FRIGHTENING FRIGHTMARES

Having season passes to Lagoon has seriously saved my neck this summer. It's been so nice on the weekends when we have all the boys to just pack a cooler and head up there. They ALWAYS have a great time.. and they ALWAYS came home exhausted, which is an added bonus!!

For one last hoorah we took them to Frightmares last weekend. The weather was perfect and everyone had a spooky time... :)

Kaiden is a dare devil and always wants to go on all the big rides - including the Wicked. He always is so crushed when we have to tell him he isn't big enough. Lately we have been using that as incentive to eat all his dinner, so he can "grow taller to go on the rides". Well, he has been eating a ton and had it in his head that he had grown at least 6 inches and could go on all of them. He sure was disappointed when we told him he would have to try all winter to grow and we could check again next summer.

He went on all the rides that he could with his brothers. they rode on the train:

They rode the Sky Ride:

They rode the Tidal Wave:

They rode the Music Express, which is one of his favorites - it makes me sick just to watch them!!:

And Travis even took a ride on Shane!! :)

(I love this picture!!)

It always used to make me laugh that we would be at Lagoon, and they would still spend so much time in the stupid Arcade, UNTIL I won 360 tickets playing Deal or No Deal - and then it was hard to get me out of there too!!

We also tried out some Halloween costume ideas.

Iizik got in touch with his feminine side:

Kailob kicked some ninja butt:

And Travis took me on a magic carpet ride! (haha) :)

And of course it wouldn't be a Szarek family outing without the Travis and Melinda kissy self portrait!!

Tag team back again.....

Ok, so Jenny tagged me to write 7 random/weird things about myself. Seriously, just 7?? HAHA!

Oh, and I am not tagging anyone, unless you want to do it. Just let me know if you do!!

Here it goes...
The rules are:

Link to the person that tagged you, and post the rules on your blog. Share 7 random and/or weird facts about yourself. Tag 7 random people at the end of your blog. Let each person know that they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.


1. I spent almost a year serving on the board of directors for the Utah Tour Guide Association and I think I am the youngest person in the association by about 30 years. I am a total Utah history nerd - and LOVE being a tour guide in the summers!!

2. I'm NOT stupid - but I am dingy. Not too long ago I went in to a gas station and pre-paid for my gas. I went out and got in my car and drove away without pumping my gas. About 20 minutes later I ran out of gas on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere!!

3. I attended college on a music scholarship, but these days all I really do is sing in my car.

4. I have a list of things I want to do before I die, and it includes things like going to all the counties and national parks in Utah, asll the states in the US and learning to play the guitar. It is a crazy and random list, but I WILL complete it!

5. I have weird food "issues":
*I can not stand when salty and sweet foods are mixed. It GROSSES me out. Nuts do not belong on ice cream, pineapple on pizza, fruit on green salads, and ham should never be honey baked. SICK!!
*I struggle eating a sanwich, hamburger, etc if I can not cut it in half first. I like to have a corner to bite in to.
*I ALWAYS eat my pizza crust first.
*I can't stand the flavored powdered stuff that's on chips to get on my lips. I will either break my chip into bite sized pieces or bite it very carefully with only my teeth.

6. I smell EVERYTHING, from the pens I use to the clothes I buy. I don't know why. I will not eat something I can not smell first, and when people say "here Mel – try this," my first reaction is always "can I smell it first?"

7. I think my favorite day of the year is Black Friday (the day after Thnanksgiving) and YES I am one of the fools that goes to the mall at midnight and then lines up at 2 am to save a few bucks at other stores!! Is it worth it? Not really... but we sure have a good time!! I hope we are going to do it again this year. :)

My So-Called Life :)

So anyone who knows me very well knows that I had been very single and very independent for a long time. I was happy where I was in life and things were going well.


THEN...


I started dating Travis and he started to change my mind about everything. When he proposed to me it was very unexpected and quite a surprise, (I'll blog about THAT on another day - it's a great story!), and I was kinda nervous. I wondered how I would do with the fact that he had kids - and with full custody of one I was going to become an instant full time mom.


HOW HARD COULD IT BE??


I've worked in preschools. I've taught in elementary schools, I have nieces and a nephew, and seriously... it should be a piece of cake.


RIGHT?


WRONG!!


You never realize how often you do this:




Or this is completely acceptable:




until all of a sudden you have to start worrying about THIS:





And you start having DREAMS about this:





It's enough to make anyone want to commit themselves...



And then a conversation like this happens:
(As the kids and I are in the car and they're trying to figure it all out)
Me: (some comment using the word 'step mom')
Kailob: But you aren't our mom
Me: That's right, I'm not your mom, but when I married your dad I became your step mom
Kailob: I don't think you are our step mom
Me: Ok then Kailob, what do you think I am?
Kaiden pipes up from the car seat: YOU'RE A GREAT MOM!


Are these those moments I've heard about that make it all worth it?? Because all of a sudden I felt something I had never felt before. I realized right then that I COULD do this, we COULD be a family, and that every one of us was an essential part. And even though I traded in what I thought was my freedom for the 'family life', I really couldn't be happier.

Where Do Babies Come From?

Well, to be honest, I guess I'm not exactly sure of the answer to that question. All I know is that on May 9, 2008 I had no kids and on May 10, 2008 I said "I DO" and all of a sudden I had THREE kids!! =)


Kaiden is 3 and lives with us full time. I have had quite a time trying to find that 'mom gene' that's supposed to be inherent. It was buried quite deep from all those years of lying dormant, but I think it is finally starting to emerge:




Iizik is almost 9 and Kailob is 7:
(The one with the red hair doesn't belong to us, although he would probably fit in rather nicely).

They come over every other weekend

We are the crazy folks who try to keep it all together:

I titled out blog the 'Szark Zoo'. After looking at these pictures, is there any question as to why???

The Blogging Bandwagon

So, in an effort to keep everyone informed about the goings-on in our lives, (and to keep people from thinking I've fallen off the wagon if I go a day without calling), I've jumped on the blogging bandwagon. That's right, the Szarek family are officially bloggers.

Stay tuned, you never know what kind of excitement may unfold....