My family

Update!!

2010-09-21T09:55:00.000-07:00

Man it has been forever since I have updated my blog. Alot has happened since I last posted. The family is doing great everyone just started back at school Andrew is now in 9th grade, Brayden 6th, Lexi 4th, Baylee 2nd and CC missed the kindergarten deadline so she started preschool at Ms. Tami's with her cousin Allie. She loves it and is very excited to go!! I love it cause I get the whole year FREE cause I watch the teachers cute little 2 year old while CC is in class. Andrew just turned 14 a couple of months ago and in October Brayden will be joining Drew at YM's I can't believe he is going to be 12. How fast they grow. I am so not ready for 16 cause my two boys are already way social and hardly ever want to do anything with us unless their friends can come.
Lexi is not coordinated at anything but she wanted to play soccer with a friend of hers and to our surprise she loves it and has improved greatly. When I can't find her she is always in the backyard with her cleats on and kicking the ball in the backyard. I am glad I finally found something that she enjoys doing.
Jeff is finally staying busy with work but sucks cause he is traveling to Colorado every Saturday until late Tuesday nights of every week so I feel like a single mom now between his day job, side jobs and church callings. Yay me! NOT.
They released me from my young womens miamaid advisor calling a month ago and I was not too happy about that. I miss the girls and love them dearly!! I have been having such a hard time and just sitting in sacrament meeting my stomach is all in knots and I can't stand to be there so I have made the decision to take time off from church. Now with Jeff being out of town every weekend he is guilt tripping me by using my kids. I don't know what to do anymore and how to get through he anger, hurt, and hard feelings I am having. I see it affecting Andrew but I can not sit in church without feeling like running and never coming back. Every time I tell him he needs to go to a meeting that he has been asked to be at or to go to ym's he throws the you don't go so why should I. I am beginning to think that the reason work has made Jeff go out of town every weekend is God's way of forcing me back. But I can't bring myself to go back. My kids have missed the last 3 weeks of church and Brayden ratted me out to Jeff I think I need to bribe that kid some more. All the other kids enjoyed our sleeping in and watching movies all day. If anyone has any ideas how to make this easier or advice please don't be afraid to put me in my place.

Santa and His Reindeer.

2009-12-11T19:06:00.001-08:00

Last Saturday we took the kids to Quilted Bear to see Santa and his Reindeer. Well Santa only brought 2 of his reindeer so Ciarra was a little dissapointed and she kept saying where is his sleigh? How did he get here without it?? And Santa is too fat to ride on the back of 2 Reindeer all the way here. Man too many questions. She thought it was the coolest thing she sat by the reindeer pen the whole time we were there and didn't even want to see Santa she just wanted to stay with the reindeer. She kept asking me if she could go inside the pen with them. Man my little animal lover!!

Andrew and Brayden were too cool and grown up for this of course and Baylee and Lexi did not want to have anything to do with Santa Clause cause they didn't want to wait in the long line. They still loved seeing the reindeer and walking through the craft store afterwards asking for any and everything that they thought would look good in their bedrooms. They are soo much like their dad it is a little bit scary!! I actually lost the boys in there and couldn't find them cause they looked at everything in the entire store. Man I thought girls were long shoppers those 3 are so much worse than me and the girls. Later that Night we went to our Ward Christmas Party and the girls finally decided they wanted to see Santa. Which was good cause he brought his wife with him and they were so much fun with each of the kids.

This is Ciarra with Santa and Mrs. Claus. She was not afraid at all this year she just jumped up on his lap and told him everything that she wanted. And over and over she reitterated that it had to be 2 Barbies and not just one cause they needed to have a friend to talk too. He got a kick out of that. This is the first year that she has sat on Santa's lap and not ran out of the room. Man she is growing up too fast. Brayden and Drew refused to let me get a picture of them with santa so I won't be posting one of them.

Baylee was very shy with Santa any question he would ask her she would put her head down and whisper. She told him she wanted a DS and he kept telling her a DSI and she would say NO I want a plain DS he could not get a clue so that upset her afterwards. She could not believe he would not listen to her. He told her that he doesn't think that she will be able to control one of those on her own. She was not happy with Santa afterwards.

She did however like his wife and thought she was very nice and happy to talk to.

Lexi however shocked me. She is the most out spoken of all my children and she would not talk to Santa at first which is weird cause not only does Lexi always have something to say she has to SCREAM it not say it!! He told her that she was on the naughty list so she wouldn't get anything she just laughed at him and then he said well there's a line lets get this over fast so he started asking her 10 questions all in a row without letteing her get a word in she just laughed and gave him the are you seriously waisting my time look that she loves to give. She finally did get to talk to him though and its funny we've had the talk and she still believes. She told me I am so wrong cause she wrote to Santa even after I told her and she got a letter from him at school last year so I am just a liar. I guess the power of believing never does leave some of us.. I am glad that our talk last year didn't ruin it like I thought it would. When you can't afford Christmas for your kids it is such a hard thing so to prep them we told the older ones. She asked me hundreds of questions and still she thinks I was lying to her. So I am glad she has the spirit to believe and that she has faith in all things.

Reflections Contest

2009-12-11T18:51:00.000-08:00

This year the Reflections Contest theme was Beauty Is... so 2 of my kids decided to do photography this year and Baylee of course had to do another painting since she went soo far with winning last year. She thought she would have luck again this year. Well sorry Baylee your picture was very cute but no luck this year but better luck next year!!

Baylee sayed Beauty is Friendship cause when you are down friends always make things feel and look better. So she painted her with Emily and Katera playing by an apple tree. And yes she did this all by herself!! She loves to paint with watercolors on canvas it makes her feel calm and at peace is what she tells us. Who knows maybe she will love it so much to continue to progress each year.

Lexi Picked Nature... she said Beauty is Natures cause it is so peaceful and beatiful in the mountains. So we took her up Mirror lake Highway to pass lake and it had just gotten done snowing and took the pictures of the lake. She loved how the trees, the sky and snow, reflected in the water. Lexi was very dissapointed that hers didn't win cause she thought she had the prettiest picture out of everyone. Better luck to you again next year one of these years you will make it.

And Brayden of course picked Elk... Go figure with a dad like his. He said Elk were beautiful cause they are so powerful and strong. They carry themselves with strength and the attitude that you can't touch me I dare ya. He loves looking at the elk so much that everytime we go to Grandma and Grandpa Donios we have to drive past the huge Elk Farm off of 106th South so he can watch them fight or just lay there. Brayden's didn't win but his was soo good that he got an Honorable Mention Ribbon attached to his cause if they could of picked more winners his would of been next. Way to go my little Booser!!

Thanksgiving

2009-11-30T19:40:00.000-08:00

This year we had a blast. All of us were at my parents this year and we decided to do it at my sisters church building cause my mom's sisters and all my cousins and their families and all my brothers and sisters were going to be there this year. So we get to the church and there was soo much to do. They had 4 TV's set up with 3 Wii's and a playstaion 2 set up with DDR on one and Guitar Hero world tour on one and then free for all on the other 2. The boys had their half court for basketball games and pin the tail on the blow up donkey and bowling for the littlier kids. It was soo much fun. Even though Jason you cheat on Dance dance Revolution you need to get a life. I bet thats all you do in your free time at home.

After dinner we went to Jeff's mom's for dessert and hung out with Carl, and Deann and all their kids and their spouses and Joyce and Larry and Tom and Vicky and all their kids. We had a blast. Yummy pies banana cream which is the only pie I like at Thanksgiving (thanks Joyce) and we played pounce all night laughing and chatting it up with my niece's and nephew's. Rachel I feel sorry for you with your soo competative husband!! And Vicky better luck next time. I will take it easier on you when we play again (haha).

I love Thanksgiving cause you can just eat and chillax with the people that matter most in your life!! We are so blessed with the family that we have. We love you all and are greatful for all you do for us!! I am grateful for my husband and the 5 beautiful children he has blessed my life with. They make my life busy and full of laughs. We may not have much right now but as long as we have each other nothing else matters.

Finally gonna update.......

2009-11-24T14:48:00.000-08:00

Halloween has come and gone and we survived yet another year with my 3 little drama queens. They all had to be fairies this year so I got brave and made their tutu's for them and just added wings and their costumes were done. They were soo cute!! Ciarra couldn't stand the wings so mom ended up carrying them most of the time at all the parties we went to. My shy little Brayden decided he was going to go out of his comfort zone and be a nerd this year. He looked soo cute!! see picture below.....

Brayden was excited this year again cause Jeff was able to take the first half of the day off again this year to come to their school Halloween parade and help with the party in Brayden's class. All the kids love having Jeff in their classes cause all the kids think he is cool So of course I got Baylee's class. Next year she is dressing up as ugly as I can make her cause she had boys grabbing her hand to be in their group for centers and boys in other classes coming to her door and telling her how cute she looked that day. Ugh I am soo in trouble with that child!! Lexi had fun in class too cause they did a readers theater and we were able to go listen to that before we had to help with class parties. It was so fun to see how interactive and dramatic she can be!!

Things have been soo crazy it seems like we never have time to just stop and breathe. I have finally finished the top to my quilt that I am making for Lexi's bedroom all I have left is the backing and quilting it all. She told me I have till Christmas to finish it then if it's not I am in big trouble and have her to answer to. OOOO I am soo scared an 8 year old is threatening me I guess I better watch out!! Brayden has had his Webelos badge and Arrow of light earned since August and he finally received the Webelos last Saturday. However they won't be doing his arrow of light ceremony till January so he will finally get that then. He does however love his new scout leaders and was able to go on his 1st overnighter campout. He loved it they went to Strawberry and fished on the lake in his scout leaders boat. He had a wonderful time!!

Jeff got a new calling and we are all trying to adjust to the demands that it puts on our family. He is now the Scout Master for the 12-18 year old boys. What a lot of work. I was soo tempted to raise my hand when they asked does anyone appose. I wanted to see what they would of done never seen anyone appose anything. Campouts every month are going to be hard for me to get used to especially when I work nights every weekend. But Andrew was so glad that his dad gets to stay in young mens with him even though it's not in the presidency anymore.

Busy! Busy! Busy!!!

2009-08-23T11:40:00.000-07:00

Sorry for not posting lately. This summer has been so busily crazy I'm going nuts. First off Girls Camp!! What a blast. We had 20 girls and 8 leaders up there this year double what I had to plan for last year. But the good news is they all got along and we really enjoyed getting to know all the new girls that are in this year. We did tons of fun things including Zip line this is our group that went and almost all of us went down the zip line a couple of times. WE had a Blast!! Next year Charri and Lucinda we are going to get you on there!! No excuses!!

Another thing we have enjoyed doing this summer is free family activities to keep the kids busy. The kids have discovered the fun in Herriman at a splash pad that they can play in for hours. It has a playground and then the water pad that water shoots out of everywhere they have loved going weekly and enjoy playing with their friends and hanging out for hours here. We have also the Gateway fountains, Sweets Candy factory tour, The best was the Mrs. Fields Cookie Factory tour. The kids loved it!! WE got to see how they make and package the cookies and the taste testing afterwards was divine!!! We also went and saw all the floats for the parade and voted on them and went waterskiing. This summer has been a blast.

This is the kids at the Gateway fountain. They had so much fun!

We got to go see all the floats for the Days of 47 parade and vote on them.

Us at the Mrs. Fields cookie factory YUM YUM!!

I got the opportunity to go on Trek with the youth in our stake this year. Oh my gosh what an awesome experience this was. I have never done something so hard in my life. I was shocked I survived the whole thing being as I am not in the best of shape health wise. I had the best family ever!! And I enjoyed getting to know people I would not normally have hung out with. This experience has really brought to light the reason why we are here and why I want the best for my children. It taught me a lot and helped me grow both spiritually and mentally.

Me and Lexi also got the chance to go on Good Things Utah and be in their audience. What a blast. They had a guest host that day and he was hilarious. We got to hang out with them after the show and the guy loved Lexi's hat and she was very shy every time he tried to talk to her.

We have had one busy summer and now that school is going to be starting the fun during the day has to end dang!! Hopefully I can be a better blogger now and keep it updated more often. I am going to have 4 out of my 5 kids in school full time now and I don't know what the heck I am going to do with myself just having Ciarra all day. Hopefully she won't be too sad when she won't have Baylee to play with anymore. I guess just me and her will have to find fun stuff to do to make the time go by.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SCOOBY DREW!!!

2009-07-13T17:28:00.000-07:00

Happy 13th Birthday little man!! I can't believe you are 13 already. You came into this world 2 weeks early weighing 6 lbs 10 oz and 19 1/2 inches long. You were such a cute little thing! And you still are, except for now you are 65 lbs and 55 inches long. Man where did the time go??

You are everybodies best buddy!! Everyone always likes to hang with Andrew. You have always been a well mannered kid and a very good helper to your parents. You have grown into such a responsible young man and I am honored to be your mother. You never seem to amaze me with how grown up you are and the decisions that you make in your life. I just pray you will keep that level head of yours as the peer pressure will continue to build. I am proud of your christ like ways in trying to inclued any and everyone with everything that you do. You are such an amazing child and I sometimes wonder where you get all of your good qualities from. Hope you have a fun birthday. We love you tons my handsome man!!! Love mom and dad.

Happy 6th Birthday Baylee

2009-07-02T10:05:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday to our precious little angel!! You came into this world waking us up at 3:30 am the only one who made my water break in bed and at home. You arrived at 7:30 am weighing in at 7' 5 oz. We took you home on July 3 and the very next day we took you to the West Jordan parade on July 4th then to the swimming pool with the family and back to grandma's for fireworks. We had a long day and we stayed inside grandma's cause the fireworks scared you. Ever since you were born you have been a firecracker, you know what you want and how to get it. Some of your favorite hobbies are chasing boys, playing with your friends and riding your bike. We can never find Baylee cause she is always going and going and going.

Baylee can bat her eyes and get her own way with anything especially with daddy!! She is a big time daddy's girl and always has been. She can wrap anyone around her pinky to get her own way!! We love you tons girly girl and I can't believe you are 6 already. I always think of you as my little baby still cause you are so small for your age. Try not be so fiesty though as you get older... I'm already not looking forward to the pms years with you!!
Hope you have a wonderful day and that your wishes will come true. Love mom and dad!!!

Last Days of School Festivities

2009-06-10T10:01:00.001-07:00

This is Baylee on her last day of school with Mrs. Reese!! She was such an awesome Kindergarten teacher and she is leaving Heartland so she will be missed. Baylee was always so excited to go to school. She would cry and yell at me if she was sick and couldn't go to school cause she loved to see Mrs. Reese. They did the cutest little graduation program and the kids sang and danced it was so much fun. They were then presented a flower by the principal so they can move on and grow more in 1st grade next year. Thanks Mrs. Reese for all your love and patience you showed teaching our daughter this school year. She has grown alot and can read basic easy books on her own. She spells signs and words everywhere we go!!

Here is Lexi with Mrs. Willahan. She is such an awesome teacher too if your kids have ever had her if not you are missing out!! Andrew was lucky to get her in 1st grade and none of my kids have had her since until Lexi this year. We were so excited to have her!! Lexi loved all the fun they had in class and Mrs Willahan would always talk highly of her and how talented she is. She also said Lexi was always so polite and quiet in her class. POLITE and QUIET huh I have never seen that side of my very demanding and verbal child that she is at home!! You even look at Lexi wrong and she is ready to beat the crap out of you. Thank you Mrs Willahan for being a wonderful example and teacher in my little girls life!! Hopeful Baylee will get you in 2nd grade too. I will keep my fingers crossed!!!

Last but not least I bring you to Brayden. He was not too happy about getting his picture taken with his teacher in front of his friends it's just not cool in 4th grade. But I don't care I made him do it anyway!! This is Mrs. Bailey she is also among many of the great teachers at Heartland. We loved having her as our sons teacher. Brayden is one who will only do work when he wants to do it and we can't make him. I think his name was on the board the whole last half of the year for missing assignments. His teacher would laugh at me cause I would come into the school and go thru his desk and make him do piles of homework all in one sitting cause he procrastinated too long. He loved science in his class and going to the museum for his fieldtrip. Mrs. Bailey always made classtime fun!! You are an awesome teacher and thanks for your patience in letting Brayden turn his work in whenever he felt like it.

Unexpected Lake

2009-05-28T08:26:00.000-07:00

I know I haven't updated for a while and what better way than to tell you about my little troublemaker Ciarra. Man that girl is always busy, busy, busy!! Well last night while I was at Young Women's and Jeff was at Young Men's she decided to water my flowers in the back yard and left the hose running by the window well all night. We got home at 10:00 and I walked downstairs to take my contacts out and low and behold I stepped into 2 inches of water in my bathroom. At first I thought one of the kids flooded my toilet. Then I started to hear a trickleing noise so as I walked into my bedroom there to await me is 2 inches of water sitting on top of the carpet. She was so lucky she was asleep when we got home cause I doubt she would be alive this morning if she hadn't been!! Jeff was at the grocery store when I came upon this awesome discovery so I immediately grabbed the shop vac and started to suck up some of the water. I had already dumped 2, 6 gallon buckets of water by the time he got back and that was only a tiny portion that I got done before he got back to the house.

As you know we finished our basement into one huge master bedroom and we have a huge log bed in our bedroom and the mattresses alone weighs a ton!! So thanks to our good friend and neighbor Brent Locke who we finally called at 11:00 last night came down to help my hubby take apart the bed and carry it out of the basement so we could get the water sucked up and the carpet torn out of there. I am so grateful for him cause of the way wet carpet and the huge area it ruined I could never have helped Jeff lift that out of there!! He also stayed and helped rip up all the carpet padding that was soaked and helped chuck all that out till 1:30 this morning. Thanks Brent for all your help we couldn't have gotten that all taken care of without you. Jeff told me it's lucky it happened on a night that I wasn't working cause he probably would have lost it and killed her for sure ! (metaphorically speaking) So yes love I am not glad that it happened but I am grateful I was the one to find it and not you!! You are just lucky it didn't happen while you were out of town!!

The upside of all of this is my widowsills will finally get grouted and we can restain the wood on the walls since we had to pull everything out of there. The downside is we are now sleeping on the couch for the next couple of weeks till we can get it all put back together. Man the joys of having Children. If she is this much trouble at 3 I can't wait till she is a teenager!!

UGGGGHHHH

2009-03-30T10:41:00.001-07:00

To start out I just wanna say whoever said Sunday is a day of rest is sooo wrong!!! To me Sunday's are my most hard and busy days. I get up in the morning make the kids breakfast, fight with them for 2 hours to shower and start getting ready for church. I get myself ready do all 3 girl's hair and dress them. Fight Brayden to shower and to then to get out of the shower cause he will sit there under the water for 45 mnutes. Fight Brayden to get dressed. Finally get out the door for 1:00 pm church. Wrestle with all 5 of my kids during Sacrament meeting to where I feel like I am in a Boxing Ring. Finally get church done with and finished get home at 4:15ish and constantly get yelled at cause we are all starving and what is for dinner and when is dinner going to be done?? While Jeff and the boys sit on the couch and watch sports after they change out of their clothes. By the time I can change and sit down it is almost 7:00 and I am totally exhausted!! This has been my Sunday ever since January. So yesterday when the kids put me thru this I totally blew up at all of them while making dinner and screamed and yelled at them anytime they asked me when dinner was going to be done. As I look back on it today I am one of the meanest mom's in the world!! Ask Lexi she will totally back me up! Andrew finally helped me cook dinner last night and Lex asked if she could help. I already had CC crying at my feet the whole time and so I told her no. She stomped out of the kitchen saying "everybody hates me and never wants me to help them" I felt horrible then to top it off CC was trying to carry glass plates on the counter to the table and I yelled at her not to touch. She ran off crying saying " Mom you really hurt my Heart, you are making my heart hurt so bad." So needless to say today I am in a horrible mood and feel like the worst mom EVER!! I even threw a fit cause Jeff needed my car today cause he can't drive his until we can find parts to fix his arm that holds the tire on the truck. I yelled at him for no reason when I should of just been understanding and loving. Which after 4 hours I did call and apologize to him. I am just so use to my Monday routine of driving Baylee to school and then going and helping in Brayden's class with math facts before I have to do all my carpool pickups. Sorry if I am rambling but this is my way to vent as this is my way of journaling. Hopefully tonight I can make it up to them when I take them to Classic Skating for family fun night for their school. Then maybe they will forgive and forget. That's one great thing about kid's they don't hold grudges for too long. I do love all of you even when I am in one of my moods. Please forgive me for being a horrible mother this week.

Lexi's Baptism

2009-03-17T13:19:00.000-07:00

Lexi and (as she would say) her Favorite Daddy

A lot has happened in the past couple of weeks. Our little Lexi turned 8 and she was Baptized a week ago Saturday. She was so excited. She had grandma Donio (my mom) make her a dress for the occasion. My mom is amazing at sewing and she makes all the girl's blessing dresses and baptism dresses! I joke with her and tell her she needs to start designing wedding dresses next so she can make 3 out of 3 of their white dresses. Lexi was so funny when we took her shopping for her material she would not say one word but would pick out colors and texture to make sure it wasn't going to be itchy. My mom showed her the furry material and she just had to have that so we decided to make her little jacket out of that so if it was cold her arms wouldn't freeze since she had to have a tank top top. We had a great time at her baptism it was fun to have all of the family over for lunch afterward and just hang out. Thank you to all who supported us and for those of you who couldn't make it and sent congrat's Lexi thanks you also.

This is what the bottom of her dress looks like. This is the top of her dress with the Jacket.

Mom you did an awesome job on the dress you are amazing as always. love you.

Kids are so observant!!!

2009-03-06T19:12:00.000-08:00

Andrew is soo funny last night we were eating bacon and french toast for dinner and Lexi was pulling all the fat off of her bacon and I asked her why she was doing that and she said cause I don't want to get fat. I told her she had nothing to worry about cause she will always be tall and skinny like a model. Andrew proceeded to tell her that she doesn't want to be a model cause model puke their guts out and starve themselves so they won't get fat. I asked him where he heard that thinking it was from health class at the Jr high he said no from TV isn't that what all models do. Lexi just looked at him and started to finish off her bacon.

Happy Birthday Lexi!!!

2009-02-23T07:34:00.001-08:00

Happy Birthday to my gorgeous beautiful daughter!! It seems like just yesterday when you woke me up in the middle of the night so you could enter this world. You came into this world at 3:15 am weighing 8 lbs 5 oz. You were the most beautiful thing we had ever seen. Even though we were dead tired we could not stop holding you and admire you. You brothers were so excited to see you when grandpa and grandma brought them up to the hospital. It's too bad their constant wanting to hold you and love you and protect you has turned into teasing you, laughing at you and playing tricks on you to get you to yell at them. But what are brothers for??

Now 8 years later and 45 pounds heavier you have grown into a beautiful daughter of god. We are so proud of you Lexi and for your choice to be Baptized what a big decision for you to make on your own. I love the mommy daughter times we have and am looking to soo many more as you progress into a young woman!! You are our life and we love you more than words can express!! Just think as tall as you are getting and you 2 older brothers aren't growing very fast pretty soon you can play all the tricks on them cause you will be looking down on them and they will soon fear you!! Hope you have a wonderful day!! Love mom and dad!!!

Valentine's Day

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

Friday was such a hectic day! I had to help in the kid's classes for their Valentines Parties. Then Drew didn't want to stay for his school dance so I had to check him out. Couldn't find him anywhere had to search the Jr High's school dance for him for 40 minutes turns out he walked home. So I get him and rush to Jeff's sister's house to get my hair colored. Then Jeff calls me at 5:00 and says that John and Rochelle and Sam and Michelle just called and purchased tickets for the movie Taken and that they were going to dinner right then. Well hello just got my hair colored not done no way can I be ready!! Jeff of course told them we would meet them for the movie but not dinner since he still was on his way home from Roy. We get to the movie and it was so dang good!! A little disturbing but waayyy goood!! We got out of the movie at 9:00 and decided since Andrew was babysitting and all of Jeff's sisters kids were sleeping over that we were going to go out for dinner to have some alone time. We ended up at Olive Garden in south towne. The time alone was sooo worth it!! I haven't had a quiet and peaceful dinner in a long time. Thanks love. So Saturday we of course have to wake up early for Brayden's last Jr Jazz game. Which they won by the way. Then we had to sign up Drew for Baseball and then we spent the rest of the afternoon finishing tiling his sisters bathroom. Way fun!! NOT. But to make things better we went out to dinner with Xela and Brent and ended up going to Bucca De Beppo. So dang good!! After dinner we had tickets at the Desert Star Playhouse and watched Home School Musical. It was sooo funny they were making fun of High School Musical and Naploeon Dynamite. WAY FUNNY!! Thank you love for 2 awesome nights away from the noise and caous that always surrouds us! We decided not to get each other any thing this year cause why waste the money on things that die. I so enjoyed just being with one another without my little rugrats hanging on us and telling me that I can not kiss daddy cause it is gross. LOVE YOU BABE you are always going to be my #1 Valentine!!

Brayden, Brayden, Brayden,

2009-02-13T07:45:00.000-08:00

I am constantly fighting Brayden to do his homework everyday after school.! It takes him literally an hour and a half to do 15 multiplication problems in math cause he thinks it's too hard and he whines and cries the whole time he is doing it. So we finally finish the math at 5:00 pm and start on the chore of writing out his 28 Valentines for his party today. Of course he starts to write out 3 and decides that he doesn't want to do anymore and he tells me that he will write the from on all of them if I will write the names of who they are to. Sorry buddy not gonna slide I could care less if you even handed any out! I had already sat and helped Baylee and stuffed the candy in all of Lexi's so you being 10 you are on your own except for stuffing the candy. Well after an hour of writing those out at 6:00 he tells me oh ya mom I have to decorate a Valentines box for tomorrow and my teacher gave me paper to decorate it with in my backpack. UGGGGHHHH!!! Why do they always wait till the last minute??? So Brayden got the scissors out and a tissue box and then he goes upstairs and gets on my cricut cutter and decides that he needs to make a bear on my Animal Kingdom cartridge and the sounds that the bear makes So he told me all it is is pushing buttons and glueing them on to the box any dummy could do it so he doesn't need my help! Well thank GOODNESS for the cricut machine cause he totally did it all on his own.!! Way to go Brayden!

Here is his finished product. He calls it his GROWLER MAIL!! He was so excited to take it to school today cause it was something he could actually do on his own and it only took him 15 minutes to make it.

U of U Gymnastics Meet

2009-02-07T13:40:00.001-08:00

Last night we took the kids to the U of U gymnastics meet we had free passes from the school to get the family in for free. We had a blast!! We went with Jeff's two sisters Joyce and Vicki and their families. Ciarra and Baylee had so much fun dancing to the music and screaming at the top of their lungs with Brooke and Jessica. Lexi hung out on Uncle Tom's lap of course with Elizabeth. She loves her Uncle Tom. We have gone to these meets for the past 3 years and we never got a chance to go last year so we decided to start the tradition up again. Andrew was away at a Scout Klondike camp out so he wasn't with us but Brayden had a lot of fun watching all the girls in their cute outfits with their tight bods!!

It was so fun Jeff always takes his Binoculars so that he can see better and some college boys who one of them was on a blind date turned around and saw how Jeff was watching the meet and he kept hitting his friend saying "Dude check this guy out he can see every detail" "You can see every flaw on the all the girls" thats the way to go" So we got a good laugh at them laughing at Jeff. Of course Utah won out of all 4 school which were BYU (haha) SUU and Texas. This is Ciarra with her favorite Aunt Joyce!! When Joyce is around mom does not exsist!!

Refelctions Contest is now over for Us!!

2009-01-30T07:33:00.000-08:00

We were able to go to the District level Reflections contest last night for the painting that Baylee painted. We had 6 kids move on from our school Heartland Elementary. While we were sitting there thru the hour and 15 minute thing none of the kids at our elementary school or the 4 surrounding elementary schools around us got to move on to State. Totally sucked!! Baylee was so dissapointed that she didn't get to move on to state that we had to take her out to Applebees with just Daddy and mommy. We had so much fun with her one on one that we decided to take a kid out by themselves every other week so they can have alone time with us and so we can spoil just them and only them for that night. Another boy Jacob in our neighborhood that is in Brayden's class his didn't get to move on either and he was devistated he was so cute while they were calling out the photography winners he sat with both his fingers crossed the whole time!! When they were finished he just put his head down and cried. It made me so sad for him. When 3-D art came up the little boy in Baylee's class Kyson he was dissapointed also that his didn't get to move on either. It was sad to see that even at 5 how dissappointed these kids get and that they do realize it was a big deal to get as far as District level. I told Baylee there is always next year and she is already thinking of something that she could paint.

Here is a picture of Jeff and Baylee enjoying their Shrimp and Parmesan Steak!! Baylee of course ordered a corn dog but once she saw mine and Jeff's shrimp and steak she ate off of both of our plates instead of hers. You think we would learn by now not to order what she says she wants and just let her share with us cause it happens all of the time!! We had to stop at the grocery store afterwards to pick up some milk for the kids and of course Baylee batts her eyes and daddy gives in and buys her a treat so she picked out a PEZ dispenser like she doesn't have enough of those but she was soo sweet and asked him if she could buy a pack of refills also so her brothers and sisters could have some too. Her siblings were very grateful cause daddy can never say no to Baylee.

4th Grade Field Trip

2009-01-28T14:32:00.000-08:00

Brayden's class got to go to the Historic Veterans Museum in Lehi today for a field trip for School. It was soo much fun!! I have never been here before so I thought it would be lame once I saw the word Veterans but it was a lot of fun. The kids were mixed up into 8 groups from all 3 classes so I didn't get to be in charge of Brayden's group cause another mom dibbed that group but I got to go with some other kids in my neighborhood we had a blast!!

This is a sign that was at the front desk as we walked in, I tried to get Brayden to stand by it but he wouldn't he didn't think it was very funny! While we were there we got to learn about all different things, like rocks and minerals, we got to do a lot of hands on things, also. They got to make pictographs by scratching symbols and pictures into a pottery stone. They got arrested and put in jail, they were offered dead crickets that had flavoring on them like bacon and Cheddar, or sour cream and onion. Only half of the kids in my group would try it I even had a girl who tried to be brave and taste it but I had to run her to the bathroom so she could puke after it hit her tongue. No way would I even try it the kids tried to get me to but NO WAY was I going to! They got to rub buffalo skin with a indian made knife to make it into cloth for a tepee. And a lot of other things. So much to name!!

At the end of the field trip one of the guys that worked there decided to give us a treat and he brought out 4 very beautiful and awesome birds. He brought out a Falcon, a Hawk, and Owl and a Golden Eagle. This is the Eagle. It was so beautiful!! When it tried to fly out of his arms its wing span was so wide and pretty!! The kids loved it!! Brayden is still talking about all the fun he had today. They were saying that they are doing a Night at the Museum where everything comes to life coming up in February, so I am seriously thinking of taking the kids to it. It sounds like so much fun.

Kid's and their Thinking

2009-01-28T14:27:00.001-08:00

Baylee has show and tell every Wednesday in her Kindergarten class and this week the letter was "P" We could not think of what she could take so when she got in my car yesterday after school she turns to me and says "I know mom I can trick my class and bring up my back pack and say It has brown hair, clothes and it talks. " So I asked her what that has to do with the letter P and she said " It's me I'm PRETTY!!! She thought that was so funny So after school I asked her if she did it and she said yes but she won't ever again cause the boys thought that was stupid!!

Party Night!!

2009-01-20T10:53:00.001-08:00

Last night was soo much fun!! My friend Sheryl called me yesterday and asked if I would fill in and be a sub for her Bunco group. I of course said yes so I could have some me time. It was so much fun the ladies were so nice and we ended up having to call 2 more people from the neighborhood cause they were short people from their regular group. Dinner was delicious and it was great to be in the company of people who are older than 12. We were done playing by 10:00 but 5 of us decided to just sit around and talk and laugh. We were so into it that when I looked at my watch it was 12:45 so we finally decided that we better call it a night so our husbands didn't get mad. I got home at 1:00 and was so exhausted from laughter that I even slept in until 10:00 this morning. My kids didn't have school today so not only did they sleep in they let me also. Thank you my love for letting me have another night of no phone calls and time to myself. I guess I owe you another 4-wheeling trip to yourself again without kids. Knowing you you already have one planned like last time.

Mom's Night

2009-01-09T08:56:00.000-08:00

Last night was so much fun!!! Holly asked me if I was doing anything last night and asked if I wanted to come over and bring scraps from scrapbooking to make cards with a couple of other ladies from the ward. At first I wasn't going to go but at about 7:15 I decided to just go. I had so much fun!!! There was Monica, Gaylynn, Julie, Holly, Annie, me and then Kim showed up just to talk and hang out for about an hour. We each had to pick a theme for a card and make 6 of the same one or 12 of the same one so we could each have 1 or 2 of that same card. At the end of the night when we were done we switched cards with everybody. We had a lot of laughs and it was great to get out and away from the kids and just BS without having to worry about anything!! Jeff was so great usually when I am out I get a million phone calls from the kids or him asking when I will be back. Especially if I am out past 9:00 when the kids need to be put to bed. But I did not get one phone call from them. I didn't get home until 10:00 and I was expecting him to be major mad but when I walked in the door all the kids were in bed asleep, and Jeff was on the couch watching the news and he was so sweet to me it totally shocked me!!! Thanks love for letting me have a night to myself!! It was greatly needed!! And thank you Ladies for a fun and enjoying night!!

Congratulations Baylee

2009-01-08T11:46:00.000-08:00

Today we found out that at the Region level Reflections contest last night at the middle school that Baylee won 1st place in visual arts for all of the Kindergarten thru 2nd grade age kids in our region. Woo-Hoo way to go Baylee. We were so excited when we got the phone call this morning from Allison Tran (pictured above with Baylee) who is in charge of Reflections for our school.

This is Baylee after she got her Region Medal. She was so dang excited. When I got off the phone to tell her that her Snowman gets to move on to District the first words out of her mouth were "Where is my Medal?" It killed her to have to wait all morning until she got to school to receive it. We can't wait to go to District on January 29 to find out if her Snowman is good enough to move on to State level. We will keep you all posted.

Baylee with her teacher Mrs. Reese. Proud to have 2 winners out of her class that got to move on to District!!

My computer nerd!!

2009-01-07T09:51:00.000-08:00

Baylee is soo funny. We won't let her play on the big computer so this morning while I was changing loads of laundry she went and got her Bratz lap top and a bag of Pistachio nuts and sat at the computer desk for the last hour now and typing and eating. What a way to entertain herself. She told me "she had to get her homework done so she is smart when she goes to school today."

Kids are so dang funny!!!

Ciarra 1st day in Primary!

2009-01-05T19:29:00.000-08:00

Ciarra had her first day in Sunbeams today!! She cried hysterically when I put her with her class. I couldn't sit and hold her cause I had to get my classroom ready cause I had to teach so I left her to go set it up. When I came back in she was still freaking out so I had to grab her and have her sit with my class. When I went to teach I dropped her off to Jeff. I guess he took her in and sat with her and her class until she was fine with it and he left her. After church she was so excited about her I am Child of God crown and super excited that they sang her favorite and only song she knows which is I am a Child of God. Even today while the kids were at school she put her crown on and kept saying how her teacher let her sing her Lead me guide me song. So hopefully next week we will have better luck with her and she will go to class without crying.

Daddy's Night

2008-12-30T11:05:00.001-08:00

Last night while Jeff was watching the Jazz game I was trying to fold laundry in my room so I asked him to keep the girls occupied so I could get it done. He told CC and Baylee to get the spray bottle and his brush and they could play with his hair. Well I don't think he will ask them to do that again because before he knew it they had put every hair clip they could find all over his head. Doesn't he look pretty. The girls called me upstairs to see how pretty daddy looked. So for paybacks to him for always forgetting my birthday I decided to embarrass him and post his picture on my blog. Sorry honey (lol) Love you tons. Thank you for keeping the girls out of my way so I could get some stuff done!!!

Hanging Out

2008-12-29T11:02:00.000-08:00

Last night was so much fun!!! My brother invited us over after church for dinner and games. We got to there house at about 3:30 and we played Guitar Hero World Tour with them. It was so much fun. I actually got pretty good at the drums by the time we were done. Then us adults had to give it up for the kids so my brother and his wife pulled out this game called Carcasonne When me and Jeff saw it we were like no way are we going to play this stupid game.!!!! We started to play at 7 :15 and after one game we were hooked!! We played game after game until 11:45 last night. Jon thought he would be funny and teach Jeff how to screw me out of my land and my castle's well paybacks are a B big brother we are going to buy this game and practice until I am as sneaky and coniving as you are!!! Rematch is coming soon so BEWARE!!!!

Christmas

2008-12-29T10:51:00.000-08:00

Christmas was a blast!!!! We spent Christmas Eve with Jeff's family.. We had soup bowl night and just hung out and opened presents. The kids all had a lot of fun playing with their cousin's.. On Christmas day we got up at 8:00 when the kids finally woke up and we spent the morning playing with their presents.. Then at 11:45 we started our drive to my mom's house in Riverton. All was well till we hit 9800 south and had to kick it in 4 wheel drive. We almost got ourselves stuck trying to help an elderly man and his wife who was stuck in the deep snow. By the time we made it in to my parents neighborhood on 11925 south the snow was up to our knees when we got there. It took forever for all of my brother's and sister's to get there!! We finally were able to eat and at 3:00 when we started to open presents the power went out. So we had to pull out the lanterns and flashlights and do everything in the dark.. We left to go to my grandmas at 6:00 and it was so funny me and my dad were asked to cook a pizza dip and spinach artichoke dip for my grandma's and her house is older and when we went to use her gas oven, in order to keep the door shut we had to use a mop and wedge it up with the table to hold the door shut, We had a good laugh about that. Not only was it interesting cooking but we seemed to be bad luck and brought the storm to her house with us. It was snowing so bad when we had to head home. Thank goodness I drove with my dad in his truck we were able to get home without sliding all over the place. Thanks dad.... I really didn't want to drive in that by myself with my 3 oldest. I feel safer with you driving in that bad weather than trusting myself.

We still had a fun Christmas and because of the storm we were able to pull out the wheelers and sled around the neighborhod for 2 days with friends and neighbors. The kids had a ball and so did all of us!!!

Ginger Bread Night

2008-12-23T08:18:00.000-08:00

Last night was soo much fun!!! My mom decided to do a family soup night and after dinner we as families had to each decorate a Gingerbread House. All of us and our kids had to help even the little ones. All of the kids had so much fun!!! I even think the adults had more fun then the kids. We never as kids got to do this around Christmas time so all of my brothers and sisters really enjoyed doing it.

Here is a picture of our family in the process of decorating our house. We decided to make ours into a log cabin so the boys would put pretzels on the sides while Jeff glued the house together. The girls were decorating trees with candy while they did that part. I think Baylee and Ciarra ate more candy then they actually decorated. Every time you looked at them they were popping candy in their mouths.

This is our finished project. We used Marshmellow popcorn for the grass and the trees. Gumdrops for the flower beds beneath the trees and gummi worms for our curbing. In the back of the house is a pond with fish swimming in it, and to the side of ou r house is a couple of buck's and doe's grazing in the grass. And of course mounted on the front of the house is our Buck head. And all the red hots on the house is Jeff's Christmas lighting. I think he had more fun then the kids did for sure. He is the one that got all creative making deer bodies.

Here is a few of the other houses that were made. Two of my siblings left before we could get a picture of theirs so here are the ones that we got so far.

This is my brother Ryan and Ami's and their daughter Kenlee's House.

This is my sister Stacy's kids she had to work so she couldn't make it but Trina, Rick, Skyler and Walker decorated it on their own. Great Job guys!!!

This is my brother Jon and Jami's and their 3 kids Jordan, Jessika, and Jakob did this one. As you can see he had to have a huge pond and stream just like his backyard at home. Jeff made them deer also to go along with their house.

And last but not least this is my mom and dad's house they only had themselves to decorate and when we left at 9:30 last night dad was still decorating it so when I go on Christmas I will get a picture of their masterpiece. My brother Jason, and Sister Jill left before I could get a picture of theirs but theirs turned out really cute also. We decided that we need this to be a tradition for now on!!!

Weekend Happening's

2008-12-15T09:08:00.000-08:00

This Saturday was sooo busy!!! Andrew got the opportunity for scouts to go to the Salvation Army and help them box up Christmas presents for those in need. He didn't want to go all week he kept complaining but he went any way. He left at 8:30 and didn't get home until 1:30. He had so much fun. He said he got to shop for the kid's and pack up their stuff in the wharehouse. He said it was a really good experience to do service for others. I am so proud of him and the changes he is making each day. As he is getting older we butt heads alot my little baby boy who always loved to cuddle and hang out with me is growing up and he is fine with it but I think deep down I'm not! We have always been really close and he tells me everything and now that he is in Jr High I feel like he will slip away from me and not like me any more. To me he will always be my little blue eyed boy. We also this weekend got to go to the VA Hospital and have Christmas lunch with my Grandpa Crawford who has had Ahlsteimers for years and even though he doesn't talk to us anymore or recognize us you still feel those little glimpses he gives you like he knows you from somewhere but can't place it. He was so cute with Ciarra we took him back to his room and she leaned in to kiss his cheek and told him Merry Christmas and he put his lips in the air and started making kissing noises. So she kissed him on the lips. It was soo cute. I haven't seen him do that in a long time. He also would not let go of my hand he wanted my watch and was not going to give me my hand back until he got it. I even got a smile and a kiss out of him also. It was the funnest experience I have had with him up there in the last 5 years. I wish Andrew would have came with us though he was so tired from the Salvation Army that he wanted to stay home by himself. We were able to get a family picture with Grandpa and Grandma cause who knows how much longer he will be here. I guess I will have to just photo shop him in. With Jeff's grandma dying it's the little things that I miss. I wish I would have gotten one last picture of my kids with her.

Reflections Contest

2008-12-15T08:50:00.000-08:00

The school had a Reflections contest for the Arts and everyone in the school could enter. There was 167 entries out of the whole school. Caldwell Banker came and judged all of the entries. There was 8 different categories. Baylee entered the visual arts category and she painted a picture of what makes her say "WOW" was the theme. She painted a pictures of a snow man on canvas with snowflakes falling around it cause that's what makes her say WOW is the snow. She is only 5 and in Kindergarten and she was one of the 3 that one for the visual arts category. We were so suprised. And so was she. I thought if any of my 3 kids won that it would have been Lexi's painting cause of the detail and hard work she put into hers. Baylee's only took her an hour to paint, where Lexi took 3 hours. But we are so proud of all 3 of our kid's who entered . There is always next year Brayden and Lexi.

This is a picture of Baylee

and Grandma Donio. She came to see Baylee get her award.

Sorry mom I guess you have to travel 3 times to the school this week in between your working hours. See ya tomorrow for Brayden's concert and I just found out for Walker's program. That's what you get for having sooo many grandkids.!!!! Ha Ha. Thanks mom love you Baylee loved having you there.

Ciarra had to get her picture with Baylee also with her medal. She just likes the attention also. The assembly was so much fun I am the PTA secretary and we got to throw balls and do drawings for prizes during the assembly. It was a ton of fun. Those kids who entered got their name in a drawing and got to come up and pick out of over 50 prizes were drawn and we threw out over 60 balls during the assembly. Also all the kids who entered the contest got a free entrance ticket to Jumping Jacks (which is a place with a ton of bounce houses inside to play on) and a Clark Planatarium free entrance into a light show. We are so excited cause now we have 2 things we can do during their long 2 week Christmas vacation. I am going to go crazy having them home for that long.

Festival of Trees

2008-12-08T06:48:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we got the opportunity to help deliver 6 of the trees that were sold at the Festival of Trees. Jeff and I, my brother Jon and his wife Jami, Charri and Evan Jensen and Jessica and Stafford Combs went yesterday and delivered the trees that Charri had on her list. It was so much fun. 1 of the trees that we delivered was very sad! The family that we took it to had lost their baby in a tragic accident. We all had tears in our eyes as we set up the tree cause everything in that room reminded you of that baby. They had pictures of him all over the place and a beautiful saying on a piece of tile that said " Because someone we love is in heaven, we feel heaven is in our home." It was so touching. Our last delivery was one that made the day all worth it to us! The tree that we delivered had 17 boxes including the tree to deliver. The family knew that they were chosen from a company to receive a tree but they had no idea what it looked like and what came with it. When we got to their house they had a small tree in the corner which was leaning up against the wall cause the stand was broke. When we started walking in with the all the boxes and stuff that came with the tree she cried the whole time. Then her husband came in the room and even he was in tears. This tree was amazing it was atleast 9 ft tall and had a huge beautiful clock on a stand, a bunch of cute christmasey wood decorations. A couple of huge plaques with different sayings and pictures on them. A beautiful trunk that could be used for a coffee table, and then another piece of furniture with a door and 2 drawers. Then it had a porcelin set with a street lamp and people standing around it caroling (each piece was at least 2 ft tall) You could feel such a spirit in their apartment. As we were trying to unload everything and put it somewhere there was so much stuff and not a lot of room so Jessica and I started to decorate in their kitchen on top of their cabinents. It looked beautiful when we were done. We were even able to sneak some of the stuff out of the boxes so the kids didn't see it so they could use the games and puzzles for christmas gifts for their children. The company that bought the tree sure picked the right one for this family and had to of know their interest well cause when we were unloading everything there was at least 8 or 9 boxes of puzzles in decorative tins. When we walked in their house they had 2 tables set up with puzzles that they were working on. Jami even put helped them with a few pieces on one of their puzzles while we were waiting for the men to cut the bottom of the tree down so it would fit in their house. When we left the mom and dad hugged each of us and told us thank you and their was tears flowing from everyone. It was such an awesome experience. I can't wait until next year so we can do it again. Thank you to everyone who donated to the Festival this year. We love Primary Children's Hospital they took such good care of our little Ciarra for 2 weeks and we will always support them.

Tribute To Grandma Great

2008-12-07T17:30:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we spent the day honoring one of the most loving and caring ladies I have been privelaged to know. Jeff's grandma passed away the day after Thanksgiving and her funeral was held yesterday. At 91 she was in a lot of pain for the past couple of years and even though it was hard to have her leave us I know she is now free from all the pain and loving life being reunited with her hubby. The funeral was beautiful and everyone did a wonderful job with their talks. All of us grandkids and the great grandkids sang 3 songs at her funeral. It was so hard to get through all 3 songs. You could definately feel her spirit through the whole thing. We love you tons grandma and are so greatful to have you in our lives. It was so fun to have the whole family together. Jeff's sister Jill and her family came from California and we spent the whole day with them. The kids loved playing with their cousins and can't wait to see them again. We love you Jill and Kelby and kids and miss you all the time. Ciarra cried on the way home cause she can't see her friend any more so we might have to purchase a web camera so they can still see each other until we can make it out there next year.

Jeff's Christmas Hobby!!!

2008-12-02T07:36:00.000-08:00

My husband is worse than a little kid at Christmas time. So here is Jeff's hobby for the holidays.

My Neighbor told me I should post pictures of Jeff's hobby at Christmas Time on my blog so

here is some pictures of Jeff's favorite holiday and

how crazy he gets doing it. We have decorated our house with lights for the past 10 years that we lived here and each year he adds something new. Even when we lived in our duplex apartment he still had our whole side decked out in lights. I guess it keeps the kid in all of us alive. Our kids get so excited every year when November comes and he starts putting up his lights. It takes a long time on to put all of them up but it is totally worth it to see the excitement all of our kids get when this time of year comes. The pictures aren't that great cause my Camera sucks so hopefully we can get some better pics and post them. Better yet drive by and see for yourself. Jeff is in charge of decorating the outside and I am the inside with the exception of his Christmas

Village. I am not allowed to do that only he is. Around Christmas time we take the padding off of our window seats and display our village there.

We buy a new piece every year since we have been married to add to this also. The kids love it. It gives the house such a peaceful feel with the fiber optic lights and the waterfalls that play to the music on one of the houses. I couldn't get the whole thing in one picture so here is two shots of that. I still missed some of it with only the two shots.

As for the rest of the house I get free reign. I will

post pictures the rest of the house to the side of my bolg post. We wait all year just for this time of year. The thing that excites our family the most about Christmas is the decorating, seeing the lights, and listening to Christmas Music. This year our family has done 4 service projects to help those in need. The kids all loved participating in the food drive for Colby's Eagle project they were trying to take everything out of my pantry to help with that. Then we painted kids wood blocks for the Shriner's Hospital. My sister in law had to paint 400 blocks. So we as a family craft night at my moms painted abc's and dice and all different things on the blocks so that the children up there could enjoy them for Christmas. Lexi loved helping do that. Andrew, Jeff and I also were able to help tie quilts for Primary Children's Hospital for Chase's Eagle project. Our ward for relief society enrichment combined with the ym and yw were able to tie 36 quilts in 2 1/2 hours that night. And this Sunday Me and Jeff are so excited cause we get to go with Charri and Evan Jensen and my brother and his wife to deliver the Tree's that people bought from the festival of Tree's this year. Jeff went last year and he said it was the coolest experience he has had. So I am so excited to get to go this year since I got a sub for my primary class. This time of year even though we don't have a lot of money this year to buy the kids what they want. I still feel so blessed already. As long as we have love, family and friends what more do you need. And I am so glad my kids are understanding that early in their lives. I am so blessed to have such great kids they have already told us they don't care what they get this year even if it is a little rinky dink toy.

Thanksgiving

2008-11-29T11:03:00.000-08:00

Our Thanksgiving was fun and enjoyable this year. I cheated and instead of making rolls all morning I did Rhodes. It was soo relaxing. Jeff and Andrew went to the Annual Ward Turkey Bowl and their team won!! Andrew had so much fun he can't wait until next year to play again. I sat in my pajama's all morning, stayed in bed till 9:00 and made breakfast for the kids. We then went to Jeff's mom and Dad's house for dinner at 2:00. Everything was so delicious. I even challenged my nephew Derek to guitar hero where he totally kicked my but. What was I thinking. but I came back and beat Andrew so it was worth it. We then went to my mom and dad's for Dessert. The pies were so yummy. I made a Banana Cream Cheesecake it was so good. Anything besides pumpkin pie is mine and Jeff's motto. We went to a movie Friday with the adults in my family and saw Four Christmas's It was Hilarious!!! It got me even more excited for the season. We spent the rest of the day Yesterday putting up more Christmas decorations in our yard. I will have to take a pic when we are done and post it for all of you to see. Well gotta go finish decorating the house.

A Day of Thanks

2008-11-24T09:08:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we had to speak in church as a family and sing. I am so grateful that it is OVER!!! We sang I Am a Child of God as a family and Ciarra kept pulling the microphone down and practically screaming the song into the microphone it was so funny. Everybody told us how cute it was but my family is not musically enclined so I don't know if they were just being nice or if they really meant it. Either way thanks everybody for the comments on our talks and song. The kids were so excited after church when we got home and they could not believe how many people came up to them to tell them what a good job they did. That made their day so thank you!!!

As Thanksgiving is getting closer I just wanted to express our gratitude for everything I am thankful for.
1). I am thankful for my wonderful Husband Jeff. He is such a hard worker and provider and he is such a great father and lover.

2). I am thankful for my Children. My life would be one boring, depressing, and lonely life without them in it. I love their hugs and kisses and the way their smiles and laughter light up the rooms in my house.

3) I am thankful for my extended family they are always there for us whenever we need encouraging.

4). I am thankful for all of our friendships that we have made over the years. Without supporting friends and someone to vent to I would probably be in the nut house.

5). I am thankful for my home without a warm loving environment my kids would probably turn into big time rebels.

6). Last but not least I am thankful for my Freedom. To be able to choose and come and go as I please is the greatest feeling in the world.

Twilight Girls Night Out

2008-11-21T09:47:00.000-08:00

Last night was one crazy night. I had frozen dinner exchange at 6:00 pm. Ran straight from there to a YW's Meeting until 8:40 came home and changed then went to play Volleyball cause we are in region at 9:00 got home at 10:00 hurried up and changed again and then left to go out with the girls to the Cheesecake Factory for dessert which was delicious by the way. I had a banana and cream cheesecake it was to die for. Then to Gateway to see the new Twilight Movie. It was so much fun. We didn't get home until 3:15 am but it was totally worth it even though I only got 3 hours of sleep. Even though Edward was not HOT enough for me, he finally grew on me. It was humorous and for the most part not better than the book but still good. I can't wait to see how they make New Moon. The most annoying part of the night was trying to get out of the gateway parking lot. Some people are so inpatient and annoying they kept honking their horn until the line would move. One crazy lady jumped out of her car and went to the front of the line and yelled at the car 2 cars in front of her and pushed them along the way. Man have some patience people. We had a good laugh over that one. Thanks Xela, Sheryl, and Rebecca for a fun night away from the kids. We will have to do that more often.

Congratulations Andrew

2008-11-13T11:17:00.001-08:00

Andrew had a Court of Honor for Scouts last night where he received his Tenderfoot, 2nd and 1st class awards. We are so proud of him. He is now working on his Star. His goal is to try and earn his Eagle because it's something his dad didn't do that he regrets not finishing. So Andrew has set the goal of getting his to make his dad proud. We are so proud of you Andrew and will support you in anything you do.
Love you tons

Winter Wonderland

2008-11-06T09:38:00.000-08:00

It snowed all day yesterday. So when the kids got home from school before we had to go to Parent Teacher Conference's we all put our snow gear on and went outside. We built a couple of snow bears for our front yard. The kids had soo much fun. Lexi had to make sure she put as much detail as possible into them. She worked on them more then the rest of the kids did. But of course our mean little Brayden loves to make his sister Lexi mad so within half an hour of building them he knocked them down. Lexi was so mad she chased him down the street and beat him up. Maybe some day Brayden will learn to be nice to his sister. It's been almost 8 years since Lexi joined our family and I've yet to see that happen. Maybe when it snows again we can rebuild them for you Lex.

Update about Halloween

2008-11-06T09:27:00.001-08:00

Brayden is on the left, Andrew is on the right and his friend Victor is in the back

Halloween was so much fun!!! We had a spooky dinner at my mom's house on the night before Halloween and it was soo yummy we always come up with some cool spooky dishes and the kids love the variety of foods they get to eat. This year my family made Halloween Massacre!! It had 7 Layers of massacred Halloween items... as follows.... It had a layer of Pirates Poop, followed by chopped up werewolves, a layer of ghost's and pumpkins, Frankenstein Puree, more ghosts and pumpkins, bats balls, and topped with Creme of Mummy. Served with Fried Skeleton bones. We also had Witches fingers, Goblin Stew, Ghost's enchiladas, Pumpkin's brains, Graveyard brownies, Pumpkin brew, and owl cookies. The kids loved it. Last year was the first year we started this tradition and we had a lot of awesome food ideas last year also. On Halloween we enjoyed the whole day at school helping with their parties and Halloween parades. I love this time of year!! Then we got to stay home this year and trick or treat in our own neighborhood cause my parents decided not to do their Haunted House this year. So Andrew got to have a friend spend the night. We made Chicken Taco soup and Mummies toes for dinner the kids loved it.

UEA WEEKEND

2008-10-21T08:52:00.000-07:00

The kids got out of school early on Wednesday Oct. 15, and they didn't have to be back to school until Tuesday Oct 21, so we decided to go camping and hunting with daddy. The hunt didn't start until Saturday morning so we just hung out rode the 4 wheelers and the boys went bird hunting since we couldn't hunt deer till Saturday. This is the girls waiting for breakfast to be cooked while standing by the fire. It was freezing in the morning and and night but during the day it was light hoodie weather it was so nice.

Brayden is not in any pictures with the rest of the kids because every time the camera was out he was nowhere to be found. But I finally got him. He decided he was going to get up early Saturday morning and go hunting with dad. He got hiked pretty good. He was so tired when they got back. But he enjoyed his one on one time with dad.

This is Jakob, Jordan, and Andrew shooting the pellet guns at cans while they wait for their breakfast to be cooked. They had fun walking the trails looking for grouse and shooting the 20 gauge shotgun. Their favorite thing that they would not stop bugging us about was riding the 4 wheelers. They think since they know how to drive them and control them that they are allowed to do it at anytime. Their plans were squashed quickly though because they could only drive by themselves if they have taken a 4 wheeling course and gotten a license for youth. So needless to say in February Andrew, Brayden, and Lexi will all be taking the course together.

Ciarra is a big time dog lover and she would not leave my brother's dog JR alone all week. She kept making our dog Shooter cry and whine cause she would pay more attention to JR then Shooter. It was this way last hunt also. She kept hugging and babying JR like she did this year. She kept telling us he was her horse.

This is a picture of Ciarra and her Horse. Aren't they cute together. Poor JR couldn't get away from her at all no matter where he went.

Baylee and Lexi finally have gotten over their fear of being by a big dog. This is a big thing for them since we got our dog they have still been skeptical, but this is the first time since they have gone up to Jon's dog and touched and played with him. Hopefully all their fears will be gone. We had a lot of fun this week. We came back Sunday night cause daddy had to work Monday morning for a couple of hours. Then we took Brayden out for his Birthday. After we got back from the movie daddy left with Uncle Jon and went back up hunting for the rest of the week. So hopefully he won't come back empty handed this year.

Happy Birthday Brayden

2008-10-20T08:55:00.000-07:00

Brayden turned 10 years old today. Man I am aging quick. I can't believe how fast time goes by. Why can't they just stay 3 all of the time those are the funnest years. Brayden was a very cranky baby and that hasn't changed much in the last 10 years. But he is also the most loving and caring of all of them. He makes sure he always tells me he loves me every 2 hours when he is home or he will come up and hug me out of the blue to let me know he still loves me. Isn't that sweet. For his Birthday he has asked that we go see Beverly Hills Chauhau before dad leaves town again so we are going to go around 1:00 to fulfill his wish. He is so excited and so are the rest of the kids. He especially loves the fact that he got a PSP for his birthday. Hopefully now that he is 10 he will be more responsible like Andrew is. Since Brayden hates cake, pie, or anything to do with cake I will have to come up with something else to put candles in. What a weird child who doesn't like cake or pie for their birthday? We love you Brayden and hope you have a great day!!!!

Family Craft Night

2008-10-13T09:29:00.000-07:00

Last night at family craft night at my moms house we made the cutest magnetic boards for the girl's room's. I took Lexi and Baylee shopping on Saturday so they could pick out their scrapbook paper that they wanted on their boards. Lexi picked out the blue and brown paper and her board was 16x20. It turned out soo cute we can't wait to paint her bedroom so she can hang it in her new room. She has finally decided she wants her own room cause she is sick of Ciarra and Baylee always messing it up after she has cleaned it so bye bye mommies craft room and Hello Lexi's new bedroom. She said I can still keep a small table up in her room so we can do crafts together though. Isn't she thoughful? Baylee's and Ciarra's boards are 8x10 and Baylee picked out the pink and black paper and of course the Supergirl stickers. And Ciarra's is the green and pink board. Of course for their magnents they had to pick out sayings like Whatever, Shut Up, LOL, on the DL, etc. We put the stickers on the same paper we used and glued a clear flat marble rock on top and glued a magnent to the back. They turned out so cute. Me, my mom, grandma, sisters and sister in laws and niece's had a lot of fun making them. It will be fun to see what craft we come up with for next month. We have been doing family craft night every month for over a year now and it is so much fun. My dad even started to do crafts with the other grandkids while we are doing ours to keep them entertained. My boys had a lot of fun gluing model planes and cars together and painting them. The girls also made door knob foam signs also with grandpa. They turned out soo cute.

Ciarra turns 3

2008-10-07T11:23:00.001-07:00

Yesterday was Ciarra's 3rd birthday. I can't believe that it has been 3 years since she came into our lives. As you all know we only wanted 4 kids and Jeff didn't get fixed so along came Ciarra. I was so in denial because I was sure I was only going to have 4 and that's all that was coming to us. But when I finally accepted being pregnant with her and when I saw her for the first time my heart just melted. I am so greatful she is part of our family!! She has a one track mind and know's what she wants and how to get it. Last year when we had that big scare with her and she was in Primary Children's Hospital for almost 2 weeks I felt so guilty for ever feeling the way I did when I got pregnant with her, and I felt it was god's way of punishing me for my thoughts. But after everything that happened last summer with her I found the real reason was to be taught a lesson in Service and accepting help from others. It is because of all of our family and friend's blessings and prayers that Ciarra is celebrating with us today. Up above Ciarra wanted a Dora Cake and while I was decorating it she kept licking the frosting off of the sides "cause it was her's and she could do whatever she wanted cause it was her Birthday" is what she kept telling us all day long. Jeff's mom and dad and Joyce and Larry came by and she was so excited to get her bear and books. She slept with all of them. And today when she took her nap she took her bear and sticker book with her. Ciarra is so excited because today when daddy gets home he is going to take her shopping for her brand new bike that she gets to pick out all by herself. Happy Birthday Sweetie we love you.

They are finally Home

2008-10-02T14:40:00.001-07:00

Jeff and Ciarra are finally home after being gone for 10 days in California at his sisters house. She had so much fun!!! She is still talking about as she calls her, her friend Jaquelyn. She keeps telling me she wants to go back to Jaquelyn's house.

They took Ciarra to Newport Beach while they were there and Jeff said she had so much fun digging in the sand and collecting sea shells. He said she was in the water and got scared once the waves started to get higher and higher on her. Then she found some crabs in the sand and started to freak out when they started to move by her. To the left is Jeff and CC collecting sea shells on the beach.

Here is Ciarra digging in the sand and filling up her bucket. Aunt Jill is on her phone in the background and grandpa Jensen in the back on the left. While daddy was hard at work the whole time he was there Ciarra was playing with her cousins and getting spoiled with all the attention she so greatly is in need of. (ha ha) I have to now spend this week trying to get her back on her normal schedule and try to deBRATitize her. They were only gone 10 days but she has changed soo much in that time. I can't believe in 4 more days she is going to be 3 years old. I am very greatful however to finally have my husband home to share in the nightly responsibilities of putting the kids to bed. They listen to him 10X's better than they do me.

Brayden Advances in Scouts

2008-10-01T10:24:00.000-07:00

Brayden at Pack Meeting last night got his Bear. He finished it 1 month before his Birthday which is an accomplishment for him because he usually waits until the last minute. Congratulations Brayden we are sooo proud of you. In 20 more days you are going to be 10 and on your road to being a Webelos Scout. Keep up the good work little buddy. WE LOVE YOU and are PROUD to be your parents.

Very Lonely!!!

2008-09-23T09:24:00.000-07:00

Jeff left town Sunday for a week and I am bored already. I thought getting a break away from him would make me bounce off the walls but I am so bored and lonely. He took Ciarra with him so I am by myself for 2 1/2 hours while all the kids are at school and I hate to say this but I can't stand it. I have always had a kid around since Andrew was born and it makes me feel a little useless as a wife and mother not to have to look after someone at all times of the day. My goal while he is gone and after I get Baylee off to Kindergarten is to get one room a day deep cleaned. So far one room down and 4 more to go. And surprise surprise the kids didn't mess it up after they got home yesterday. I can't believe how many toys Ciarra brings down a day. It is kind of nice not to be tripping on anything. I do however miss her constant talking and laughing and I think even the dog Shooter is missing her greatly. She is the only one that really pays attention to him even though she forces him to constantly sit and lay with her I think he misses it. He has been mopeing since she left. I am getting the hang of being a single mother but I wouldn't want to do it on a regular basis that's for sure. Even though the kids are older and can do things for themselves they still are very demanding and I honestly don't know what they would do without me which gives me purpose when I am feeling depressed. This week has just made me realize how much I love and appreciate Jeff especially when it comes to putting the kids to bed!!!!

Family Update

2008-09-12T15:23:00.000-07:00

It has been 3 whole weeks since the kids have started school and they are still loving it thank goodness!!! Andrew keeps getting told how cute and little he is by all the girls at school. Brayden is doing great with his school work wich is an improvement for him because he has been keeping up in class and has not had hardly any homework yet this year. Lexi loves her teacher and thinks she is the coolest teacher ever!!! Baylee is loving kindergarten and bugs me all morning until it is time for her to go to school. She sings us her songs that she has learned at school at night while we are tucking her in. Last but not least Ciarra is having a hard time adjusting to all of the kids being in school. We have a melt down every day after we drive Baylee to school. She cries all the way home because she doesn't understand why she can't stay there with her. Hopefully that will soon subside. Jeff is finally starting to get a little busier with work wich is a great thing for us meaning I might be able to hold off a little bit longer on finding a full time job.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME

2008-09-03T08:22:00.000-07:00

It never fails, my husband yet again forgot my Birthday Surprise, Surprise!!! I think in the 13 years we have been married he has only remembered 2 of those years and that is when we first got married. It's pretty sad my Sister Jill and my Mom beat him and my kids to the punch yet again. Good Job Jeff!!! I thought you would redeem yourself this year. Oh well there is always next year to try again.

Labor Day Weekend

2008-09-01T12:56:00.000-07:00

WE HAVE PUT A NEW MEANING TO LABOR DAY!!! WE GUTTED OUT ALL OF OUR KID'S BEDROOMS ON OUR HOLIDAY DAY OFF. WHAT THE HECK WERE WE THINKING. BUT THE GOOD NEWS IS THEY CAN WALK IN THEIR ROOMS AGAIN, NOTHING UNDER THE BEDS OR THROWN IN THE CLOSET AS THEIR WAY OF CLEANING USUALLY HAPPENS THAT WAY. BELIEVE ME THEY WERE NOT VERY HAPPY WITH US IT TOOK US 3 HOURS BUT IT WAS TOTALLY WORTH IT. IT SURE BEAT LOADING A CAR, PUTTING UP AND DOWN A TENT AND KEEPING CIARRA OUT THE DIRT. (OR MUD SHOULD I SAY SINCE IT RAINED LIKE CRAZY THIS WEEKEND)

Back to School

2008-08-26T08:48:00.000-07:00

Yeah the kids are back in school as of yesterday. It is so quiet in my house during the day now I don't know what to do with myself!!! Starting next week it will just be me and CC at home cause Baylee will be starting Kindergarten. She is so excited (except for the fact she has to get shots again) Andrew loves Junior High and is already getting hit on by all the girls. Brayden already has had 3 pages of homework and he is not happy about that and neither am I. It is a fighting match to get him to do homework!!! Lexi loves the 2nd grade so far and is excited about making some new friends! Now what to do with all the time on my hands now???

Wheeler Farm

2008-08-20T13:27:00.000-07:00

For play group in our neighborhood we went to Wheeler Farm. I haven't been here since I was a kid. The kids had so much fun!!! They were all feeding the geese when we first got there until the geese started to chase the kids down and steal the bread out of their hands. Ciarra did not think that was very funny!! Especially when they were the same height as her and grabbed it right out of her hands it freaked her out!!! I could not believe how aggressive they were they even bit Carly a little neighbor girl in our ward. They got to see cows, sheep, chickens, pigs, rabbits, and they got to feed the horses. It was kind of scary to let them do that especially when there was a sign that said "Please do not feed your fingers to the horses." They thought it was cool to go on the wagon ride also, even though you only saw two animals and a bunch of tires. That wasn't worth what you pay to see that. Ciarra kept saying "Oh my gosh that is cool" every time we stopped at a different cage to see a different animal. They even had a chicken that looked like it was being plucked, the whole top of its body was missing it's feathers. Maybe some of it's chicken friends got a little hungry haha!! The kids also loved that they could climb on all the big tractors they had outside one of the buildings. They would have one person driving while one was shifting all of the knobs. Andrew stood by one tire and could not believe how much taller it was then him. I told him he should be used to it by now because it seems like everything is taller than him including his little sister Lexi. It was fun to go for the last little summer fling before the kids all start school up.

HUNTING TRIP

2008-08-18T14:05:00.001-07:00

We decided to go up with the Family for the day to go Bow Hunting on Saturday. Andrew was gone for the weekend camping at Christmas Meadows with some friends in the ward and wouldn't of been back until late Saturday Night so we decided to go up to Smithenmorehouse for the day and go 4 wheeling while Dad, Jon, Ryan and Jason hunted. Jeff wanted to go hike with them even though he is doing the rifle hunt instead of the Bow. We had a blast!! It was freezing cold when we first got there but as the day wore on it started to warm up as long as you were in the sun. Ciarra loved the 4 wheeler she kept wanting to go for rides as did Lexi and Baylee kept fighting over who's turn it was to be on it and drive. I had a lot of fun hanging out with my two sister in-laws Luinda and Amiee we just hung out, talked and while the kids were napping played card games it was fun to get to know them a little bit better and to have some one on one time with them when I don't see them very often. I even got to bond with little Maddie Sue as Kaitlyn calls her. She is such a calm and cute baby. ( well I guess not a baby since she will be ! yrs old soon) We decided to stay and have dinner so we didn't get home until 11:15 pm that night and then Drew didn't end up getting home until midnight so it worked out perfect timing when we got home. We were so tired and beat because we had left so early Saturday morning so we dragged all day Sunday before and after church. But the kids had fun and that's all that matters!!

Ward Camp Out

2008-08-03T21:09:00.001-07:00

We just got back from our Ward Camp Out it was so much FUN!!!! We had a blast getting to know some new people in our ward than just the ones that we usually hang out with. The kids all had a blast but I think we had more fun than them. We even came home with some pretty funky gangsta names given to us by our 2 extra children for the weekend. Colby and Jake are so much fun and just add an extra laugh to our fun. We had a delicious dutch oven cook off and the food was fantastic! We took a hike to these beautiful waterfalls where we started a huge water fight and Jeff, Harland, and Holly bum slided down the freezing cold river. Saturday we went to the lower falls and let the kids play in the water, where Jeff had to part with one of his shoes because we thought it would be fun to throw shoes down the falls and see where they ended up at. I threw Jeffs behind me thinking Drew would grab it but he didn't get it in time. After me, Andrew, Whitney, and Kelsey G hiked clear down the river we still came back empty handed sorry babe we tried. It was still a fun and relaxing weekend with our second family. We love our ward family and there isn't anything we would rather be doing then spending time with them!!! Can't wait until next years!!

Scout Camp

2008-07-30T17:00:00.000-07:00

I got a chance to go up to scout camp with Brayden on Tuesday and it was soo much fun. We did the Superhero's Camp the boys had so much fun and they were so excited that they were all a little crazy all day long. We had 19 boys and only 3 of us to control all of them. Needless to say I was totally worn out by 1:00. But it was worth it to see the boys interact with one another. They got to ride Bat Mobile's while we were there and if you ask them that would probably be the funnest thing they did yesterday. I know Brayden's was that choice. The staff up there did a really good job as usual. I can't wait until next year. The boy's thought it would be really funny to get me as dirty as they could or to buzz me with their buzzer's from the Trading Post. Paybacks are coming if I see them this weekend at the Ward Camp out so beware boys!!!

Mommy and Me Day

2008-07-23T10:18:00.000-07:00

The girls wanted their nails done like mom's so when they got up this morning they each took turns sitting in the spa chair. We got a bucket of water for their feet to soak in and I washed and soaked their feet, While their feet were soaking I clipped and filed their nails and gave them a pedicure. After their toes were done being painted while they sat for them to dry we did a manicure. They had so much fun and it took up 2 and half hours of our boring day. They were so cute sitting their. Ciarra of course ruined one of her toes 5 minutes after I did hers but Baylee and Lexi's still look beautiful. Baylee's are off to the right and Lexi's are on the left.

I've Been Tagged

2008-07-14T09:56:00.001-07:00

I have been tagged by Jami, so here it goes
Name 3 joys, 3 fears, 3 goals, 3 current obsessions / collections, 3 random / surprising facts about yourself - then tag 3 people.

3 Joys

1. My Husband Jeff
2. Andrew, Brayden, Lexi, Baylee, and Ciarra
3. My Friends and Extended Family

3 Fears

1. Losing my husband or one of my children
2. Being a Failure as a Mother and Wife
3. Dying before I see my kids reach their goals and start lives of their own

3 Goals

1. Help my kids to become the best that they can be and to help them accomplish their dreams.
2. I would love to go back to school when my kids are grown up and don't need me as much any more.
3. I want to eventually start my own Catering Company or a Resturaunt

3 Current Obsessions/Collections

1. I love to read and I read all of the time.
2.Chocolate covered Strawberries
3.Potato chips and Ranch Dip

3 Random/Suprising facts about me

1. Something I am not proud of I use to be a big time Party Girl till I got my crap together after my senior year in high school
2. None of my kids were conceived in our home. Love to spice up the marriage and try new places and locations whether we get caught or not.
3.I cry every time I think about my children and how old they are getting. I even cried at my sons D.A.R.E. graduation because I can't believe he is going into 7th grade.

I don't know who to tag that hasn't already been tagged so I'm not tagging anyone.

Andrew Turns 12

2008-07-11T10:48:00.000-07:00

Andrew Turns 12 years old this Sunday. He is going to be a Deacon and pass the sacrament in church. I can't believe he is that old. It seems like yesterday he was just born. Time sure flies by fast when they are growing up. I wish I could just freeze him and he could be my baby forever.