Growing Up Grover

Cousins

2012-02-06T13:52:00.000-08:00

are nice to have around sometimes.

Eat Me

2012-02-03T10:35:00.000-08:00

Leelee is six months old (almost six and a half by now, yikes!) and so I begrudgingly had to start her on solids. I'm trying to keep her my little baby for as long as possible and luckily, she's complying with my little plan. I knew the doctor was going to ask me at her six month check up if I had started her on solids and I wanted to at least be able to say that I had. So on January 18th I finally decided to break out the rice cereal.

She was all smiles before we started.

My trusty helper. Pretty much everywhere we go someone asks Colby if he is a good big brother so he takes this responsibility seriously. (And yeah I totally color coordinated the whole ordeal... um no, I so did not.)

"What is this crap Woman?!"

Let the gagging begin.

"I think I'll just sit here with my mouth open and let the spit collect and not swallow until everything just slides out of my mouth."

Colby took this pic for me, it was the best one.

And then we made cookies, because cookies make everything better.

And the drama continues because she still does not like to eat solids, she does the same gagging/holding/drooling with applesauce too. I'm just not sure what to do at this point. Just wait a week or so and try again? Who knows? I've never had a baby resist this much, she just really only wants to nurse. I guess I waited too long to start and now she's exercising a little control. So she's refusing to grow up just like I wanted her too. :)

The 12 Days of Christmas- Day 12

2011-12-24T21:52:00.000-08:00

On the 12th day of Christmas blog posts I give you

"A Very Merry Christmas"

Merry Christmas

to all

and to all

a good night!

May all your Christmas dreams come true

and may the peace and love of the Savior fill your heart the whole year through!

The 12 Days of Christmas- Day 11

2011-12-23T23:59:00.000-08:00

On the 11th day of Christmas blog posts I give you "Christmas Baking"

I love to bake, especially at Christmastime.

Unfortunately, I love to eat just as much.

Oh well, that's what New Year's resolutions are for, right?

The kids and I had a little fun baking (and eating) tonight.

"Cooking is at once child's play and adult joy. And cooking done with care is an act of love."

~Craig Clairborne

And I just thought I'd throw in a picture of Gracie as Mrs. Claus in the 5th grade play since I can't get any of the videos to upload. I told her it was ok that she was tall because it would just make the elves really look like elves. She was a fantastic Mrs. Claus!

The 12 Days of Christmas- Day 10

2011-12-22T23:59:00.000-08:00

On the 10th day of Christmas blog posts I give you "Great Expectations"

I feel like my life is a tornado right about now. Whirling around faster than I can keep up with. Days are over and done with before I hardly realize what the date is or what day of the week it is. I had so many good intentions for this month before Christmas arrived. Christmas crafts and baking, service projects and cards and lots and lots of time with my children.

Now here it is two days before Christmas and I'm left feeling like the whole month has just fallen through my hands as fast as sand falls through the hourglass and it won't slow down and it won't just stop so I can catch my breath. And I can't do anything about it except feel overwhelmed with everything still needing to be done and depressed about everything that didn't get done. Even these little blog posts have added pressure to my life but I set a goal and I want to keep it so there is at least one thing where I can say, see, I did what I set out to do!

Tonight while I was wallowing in my pool of things to do my husband gently chided me for feeling like this. He pointed out all the wonderful things that HAVE happened this month: we went to see the temple lights with a lady Kris works with and her girls AND had them come to church with us (twice!), we watched the First Presidency Christmas Devotional, attended two band concerts and a school play, made a gingerbread house with Rex at school, took the trip to Sedona, saw the Nutcracker, got our visiting teaching and home teaching done (yay!), made it to the ward Christmas party, set up, went to and cleaned up the Relief Society Christmas dinner, went to see a train display and had a little family party afterwards, have a secret Santa doing the 12 Days of Christmas for us, had some cousin lunches and playdates, and not to mention getting ready for Christmas, if you know what I mean. And all this in addition to just the regular craziness that ensues on a daily basis around these parts.

His moral: Cut myself some slack. And lower my expectations.

For some reason these are hard for me to do, but I am working on it.

At Christmastime especially I just really want life to be fun and meaningful for my children and I guess sometimes I'm just looking so hard I don't see what's right in front of me.

So- my goal for the next few days: take a deep breath, smile and make sure my family knows how much I love them. Especially my husband. Gosh I love that guy! He is so patient with me.

Colby, 12/25/09

"Sometimes you just can't keep your kids from crawling under the tree. Sometimes you just can't do everything in life that you want to and sometimes that's ok." ~Me

The 12 Days of Christmas- Day 9

2011-12-21T23:42:00.000-08:00

On the 9th day of Christmas blog posts (are you sick of 'em yet?) I give you

"Early Christmas"

The morning we headed for home from Sedona Kris' parents wanted us to open their gifts since we won't be seeing them on Christmas. So we got a little taste of Christmas and the kids were super excited.

If you know my kids you know they are obsessed with stuffed animals, a whole lot. It's something my brain does not comprehend since I've never been a stuffed animal person (they get it from their father). So they were pretty excited to open these little guys. As far as stuffed animals go these ones are pretty dang cute. They're made by Scentsy and come with a little scent packet that zips into their back. Anything that helps it smell better around here is a welcome addition. Their grandma picked each animal and scent to go with each child's personality and they were all so happy.

"It is good to be children sometimes, and never better than at Christmas,

when its mighty Founder was a child Himself."

~Charles Dickens

The 12 Days of Christmas- Day 8

2011-12-20T22:02:00.000-08:00

On the 8th day of Christmas blog posts I give you "Snow"

These were the skies we woke up to one morning in Sedona. Foggy, misty, full.

It was mysteriously beautiful.

It snowed all the way to Williams on our way to the Polar Express and the kids were in heaven when we got there. Last winter they pined away for snow and were so depressed when we didn't ever get to see any. This little trip made their winter. Oh they were so excited to run and play and throw snowballs. It made me sad. And happy. It seems to be a theme for me this Christmas.

And then we drove back to Sedona that night on snowy roads during a crazy blizzard. The likes of which we haven't seen since we lived in the 'Burg. Kinda miss that. Oh wait, no I don't. But my kids do. My kids sure do.

“I love snow for the same reason I love Christmas: It brings people together while time stands still. Cozy couples lazily meandered the streets and children trudged sleds and chased snowballs. No one seemed to be in a rush to experience anything other than the glory of the day, with each other, whenever and however it happened” ~Rachel Cohn

The 12 Days of Christmas- Day 7

2011-12-19T22:32:00.000-08:00

On the 7th Day of Christmas blog posts I give you
"The Polar Express"

While we were in Sedona Kris' parents took us on a little jaunt over to Williams to board the Polar Express. Yes indeedy we took a trip to the North Pole. Here is a photograph extravaganza of the experience:

"At one time most of my friends could hear the bell, but as years passed, it fell silent for all of them. Even Sarah found one Christmas that she could no longer hear its sweet sound. Though I've grown old, the bell still rings for me as it does for all who truly believe."

~Chris Van Allsburg

Do you still hear the bell?

The 12 Days of Christmas- Day 6

2011-12-18T22:20:00.000-08:00

On the 6th day of Christmasy blog posts I give you

"The Christmas Card That Never Was"

I had really good intentions of doing a Christmas card this year what with the new baby and all but those flew out the window when I realized there was only a week and a half left before Christmas and I was starting to feel completely overwhelmed by the thought. So, I'm trying not to feel bad about it but I thought I'd post the pictures that I was intending to use for the card. We found this really cool deer statue in Sedona that they put a red nose on and I thought it would be a good place to take pictures in front of, it was perfect for a Christmas card. Trust me, I know these pictures aren't that great. It was a spur of the moment thing so I realize that nobody is looking their best, but we just were going with it as my expectations are pretty low at this point in life. It's hard when you get this many kids to get a great picture so I'm usually left deciding which child is not going to look as cute. Do we go with the one that Colby is looking away or the one where Rex isn't smiling? The one where Matthew is busting up laughing or where Owen is smirking?

Here were a few of our best choices:

And check out our cute little Christmas Cabbage Patch Kid:

"Happy, happy Christmas, that can win us back to the delusions of our childhood days, recall to the old man the pleasures of his youth, and transport the traveler back to his own fireside and quiet home."

~Charles Dickens

The 12 Days of Christmas- Day 5

2011-12-17T22:54:00.000-08:00

On the 5th day of Christmasy blog posts I give you "Christmas Past"

I get so sentimental and sappy at Christmastime and so I was looking at old pictures and being sad about my children growing up. I hate how fast time goes by and how my children cannot stay small forever. I want to experience all of life all at the same time and keep all my memories fresh in my mind and never forget them. Never forget how cute my children are. Never forget what they were like as babies, or two years old, or five years old. Never move away and leave people behind. Live everywhere I want to and never miss anything.

Here are some photos of our first Christmas in Rexburg (the second time around) when my three (yes, I only had three at the time) children were oh so small and oh so cute. Oh how I miss Rexburg and all the people we left behind and oh how I miss these times of enjoying childhood in its most glorious and simple ways.

I found this quote and I felt like it summed up exactly what I was feeling. I don't mean to be all sappy and sad but the weight of memories and times past are weighing on my heart during this month. Maybe it's just because I feel like life is so fleeting and I want to grab it all up and hold onto it and never let it go. I want my children to always feel loved and special and never lonely and I always want their memories to be happy.

"Isn't it funny that at Christmas something in you gets so lonely for - I don't know what exactly, but it's something that you don't mind so much not having at other times."

~Kate L. Bosher

The 12 Days of Christmas- Day 4

2011-12-16T23:25:00.000-08:00

On the 4th day of Christmasy blog posts I give you the "Luminaria Lighting"

Last weekend Kris' folks invited us on a little trip to Sedona and we just happened to be there on the one night they do a lighting of 6000 luminarias at the Tlaquepaque Arts and Crafts Village.

We went a little early to wander around and see the shops and listen to a little music.

Then, when it was time, the kids had a blast getting to light the luminarias. Every kid is a pyro at heart, right? And this was a bonafied, public-sanctioned opportunity to play with fire. Matthew might have even blown out more than a few of them just so he could relight them.

It was such a beautiful night and we enjoyed the company, the entertainment, the art and the beauty of all those lights.

We were trying to show all the lit luminarias in the background of these pictures, it was a sight to see so many of them.

A Christmas candle is a lovely thing;
It makes no noise at all,
But softly gives itself away.
~Eva Logue

The 12 Days of Christmas- Day 3

2011-12-15T22:26:00.000-08:00

On the 3rd day of Christmasy blog posts I give you "The Nutcracker"

For many years my sister Aliece has been involved with Ballet Etudes Nutcracker and it was always tradition to go and see it or be involved with it one way or another. After we moved to Idaho that sort of fell by the wayside. Now that we are back in Arizona and now that Aliece has passed the performing torch to her daughter, Audrey, we decided we better go and see it again. So Kindra (my sister-in-law) and I decided we should take our girls and have a little girls night fun. The performance was lovely as always and aside from sitting in the squeakiest chair known to man and having to pay full price for my 4 month old baby we had a wonderful time. Darn it all if I didn't get a picture of all of the girls together! After the show we had fun getting frozen yogurt with Audrey and Aliece. This may have to be a new tradition!

The 12 Days of Christmas- Day 2

2011-12-14T20:44:00.000-08:00

On the 2nd day of Christmasy blog posts I give to you "Santa"

Rex and the Big Guy

Santa has a seat on Owen's lap

Gracie may be gettin' a little too big to sit on Santa's lap

Leelee's first Santa pic, she's too small to be afraid of him yet

The gang's all here.

Colby thinks Santa is "nice but scary" (like on Despicable Me) so he would hold his finger but he would not go near his lap.

"Alas! How dreary would be the world if there was no Santa Claus!... There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence." -Francis P. Church

The 12 Days of Christmas- Day 1

2011-12-13T21:30:00.000-08:00

So I had this great idea to do 12 days of Christmasy blog posts leading up to Christmas. I'm sure it's super original and nobody else is doing it (insert huge eye roll here), buy heyyyy the more the merrier!

Without further ado here we go:

On the 1st day of Christmas blog posts I give you the "Decorated Tree"

We had a jolly good time. Especially since Kris hung all the lights, what a gem of a husband I have! (Someday we'll have a prelit tree again.) We also went with a paper chainlink garland that the kids made this year instead of the usual ribbon around the tree. They were pretty excited and proud of themselves about that.

Chock-full of home-made, school-made, grandma-made, relief-society-made ornaments. Just the way I like it. I'm a sentimental schmuck and I like my tree to be full of ornaments that evoke wonderful memories every time I look at them. No show tree for me.

Frankenstein joined in on the fun. And we moved the tree into the corner after we were all done, it was just easier to decorate it over by the door.

"The best of all Christmas gifts around any tree: the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other." -Burton Hillis

Why We Call Her 'SqueaLee'

2011-12-06T14:04:00.000-08:00

"O"vember

2011-12-04T23:46:00.000-08:00

Soooo, November was a big month for the O-man. He turned the big EIGHT! But I don't have any pictures worth posting because I could not get the edited ones to upload, it's making me crazy but some pictures of me first thing in the morning are not suitable for the public to view. :) These kids just won't stop growing up. It's all passing me by too quickly. Please! Time. Slow. Down. I'm begging you!

On the 11th of November we went to the Veterans' Day parade. We were glad we did. It brought back memories of the 4th of July parades in Rexburg and they even threw out some candy for good measure. I honestly didn't think we'd ever see a parade like that in Mesa. We were very happy. A picnic in the park with cousins rounded out our awesome day. Thank you Veterans' for making it all possible!

The next day Owen lost his first top tooth. He's eight and he had only lost two bottom teeth. I guess he's a late loser. He'd been working on this tooth for quite awhile and finally Dad was able to get it out. Soon all he'll want for Christmas is his two front teeth.

The Sunday after his birthday we finally had his birthday cake at family dinner. He requested a wizard's hat on his cake. Please ignore the horrific editing job on this photo. I was trying something and it went awry and of course I can't get the unedited one to upload, but that picture isn't all that great either. Oh well. Can you tell I'm a little frustrated with blogger at the moment?

On the 26th Owen was baptized. It was a beautiful time with a wonderful spirit and good family and friends there. I'll admit it was a little hectic having it Thanksgiving weekend but we survived. Barely.

Imagine being late for your own son's baptism. Yes, I was. Only about three minutes but luckily the font was late getting filled, and well, since I'm the mom they wouldn't have started without me anyway. :)

My handsome boys!

Grannie and Pops

Aunt Hayley and Uncle EJ
(My, my Owen sure does look handsome in his suit!)

Future missionaries

Owen with his cousin Nick

I couldn't resist posting a few photos of this little cutie!

I could just eat her up!

Budding Photog

2011-11-23T22:02:00.000-08:00

Colby loves to get ahold of the camera and take pictures. I think some of them are actually pretty good. Of course this drives Kris up a wall crazy, a three year old running amuck with the camera. But sometimes I just can't wait to see what turns up on the memory card.

Here's a view of his portfolio:

And just in case ya missed it (ahem Mom) be sure and look below at Leelee's blessing post. She's such a sweet little angel. We kinda like her (alot).

Blessed

2011-11-08T12:06:00.000-08:00

Beautiful day, beautiful baby, beautiful blessing.

Yep, that about sums it up.

Pops and Grannie

Aunt Hayley and Uncle EJ

The Bunch

Christmas photo? Perhaps.

Big Bro. Matthew being silly.

Beautiful Sisters

Big Bro. Owen

Big Bro. Rex

Big Bro. Colby

Dang, this girl is going to have some serious protection!

Beautiful Leelee

She's wearing a bracelet made by Aunt Michelle, glad we had a piece of her with us.

She loved the crinkly texture of the bow on her dress and it was so easy grab and suck on, which she's doing a lot of these days.

We are so blessed to have this sweet, special little girl in our family!

It Was Jared Leto

2011-11-06T20:54:00.000-08:00

Maybe Kris and I were showing our age with this one since he was really big about 15-20 years ago when he was on "My So Called Life" (Was that show really on for just two seasons? It was so good! And am I really THAT old! Yikes!)

Good job Tara! And I actually thought Adam Lambert was a pretty good guess.

Read the post below if you have no idea what I'm talking about.

Happy Halloween

2011-11-05T02:42:00.000-07:00

Here's the post where I detail our Halloween weekend complete with copious amounts of photos for your viewing pleasure. Or displeasure. Or whatever.

Friday night we let the carving begin. May have been a day or two early as the pumpkins almost did not make it until Halloween.

Chomp!

It's a shocker but I actually partook in the carving this year. Luckily, Kris scraped all the guts out for me.

Oh no! Hayley's pumpkin is eating Rex' arm!

Aunt Hayley and Uncle EJ joined us for the fun. Here's everyone standing behind their respective jack-o-lanterns.

Sunday night we had a little cousin party.

Kindra provided the sugar cookies, which in turn provided tons of fun and sprinkles.

Even cousin Steph partook of the fun (and sprinkles)!

Sugar cookie bliss for Rex

Big kid ghost game of some sort that Gracie was in charge of.

Then the little cousins played Pin the Face On the Jack-O-Lantern. Now, I'm a minimal effort kind of gal so the concept and design were very simple but it did provide a generous amount of entertainment for me and Kindra.

Noah's face

Rex' face

Walter's face, he decided to leave the blindfold on.

Ren's face

Matthew's cookie

Gracie and Macie

Nick and Owen

Audrey

That's my girl!

Pumpkin bowling was a bit of a bust (the small pumpkin got smashed before we could even play the game but it's all good, the big pumpkin was a least good for a rest).

We also played flashlight tag and had a touchy feely room with such creepy offerings as brains, eyeballs, mummy ears, ghost slime and monkey hearts, ewww!

It wasn't a fancy party but I think everyone had a great time!

Halloween night we went to the ward trunk or treat and played carnival games, jumped in the bouncy castles and trick-or-treated. Fun was had by all. We love Halloween in AZ since it's not so cold you have to wear a jacket!

My girls- a masquerade ball attendee and a pirate princess (or something like that, since I'm such a slacker and didn't even plan a costume for Leelee)

Owen was a dancing skeleton

Colby the Pirate and Darth Rex

(I just have to add that the next day Colby asked me to put on his mustache before we went out and was a little upset that I wouldn't do it.)

The sweetest treat of the night.

I'm a little bummed at how dark this picture is and apparently the editing I did didn't stick.

Matthew came home and carved his pumpkin at the end of the night since he missed our carving party due to a scout camp out.

At the end of the night after Owen had showered he still had a bit of makeup around his eyes and Kris and I thought he looked like a certain celebrity, any guesses?

What Happens When...

2011-10-08T11:30:00.000-07:00

you leave Colby alone with a box of chocolate frosted donuts?
He helps himself to a few, thank you very much.

And he just likes to nibble the frosting off, cuz that waxy goodness is the best part, right?

Somebody had a birthday

2011-10-02T15:53:00.000-07:00

We celebrated Colby's 3rd birthday at the end of August. He was super excited for his birthday donuts, even more excited for those than for his presents.

We kept it a low key affair. When they're young and don't really know the difference I like to keep it easy and cheap. So we took the family swimming, it's one of Colby's favorite things to do so he was very happy. This happened to be Leelee's first trip to the pool.

He got some birthday money in the mail from his grandparents in Idaho so he got to have a little shopping trip. It was hilarious. It hadn't started out as a trip to the store to spend his birthday money but we walked by these shoes at the end of an aisle and he was in love. "MOM, I WANT THESE!" And I was thinking, "No way!" (I'm generally not a fan of character shoes) plus they weren't even on sale. But then I remembered that he had his birthday money so I said, "well, if you really want them then you can buy them with your birthday money." He exclaimed, "I do want these. I REALLY do want these." So in the cart they went and thus began his shopping adventure.

He wandered up and down the toy aisles looking and looking and when he found an item that he knew he wanted, in the basket it went. He was very picky and selected only items that he knew he would love. And if you know Colby you'll understand his next choice: a hat.

Here he is posing with all his loot: the shoes, the pirate hat, a bat and ball set, a giant bouncy ball, a Frisbee, and a Nerf rocket football. He was even funny when he had to choose between two items because he didn't have enough money left to buy both, he was very matter of fact and decisive. No tantrums, just a very satisfying shopping trip with a three year old. I'm still laughing about how grown up he was about the whole thing and how much fun he had getting to spend all of his money.

I have to say that this little boy challenges me to the very innermost core of my being. I was sorta hoping that once he turned three all the difficulties I have with him would just melt away and I would have this delightful little three year old. I love three year olds, it's such a fun age. Alas, it has not exactly turned out that way. He knows how to push buttons I didn't even know I had and I have come to the determination that he is the child that will teach me patience far greater than all the others. BUT, I love him fiercely and our family wouldn't be the same without him. He definitely livens this place up! He's already looking forward to his next birthday and talks about this birthday as if it were yesterday. He tells people "my birthday was 'last day' " (meaning yesterday). I tried to explain to him about Christmas and I think he's starting to get excited for that.

We love you Colby!

New Beginnings (again)

2011-09-02T14:27:00.000-07:00

This year the first day of school was perhaps even harder than last year. New schools (again) for everyone. More nervousness, trepidation, and excitement. All from me.

Ha! Not all from me, but most of it.

Matthew started Jr. high at a school where he hardly knows a soul. I can't believe I have a 7th grader! He seems even more grown up now than during the summer.

Gracie's a 5th grader. It was a rough first few weeks, being the only new girl in her grade. Tears were shed, discussions were held about going back to the old school but she stuck it out. She's settling in nicely now. Just got elected class representative for student council. Settling in quite nicely it would seem.

Owen's a big ol' second grader now. Owen's a cool cat, makes lots of friends wherever he goes and charms the pants off his teachers. No worries here.

My little Rexy started kindergarten this year, my first full day-er to date. It was hard on me but he was so excited and he loves school. It helps that he has two siblings at the school with him. It's so fun to see the excitement of learning through his eyes.

Poor little Colby, once he saw all the big kids go off to school he suddenly decided he wanted to go too. He didn't want to leave after we took them all to their classes. Poor kid, nobody tell him he's got three years to go...

As I said, he was pretty sad he doesn't get to go...

This was the only picture I took of Leelee on the first day of school. At this point in her life she was still sleeping most of the time. :)

Double Digits!!!

2011-09-01T10:48:00.000-07:00

My little girl isn't so little anymore, well she hasn't been for quite some time but at least her age is starting to catch up to her. She'll probably still get mistaken for a teenager but at least now that she's in the double digits it will hopefully not seem so shocking, at least for me.

Dad got her a special pink coconut covered donut. She loves coconut.

This year for her birthday Gracie said she wanted a shopping spree. So all she got for her birthday was money and she and I (and the baby, of course) spent the day shopping. We stopped by Dad's work and then went to Ikea, the mall and Target. She cracked me up with how frugal she was. Ikea was pretty much a waste of time because she didn't want to buy anything there without seeing what all her options at the mall were. She spent a ridiculously large amount of time at the rock store as she carefully chose a few select rocks. She bought a geode which was cool because she came home and got to break it open to see what was inside.

After about four hours of shopping she had spent a whopping $11, she eventually spent more over the next week or so.

A few facts about Gracie:

She wears a size 11 shoe in womens. Yes, you read that right- size 11. Bigger than me, we barely got to enjoy the sharing shoe phase and she's 10 for crying out loud. Oh please do not let this girl be taller than six feet, but her big feet have me concerned. I should note that it does not seem to bother her one bit at all and unfortunately she has been blessed with no coordination.

I have never had to deal with friend drama with her at all. She is a good friend and she gets along well with others and doesn't seem to ever get caught up in any nonsense.

She hates (HATES, I tell you!) to do chores. You see, she is a child who likes to have fun. She likes to craft and write and play and daydream and do fun things! And chores are so not fun! Oh, and she also always leaves her dirty clothes in the bathroom. But, I might add, she has been keeping her room in super neat condition (mostly) since we moved into our house, nothing like this.

She's an awesome big sister. Since she likes to have fun she is always coming up with new games to play with her little brothers. She was my savior this summer while I was suffering through my pregnancy. She kept those boys entertained for hours each day playing school and doing other fun activities.

She's super smart. She scored 100 on the state standardized test in the language/reading section and only missed 3 points overall. (But I'm not bragging or anything :)

She practices her instruments faithfully, without ever being asked to do it. Last year it was the violin, this year it's the clarinet (sorry Em!) since she wanted to join the band.

She gets hot very easily, hence the flushed cheek look she sports in so many pictures. The only one of my kids to suffer from this. Weird.

Happy 10th Gracie, my dear, you are a supremely wonderful, fantastically amazing daughter! We're so lucky you're ours!

Little Leelee

2011-08-31T00:24:00.000-07:00

I'm finally getting around to posting our baby story. Around the first week of July I was starting to get excited for Leelee to join us and as the dates started to roll by I kept hoping I'd go into labor. July 7th would have been cool since her sister's birthday is 8/8, or 7/8 would have been fun too, or lucky 7/11, or 7/13 (my birthday), 7/15 (Michelle's birthday), 7/17 (I just like the numbers), 7/20 (my grandma's birthday), or 7/21 (Kris' grandma's birthday). Pretty much any day in July would have worked. My due date was the 19th so I was praying that whatever day she did decide to come it would be before that date. I was going out of my mind crazy being super pregnant in the middle of this hot summer with all the kids home. Out. Of. My. Mind. Crazy. Just ask Kris or the kids. On second thought, don't ask them as I'm sure they would be brutally honest and I'd rather pretend like it didn't happen.

I had lots of contractions starting around the second week of July thus feeding into my furious desire to go into labor. I dragged Kris on many hot summer night walks around the neighborhood trying to get them to progress into something serious. We had an unfortunate trip to the hospital after having several hours of regular contractions that were getting seemingly stronger and were less than five minutes apart. We dragged the kids out of their beds in the middle of the night and hauled them to my mom's only to be sent home from the hospital after 5 hours of being monitored and walking the halls. I don't dilate early and I was too far from my due date for them to "help" me along so they sent me home and of course eventually the contractions stopped. That had never happened to me before, I felt so dumb. Here I am having my sixth child, I KNOW what it's like to go into labor for crying out loud! I thought for sure I would not leave that hospital without a baby. And to top it off Kris wasted one of his precious vacation days that would've come in handy when the baby actually got here!

Further into the month I began to get increasingly discouraged but eventually came to the realization there was nothing I could do to speed things up. So we waited and waited. We watched her due date roll by (the kids were certain she would be born that day since it was her DUE DATE after all!) At my appointment that day the doctor left it up to me, whether I wanted to be induced or not. At this point my frazzled brain and hot, heavy laden body could handle no more. Induce me! Please! I was SO ready!

I really wanted to go into labor on my own but I don't think she had any intentions of coming out anytime soon so on the 22nd we headed to the hospital to help her along. We had an awesome nurse, same one that had been there the night we had the false episode and she remembered us. We laughed and joked the whole time. She has a son named Rush, how cool is that? Everything went so smoothly. The anesthesiologist jokingly asked us if we were going for the big family discount, buy 6 get one free.

Me, moments before changing into that lovely hospital gown.

Kris moved his chair across the room so he could sit next to me in the rocker. This is the scene our nurse walked into and she asked us for our camera. We were like two little old people sitting in our rockers watching TV. Reminds me of my great-grandma and grandpa, they had two recliners together in front of the TV.

The labor and delivery were great. Once my water was broken she was born quickly. In fact, we had been watching Wheel of Fortune, my mom was there and if you know my mom she doesn't miss Wheel, not even for a grandbaby :) and Leelee happened to be born right during the middle of it. Not that we were watching or anything (well, Mom might have been) and we joked about naming her Vanna. Such a happy, wonderful time. We are so blessed.

Our Little Leelee

July 22nd

8 lbs. 15 oz.

21in.

(2nd biggest, I can't believe I thought she would be my smallest!)

It's good to start life off with a few good leg rolls.

Finally a sister!

Big Bro Colbs

Daddy and daughter

Meeting Grannie, part of her namesake. (Actually, she'd already met her the day before...)

A family portrait for me at the hospital by Owen

Big Bro Matt

Big Bro O

Big Bro Rex

(this little girl is going to have some serious protection)

Our happy family

We feel so blessed and happy to have Leelee in our family. She has a sweet and calming presence. She is loved by all. Colby has his moments of picking on her but mostly he loves to hold his little Weelee (as he calls her). I am just trying to savor the days of her newborn babyness, I know they will be gone far too soon...

It's My Party...

2011-07-13T13:02:00.000-07:00

Today is my 34th birthday. Yikes, am I really that old? Really? Yes, it's true. I'm just trying to go with the flow. And if I live to be 100 (as I plan to) then my life is just over 1/3 of the way done. So, c'est la vie. Anyway, I didn't really want to blog to lament the fact that I'm getting older I wanted to blog about how cute my kids are because as Matthew told me this morning after he apologized for not getting me a gift he said that the best gift he could give me would be to be a good person since I am the one who gave him life. Too true. And so sweet. And Colby sang me "Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday" all by himself.

Then Owen and Rex unveiled this beauty:

It's a lego creation that they built, h b m, it stands for Happy Birthday Mom!

Then Gracie gave me her gift, a memory box.

Dang these photos that won't rotate! Why will some do it and others won't!?

Leave it to Gracie...

I can store all my special keepsakes in here.

I feel so loved today, the kids all want me to have a special day, they let me sleep in with minimal interruptions- they even waited so patiently to eat their breakfast since we had donuts and they couldn't eat them without me. I love these kids, they are my best gifts!

(I'm sad that Kris had to miss all the festivities, I'm glad he went and got the donuts this morning before work. He has to leave for work at 6:20 and I sure didn't want to wake up at 6 on my birthday, or wake up all the kids for that matter. Love you, Babe!)

4th Fun

2011-07-12T01:07:00.000-07:00

Let me just start off by saying I was so depressed that we weren't in Rexburg this 4th of July. Like majorly depressed. It's so hot here and I'm so pregnant and I LOVE spending the 4th in Rexburg, I love a small town 4th of July celebration. So, as dismal as I was we managed to gear ourselves up and have a little fun. On Saturday evening we went to downtown Mesa to take part in their celebration for the 4th. They had tons of slides and jumpy castles set up for the kids and I was afraid there would be masses of people but there weren't, and I was afraid we would be melting hot but it really wasn't too terrible, especially once the sun went down. In the end we managed to have quite a good time.

Here's a prego photo, I haven't posted any so here you go, 38 weeks and counting...

(I can't believe how blond Gracie's hair looks.)

I get so annoyed when I can't get the pictures to turn the way I want them to...

Owen and Colby on the slide.

Rex

(sorry for the crappy photo quality)

Gracie and Colby

The kids had lots of fun on the water slides.

Matthew

We found a nearly empty corner that had a perfect view of the fireworks, it was awesome! I was really impressed by what the city of Mesa put together. We were so glad we went.

We love this land!

And I may or may not have promised the kids that we would go to Rexburg next year for the Fourth of July (or maybe the whole month of July, if only I could figure out a way to make that happen, any ideas people?)

Swimming Summer

2011-07-08T00:26:00.000-07:00

We've been doing LOTS of swimming this summer, almost every day. We are very happy to have a community pool in our neighborhood and the kids enjoyed a couple of weeks of swimming lessons where they each improved greatly on their swimming skills. We'll have them turned into Arizona water babies before long. Every Friday after the summer movies we've been going over to the Bergen's for a little swim/pizza party. This particular Friday happened to be the week of Rex' and Ren's birthdays.

The newly three and five year olds and almost all the cousins (who live here).

Everyone enjoyed the cupcakes Kindra made (I probably could've eaten 5)!

Then we called cousin Mia in Idaho to wish her a happy birthday since it happened to be her birthday on that very day. Wish she could've been here to help us celebrate!

Number 5 is Alive!

2011-07-06T22:21:00.000-07:00

Rex turned 5 in June and he was pretty excited. I love my little Rexy and I'm really sad he's old enough to be in kindergarten now, I hate how fast time flies. He's lovable, fun, friendly, laid back, sweet, and smart. He especially loves anything to do with numbers.

Enjoying his birthday donut. (They get their love of maple donuts from their dad, yuck!)

We celebrated with a little family party at Chuck E Cheese's, as you can see he was pretty excited.

We were glad Granny and Pops could make it.

He seemed more excited to get this water gun from Gracie than to get any of his other presents.

The boys.

The kids raked in the tickets, apparently they found a game with a glitch and scored a billion tickets. More than they've ever had before, they had lots of fun picking out their prizes and the guy at the counter was super nice and patient :).

The big present. Maybe once summer is over he'll get a chance to actually ride it. (Kris and I have this thing about bikes, in Arizona you get bikes for Christmas because it's perfect weather for riding. In Rexburg it doesn't make any sense to get a bike for Christmas because you won't be able to ride it for another 4 months. And it looks like Rex shouldn't get a bike for his birthday in AZ because it's just getting hot enough that you don't want to be outside anymore unless you're at the pool, lesson learned.)

The birthday cake. It was a store bought ice cream cake and I thought it was pretty gross, another lesson learned. At least the kids enjoyed it.

Happy 5th birthday Rex!

Last Day of School

2011-07-06T01:01:00.000-07:00

The kids had their last day of school on May 26th. Which I was so grateful for because by this point I was just flat out exhausted from all the end of the school year festivities (it didn't help being 7 1/2 months pregnant).

Here's a pic of them on the first day of school.

And here they are on the last day (just to see how much they've changed). Funny, Matthew's wearing the same shirt. I think Colby's changed the most!

Matthew graduated from elementary school. Which to him was kind of weird since he took a step backward when we moved here, he'd already been to middle school last year and had to go back to elementary school. Poor Matthew. But, onward and upward to junior high. Eeek! Do I really have a 7th grader?!?

Way to go Matthew! It was a difficult year as far as moving and adjustment and change but he survived and his grades were awesome!

He had an excellent teacher, Mr. Monette. He did a lot to help him survive the year. He is a teacher who goes the extra mile and really cares about his students. I'm so glad Matthew had him for a teacher this year.

Rex and Colby had a blast at the end of the year splash party for preschool. They played, played and played some more in the water with all their school buddies and cousins.

What a crazy year! It was just a relief knowing that we had all survived. I'm so proud of the kids for being so strong and doing so well in school in spite of all the changes and upheaval in their lives.

Preschool Graduate

2011-06-22T11:16:00.000-07:00

On May 24th, Rex graduated from preschool. He's been going to my sis-in-law's Montessori preschool and it was such a great experience for him. I know he's ready for kindergarten. The graduation ceremony was so cute program and the children all looked super adorable in their caps and gowns.

As you can see, Rex was pretty excited to graduate!

Rex and Miss Kindra

More End of the Year Stuff

2011-06-20T12:42:00.000-07:00

For moms the end of the school year is crazy and the more kids you have the worse it gets. Projects, concerts, reports, field trips, school activites, awards ceremonies, graduations and a larger influx of crap coming home from school. Seriously, I just wish the teachers would throw half of that stuff away rather than leaving it for me to deal with. Do I really want the last 10 pages of whatever workbook? No, I do not, but they send it home and I suffer guilt about throwing it away rather than having my child finish it up or play school with it or whatever. I just wish I didn't even have to see it. Anyway, on we go...

Matthew's castle project

Gracie's peregrine falcon report. They had to do written and oral parts. I think she knows everything a person could ever want to know about that bird.

Owen received the Falcon Citizenship Award. They selected two people from each class who exhibited excellent qualities. We were so proud of him for earning this. He was surprised to see me and the boys in the gym at the assembly because he had no idea so it was pretty fun to see his face.

I think these two felt a little neglected the last few weeks of school and they wanted me to take their pic in the Walmart arcade.

End of the Year Concerts

2011-06-17T16:38:00.000-07:00

I've got some super mega catching up to do as far as blogging goes so there may be several posts from me in the next little while, hopefully I can get all caught up before the baby comes. Let's start off with the end of the year concerts.
Gracie had her last orchestra concert on May 12th. She did a great job and had a lot of fun being in the orchestra this year. She's not sure if she wants to continue playing the violin or join the band next year and play the flute or something since she will have that opportunity as a 5th grader. But, playing in the orchestra has been a great experience for her.

The following week Matthew had his end of the year band concert. He received the Student of the Month Award for the month of May and a special award for being one of only two people to play two instruments in the band, he plays the bass clarinet and the soprano clarinet. Way to go Matthew!

I'm so stinkin' mad at Blogger because I've been trying to upload another video of Matthew's and I've tried about a billion times and it's just not working. This one is of him playing the bass clarinet and the quality is not great. The other one shows him playing the school song on the soprano clarinet and Kris actually got up and shot the video from a much better spot. Oh well, maybe check back later and see if I got the other video loaded.

I'm glad that my kids are enjoying being in these music programs, hopefully they will continue to for a long time!

Just Call Him Slim Shady

2011-05-20T20:24:00.000-07:00

Colby's added a new accessory to his wardrobe.

A Really Long Late Easter Post With Lots of Pictures

2011-05-19T22:17:00.000-07:00

I love to dye Easter eggs and as much as my husband hates it, it's one tradition I cannot let go. You've just gotta have hard-boiled, colored eggs to eat on Sunday. This year was kind of a last minute, thrown together, chaotic, messy ordeal but craziness be danged we did it! (And actually Kris did most of the work, boiled the eggs, got all the dyes ready, etc.)

They had to eat all the broken ones...

On Easter morning the kids wake up and find their hidden baskets. Matthew's took the longest to find. Appropriately, the hardest to find since he is the oldest, if you ask me.

The after church boiled Easter egg hunt:

Matthew was feeling a little too old for this stuff. Sniff, sniff. I knew it was coming...

It's so hard to get a good picture of everyone these days...and I missed getting one of them in their church clothes.

Then we had family dinner with cousins over. We were lucky to have Neils and Tara and Wes in town. We missed Michelle and Britny. The cousin picture was a bit of a joke, this was the best we could do...(all five of my kids were present, however!)

Then to finish off the night we had a great big, huge, plastic, candy-filled, cousin Easter egg hunt in the back yard. With probably hundreds of eggs. The kids all had a ton of fun.

It was a beautiful Easter, I was happy to be able to spend it with lots of family and I loved getting to go to the Easter pageant earlier in the week. I also got to teach the Easter lesson in our primary class.

Phew, was I tired by the end of the week!

The Best $9 I've Ever Spent

2011-04-12T12:30:00.000-07:00

This is Colby on his no-pedal bike. We first saw a little kid riding one of these in Yellowstone a few years ago and thought it was the funniest and coolest thing we'd ever seen. So I checked them out on the internet and discovered that they weren't cheap. Like $80 and up, so I pretty much wrote it off 'cuz as cool as it was I didn't really want to spend that on a little kid's bike.

Then at Christmastime I was shopping at Target and I happened upon this little beauty (unassembled in a box, of course) on a shelf and had to double check the clearance price tag of $9.08 because I could hardly believe my eyes. I could not believe my good fortune! And Colby was instantly in love! He rides this thing everywhere and he's dang fast, too. Picture a pregnant lady chasing (literally running full out) this guy down the street because he can go so stinkin' fast. And it's great for balance. I swear he'll be riding a two-wheeler before Rex. I was really hoping Rex would be able to use it but unfortunately, the balance bike is too small for him.

I would highly recommend this to parents of young children and actually I think you can find them cheaper now. The original price on the one I got at Target said it was $40 and I just looked on Amazon and found some that were $50. I've been more than happy with the one we have (and so has Colby).

Disneyland Part Three

2011-04-07T10:00:00.000-07:00

All good things must come to an end and so our trip sadly did. But we were sure to make the most of our last day. We went back and forth between Disneyland and California Adventure about three or four times. We convinced Matthew to go to Town Hall and make his birthday phone call to Goofy and get his birthday pin. By the end of the day he was kind of embarrassed by all the employees wishing him a happy birthday, but secretly I think he liked it.

We explored Bug's World at California Adventure.

These guys wanted to ride in the Chinese leftovers box.

While the rest of us rode in the applesauce container.

For some reason Rex wanted his picture taken in front of the Tower of Terror even though he refused to ride it. We rode Monsters, Inc. a time or two. Colby loved that one. We ran into these guys after Turtle Talk with Crush, which was pretty fun because Owen and I both got to talk to Crush. And this time Colby was ok with getting his picture taken with Woody, maybe it was because I was holding him. Then we ran into Handy Manny. He's pretty cute, I kind of have a thing for Latin men.

Later that night while waiting for the World of Color show to start we went on Toy Story (finally) and rode the carousel.

After the show we went back to Disneyland to live it up a little more. One of the most fun things that we did on the whole trip was ALL ride the Matterhorn together. It is officially Colby's first roller coaster and it was so great to have our whole family do it together at night on our last day. We also hit Pirates one more time and Indiana Jones, Matthew was pretty excited because he got to be the driver on his birthday. We were so exhausted at the end but we really wound up having a great time, in spite of all the rain.

Disneyland Part Dos

2011-04-04T23:28:00.000-07:00

We started off day two with some Buzz Lightyear Astro Blastin'!

Then off for some Astro Orbiting fun!

Then some undersea adventures with Nemo.

Some of us had fun riding Dumbo.

Others did not.

Colby threw his hat into the water below Dumbo, lucky for him I was able to fish it out after the ride was over.

Then over to California Adventure for some Grizzly River rafting fun. This was another of Rex' favorite rides. It's so fun when they are finally tall enough to ride some of the really fun stuff.

King Triton's Carousel provided many fun rides for the little boys while everyone else got to enjoy Screamin'.

Rex took this pic of me and Colby.

Colby and I finished off the night at the Mad Hatter while we were waiting for the gang to get done riding some big kid ride. He picked out everything he tried on of his own accord. I just took the pictures.

He was really in his element in this store. He loved it.

Gracie as the Mad Hatter himself.

Disneyland Part One

2011-04-01T10:45:00.000-07:00

During spring break we took the kids to California to celebrate Matthew's 12th birthday. Kris had been promising this to Matthew for a few years (Kris really just wanted to go back to Disneyland and he thought he needed a good reason).

Line 'em up. I think it's funny how Gracie looks like the oldest now since she is the tallest. Hopefully, Matthew will pass her soon.

Colby wanted to do anything involving the water so when he saw the canoes he made a beeline for them. The line was short and we had never done it before, everyone had a lot of fun. Everyone wanted to make a sugar straw (I have no idea what they are called) and they all had a lot of fun filling (and eating) them. While the big kids were riding Indiana Jones, the little boys and I had some fun at Tarzan's Treehouse. Rex wanted to go up twice and I was pretty worn out after all those steps. Rex and Colby just "monkeyin' around" at Tarzan's I think this is my favorite picture of the whole trip. Who doesn't love some Mickey pretzels? We always love Small World, after all. While all the big kids rode Big Thunder Mountain (Rex' favorite, by far) Colby and I hung out at Big Thunder Ranch. He would not go any closer to this huge cow and he kept looking at her and then at me with this look like "I ain't going any closer Mom."

Colby was also too terrified of Woody to get in this picture so Matthew and Gracie posed.

Colby did, however, enjoy the merry-go-round, of course.

A favorite moment of the trip for me- letting these two watch the fireworks show from our hotel window after their bath. They loved it (and we didn't have to fight the crowds).

Sun Kissed

2011-03-26T18:50:00.000-07:00

A new crop of cute little freckles sprouted on Rex' nose today.

Summer is coming!

Beach Fun

2011-03-25T22:31:00.000-07:00

The first day of our little California spring break trip was spent with a long drive and then a short little trip to the freezing cold/windy beach with Tara and her kids. Somehow that didn't deter the kids from having a little fun.

I guess they figured it's not everyday they get to go to the beach so they had better make the most of it.
Did I mention it was freezing? F-R-E-E-Z-I-N-G
I was cold and I was sitting on a blanket with a sweatshirt on.
Matthew said it was fine after awhile because his body just went numb and he couldn't feel the cold.

It's so much more fun playing in beach sand than park sand.

See, I told you it was windy.

Then we had dinner at In-N-Out. Yum. Although not quite the novelty that it once was before it came to Arizona.

A Little Bit of the Devil In Him

2011-03-16T14:07:00.000-07:00

He's growing horns.

Or maybe he's turning into Elvis (or his Uncle Wesley) with chops like those.

Anybody who knows this kid knows he really does have a little bit of the devil in him, which made this picture even funnier!

Rio Verde

2011-03-15T16:18:00.000-07:00

On Saturday we went to the Rio Verde to have a little cookout with Aunt Hayley and Uncle EJ.

Lots of fun was had.

We-

climbed trees

threw footballs (and chewed on them)

collected shells

waded in the river

skipped rocks (Matthew claims one skipped 5 times!)

chucked rocks (which is what I would have been doing since I can't skip a rock to save my life)

stripped off wet pants

and fell asleep on the way home

(with a water bottle in the mouth that he did not want removed!)

Feelin' the Love

2011-02-14T22:06:00.000-08:00

It's no secret that my daughter will seize any opportunity to decorate, celebrate, and party. Valentine's Day is certainly no exception. A week or two ago she took it upon herself to make some Valentine's decorations for the front windows. Just simple paper cutout hearts with "candy heart" messages such as "Be Mine" and "Text Me", this was the extent of the Valentine decor around these parts.

Then, a week ago Sunday she spied the Walgreens ad full of Valentine's goodies and spent a good, long while drooling over the wares. "Oh Mom, this Valentine's Webkinz is SOOOO cute!" and "Oh, I sure would LOVE to get a Valentine's Beanie Baby." This is her not so subtle way of dropping hints for me. She knows, or at least she thinks she knows, that if she doesn't say something then nothing will happen, but she doesn't want to be too obvious so as to elicit an out and out no from me. Earlier in the week she had made a comment about the Valentine's Day a few years ago when I had given them each a little stuffed animal with a homemade Valentine's card and how that was the BEST Valentine's ever!

Yesterday, I could tell she was feeling a little dismal, I think she could sense that I hadn't done anything and wasn't planning on doing anything for the special day. She made a comment about how Valentine's Day was such a boring holiday because all they ever do is have a party at school. I had to bite my tongue not to laugh. She is so dramatic, that one. You have to live with her to get the full effect of her drama.

Off to school they went this morning with nothing more than a "Happy Valentine's Day" and a "Don't forget to take your Valentine's" from me. While they were gone Rex, Colby and I went and got some balloons, candy and bubbles and a little something for each of them. Colby picked out mini sports balls, Rex- a hulahoop, for Owen a water gun, Gracie- her beloved Valentine's beanie baby, and for Matthew (what do you get an 11 year old boy for Valentine's Day?) a small pack of Pokemon cards. Then we arranged everything on their beds for them to discover when they got home from school.

On our way home from school Gracie was asking if we were going to do anything fun today and I said I didn't think so. She slid further into her pouting state. For some reason when we got home nobody went into their room. I was so proud of Rex for not spilling the beans because I wanted this to be an unspoiled surprise. FINALLY, after an hour or two one of them went in there and excitedly came running out. They were all so surprised and happy that it made me feel good I had actually gone to the trouble. Instantly, Gracie's mood changed and it suddenly turned into the BEST Valentine's Day ever!

She ran off to make plans for dinner. She made the flowers for the dinner table out of tissue paper and nametags for everyone's plate. Owen commented that he thought the flowers were real and this made me smile. We had heart-shaped pizza from Papa Murphy's for dinner, with pink lemonade served in Valentine's cups, of course. Luckily, Vaughn and Kindra stopped by to drop off chocolate covered strawberries and yogurt dipped pretzels for dessert (yummy!) which saved me from having to bake heart-shaped brownies. We finished off the night with family home evening (this is three whole weeks in a row)! And it was even on how we can find love in our families. We were definitely all feeling the love tonight!

(No, that's not a ghost in the middle of our picture, it's a fingerprint smudge on the camera lens.)

What I Miss...

2011-02-10T16:18:00.000-08:00

About Rexburg

(besides the obvious things like Michelle and her fam, the in-laws, our friends, the schools, the small town community...)

Harper's Homemade bread. Seriously the best white bread ever. I love it. I still miss it every day. And at around $2 a loaf it's a deal that can't be beat. I wish they sold it here...

A nice, toasty heater in the bathroom. Ugh, I can't stand getting out of the shower these days!

Yummy, yummy snow cones (with cream) for cheap, cheap, cheap! What else can I say!

Pizza Pie Cafe's (formerly Craigos- sniff, sniff) oreo dessert pizza. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.

This beautiful view of the temple from the back windows of our house.

Ohhhh, Rexburg- I do miss you, I really, really do...some of you...well most of you...or certain months of you...ah well, but that's a post for another day!

Girl Power!

2011-02-01T15:20:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday Gracie had her fellow girl cousins (at least the ones who live here and are old enough to party) over to celebrate their girliness (they all happen to be the only girls in their families). I was less than enthused with the idea and tried to put it off for awhile. Anything that requires extra effort on my part is usually met with my sincere desire to not partake. She was persistent in her plans and proceeded to make lists of all the party would involve. She even made invitations, leaving the date and time blank until she could coerce one out of me. I finally caved and told her a date and time far into the future (like 3 weeks) but she was so excited she could hardly stand it. She handed out the invitations the next day and then excitedly looked forward to the date of the party. I'm pretty sure a day didn't pass where it wasn't mentioned. Finally, the weekend of the party was around the corner and I resigned myself to the inevitable. I had to call my sister-in-law to confirm the time since we hadn't written it down anywhere and neither Gracie nor I could remember the time. I think I was hoping that it had been so long that nobody would have taken it seriously or remembered it. ~~Unfortunately~~ Luckily, Kindra told me that Macie had put the invitation on her fridge and had been asking her every day if it was the day of the party yet. So Gracie and I started talking activities and supplies, which was left mostly up to her. She was in charge of it all, all I had to do was drive her to the dollar store and provide the cash for the goods. Which wasn't much, we only spent about $10 total. This is one of the great things about Gracie, she loves to do these things and she will take the initiative to make it all happen. She is so much more creative and fun than I am.

Here's the sign from the front door. Nothing fancy but I thought the girls skirts made out of cupcake holders were a cute idea, which I of course had nothing to do with.

They began with making jewelry, beaded bracelets, necklaces and pins. Then they made fancy fans (that was my one contribution). They had a little grape koolaid tea party with blueberry muffins.
That was followed by makeovers and dressup.
I wish I would've taken more pictures of this part.

Gracie modeling the giant diamond ring from the goody bags. They also contained cute little tiaras, a magic wand, flower hair barrettes and of course some balloons and bubble gum.

They ended with ice cream sundaes.

Much giggling and girliness abounded and a great time was had by all. They decided to rotate the fun to each others' houses every year. Next year it's Audrey's turn!

Using His Head

2011-01-29T12:02:00.000-08:00

This kid still makes me laugh when he does things like this...

or this...

or this...
I think it's so cute every time he puts a hat on his head, or headbands or Kris' headlamp. It never gets old. Remember this: http://growingupgrover.blogspot.com/2010/01/hats-off-er-on-to-you.html

Take a Hike!

2011-01-25T10:45:00.000-08:00

A week ago Saturday we decided to take a hike. I had remembered hiking to the Wind Caves when I was a small child but I never knew where they were. I asked my mom and she said they were just over at Usery Park, about 15 minutes away from us. Isn't it funny how in my little child mind it was such a far away and exotic place? So off we went. We had been itching to get out and do something and soak in all this most wonderful weather while we've got it. We went late in the afternoon, and it actually turned out to be such a beautiful time to go. On the way down from the top we got to watch the sunset. And it was gorgeous.

Here we are at the beginning of the hike, we didn't really have any idea how difficult it would be. It was 3.2 miles round trip, which doesn't really seem like that long, but for us out of shape hikers it was a bit challenging. We were getting passed by 80 year olds. Seriously. Granted, we did have small children with us. At least that's the excuse I'm going with.

The majestic saguaro cactus. As a child I didn't really understand their beauty, I took it for granted having grown up around them my entire life. In fact, I was never a cactus fan at all. I preferred forests. Until I began working the front desk at a hotel when I was a teenager. People from all over were fascinated by the saguaro, we had a huge one right in front of the hotel and everyone would take pictures by it. Gradually, I realized that they were something special and I have grown to love their strength and majesty.

The views were amazing. We could see the whole valley- from the skyscrapers in Phoenix to the fountain going off in Fountain Hills (which by the way ain't got nothin' on Old Faithful).
Hiking buddies.
One of these boys is doing his own thing... Kris says he is as stubborn as his mother.
Colby was so gung ho thoughout the entire hike. He wanted to do it all on his own. He only rode on shoulders for probably 30 minutes total. The hike took us about 3 hours.
Peek-a-boo Gracie.
At the top!

It was long and challenging but there is nothing better than reaching the top. So many parallels to life in hiking. I love it! It was a beautiful hike and I highly recommend it, we all had so much fun even when it was difficult. Gracie had us cracking up because she pretty much complained the whole way, asking us why we made her do this, saying we should just quit and go home and then when we got home my dad asked her how the hike was and she told him it was "awesome!" And it was! (In spite of all her complaining.)

December Recap

2011-01-18T18:35:00.000-08:00

Well, actually I'm starting with the end of November. Gracie had her orchestra concert on the 23rd. She loves playing the violin and she did a great job!

On December 2nd we went to Matthew's choir concert. I sacrificed an hour of sleep once a week before school to get him to choir since it was an extra activity that he wanted to do. Maybe it was because of all those girls...

I've been trying to upload videos from his concerts but am not having any luck :(

On Dec. 8th Gracie got to participate in the school spelling bee. And she won (she's only a 4th grader)! She was SO excited and we were all so proud of her. I could hardly stand the nerves, I don't think I have ever been more nervous in my life. Now it's on to the district bee this week and I'm so nervous it's killing me. I'm just praying she can make it past the first round.

On the 12th we went to Matthew's band concert. They did a great job. We love the music teacher at their school, he's a great band teacher and he also did the choir class.

Dec. 18th had us out in the desert enjoying a cookout with Kris' side of the family. We had yummy hot dogs, smores and some fun 4 wheelin'.

Colby really enjoyed the smores.

On the 23rd we got to take a little boat around Val Vista Lakes and see all the Christmas lights. We had fun with G&G Walz and G&G Archibald. The kids were especially excited since it was followed with dinner at MickeyD's.

We made sugar cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve.
It was kind of a quick, thrown together ordeal since I so did not have it together.

But at least we did it.

We also did Christmas Eve jammies but I can't believe that we didn't take any pictures of the kids after they put them on. Kind of depressing. Oh well. Then we drove around looking at Christmas lights.

Christmas morning.
Gracie had been pining away for this mini American Girls Samantha doll for ages.

Luckily Santa came through.

Colby's huge Elmo.

Matthew's new mountain bike, now he and Dad can really tackle the desert together.

Owen playing his new DS and Rex wishing he had one. Kind of makes me feel bad but he's only four for crying out loud. He was a tricky one this year and I think he is the one kid who kind of got the shaft. He didn't really get anything that he was dying over. There's always next year.

Birthday Boy!

2010-11-12T19:15:00.000-08:00

Owen turned seven! He's the middle child and a classic one at that. He gets all the hand-me-downs and I always feel guilty about that but he doesn't seem to mind. He's good natured but can have a fiery temper (wonder where he gets that from?). He is an excellent student, he soaks up learning and loves reading and math. All his teachers (school and church) love him. He makes friends easily and is very helpful. He enjoys riding his bike and playing video games. We love you, Owen! Happy Birthday!

The special birthday boy donut

(Colby was in the background saying "cheese")

The hoped for skateboard, he's pretty good already.
He got this crown at school and wore it proudly. In fact, he told me that he was going to save it and wear it every year on his birthday. Sometimes his innocence just melts my heart. I hate it when they grow too old for this stuff.

Halloween Fun!

2010-11-11T14:10:00.000-08:00

Our Halloween week was long but fun. It began on the Wednesday before Halloween with the church trunk-or-treat. I was kind of irritated because I'm not a fan of dragging it out for so long and five days of Halloween is a bit much for me. I didn't take any pictures there but the kids all had tons of fun, this ward does it carnival style with almost everyone doing a game or activity. They also had pony rides and bouncy castles. Kris got stuck hosting our pumpkin bowling, (I know he was mad at me for even signing up) but he was hilarious and our game always had a long line because all the kids thought it was so fun (mostly because of him).

Friday brought school parties and our own first annual "Wright Cousin Halloween Party." I'm thinking we'll make it a regular event. Everyone had a great time and the kids were just happy with me for even doing it. I probably could have done half as much and everyone still would have had just as much fun.

The Cousin Crew
(Sorry Keith this one was the best of all the kids!)

The No Hands Hanging Donut Eating Contest

(The look on Rex' face in this pic just kills me!

Argh, I'm gonna get that donut!)

He's a rule breaker.

Big kid group

Just a side story for this pic: The bag of donuts was sitting on the table and there was one left. Someone was crying about wanting a donut so I turn around to get the bag and it was gone. We started looking around for the donut snatcher and we see Colby running across the basketball court, donut in hand. Then he jumps in the little car like it's his getaway car and give us all his sly little grin. What a stinker!

Then Pops came out and turned his blower on, which the kids think is hilarious. He hangs it on this cart and lets the kids sit on it while he runs around the court so they can blow things out of the way. It's a really powerful blower, they were blowing chairs, water bottles, and those little cars all across the court.

The big kids went on a scavenger hunt, only because I don't think the little ones knew what was going on and didn't really care to.

The next night was Saturday and by this point we had about had enough of Halloween. Besides we weren't really sure if anyone would be trick-or-treating this night since Halloween wasn't until Sunday. But while Owen and I were on a bike ride through the neighborhood we saw people out so we came home and let the kids get dressed up again and took them. Luckily for us there is a highly Mormon populated neighborhood a few streets over and there were tons of people trick-or-treating. I love trick-or-treating and I have a hard time letting Halloween go by without taking the kids.

The crazy crew!

Paging Dr. Grover...

Earlier in the week she was a zombie bride by this night she was just a bride.

Here's the Hippie Zombie. Don't ask me how he came up with this one.

Argh! Pirate Rex!

Super cute Jack-O-Lantern! (Of course the only picture that he smiled in was the one showing all my bras hanging on the door.)

Sorting the loot is always fun. Got some full size candy bars this year, that was a first.

To top it off Kris and I had to speak in church on Sunday and then we had family dinner.

Whew! What a week! We were so glad when it was finally over! (Even though we had lots of fun!)

Birthday Boy!

2010-09-07T20:34:00.000-07:00

I can't believe my baby is two!

We told him to say "cheese" for the picture, so he did.

Again.
And again.

That evening we had a double party at Peter Piper's.

Colby and his cousin, Walter, are just one day apart.

The kids had loads of fun.

Colby's scooter. He loves this thing. He calls it his bikel. He didn't know how to make it go at first, he would just stand on it with both feet or push it with both feet on the ground. By the end of the night he had it down, it's pretty darn cute.

Mom and Birthday Boy at the end of the night!

What a fun day!

Making Up For Lost Time

2010-08-24T11:55:00.000-07:00

Fourth of July Fun! (on the 3rd)

This summer Matthew participated in summer band so that he could be in the 4th of July parade. He sacrificed sleeping in many mornings (so did I!) But in the end I think it was all worth it. We enjoyed watching him in the parade and he had fun marching in it.

We even had some of the guys from Star Wars come.

After the parade we went straight to the park for Matthew's concert in the park.

The kids got to play in the jumpy castles and slides.

After the park we enjoyed lunch at Eric and Lynne's and lighting off our fireworks in the backyard then sitting on the back steps under blankets and watching what we could see of the county fireworks. Oh, how I love the 4th of July in Rexburg. I'm practically in tears posting this. Hopefully, we can go there every year to celebrate!

It's Been a Busy Month...

2010-08-16T23:02:00.001-07:00

It all began on July 17th when we fed the fish at Warm River

trying to take advantage of some of

our favorite scenery in Idaho

luckily the fish were happy to see us

and we're gonna miss them and the
beautiful drive through Ashton...

The next day we celebrated my (ahem) 33rd birthday(it's ok, I'm not sensitive about my age but sometimes I think, wow, it's kind of weird how old I am!)

and also my wonderful sis, Michelle's birthday (she's lucky- she's only 23!)

we miss these guys! (a whole bunch!)

On July 19th we took one last trip to Yellowstone for awhile (sniff, sniff)

and had a perfect day
we visited my favorite part- the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone

and did something we'd never done before-
swam in the freezing river by the hot (really, really hot)
springs and created our very own hot tub!

and had so, so, so, so much fun!

(here's the part where we moved back to Arizona and it was so stressful and crazy and total mayhem for about a week that we just want to forget most of the things that happened (like cutting my toe and having to get stitches or leaving a day and a half later than we planned on) and I didn't take any pictures the whole time and we're just glad it's over so we can forget the whole thing except for the part where we had so much wonderful help from all our lovely ward members and friends (but I'm kind of still embarrassed they had to see our home in such a state.) We were only in that ward for 10 months but it is going to be hard to beat!)

Moving on to AZ...

The kids built a Lincoln Log town (they took about a hundred pictures and it's pretty funny to see them from their vantage point, like looking out the windows from inside the buildings, etc. But we don't have time for all of them here...)

chilled (as much as we can in this heat) with Grannie and Otter Pops

Rex' went to his first day of preschool

(his shirt was all wet cuz he got toothpaste on it:)

Gracie celebrated her 9th birthday

(seriously, is she only 9?!?!?)

(Krispy Kreme's was a huge splurge and that won't be

happening again anytime soon, but it was seriously so good!)

She received all things girly,

which included tons of earrings that she has been coordinating

with her outfits and wearing to school every day.

(Those flowers are for her hair, not her ears.)

played at the splash park to have a little fun before the first day of school

(All five of them are in this picture, can you spot them? It was the best I could do.)
had their first day of school

(Thankfully all went well.)
and played in the sprinklers!

Whew! Now, I bet you'll agree we've had one crazy busy month and this wasn't even all of it. We also had a visit from my sister Tara and her family, cousin sleepovers, too much school shopping, family dinners, played in the wonders of the irrigation, AND Kris went to Rexburg and back to retrieve the rest of our belongings that wouldn't fit in the giant moving truck in the first place! I'm exhausted just thinking about all of it. Hopefully now things can calm down a bit around here and I can get back to blogging!

Somewhere Over the Rainbow

2010-07-01T10:03:00.000-07:00

Can you see the double rainbow in this picture?

A couple of weeks ago we saw this amazing rainbow in our backyard. We were all so fascinated and excited by it. I'm pretty sure it's the best one I've ever seen and it was right in my own backyard. Then when we were camping last weekend we saw one at night in the dark after the rainstorm, it was so interesting.

Rainbows bring good luck, don't they? So hopefully these are signs of good things to come. As many of you already know we are moving back to Arizona. We have been pondering this for awhile and lately have felt strongly that this is where we need to be. We are excited and sad, nervous and calm all at the same time. Things have been quickly and smoothly falling into place for us and it looks like we will be down there by the end of July. We will miss all of our friends and family here but look forward to seeing old friends and family in Arizona.

Four Wheeling Fun

2010-06-29T10:00:00.000-07:00

This weekend we were invited to go camping and four-wheeling with some friends of ours. Of course it had to be rainy and super windy the first night we were there and we debated coming home but we were troopers (although at this point I don't think we'd qualify as happy campers) and decided to stick it out. Good thing, because Saturday turned out to be a perfect day in spite of my crankiness due to lack of sleep from the night before. Anywho, we had a great time playing in the creek (well, the kids did) and going on some rides. The boys went first and rode to the top of a mountain and then the girls took their turn. It was about a three hour ride and was tons of fun. I had never been 4-wheeling like that and it was a blast! It definitely appeals to that thrill seeker in me.

Rider Rex!

Dirtbike dudes

Gonna have to get him one of these...

Boys' ride

Creek fun

Sexy Rexy

Jai-Alai anyone?

Girls turn

At the summit

We made it to the top!

Girls Rule!

Cool old mining stuff on the mountain

Gorgeous canyon

Such a beautiful view on the way out

Mr. Joe Cool

T-Ball Time

2010-06-28T13:42:00.000-07:00

Owen had a fun little season of summer t-ball. I'm not sure if it had enough action for him though. He's disappointed that he's not playing soccer this summer. Maybe in the fall...

Here's the team

Birthday Boy!

2010-06-22T14:36:00.000-07:00

Rex' birthday was two weeks ago and I'm just now getting around to posting some pics. We've had an extremely busy summer (honestly) and I am thoroughly exhausted with no end in sight! I can't believe Rex is four, he still seems like my little boy and I'm not too anxious for him to grow up. I can hardly think about him starting school in a year. For now I will just enjoy his silliness, his zest for life and his ability to make me laugh! I love this little guy! Happy Birthday Rex!

So excited to be 4!

Party with the fam at Leo's

Gracie and Owen are in the background
Dad and Birthday Boy

Mom and Colby

Aunt Michelle, Mia and Matthew (I guess this was the "M" picture)

Make a wish!

Couldn't resist posting this one! Makes me laugh!
(He didn't know what he was doing.)

The Graduate

2010-06-05T14:21:00.000-07:00

I'm just now getting around to posting the pictures from Owen's kindergarten graduation which took place on May 25th. Kris thinks these kind of things are lame but I think they are adorable. Owen absolutely refused to wear a tie. I tried but I wasn't in the mood to fight him. I did promise him that there would be other boys there wearing ties, but he would not believe me. Oh well, I think in the end he knew Mom was right. :)

Now- off to school all day and eating lunch in the cafeteria- yay!

The whole class

The Principal, Owen and his teacher

Proud Papa

Proud Mama

Some buddies

On this video I swung over to get a shot of Owen's friend Parker. She's the adorable little girl in the polka dot dress.

Sorry about the sound in this one (they have the crappiest sound system at their school) so you can't really hear Owen reading his poem but at the very end I swung over and got a quick shot of the words.

Doesn't this one just make you want to get up and do Riverdance! Unfortunately, I had Rex on my lap at this point causing all kinds of wiggly mayhem so sorry for the carsickness.

This is just the beginning of all those big dreams!

A Bouquet of Flowers To Brighten Your Day

2010-05-30T17:59:00.000-07:00

Smile!

Swiper! No Swiping!

2010-05-21T08:30:00.000-07:00

The other day we were checking out at the grocery store; which I find is always a challenge with kids- trying to get everything out of the cart, keeping an eye on them, paying, etc. On this particular day Colby was sitting in the cart and I didn't have him buckled in so he was squirming around and reaching for things. When we got up to the checkout counter and put all of our stuff on it I noticed he was grabbing for some of the candy bars they have up on the stand, right in front of the cashier, right within his grasp. He got one and I grabbed it out of his hands, put it back and promptly buckled him in so he couldn't reach them. Or so I thought. He and the cart went on the backside of the cashier while I went on the other side to pay for the groceries. I was watching the screen and paying for everything and then I looked up as the cashier was pulling the cart the rest of the way through and there Colby is holding a mallo bar. He has it open and is shoveling it into his mouth as fast as his little fingers will go. His mouth was stuffed full of chocolate and marshmellow and he had this devious little look in his face like he knew exactly how naughty he was being and that's why he was trying to eat it so fast. That or he was just worried someone would take it away from him so he better eat fast. My mouth dropped open with shock. How did he get it? How did he get it open and have it half eaten so quickly? We really didn't have that many groceries, it hadn't taken us long to check out. I just laughed and so did the cashier. I said, "I guess I need to pay for that." Then the cashier said, "Oh, I wasn't going to worry about it." I think he must have been watching the whole incident from his vantage point. He probably could have seen it all unfold, or unwrap (haha) while I stood on the other side completely oblivious. I argued with him for a moment, I told him it was fine, not a big deal but he just told me not to worry about it. I felt kind of bad leaving without paying for it but maybe they shouldn't put candy right there within swiping range of slippery little fingers! As I pushed the cart out to the car Colby continued to shovel that thing in his mouth, he was so excited nobody had taken it away. Rex, Owen and I laughed the whole way home about how Colby stole a candy bar from the grocery store! Poor Colby, a bonafide shoplifter at the age of one! Little Swiper!

And- on another funny Colby note, he came into the family room wearing this getup. He put it on all by himself, well, everything but the shirt. Oh man, this kid is too funny. I have not had a boy yet who has tried to dress himself before the age of two but this kid likes to do everything on his own- shoes, hats, pants, bracelets, jackets, and now apparently ties. It was so stinkin' cute when he walked (or hopped really since both legs are in the same leg of the shorts) into the room. He was pretty proud of himself.

Prior to putting Rex' shorts on he had taken off his own shorts and his diaper too (he's in that phase of stripping the diaper off) so you can see that he peed in Rex' shorts, but I just had to take a picture before I put a diaper back on him! I just thought I would throw that out there so you weren't like gross it looks like he peed his pants, doesn't she ever put a diaper on that kid!

And the Band Played On! Part 2

2010-05-18T21:10:00.000-07:00

Matthew had his end of the year concert a few weeks ago and we got way better seats than last time and I happened to pick the right side of the gym to sit on so we had a perfect shot to video him. You can actually see him play! I think the band overall is much improved. Good job, Matthew!

(I'm not sure what the kid next to him is doing, I mean, did he forget his intrument or something? Who forgets their instrument for the concert? Seriously.)

Faux Camping

2010-05-16T22:09:00.000-07:00

Because of the absolutely perfect weather on Friday we decided (Kris' idea) to take the kids to the park to roast some hot dogs and have s'mores. This park is about two minutes from home and the setting is gorgeous. We set up right on the bank of the river, got our fire started and let the kids run around and play like a bunch of hooligans. They played at the playground, waded in the river, played catch and pretended they were in Rivendell (a fantasyland in the Lord of the Rings). We cooked our hot dogs and then we enjoyed our s'mores. Colby dumped out about 5 cans of rootbeer and 1 bottle of water, and all the kids got filthy dirty. It was wonderful- all the fun of camping without everything that I hate about camping (all the work of getting ready to go and setting up camp, not sleeping in my own bed, and no bathroom). We even came home reeking of campfire smell. It. Was. Awesome.

Deep Thoughts

2010-05-06T09:48:00.000-07:00

This hangs by the door in my daughter's room where she can see it every time she leaves her room. Every time I see it it makes me smile and I wonder where this kid came from. If you think about it this is wise, sage advice from an 8 year old. She sets a good example for me. She doesn't worry about what other people think. She is friendly, smart, creative, imaginative and artistic. She gets along well with everyone, even hard to get along with people. Everyone likes her. I wish I was more like her. But, I'm blessed to be her mom. If I'm having a bad day or feeling sorry for myself she'll write me a little note saying how much she loves me or she'll give me a hug and tell me that I'm the best mom ever. (Even though I don't think it's true it's still nice to hear it sometimes!)

Sleepy Head

2010-04-23T10:10:00.000-07:00

Rex doesn't really take naps anymore because if he does then he's up until 10 or 11 and I'd just rather he go to bed earlier than take a nap. But sometimes if he's had a full day he gets tired and sometimes he falls asleep where ever he happens to be at the time-

Sitting at the computer desk

(it kinda looks like he is faking in this picture he really is asleep)

On the arm of the couch
Sitting at the kitchen table

If You Dare

2010-04-20T22:01:00.001-07:00

Two weeks ago Matthew was presented with his Arrow of Light in scouting. We are so proud of him for earning it! And this time I got to be pinned, yay! And now that he's in 11 year old scouts we don't have to go to Pack Meeting for a few years, yay! (uh, I mean dang it!)

The next night was his DARE graduation. He took the DARE program VERY seriously. Trust me, he can spout facts about drug and alcohol usage even the addicts don't know. Now we just have to wait a few years and see if it did any good... (haha). Matthew is a VERY good kid and I'm sure we have nothing to worry about. (Don't let me down, Buddy! :)

Eggsellent Easter!

2010-04-16T22:38:00.000-07:00

I know this is really late in posting but better late than never! I love Easter! It was especially wonderful this year on Conference weekend. I thought it made for a beautiful uplifting time- in spite of the uncooperative weather. I always really go through Arizona withdrawals around Easter because the weather is so gorgeous down there at this time and I have such fond memories of Easter as a child that it's really hard for me to be up here, especially if the weather is bad and we have to hold our Easter egg hunt indoors. That is a major bummer! But we survived and had a wonderful Easter.

We LOVE coloring the eggs!

I love this picture mostly because of Owen in the background.

Yes, yes, you do.

Cool camo eggs!

Colby was napping (fortunately) during egg dyeing time. I kinda felt a little bad but I know we averted major messes by scheduling it during this time. As you can see we didn't forget about him.

The finished product. (Can you tell we have a bunch of boys in the family?)

Easter morning basket fun!

Happy Birthday To You!

2010-03-31T18:32:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Dear Mother of mine!

It is hard to imagine that just one short year ago we were celebrating your birthday in the hospital wondering if you were ever going to be the same. Your head was shaved, your feeding tube was inserted and you were obsessed with the color pink. I kinda wanted to post a picture of you at your last birthday party but then I thought you might not forgive me. Remember when Tara and I came to speech therapy with you and she asked you to see how many of the United States you could remember? She said most people could only get 20 or so and you said "I can get all 50!" Oh how hard we laughed when you started singing "50 Nifty United States"! The past year has been challenging and difficult as we have watched you heal and work and challenge yourself to be well. I could not be more proud to have you as my mother. I could not be more grateful to still have you here, calling to check on me and see if I"m doing ok. I love how you are still doing singing telegrams. You are a wonderful, shining, loving, spiritual example to me. I am so sad to not be coming down there this week. But I don't want to cry at your party! I hope you have a wonderful birthday and many, many more!!!

A little message from the kiddos:

P.S. Earlier today when we were looking at Tara's post Owen said "Awww man, I really wish Grannie was here right now. She knows how to make everyone's smiles light up!" Too true!

P.P.S. Your birthday present is on it's way. I took a picture just so you could see. I finished it, I really, really did (It only took me about 3 years!). And here's proof. I hope you like it! And I think we can deduce from this board that the months of March, June, July and August are off limits for any more birthdays. Haha, just kidding!

Where We Pretend It's Spring

2010-03-30T15:07:00.000-07:00

This is us pretending that it's Spring-

we are so desperate to be outside

breathing fresh air and absorbing sunshine

that we brave the 50 degree temps!

And yes, the kids think it's warm enough

to go out without coats on.

And for us, it kind of is.

(Yes, I know he's wearing two different shoes,

I couldn't be bothered to find his other one.)

The Star Wars Brigade

2010-03-25T10:46:00.000-07:00

The other day I caught these three running through the house making those gun noises that boys are just born knowing how to make. I think they were trying to catch Darth Gracie or something...

Seeing Swans

2010-03-24T10:19:00.000-07:00

On Friday evening, Kris' parents had us over for pizza and took us on a drive over by the R Mountain.

To see these beauties-

Swans

Hundreds of them

They must be migrating north for the summer?

It was quite a sight to see. There must have been hundreds of them hanging out in this field.
We even got to see a couple of deer. Do you see them?

Au revoir beautiful swans. It was lovely seeing you.

Have a nice summer!

Sharp Shooters

2010-03-23T14:52:00.000-07:00

Kris couldn't resist the beautiful weather on Saturday afternoon so he asked me if I wanted to go shooting. I didn't really want to, I was exhausted after watching Mia this weekend and having Matthew's birthday party and Colby was just ready to go down for a nap. So he took the three oldest kids who were all eager to go. They all had a lot of fun- especially Dad!

Katie G

Matthew
Owen

Don't mess around with these guys!

Birthday Boy!

2010-03-21T22:25:00.004-07:00

Happy Birthday Matthew!

Birthday donuts!

(I guess they get pretty excited over it.)
Party Time!
They had a great time playing laser tag, miniature golf, and making their own frozen yogurt treats.

I can't believe my oldest is 11!

Didn't we just celebrate his 10th?

Am I old enough to have an 11 year old?

I don't really feel like it.

But I'm so happy to have Matthew in our family!

We love you! Happy Birthday!

Trim

2010-03-18T15:27:00.000-07:00

Lately I've been brave (and cheap) by cutting my boys' hair. Armed with some tips from Michelle and her dear mother-in-law, who herself had six sons, I am determined to become a pro- just like my mom. She cut all of our hair without ever going to beauty school. I have done the older boys a few times and I think I've done a pretty good job, at least as good a job as they do at the beauty college most of the time, which I realize sometimes isn't saying much. But, I haven't ever done Colby's hair and he has been needing a cut desperately for awhile. He's only had his hair cut one other time and that was just with the clippers by Kris right before his sister Hayley's wedding, five months ago. So today I just dove in and he was pretty good a little squirmy, especially in the end but all in all, I think it turned out ok. Usually my mistakes are easy to hide. Tara, don't look too closely- I'm sure you'll find all my mistakes!

Before:

Don't take any pictures of me!
You can see he really needed a haircut.

And after.

Beautiful brown eyes.

Little pouter.

He's been kind of cranky today so he was pouting the whole time and I couldn't get him to smile for me.

Lazy Sunday

2010-03-14T13:00:00.000-07:00

Ok, I'll admit it (and I NEVER thought I would)- I kinda like early church.

Who doesn't love a long, leisurely Sunday afternoon filled with

Pirates of the Carribean Monopoly and stuffed animals?

Rollin' rollin' rollin'

2010-03-13T12:20:00.000-08:00

Colby is 18 months old now- my baby is 18 months old! He's in nursery and hating it cuz he loves his mama so much. He's talking a little bit more each day. I love it when he says "Hi Dad" with such enthusiasm. I love it when he says "Eeeeya" when his cousin Mia comes over and how he says his own name "ColbEEEEE." He is such a total stinker right now, too. Like the fact that he's a total garbage digger, climbs on everything, dumps out the kitty food and water all over and sometimes in the litter box, and he throws trantrums like a paid professional. In spite of his misbehaviors he fills our home with so much happiness. He is loved by all his siblings and he makes us laugh all the time. Oh how we love you so, ColbEEEEE!!!

We have these old fashioned roller skates that Kris' grandma left behind and Colby likes to get them out of the cupboard and use them. Here's what he does:

P.S. He's learned how to take off his pants and he likes to do it all the time, so that's why he's pantsless.

We Be Los!

2010-03-12T10:09:00.000-08:00

I don't really have any qualms about hiding my slight lack of enthusiasm for all things scouting but alas, I have been blessed with four sons and so it is my destiny to endure many, many years of the fine scouting program. And trust me, I do believe it is a fine program. Teaching many valuable things to my young sons. It's just so much work and I'm kind of lazy, I guess. It's sure a good thing my boys have been blessed with a good daddy who is willing to help them with all their scouting needs. (It's good for him!) Needless to say in spite of my obvious complaining about scouts I was seriously distressed last week when I found out that Matthew would be receiving his Webelos award along with about a million pins and it just so happened to fall on the same night at the same time as the very first stake camp meeting. Since I happen to be the Ward Camp Director and have absolutely no clue as to what I'm doing I felt like it was kinda imperative that I attend. I had known about the camp meeting for about a month, I found out about the pack night and all the awards Matthew would be receiving only 3 days before. I was frustrated with my dilemma. I don't want to have to choose between my child (and dang it! I wanted to be there for him to put on my mother's pin!) and my church calling. I seriously wanted to cry and I may have shed a few tears along the way. I was going to try and just attend part of the meeting that was hopefully only going to last 45 minutes (yeah right it was almost 2 hours) and zoom over to where pack meeting was being held and arrive just in time for the pinning but alas, it was not to be and so Dad had to fill in for Mom (and wrangle all the kids), he got my pin and the joy of being there to share in Matthew's glory. Which I suppose since he was the one who did all the assisting in the earning of the award is appropriate. I'm still bummed I missed it! But, way to go Matthew! I'm so proud of you for working so hard!

Proud Father and Son

She really isn't taller than him (yet!)
The pinning of the mother's pin on the father...sniff.