Jason started his Mandatory Unpaid Leave of Absence, MULA – or lack of Moola, today. His entire company gets this privilege and Jason decided to schedule his during spring break. Lucky us.

We’ve decided to get to know our city a little bit better and do things we normally wouldn’t do. Therefore it’s off to Incredible Pizza which is like a Chuck E. Cheese on steroids. We started out the afternoon with all-you-can-eat Pizza buffet.

The older boys raced gokarts – twice.

We went mini-bowling as a family.

Can you tell that Daddy planned this outing? This place was made for a family of all boys. No Doubt!

The older boys rode on the bumper cars while Drake and Dad hung out in the Tiny Town.

We went miniature golfing.

Played arcade games and had a blast. We ended our 5 hours with dinner at the all-you-can-eat Pizza buffet. I mean, we had to make sure we got our money’s worth, right! 😉

The boys are already asking when we can go back. I’m going to have to put a yearly limit on this one or we’ll go broke! Gotta love Spring Break.

There’s lots of buzz about Jason The Bachelor, that dude is messed up! Which is such a shame because before the first ‘after the last rose’ ceremony he was my favorite. He got rid of all drama queens first, was well spoken, and seemed to have his priorities straight. I knew I was wrong about him when he let Jillian go. Dude.

Who else was so irritated when he said that he found his ‘best friend’ in Molly. Really!?

Anyway, moving on. My dad and his girlfriend flew in from Utah last weekend. So I participated in a ‘bachelor home town date’ of my own. Can I just say that my dad certainly has a ‘type’. My mom, his 2nd ex-wife, and his current girlfriend all look similar; light curly hair and fair skin. He’s officially typecast by moi. ha!

I really liked her and we had a good time. She’s not what I expected, she has 3 boys, but the biggest thing is that she doesn’t seem to be hiding anything. She seems comfortable with who she is, her past, and wasn’t out to overly impress me. I appreciated that about her.

To make the event even more entertaining, Lisa and I decided to play a game and battle it out. Ready?

Who Knows Dad’s Girlfriend the Best? by Lisa & Laurie

I’ve decided not to post the questions because that would infringe on her privacy as a non-blogger.

Lisa talking smack, “YOU CAN’T HANDLE THIS’. {{whatever – bring it on!}}

The Results: A Tie. We both got 9 out of 15 questions right. We had a tie breaker question and Lisa got it right. So officially Lisa’s the winner.

Our home town date was not as crazy as the Bachelors’, no dead doves or crazy hats. Thank heaven. So dad’s girlfriend leaves with a rose from me. Best wishes to them both.

The past 1 1/2 month’s I was in too much pain to even think about capturing family moments on film let alone blogging about them. However, now that I’m on the road to recovery I can give the Grandparents a couple Kodak moments they missed.

Santa had a great time on Black Friday (the morning before she hurt her back) and got some great deals for the boys.

I was really worried that this Christmas wasn’t going to be a memorable one. I should have had better faith in the resilience of children. They were so grateful for their gifts and had such a fun morning.

Drake screamed after opening EVERY present. It caught on with the other boys and needless to say it was a loud but exciting morning.

My mother showed Dylan a picture of me when she was here over the weekend and he said, “Oh. That was when Mom could bend.”

So here you go, another picture of Drake screaming like a banshee and me bending. {{giggle}}

One of the traditions we have is Santa writing the boys a letter every Christmas morning. They get such a kick out of it. Soon they’ll recognize Jason’s handwriting. 🙂

Lisa came back into town to help out and as usual she was willing to roll up her sleeves and do what needed to be done. After decorating my house for Christmas, she also took everything down. Her help was invaluable!

It was a rough day putting Christmas away and not everyone was up to the challenge.

Neither was Drake, he was so ticked off. He kept yelling, “What u doin’? Santa be right back!” The boy was dead serious and kept repeating it over and over again. It was hysterical.

My Grandparents (my Dad’s parents) came to visit us on their way home from serving a mission at Nauvoo. It was so nice to see them however it was a day or two before my surgery, I could no longer walk, and I was miserable, so their visit was very short.

All in all it was a tough month but thanks to Jason, and amazing friends and family we’ve been doing well and the boys have felt incredibly loved.

I can’t believe that I’ve been too busy to check back in and tell you the results of the my fun poll.

The results are in and the blogging favorite is Baby Looks Fat! I wouldn’t have picked this picture so I’m so glad that I asked. Ashley is designing a digital Christmas card to accent it. YAY for talented women.

I learned my lesson and will absolutely wear different pants next time. {{wink}} Huge thanks to Shar who’s photoshopping the picture. Girl, you’re fabulous! {{snaps to photoshoppers}}

I think I’m going to order this picture to go above my mantel. However, I’m going to see if I can use the effects from the ‘Baby Not Looking’ since it has more green in the background.

Blogger to Blogger: I heard from a ‘friend of a friend’ that people are talking about this post. Which is fine, but please keep to the facts. To clarify, I thought that I had stated clearly that I was dissappointed with Dylan and myself in the photos. That’s it. I have all legal rights to my pictures and if I want to make fun of myself on my blog and turn it into a game; there’s nothing wrong with that. We’re bloggers – that’s what we do. {{geeze}}

We had our family pictures taken last weekend. I’ve had the CD since Monday but I haven’t been able to bring myself to look at them. It was a difficult evening and I was not optimistic on the results.

So I thought I’d turn my disappointment into a game. Please help me decide what picture I should use for my Christmas Card!

1. Baby Got Back

2. Baby is Cheesy

3. Baby Not Looking

4. Baby Looks Fat

5. Baby Too Long

6. Just The Babies

Did you know that Guitar Hero World Tour came out yesterday? My man pre-purchased a copy months ago and has been counting down the days. Thankfully he has headphones.

Here are some random pictures of the past couple days. I’ve been really focusing on being silly and trying to have a fun light-hearted atmosphere in our home. The boys have been cracking me up!

Lisa, this picture is for you. Head to toe in camo. Drake loves his “ammo” hat.

We finally made it to the pumpkin patch. It’s a yearly tradition that I usually really enjoy. This year wasn’t picture perfect. Not only would Drake not cooperate with the pictures but I lost him 3 times.

Yes, three. The first time he was gone for quite a while and we had all split up to check the parking lot, bounce houses, and fields. I was in a panic. The little stinker was found happy as a lark jumping in a large pumpkin bounce house. {{scream out of frustration}}

The boys on the other hand, had a great time!

They loved the hay ride.

They loved jumping off the haystacks and playing in the bounce houses and slides.

Drake found Diego which was a highlight for him.

My breaking point was at the hay maze. (Parents weren’t allowed inside) The boys took soo long getting through it, I thought for sure Drake had sneaked out and left with someone’s grandpa.

Next year, we’ll have to go to our usual pumpkin patch with less people, less crowds, where it’s easier to find wandering children. At least I came home with all 3 kiddos. {{relief!}}

Last week we had parent lunch and early dismissal with the boys. Since Jason was home working on designing my new Tip Junkie Mom-prenuer Shop-a-thon, he was able to come to lunch too. (The new Shop-a-thon isn’t completed yet. Stay tuned.)

We had a good time together. Thanks to the sucker I brought even Drake was well behaved. Although since Jason went on the 4th grade Sky Ranch trip, he knew more parents than I did. Geeze.