Random Happenings

The past 3 weeks have been really busy for us. It's that time of year I guess. Bryan has been on vacation from work since the 8th. He has had to do some work from home, but mostly he has been working in our basement. It's coming along nicely and he's going a great job. We might even be ready for drywall next week. He's kept himself really busy so I haven't gotten a case of the "Husband" yet (you know- when your husband is home on vacation with nothing to do but mess up your schedule and get in the way- yeah, there's been none of that)!
Here's a random sampling of what's been going on over the past 2 weeks...

Anna is doing really well in 7th grade. She's has good friends and is a great girl. Right now she is visiting family in Colorado. After one canceled flight, a missed school dance and super long lines at the airport, she finally made it there safely. She was hesitant to go because she's somewhat of a homebody. But from what I've heard, she's having a good time.

Ellie is in 3rd grade and is also doing great. We call her our social butterfly because so has so many friends in the neighborhood. She's always at someone's house playing. She's currently up to the same old stuff. She's had some late nights since school got out, so she's been extra moody (lack of sleep=bad day for Ellie!). So tonight it was early to bed for her. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day! She's so full of energy and is mostly a lot of fun to be around.

Tyler too is up to the same old stuff. He had a Christmas party at school on the 19th. Bryan, Kate and I went and watched him sing some fun Christmas songs. He loves going to Miss. Sarah's preschool, and had made lots of friends there. He is great with Kate, and just loves her so much. I was worried before she came that he would get jealous and not handle the new baby well, but it's been just the opposite. He's been great with her and is always tell me "I love Kate so much!".

Kate is growing way too fast. She is now crawling all over the place. She has also cut her first tooth (if you make her bath picture really big you can see it). I've started bathing her in the kitchen sink (don't get grossed out- I scrub it out really good first!). It's like a little baby hot tub and she loves it, it's also a lot easier on the back. Now that she's completely mobile, she seems to get herself into a lot more trouble. She's learned to pull the ornaments off the Christmas tree, climb through the legs of the chair we were using as a make-shift baby gate, and eat every little thing off the floors! I went in to get her out of bed in the morning last week and found her with 2 pacifiers in her mouth. She's too funny sometimes!

As for me, I'm tired and ready for things to slow down again. I finally finished the Christmas stockings I've been making for us. I've also completely finished my Christmas shopping today and I almost have everything wrapped. I've stocked up on batteries after last years emergency run on Christmas Eve to Mavrick to get some. I've mailed all the packages that needed to be mailed. I don't think they'll arrive on time because I got so busy that I kept forgetting to go mail them, but it's the thought that counts- right?! My goal now is to not have to go to Walmart again until after Christmas, but that's just wishful thinking because I'm sure I'll wake up tomorrow and think of something that I need to go get. I love this time of year.
I love buying gifts for Bryan and the kids and seeing their faces light up with joy when they open them Christmas morning. I love teaching the kids about the true meaning of Christmas and pondering on the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ. We hope the Spirit of Christ is with you this Holiday season. Merry Christmas form our family to yours!

Picture day

Today was picture day. It went pretty well. The prints came out a little darker than we like so I'll have to go back in on Monday to see if they can lighten them up and re-print them. But all in all, they turned out good. Here is the one of all the kids together (I've already lighten this one here at home)-Tonight was also the Ward Christmas party. We had yummy soup in bread bowls, salad, and dessert. Tyler's preschool class put on a small Nativity play (his teacher is in our ward). He was a king and did a fine job giving baby Jesus his gift. And of course, Santa came. When we first put the baby on his lap, she gazed up at him with wide eyes. It was so cute! But of course I didn't get a picture of it because my camera's memory was full. So by the time I deleted a picture and took one she was like this... Looking a little scared, but she never cried. Tyler was really excited to tell him that he wants a Crayola glow station, and Ellie told him that she wants a Crayola color explosion glow board. She has some friends that no longer believe in Santa, but she's still a believer and this awesome looking Santa might of helped seal the deal for this year. How did our ward get a hold of the "real" Santa? He was great!

Family pictures are on Saturday

Headband or no headband, that is the question...

Thanksgiving Fun

We hope you all had a good Thanksgiving weekend. We spent it with Bryan's family this year. Thanksgiving dinner was at his sister's house in Tooele, and the rest of the weekend was spent in Springville at his parent's house. Marc and Meredith (Bryan's brother and sister-in-law) were in town from PA with their 3 kids. We don't get to see them often, so it was nice to spend sometime all together.

Grandpa with babies Kade and Kate-

Carson, Brandon, Brevan, Maddison (with Kade), Tyler, Cami, Ellie, Allyssa, Anna (with Kate), and Kenadie. There are only 4 cousins missing!

On Friday we had a family b-day party for Brevan (our nephew). His birthday was earlier in the month, but he really wanted to have a party with his cousins. We played one of the Haymond family's favorite games... the balloon popping game. Take a look at this craziness-

Overall, it was a great weekend. We really enjoy spending time with family, and the kids always have a great time playing with their cousins. Thanks Haymond family!

P.S.- This year I am thankful for my Dyson (among many many other things)! I have to vacuum daily now that Kate is starting to scoot around the floor. If I don't, she ends up trying to eat all the little things that the kids track in, like playground wood chips. This video is for you mom- enjoy!

Conversations with Tyler-

Just a few conversations we've had with Tyler lately-

Tyler: Is today Friday or Saturday or Sunday?

Me: Well Tyler, it's actually Wednesday.

Tyler: Hooray! I love Wednesday.

Tyler: Mom, I need Sketchers!
Me: I don't think so, but why?

Tyler: Because they make you better at basketball.

Me: We forgot your jacket, sorry.
Tyler: It's ok, my deflector shields will keep me warm.

Tyler(while riding in the car): I like this song, it makes my toes dance.

The kid says the funniest things sometimes. We love you Tyler!

laundry baskets and reflections projects

Can a laundry basket be considered a playpen? I hope so because Kate sure does like sitting in the laundry basket with some toys. This is actually the only way I could keep her happy the other night. Anything to make her happy, right?!?
Also...It's time again for the Reflections contest at Ellie's school. She entered a photo last year and won on the school level. And she's entering a photo again this year. The theme is "WOW"... How'd she do?-

Happy Birthday Stacy!

Today is my sister's birthday! She's my twin sister- so I guess that means it's my birthday too! Happy birthday Stacy! We may not have always been the best of friends, but I'm glad you've been by my side for the past 31 years! I'm so thankful to have you as my sister- I love you!

It's that time again...

...for the word of the month! And this months winner was a huge surprise- Anna! Half way through last month, she came up with a great word. Now it's time to share it with all of you. Her word is Nubbles (a combination of nose & bubbles).

We were up in Logan at my parent's house during UEA. Kate was getting over a slight cold and still had a runny nose. There was a night that I asked Anna to pick her up because she was fussing and I was busy doing something else. When Anna picked up Kate she yelled out "Yuck- She has a nubble" (she got a little tongue tied trying to say that she had a nose bubble)!

So, with cold and flu season coming up fast, enjoy all your little one's "Nubbles", because they're sure to come.

I tried so hard to get a picture of Kate in action (with a nubble), but it was too hard, they just didn't last long enough to snap a shot. So here's one of her just being cute!

Halloween hoodlums & happenings

Bryan and I like to go together to take the kids trick-or-treating. So every year we leave a bowl of candy on the front porch and every year when we get home we still have about 1/2 of it left. Well, not this year. I had taken the kids treating down our block while waiting for Bryan to get home from work. When we got back to the house, we met up with Bryan and took some pictures of the kids. I put the candy on the porch, Anna went back in to finish getting ready, and we were loading Kate into the stroller by the garage. That's when a group of kids (12/13 years old I would guess) went up to the front door. We didn't even think to watch them because we were standing right there. The next thing we knew Anna came out the front door and said that the candy bowl was empty. They dumped our whole big bowl of candy in their bags and took off. Punks! So if you came by our house and there wasn't any candy left, sorry!! I guess next year we'll have to split up so one of us can baby sit the goods while the other takes the kiddos.

Other then that, our night went pretty good. I loved that Halloween was on a Friday this year. It's nice to have the weekend to recover from the sugar before sending kids back to school. We also had pretty good weather. The kids didn't even need jackets to go out trick-or-treating. It was a little windy, which for some reason scares Tyler. I don't know if it's because of our little "tornado" we had a while back, our carbon monoxide scare last winter, or that time the lights were our for a while- all happening on windy days. I guess we've had some bad wind experiences. He told us after a few houses that he wanted to go home, but we reassured him that everything was fine so he went on.

I guess Anna has reached the magic age of being to old to go with us. So she went around with some friends. I gave her some rules, which she followed, and she was home on time. This might have been her last year going because I think she's getting too old. I guess we'll see.

Anyway... Here are some picture of kids. Hope you all had a fun night too!
Anna was "Miss Stansbury":Ellie was a fairy (the only costume I made this year):Tyler was a skeleton (he wouldn't wear the mask, so we had to do face paint):Kate was a bunny. It doesn't get much cuter then this...

Just another lame excuse...

Kate's almost 7 months old now...
I still have a lot of baby weight to lose...
I really should start working out...
But how can I when Tyler did this lovely little number to my shoe...Oh well, maybe next week!

What a week!

This week has been crazy busy for us. We seemed to have something going on everyday. And on top of that, Bryan has started his "busy season" at work and didn't get home until after 11pm most nights. I start to feel like a single mother this time of year because he works so much. I guess I should just be grateful that he has a good job! So this is what we had going on...

Monday- The elementary school had their annual Halloween Carnival. It's put on by the PTA and it's the only fundraiser that I really participate in. The kids got to dress up in their costumes (it's like a Halloween dress rehearsal) and play a bunch of carnival games in the school. We also ate pizza, soda, cotton candy, and donuts, and went through a haunted house. Overall it was a fun night.

Tuesday- This was the least busy of all my days. Anna had YW volleyball practice and then I went to dinner (Casa del Rey in Grantsville- yummy!) with book group. I don't think we ever talked about the Twilight book like we were going to, but we did plan out the next 6 or so months.

Wednesday- Tyler had a Halloween party at a friend's house. They made a lot of cute treats and crafts. He had a blast and didn't want to come home. That night Anna had a youth activity. They went to a corn maze (haunted & scary). I'm glad she made it home safe! I personally don't like haunted/scary thing, but then I'm a wimp.

Thursday- This is the day that I offered to watch Stacy's (my sister) 3 boys & dog overnight. Alfredo (her hubby) had a concert he wanted to go to in SLC. Since they live down in Springville and the kids didn't have school on Friday, she asked if they could stay here. So Brandon & Caleb (twins- almost 9), Logan (almost 5), and Sophia (old stinky bull dog) all slept over. They're good kids and Tyler had a great time playing with Logan. B & C were really funny with the baby. At breakfast, they pushed her highchair into the corner so that they could both sit by her (see pic).

Friday- Tyler ditched out on preschool so that he could play with his cousin. My sister-in-law came over so that we could make fairy wings for a Halloween costume. She brought me a large diet dr. pepper (my favorite!) Thanks Jen!! My sis came around lunch to get the kids/dog. Tyler went to a friend's house for a few hours to play. That night Bryan and I went to a Halloween party. It was a blast. I haven't laughed that much in a long time. Some of the costumes people came up with were great! We went as Angela Martin and Dwight Schrute from the TV show The Office. If you don't watch it, you wouldn't know who we were. We had a great time.

Saturday- You would think that Bryan would be home, but no! He had to work half the day. So I did soccer games alone. Tyler's was at 9 and Ellie's was at 11. Tyler scored 2 goals; Ellie took a ball to the face. These were the last games until spring- yippy! I'm ready for a break from games and practices. Both kids played really good! They must get it from Bryan because I was never really good at sports.

And now it's Sunday- Thank goodness for the day of rest! I took a nap and it felt great! Our kids our out of school Monday and Tuesday, and so far there isn't much planned. Hopefully this week won't be as busy as the last because I could really use a break!

Yearbook Yourself

I had a little too much fun with the Yearbook Yourself website. Here are some pictures of Bryan and myself. Some of them were too funny! Let us know which one you like best! Enjoy!

Bryan

1952: 1968:

1970:1990:

Jessy

1960:1962:

1972:1984:

Pause

Seeing as how we are now 2 weeks into October, I guess I better post the "Word of the Month". This month’s winner is Tyler, again. The kid says the craziest things. Like "Turn your face" when he wants you to look at him or "Hear-a-listen" when he wants you to listen to him.

The winning word was going to be "Pause". Tyler uses this word all the time when playing games or reading books. It's his version of "wait a minute" or "time out". It's funny to listen to Bryan read him a book because every other minute you hear Tyler say "Pause!" so that he can ask a question or go to the bathroom etc... But I changed my mind.

So the winner now is "Sky road" . The other night Bryan was driving with Tyler in SLC . As they approached the freeway Tyler could see cars driving on an overpass and he told Bryan that they were driving on a "sky road". Now he thinks any overpass or bridge is a "sky road", and that it's cool to drive in the sky. So as you drive around this month, think of Tyler and have fun on the "sky roads"!

**check out the leaf bug by Tyler's face in the picture above. We have these bugs all over the place.

Twlight and tweens

Yes, I'll admit that I'm a fan of the Twilight series. They were a good, quick, fun read. But when my 12 year old daughter asked me if she could read them, my response was "NO WAY!” When she asked why (like all kids do), I explained to her that the series was not written for Jr. High kids and that there is inappropriate content for someone her age. So I was shocked when Anna brought home the Falcon 411 (Grantsville Jr. High's student newspaper). I read that out of about 200 students surveyed, 81 are currently reading Twilight. That's roughly 40%. Maybe we are just strict parents. We very rarely let our kids watch PG13 movies and we monitor what they watch on TV and what they read. We are trying to raise them to have good moral standards. Letting her read Twilight would contradict the standards we're teaching. So sorry Anna, no Twilight for you!

Blasted Cold!

I will admit, I am not a very good blogger yet. But I do have a good excuse for the lack of new posts over the past few weeks. I've had a cold. We've all had a cold. But while everyone else got over theirs after a week, I still have mine and it's been 3 1/2 weeks. I think this may be one of the down sides of nursing. I am very limited with what meds I can take. So while Bryan's loading up on the NyQuil, I'm stuck using the Sinus Rinse (which is not very pleasant), a humidifier, and some Claritin. It's no wonder that I now have a sinus infection. So here's what we've been up to over the past few weeks....

We've been sleeping- I honestly don't know how kids do it. It seems like they can sleep anywhere and in any position. He must have been really wiped out to sleep like this.

And sleeping some more- This little girl has decided that she will only sleep on her tummy. I've been canning- Just peaches so far. Yummy! I'd still like to do some applesauce too. Bryan's been tearing up walls- As if our family/play room wasn't a mess already with Anna living in there, it's an even bigger mess now with the bottom half of the walls torn up. I just have to remind myself that it will be great when it's finished.

He's also been building new walls- With the help of some friends in the ward, we are slowly getting the basement finished. Anna will finally have a room of her own! We hope it will be finished by Christmas.

And on top of all that and all the normal mom stuff (soccer practice, homework, dinners, grocery shopping...), I've started watching my neighbors 2 kids for her while she drives a school bus. Her little boy is about 18 months and her daughter is 6. They get here bright and early at 6:30am (actually it's not so bright out at that time of day!). She goes off to school with Ellie and he is here until 9/9:30. Then he comes back around 1:30pm, she comes home with Ellie after school at 3:25, and they go home at 4:30 or so.
So I've been sick and busy all at once. I need a vacation!

Absolutely Cheesy: First Year Photo Line

Absolutely Cheesy: First Year Photo Line
Another one of my sisters cute crafty projects. Leave her a comment & create a link and maybe you'll win it!

It's all about Ellie!

Last week was all about Ellie. She had her 8th birthday on the 1st and was baptized on Saturday. The dress she wore to be baptized in is the same dress I wore when I was baptized. My mom made it for me and now Anna and Ellie have worn it too. Ellie,
We are so proud of you for your decision to be baptized. You are such a special girl and we love having you as a part of our family. We hope you always remember to try to make good choices, be a good example to your friends and family, and let your light shine!
We love you!

Ellie is also the "Word of the Month" winner. She is the queen of over-using a normal every day word. We have many (maybe daily) conversations like this one with Ellie:

Ellie: "Mom, can I call Zoe to see if she can play?"
Ellie: "What?"

Notice how there was no Mom dialogue. She doesn't wait for me to give an answer before asking "What?". As if I said something and she just couldn't hear me even though she is standing right there.
So the word this month is "What?!?" And to Ellie, just be patient. I hear you and will give you an answer, just be patient!

Way to go Tyler!

Our little man has learned to ride his bike without training wheels. The funny thing is, we didn't teach him! We had taken Ellie and Tyler over to a friend's house Sunday night so that we could take Anna to the youth's Standards Night. My friend was taking her son, so we all went together while her husband stayed home with her other 3 kids and the 2 of ours. When we headed back to her house after the meeting was finished, there were all these kids riding bikes in the circle. We quickly realized, to our surprise, that one of the kids was Tyler. Our friend had taught him how to ride a bike during the 2 house that we were gone. I remember the same thing happening with Ellie when she was learning. She spent the night at her cousin's house one weekend and came home riding a bike. Maybe it's a good thing since I made Anna cry when I was trying to teach her. I'm surprised she ever learned how! Anyway, good job Tyler!

My "dirty" little secret

Yes, that's right, I have a dirty (literally) little secret. I'm so embarrassed to be admitting this, but I need some help with the matter. For those out there who know me pretty well (like my family), they can attest the fact that I don't like to clean. Don't get me wrong, it's not a disaster, but there are times when it could use a little clean-up.

So here's the secret... In the 3 years that we have now lived in our home, I have never cleaned my oven. Normally this wouldn't be a problem because the things I cook usually like to stay in their assigned backing dish. But not last week. It was a bad week for my oven. Food was trying to escape all over the place and 2 items succeeded at their escape.

The first culprit was a cake that I was asked to bake last minute for a funeral luncheon. It was a new recipe that I hadn't tried yet (mistake #1) and I put it in a pretty bunt pan (mistake #2) so I wouldn't have to frost it. Well, the pan was a little too small for the amount of batter and half way through the cooking I could smell burning coming from the oven. I quickly slipped a baking sheet under the cake to catch the constant eruption of batter pouring over the side of the pan, but it was too late. The mess was already there. The funny thing is that I've had a few people ask for the recipe because apparently it tasted really good in the end.

The second culprit was some teriyaki chicken I was cooking for Sunday night dinner. Bryan and I had a meeting to take Anna to at 6 (usually we don't eat until 6:30 or so), so I was trying to get dinner ready early. I realized that the chicken wasn't cooking fast enough so I turned the temp up (mistake #3) so that it would be finished in time. When the sauce started boiling over onto the bottom of the oven, I realized it was finished. Hey, at least we ate dinner on time!

So now when ever I turn on my oven, it fills the house with the not so lovely scent of burning food. I know my oven has a self cleaner, but for some reason I'm scared to use it. Doesn't it heat the oven to unnaturally hot temperatures to obliterate the food off the bottom? Does it fill your house with smoke or other nasty fumes? This is where I need your help! Has anyone ever used their oven's food zapping self cleaner? Was it easy? Safe? Smelly? Is there a better way? Please help out the oven cleaning impaired!

A week of firsts

We've had a busy week of firsts in our house. Our 1st "first" is that the girls started school. On Wednesday, Anna started 7th grade (see post below). On Thursday, Ellie started 3rd grade. Here she is all ready to walk to school. I walked with her the first day to show her where the new classroom was. A friend of mine (from my ward) is her teacher this year, so Ellie got to be a special helper the first day. I'm not a typical mom, I don't get all teary eyed when my kids go back to school. I'm actually excited for them to go back. Is that bad? The start of school means the start of routine again (since I'm terrible at sticking to one during the summer months!), and I like routine.

Our 2nd "first" this week was Kate trying some yummy (not!) rice cereal. She's not too sure about it. I think only about 10% of what I put in, stayed in. I'm sure soon enough she will like it more. This is a "what are you doing to me mom?" face! Trust me Kate, you'll like it. Food is good!

Our 3rd (and final) "first" was the kick off for the fall soccer season. Practice started and the first games were Saturday. This is Ellie's 3rd season playing and Tyler's 1st. Ellie is on her same team as last year but they've moved up a level. They now play with a bigger ball, on a bigger field, and for longer quarters. She was a little winded at the end of the game from running so much. She didn't score this game, but she played really well. She passed a lot and had some good saves. You wouldn't know it from looking at her, but she gets pretty aggressive when she plays. She's not afraid to get in there and get the ball.

Tyler is on a team with his friend Carter. Carter's dad is their coach. I didn't make it to his game because Ellie's game was at the same time, but Bryan said he did good. He actually scored a goal- way to go Tyler! Bryan said that after he scored, he looked over at him with a look on his face as if to say "Was I suppose to do that?". I guess he also had an assist; he passed the ball to a kid on the other team who then kicked it into our goal.

It's been a busy week. I was very grateful for this day of rest that I've had today. I know that next week will probably be just as busy if not more so with the state of homework and other activities. Oh the life of a stay at home mom, gotta love it!