Ford Family Fun

Family Photos

2010-07-27T15:20:00.001-07:00

We finally got new family pictures and I think they turned out pretty good. I don't have my disc yet from our awesome photographer (Amber Thompson) so I borrowed these images from her website to post here in the time being. Enjoy my beautiful family, I know I do!!!

Pioneer Day

2010-07-23T14:54:00.000-07:00

I love parades and carnivals, and Rich loves me enough to come along with us and have a good time. Peter was so funny, he was a candy magnet and got twice as much as the other kids did. We loved the day, even if the parade was really long and hot. And this carnival is awesome. For $15 the kids each rode 2 rides (8 rides), we got 2 cotton candies, 4 snow cones, and nachos. A steal of a deal.

happy anniversary

2010-07-03T14:48:00.000-07:00

We had the day to ourselves. Ahhh.

We spent the day at Lagoon riding rides (that ended when Rich got motion sick and threw up ON a ride), and relaxing at Lagoonabeach.

We did a little shopping and I got a hot new pair of red high heels.

We at dinner at this awesome restraunt called Prarie Schooners. The whole place was like a pioneer wagon round up with covered wagon tables and in center was a scene of fire and animals. Totally fun and delicious.

And topped off the night with taking in a movie.

Best day ever, with my sweetheart of now nine years, and counting.

seusical the musical

2010-07-02T14:45:00.000-07:00

Aaron is amazingly talented!!! We had so much fun, and a lot of laughter watching him up on stage today. We took a car load of kids (we were lucky to have Sarah, Rachel and Hyrum staying with us) and braved the crowds. All in all a sucess. Followed by dilly bars from DQ to top off a hot and wonderful day.

And you've gotta love Matt posing in the background...

Twilight Eclipse!!

2010-06-30T14:37:00.000-07:00

Here we are at the theaters. We got special tickets and watched all three movies in a row at the theaters, totally awesome!! And I had a sticker under my cupholder, so I won a special eclipse tshirt! Yeah!!! Karolee threw an Eclipse party the next night at her house, followed by seeing the movie (again) at the theaters. She did such an awesome job. Can you spy the 'red carpet' in the background...
And in case you were wondering. I'm a vampire girl. Go team Edward!!!

Here it comes!!! We had our tickets 2 months in advance, no such thing as planning too early...

Laneel is such an awesome friend, and she happens to share the joy of loving twilight with me (along with so many other things...) Thanks for the best day Lady

It turns out I am a bigger fan than I thought...

I now have 3 tshirts (2 were free and one was $1)
I have seen the second and third movie at the midnight showing

I have seen each movie multiple times in the theaters

I can't wait to see the next one... in a year and a half :(

I have read each of the books twice, and will read them again before the fourth one comes out

It is just so much fun to love Twilight!!

Temple #6

2010-06-19T14:51:00.000-07:00

One of the farthest temples away is now crossed off the list!!! Good times, and a beautiful temple inside and out.

Now we are almost half way done. What a fun goal to try and get all the Utah temples attended this year, we are loving the adventures and plans.

Manti Pagent

2010-06-19T14:30:00.000-07:00

Bless his little heart, Gavin fell asleep during the play... And stayed asleep while we moved him to the ground. Doing seperate sessions isn't that bad. It gave each of us a chance to play with the kids and explore Manti.

One of our discoveries was a craft fair, and I had a weak spot for these super fun marshmallow guns. These kept us busy the forever!!

glad we brought those blankets and sweaters!!

We are a happy family :)

We went down to Manti this year, stayed the night, went to the temple, and saw the Manti pagent. What a fun over nighter for us. The kids had a blast!! We will do this for sure again next year :)

ah-ha moment

2010-06-14T15:25:00.001-07:00

ok. So what am I? Daughter, sister, wife, friend, daughter-in-law, sunbeams teacher, student, and mother. What do I do? I am a stay at home mom. Well, that is what I used to say, and I had a hard time filling my daily responsibilities at home sometimes. Well, now I'd like to call myself a homemaker. A homemaker does everything necessary to make a home. Dishes, laundry, cooking, other cleaning chores, and taking care of the kids. The difference? None. It's just a title, but in my little mind the difference is huge. A stay at home mom stays home by the title. A homemaker stays home and has duties to fulfill to make a home. It was the little ah-ha moment I needed to give me the boost to feel uplifted and ready to face my responsibilities with a happy heart. "I am folding these clothes because I am a homemaker." "I am mopping the floor because I am making my home beautiful for my family." Rather than "no one ever helps me with the laundry, and there are 6 people in this family." or "really, am I the only one that can mop this floor..." These are the thoughts that have occasionally gone through my mind while doing these things. Even when I didn't want to think the thoughts, they would appear.
I am hoping this shift in thinking will be permanant. I am now and always will be a homemaker. And I love it.

New ward

2010-06-13T15:33:00.000-07:00

Oh no!!
We had an announcement at church today. They have changed ward and stake boundaries that greatly affect my ward. They took a whole neighborhood filled with great friends of mine and have moved them not only to a new ward, but also a new stake. They have also added a new neighborhood to our ward. I trust the Lord and don't question the change, but it doesn't change the fact that I am totally sad. The change affects my calling, my visiting teaching and so much more. I won't get to see these happy faces every week. I know that these beautiful people will always be my friends, but I will greatly miss the relationship that we have now. So here's to all you great people that I have met and grown to love in my ward over the last five years. Good luck and I will miss you all so much!!!!!!
I am sure we are also gaining some amazing families, and we look forward to meeting them. Change can be a good thing sometimes.

A new day

2010-06-09T20:07:00.000-07:00

It's a new day with nothing new to post about...

We were in the family room after dinner and getting Max to say new and funny words. He thought it was a fun game, but I was analyzing how far his speech has come. He can't say a few things that surprised me a bit.
Th
S(with a combination letter like st, sl, sp, ect..)
S in general sounds like Ch
L
R, he usually skips that sound in a word
combination constants are hard in general like pl, dr, bl, ld, br, etc.
J sounds they also sound like Ch
full sentences are hard. He still says a lot of commands and 2-3 word sentences.
He isn't very good at describing things.

He is 3 1/2 yrs old. Do any of you know if this is in line with where he needs to be? Speech therapy helped a lot, but I still feel like he is behind. Sophie and Peter were very clear speakers from an early age so I can't really compare very well. I guess I could look it up on my own...

Blog catch up

2010-06-08T12:52:00.000-07:00

spent a little time playing catch up on some past events including Peter's birthday and some new temples we've been to. Take a scroll down to see...

Birthday Dinner

2010-06-07T11:43:00.000-07:00

OK, why did this picture post sideways??
Oh well, we had a great time the other night for Linda's birthday. She hit a milestone, but I don't think she'd like me to day which one... But Rich did wish her a happy 29th birthday for the 31st time!! It took us weeks to plan this evening. Which day could everyone come? That went back and forth and back and forth, and where should we eat and what time??? Seriously hard to plan when we were trying to coordinate 14 people's schedules, and plan the babysitting too... So this is what we got. 9 grown-ups out for dinner, with no kids. What a fun night! She loved her ipad that we all chipped in for. My favorite part of the night was when they brought the sombrero and maracas out for her to wear while we all sang her happy birthday with her free brownie and ice cream!!!

A bug in a rug

2010-06-06T23:37:00.000-07:00

Sunday's are the day when my kids imagination shines.

Rich used to do this to the kids when they were smaller, and Sophie remembered and was the gang leader today. (that girl has the memory of an elephant, she remembers EVERYTHING!!!) She said Gavin was a worm, and Max wanted to be a caterpillar... Good fun for an hour or so...

My Favorites, Today

2010-06-05T14:50:00.000-07:00

Today my favorites are:
-our new super soaker water guns
-icecream cones
-the wii for my sick little boy, Peter has strep throat
-clean bedrooms
-the central vac, now that it is unclogged
-a day off with no plans
-windows that open to let in the perfect breeze
-having family time in the backyard
-color safe bleach
-when Rich helps me do my chores, gotta love a hubby that helps clean!
-quiet time
-that I don't have to teach the lesson in sunbeams tomorrow
-finished laundry
-my mp3 player for my runs, and the new arm strap I have, now I don't have to carry it in my hand!
-oatmeal cookies and homeade bread
-SUMMER WEATHER

Last Day of school

2010-06-04T14:37:00.000-07:00

My heart ached a little as I walked away from the school with Peter today. My two older kids will be in 1st and 2nd grade now. That is a big step. All day school. I am excited about having a little more free time, but they are growing up so fast. I love my kids!
Peter went out from kindergarten with a bang and a blast at his water party. I love this party where the kids get to run around from station to station and play fun water games. There were so many moms snapping fun pictures of their kiddo's, and I wished I had my camera. But I left it at home on purpose because I volunteered at the water party last year when Sophie was in kindergarten and my camera got wet and ruined!!! I didn't want that to happen again, so I left it at home on purpose, but I still missed my camera! Max tagged along at the party too and had so much fun. He is a fun kid!

Anyway, Goodbye school, HELLO SUMMER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Easter Pictures

2010-06-03T10:34:00.000-07:00

Really, it has taken me this long to get some recent pictures on the blog. Easter was great. We had the annual Easter Egg hunt at our house for all the cousins. And I hid all the eggs. Maybe 350 eggs, I don't think that would be much of an exaggeration. I have always wanted to hide the eggs, silly pleasure!! But we did it on Friday this year because it was also General Conference weekend. The neighborhood egg hunt was early Saturday morning, and super fun.

And now it's one thing crossed off my list. Blog about Easter. Done.

Running

2010-06-02T13:55:00.000-07:00

Time to make it official by telling the world. I have decided to run a half marathon!! That is 13 miles!!! I always knew that I would one day, and the day has arrived. It isn't until the end of the summer, but I am really excited about the whole thing. I am up to 8 miles, but I am a little slow... Oh well, I'm not trying for a time, I just want to be able to do it. So thanks Cyndi, for letting me jump on board with you on this goal.

Peter's Birthday

2010-06-01T12:03:00.000-07:00

You never forget the birth of your children. Peter is my second born and I love him so much. The past 6 years have flown by. Peter is a clone of Rich, but that doesn't mean he isn't his own person. I see Rich in him all the time, but then I see Peter too. He is kind, generous, a peace maker, sensitive, a mommy's boy, cautious, outgoing, funny, strong, independent, helpful, playful, understanding, teachable, a leader, decisive, fun, happy, smarter than he lets on, able, capable, a good and loving brother, and a wonderful son. I am grateful to be his mother. He makes me proud of him everyday.
We are so lucky to have him in our family.

Some birthday highlights Gavin crawled across the table to get a little closer to the icecream

Peter and his Star Wars Lego cake. He was dying all day to play with his new guys. I made them stay on the cake till after the candle was blown out... mean mom, right?

This is classic Peter.

Mini golfing, and the best day ever.

I love how big Gavin thinks he is as he struts his stuff and follows the bigger kids around.

One cool dude..

All the kids liked sitting with Rich and playing arcade games.

Wee...

How can you not snap a pic with the life size clone outside of the lazer tag

These two loved it, even though the vests were a little heavy and big.

Boy was this cake a stretch of the imagination. I think I am losing my birthday cake touch to allow this!!! Well, it is exactly what Peter wanted, so maybe I win some mommy points in that department.

We gave Peter the choice of a friend birthday or a family birthday this year, and he went back and forth and even invited friends to his birthday party - without checking with me first... Well, he picked a family birthday at Boondocks, we had so much fun!!!!!!! Well, Max didn't love Lazer tag. He thought it was a real star wars game and all the people were clones and were trying to shoot him dead, so he ran through the darkness of the lazer tag room, through and around all the obstacles until I caught him and took him out to Rich. But everything else was great. Fun family day. At lunch time. It was the only time we could be together as a family. We had a short breakfast, long lunch and quick cake before bed.

Happy Birthday my 6yr old.

Temple #5

2010-05-21T23:56:00.000-07:00

Draper temple is so beautiful. I had a chance to go to the open house for it last year with my young women's beehive class. We joined a group and did sealings today. I love that my grandma has done so much genealogy and we can now do the temple work for her.
Kim to the rescue again, and she watched all the boys while we went, Sophie was at her dance rehearsal all day from 3-9. It was so windy when we got out of the temple that my skirt kept blowing up in the air! How embarrassing... We enjoyed a scenic drive in the neighborhood behind the temple to see all the mansions. It is so sad to see half of those huge and beautiful homes falling to pieces because the owners couldn't afford to finish building the homes. And I wouldn't do it because the homes are so large they fill the lot, and there is no yard at all.
It was a wonderful day and we are one temple closer to meeting our goal this year!!!

Just Thinking

2010-04-29T11:14:00.000-07:00

I keep opening up my blog, and nothing comes to me. It's like I am totally stuck and don't know what to write. I love blogging, but it is so low on my priority list right now that even when I get here I think "i don't have time for this" and end up doing something else.
What have I been up to?
-putting some old and awesome music on my mp3 player.
-running more - to my music! - I am up to 4.5 miles, yeah!
-loving all 3 of my massage classes
-switching the kids rooms around, why did Sophie have the bigger room any way?
-watching what I eat more, it's a lot easier to do since I am exercising again
-reading and playing with the kids
-keeping the dishes clean and the laundry folded
-wishing we could have a second car. It's been so nice to use Rich's parents car this last month that they have been out of town... dreams...
-reading a little, my guilty pleasure. I love escaping in a good book
-taking a few pictures here and there that never seem to end up on my blog fast enough
-trying to get some sleep in there
-wishing to have more date nights
-looking forward to summer, already...
-loving cutting flowers or branches in blossom to put on my table, ah spring!
-endlessly taking kids to soccer, play dates, dance and on my errands too
-finding happy time with my family every day
-learning the articles of faith as a family, again.
-wanting to get together with friends for lunch or girls night out, but never being able to find the time
-enjoying netflix instant streaming on the wii. I can watch all the old seasons of The Office any time at all, without commercials
:):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):)

Debate

2010-03-28T08:19:00.000-07:00

Do I let Max go to church with underwear on or not...

He's been doing really well. I love potty trained kids! I have noticed a huge difference this last few weeks in diapers and wipes I buy!! But I guess they are traded up for M & M's! I thought this day would never come!!! Yeah Max!!

And if you get a chance to see "How to Train Your Dragon", you totally should. It was a really cute movie, we saw it yesterday. We saw it in 3-D and the kids loved it, and so did we.

Temple #4

2010-03-27T23:48:00.000-07:00

We hit the Mt. Timpanogos temple today. It was a beautiful day, and the kids were really excited to spend some time with their cousins while we were gone. We were short on time (again) so we only did initiatory work. But they were even really busy in that department. Come to find out the temple is always a busy place. But that is a good thing. Rich ended up leaving his names at the temple, and they had to mail them back to us.
Today also happened to be a super fun day because we had free passes to see How to Train your Dragon, in 3D. The kids all loved it!! We left Gavin at Kim's for a nap and took Sam with us. We had to drive down to Provo, after the temple, but it was worth it, and it was such a fun day:)

Unders

2010-03-22T13:22:00.000-07:00

Max is wearing Unders for the first time today... Wish us luck!
He was dry all last week except for 2 accidents. I think we are ready :)

Fun Day

2010-03-13T19:56:00.000-08:00

-It was Saturday and we got to sleep in!!
-We started swimming lessons today!! The kids have been looking forward to this for weeks. We are all in, Sophie in level 2, Peter in level 1, and Rich and me with Max and Gavin in the parent tot class. We had so much fun and can't wait to keep going week after week.
-Rich made a fab lunch, perfect for the yucky weather. Tomato soup with french bread open face cheese sandwiches, we couldn't get enough!
-We got to ride the train!!!
-We rode the train to see Disney on Ice! We love going! This is the 4th one we've been to. Even from the nose bleed section we had such a fun time! Pictures to come!
-We got to go out to dinner. A treat for all of us, and no dishes to do!
-The kids were so worn out that they went to bed SOOOO easy... Ahh...
-and we are now in the middle of making, and waiting for cinnabon cinnamon rolls :) Yum yum!
-We can now sit back and relax to a netflix movie and spring the clocks forward an hour...
-What a happy day :)

Clone of a Cinnabon
Ingredients
1 cup warm milk (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
2 eggs, room temperature
1/3 cup margarine, melted
4 1/2 cups bread flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup white sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons bread machine yeast

1 cup brown sugar, packed
2 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
1/3 cup butter, softened

1 (3 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt
Directions
Place ingredients in the pan of the bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Select dough cycle; press Start.
After the dough has doubled in size turn it out onto a lightly floured surface, cover and let rest for 10 minutes. In a small bowl, combine brown sugar and cinnamon.
Roll dough into a 16x21 inch rectangle. Spread dough with 1/3 cup butter and sprinkle evenly with sugar/cinnamon mixture. Roll up dough and cut into 12 rolls. Place rolls in a lightly greased 9x13 inch baking pan. Cover and let rise until nearly doubled, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
Bake rolls in preheated oven until golden brown, about 15 minutes. While rolls are baking, beat together cream cheese, 1/4 cup butter, confectioners' sugar, vanilla extract and salt. Spread frosting on warm rolls before serving.

Funny Quirks

2010-03-10T14:00:00.000-08:00

Ever wonder where the funny quirks your kids have come from? I do all the time. My kids always make me laugh and I wonder where they get it from. For example, Max loves to act out his sentences instead of just saying it straight out. I always thought it came from the fact that he had such a hard time learning how to speak. And although I still think that is a big part of it, I caught myself doing it the other day in a conversation with a friend. I totally felt silly in the middle of it when the realization came to me... Was I acting like Max, or is Max acting like me? I was not nearly as dramatic as Max, but all in all, I had to laugh at myself.
This was what Max acted out yesterday.
We were in the garage getting ready to walk over and pick Peter up from Kindergarten. I was getting Gavin in the stroller as Max was wandering on the driveway. He came running back to me and said "Mom, baby spider do that..." as he proceeded to make his hand look like a spider and then he calmly layed on the garage floor and kicked his hands and feet up in the air and got up and said "...do that..." and he ran back and pointed to the spider. It was dead and on his back and crumpled up with his legs in the air. It was so funny!
And last night eating cookies he said out of the blue, "me cookie monster..." and started eating a cookie like cookie monster, with wild hands, crumbs, and a lot of 'yum, yum's.
Seriously, words don't do that kid justice. Gotta love him.

American Girls

2010-03-04T21:14:00.000-08:00

I am so proud of Sophie. She and I have been reading the American Girl books for the past 15 months. We have only gotten through the first 3 series, not being as faithful at reading as we have been recently. We have read Samantha, Felicity, and as of tonight we have also finished Rebecca. Sophie actually finished the last 2 chapters on her own tonight because I had school, and she ran down when I got home to tell me the good news that she finished the book! I was a little jealous that she did it without me, so I guess I'll have to read the ending on my own. I have told Sophie that after we have finished reading all 6 books for all 10 American girls that she can get her own American Girl doll. We will be starting Addy tomorrow. I try to have Sophie read the first few pages and then I finish the rest of the chapter. She does really well and only gets stuck on the biggest words. I love reading with her every night we get the chance. She is such an amazing girl. Our reading time turns into talking time, and she and I are so alike. She is the best daughter I could ask for, and I know that we'll always be mother and daughter, but I also feel like she and I will be the best of friends.

Stuffies

2010-03-02T13:07:00.000-08:00

This all happened a few months ago, before Christmas, but I thought I would blog it front and center...

We have been collecting stuffies for the past seven years. We have bought some, inherited some, made some and have been given some. This is what it all adds up to...
I was cleaning up the kids room and was grumbling under my breath at all the stuffies...

I thought 'I bet they would never even notice if I packed up a garbage bag of stuffies and shipped them off to DI.' So I packed a bag, but wasn't satisfied. I thought 'what will they learn?'

So I combed through the house to locate every big and small stuffie I could find. I organized them all out and counted each one.

The whole family needed to SEE exactly why I was always complaining about picking up the stuffies, and having too many stuffies.

And I told the kids for each one they wanted to keep, they had to get rid of one.

Of course there were a few off limits for getting rid of. So right off there were several they had to get rid of.

The process started out painful, but got easier and I was pleasantly surprised at how many the kids were actually willing to get rid of. It turned into a game.

I didn't get an after picture, but I think the before pictures speak pretty loudly themselves. And so do these numbers...

12 webkinz

22 dollies

101 beanie type babies

6 carebears

5 monkeys

32 random stuffies

58 disney characters

22 bears

31 I bagged up before the games began

-----

289 STUFFIES in my house

we narrowed it all down to...

(drum roll please...)

122 stuffed animals

Still may seem like a lot, but it is less than half, and it is much more manageable now...

But we have definitely learned our lesson...

Never again.

Max the Chef

2010-03-01T08:53:00.000-08:00

I was almost finished folding a load of laundry when Max comes stumbling up the stairs with the bag of 30 tortillas in one hand, and the 2lb pound of cheese in the other. He made his way up to me and said 'ta-teee-ya cheeeeese'. It wasn't lunch time and I knew he wasn't starving. All I needed was 5 minutes to finish the load. Just 5 minutes... So I said 'not yet Max. Please wait 5 minutes for me to finish folding the laundry... He was surprisingly calm about the whole thing and turned around and went downstairs. It was the reaction I wanted, but didn't expect. I took it as it was and finished the laundry. And all seemed well when I was finished folding so I took the liberty to put the folded laundry away. Just 5 minutes more... That is when Max came back upstairs... Empty handed... And looking confused... He said 'my ta-teee-ya all gone?!!!' I was so confused at the statement, but it isn't the first time I've been confused by Max. So I went down with him and fully expected to make him his tortilla with cheese in the microwave for 30 seconds and roll it up so he could eat it after blowing on each bite so it wouldn't be hot.
That's when my nose started working, half way down the stairs. I smelled smoke and my brain added things together pretty quick. He ran ahead to the microwave where the bar stool had been pulled up to and said 'see mommy, my ta-teee-ya all gone!!!' Sure enough you couldn't see it in the microwave because all you could see was black smoke billowing out of the microwave and spilling into the kitchen and leaking through to the rest of the house. When the smoke finally cleared, you could see it all. Max made himself a tortilla because he apparantly couldn't wait for me. There was cheese sprinkled all over the counter sitting beside the opened bags. In the microwave was a black lump in the center of the turntable. No plate. He missed that step I guess. The turn table was so hot I had to use a hot pad to take it out and dump it in the sink. I scraped and wiped and cleaned the microwave and turn table and it still stunk and had black marks. I tried so hard to get all the tortilla cheese mess off of the turn table. It was stuck hard. How long did he cook that thing????? He was so worried about what he had done. It was kinda cute to watch, if he hadn't just ruined the microwave!!!

The good news is that it is just a temporary microwave we have been using on the counter until we could replace our over the range microwave. The bad news is that I don't think we will be using this microwave again, it was pretty bad. The picture doesn't do it justice, and you can't smell it... So we are microwaveless for a little while. We can get by without it, right?

Conference

2010-02-28T21:16:00.000-08:00

We had a special stake conference today. Elder L. Tom Perry was our guest speaker. I have been looking forward to this for the last two weeks, knowing that hearing him speak would fill my cup of spirituality up just a little more. Even after I found out Rich was singing in the choir and would not be able to sit with me and help with the kids, I was still optimistic that I would have a wonderful day at our stake conference meeting.
Uhh... Things didn't turn out exactly as planned. And I don't remember much of what was actally said, except that Elder Perry kept commenting on the boys sitting on the front row infront of him, and I was so glad that we weren't sitting in those seats. Max wet his pull-up and it leaked out on his pants so we had to leave and take care of things in the bathroom. Gavin didn't want to share books or goldfish and let everyone around us know with his shrieks. Peter insisted on leaving for a drink because he was 'getting sweaty' because he was so hot. I insisted that he sit still and wait till the meeting was over, and this conversation between the two of us went on and on... And Gavin kept throwing his water bottle to the people in the row in front of us, over hand. I was so embarrassed.
And my spiritual cup was not filled.

On a side note. Last night I gave all the boys hair cuts. Starting with Gavin. I ended up just buzzing his hair. And Max came in just as I was finishing it up. He was so worried and upset saying "what? Put his hair back on mommy!!!" Then he realized it was his turn next. "No, No, No!!! Not my cool dudes!!! Don't take my cool dudes off!!!" He seriously so worried I was going to buzz his head and he couldn't have his mohawk cool dudes anymore! Poor boy. I managed to convince him I wouldn't, I just wanted to make his cool dudes shorter. He said ok, as long as daddy held him. He still doesn't like Gavin's short buzz, and has told me like a thousand times today.

Saturday

2010-02-27T14:04:00.000-08:00

Seriously, today is a beautiful day...
It makes me want to pack up all the winter coats and mits and gloves and boots that take up so much room in my mud room. It makes me want to pull out the bikes and picnic baskets. It makes me want to but popsicles. I am ready for shorts and sandals and for the grass to green up so we can sit on it. I am ready to spring clean my basement too... Maybe next week...
Bring Spring on...

thursday thankful thoughts

2010-02-25T16:00:00.000-08:00

What I am thankful for today.
-time to clean my boys room - those closets can cram a lot of stuff behind closed doors
-that I don't have a test at school tonight, so I didn't study at all
-thatthe Ensign came. I always read the Latter-Day Saint Voices before anything else, I love to hear other peoples stories about the gospel
-tha t my kids had a happy day. No break downs or major tears
-that my laundry is at a managable level, not all done, but not really behind either
-that I did the dishes last night. The night before I was sick and did nothing in the kitchen and then one of Linda's piano students had to wash her hands first thing in the morning in my kitchen sink (why not the bathroom???) and she was totally grossed out. Rich sort of left most of the dinner mess... I was mortified to hear this story...
-that my kids can walk to and from school, and that I have a little walking carpool system to get Peter from kindergarten.
-that my kids have good friends
-that I get to see my wonderful hubby every day for lunch
-that I am happy
-what isn't there to be thankful for?

Running Errands

2010-02-24T13:29:00.000-08:00

Must have been a 24 hr thing because I was back on my feet today.

So Max got to come with me to run errands today. I just love that boy, especially one on one. His favorite hair do is a mohawk that he calls 'cool dudes'. Because he looks like a cool dude with his hair like that! Anyway, everyone kept commenting on his cool dudes and he would get all shy like and snuggle close to me. We had a great afternoon, just the two of us.
It is days like this that remind me how much I love being a mom. I am so lucky to have my beautiful children. Sure some (a lot) of days are hard, but then I have these refreshers and it totally motivates me to keep going and to smile a little more about my calling in life of being a mother, nothing holds greater joy.

And keep scrolling down. I have added a bunch of posts clear from dec 31st to present. Yeah me:) I am catching up:)

sick day

2010-02-23T17:37:00.000-08:00

I was sick today. And the kids took full advantage. Didn't do chores, and hired a tornado to run through the main floor. Max was still dry all day. And then I had to pull myself out of bed and drag myself to school. I did shower. When you take classes that are 12 weeks long you really can't miss, plus we had a test today (in kinesiology) that I really couldn't study for because I couldn't concentrate. I still passed. I really like school, just not when I'm sick.
I hope I get home in time to watch Lost tonight.

ps

2010-02-22T16:16:00.001-08:00

ps- I am adding blogging a post to my chore chart, maybe that will help me keep up on blogging...
by the way the chore chart is going pretty well. Not perfect everyday, but it is a great motivator. And I need that extra reminder often...

past pictures

2010-02-22T13:56:00.001-08:00

I'm trying to post past pictures by the month. So far I have December. The rest will come, but it takes a little longer than I thought. So the rest will come later.

potty training fun

2010-02-22T11:53:00.000-08:00

So it's super duper fun to potty train our kids, right??
Well for those of you who really know the dark side of Max, you can understand why I don't really have a desire to step into the world of potty training. I've made some great excuses like a road trip to Canada, and let's wait till he turns 3. I'm out of excuses now... But I have been taking him in to go potty when he wakes up in the morning, and that has turned the idea in his head. Now he WANTS to be potty trained. And he is doing it all on his own with minimal help from me. It's great because there are no fits, which is what I was sorely afraid of. I let him wear pull-ups, and that is something I swear against when I potty train my kids. I think they are too much like diapers. I like going straight to unders. But not with Max... Pull-ups work for him. He is usually dry almost all day long. He will stop playing, watching a show or eating and say "I have to go potty!!!!" and then we will run upstairs and he will talk to himself the whole way saying "don't pee, don't pee, don't pee....." and I help him take his pants off because he is a little slow, and he goes!! I have to brag about him here for a minute and say that since he had his first poop on the toilet he hasn't pooped in his pull-up!!!! HAPPY DAY :) :) :) He has even stepped up in a restaurant, and at church saying he has to go potty! Of course we have a little reward system. A little m&m machine. He gets to turn the handle once for pee and twice for poop. And out comes a handful of m&m's. It's great. And the best part is no stress. And here is the worst part...
The other night we 'tucked the boys in bed' and they weren't asleep. Rich and I went downstairs to settle in and have some alone time and watch a movie without kids. When it was time for us to go to bed we went around turning lights off that were mysteriously turned on while the boys were 'asleep' and I found this image. And no, I did not take a picture. The boys room was empty and the covers were all messy, they decided to get out of bed and sleep in our room. And on their wall??? More than two dozen finger marks off poop!!!!!!!!!!! ON THE WALL!!!!!! Yeah, you heard it right! Peter was actually still awake and I asked him what happened in my sleepy not so nice mom voice!!! He said that Max (the independent) went poop on the potty. Peter was proud of the fact that he helped him take his pants off. (they didn't call me?? We didn't even know they were out of bed...) I asked him who wiped his bum (sorry to be so graphic) and he said Max did it all by himself!!! Uhhhhh, what??? How did he get from the bathroom to his bedroom with poop all over his bum and fingers??? I was so grossed out... And had to stop right there and clean the wall off with disinfectant. And some of that poop was chunky and dried (graphic again) and had to be scraped off of the wall... Ewww sick... And the potty was in the same shape. Just beyond words.
I then proceeded to check on my sleeping potty training angel from down under. His hands appeared clean. He is actually meticulous about washing his hands really well with soap and water after he goes potty. Thank goodness. So I didn't wake him, because that would have been a battle in and of itself. But thorough cleaning was done again in the morning, just to be sure.
So in Max's quest to potty train himself, this is what I get... Yuck...
Just wanted to share the joy of potty training Max.

Temple #3

2010-02-06T13:46:00.000-08:00

LOGAN

It was a fun day today especially because it was Sophie's birthday, but also because we got to add another temple to our list. Steve and Cyndi were supposed to go with us, but Steve ended up being on call and it was just the two of us. This was the first session I have ever done in Logan. It is a beautiful temple. But we could only see it up close today, the fog was pretty bad. Especially on the drive up. But Rich should be used to driving in fog after our trip to Canada at Christmas.

When we were done we got to share Sophie's birthday cake with Cyndi and Elise who also have February birthdays. It was a fun night.

The Birthday Haircut

2010-02-05T09:15:00.000-08:00

She wanted bangs for her birthday. That was an easy request.BEFORE

DURING

AFTER

A new post!

2010-02-01T08:26:00.000-08:00

It's been a month - again - since the last time I've posted. Pictures are waiting to go on, but it hasn't happened yet. Even the ones from Christmas are still waiting...
In fact I'm having a hard time with my chores too. I made these fun octopus chore charts for the kids a few months ago. The legs are the chores and they get to put them on the octopus when they do the chore. It worked pretty well. And it was an easy visual for the kids to see when they were finally done and could play with friends or something. But the novelty of the new chore chart has worn off, so I made new ones again. This time they are bingo chore charts. They are cute. Little clip art pics that we each colored, and we made cute magnet bingo pieces by finding little things like beads, jewels and ribbon flowers and hot glued them to little magnets. And I decided to make one for me and Rich too. Does that seem too silly to make a grown up chore chart for a 30 yr old?? Well I figured it worked so well for the kids, that maybe it can work for me too. And I can see an end each day, so I'm not thinking I need to be doing chores all day long. Here's to a new chapter in my life. A chore chart!!

So you may be wondering what our chores are?? We each have 9.
Sophie/Peter (they alternate some chores according to odd/even days)
alternate-empty 1/2 dishwasher (top & bottom)
alternate-empty basket (we have one that goes upstairs, and one that goes downstairs and they fill up fast)
homework/reading
make bed/clean room
alternate-pick up the floor (hard floor or carpet)
serve others
help the baby
help mom (with anything I ask like set the table, put clothes away, go play downstairs)
practice piano (Sophie) / empty upstairs trash (Peter)

Max
pick up toys (even one counts sometimes)
dishes (again, even one dish counts)
play with baby (nicely!!)
be happy (most important chore!!!)
wash face (this is always necessary, what does he do to his face all the time???)
read with mom
pick up floor (kind of doubles with pick up toys, but hey...)
help mom
go potty (maybe he will get potty trained before the summer!!!)

Me
dishes
laundry
read scriptures/write in journal
homework
daily chore (something silly I made up a year or so ago: Mon - mop/deep vacuum, Tues - toilet room, Wed - walls & windows, Thurs - thoroughly dust, Fri - food room, Sat - special project)
exercise (I need to get back in action)
play with kids (sometimes I need that extra reminder to stop everything else and just play)
prepare and make dinner (I've gotten out of the habit with school, my poor family...)
mail (mail and papers are my enemy - they piles up so fast!)

Really I am just letting you know to make myself feel more accountable in life and to find routine and order again. So wish me luck!!!

January Pictures

2010-01-31T14:05:00.000-08:00

Sophie got to bring 'spot' home from school for a week and write in his journal. She is loving her new elementary school. It may not be as academically challenging, but she is so happy.

Our little diva "take a picture of me and my prizes mom!!"

Rich and never get our picture taken together. Sophie is a great photographer.

Max had a few requests for his birthday. A train cake, chuck-e-cheese, and a lollipop from chuck-e-cheese. It was easy to fill his list this year. If only they could stay little and want little things...

Oops, its sideways. But Max loved his cake:)

Gavin thought it was a great day at chuck-e-cheese. Can you see the balloon strings behind him? We tied balloons on the back of his pants for the times we knew he would wander away from us. We could still see the balloons bouncing around and then he was easy to locate. Great idea!

I love wac-a-mole. Especially if it gives you tickets. It was out of tickets today.

Chucky is a little less scary when you don't actually have to look at his face.

What do you see in this picture??? A sad boy? Yes, and look at his foot... Yuck. He is walking on his wet diaper like a shoe. Eww. This is what happens sometimes when Rich watches the kids while I am gone at school. Poor guy! - Gavin, that is.

We got this awesome train table on KSL for only $5!!!!! We were so excited. We got it a few weeks before Max's birthday and he knew about it, be we kept saying that it was for his birthday. He really was so patient and waited till the day:) And the presents on top of it were like icing on a cake! He ripped into them with gusto! He loved it all:)

We all shed a tear...
Rich and I painted pottery when we were newly married (great gift idea) and we made a family birthday plate and a family birthday goblet. It is something the whole family looks forward to using on our birthdays. It makes us feel extra special... We had the table set for breakfast and Max was so excited. He sat up at the table and the place mat slid and the goblet tumbled onto the floor and smashed into pieces. Oh he felt so bad, and was really upset. And Sophie was really upset too because hers is the next birthday and she won't get to use the cup. Poor girl. So we took a picture, not to remember the sad incident, but to remember what it looks like. We want to remake it as soon as possible, and try to make it look as close to the original as possible.

This was a fun and easy cake to make for Max. The hardest part was driving all the way to Zurcher's to buy the candy rocks. Good pick Max:)

Happy Birthday to me:) We had our good friends the Horsley's over for dinner. Since we didn't get to have our traditional fancy New Year's Day dinner on New Years, we had it today. It was so yummy, and now I am officially old.

Sophie and Mrs. Buchholz.

I could write a whole post on this picture. We sent Sophie to a charter school this year. We loved everything about it. She was able to advance and excel where she could, and split up for things like math (she actually went into the 2nd grade classroom for math) and switch rooms for a higher reading group. She had great friends, challenging homework and I loved that she had a dress code/uniform that she needed to wear everyday.

But...

Over Christmas break it hit us pretty hard that Sophie wasn't able to actually play with her great friends from school. They all lived too far away. And it was really hard on me to try and load up all the kids to drive Sophie 20 min one way to play for 2 hours. That would be 80 min of driving for me (and all the other kids loaded in the car) and 120 min of playing for Sophie. So it didn't happen. We tried to arrange things for her to play with her old friends from kindergarten, but it didn't work out very well. Rich and I talked it over and then we asked Sophie if she wanted to go back to school at her old kindergarten school. Where Peter goes. That's another story. It didn't work out for them both to go to the charter school. So they were at different schools... Not fun for me. Anyway, her whole face lit up at the suggestion and the rest is history. She was sad to say goodbye, but excited for the new fun ahead back with her old friends.

Turns out I didn't take all that many pictures this month. Where have I been. or better yet, where has the time gone??

Temple #2

2010-01-30T13:52:00.000-08:00

OGDEN

Yes, we are hitting the easy ones first. We had to do 2 this month and thought we would do the easy ones. And I just found out that they are doing a major remodel on the Ogden temple starting this year and it will look totally different, so we were glad to get our picture in front of the 'old' Ogden temple.

So this is how the day went down. Karolee came to watch the kids today and we even arranged time to go out to lunch after. Yeah, a date!! Well, the temple went along well and then we headed to the restaurant that we had a gift card for. It is an Ogden only restaurant and we thought this was the perfect chance to use it. Well, on Saturdays it only opens for dinner, starting at 5pm... We couldn't just sit around and wait for it to open so we tried again. The next restaurant was also closed, for lunch!!! Hello - that's what we wanted!!! And the third one we stopped by only opened for dinner too... AAAHHHHHH!!!! We ended up eating in Layton at Famous Dave's. I love BBQ!!! Sorry Rich, he'll get his restaurant next time.

But the day was a success. Temple #2. Done.

Temple #1

2010-01-09T13:38:00.000-08:00

BOUNTIFUL

One of our main goals for this year is to go to all the Utah temples, and take a picture infront of each one. There are currently 13 Utah temples, and I think 1 or 2 more announced. So we sat down and planned out our year around these temples and the trips we will need to take. We are actually so excited about this goal.

So we started it off with our tried and true, favorite temple. This is where we were married 8 1/2 yrs ago and where we go when we go to the temple. It was your typical temple day. We went at our usual, in the middle of the day on Saturday so Gavin will be sleeping while grandma and grandpa watch the kids for us.

Can't wait for the rest of them!!!

December Pictures

2009-12-31T12:38:00.000-08:00

So, here are our December 2009 pictures from end to beginning - well end till Christmas time anyway. Too many to make individual posts out of. At least they are getting on this way.

Fun brothers on New Years.

Rich and I sipping our bubbly to bring in 2010.

All our plastic cups set out ready for the ball to drop.

Rich was grateful to be able to tune out the kids with the MP3 player on our drive. Especially in the fog. It was so thick you literally couldn't see 5 feet in front of you...

We were packed so tight on the way home. All those extra presents fit in somehow, and the kids had some great foot rests.

Me and my mom packing up for the big drive home. Too bad we had to do all that big packing on Chrsitmas day.

Me and Mike. I have the best brother. We had such a great time together over Christmas. Thanks for letting us take over your house Mike!!

It was hard for the girls to say goodbye to each other. Hopefully we can get them together again soon.

Gavin would NOT sit on GG's lap for a photo. He'll regret that later! What he really wanted to do was chase the cats around with Peter and Max.

The girls kept stamping down the wrapping paper for recycling, but we still ended up with 3 HUGE bags!!

Merry Christmas Grandma! I'm glad we could all sqeeze into my mom's basement for the festivities.

What could this one be??

Presents are so fun!!

Max thought every present was his and proceeded to open any present he could get his hands on. Sorry everyone!!

Digging through the mountain of gifts was fun for everyone!

Gavin loved Christmas this year and was caught up in the excitement of everyone else that he didn't get to open many presents. But no worry, Max helped him out with that.

Wow!!! The presents kept going and going and going!! You can buy a few more I guess when you aren't worried about the cost of shipping everything to another country. Everyone did way too much in the gift department this year.

Santa surprised us all by leaving us with a Wii for a combined family present, and a Wii game in each of our stockings. Peter couldn't have been more thrilled. And so were the rest of us. I am sort against video games, but Santa thought it would be fun for everyone. I guess he is right.

Sophie and Sam loved having a sleepover every night on the top bunk of Sam's bed. They were the best of friends. Like they were together all the time.

Christmas Eve gatherings. They sat like this while we tried to get ready to read the Christmas story.

Christmas Eve dinner at Mike's club house. It was the only place big enough for all 10 of us to sit together around a table. My family of 6 sure makes the family grow!! Dinner sure was good:)

Max and Rich all bundled up for the live nativity pageant that my ward puts on for the community every year. It is one of my favorite parts about Christmas in Canada. Do you love our new Canadian touques??

Yummy hot chocolate after the nativity.

At the movies on Christmas Eve. We saw 'Where the Wild Things Are'. We had the whole theater to ourselves and the kids got to sit all alone way up at the front and they thought that was awesome!!! Max kept running back and forth between us.

Rich hard at work peeling potatos...

The girls loved making the stuffing with grandma Cananda and GG

Mike took the kids for a ride on his scooter. Sophie loved it, Peter was a little unsure about the whole thing.

Can you see the 'excited' face Peter has??

Merry Christmas in 2009

2009-12-24T08:29:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas World! Listen to what an amazing year, full of love and wonders we each had.

Gavin. I grew up a little more this year. I started out not being able to do much of anything, but look at me now! I finally like to walk. I took my first steps at 15 months old and at 16 months I have finally decided to take on walking full time, though I am still a little shaky on my feet (which are so chubby I only have one pair of special shoes that fit). I can talk too. My favorite words are cracker, banana, mama, uh-oh, and ho-ho-ho... I am a great sleeper for my parents (12-13 hrs/ night), and love grandma to pick me up when she walks in the room. I think I am such a big boy and want to do everything my brothers do, and although Sophie likes to help me do a lot of things, I wish I could do them by myself. Meal time? Bring it on! I am not a picky eater, but when I am full I love to throw everything off of my tray onto the floor, and I really mean throw!! It always makes a big mess for my mom to clean up. And if she doesn’t get things like kiwi or peaches right away it can dry like glue on the floor!

Maxwell. This year brought big changes for me! I started the year in a crib, booster seat at the table, 5 point harness car seat, and with a binki. Just look at me now! I sleep on the bottom bunk in my room (although I like to get out occasionally and that drives my mom and dad crazy!). My dad cut the ends of my binkis off a few months back and since then I haven’t wanted them. I know I grew a little because I don’t need/or want a booster seat at the table. I like to sit on the bench between Sophie and Peter at the table. And I have noticed how cool Sophie and Peter’s car seats are and since then have refused to sit in my old baby 5 point harness seat. I will be 3 yrs old in a few weeks so my parents bought me my own booster seat for the car. It is so cool and I feel so big riding in it! I am also speaking so much better. My speech therapy earlier this year must have really paid off. I am finally catching on, and starting to form sentences in my broken English. It makes it easier to communicate with everyone, but I still rely on my mom a lot. She is really good at speaking ‘Max’. And don’t forget to hug and kiss me when you leave, it is very important to me.

Peter. Wow. I am so cool! I can’t believe that one year ago I was afraid to ride on any of the rides at Lagoon, I am mostly – ok partly – over that now. I have always loved drawing and my teacher says I am so good at it she has to remind me to stop and do my work, or stop talking to my friends – take your pick. And a year ago I couldn’t read at all, and now I am reading simple books (with big pictures) from kindergarten. But it doesn’t really matter to me, what I like is to play with friends 24/7. And I love to play the Wii at everyone else’s house. I am begging Santa for a Wii of my own for Christmas. Good thing Santa doesn’t have a budget!!! I got a bike for Easter – with training wheels. I think I will try to ride a 2 wheeler in the spring. I love to pick out my own clothes and don’t understand it when my mom says my clothes don’t match. It makes me mad when she makes me change before school. And you should see my hair. I have started doing it all by myself. And my mom doesn’t even redo it every day. Sometimes she says it is so good I can wear it like that to school! Knock, knock? Who’s there??? I can tell some great jokes. They always make sense in my head!!! I am an awesome soccer player and go after the ball with vengeance. I was born to play!

Sophie. I am the boss of my family, right? I think so anyway… But anyway, as an almost 7 yr old I am ready to conquer the world! I love my new charter school and am really excelling there. I am in 1st grade, but 2nd grade math (which I love) and advanced reading which I say I don’t like, but secretly I do. I am a great reader and am making my way through all of the American Girl books. They are just barely above my reading level, but I push my way through and often fall asleep with a book in my hands at night. I am a speedy biker, and love to play with my older neighbors (they are 9yrs old) and act as if I am their age. I LOVE tumbling and jazz (I am in those classes right now). I love to cook and have learned how to make ramen noodles, mac & cheese, pancakes (from a recipe), toast, and scrambled eggs without any help from my mom. She is totally impressed! I am a sweet girl and am always quick to help others (except my brothers sometimes, but I am quick to tease them!).

Heather. I have enjoyed this year. Some highlights for me? Rich threw a great surprise party to celebrate the last year in my 20’s. It was so fun! It was a feat for him to keep that from me, he’s not good at keeping secrets! I started school in the fall. Just a community college and I am going to be a massage therapist and work in Rich’s office. It will take me some time to get through and I should be done by the time Gavin goes to preschool (that is a scary thought!). I have watched my children grow and have bitter sweet feelings about that, it is happening so quickly. I love my family and they make me smile every day. Especially that great husband of mine! He surprised me by taking me along on one of his business trips to California. We took an extra day and went to Disneyland! It was so fun and amazing to be just the two of us for a few days. We haven’t done that for years. I hope we can do it again sooner rather than later. I was excited to get passports for the family and plan our long awaited trip to Canada for Christmas this year. I was also excited to get a new dining table. Rich and I worked really hard to save for it and we love it. It is something I have wanted for a long time. I am serving as a CTR 5 teacher at church and love my little kids. It is Peter’s age group, but he isn’t in my class. I think we have like 25 5yr olds in our ward at church! I have loved going on family bike rides this year and staying on top of laundry! And I didn’t mention the fact that I was in a lifestyle contest in the spring where we had to exercise every day, sleep 7 hrs every night, and cut out ALL sugar from my diet – all for 3 whole months!!! And you got points for these things. Well, I tied for first place!! I lost some weight and inches, and I felt so great and wish I could keep it up, but it is hard work!! But now I can say that I did it!!

Rich. This year has been filled with continued challenges and great blessings! I have enjoyed continuing to help patients daily as well as my great job as a husband and father! In September I went to a training on allergy elimination and have seen amazing results with a lot of people! It’s fun to see people get the results they are looking for. I have enjoyed spending time with my kids every Friday for “Daddy Day”. It’s fun to spend one-on-one time with each of my favorite kids! I’ve also enjoyed spending extra time with them while Heather is at school. Bedtime reading is really fun. We’re in the middle of book 3 in the Harry Potter series. (I think I get more out of it than they do. Yesterday, Sophie asked me who Hermoine was.) I’m still busy, busy serving as the Executive Secretary in the ward. All-in-all, life is great and I love what I do!

All in all we are happy and ready to start another year. I am so grateful for our blessings. Everything can be a blessing if you look at it in the right light. I know that my Savior lives and am grateful for this time of year to celebrate His birth. What a glorious thing. And how amazing our Heavenly Father’s plan is for each of us and all of us. I am thankful for each of you and glad to share this season with you, if only in our hearts. Merry Christmas and have a Happy New Year in 2010…

Love, Rich, Heather, Sophie, Peter, Max, and Gavin

Visiting Friends

2009-12-22T14:58:00.000-08:00

We spent almost all of our time with family during our trip, but we did make one exception. We went to see Ivy Rose. She has been one of my grandma's best friends for years and years. She is almost like a second grandma to me and I was so glad we had a chance to visit one afternoon. I think the kids must have driven her batty!! My kids have so much energy! But Ivy Rose is so sweet and said they were just fine. Wish I would have taken a picture with me in it too...

Canadian Bowling

2009-12-22T14:52:00.000-08:00

This is what I grew up on. Hand size, light weight bowling balls, and 5 pins, with 3 goes in a turn. So much fun, and I loved introducing it to my family. It is perfect for the kids. They didn't need any help, even Max loved it - though his bowling was more like shot put... And I think we all benifited from the bumpers on our lanes. We played boys against girls. Boys won... But Sophie was awesome and was the girl winner! Way to go girl!

Trip to Canada

2009-12-18T08:48:00.000-08:00

This is not what we planned on!!!

Talk about a scary situation! I have NEVER had this happen to me before. There we were driving on the interstate at 70 miles/hour and we hear this loud noise that sounded like you are driving on the edge of the road, and the next thing we know we feel the tire go and we were veering off to the shoulder to a stop. We hop out of the car to see this!!!!! The tire was completely gone! How does that even happen? Well, we didn't know what to do. I took an auto class 10 years ago and learned how to change a tire, but have never had to put that knowledge into action. To be honest, we didn't even know where the spare tire was. It is under the van. Not under the trunk... We were fully loaded for Christmas and in the middle of nowhere. And we had our four kids tucked in the car, worried about what was going on. Sophie was bawling because she thought it meant we would not be able to go to Canada for Christmas. Poor girl. She thought we would have turn around and head back home. While Rich and I were standing in the cold and blowing wind, a stranger stopped and helped out. He was a mechanic by trade and did most of the changing for us, and he directed us to the next town (2 miles away thankfully) and to the closest tire store. He was such a blessing!

And buying the warrenty on the tires is a smart thing to do. $15 up front gave us the option to go to any tire store (if this happens) and replace it with a 100% refund of the cost when we return to home.

I am happy to report that this was the worst day of the trip, even though it was day 1. The rest of the time we were gone was smooth sailing. This took 3 1/2 hours out of our trip, but was welcome when we think of what could have happened in this scary situation. You never realize how thankful you are for tires until one blows!!

Uh-Oh Gavin...

2009-12-15T08:34:00.000-08:00

Gavin thought it was great fun to smash the glass balls on the little Christmas tree in the hall. I am so glad they make plastic balls now. This is the last of our glass balls. It seems to have been a fun thing for all of our boys to do at this age...

California Dreams...

2009-12-13T08:39:00.000-08:00

I was so surprised to find out that Rich bought me a plane ticket to go with him to California for the weekend while he had to go to a seminar. Wow, three nights and four days of just us. That NEVER happens! And he was gone for 2 of the 3 days so I got some alone time. It was heaven. I had peace and quiet that welcome. I loved it. And the 3rd day (ok the 1st day we were there) we went to Disneyland! We had the best time, well except for the fact that Rich had us go on Splash Mountian FIRST. It was a cooler day and I got drenched, and I got my hair wrecked! Oh well. Good disney day. NO lines more than 7 minutes and we could do anything we wanted without a diaper bag, stroller or crying kids...

This is a trip I want to repeat again!! I love my kids, don't get me wrong. But it was exactly what I needed to refresh myself and face the challenges of daily life with new energy, and maybe even love my kids more.

Going to the dentist

2009-12-09T08:36:00.000-08:00

The little boys had a great time at the dentist. They were happy and calm and had healthy teeth. Good job boys!! Max loved the choo choo train out front. Smart marketing on the dentists part. It is what actually got us going there in the first place and we've been really happy there.

New Table!!

2009-12-01T11:12:00.000-08:00

So Rich and I have been planning this for about a year now. And here it is!!! Some things are truely worth waiting for. We love our new table. It is really the first piece of furniture that we have owned as a married couple. Sure we have had a few things here and there, but it was bought as students (and you know how those things are!) and this is exactly what we want. And we saved and worked hard for it. We LOVE the two benches we got to go with it. We LOVE that it is a square that folds out to a large rectangle. We LOVE the dark wood. We LOVE the fabric 'grown up only' chairs. And we LOVE the new dishes, silverware, and glasses we got to go with it all! But we mostly love that we saved and saved and didn't go into any debt to get it!! Happy early Christmas to us!!

Giving Thanks

2009-11-29T15:24:00.000-08:00

I am such a blessed person. My Heavenly Father knows me so deeply and loves me so fully. I am grateful for my family. And for all the strings attached with that. Even on those long, never ending, frustrating days I am grateful for my life. Not for just the beginning point or that never reachable end point. But for today. The here and now. I accept my life as mine and it is a blessing to go through my trials and live my joys. What an experience and journey I am going through. This season of giving thanks has brought me to much reflection as to what I really am thankful for and also the things I need to be more grateful for. So, this year I am truely grateful for an extra push to remind me to give thanks for my many, many blessings.

Thanksgiving left overs

2009-11-27T11:20:00.000-08:00

What did I love about thanksgiving break this year??? Sleeping in!!! Gavin graced us with an 8:30 alarm for the long weekend, and until that we were in dream land. Sure we could hear the pitter patter of little feet down stairs and that was fine with us. The kids are big enough to take care of themselves for a little while first thing in the morning. They know how to turn cartoons on, get cereal and milk, and play!!! Well. Thanksgiving means pumpkin pie in our house, so Friday morning that is what the kids wanted for breakfast. They found a pie in the fridge, and Peter cut it all by himself (with a plastic kid knife). He got one for himself and one for Maxwell. They also got the coolwhip and everything!! How cute is that!!! They even put the pie back in the fridge! Gotta love that! I was so proud of Peter for a job well done, with the pie and with his brother!

New Moon

2009-11-20T15:59:00.001-08:00

OK. So I saw it! Last night at midnight with my awesome sister in law. What a fun night! Even after we stood outside in the longest line ever in the freezing cold for an hour... And all those crazy girls?? The theater was full of them. I thought New Moon was just as good as Twilight, or better if you are a Jacob fan. He is shirtless in most of the movie! And I will probably see it again too! Good times...

Best Buddies Club

2009-11-20T08:24:00.000-08:00

'Best buddies club' That's what they called it when they spent two days straight coloring a huge box we had in the garage! Peter, Josh and Josh...

I'm Alive...

2009-11-09T07:30:00.000-08:00

Seriously what is my problem? I love blogging. But as you can see, I have been a little out of the practice. And now every time I want to do it I feel this overwhelming sense of... what do you call it when there is so much of a fun thing to do that it almost doesn't seem fun anymore???
Today isn't the day. I have to do all the other important things like laundry, play with my kids, dishes, study for midterms tonight (yes I am in school!! part time. And that is a whole other blog entry), and clean my bathroom, and set up an appointment for us to get a family picture taken in our Halloween costumes. We were the Peter Pan crew, all of us. And I didn't get ANY pictures of us, at all. So we are going professional. But I have to call and make the darn appointment. I swear, that is taking more time than the actual photo shoot would!! Procrastination, my best friend...
Anyway. This post is mainly for me, to get my tail in gear and get back into blogging.

party time

2009-10-08T09:25:00.001-07:00

Sophie had so much fun painting nails and using nail stickers, making carmel apples and watching an american girl movie with two of her great friends that happen to be our neighbors. Katie and Emma. They had a great pajama late-over.

messy love

2009-10-08T09:24:00.000-07:00

The kids were being impatient with me as I was trying to make pancakes for breakfast this morning. It seemed like after each ingredient the babies would need me for something, so they finally took over with my supervision. Talk about a wonderful time! They were so polite to each other and so caring. The mess (huge mess) they made was so easy for me to clean up because of the satisfaction and love that I felt. That is the way I want them to be all the time. Best friends. It made my day. And the pancakes were yummy too!

while on vaca

2009-10-08T09:19:00.000-07:00

Did I mention we were going on a mini vacation? We went to California. Actually Rich had to go for a seminar and we tagged along for the ride. Not as relaxing as one may desire, but super fun none the less. At the beach. Both times we tried to go it didn't really work out. The first time it was so dark by the time we got there and the second time it was so cold. But that didn't stop us from having fun!

And we picniced on the closed lifeguard tower to get a little shelter from the wind.

Now this is always the kids favorite part of any trip. The hotel pool. We swam 3 times!! And it was way fun. Even if Max never really did get in he had fun walking around and throwing the ball in for the kids to swim to.

We could have spent the entire time here.

Max didn't like the sand... At all...

Love those kids!

The giant aquarium by the cheesecake factory in Las Vegas was SO entertaining for the kids. But the dragon show was not, at least for Max. He booked it as fast as he could screaming the whole way when he saw the big, scary dragon pop out the top!!

Oh yeah, we walked like 5 miles to the M&M store in Vegas. with 1 umbrella stroller. We took the bus back.

This kid was not meant to live his life in a stroller or carseat. But he was meant to have shoes. Fat feet to the extreme.

How could you not resist taking a snap shot by sponge bob. Why do they like that guy so much?

worth a mint

2009-10-08T09:18:00.001-07:00

This collection took like 10 years I think to complete, but it is done!!! It feels so great to have the whole set of state quarters!! And darn that last one, Hawaii!! We searched forever to find one. But there it is. And no, I won't be using them to buy my kids candy.

s-s-s-s-snake

2009-10-08T09:15:00.000-07:00

Was it the rain or what? Brave Peter came out of no where and was loving his pet friend. Soaking wet and full of spirit. Peter wanted to keep this snake. I said no. But I was so proud of him for being so brave!

he's gonna be a socca' player

2009-10-08T09:14:00.002-07:00

being brothers

2009-10-08T09:14:00.001-07:00

just takin come pics

2009-10-08T09:13:00.000-07:00

A taste of the contenients

2009-10-08T09:07:00.000-07:00

getaway

2009-10-08T08:49:00.000-07:00

Washing pickels

2009-10-08T08:47:00.000-07:00

Birthday celebration

2009-10-08T08:41:00.001-07:00

Piano recital

2009-10-08T08:38:00.002-07:00

1st day of kindergarten

2009-10-08T08:38:00.001-07:00

Family Birthday

2009-10-08T08:30:00.000-07:00

Exploring

2009-10-08T08:29:00.002-07:00

1st day of 1st grade

2009-10-08T08:29:00.001-07:00

First Haircut

2009-10-08T08:23:00.000-07:00

He looks bald now!!! It wasn't supposed to turn out that way, but the long hair had to go. He is such a big boy now! I will miss the curly hair, but it just had to go...

Cleaning the garage

2009-10-08T08:22:00.000-07:00

What would you say if your 6 yr old came to you and said "Mom, can I scrub down the garage floor after you are done sweeping it out?" "Uh, yes!!!" My very own little Cinderella!!

**awk

2009-10-01T10:50:00.000-07:00

Max has improved in his speech during the last few months. He still says the end of most words, and not the beginning. We are trying to work on that. For example, the following words have similar endings. Max litterally uses the same word for all of them and it is up to me to figure out what he is saying. And I try to do it quickly because he repeats himself till I get it right getting louder and louder as his frustration builds because I don't always understand, and it sounds like I am letting my little boy walk around with a potty mouth. Because he puts his own beginning sound on the word(s), which I cannot repeat here...

**awk=

walk
dark
milk
park
shrek
work
talk
fork

Potty and M&M's

2009-09-21T18:10:00.000-07:00

He did it for the first time! Max went potty in the toilet. I am no where near potty training, but he slept for 13 hours last night and woke up dry. I knew he must have had a full bladder so we tried, and succeeded!!! Off to the store for some m&m's to put in our cool dispenser that he gets to give one turn for each potty!! And he did it after his nap too!! Ahh, maybe potty training will be in our future. No rush. We'll just go after bed and naps for now. That's what we did with Peter, with no real talk of potty otherwise, and one morning he didn't want to put a diaper on after his morning potty and was then potty trained in less than a week. His decision, and it was so easy. So we're trying it with Max... Warming the pot...

Na-Na

2009-09-15T18:08:00.000-07:00

It's official. The boy can speak!!! We heard the wonderful word today for the first time!!! We are so proud of our little Gavin!!!

President's Address

2009-09-08T15:28:00.000-07:00

So Pres. Obama had his speech to the children today. I kind of wish they would have broadcast it so we could watch it as a family. But I guess this way they could make sure ALL the kids watched it. I haven't read it yet. Sophie's school opted not to watch it, and so only Peter - my kindergartner - watched it. I plan on listening to it at some point, just haven't gotten around to it yet. So after school I had a few questions today.

Me:Did you watch the President speak today at school?
Pete:Huh???
Me:Did you watch TV at school today?
Pete:Yeah...
Me:Do you know who that was?
Pete:No.
Me:He is the President of the United States of America, where we live. His name is President Obama
Pete:Oh, I didn't know he had chocolate skin, I thought it was whitish.
Me:Nope. That's him. He is the leader of our country. What did he talk about? Can you remember?
Pete:Ahhh, he told me to wash my hands, but I didn't.

And that was that, he ran off to play in that instant. Bored with my line of questioning.

Here's a link to the speech he gave. I know there has been a lot of hype about it, but right now I am middle grounded about it. Maybe I'll feel different after reading it. At least Peter got to see who the president was. We don't exactly have his picture hanging on our wall. I was a little disappointed that his teachers didn't point it out enough for Peter to remember who spoke. But then again, they probably did their best. Seriously what 5 yr old is going to pay any attention to a speech that took 4 pages to print out. I can only assume it took 1/2 hr or more to watch. How did those kids sit still that long listening to a speech of any kind?? Oh well, it's all over now. No big deal in my books.

Eeew

2009-09-08T10:11:00.000-07:00

I just killed 9 flies in my kitchen!!!!

And there is a 10th one that is as fast as a cheeta, I can't seem to catch him. His crazy flight patterns are too much to keep up on and I can't always see where he lands. But before the day is through he will be mine!!! Talk about gross! How do they keep getting in and multiplying the way they do? Is it just to get my goat? I hate these little critters. And since I told my kids that flies eat garbage and dirt, we have a household of fly killers. They used to try and catch them, now we all reach for the fly swatters and whack away....

Putting Max Down for a Nap 101

2009-09-07T11:50:00.000-07:00

Step One.

-Carry him in your arms up the stairs

Step Two.

-Let him turn the lights off/on at the top of the stairs

Step Three.

-Say goodnight to the picture of Jesus in the hall, and he likes to count His owies now. And give Him a kiss.

Step Four.

-say goodnight to the picture of the Bountiful temple

Step Five.

-say goodnight to the picture of mom and dad

Step Six.

-say goodnight to the pictures of the babies. Name and count them. Baby Fo-ee, Baby Dee-der, Baby Me, Baby Ga. Max counting: ahh, choo, fee, faw.

Step Seven.

-Grab two gees (binkis) out of the binki box

Step Eight.

-Make sure to fill up wawa Pip, or other water bottle he may have grabbed. Today it was wawa Bob (the Builder)

Step Nine.

-Give hugs and kisses (the real kind, not the chocolate variety, though I am sure that kind would be gladly accepted too!!)

Step Ten.

-Close the door behind you.

Sounds complicated and long, but Max is a creature of habit. And a little OCD when it comes to almost everything. But when this routine is followed with patience and love; this is the happy result every single time :)

Ahhh, sound asleep for a nice long afternoon nap!

2009-09-03T14:10:00.001-07:00

After more than 2 months of absense I am repenting and catching up on my lack of posts. So, here's a little now, and then a little later, but not too much later. I promise.

Jetta and Gavin

2009-08-04T10:10:00.000-07:00

We babysit cute Jetta every week and love having a little baby girl around the house. Don't worry, it's not giving us any ideas or anything... But she is so cute with her big chubby cheeks and all!!! We only have a problem now and then when Gavin moves over her way and tries to steal her binki or bottle or something. She doesn't like that!! Just had to share our cute friend! She is around 2 months younger than Gav. So sometimes it feels like I have twins when she is here!!! At least I have figured out how to have them nap at the same time in the afternoons!

Gavin's Big Birthday

2009-08-03T10:06:00.000-07:00

One Year Old

2009-08-03T09:20:00.000-07:00

What more can we say that hasn't been said. Gavin is in the best family in the world. We love him so much. He makes life challenging, in a joyful way. I think you know that we all need you to be a happy baby, and you are. Gavin is such a blessing to our family and we are so grateful that Heavenly Father has placed him in the midst of our crazy family. He is such a wonder, and he makes me smile everyday.

Fifty Two Weeks

2009-08-02T09:17:00.000-07:00

Gavin is such a fun boy. And he is a lot like his brothers. Funny, and sugar hungry! I can't believe his birthday is tomorrow!! He doesn't seem old enough.

The things of Gavin:

-He still doesn't crawl

-Just this week did he walk the length of the couch for the first time, holding onto it

-Gavin doesn't like any vegetables

-Gavin likes all fruits

-Gavin loves PB&J sandwiches

-Gavin wears a smile on his face almost all the time

-Gavin loves to imitate noises and sounds you make

-Rich thinks Gavin means Dad when he says dada. I think he is just babbling

-Gavin gets spoiled by everyone in the house

-Gavin can swim/crawl over to Grandma's house so quietly that no one notices, just to say hi.

-Gavin loves to look out of and bang on windows. Especially the one in mommy's room where he can see the horses.

-Gavin will walk around holding onto two hands of a grown up, but he doesn't really like to.

-Gavin loves attention

-Gavin doesn't ever wear shoes. Have you seen his feet? They are as round as little balls with nubby toes sticking out of them. So cute.

-Gavin is often called Maxwell, by others and us too. Sorry kid. that's the break of being last of the pack.

-Gavin likes going on walks and bike rides, after they have started. He doesn't like the process of getting ready and into the stroller.

-Gavin makes the best baby noises. Goo goo gaa gaa anyone?? Melts my heart because I know he is really saying I love you mommy!

On the Water

2009-08-01T10:05:00.000-07:00

We had so much fun with family today out in the hot sun!! Highlights of the day
-Setting up the old sun tents and watching Cyndi and Rich use a rock and a lot of luck to get those rusty poles to go up!
-Trying to knee board for the first time, and failing
-Driving Jon's boat! Wow! It made me want to buy one it was so fun!
-Getting kicked out of our pavillion, we didn't know it was reserved. And then being allowed back under
-Being allowed to use the snowcone machine the neighbor hut brought for their party!!
-Forgetting charcol for the grill and having to get it!
-Watching the kids live it up in the water. It was a blast!

Birthday Cupcake

2009-07-31T10:01:00.000-07:00

Oh the exploration of an early birthday cup cake... Mmmm

Lagoon

2009-07-31T09:58:00.000-07:00

Fun Boy Cousins

2009-07-31T09:44:00.000-07:00

Joe, Peter, Justin, and Caleb riding the rides

Joe, Peter, Hyrum, Caleb (and usually Justin too, he is absent in this picture) playing xbox.

Justin and Peter being creative with a cardboard box and some markers and some guys.

Hours of fun

Peter, Hyrum, Jacob (in back), Justin, Derek, and Max having summer fun!!

Best Day Ever

2009-07-28T09:56:00.000-07:00

Riding the Train

2009-07-27T09:53:00.000-07:00

Fifty One Weeks

2009-07-26T09:12:00.000-07:00

Gavin loves having things to hold in his hand. He explores them by sticking them in his mouth and slobbering all over them. He is content to sit in his stroller for long periods of time this way. He likes food best on his tray though. Things like goldfish, crackers, cheerios, or a bottle of milk.

We went swimming at the Bountiful Pool this week and Gavin loved it!! So much better than the lake a few weeks ago. He was so brave and kept swimming to the deeper water!! I think Gavin has the brave streak in him. Yeah!

We had a scary experience with Gavin this week too. We were out to lunch with the whole big family and I shared my shake with him. He drank the last of it and then started crying. I threw the cup away and then Gavin stopped breathing. His face turned red and then purple. Then his eyes started rolling back, and he started going limp. We thought maybe he was choking on a french fry or something. We almost called 9-1-1. We held him upside down, patted his back, blew in his face, shook him a little and squirted water in his mouth. Finally he came to and started crying. That cry was such a beautiful sound after not knowing if he would take another breath. It was horrible. I was SO scared. We came to the conclusion that he passed out because he was mad that the shake was all gone. Not a funny trick Gavin!!! (He has gone on to do this any time he gets mad about something. Serious temper issues I guess...)

Fireworks!!

2009-07-24T09:51:00.000-07:00

Allison + Max

2009-07-24T09:43:00.000-07:00

Typical Allison/Max fashion around these parts. Don't worry. Max learned how to give it back by the end of their visit!

At the Zoo

2009-07-24T09:41:00.000-07:00

Pioneer Day Parade

2009-07-23T09:39:00.000-07:00

Fifty Weeks

2009-07-19T09:18:00.000-07:00

Don't you love the stragly - chicken scratch - fly away hair Gavin has going on??? He needs a hair cut so bad. But I have this funny thing. I have waited until all my babies were a year old for their first hair cut. Hang on a few more weeks big guy!!

pooperman

2009-07-17T09:38:00.000-07:00

Max ran around today in a diaper and a cape. Saying "Pooperman!!! Pooperman!!!!" We thought that was just about right!!

Fourty Nine Weeks

2009-07-12T09:09:00.000-07:00

So Gavin didn't exactly LOVE the beach. He likes baths at home, but I guess it is a lot different from sand and waves at the beach. The water was actually pretty warm, but not his cup of tea. Maybe next time.

Gavin is starting to take only one nap/day. And it is OK by me. Now I can run errands in the morning with a happy baby, and his afternoon nap is longer. 3-4 hours. Just like Max. So I get a good chunk of time in the afternoon without babies!!