Los Haymones

Family Picture preview...

2011-10-05T19:55:00.000-07:00

We got our proofs back for our family pictures. Here's a preview of some of my favorites!There are so many good shots that it's going to be hard to choose!

Look who I met...

2011-09-21T19:42:00.000-07:00

That's right, Mr. LaVell Edwards! Bryan was given tickets to the BYU/Utah game (which was a terrible game, but we wont go there). While he was in the Will Call line I looked over and saw LaVell Edwards standing in a line too. Rumor has it that he printed off the wrong tickets so had to go pick up the correct ones. You would think that he wouldn't even need a ticket to get into the stadium that has his name on it, but I guess he does. There were a few people asking for pictures so I did too. A lady standing next to me offered to take it with my phone camera (which is why it is not great). Bryan was pretty surprised when I showed him that not only did a get a picture of him but that I was in it too. LaVell Edwards was a great coach and I was honored to be able to meet him!

Summer trip #1

2011-09-20T19:24:00.000-07:00

Our first summer trip of 2011 was to Wyoming. I konw, doesn't sound too exciting but we actually had a really good time. It was mostly a church history trip. We went to see Independence Rock, Devils Gate, the Sweetwater River, and Martins Cove. Before we went, we had our kids do little research papers on these 4 location. They shared what they had learned for Family Home Evening. Since they had learned about these places before hand, they were all really excited to see them in person. It was like a mini-trek. We left our house early Friday morning. It took about 5 hours to get to our hotel and another hour to get to our first stop...
Bryan's great-great-great grandfather Perigrine Sessions carved his name in Independence Rock. We walked around the whole thing and couldn't find it. We did see many other names including this one...

Our next stop was The Martin's Cove visitors center. We picked out a handcart and trekked to Martin's Cove. While in the Cove, the Missionary there read us the story of Bryan's great-great-great grandmother Sarah Crossley. She was a member of the Martin handcart company. If you'd like, you can read her story here.
We really couldn't do much with the Sweetwater River. It was spilling over it's banks while we were there from all the rain we had been getting. We did walk on a trail next to it and crossed a bridge over it, but we weren't able to get in to cross it.

The last place we saw was Devils Gate. It's where the Sweetwater river carved a cleft in the rocks. Many pioneers traveling west would stop here to climb around the rocks. After finishing up at the Visitors Center, we drove back to our hotel, swam in the pool, and slept. The next day we visited an old prison in the town we were staying in and then drove home. Like I said, short and sweet, and well worth it.

First day of school

2011-09-07T19:32:00.000-07:00

The first day of school came and went with no crying done by me (or the kids for that matter!). Call me a bad mother if you wish but I celebrate and look forward to the start of a new school year. My kids need routines and early bedtimes which are definitely lacking during the summer months. This year Anna is a sophomore, Ellie's in 6th, Tyler's in 2nd, and Kate is in a home preschool group. Here are their first day of school pictures, a tradition in our house! (FYI- Tyler's in the awkward big front teeth stage and doesn't know how to smile with them yet- poor kid!)

Summer vacation...

2011-09-06T15:17:00.000-07:00

has finally and officially ended. So I guess it's time for me to get my act together and start posting again. It's in the works, just give me a few days. While you're waiting you can enjoy this lovely picture. My Aunt Trudy visited for a day this summer and we took the kids to the Tracy Aviary. Nutty kids!

You Go Girl!

2011-02-23T15:46:00.000-08:00

Ellie was required by her 5th grade teacher to enter the school Science Fair this year. So she did and was one of the winners! Good job Ellie, we're so proud of you!
**PS- I found out today that Ellie has advanced to the Tooele County School District Science Fair. She's dropping off her project right now (she went over with a friend who also won) and we'll go back Friday morning to see who wins.

I scream, you scream...

2011-02-05T20:42:00.000-08:00

...we all scream for Ice Cream! Happy Ice Cream for Breakfast Day!
What better way to cheer up the long cold winter then by eating ice cream for breakfast! Thanks Aunt Trudy for telling us about this delicious holiday. We'd been looking forward to it for a few weeks and enjoyed it very much this morning. I made some cowboy coffee cake to go with it cause I couldn't bring myself to just serve ice cream. It kind of rounded out the meal a little.
I had good intentions on making a trip to Salt Lake to get Baskin-Robbins seeing as how that's what I was raised on. My parents owned a Baskin-Robbing store until I was 12, and my grandparents had one too for a while when I was a kid. The Todd family members love Baskin-Robbins and can down a gigantic bucket (the ones in you see in the display case) in no time at all when we're all together. In fact- I remember going to my cousins house in Florida when I was 11 or 12 (so that we could all go to Disney World) and eating Baskin-Robbins Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream for breakfast one day. So Todd family- please excuse the cartons of Dreyers on the counter, if Baskin-Robbins was closer I would have gone.

We can't wait to celebrate this one again next year!

It's not Disneyland...

2011-01-11T17:43:00.001-08:00

Last year we surprised the kids with a Christmas trip to Disneyland. Well that didn't happen this year. This year we spent a few days in Logan at my parents house. All of my sisters and their families were there. While there we found out that Beaver Mountain was having a family ski night the Monday after Christmas so we decided to go. Everyone went with the exception of my parents, my little sister Bailey (she's expecting), the little girls (Kate, Scout and Eli- who are all to young), and my nephew Logan who had puked earlier in the day (yuck!). They stayed home and went to a movie instead.

Here's the movie bunch...And here's the ski/snowboarding bunch, all 14 of us...Bryan and I had not strapped on skies for 13+ years. I was a little nervous. Ellie learned to ski last year in school but had not skied since. She hung out with us up on the big hill and did really good for only her second time. Anna learned to snowboard a few years ago but doesn't go very often. She hung out with her cousin and uncles. Here we are after surviving our first time up the lift. Tyler took an hour long lesson along with my sisters and 3 of his cousins. I guess there was frustration and tears at first, but he finally caught on and enjoyed himself. After the lesson Bryan took him up the lift to try out the big hill. And he survived! Overall it was cold, but a lot of fun. I actually hope we get to go again before the season is over

It came and it went...

2011-01-09T20:08:00.000-08:00

Christmas came and went. And it was great!

We slept under the tree on Christmas Eve Eve...

We made cookies for Santa...
We ate our traditional Christmas Eve dinner at Pizza Hut with Bryan's sister's family...
Santa came...
Everyone got what they asked for...
The End!

Tradition #3

2010-12-20T13:24:00.001-08:00

Sleeping under the tree.

Our kids sleep under the Christmas tree on Christmas Eve Eve (so December 23rd). They can't sleep under the tree on Christmas Eve cause they would be in Santa's, but nothings wrong with sleeping there the night before! This is a tradition that was Bryan's when he was a kid. We turn on the tree lights and put out a bunch of blankets and let the kids try to sleep. I think this will be the first year that Kate will be included in this tradition. They really don't sleep all that well, but it's okay cause then they are extra tired on Christmas Eve. I tried finding a picture from a previous year, but I guess I don't have any. I will definitely get on this year.

Christmas traditions #2

2010-12-09T16:21:00.000-08:00

Pillowcases!

I make them every year for my kids and whichever nieces and/or nephews our family "gives" to. So this year I'm making 7. My kids get theirs rolled up in their stockings. I only started doing this about 4 years ago, but it's a keeper. I got the directions from this site, the only difference is that I don't use holiday theme fabric. I use whatever fun/cute fabric I can find. For example Tyler has airplanes, Thomas, Cars, and BYU cases (Thomas and Cars are from his younger years!).

Here's my pile of my different fabrics cut, ironed, and ready to be sewn together...

And here are some of the finished product (I can't show all of them cause I'm not finished!)...

Homemade gifts are always a good thing. And these are super easy to make. I'm sure we'll send Anna off to college someday with a stack of 10 or so pillowcases that are all her own.

Christmas traditions #1

2010-12-08T12:25:00.000-08:00

I guess it's time to put up another post seeing as how my last one was on Halloween! It's been crazy here since my last post. Bryan was working in California for about a month and a half. He would go during the week and come home on weekends. Near the end he was only home on Sundays. But that's done for now- Thank Goodness! We had a great Thanksgiving at the Haymond's house and I survived Black Friday (but just barley!). So now it's time to move on to Christmas. I thought I would share some of our Christmas traditions.

This first one is all for me. I actually learned it from my sister who got it from a friend of hers. I love it, it helps me not go overboard when shopping for the kids.

I buy each of our kids 4 gifts:
Something they want
Something they need
Something to wear
and Something to read.

Now of course there are exceptions to this rule. The first major one is that they also get something from Santa (so now we're up to 5 gifts). The "wear" item is always jammies. That's a tradition all in it's self. These 5 gifts are just for them, we also get family gifts like movies, wii games, and board games. Another big exception is this- last year they didn't even get the 5 gifts. Instead we were surprising them with a trip to Disneyland. So I think they got their Santa gift, jammies, and a book but that was about it. But it was well worth it, I think it has been our best Christmas so far.

So if your not done with your Christmas shopping maybe this will help!

Happy Halloween!

2010-11-02T14:31:00.000-07:00

Halloween was a few days ago and I'm happy to report that we survived! It always gets really hectic right before Halloween with costumes to finish, pumpkins to carve and parties to go to.

I think I finished Tyler's costume around noon on Halloween this year (yes- I'm a procrastinator!). I really wanted him to be a pirate since I already had everything for a pirate costume, but he refused. So a Ninja he was!

Kate's was easy- a gnome. She's still at that age where you can pick the costume for her, I don't think it will be that way next year.

Ellie and her friend decided last year that they were going to be nerds together. We made a trip to the DI and found her the perfect pants, suspenders and glasses.

Anna (oops- no picture, what kind of bad mother am I??!) is too old to go trick-or-treating but dressed up anyway to hand out candy. She wore the dress I bought myself for an 80's themed party. It was a gloomy rainy day, but lucky for us- it stopped raining right as we were heading out to trick-or-treat. We even got a big rainbow for a little while.

Club Initiation

2010-10-13T08:29:00.000-07:00

Tyler was initiated into a club last night... or should I say this morning since it was about 2:30 in the morning to be exact. He is now a proud (well, probable not so proud) card holding member of the stomach flu club. That's right, up until last night he had never thrown up (except for spitting up as a baby). He's 6 and a half- how does a kid get away with not puking for 6 years? Let's just say that it was a long long night and we are both really really tired today. Let's also say that I've been sanitizing the house like crazy this morning. One puker is enough for me.

Poor kid. It's the "sick eyes" that get to me- they break my heart! While we're on the subject of Tyler... here's some pictures of his from 2 weeks ago that I meant to post about.

He's our bloody nose kid. He get's one about once a week. Usually they're not too bad but this one didn't want to stop. That's why he's holding an ice pack on his nose. One of these days I'll get around to taking him to to doctor to see what can be done to help. But until then we'll just keep shoving rolled-up tissues up his nose. I also pulled out the humidifier to use at night to see if it helps.

It's that time of year again

2010-09-28T08:05:00.000-07:00

Time to do a little canning. I love taking a few boxes of these...

And turning them into this...

I love making jam most of all. We now have enough peach jam to last a long time!

I've also started working on our long term food storage. Boy is that a chore! We really don't have that much storage space, but we'll make it work somehow. I just couldn't pass up Macey's 50lb bags of flour for $10. I think I'll work on 3 months at a time. Once we have 3 months of all the necessities I'll start building it up to 6 months. Slow and steady right?!?

I like how...

2010-09-20T09:18:00.000-07:00

When I asked Kate to clean up these (cause they were all over the floor)...
They ended up here (in the trash can- if you can't tell)...I didn't know I needed to be so specific with a 2 year old.

I wonder what other things she's thrown away that I don't know of?!?! I'm sure that's where some of our spoons have gone. And yes, I did dig them out and wash them off. I guess I should have just cleaned them up myself to begin with.

Out with some of the old...

2010-09-19T21:18:00.000-07:00

And in with some new. This post has 2 different stories that will tie into each other in the end.

Story #1:
There is one part of August that I really truly dislike. August is the month that our power and gas bills are adjusted. We are on the "budget" plans, which don't save you any money but do make it easier to plan your bill paying because you pay the same every month. In August they figure out if you over paid or under paid. Well folks, we under paid big time! I guessing it's because this is the first year we've had a finished basement. So we are now paying $7 more to Questar and $12 more to Rocky mountain power every month. That adds up to $228 a year! (I like math by the way)

Story #2:
I was walking around Costco the other day and saw an amazing deal on their compact fluorescent light bulbs in all shapes and sizes. I wasn't planning on buying new light bulbs that trip, but I just couldn't pass it up. I like to think that I'm a little "green" and this is just a super easy way to do it. I mean really, how hard is it to unscrew one bulb and screw another one in. I got enough for the 6 can lights in our basement playroom and for three of our bathrooms (our bathroom has a window so we really don't use the lights that often, the other 3 don't).

So now to blend the 2...
Now that I'm spending over $200 on energy that I don't want to be spending, it's time to make some changes. I hope the new bulbs live up to their claim of lasting longer and so forth. We also turned the temp up on our air conditioner so now it doesn't come on until 80 (I really wish the weather would hurry up and cool down!!). And will probably do the same with the heat for the winter (but down I guess). I've also tried to make a better effort at getting the kids (and myself) to turn lights off as they leave a room. I guess we'll see this time next year if all my hard energy saving work pays off. If anyone has any other thoughts or ideas let me know, I could use all the help I can get with this one!

Once upon a time...

2010-09-17T07:59:00.000-07:00

there was a crib. This crib entered our lives when Ellie was born (10 years ago). When Kate started potty training (which is another post for another day!) I started counting down the days until I could finally get rid of the crib. We all know that Kate is the last, and why store a crib that I will no longer need, so it was going to take a nice little trip over to Sweet Pea (a store close by that takes used kid/baby stuff). Maybe I was a little too excited to be done with the crib, or maybe it had hurt feeling at being let go so easily and jinxed me, I really don't know. But the day I called to see if they had room for another crib they nicely let me know that they no longer take cribs. WHAT?!?
Once upon a time there was a crib re-call. Well great! I guess there was a recall on many many many cribs that have drop down sides. So Sweet Pea is no longer taking any crib just to play it safe. The crib I so desperately wanted to be done with is digging in it's heals and refusing to go.
What to do now... Well I guess I could try to sell it, but let's face it- who wants a 10 year old crib. It could go to DI and find a new home that way. Or it could get a make over!
And that's exactly what happened. I turned the old crib into a toddler bed for Kate. I searched and searched for a "before" picture but this is as close as I got...
Tyler in the upper left, Ellie in the lower right, and Kate in the big pictures. There's some rails and bars but no whole crib. And here is the after...Don't pay any attention to the white walls. Sure we've been in our house for 5 years, and you would think that we would have painted by now, but no- white walls it is. Bryan has color picking issues. I know it looks like the foot board is taller than the head board but it really isn't. I think it was just how I took the picture. They really are the same height. So, just in case you're wanting to cut apart your crib and make a bed, I'll tell you how I did it.

First: I sawed off all the legs. See how the foot (and the head) board rest right on the floor. I guess you could leave some of the leg if you want it a little taller. I also filled in most of the screw holes from before and painted it white.

Second: I took a trip to Home Depot and bought some wood. With this wood I made the supports for the mattress. They run between the head and foot boards. I actually used 2 pieces of wood, the one you see in the picture and another one that is screwed onto the bottom half of the back side (so it make a ledge- if that makes any sense).

And Third: I screwed the mattress support from the crib onto the wooded frame.

That's it- you have a little bed! (which, by the way, Sweet Pea will take!)

Hot jammies

2010-09-16T19:36:00.000-07:00

Why she insists on wearing fleecy footsie jammies in the middle of the summer is a mystery to me. But she insisted and I've learned to pick my battles so- hot jammies (as she calls them) it is! Oh and just so you know, no she didn't wear the hat to bed.

A new favorite

2010-09-16T18:55:00.000-07:00

I have a new favorite website. In fact, I like it so much that I made it my homepage, so every time I open our internet it pops up! It's The Pioneer Woman. I'm sure many of you have already heard of it or checked it out, but I'm slower than most so it's pretty new to me. I think I could spend all day reading her recipes if I didn't get headaches from looking at
the computer for too long. I've made her French Breakfast Puffs and they were to die for. We ate half and froze half, and the half we froze were just as good reheated in the microwave as the fresh ones. And sometime next week we may be eating her Pasta with Tomato Cream Sauce- Yummy! I might just have to buy her cookbook so I can have it always on hand! Check it out in your free time- you might be hooked too!

Double Digits!

2010-09-14T20:31:00.000-07:00

Our little Ellie had a birthday 2 weeks ago. She's now into the double digits (and will be for the rest of her life probably)! She's the big 10! She wasn't sure what she wanted for her birthday this year so she got a day out with mom. I took her to do some shopping so that she could pick out her own presents (is that being a bad mom?). We went to lunch at Panda Express cause she loves the orange chicken, we went to toy's-r-us where she picked out a beading set, we went to Costco where she picked out a coat, we went to JCPenney's where she picked out a dress and a shirt, and finally we went to JoAnns where she picked out some fabric for a skirt to go with the Penney's shirt. I guess I don't take my kids on enough 1-on-1 outings cause she thought it was great! No friend party this year, but I did make her a strawberry topped cheesecake by her request.

Another fun bit of info about this birthday is that she was part of a family mathematical equation. On the left is my Nephew Noah who turned 6 on Aug 31st, in the middle is Ellie who turned 10 on Sept 1st and on the right is my Dad (Papa) who turned the big 60 on Sept 6th.
So you see... 6x10=60 -You don't see that every day! (Oh- and thanks Aubrey for letting me steal your photo off of your blog!)

New found respect

2010-08-25T11:59:00.000-07:00

That's what I have for toilet paper companies. They can get those rolls of toilet paper so tight and smooth, which is a lot better than what I can do. Yes, I have some experience. You see, Kate decided it would be fun to unroll the TP all over the bathroom floor. What was she thinking! I mean honestly- there must be better activities than that! I decided to try to roll back up what ever wasn't draped into the toilet bowl absorbing all the toilet water. This is what I ended up with. I definitely won't be putting it out for guests. Hopefully I wont be granted more opportunities to improve my toilet paper rolling skills, but who knows- anythings possible with a 2 year old!

PS- Kate must have been having a mischievous day yesterday. After I typed this up she colored all over her leg with markers and decided that she wasn't going to wear a pull-up for her nap and wet the bed (not just her little bed, but Tyler's big bed- comforter and all!) And yes- those are smiley face stamps all over her face. What a stink!

Beginnings and Ends

2010-08-25T11:35:00.000-07:00

With the Beginning of a new school year I have officially put an End to my blogging vacation. I've put off blogging all summer long but now I really don't have an excuse. I have 3 out of 4 kids in school all day now! Hooray! (Does that make me a bad mother that I'm excited to have so many kids in school all day?) I love that we are back to a routine, that I have quite afternoons again, and that my kiddos aren't asking to watch TV all day long. I really truly enjoy the beginning of a new school year, and I think the kids do too. In fact, when I picked up Tyler yesterday he told me that it was the best day ever! Pretty impressive Mrs. Perkins- you rank up there with Disneyland and Christmas! Tyler is in 1st grade this year, Ellie is in 5th (with Mrs. Findly) and Anna is a freshmen! Yes you heard me right- I am now the mother of a High School-er. Wish me luck cause I'm gonna need it!

No rest for the weary

2010-06-20T21:17:00.000-07:00

So I full realize that sometimes I stink at keeping our blog up-to-date. I think it's just a part of who I am. I'm a little ADD and have a hard time sticking to things. I have many unfinished projects. But I'd like to blame my resent inability to post anything on my crazy-busy life. Here's a brief list of what we've been up to for the last month and a half-

-Anna had 8th grade graduation (that's right- she'll be in high school next year. yikes!)
-Ellie had a school talent show (she played chopsticks on the piano with a friend)
-School ended (mixed feelings with this one)
-Ellie and Tyler had soccer
-Tyler had T-ball
-We finally had Tyler's friend birthday party (what were we thinking inviting 10 boys)
-I taught Relief Society
-We had a birthday party for my Mom at our house (the big 60)
-My sister from TX came to stay for a few days with her little girl
-I took said sister to the SLC temple and out to lunch
-We cut up all the grass on the south side of our house
-I built 6 garden boxes (and yes, I actually finished them)
-I installed, filled, and planted my 6 new garden boxes (with lots of help from friends!)
-I moved sprinkler heads and put down a lot of weed barrier
-We had a patio poured (i know we didn't do any of the work for it, but it still counts)
-I've had a cold for a month (why?)
-Bryan went out of town a few times for work (Atlanta, Seattle, and Seattle again)

And all of that is on top of the normal every day mom things I have to do too. I haven't gotten myself organized for the summer yet. Our schedules are really messed up still. I'm hoping now that my big projects are almost finished I'll be a little more organized. We'll see though- that might just be wishful thinking!

*I can't find my camera right now- but when I do I'll update this with some pictures!

Happy Birthday Tyler!

2010-05-10T13:48:00.000-07:00

My little boy (who's not so little anymore!) turns 6 today. He was my mother's day baby. I went into labor on mother's day and had him at 3 in the morning the next day. Last year his birthday fell on Mother's Day so he got to have breakfast in bed with me. He's such a fun kid! Right now he's playing soccer and T-ball and loves them both. He also loves riding his bike and playing with his friends. He can be very sweet- especially to Kate. We love having him in our family! Happy Birthday Buddy!

Spring is... Springing!

2010-04-20T09:14:00.000-07:00

I guess it hasn't full sprung yet, but it sure is on it's way. I love spring and I think this is why...

I gave Bryan this peach tree last year for his birthday and it's beautiful right now. I love the little blossoms and knowing that maybe we'll get some yummy fruit off it later in the summer. So come on Spring- cause we sure are ready for you!

Over the past few weeks...

2010-04-16T14:47:00.000-07:00

So I have a bunch of pictures from the past few weeks. Just little bits and pieces of our life. So this is what we've been up to...

Anna got a hair cut- she looks so grown-up with her shorter hair. What a cute young lady!
Kate threw a fit at lunch one day when I didn't let her help put her mac & cheese in her bowl. She got mad and dumped her lunch on the floor. What a twit! Needless to say- she was sorry and had to help clean up!

We gave in this year a bought a season pass to the zoo. Kate was really afraid of these metal animal statues. Tyler looks a little sassy in this picture!
That's about it for now. I spaced out on Easter and didn't take any picture. OOPS! More to come later!

Happy Birthday Katie Bug (finally!)

2010-04-12T12:44:00.000-07:00

Our Little Miss turned 2 at the beginning of the month. I can't believe it. She is such a cute little person and so much fun to have around (most of the time). She talks a lot and is very independent. I think she sees the other kids doing things by themselves (like pouring cereal) and so she has to do it too. She had her first favorite movie last month. She called it the "hoo-hoo-ha-ha movie" but it's really Curious George. She has some funny quirky things she does, like she has to have her pacifiers washed at nap and bedtimes (yes- she still uses them, I guess they'll get thrown away soon) and she likes to have different types of cereal in her bowl at the same time. She's turned out to be a really good dinner eater. I've always had this theory that if you offer little kids the same food at dinner that everyone else is eating, eventually they will start to eat it too. I don't cook 2 different dinners- everyone gets the same thing. About a month ago she realized that dinner is good, and now eats what ever we put in front of her. It still makes me sad that she's growing up so fast. My last baby really isn't a baby anymore! So happy birthday Miss Kate- we love you so very much!

Happy Happy Birthday Anna Dear!

2010-03-19T08:00:00.000-07:00

Today is Anna's 14th birthday. I'm having a hard time believing that she's really that old. She's such a beautiful young women and a lot of fun to have around. She's always very helpful and loving. Some of her friends are coming over tonight for an ice cream & movie party. SO- Happy Birthday Anna, we love you!

Pulling Teeth

2010-03-09T13:09:00.000-08:00

Tyler lost his second tooth a few weeks ago, I was just to busy to post about it until now. It had been loose for a little while and finally he was fed up. He came downstairs one evening and said something like "I just can't take it anymore mom, can you just pull it out?". None of my kids have ever asked to have a tooth pulled. I've tried to pull teeth before with out much success. They have either been crying too hard or I couldn't get a good grip on the tooth. Not this time. I grabbed a tissue, got a hold of the tooth, and pop- out it came! No tears and no problems! I know he looks a little worried in the picture but that's just because it bled a little after it was pulled. He's such a brave kid!

Anna's School Project

2010-03-07T20:40:00.000-08:00

Anna had to do a project for her science class. She had to create a Rube Goldberg- lots of little steps to accomplish a simple task. We spent part of Saturday helping her with it. The task that she was trying to accomplish was to fill a glass with water from the refrigerator. So watch and see...

Little Piggies

2010-03-07T17:17:00.000-08:00

The other night Bryan took Kate upstairs to get her ready for bed- or so I thought. Instead I found this...
That's right, he's painting her nails. Who does she have wrapped around her little finger (or piggie!)?

The Mischievous Miss

2010-02-11T06:27:00.000-08:00

Our Miss Kate is becoming more and more mischievous every day. I find her doing some of the craziest things. -She climbs up on everything- none of my other kids did that.
-She is always taking her pants off and finding different things to put on instead.
-She sneaks pacifiers out of her crib and comes down giggling with them in her mouth.
-She goes in the laundry room and tries to hand fed Penny (the cat) her food.
-She pushes kitchen stools into the pantry to try to get out snacks.
She is totally one of those kids that if they're too quiet then you know they're up to no good! I don't know what I'm going to do with her! It's a good thing she's so darn cute!

The sick house- UPDATE! And Another- UPDATE!

2010-02-09T08:37:00.000-08:00

That's our house right now. 2 of my kids now have strep throat- Anna and Kate (the oldest and youngest). 2 down 2 to go right? I really hope it doesn't spread any further! But more than that- I really hope I don't get it. I can take care of sick kids, but no one takes care of a sick Mama! Keep your fingers crossed for me...

2/19/10: Well- add one more to the list because Ellie's now sick (and Anna woke up with a fever again!) I guess it's time to DEEP clean my house!

2/21/10: Anna has it again and now Tyler has it too. Well actually he's probably had it for the past few weeks. He was sick about 3 weeks ago with a fever and stomach ache- no sore throat and it went away after a few days. Well, come to find out, a lot of kids never have a sore throat with strep- they have a stomach ache. Who knew?! When I took Anna in yesterday to get tested yet again, I had them test Tyler even though he doesn't have any symptoms and he was positive. Growing up, my sister was a carrier of strep. We would all get sick and test positive but she would be the one without any symptoms. So maybe he's a carrier too. Anyway... Hopefully after this round of amoxicillin we'll all be better. The doctor even gave me prescriptions for Bryan and myself (which is a good thing since I'm feeling rotten now too)!

The Big "D"

2010-02-01T08:27:00.000-08:00

Of course that's code for Disneyland- I mean really, what bigger D is there! As most of you know, we surprised our kiddos with a trip to Disneyland for Christmas. It was a hard secret to keep seeing as how we planned the trip in October. I'm still surprised that none of them found out early. I was worried that the parks were going to be crazy around Christmas, so I planned for the worst so that I wouldn't get my hopes up. And it worked! The first day we were their (Dec 28th) we spent only in Disneyland (we had park hopper passes), and by the end of the day it was packed- standing room only! The second day we spent at California Adventure and it wasn't nearly as crowded. And our final day (the day of rain!) we went back and forth between the two doing the things we liked best.

I did learn a few things on our little trip:
1) don't leave the ponchos (you know, the ones you purposely brought with you just in case it rained) in your hotel room, because the ones in the park cost $7.00 each!
2) if you don't want to wait an hour to ride on Dumbo, go to Fantasyland first thing in the morning. You can ride all the little kid rides without waiting in long lines.
3) if you get motion sickness- DON'T ride the teacups!
4) don't expect your baby girl who loves Mickey mouse and carries his doll around everywhere to LOVE Mickey mouse in person! Life-size mouse = kind-of scary!
5) try not to wear a white polo with tan colored pants because you'll get asked more than once where the bathroom is or where someone might be able to get a hot dog!

We stayed one extra day in CA so that we could go to the beach. Now granted it wasn't really beach weather- it was still fun. It happened to be the warmest day of the trip (high of 70). We drove down the coastal highway and ended up stopping at Crystal Cove State Park. The kids had a lot of fun playing in the tide pools and exploring. They found 2 star fish, hermit crabs, and lot of other sea creatures. And yes, we touched them all even though you weren't suppose to! We had a great Christmas and a Fantastic trip! I don't know if we'll be able to top it next year!

Christmas!

2010-01-20T12:10:00.001-08:00

Only a month late...but better than never! We had a great Christmas. On Christmas Eve Eve (so the 23rd!) my sister Stacy and her family came over for a fondue party. YUMMY! The kids loved it. That night the kids slept under the Christmas tree like they do every Christmas Eve Eve. It's a Haymond family tradition. Christmas Eve we did a little house cleaning cause Santa can't come to a dirty house! And then we did out traditional Christmas Eve dinner at Pizza Hut- dine in! This is something we've been doing for the past 3 years or so with Bryan's sister Jen and her family. The sad this is that I don't have pictures of any of those traditions! Next year I'll have to remember to get out the camera! We opened one present on Christmas eve- jammies, left some cookies for Santa, read The Night Before Christmas and the story of Christ's birth, and went to bed.Here are the kiddos waiting to head downstairs to see what goods Santa brought them!
Kate got a kitchen, Tyler got Cars Race-o-rama for the Wii, Ellie got an Our Generation doll, and Anna got a docking station for her iPod.

When all the presents were opened and everyone was happy, we brought out some cards for them to open. Inside was a photo card with a picture of all 4 kids and a little poem that said "You kids are the greatest, you're really number 1. So go pack your bags becasue DISNEYLAND here we come." That was their main gift form us this year. A surprise family trip to Disneyland. They were all really excited. This was our first time going. So stay tuned for a post all about our trip.

Almost there-

2010-01-14T08:03:00.000-08:00

Yes, I'm still catching up. But I'm almost there.
The Monday and Tuesday before Christmas I went up to Logan with the kids to visit my family. My sister just happened to have her baby girl the day we got there. Lucky me! Welcome Miss Eli Jane-We also made cookies and decorated some gingerbread houses (but those just don't compare to a darling new baby girl!)
Here's before-And here's after-

Fun times with some cute kids!

A Logan Thanksgiving

2010-01-06T19:13:00.000-08:00

I know- Thanksgiving was a month and a half ago- but I'm still trying to catch up on all I've missed. We spent Thanksgiving in Logan this year. My sister Bailey (and her family) were in town from Texas, so we were all together this year. It was also the first year in many that my dad didn't have to get up a 2am to go to work. He was the store manager at the Logan JCPenney until this summer when he retired!

We all enjoyed a great Todd family style Thanksgiving dinner-
We took some pictures of all the grand kids together. It's hard to get 10 kids to all look at one time-

And watched a wonderful talent show that included lots of dancing kids (including these cute little boys!)- Even though we had to sleep on the floor in the family room, we still had a good time. With all there is to be Thankful for, I think the one thing at the top of my list is family.

More from Virginia: Part 2

2010-01-05T12:43:00.000-08:00

So I never finished posting about my trip back east. Here's a few pictures to sum it all up some of the sight-seeing and fun things we did.

We went on a Ghost tour (notice the spooky pose) of Old Town Alexandria, pretty fun even with a lame guide.

We went to the American History, Natural History, and Air and Space Museums.

And we went to see some monuments at night (which I highly recommend if you ever go to DC, smaller crowds & cooler temps!). The one in the picture is the FDR memorial, we also saw the Tomas Jefferson one.

If was fun spending so much time with extended family. There were 2 sets of parents and 9 of us cousins all crammed into our Granny's house (18 of us all together counting the kids and one spouse). It was a good trip, but I'm not sure when I'll be back that way again.

Catching Up!

2010-01-02T10:27:00.000-08:00

I know I have an impossible task of catching up on all the posts I've missed over the past few months. Now that the Holidays are over I'll have more time- I hope! So here's a few pictures from our Christmas surprise to the kids to hold you over.

We loaded up the car (and our new rooftop carrier)-

And drove to the happiest place on earth- Disneyland!

So- stay tuned for more on our surprise California vacation!

I spy with my little eye...

2009-11-08T10:57:00.000-08:00

Elli's not so little sty. It started on Thursday and by Saturday morning it had turned into an eye infection. Poor girl. She has to tip her head back to see out of it since it wont open all the way. It's still pretty swollen today, but hopefully now that she's been on some meds it will start to go away.

Happy Halloween 2009!

2009-10-31T20:31:00.001-07:00

Hope you all had a fun Halloween this year. Ours was pretty non-eventful. Ellie and Tyler had a good time trick-or-treating with Bryan. Kate and I stayed home and handed out candy. Anna went to a party with some friends from church. We carved our pumpkins on Friday. Tyler spent a lot of time that day drawing out different pumpkin faces. His pumpkin face is the one he picked. I did my best to carve it just like it was drawn.The costumes this year are as follows: Anna was a hippie with a homemade tie dyed shirt (in fact all the kids ended up with one because I had so much dye left over), Ellie was doctor (she's using a costume I made for Anna a few years back; and thank you to my sister Stacy for the cap, mask and booties), Tyler was Harry Potter with a homemade matching scarf, and Kate was a ladybug cause she's as cute as a bug (who didn't want her hood on or picture taken which is why I don't have one of just her)!
Good times over all!

More from Virginia: Part 1

2009-10-29T09:30:00.000-07:00

Rollingbrook Court-This lovely yellow house is were I lived from ages 4 to 12. Driving through the neighborhood and walking around brought back so many great childhood memories. I use to climb those trees in our front yard (they weren't that big when we were there, but they were big enough!). There is a path by the house that leads up to a playground.

On the way to the playground you cross over this (now pretty dry) creek, where we use to catch tadpoles.

Once to the playground you find this great twirly slide. We spent so much time playing with friends on this very slide. I was surprised to find it still there.

This was great place to live as a kid. It's looking a little run down now, but it was still fun to visit one last time. Chances are very slim that I will ever go back there again.

Choo-choo Grandpa

2009-10-28T10:20:00.000-07:00

Bryan's grandpa, Howard Haymond, passed away last week. The kids called him Choo-choo grandpa because he use to drive trains for Geneva Steel. He was a kind, loving, cool grandpa who will be greatly missed.

Granny's services

2009-10-23T13:47:00.000-07:00

There were 3 different funeral services for my Granny. The first was in St. George where she had been staying for the summer. You see, my mom flew out to DC at the beginning of the summer, packed her up, and brought her out to Utah so that she could be with family. We knew she wasn't doing very well, and later we found out that her cancer had returned and was at a stage 4. This service was mostly for her family since she had a lot in Utah. I can't believe I only got 2 picture the whole time we were down there. One of my sister and me, and the other is of Anna with Jordan, my cousins daughter (her 2nd cousin?)- they are only 3 days apart in age- cute girls!Her other 2 services were in Washington DC. I was able to fly out, with Kate, to attend them. The first was a memorial service that was held at her ward house. This happens to be the same building that I attended when we lived back east- it's also the building I was baptized in. All of my cousins but one (Melissa- we missed you!) were able to be there. I think this was the first time in a very long time- if ever- that we were all together. My youngest sister's husband was the only in-law that came, so his filling Melissa's place. So we have: Denny (the in-law), Bailey, Bradley, Tyler, Allene, Aubrey, Rachael, Lauren, Megan, Stacy, Jessy (me) and Tiffany. Here is one of my Mom with Kate chasing leaves outside the church. And one of my Dad holding Kate. She loves her Papa, he was one of the few people she would willingly go to while on our trip. The second service was the interment at Arlington National cemetery. The cemetery was beautiful, but a little loud with the airport so close by. This is a picture of my Grandmother's 4 children: Stuart (my dad), Trudy, Michael and Allen. The services were beautiful in all locations. There were lots of tears and laughs. It was wonderful being around family that I don't get to see very often. More to come from my trip later!

Ellie's Tea Party

2009-10-20T11:39:00.001-07:00

This year Ellie got to have a friend birthday party and she picked a tea party. It was a lot of fun and a lot of crazy- with twelve 9 year old girls! They eat treats and punch, played bingo, opened presents, and played outside. I'm so glad we only do parties ever other year because it was tons of work.I made all the girls a flower hair clip and they got to eat on antique "snack sets" (glass party plates with matching cups). Kate just couldn't get enough of the necklaces.
It was the kind of party that I won't mind NOT doing again for a long time. Too much work. But Ellie had a really good time and that's all that matters!
It

We'll miss you Granny!

2009-09-28T19:43:00.000-07:00

My dear sweet Granny passed away last week. She was an amazing women who will be truly missed. She was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer at the beginning of the summer so we knew this was coming, but it still came sooner then I would have liked. I was able to drive to St George (where she had been living with my Aunt and Uncle) 2 weeks ago. It was hard to see her so frail, but at the same time I feel very blessed to have been able to care for her for a few days after all the care she had given me over the years.
We lived pretty close to my grandparents while I was growing up, so I was able to spend a lot of time with them. She use to take us to the swimming pool on the air force base; she would take us to feed the ducks (always making sure to wipe the poo off the bottoms of our shoes before getting back into her car); she would have us over for sleepovers- which usually meant taking a bath in her pink (yes- pink) bath tube and eating toast with whipped honey on it for breakfast. She had the best collection of dress-up clothes, board games, records, and books; and always made every holiday extra special. My granny was dutch- so I can thank her for my blond hair, blue eyes, and big bones :)
I love her so very much and will miss greatly!

Happy Birthday Dad!

2009-09-06T17:52:00.000-07:00

Dad (Papa)-
Happy Birthday. Here's a little video from the kids just for you! We hope you had a good day!
Love-
Bryan, Jessy, Anna, Ellie, Tyler and Kate

Happy Birthday Ellie!

2009-09-02T11:16:00.000-07:00

Elizabeth had her 9th birthday on the 1st. Between soccer practice for Ellie and YW for Anna, we didn't have much time to celebrate. But we did get in some birthday donuts, ice cream and presents. "Why donuts" you ask? Well, she asked a while ago if she could have donuts instead of cake this year (I think she got the idea from a cousin). So that's what we had. Ellie's full of spunk (and a little sass here and there too!). She's a great part of our family and we love her very much!She gets to have a friend party this year and has asked to have a tea party. So on Wednesday we will be hosting a tea party for her and her friends. I've already started preparing- my freezer is quickly filling up with cream puffs & tart shells. Wish me luck- I've never thrown a tea party.

First Days of School

2009-08-27T12:25:00.000-07:00

The kids started school this week. Anna and Ellie started on Monday, and Tyler started today. Did I shed any tears at my kids going back to school- NO! I enjoy the routine of school days, and lets face it, who doesn't like a quiet house for a few hours.

Anna started 8th grade this year at Clarke N Johnson Jr High in Tooele. This is a new school for her because the district realigned the boundaries (last year she was in Grantsville). She was a little nervous the first day because her schedule had gotten messed up and wasn't on the computer when we went to print it Sunday night. She spent most of first period in the office getting it fixed. It all worked out in the end and she's had a good first week so far! Ellie started 4th grade. Her teacher this year is Mrs. Burket- the same teacher Anna had in 4th grade. She has some good friends in her class this year which is always nice, I just hope she doesn't get too chatty in class. Ellie walks to and from school every day with some other kids on the block- including her best friend Zoe (in the picture with her below).Tyler started kindergarten this year. He was so excited! He is in Mrs. Hyre's afternoon class- the same teacher Ellie had for kindergarten. Bryan was able to come home for lunch to walk with us to school. He wasn't nervous at all. I walked him into his classroom and showed him where to hang his backpack. Then I walked him out to the kindergarten playground where he gets to play until class started. I told him that he could go play until his teacher calls them in and he said "Ok Mom- see ya!" No hug or kiss, no nervousness- just ready to go. He's not going to miss me at all!We have smart, great kids. I can't wait to see what they learn this year. I know they're capable of so much. Good luck guys!

Mini Stay-cation

2009-08-24T10:41:00.000-07:00

We went on a mini family stay-cation last week. Bryan took Thursday and Friday off work so that we could do some fun stuff with the kids before school started.

On Thursday we took the kids to Lagoon. They had been begging all summer to go. We didn't tell them where we were going ahead of time, so they were all pleasantly surprised when we pulled into the parking lot. They all had a really good time riding the rides. Kate spent most of the time in the stroller, but was still really good the whole day. On Friday we went to Seven Peaks Water Park. I love this park. When we lived down in Provo we would get season passes so that we could go often. It's small enough that I feel OK letting Anna and Ellie go off together to ride the slides, but big enough to not get bored. Tyler loved the slides too, but had to go with a parent. We even took Kate down some of the tube slides. It was a clear, sunny, hot day- perfect for the pool. That night we stayed down at Bryan's parents house in Springville. It was nice not having to drive all they way home.On Saturday Bryan and his Dad took the 3 older kids on a hike to Round Peak in Springville. It was super hot outside and they all came back tired and sweaty. I think it was a longer hike than what they were expecting. I stayed at the house the Kate. The arrow in the picture is pointing to where they hiked to.Overall we had a really fun time together. It's always good to get away as a family every once in a while.

Tyler's new trick

2009-08-17T20:35:00.000-07:00

Tyler called me outside today to watch him do a new trick on his bike. I wasn't expecting to see this...

Crazy kid! Where did he learn to do that? He has no fear!

Our Annual Bear Lake Trip

2009-08-13T11:43:00.000-07:00

We try to make it up to Bear Lake at least once a year. My parents live up in Logan, so we usually say with them and just make it a day trip. Last's years trip was bad. It was cold and rainy out so ended up staying for only a half hour. But this year it was pretty nice. It was a little windy but the kids still had a really good time playing with their cousins and in the sand & water.

Kate had a really good time with all the sand. She had it everywhere! The boys had fun in the water and playing in the sand too!
Ellie and Islay made a "sand chair". And my dad took some good cat naps!We ended our day with some shakes (a tradition)! It turned out to be a fun day for all!

I love to see the Temple...

2009-08-12T13:37:00.000-07:00

Almost 2 weeks ago I took the kids to see the new Oquirrh Mountain Temple. We meet my parents and sister (along with her kids Islay Mae and Noah) their. It was a hot day, and there were long lines, but it was worth it. The Temple was truly beautiful. The kids loved being able to walk through and see all the beautiful things inside.

Happy 10th Anniversary!

2009-07-29T10:25:00.000-07:00

Last week I celebrated 10 years of being married to my wonderful husband. I love you Bryan- more today then 10 years ago. It's been an amazing journey so far, one that I hope never ends!

A family favorite...

2009-07-06T18:41:00.000-07:00

We have a favorite recipe in our house. I've been meaning to share it with family for awhile but, like always, I keep forgetting. It is very easy and quick and definitely a kid favorite! Tyler does not like spaghetti at all, but will ask for seconds of this. Add it to your menu this week and enjoy!

Pizza Pasta

-1 12oz box of pasta (our favorite is radiatore but any small macaroni will work)
-1 14oz jar of pizza sauce
-2 cups of cheese
pizza toppings (we use black olives and pepperoni)

Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain and mix with pizza sauce, 1 cup cheese and the toppings (if it looks a little dry, add a few tablespoons of water). Put into a casserole dish and sprinkle with remaining cheese. Bake at 400 for about 10-15 minutes, just until cheese melts. Enjoy!

#5- Saving the best for last

2009-06-28T20:37:00.000-07:00

Well this is the last of my updates. I think I'll be all caught up after this one (well, at least until next week, then I'll be behind again!). We finally finished the basement. HOORAY!! That's right, after working on in for almost exactly a year, it's finally done!!! It's like we can breath again. The kids have room to spread out and be in their own space. Anna, Ellie and Tyler had been sharing a room since Christmas and were definitely starting to get on each others nerves. And Kate shared her room with a lot of storage (a queen size mattress set and lots of boxes against one of her walls).
Anna is now in her new bedroom (which is also the guestroom) in the basement. She is also lucky enough to have her very own bathroom in her room.
We also now have a playroom in the basement- no more toys spread out all over the house.
The TV is out of our living room and back into the family room where it belongs and has been joined by the computer desk (which had been living in our bedroom) and a treadmill (that I bought from a friend at her yard sale yesterday).
Tyler is back in his own room with a set of bunk beds all to himself.
And Ellie and Kate are sharing a room. Kate goes to bed first (around 8pm) and Ellie sneaks in later without any problems.
We still have a few little jobs that need to be done before it's 100% finished, but those can wait.
It's so nice to have a place for everything and everything in it's place!

#4- Baby Animal Day

2009-06-26T07:41:00.000-07:00

We went to baby animal day at This is the Place Heritage Park this year. It was a beautiful day and wasn't terribly crowded. The kids had a great time holding and petting all the baby animals. They all want a bunny as a pet now. The younger 3 also got to ride some horses. Besides all the animals, we got arrowheads in the Indian village, made candles and dolls in one of the pioneer homes and took a train ride around the park. Overall it was a great family outing!

#3- Mini-Marathon

2009-06-25T07:09:00.000-07:00

Every spring, the kids elementary school holds a mini-marathon for each grade level. Ellie's grade (3rd) had to run 3/4 of a mile. It's not required, but it is encouraged. Out of all the 3rd grade girls who ran, Ellie came in 4th. Way to go Ellie! I'm very proud of her especially since I'm not much of a runner.

#2- Tyler's Preschool Graduation

2009-06-24T10:12:00.000-07:00

Tyler graduated from preschool at the end of May. He has loved being in Ms. Sarah's preschool class. She is moving to AZ and is going to be missed very much! He learned all the alphabet and can count pretty high. He is definitely ready for kindergarten. I get asked weekly "when is it going to be fall?" because I told him that he'll start school again in the fall. Of course he doesn't completely have the concept of time down so it's hard for him to grasp that 2 months is still a long time. Maybe I need to make him a count down chain (like you do for Christmas). Then he can take a paper ring off everyday until it's time for school to start. Anyway, he's a smart kid and I can't wait for him to start school again. He really thrives in that kind of structured inviroment.

Tyler and Ms. Sarah-
Tyler with his graduation certificate-
And just for fun- Here's Kate with one of the graduation balloons-

#1- The Spring Soccer Season

2009-06-23T21:01:00.000-07:00

It came and it went. Both Ellie and Tyler play soccer and love it. Ellie is on an all girls team and Tyler is on a mixed team. They are both a lot of fun to watch. Tyler has come along way since the fall season. He can now dribble the ball down and shot it for a goal. Ellie is improving every season too. This was the last season her coaches will be coaching, so she'll be on a new team last year. We really enjoyed the coaches she had and will miss them. Here are some pictures form the end of the season.
Tyler's team after the last game-Ellie's team after the last game (with some kids missing, they barely had enough to play)-
Ellie playing goalie (which she likes to do) & Tyler just playing-

My goal this week...

2009-06-23T06:12:00.000-07:00

Along with painting a dresser- Is to get caught up on all the posts I've been meaning to do. We've had a lot going on, and it's about time I write it all down. So stay tuned!

Let's go fly a kite

2009-05-12T07:42:00.000-07:00

Tyler asked yesterday if he could play with our kite. I said yes thinking he would just run back and forth across the yard with it trailing behind him. But not more then a minute after he got it out he had that kite soaring in the sky. Our front-yard-kite-flying conditions must have been just perfect. No running necessary. I love flying kites, it reminds me of one of my favorite places- the beach. Thank you Tyler for flying a kite with me yesterday!

Birthdays, birthdays and more birthdays (oh, and Mother's day too)

2009-05-10T20:32:00.001-07:00

Spring is the season of never ending birthdays for us. We have 4 that are all about 2 weeks apart from each other. We start in March with Anna's, then on to early April for Kate's, next comes Bryan's at the end of April and last is Tyler's in early May. I've had a "Happy Birthday" banner hanging in our kitchen for almost 2 months- and now I can take it down until September.

I have a lot of catching up to do so I'll start with Bryan. Happy late birthday! It was April 23rd and he turned 32 this year. We really didn't do a whole lot. I made him a special dinner (Korean short ribs) and his favorite cake- streusel cake. I didn't even have his present for him until this last week. I know, I'm a bad wife. But here it is:
That's right, it's a tree, a Redhaven Peach tree. Not a very exciting gift, but I hope it will be a delicious one some day.

Tyler's Birthday was today. He turned 5. It's hard to believe that he'll be in kindergarten this next fall. I remember when I had him. I went into the hospital on Mother's day, and had him the following morning. He's a fun kid to have around, so full of energy. He plays soccer and has learned so much at preschool. He got a baseball toy, a Wii game and a lot of new clothes. I made him a rocket cake (he picked it out), and he had a lot of fun playing with his cousins. Happy Birthday Tyler! We love you kid!

Today was also Mother's day, and I actually got to spend part of it with my mother. My parents came down from Logan for dinner and Tyler's birthday. I have a great mom. I've learned a lot from her over the years. I don't think I tell her enough how much I appreciate and love her. It was a great mother's day. I got to sleep in a little, and my older daughters gave me breakfast in bed. I planned ahead for dinner and had almost all of it ready the day before so I wasn't rushed before church. I feel so blessed to be a mother and to have such wonderful children. 4 has been a handful but I wouldn't trade them for anything!

Happy Easter

2009-04-17T06:12:00.000-07:00

We had a great Easter this year. We spent the Saturday before with my family, dying eggs and having an Easter egg hunt. On Sunday the kids woke up to find that the Easter bunny had left them some goodies in their baskets- new summer jammies, some movies and a few treats. And then on Sunday night we got together with the Eldredge family (Bryan's sister) for dinner. Over all it was a great weekend.

Happy Birthday Little Miss!

2009-04-12T20:45:00.000-07:00

Our Little Miss- Kate turned one last week. I can't believe that it's already been a year. She has been a great addition to our family. I really can't even imagine life without her. She's a pretty good baby for the most part (except for being a mama's girl right now!). She can almost walk- she'll take steps between people but that's about it. She can eat with a fork and is usually a really good sleeper. She's such a sweet little girl, it's hard to believe that she's gone from this tiny baby...
to this cute little girl...
We had a party with Bryan's family on her birthday (the 4th), and an Easter/Kate party with my family this past Saturday. I'm glad we were able to get together with both families. It was a lot of fun seeing everyone. Kate's our last baby, so her first birthday was sort of bittersweet for me. My baby's growing up and I love seeing her grow and develop into her own little person, but at the same time I'm sad to see her grow up. Here are some pictures from her parties. Enjoy!

Anna's 13!

2009-04-03T14:58:00.000-07:00

Anna turned 13 about 2 weeks ago. I can't believe that I'm a parent of a teenager. It makes me feel really old. She didn't have a big party this year. Instead, she had a friend spend the night and I took them (and Ellie) to see Race to Witch Mountain. She really wanted an iPod but it wasn't in the budget so I gave her mine. Bryan and I both had our own but they weren't getting used very much. So now Anna has mine and Bryan and I will share his. She also got some Aeropostale clothes, a gorilla Webkinz, and some money. She made out pretty good! Anna's turning into an amazing young women. We love having her in our family! Happy Birthday Anna!

CREATE

2009-03-25T20:14:00.001-07:00

I saw this on another blog and loved it. I hope you feel inspired!

Bad air- again

2009-03-23T09:11:00.000-07:00

That's what we came home to yesterday. We pulled into the garage after church and I could hear the smoke detectors going off inside the house. At first I thought that something might have gone terrible wrong with my crock-pot dinner but quickly realized that that was not the problem. It was carbon monoxide. I quickly packed the kids into the car and headed back to the church to get Bryan.

You see, this isn't the first time that our lovely house has fill up with deadly levels of CO, it happened in Feb of 08. It was a very windy day and the air in our home couldn't vent properly so it started filling up with CO. We're guessing that that's what happened this time too. I was hoping Bryan could come home and fix it without having to call for any help. We opened windows and turned off the furnace but still didn't feel good about having the kids in the house without knowing for sure if it was safe or not. So we ended up calling the fire department to come test the air.

They closed the windows and had us wait in the car while they walked through the house with oxygen tanks and air monitors. They found that the levels in the basement were fine, living room area was slightly elevated, but that the bedrooms upstairs had the most CO. They opened up all the windows again, turned on fans and the bathroom vents, and brought in a large fan to the kitchen. After 15 minutes or so the levels were down and we were safe to go back in.

We left the furnace off and the windows open for a while to play it safe. Shortly after we got back inside, Bryan and the older girls left for the temple dedication. Tyler, Kate and I were left in the freezing house. We laid on the couch with blankets and watched a movie. I was able to get Kate to take a little nap in my arms since she couldn't go in her room. I closed all the windows around 5:30 when the temp in our house got to 62 on the main level (a lot colder upstairs where the windows were open). We didn't turn the heat back on until about 6:30. It was still really cold upstairs when we put kids to bed.

I guess it's time to figure out what needs to be done to fix the problem so that it does not happen a third time. Every time it's windy (which seems to be often out here), we worry about if our CO alarms are going to go off again. It's a good thing that we have them or the outcome could have been a lot worse. I am very grateful that we are all safe and healthy. Test your alarms, make sure that they work. If you don't have a Carbon Monoxide alarm, get one- you never know when you're going to need it!

A lesson learned from Anna

2009-03-13T20:15:00.000-07:00

Anna is an amazing daughter and she taught me an important lesson last night. A lesson that I have always (still to this day) struggled with. It might me a long story, so bear with me because it's worth it.
Anna found a pair of my shoes that I hadn't worn for a long time and thought they were cute. I warned her that they would be too big for her since I had gotten them while I was pregnant with Kate (I get big pregnant feet!). In fact, they're too big for me now which is why they hadn't been worn in a while. She tried them on anyway and confirmed my suspicion that they were indeed too big. But being the nice mother that I am, I told her that we could hold onto them for a little while to see if her feet grow anymore. But then I added "Lets hope, for your sake though, that you don't grow into them because I've always hated having big feet." To that she replied "Why? It's our differences that make us special. If everyone were the same, we wouldn't have anything to make us special."
Here is my daughter, who will be 13 next week, telling me that my big feet make me special. My daughter, who is at that age where most girls are self-conscious and too worried about everything to feel that they are special, knows that she is. I'm the mother, I should be the one teaching this to her, but it's something that I still have a hard time believing myself.
How can I feel that my differences make me special if I have a long list of things that I hate about myself... my big feet, crocked smile (from half of my face being paralyzed when I had Lyme disease), bad hair (the back went curly when I had Kate but the front stayed straight), extra weight, lack of fashion, shyness, bad teeth, bad posture, and my list could go on and on. I struggle with feeling that I'm not good enough or special.
So, thank you Anna, for the lesson you taught me. You are a beautiful girl and I love you. I need to follow your example and be more comfortable with who I am. I am a daughter of God, I know that he loves me for who I am, and I know that that makes me special. I need to remember these simple words from President Dieter F. Uchtdorf "As spirit daughters of our Heavenly Father, happiness is your heritage." Remember- your differences make you special!

Haircuts, budgeting, and random pictures

2009-03-09T09:48:00.000-07:00

Those are about the highlights of this past week (if you can even call them highlights!).
Ellie was the lucky recipient of a haircut. She had been begging me for a few weeks, so I finally gave in. I took her over to the Super Cuts on Saturday morning and told the hair dresser that we wanted it cut in a bob a little below her chin. Well, this is what we got...Definitely not below her chin, but still a cute cut. She's a cute girl, and for some reason I like her hair better when it's shorter (maybe not this short- but oh well, it will grow)! Next will be Anna's turn. She's been begging just as much as Ellie, she just wasn't home Saturday morning to go with us.

We have some money saved up from tax returns and our monthly contribution to our savings account. Last night Bryan and I sat down and came up with a list of the things that we could spend that money on. The list included things like- the basement (trim & carpet), a treadmill, a deep freezer, a shed, a family vacation, a garden, and food storage. Now, one of the hardest things for me when it comes to budgeting is distinguishing between a "want" and a "need". So it was really hard for me to say "Yes, our food storage is more important than a treadmill". But in the end I think we got it all worked out in order of importance, with a good mixture of boring "needs" and fun "wants". So the treadmill might have to wait a little while until we either find a really good deal or a decent used one, but at least we'll get to take the kids on a small vacation.

It's not often that I find my kids playing quietly and nicely together. But that's exactly what I found on Sunday. Tyler was playing the Leapster and Ellie sat down to watch him- which usually results in someone getting mad. But not this time, I found this instead...They sat, head to head, playing together. I love it! It was so nice and peaceful in my house before church, which is not always the case. So thanks you two for being so nice to each other!

Kate is starting to figure out what the camera does, so now every time I try to snap a picture of her, she makes these crazy faces. She's such a fun little girl to have around!

Pay it Forward!

2009-03-07T20:22:00.000-08:00

I commented on a friends blog for a fun surprise- and now it's your turn. Comment on mine and you'll get something fun from me!

The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me!
My choice--for you!

This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:
1. I make NO guarantees that you will LIKE what I make! (I can only hope)
2. What I create will be just for you.
3. It WILL be done this year.
4. You have no CLUE what it’s going to be … it may be cards, a bookmark, something delicious or a complete surprise to you (and me!) … who knows?
5. Most importantly, you MUST offer the same deal on your blog - the first 5 people to comment on your blog get something made by YOU!

A month in review

2009-03-03T15:42:00.000-08:00

I'm so busy with life these days that I sometimes forget that I have a bog to update. Let's face it- I'm a bad blogger. So here's a review of what we were up to in February (mostly for journaling purposes):

-Bryan and I made it to the temple together for the first time since I was pregnant. I'm embarrassed to say that it had been over a year since we had gone. It was so good to go again and feel what I had been missing for so long.

-Anna brought home Strep throat, missed 2 days of school from being sick, went to a school Valentine's dance, and got a valentine from a boy in our ward all in the same week. She's a busy girl! I really can't believe that she'll be 13 in a few weeks.

-My sister came to help me paint the basement. Thanks Aubrey!! The paint is now 90% done. It is taking so long because neither Bryan nor I have very much time to work on it. The whole project is so close to being finished, yet there seem to be so many things left to do. I'll be so glad when it's finally done and we can spread out a little. Right now we are crammed in here with not much room to roam.

-Bryan took me out for Valentines Day. We went to dinner at Pat's Barbecue in Salt Lake. If you like barbecue, you've got to try it. It's amazing! We also saw a lame movie- Mall Cop. Don't waste your money. We had limited choices of movies for the time that we could go. It was fun just to go out with out the kids. He also gave me new super-soft fluffy towels and a new pillow. I have the best husband!

-Thanks to Anna, I came down with strep throat the week after she had it. I started feeling sick on a Tuesday- but didn't do anything about it. In fact, my dad was in town so he came over for dinner. I fixed a really sorry dinner, and I'm so embarrassed that he came and ate it anyway. When I woke up Wednesday- I felt like really bad. Fever, soar throat, aching body. Bryan stayed home for half the day so I could go to the doctor. Thanks to some penicillin I'm all better, and so far no one else has gotten it.

-On Saturday the 21st we went on a tour of the new Draper Temple. We were able to meet up with some family. There was Bryan's parents, my Mom, my sister Aubrey and her family, and Aubrey's mother-in-law and niece. It is very beautiful and the kids had a great time walking through it. Ellie has had some questions lately about what it's like to get married in the temple. She's asked if you get to walk down an isle or have flower girls. It was really neat to show her the sealing room and teach her about temple marriages.

-This last Saturday (the 28th) we drove up to Logan for my niece's baptism. Islay Mae was baptized and we are so proud of her! She is such a sweet girl and I'm so glad that we were able to be a part of her special day.

It was a busy month- I guess having 4 kids keeps my hands fuller then I ever imagined it would. But honestly, I wouldn't change a thing!

This one's for you Mom

2009-02-06T15:46:00.001-08:00

My mom has been asking for a new video of the baby. We don't get to see her much even though we are only about a 90 min drive away. I tried for a few days to get a good video of Kate, but she's decided that she likes the camera a lot. Once she see's it out she drops whatever she was up to and heads straight for it. So this is as good as it's going to get for now, enjoy Mom!

Bryan and the missing fingernail clippers

2009-02-04T08:42:00.000-08:00

I wrote this up in December and never posted it . Let's just say that I love my husband!

Bryan went to clip his fingernails last night but couldn't find any nail clippers. He came out of the bathroom saying something like "Why is it that I can never find any nail clippers when I need them?" Well, I apologized and blamed it on the kids since they're always taking things and not putting them back. I was pretty sure through that they were probably in my bathroom drawer, which was a mess to say the least. So I went into the bathroom, closed the door, and started cleaning out my drawer. When I finished a few minutes later I still had no nail clippers. Where were they?!? So just out of curiosity, I decided to looked through Bryan's drawer. And look what I found...Yes, that's right, 6 pairs of nail clippers. After finding these gems, I walked out of the bathroom and said "I found all 6 of these in your drawer, which one would you like to use?" He wasn't too pleased. Why is it that husbands and children can not find things unless they are in plain sight.

Trouble- with a capital T!

2009-01-22T08:29:00.000-08:00

She's not Kate anymore- She's Trouble!

Kate has reached that wonderful age where she gets into everything! She rips pages out of books, pulls dish towels out of the drawer, terrorizes the cat, and so much more! I've even had to put baby-proof latches on some of our cabinets in the kitchen this week. Next, I'll have to get another baby gate for our stairs that go up; we already have one on the stairs that go down. As you can see, she has quickly learned how to crawl up them! Notice how she tries to kick the cat when she gets to the top- little rascal!

If you watch the whole video, you'll hear her say "uh-oh". I guess it's her first word (if it's considered a word). She’ll actually drop something on the ground and say “uh-oh”.

blogger vacation

2009-01-19T15:45:00.000-08:00

Has it really been a month since I last posted?!? Sorry, I'm on blogger vacation. Here's a quick look at what we've been up too, and some pictures from Christmas...

-We had a great Christmas, everyone got what they wanted- including me (a new digital camera!)...

-We had a great New Years, actually stayed up until past midnight- a first in a long time...

-School started back up again(hooray!!)...

-Bryan went back to work after being home for a month (hooray!!- just kidding I actually really enjoyed him being home with me)...

-Some of us (Bryan, Kate & Anna) got the stomach bug that's been going around- YUCK!

-Kate cut another tooth and had her 9 month check-up- she's great!

-The basement got drywalled, mudded & taped, and textured...

-Now it's my turn- I guess I'm in charge of painting. I liked to paint until I started priming, it's the pits!

-Hopefully I'll be finished soon so my life can return to it's semi-normal state!

Don't give up on me- I'll be back at it soon!

Random Happenings

2008-12-18T21:20:00.000-08:00

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

2008-12-06T20:24:00.000-08:00

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

2008-12-04T13:54:00.000-08:00

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

Thanksgiving Fun

2008-12-02T10:28:00.000-08:00

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-

2008-11-23T18:11:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-17T14:45:00.000-08:00

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!

2008-11-10T10:20:00.000-08:00

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...

2008-11-05T21:04:00.001-08:00

...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

2008-11-01T14:42:00.000-07:00

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...

2008-10-28T09:58:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-10-26T19:43:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-19T14:45:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-08T09:56:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-06T10:05:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-10-02T13:06:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-19T13:09:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-09-09T07:54:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-08-27T14:29:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-26T06:18:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-24T20:27:00.000-07:00

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!

WOW- 7th grade!

2008-08-20T13:26:00.000-07:00

Dear Anna-

We can't believe you started 7th grade today. It seems like just last year that you were starting kindergarten. You've grown up into such a wonderful, helpful, sweet, beautiful young lady. Study hard, make new good friends, and have fun in your new school. We know it's not always going to be easy but try to remember, Dad and I are always here for you if you need help or someone to talk to!

We love you!-

Mom & Dad

Here are some picture of Anna's first day of school from years past. Her kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grade picture were taken before our digital camera so they're in a box somewhere. Oh well!

3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th Grade!

Absolutely Cheesy!

2008-08-18T20:00:00.000-07:00

My sister started a new blog. Check it out for some cute crafty ideas, and maybe some free stuff! The link is...
http://absolutelycheesy.blogspot.com/

Fun at Park City

2008-08-18T14:13:00.000-07:00

Last week, Bryan's company had a summer party at The Park City Mountain Resort. We spent the afternoon there riding the rides, eating dinner, and having a great time! Ellie and Tyler got their faces painted, Bryan took the 3 older kids on the Alpine Slide a few times, we took turns taking them on the Alpine Coaster, Anna & I rode the Zip Rider, Ellie did the Legacy Launcher, Anna climbed the Climbing Wall, and mixed in there somewhere was some Miniature Golf playing. The weather was great, the mountains were beautiful and we all had a fabulous time!

Anna and me riding the chairlift up the mountain so that we could ride the Zip Rider back down. She was pretty nervous, but still had fun!

Ellie getting ready to jump on the Legacy Launcher. She was actually able to do some flips while jumping. In case you can't tell, it's a butterfly painted on her face.

Bryan and Tyler getting ready to ride the Alpine Coaster. This was by far the best ride there. Do you like Tyler's Batman face?

The fam getting off the Alpine Slide. They came down so fast that I wasn't able to get a picture of them still on it. By the time I had the camera out, they were all getting off. Oh well!

The day wouldn't have been complete without Tyler throwing a fit (because that's what he does best)! Let's just say that Batman face paint and tears do not mix!

And lastly, sweet baby Kate. She spent the afternoon and evening eating and hanging out in her car seat. Maybe next year she can play too.