White Chocolate Grill

On our last night together, Lois and Lacey met us for dinner at The White Chocolate Grill....so yummy! I am glad we tried this place. It worked out great because the waiter forgot to bring out our appetizer so then brought it to us for free. :o) Then, the dessert we ordered to share was unavailable so they brought out a couple desserts for us on the house! It was a great night with great food! I can't wait for our next trip....

Eleven Months!

Pyper is eleven months old! I was pregnant at this time last year attending a Veteran's Day Parade in all my fatness. I attended the parade again today on accident. Me and Kensley headed to the library for an outing and wondered what all the cars were doing all over the place and realized, duh! it is Veteran's Day, there is a parade and the library is closed! So, me and Kensley went to the parade while Pyper took a nap and Stephen did homework. So, anyway, Pyper is a big girl who can stand, clap, jabber about who knows what and eat solid foods. She doesn't walk yet, but I am sure it is just a matter of time. She has two bottom teeth she got in her ninth month and I think she is about to get a tooth on top. She is happy and goofy unless you are keeping her from something and then she is very angry! She is kind of like a puppy and begs for food if you are eating anything. She is sleeping better now, but still wakes up around 4 or 5 am for a bottle. I didn't get a good picture of her with her teddy bear because the camera batteries died in the middle of the photo shoot, but here is a few of our day today.


Kensley has decided that Pyper is old enough to play with on the patio now. So she usually carries her outside (without my knowledge) and buckles her into the swing and this is how I find them. At least she fastens her seat belt!


Our family last year on Veteran's Day 2009...I am about 6 1/2 months pregnant and had no idea that Pyper would be born in just a month!

Happy Halloween

Show me some tail!
Kensley was soooo excited to be a horse! Thank you Aunt Sandi for letting us borrow the costume.

Halloween was almost a bust. Kensley ran into Lois's tailgate about a half hour before the ward trunk-or-treat party and busted her lip. She spent a lot of time crying on the couch with a wash rag stuck in her mouth. It took a lot of convincing to get her to take it out because she was convinced she was still bleeding. Once I started getting everyone in their costumes she finally came around and got excited to go. She was very excited for all the treats, but refused to look anyone in the eye or say trick or treat. She was a big scaredy cat all night long. When we got home she immediately took an inventory of all the candy. I can't wait until bedtime so I can sneak a few pieces!

A Day In the Life....

This post is for you, Velika. :o) A "real" day in the not-so-exciting life of the Beals Family.

4:45 AM Pyper wakes up for a bottle. I am not complaining (too loudly) because she actually slept 8 hours! Woo Hoo! :o)

6:40 AM Stephen gets home from work and crawls into bed.

6:50 AM Kensley crawls into my bed and immediately starts kneading my hair as she goes back to sleep.

7:21 AM Pyper starts making awake noises and I start wondering if I can fit in a shower before she wakes up Stephen. After going back and forth for 5 minutes I realize it may be my only chance today and head for the shower.

7:43 AM I wake up Kensley. She usually has preschool at 12:15 PM, but because of parent/teacher conferences has school today at 8:15 AM, yuck!

7:44 AM Pyper starts yelling because we are ignoring her and she wants out of bed. I pick her up and she is soaking wet, again! I put her in Kensley's room while I get dressed and tell Kensley to hurry.

7:55 AM Get Pyper changed and dressed and help Kensley put shoes and socks on.

8:15 AM Right on time!

8:35 AM Feed Pyper some oatmeal while my stomach growls.

9:25 AM Just finished my breakfast of Captain Cruch cereal and fed Pyper a bottle...Confession: Formula has been killing us it is so expensive. So this week I started supplementing with whole milk even though she isn't a year old yet. I am hoping she will survive. She never really breastfed due to my not being able to nurse when she was born for two months. I pumped for 7 months and gave up. She did get some breast milk until she was 9 momths old.
Now I am treating myself to a red velvet cupcake with cream cheese frosting. Darn, only one left...oh well, no one else is around to fight me for it!

9:30 AM I guess I should do some cleaning...Bleh! Right after I change that stinky diaper!

10:15 AM Dishwasher and washing machine going, stove and table cleaned off. Now I am clipping coupons.

10:30 AM Put Pyper down for a nap and slap some make up on my face. Then I relax on the couch with a book until 11:00 when I have to leave to pick Kensley up from preschool.

12:00 PM Parent/Teacher conference with Kensley's teacher where it is confirmed that I am an awesome mom. :o) Just Kidding. They did say Kensley is doing very well. She plays well with others and doesn't fight or use bad words (Phew!) She shares and follows the routine and eats her lunch really well. She is ready for Kindergarten! Another confession: I told Kensley to put her shoes on for the conference but she didn't want to go. Stephen is home, but in bed. In a moment of bad judgement, I decide to let her stay home. I feed her lunch, lock the doors and tell her to wake up Dad if she needs anything and don't open the door. I was only gone for 30 minutes at the most and came home to her crying hysterically. She had hurt her finger and it was bleeding. She said "I guess you shouldn't leave me alone again." Well said. Please don't call social services!

1:40 PM Coupon shopping at Fry's. Bummed because they were out of a couple things I had coupons for to get free! :o( I did walk away with 2 free tubes of toothpaste and free liquid hand wash.

2:30 PM Stephen wakes up a couple hours earlier than usual and takes a shower and does homework until he has to leave for work at 5PM. I feed Pyper Pear & Pineapple baby food and she slurps it up.

4:00 PM Pyper takes a second nap after another bottle. I make a lunch for Stephen to take to work and then feed him dinner, or give him dinner that he then feeds to himself. I eat chips and salsa and share with Kensley.

5:15 PM Make dinner for Kensley, a hot dog IN a bun with ketchup and mustard. Pyper wakes up and we cuddle until Kensley finishes her dinner. Then we pack Pyper into a stroller and Kensley on her new bike with training wheels for a walk. Oops! A training wheel falls off so we trek back to the house for her scooter and are off again.

6:30 PM Back from our walk. I'm hungry and eat leftover chicken pot pie while Kensley watches Little Mermaid in her room and Pyper pulls canned food out of my cupboards. Pyper gets sweet potato and turkey baby food and some peas.

7:30 PM Kensley finishes Little Mermaid with Pyper while I fold the laundry I did earlier. They are being good so I leave them to play.

8:06 PM Read Kensley a bedtime story and say prayers. Bring Pyper downstairs with me.

8:32 PM Put Pyper in pj's, feed her a bottle, and put her in bed.

9:29 PM I am ALONE and typing this post while I eat my secret stash of Dark Chocolate Pomegranate bites. So delicious!

This is the only picture I managed to take today.

Oh darn! Pyper is screaming her head off....guess my day isn't over yet! See ya later!

10 Months - Oct 11

My little stinker, Pyper!

My BIG Stinker! If Pyper is getting a picture, Kensley needs one too!

Hail Storm and Then Some

Arizona got some weather action today! It was all very exciting. I needed to make a quick trip to the grocery store this afternoon and I told Stephen it would probably start raining the second I left. Sure enough! I walked out the door, saw lightning, and the rain started to fall. No big deal, I can take a little rain! Before I even got out of my complex it had started to hail and by the time I was a block away it was raining like crazy and I could only see about 10ft in front of me. I was trying to doubt my good sense when it started to rain even harder. Trees started falling, trash cans were in the middle of the road along with all kinds of debris and I had zero visibility. I was talking to Stephen and he told me not to pull over, but I couldn't see anything! I pulled into a gas station to get off the road to wait it out. During this time, the power went out again at our house. (It went out yesterday for a couple hours after a rainstorm). On my way home from the grocery store, Stephen called to say Kensley's school called for us to come pick her up. The school was out of power and the kids had got caught in the rain and were soaking wet. So, I just kept driving and picker her up. The classroom was like a sauna and the poor kids all looked like a bunch of drowned rats. Kensley was cold and not very happy. The teacher said she was fine at first, but I guess the fun aspect wore off!


Here is some of the aftermath around our complex.
After watching the news tonight, I realize we got off easy. There were power lines down everywhere, trees on top of cars, and heavy damage to cars.