The Lubniewski's visit Utah! (some of them anyways)

I noticed just now that for some unknown reason, Blogger cut off my last post but I'm too lazy to fix it. Don't worry, all the pictures made it through- just not what I had typed. Oh well, you're probably not missing much.

Last weekend my parents came out to visit us and to see our new house, and it was pure bliss for me! I miss them and wish we were closer but I'm so grateful that they flew out to see us and got to spend time with the boys.


I snapped a few pictures outside on our porch after dinner one night and I love how they turned out.

Brendan and his Grandma have a special bond and I just love seeing them together.

Alex is definitely a Grandpa boy! If Grandpa was ever out of sight, you could count on hearing Alex asking "Where Grandpa? Where Grandpa?" over and over until he found him.

This boy and his dimples! They kill me. Seriously, he's quite the naughty boy but he just looks at me and smiles with those dimples and my heart melts and he gets out of trouble. He knows how to work it.

The boys went through serious withdrawals after they left and Brendan shed some big tears. He's my sensitive guy and he definitely loves having family around so he felt their absence strongly. Come back soon, Grandpa and Grandma!

A short weekend in Colorado

 A couple weeks ago, we spent a weekend in Colorado to visit Chris's parents and also his Grandma who was in town from Michigan. We hadn't seen her in several years and this was Alex's first time meeting her so I'm so glad that we got a chance to go out.

(I think this is my favorite picture from the entire weekend. My Alex is such a sweet boy and he just loved being at Grandma and Grandpa's.)

While there, we got to do all sorts of fun things but I only have a pictures of a few things because I was mostly enjoying myself and didn't have my camera out. We visited the Denver Aquarium, which was a first for me. It was amazing and the boys loved it (including Chris)!

I love them all holding hands. So cute.

My boys were so into the fish. Basically 98% of my pictures from our visit are like this- the two of them smushed up against the glass, trying to get as close as possible.

 This fish was cool because he only had one eye. The left one was missing and they were fascinated by this.

This picture just cracks me up because Brendan so did not want his picture taken as evidenced by his pouty face. That lip!

We went to a nearby park to feed the ducks, something that Alex was asking to do every time we drove by. Grandpa was nice enough to indulge him and the boys loved it. And so did the ducks.

But this was what Brendan was really looking forward to-

The famed slip-n-slide at Grandma's house. He could have spent all day out there on that thing.

What we've been doing this summer... told through cell phone pictures

Because I hardly take photos with my real camera anymore. These photos will be familiar to you if you follow me on Instagram so feel free to skip this if you'd like. I tell you, Instagram has killed my blog.

So here's what we've been up to:

I chopped off half of my hair. It was time for a change. Now, I can't decide- go even shorter (I love short-short hair) or do I grow it out again (I really miss the versatility of long hair). Decisions, decisions.

I ran a 5K in Logan with my sister-in-law and her friend. It was fun!

Chris and I went to see a favorite band of mine play in SLC. The whole experience made me feel really old- gone are the days when being around sweaty, smelly boys was appealing-  but it was awesome anyways.

We bought passes to Seven Peaks this year and while we have only gone to the waterpark once, we mostly use it for taking the boys mini-golfing or bowling. It's been such a great way to have some fun family time without spending a lot of money.

 Brendan also learned to ride his bike without training wheels finally! I was so proud of him! It was a big, scary thing for him but he faced his fears, never gave up and is now able to ride like a pro. He seems so big.

The boys and I have had lots of lunch dates at McDonald's. There are just days when we had nothing planned and trip to McDonald's was the perfect thing to fill the boredom.

The place you could find us most this summer was definitely at our pool. I loved being able to have a (free) place to take my boys where they would have fun and get out some of their energy. Brendan's water skills have improved so much this summer- he can do backflips under the water, swim and float without plugging his nose, and even do a strange version of free-style stroke. All despite the fact that I was too lazy to sign him up for swim lessons this summer.

Me and Alex usually preferred to lounge and work on our tans while Brendan jumped into the water over and over and over. I was completely okay with that.

We had a fun and relaxing 4th of July too. We barbequed in our backyard and got together with neighbors in our cul de sac for s'mores and fireworks. We're lucky that we can watch the Thanksgiving Point fireworks show from our backyard so we avoided the traffic and general craziness.

We also took Alex to see his first movie, Despicable Me 2. Both the boys loved it and as we were leaving, Alex asked if we could see it again. I wasn't sure what his reaction would be to it since movie theaters have always been a bit overwhelming for Brendan, especially when he was young, but Alex loved everything about it from the minute we walked in the door. We saw an early show (I think it was 10:30) so I wasn't planning on getting popcorn for the kids but as soon as Alex saw the concession stand, he had to have some. And I'm a sucker for this little boy so of course I caved in and got him some. He seriously ate most of that big bucket all by himself.

We recently took a trip to Colorado to see Chris' parents and Grandma who was in town from Michigan and there will be more on that later. I actually took photos with my real camera for that trip!

The boys loved getting to visit their grandparents and great-grandma and they didn't want the trip to end. Alex woke up the morning after we got home asking, "Where Grandpa?". He just melts my heart.

We've also been doing some projects around the house- mostly painting and yard stuff- but it's satisfying to see our home slowing becoming how I picture it in my head. I plan to do a post about our house in the future... if I can make it through school starting this week and having to entertain my almost-three-year-old by myself now.

This is it

Today was the kindergarten graduation program at Brendan's school. It's a miracle I didn't cry.

They put on the cutest program where they sang songs and talked about all they learned. They even had a short video presentation about what they wanted to be when they grow up and it was the sweetest and funniest thing I've ever seen.

Brendan was front and center for the program, which was awesome and we got quite a few laughs over the faces he was making and the funny body movements he was doing (like lifting his shirt up and shrugging his shoulders in beat with the songs). I'm glad we could actually see all that.

We said goodbye to the world's best kindergarten teacher though, which did make me a little sad. Brendan has loved Mrs. Lo and I've really appreciated all her hard work and patience with my son. Alex loves "Mrs. Mo" too and was so excited that he got to see her again. I'm sad that we won't be at this school next year but so very grateful that our first experience was a good one.

In honor of the last day of school, I made a special cake for Brendan using my favorite cake recipe. And I recently made my own buttercream frosting with great success so I thought this time I'd try chocolate buttercream and I liked it even more. I never understood the appeal of frosting until I made my own. The first lick I took of it made me sigh in appreciation. So good.

And where there's frosting and there's a dirty Alex. Of course.

It was a fun way to end a big day in Brendan's life and I'm super excited for the summer to begin! And I'm glad I actually remembered my camera so I have photo documentation of it too. :)

We're officially in our new house and hopefully I'll have time to take photos and blog about it but things have been absolutely c-r-a-z-y around here this past week. I'm definitely ready for things to slow down a little bit so we can enjoy this new phase of our lives in this house.

The Golden Ninja Bees

I actually remembered to bring my camera to Brendan's soccer game this weekend and managed to get a few good shots.

Here he is getting ready for the kick-off. It's been so fun to see how excited he gets about soccer. This morning he woke up at 7:30 and got dressed in his soccer uniform before he came out of his room, shin guards and all. My heart melted at the sight.

Love my little #5. He got some really good kicks in this game.

Most of the time though, it was just a pack of 5 and 6 year olds around the ball. It's so funny and cute at the same time.

Towards the end, he was a little distracted though and was often seen picking handfuls of grass and throwing them at his friend. Or wiggling like crazy. I don't know if you can tell in the photos but he was wiggling his whole body while waiting for the other team to kick the ball. That's my Brendan.

He also got to thrown in the ball and made the perfect throw for his teammate. He's got a really good team and the Golden Ninja Bees won again!

Alex spent most of the time running up and down the big hill at the park. I don't know how he has so much energy.

And then he played with sticks.

And did some yoga. This boy cracks me up.

It was the most beautiful day today and there was nowhere else I'd rather have been Saturday morning. I'm loving this experience since this is the first time we've put Brendan in a sport. It's great to see him make friends, find new talents and enjoy trying something new. Alex is so jealous of Brendan so I think we've got another soccer fan in the works too.

A tiny peak at our new house

We made a quick trip to the new house to drop off a few boxes now that we have closed and have the keys in hand, and I actually had my camera with me so I snapped a few quick pictures. Here's a look at our kitchen. It's a bit small but I don't really love cooking/baking so I'm okay with that. We have grand plans to update the space but that's several years down the road. I like the dining area though and the doors leading out to the back yard and deck. I can definitely see our boys running in and out all summer long.

We bought a new couch for the new house too, which was so needed because our old ones are trashed. Why did I ever think light beige microfiber couches were a good idea? Oh wait, it's because we bought them before we had kids. Not smart of us but lesson learned. We went with a darker sectional this time. The color is officially called "elephant gray" and I like that it's gray but has a brown-ish undertone to it. I love our new couch!

Here's a different angle- you can see the fireplace, which I love. That was on my wishlist when we started house hunting and I'm glad we got it. On our to-do list before we move in is to paint the mantle white and luckily I know a really great painter. :) (That's Chris for those that don't know he was a professional painter back in our college days. His skills are definitely going to come in handy since we'll be painting most of the main floor too.)

Chris's uncle Greg passed on the family piano to us which we had that delivered today and Brendan already loves it. He was very mad at Alex when he tried to climb on the bench too because he was ruining his songs. I hope he keeps his enthusiasm for it once he starts lessons and has to practice.

Here's what I don't love at the moment- the construction going on just passed our back yard. The city is putting in a road and luckily a large wall but the good news is that it will be done by the time we move in. Score for us!

And that's all the photos of the house- not a lot, I know, but it'll have to do for now. It's definitely becoming more real that we actually own this house and it will be our home. Still a little surreal but I'm getting more and more excited by the minute. If only I didn't have to pack up our whole house... oh well, it'll be worth it.

Hey Look! A new blog post!

It's been strangely quiet on this blog mostly because my dslr camera is having issues and I need to send it in to Cannon get it repaired and I don't think it's worth it to blog if I don't have any pictures. So there's my excuse.

But I did think it was apt to share this news...

We bought a house! A sweet little four bedroom house in Lehi, to be exact. There are no words to describe how excited we are. When we walked through with the boys after our offer was accepted, they were running around like crazy animals because they thought it was so cool that this was their new house and then Brendan cried when it was time to go back to our place in Draper. I do feel sad about leaving Draper- we love our neighborhood, our ward, Brendan's school but we feel really good about our decision to move to Lehi. The house doesn't need any work really but we're looking forward to making it our own and updating somethings as we go along. So that's our exciting news.

Hopefully I'll actually get around to getting my camera's focusing mechanism fixed so I can start taking pictures again. I've missed my camera and I've actually missed blogging. We're moving at the end of May so things may be pretty sparse around here though until after the move.