provo. One thing New York has taught me is to enjoy the moment more. I realized I hardly went to the Provo Canyon last year, and so I've determined not to wait until the last minute to do it. I took the kids hiking yesterday to Stuart Falls a hike up in the Alpine Loop, and we went walking with a bunch of spouses in the Canyon on wednesday. Provo really is a gorgeous place with all the nature, and we are loving the peaches and apricots we have been enjoying from our trees. We are so lucky. Life is good with these Busby's.

Luke's 2nd Birthday!

Luke turned 2 on May 25th. It was a sunday, and since it was a nice day, we went down to central park, and took the cake that we made him with us. We made him a box rainbow chip cake, and Keith carried it for the whole 20 blocks. It was kind of broken by the time we got there, and we did have two candles that our friends let us borrow, but we had no matches and so he pretended to blow them out. We had it on the rocks in central park. It was really fun. It was fun to have our friends there with their little girl Macey who is Luke's age to celebrate with. I can't believe Luke's already two, though he definitely qualifies with all of his terrible two acts....hands in toilet, throwing everything, hiding things under the couch, you know... :O)

Carnegie Deli and Times Square ToysR'Us

Two weekends ago we went to Carnegie Deli, this outrageously priced Deli, but amazing! We went there with our friends the Bingham's also interning here in NYC. We went primarily for the cheesecake, but also for the pastrami sandwiches. The cheesecake is expensive, but not only are the pieces HUGE, they are really really good. We were lucky because this place is really famous, and we got in right away. When we left there was a line formed outside the restuarant. We also got to sit in this tiny room. It was nice to have it all to ourselves so we didn't have to worry about the kids bugging anybody. Even though Luke got his head stuck between the bars of the bannister and was screaming for all the people below. Oh well. They got quite a show.

There was a cool Jurrasic Park dinosaur in the Toy's R' Us and a huge Jack Sparrow made out of Legos. The kids were kind of scared of the dinosaur because it really roared and blinked his eyes and moved his arms also.

Darren is growing so dang fast!

Darren is growing so dang fast. We just noticed the other day that he really has grown since we got here, and therefore the Bjorn is getting a little tougher to wear each day, as a result I have been making Kayla walk more frequently so that I can put Darren in the stroller instead. It is funny, Kayla used to always beg to walk, but now that i am having her do it more often she is begging to go back in the stroller. He is really getting more alert everyday, and smiling, and now he's grabbing things really well, etc. Kayla and Luke love him, but sometimes give him a little too much loving.

Brooklyn Bridge

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I really should post more often, but I seem to do it infrequently and in bulk. I can't get this underline off for some reason. We went across the Brooklyn Bridge, and down to the world trade center, etc. a few weeks ago. Right after we returned out stroller to the only BabiesR'us in the city... we only had it for two weeks and the wheels were already bending...its happening again, so we will probably return it again. It is amazing how much these strollers go through with all the walking in the city.

We got icecream to refresh us right b4 we crossed the bridge. It makes me sick to think how much we spent. Each cone was $3.00. But I must say, it was amazing icecream.

Three!

I realize that the more kids that I have that my expectations for accomplishing things during the day decreases, but that is okay, because in a way I am more relaxed because of it. I'm not stressing out about trying to get something done that probably wont get done anyways. But it is fun during the day just hanging out with my cute kids. They really are so fun, and funny, and so dang cute. Taking them to the park, zoo, museums, and just doing the everyday things really is quite fun, and the days go by quite quickly because I'm so busy. Don't get me wrong there are still frequent moments of stress or insanity, but I think since they are more frequent I just deal with them. It is tiring getting stressed out! I'd rather not. :O)

MORE IN NY

I just love this picture of Kayla all crazy with her glasses, hat, and little purse. There are more of these pics of her making a fish face, but I guess I shouldn't blog them all. We have been up to a lot since our last update. In fact, there is so much to do here in NYC that when we spend a night at home I feel guilty because I feel like we should be out doing something fun. But we have been having a blast even though a couple nights a week we spend the night home to recuperate from all the going. We spend a lot of days at different playgrounds. The kids and I. In fact that picture of Kayla on the bike is at the neighborhood park on our street where there have been two bikes that just have been there that they have loved riding on. Even though they're both a little busted.

This picture below is from Kayla and Luke's first ride on the subway, probably about three weeks ago now. Now Luke loves going on "the train" he calls it. He knows what the subway entrances look like now, and everytime we pass one he wants to get on the train. We have been to the Bronx Zoo 3 times since we've been here. It is FRee Every wednesday, or Pay what you wish....so pretty much Free. We have loved that.

Drawing for Grandpa Busby!

Grandpa, Kayla drew this for your office wall. Hope you like it!

Night at the Museum, FAO Schwartz, Central Park, etc.

Our first weekend here, and day with Keith off work we went exploring, and Kayla loves the movie the night at the Museum and so we decided to go to The Museum of Natural History. Kayla got a picture with "Dumbdumb you have gum gum?" She was saying that to Luke as we Went through the museum. We walked through Central Park to get there. It was beautiful, and at times I couldn't believe we were really in NYC it was so beautiful and green.

We also went to Times Square and then to FAO Schwartz where they had life sized lego figures of all the star wars characters. The kids loved the toy store. We walked all the way home after that, but not before heading to the grocery store, and carrying all the groceries home and up all the stairs. We figured out we walked about 10 miles in all that day. But it was fun.

That last picture is a typical picture of me in New York when Keith is at work. Try that with an umbrella also on the rainy days....it is crazy! But we have fun. Some people give me crazy looks though. But I guess it is quite a lot of faces to see all at once.

Playground Hopping

The first day after we arrived here I took the kids and we went Playground hopping. I am learning here in the city that there are different terms for thing than in other places. There is a difference between playgrounds and parks because there are several playgrounds within central park, and other parks. Also there is a difference between a grocery store and a super market. I didn't know there was a difference, but apparently super markets are bigger and have more, and grocery stores are smaller and just have a few things that you would need.
The first playground we went to was in Marcus Gravey Park only a few blocks from our house.

Then we went to two different playgrounds in the North corners of Central Park. There was one really fun new one just for toddlers that had a sand box, and fun rope toys and other cool gadgets. We were tired by the end of the day, but had a great time.