10 Years!!!!

So about 6 months ago (seriously so behind on posting stuff) Erik and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary!  Holy cow!  Wasn't it yesterday  that we were one of the young couples with super little kids that were struggling through school, living in crappy apartments, and just trying to do the best we could?  Now we're one of the old couples.  We have older kids, we've had some hard times, and we're still here 10 years later.  I'm honestly very proud of that!  We still love each other...heck we still LIKE each other.  We want to spend time together and we respect each other.  To me that is a huge accomplishment.  Oh and the kids are turning out pretty good too.

So to celebrate 10 years we decided to do something fun.  Since we got engaged in Vegas we thought it might be fun to go there for a couple days.  Erik's sister Kirsten was nice enough to come to our house for the weekend and stay with the kids.  That really helped out a ton!  Thanks Kirsten!  It was a short trip, flew out Friday and came back Sunday, but it was a lot of fun.  We stayed in a super nice hotel, ate some really good food, stayed out past our bedtime, slept in til 8:30!!!!, and walked all that good food off.

 At Hard Rock.  It was an ordeal to find it/walk to this place but we finally made it and ate a ton of food.

 Bryce had to have a picture of the M&M store.

 The view from our room.  We were lucky enough to get the top floor.

All dressed up for dinner. Don't we look good! :)  And let me tell you that those shoes were the death of me!  They were a little too tight so Erik had to run across the street to a CVS and buy me some flip flops.  And the blisters that I enjoyed the next day were epic!

School

 I realize that I am seriously behind in posting anything these days but I'm trying to get back into the swing of things.  Here's our first day of school pictures.  The boys are in this "wearing a button up shirt but it can't be buttoned up over a t-shirt" phase.  It's still continuing to this day.  But they were excited to start 3rd and 2nd grade.  And I started letting them ride their bikes there and back.  I thought I might have a heart attack that first week and may or may not have followed them a couple times to make sure they got to school.

 And later that same week this little miss, that is not so little anymore, started pre-school.  For 3 days a week I am alone for 2.5 hours.  I honestly don't know what to do with myself.  Seriously.  But she is having a blast at her school and the boys really lucked out with some amazing teachers.

Summer Vacation pt.2

After we spent time in Utah, I took Erik to the airport so he could get back to work and I piled the kids in the car and followed my sister and her family to Oregon.  The kids are at an age that makes traveling long distances easy.  Preston sat in the middle handing out food, drinks, games and whatever else people needed while I drove.  Stopping at trucks stops by myself made me really nervous but fortunately everyone pees quickly and I've instilled a huge fear of strangers in my children so it worked out.  We spent the next week and a half in Oregon freezing and buying raincoats for everyone and loving it so much!  Here's our instagram vacation pt. 2.

Before leaving Utah we had to make a stop at Temple Square.

I realize now that it might not be very safe to take pictures while driving.  Unfortunately I was unable to use my phone while driving at all in Oregon.

A quick stop at Multnomah Falls to take a picture to send to Erik.

 These girls are so cute together!

Makayla and Grandpa

No Oregon trip is complete without going to the beach.

 If you go to the beach you HAVE to go to Mo's.  HAVE TO!

Visiting the farm in Sweet Home.

Voodoo doughuts are very interesting....

When it warmed up the kids were going crazy in pool.

And now some non-instagram pictures.

 We took a trip to the Oregon zoo.

  Another coast picture.

 Chuck taking the kids on an adventure in the woods.

 These two are partners in crime.  :)

 We tried to get all the kids in a picture with their great-grandparents but it was chaos!  Still I think it turned out pretty good.

Makayla hung out with her great-grandpa for a long time.  She has such a sweet nature.  I love her!

Lighting some sparklers for the 4th was so fun for the kids!

Sadly we left just a couple days later.  It was hard to leave but we needed to get back to our home and get Erik back!  I loved this trip so much!  I got to see all my family and the kids got to see all their cousins and go crazy with them.  Love it!

Summer Vacation pt.1

Over the summer most of my family travelled from near and far to get to Utah for a Larsen family reunion in Payson, Ut.  We had so much fun visiting with cousins, brothers, sisters, grandparents, etc. Now prepare yourselves for picture overload.

Makayla with grandpa at the reunion.

I love how all the cousins run around together and get along so well.  It's awesome!

Bryce doesn't fight the crowd.  He pushes through and sits in the middle of it.

I don't know what these two are doing but they were having fun with it.

These two crack me up!  Bryce and Spencer are the funniest duo.

We love the splash pad.  

Tonsils

Preston got his tonsils taken out yesterday. Even though it was needed (sleep apnea the biggest reason) I hope no one in this family has to do it again.  He had such a hard time coming out of anesthesia and has gone mute today since it hurts so bad to talk.  Fortunately we have some good pain meds to keep him comfortable and he's pretty happy sitting on the couch eating popsicles and watching all the X-Men he wants.

Here's a couple pics I took on instagram yesterday.

That last one looks pretty bad but it was taken right after we got home and he crashed for 5 hours.  I promise he looks a lot better today.

Bryce's Perfect Saturday

The picture is not so great so I'll write what Bryce wrote then give you the translation:

1. vidio games (video games)

2. watch tv

3. eat gunk food (eat junk food)

4. crim fiting (crime fighting)

5. play with lageos (play with legos)

6. play with dog

7. comp. (computer)

There you have it.  The perfect crime fighting Saturday.  Just another day in the Witbeck house.

Meet Jackie

See Jackie.

See Jackie sniff...

...and sniff.

See Makayla hide.

See Jackie lay down.

See her eat everything she shouldn't.

And see Makayla scurry on to the table to get away from Jackie when she comes inside.

The End.

I really never thought we'd get a dog.  Seriously.  I had dogs growing up and I loved them so much!  But Erik didn't and was very against having a dog.  Well we have kids and all of those kids wanted a dog.  Well, maybe Makayla wanted a cat but that was definitely not going to happen.  For the past year all we've heard is that we are the ONLY family without a dog.  And we've been informed several times that fish DO NOT count as real pets.

Well Erik started talking to friends and co-workers and decided that if the kids wanted a dog they could get one.  We went to PetSmart on dog adoption day (different rescue agencies bring in dogs to be adopted) and we walked around with a dog that Erik was very against.  But then Jackie came in the store. A 4 month old lab/german shepherd.  We walked around with her for awhile then went over to Chik-fi-la to have a family meeting about Jackie.

Almost 2 hours later and a lot of weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth,  we walked out of Chik-fi-la with the intent to get a Jackie.  Another 2 hours later we were home with her and Makayla was crying on top of the kitchen table and I started having several panic attacks.  Fortunately, things have smoothed out and we are getting to love this little girl.  

Now if we could just get Makayla off the kitchen table.....