cari's life

2011 Happenings

2011-12-22T18:26:00.000-08:00

This year has been good at our house! Things have gone well for us and we've been able to help out some of our friends as well.

Ethan turned 9 this year. (I'm not old enough for that) He finished the 3rd grade with flying colors and was very excited to start 4th grade. This summer he spent his days running around the neighborhood with his friends. A week before he started school we recived a phone call that Ethan and Andrew were accepted into the local charter school. Ethan is working really hard and has been excelling in his classes. He is further ahead than the 4th graders at his other school and is very happy about this.

Andrew finished kindergarten this year very excited for his 1st grade year. At the charter school he is doing really well. Even though he gets frustrated at times, he is learning how to work hard. He also thinks his teacher is cute! Andrew spent this summer getting lost. We went to the Davis County Fair and lost Andrew promptly. For about 20 min, Aaron and I looked everywhere just about going out of our minds. Then we found him with the police officers. We lost him again at the Ft. Bridger Rendevous in Wyoming. Luckly we found him alot quicker digging in the dirt.

Isaac spent this past spring learning to use the potty. He has really developed his own personality this year. He has decided that he will do what he wants to do and not anything else. He has learned to shout and has learned to be forcful. He wishes he could go to school and uses Andrew's old homework assignments to use as his own. Isaac got to get a big boy bed this year in the shape of a race car! He loves his bed! He spent all summer asking when his birthday was and then everyone elses birthday he decided was his. He is growing way too fast for me, but will cuddle when his brothers are not around.

Aaron got a new job working for Paramont. Not the motion pictures, but a place that handles alot of the gyms around here. He is doing really well and is enjoying his job. He is now the Young Mens Pres in our ward and enjoys it. Our young mens program is not very big at the moment, but is't working alot better with Aaron in charge than it was before.

Cari has been going to school this past year. Even though at times she has wanted to quit, Aaron lets her know that it is worth the work and frustration.

As a family this year we have done many fun things. We went to Ft. Bridger Rendevous in Wyoming this past Sept. and enjoyed it so much that we are going to be going again next year. We also went camping and did alot more fun things. We hope to do even more this next year!

Not sure what happened

2011-12-19T15:44:00.003-08:00

There are some people that live just down the street from me. I've lived here almost 5 years and they have been my friends for most of those. Just recently I've stopped going down to their house to visit. Not because I don't like them, but because there are alot of people living in the house at the moment and alot of animals. I am not one that likes all of that, so I prefer to stay at my house. Since I haven't gone over to visit them in a bit they've decided that I don't like them. This is not true. I still like them and would like to be friends, but I feel like I am putting forth the all the effort in this friendship. For awhile it's gotten to where the only time these people would call me would be because they wanted something from me. Like to borrow eggs, tools (which I don't lend), or even borrow my car. I almost feel like since people assume I have more money than them that they are entitled to it. Let me clue in those people. I DON"T have tons of money. I have a husband that works his butt off to give us some better things.

I have to guess that the people down the street just don't want to be my friend if they don't even want to put forth the effort to even walk down to my house, or call me to have a conversation. I hope that I am not wrong, but I have carried friendships before, and I just don't have the time to do that anymore.

Isaac and the Tree

2011-12-16T08:14:00.000-08:00

My 3yr old has had this obsession with Christmas Trees since Oct. He has been so excited for Christmas since August. I have not seen an obsession like this in my older boys, but Ike is very excited. For months he's been asking that Santa bring him a scooter. He discovered this past summer that he can ride his brothers and that he is good at it. He's wanted his own scooter since August and found that Santa may be his only way of reciving one.
Ever since he saw a Christmas tree in a picture from last year he's been on the look out for them. Every pine tree we see he askes me if I can see the Christmas tree. We told him a couple weeks ago that we were going to go and get a Christmas tree soon. If he could count backwards he would have been counting down the days. Everyday asking me if we could go and get the tree. Finally the day came and we all got in the car to go get the tree. We got to Home Depot and started looking. Isaac wanted every tree he saw. Finally we all agreed on one tree. (for a bit it looked like the boys each wanted their own tree.) Isaac held on to the tag to buy the tree the whole time we were in the store getting other things. When we brought it home he tried to help straiten the tree. Then when we finally got to decorate it he was all about helping.
Now he won't leave the tree alone. He wants to water the tree, turn the lights on, smell the tree and everything possible with this tree. This is not the family's tree, it is Isaac's tree.

Re-incarnation?

2011-10-20T14:52:00.000-07:00

Andrew is a strange boy. Not in the 'weird' way, but in a way that I think he was born in the wrong century. It's in the way he talks. He uses words that no one here or around him uses. He calls his friends his buddies and he calls shorts short pants. There are other things as well.
The other night Andrew asked me if he had been born twice. It was a strange question for a 7 yr old to ask. I asked him what his name was when he was born the first time, he said Andrew. Then I asked him what his name was the second time, he said Andrew again.
If any of you know my Andrew you know as well that he may have been born in the wrong century or that he was a guardian angel (or really studied someone before he was born), or maybe in fact he got to have a second chance! Who knows why this boy was born now, but says things that belong about a hundred or so years ago.

Regatta

2011-08-01T20:08:00.000-07:00

A few months ago (I'm a little late) Ethan had his first scout Regatta! For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about it's where the boys make little sail boats and then they get to race them by blowing into the sails without touching the boat.
Ethan made his boat a few weeks before the event and he named his boat 'Dare Devil'! He had done a really good job of building his boat. I don't know how much help he had from his leaders, but he didn't have any help from Aaron or me!
The day of the regatta came and Ethan was ready. There were quite a few scouts there ready as well. Ethan raced his first heat and lost. He was dissapointed, but was a good sport and cheered other people on.
After the first series of races they decided to race all again! Ethan won his first heat, and then his second, and third, and then the whole thing!!! Even though he was a good sport the first time, he decided winning is much more fun! He got a little medal for participating and had tons of fun and tons of pizza!.

Ikey is 3!

2011-07-27T12:36:00.000-07:00

Three years ago on July 26 I was very pregnant. I was schedualed to be induced at about 1:30pm. Sitting at my house at noon my husband started to get a little antsy while I was calm and collected. We left for the hospital all excited to meet this little person who had been kicking me to death. I got all hooked up and ready to go. We made the phone calls that you make when your getting ready to have a baby and then proceeded to wait. I had an epidural, but I think I could have done without it.
The baby was doing really well, and would have been born at 9pm, but we decided to wait for Zsa Zsa and Bapa. They showed up a little before 10 and then the baby made his apperance. He was not a hard delivery. We had chosen his name to be Isaac Warren. To pick his first name we had the hardest time because we could never agree on anything. Finally we started looking at names everywhere. One Sunday while looking at the hyum book at church we found the name Isaac. We both liked it, so that was it. His middle name is my grandpa States's middle name.

Isaac was a very happy baby and started laughing one day when we called him Ikey! Now that's what he calls himself. He didn't want to crawl or even roll over until he was about 11 months old. Finally he did though. He crawled for about 1 month and then it was on to walking.

He loves playing with his brothers, he loves to beat them up. He loves playing with his dad and cuddling with his mom. He was my easiest to potty train, but my most stubborn kid. We argue about something at least twice a day. He is also very sneaky. If he wants a certain snack I had better put it up high or he'll get it all the while being very quiet. He loves to go places with anyone, and will play outside for hours in the dirt.

I can't believe he's 3 already.

I'm Thankful for Now.

2011-07-14T12:58:00.000-07:00

I don't know why, but ever since I started learning about the history of the world I have been very interested on war. Not the violence of it, but the people. I see pictures of the people fighting or being affected by what's going on and I want to get to know that person. I want to know what they were thinking (although by some of the faces you already know).
Lately I've watched a couple shows about WWII and the Jewish people. I had no idea that before they sent alot of the people to the camps they sent them to Warsaw to a Ghetto. Pretty much a few square miles for thousands of Jewish people walled off from the rest of Poland. Many people starved, or died of some diease brought on by the horrid conditions. Many people would leave their dead on the sidewalk for people to step over until some men with a cart came to collect them and bring them to the cemetary. There was a propaganda film shot in May of 1942 showing set-ups of Jewish people out at resturants, or at the theater, or something like that. It was made to convince the outside world that the Jewish people were not being mistreated. During these set-ups you had to behave the way they told you to, or pay the price. The film crew also filmed what was really happening in the ghetto. People that were starving, people getting punished for trying to smuggle food in from the outside. Children walking past corpses. Just 2 months after the Germans finished filming this video the deportaions started. Thousands of people hauled off to camps to die. The film was never finished. You can see where they have set-ups and then the real life intertwined with eachother.
Things like this make me very thankful for the time I live in. Things are expencive and the world is in a huff, but I am not forced to live with my family in one room without food. I am allowed to be a human. I don't understand those that say the holocaust never happened. Haven't they seen the images of the men and women barely able to walk because they are so skinny? Haven't they seen the pictures of those people forced to build the buildings that they would later be murdered in?
I feel I need to have an open mind toward all things, but if I open it too far it could be dangerous. Instead of living for the present I think we should live for the future. Every decision that is made affects that of someone's future. Too many people are just living for the present. That's where everything can go wrong.
I am thankful for my family and for the fact that I live now.

Isaac's new trick!

2011-06-24T06:25:00.000-07:00

Isaac will be 3 in one more month. He loves to play with cars, his brothers, puppies, and loves to run through water. He is very opinionated (with his family), has threatened spankings to both parents and brothers, and can count to 3. He knows some of his colors and argues with his mom about orange and yellow. His most favorite possesion in the world is his blanket that he's had since he was born. He loves his race car bed and will get in bed without too much fuss. He loves to play Ethan's guitar and sing (or makes everyone in that certain room sing). He's gone to Lagoon this year and got to ride the roller coaster Puff. Laughing the whole time! He can't get enough cereal and crackers, finally stopped lying on the cat (she's thankful for this), and loves to sing in the car to any song (all the wrong words of course).

Of all these things he has now learned a new trick! He has decided that diapers are yucky. For the past week we have been vigorously potty training. We started out with diapers at night and when I ran errends. Now we are diaper free! He loves his underpants (which are Thomas the Train inspired). He has woken up dry every morning so far and he poops in the potty without trouble as well! We have driven to Bountiful (a 40mi trip) and back without one accident. So far he is the easiest one I've trained! (knock on wood. Don't want to jinx myself)

We are so proud of him! He has done so well!

I am a Horrible Mother

2011-06-09T14:26:00.000-07:00

At least according to Ethan. The school that my boys go to during the school year offers 2 summer programs. one is called summer school. It is Mon-Thurs 9-11:45. They concentrate the time on math and computers. The other program is called summer enrichment. This starts after the summer school is over (June 30) and is every Tues and Thurs 9-11:45. I signed both boys up for these programs. (The school also does free lunch everyday for kids 18 and under so the boys stay for lunch.) Ethan told me this afternoon that the school program is dumb. He says that they are repeating alot of what they have already done, and that he shouldn't have to go. I told him that if he didn't go then everything he learned during the school year he would forget and then he would start the 4th grade with a blank mind. He says that he shouldn't have to do school during summer. I dissagree. In other contries around the world the kids go to school almost all year. I believe that for Ethan to have a better chance in the next year it is better for him to go to the summer programs. I wonder if he'll thank me later, but I doubt it.

I talked to other moms in the area and they asked me what I do with my kids during the summer. I told them that I signed them up for the school things and they aswered me by saying that they couldn't send their kids to school during the summer. When I asked why they said because it's mean. I don't see how it's mean, but when they are complaining that their kids are bored all day and are driving them nuts I'll try not to say 'I Told you so'!

You know your a mom when.......

2011-05-24T20:34:00.000-07:00

I wrote one of these awhile ago and thought it was time for another.

You Know You A Mom When........

While wearing a towel you have to scrub your second sons face clean of a black sharpie marker because your oldest one colored his brothers WHOLE face (ears and eyelids included).

Your not afraid to reach into the toilet to retrive the important materials that fell in (although your really grossed out).

You think your baby calling himself a carrot is the cutest thing ever.

You have to love all the dandilions brought to you.

You say 'wear your coat' is one of the things you say almost everyday in winter.

You tell your kids (and their friends) that you are 'a mean and rotten person' because you won't let everyone in the neighborhood eat all the snacks in the house.

You threaten to someday, when your kids are all grown-up and have houses of their own, to go to their house and jump on all of their furniture and see how they like it!

Your the only one that will clean-up the kitty's barf.

You have to laugh at jokes that don't make any sense and are not funny at all.

The Tooth Fairy has to pay intrest because you were too tired to remember.

You look longingly at junkfood, but know if you get it you'll have to share.

You buy MANY bags of cereal.

You feel like buying a cow may be cheaper than constantly buying gallons of milk.

Even though bugs are things that you don't like, you have to pretend that you do.

You hang your childs artwork up as the masterpieces in your house.

Even after lifting weights and having sore arms, you still find the strength to lift the baby (who really isn't a baby anymore).

You want to be in the bathroom alone, but while showering everyone has to use the potty.

You can hear a baby cry and know EXACTLY which of your kids it is.

The best part of shopping at the mall with your youngest is having lunch and a fun conversation that only you and he know what words are saying.

Your favorite part of the day is bedtime.

Your favorite part of the morning is when the baby comes in to say morning.

You know your life would be boring without all the laughing (at and with) and funny stories you get to do everyday!

School.

2011-05-22T17:47:00.000-07:00

It is now May and the end of school is in sight! For some of us school has been done for a couple weeks (thank goodness!). This past semester I took math 990 (don't wait 10 12 yrs to go back!) and a general psychology class. I found that my math class turned out to be much more enjoyable than the psych class. I pulled an A out of both classes, though in the psych class I have no idea how it happened. The teacher at first gave us a syillabis that talked about our grade depending on quizzes and exams. The whole semester we never took one quiz or exam. We talked about alot of nothing in that class and she would change her mind for no apperant reason. She talked using 12 different ideas all at once and so noone ever really knew what was going on. She gave us 2 weeks to do a big group project and then changed her idea how it was going to work the next week. She was the most aggravating teacher I've ever had (and ever hope to have). I really don't know how I pulled an A out of her class, but I'm not going to argue.

Andrew just finished kindergarten! He had so much fun this year in school! I signed both boys up for the summer programs at the school and Andrew is very excited to be starting in June. Andrew finished kindergarten being able to count to 100, knowing how to write all the abc's and he can read at a level 2!

Ethan is finishing 3rd grade this coming week. He seems to be doing very well and has really enjoyed this year. His class was a combined 3rd and 4th grade class. This seems to have made him happy. He had a small class (less than 20 kids) and has really gotten the attention he needs in the areas that he needed the most help in. He's had a few fights with bullies this year, but nothing that even was told to the teacher. He got many 'got being goods' at school (as well as Andrew). Ethan drew some really good pictures in chalk this year. They are hanging in my hallway (I'll get them framed soon I hope) I asked him how he did it and he told me that he didn't work too hard on them. I wonder how well he would have done if he tried! Ethan is not as excited as Andrew about the summer programs, but I know he will have fun. I know it's important to keep their minds going and that's what these programs do.

That's what's going on at our house so far. Anything fun going on at yours?

Potty time

2011-04-26T09:48:00.000-07:00

Well it's time. The dreaded lessons have begun. We have begun potty training. I know Isaac is 3 in July and to some people we have started late, but I couldn't train him in the winter, it was too cold for him to run around naked.
Speaking of naked, I tired to get him to wear the training underpants, but he doesn't want them on, he'd rather be all natural! I am wondering how this boy is going to do. The older 2 boys were very different. Well I guess we will see!

Light

2011-04-26T09:45:00.000-07:00

Isaac and I are sitting in the living room. Once in a while the sunlight will shine through the window and Isaac will get a big grin on his face and say, 'light wow!' Then a cloud will come across the sun making the room a bit darker and Isaac will say, 'Good-bye light'. It almost sounds like he's making friends with the sunlight.

Isaac

2011-04-10T20:17:00.000-07:00

My mom thought that this pic was real!

Isaac is learning to talk. He's been able to say words for awhile now, but lately all he wants to do is repeat whatever Aaron or I say to him. We'll ask him if he wants lunch then he'll look at us and repeat what we've just said. It's getting a bit frustrating really. Although we have had our fun with this. Like we can get him to say long words that come out sounding real funny! One of the few times he doesn't repeat us is when we ask him if he wants cereal. He loves cereal, even if it's just to have sitting on his tray. He could eat cereal all day if I let him.
Out of everyone in this family it is Molly the Cat that suffers the most from Isaac being around. He likes to cover her up with his blanket (which she doesn't mind) and then lay on top of her (this part she doesn't like). I have to keep telling him that he is going to break her and he needs to get off of her. He also likes to dance with Molly. When a good song comes on he'll run over to her, pick up her front paws and then proceed to dance. This is also not one of Molly's favorite things. He does so much to her that I don't understand why this cat has never scratched or biten him! In fact I think he is one of her favorite people! She loves to sit by him when he's on the couch, and she would sleep with him if I let her.
There is one person that Isaac likes to yell at. It's his cousin Meagan. I really think he yells at her because he can say her name the easiest. He likes to play with her, but I think he finds her a bit bossy (which all girls are). The other day they were playing and Isaac decided he was done for a few minutes. Meagan was calling his name to come where she was and he yelled at her, 'No, meagan' then he closed her bedroom door (we were at her house). Just about a minute later, with Meagan still calling him, he opened the door and said, 'ok Meagan'. He is a very silly kid.
He loves to make faces at us. Mostly scrunchy face smiles. He does these so that we will do them back at him. He does alot of things lately to get a reaction from us.

Week of Water

2011-03-15T17:28:00.000-07:00

For about a year and a half our water heater had been popping after we used any water in the house. We knew we had to get a new one, but kept putting it off. The popping annoyed us, but not a whole lot. We were still able to have long hot showers, so we weren't real worried.
We decided to do some maintance on the water heater a couple months ago and drain it (like your supposed to every month or so). We had never done this before. We bought the right hose and procceded to drain the thing. After ward the place where you can turn the water on to the water heater started leaking. We tried to stop it, but just ended up tieing a bucket up to it so that the water wouldn't get everywhere.

Well, two weeks before we were going to get our tax return(which we had decided to replace the water heater with) I went downstairs to check on the laundry. There was water leaking from the water heater! I dried up as much water as I could and then put towels around the bottom of the water heater. I couldn't believe that the stuipd thing couldn't wait just 2 weeks!

The next day I went to the Home Depo and was able to get a credit card. Aaron went later that night to buy the new water heater. We had a 40 gal and decided to trade up to a 50 gal. Aaron had never replaced a hot water heater before so this was going to be interesting. We finally got the new one home along with everything else needed to put it in (with the new card we got 10% off that purchase!). Aaron called a neighbor to come and help him take the old one out and bring the new one in. We had hooked up the hose to the old one to drain it hours before. They procceded to try and carry it up the stairs. The only problem was that it was still full of water! The drain was clogged with a lot of crap. The only thing we could do was to bring it over to the drain in the floor and turn it on it's side. Gallons of water came out! It took another 10-15 min to drain! They finally got it up the stairs and got the new one down the stairs.

While they were bringing the new one down, I was already there mopping up all the spilled water that was EVERYWHERE with all the towels we had. (They were not enough) Aaron the hooked the new hot water heater up. He worked until after midnight, (he started around 7pm) but it was finally finished. We had a new hot water heater that was not going to leak or pop like crazy!

The next project Aaron decided to do was changing the hardware in the bathtub. We thought that it wouldn't be such a hard thing to do. Aaron took the new Home Depo card and bought some metal hardware (we didn't want plastic) and some things he thought he would need. To change the hardware Aaron was accually in one of the bottom kitchen cuboards! (our bathroom is on the other side of the kitchen wall.) As he took out the old stuff we found out how gross it really was. Also whoever put the shower in used a pipe that is used for gas, not water. So we had to replace that too!

While replacing the hardware the water stared leaking from the pipes downstairs. We had to dry off the dryer, unplug it and move it out of the way of the water. We had a bucket catching as much of the water as we could. After half the day and many trips to home depo Aaron finally finished! We were so excited to have nice hardware in the tub, where before we had crap.

Then we found another leak! This one came from the pipe where the water comes into the house. I was so not happy. We went and bought all the stuff to fix this. By this point our towel supply had gone down. The towels were either cleaning up water, or they were in the washer. Luckly before Aaron went to fix the pipe he found something where maybe just a little thing was loose and causing the leak. Yup that was it!

I can tell you that I am so done with water leaking everywhere! We recived our return and have paid off the Home Depo card! We were very happy about not finishing our basement yet, as the carpet would have been ruined. Sometimes procrastination can be a blessing! hehe

Empty

2011-02-13T15:32:00.001-08:00

Yesterday we were driving around and I hear Andrew start moaning a little. I then asked him what was wrong and he told me that his tummy didn't feel right. I asked what was wrong with it and he aswered me, it's empty. New creative way to tell me that he's hungry!

Today in church Andrew got to draw, a big deal in our family! He started by writing words that he is learning, and then decided to draw a picture. He started the picture and said,'ya know mom, I see pictures that haven't been drawn yet.' So he drew it. It was a picture of Aaron and I on a date at McDonalds! hehe

Can't sleep....

2011-01-28T20:19:00.000-08:00

Tonight Ethan came out of his room about 9:30 saying that he can't sleep. I told him that he needed to go back to bed and lay down with his eyes closed and eventually he would fall asleep. I told him that he should try to empty his mind of everything. Just try not to think of anything. He told me that he tried that and he couldn't see. Then he just walked back to bed.

I don't understand how clearing your mind of everything makes it so you can't see, but alrighty then!

The Boy is 9!!!!

2011-01-18T19:26:00.000-08:00

Most of you have met my Ethan. I had the chance to meet him 9 years ago! He was born on January 19, 2002. Being my first baby it really hurt. While in the delivery room he was stuck for over 2 hours. They used the vacuum on him for quite a while and it didn't work. Finally they called in a Dr that was more experianced with forceps and within 10 min he was finally born. You would think that being stuck for so long and having the vacuum used on his head he would have a cone head. Not so. His head was just as round as it could be! He was born at 7:12am. He weighed 7lbs 14oz. He cried after he was born, until he saw the computer monitor! He has been a computer kid ever since. He was born with a head full of hair. The nurses had some fun playing with it! Ever since he was born he has been called E-fin or Ethanator. Quite soon after he was born he became a cubby baby. They said that his cheeks were so chubby that his tougne wouldn't fit in his mouth, so that's why it stuck out all the time. For the first couple years of his life his tougne was never in his mouth. It stuck out constantly!

The first time he held a Hot Wheels car he was in love. When he was little he got a new car almost everytime we went to the store. We now have quite the collection (which would be bigger if the boys didn't play with them outside where the lawnmower finds them.) When Ethan was about 2 his dad and Uncle Scott were trying to load windows on a computer. They tried a lot of codes, but none of them worked. They were getting really discouraged when all of a sudden Ethan came over to the keyboard. He punched in a few keys and Ta-Da windows loaded! To this day noone knows how he did it.

He was so excited to start school when he was little. He has worked hard in school and is determined to go to college. Even with him being the most dramatic kid we have, he is also the most level headed. (So far.) He is very resposible, and is very good to his brothers. (Most of the time.) Now his passion is legos. He can get a lego project and spend hours building a new something. He is getting a guitar for his birthday and is very excited to learn how to play it. His Uncles already taught him a Metallica song. I hope he will be playing other songs soon!

In school he is a very good student and finds his math homework easy. I hope he will always enjoy math. His favorite t.v. shows are things like Mythbusters, Man vs Wild, Dirty Jobs, and things like this. He loves to play video games on the Wii, but understands that you can't play too often, because nothing good can come from it.

All in all we are very lucky that he came to us. He is a very good kid (even with his dramatic attitude ;)). He has moments where he can say the perfect thing. He also has times where I want to kill him, but I am so happy he is mine. He is my Ethan.

I've come to realize something I already knew

2010-12-28T15:27:00.000-08:00

Recent events have led me to remember something I already knew. I never forgot, just sometimes I took it for granted. Many people do in fact. I've come to realize what a good man I married. I mean MAN. Many 'men' grow up and are still boys. They don't know how to take care of a family and show compassion to those that need it. I am very lucky that I married the man that I did. He takes care of his family without any thought about running away. I would just like everyone to know how lucky I am.

Ward Party

2010-12-12T20:59:00.000-08:00

I talked about the ward party that I got to be over the planning of. Well it happened. I was going crazy just wondering how it was going to go. We went to the church around 3:30 to put the ham in the oven to keep it warm. After we got there the family in charge of decorating came and started wrapping big boxes. The tables and the chairs made their way into the room, and my family showed up to start practicing their songs. Everything seemed to be falling into place. Around 6:30 people started showing up bringing their food that they had signed up for. Some people complained that they had to bring 2 different things, but I didn't feel bad for them. In the end we had 120 chairs set up and people had to eat then stand up so other people could sit to eat!
My mom and sisters did a wonderful job singing! Everyone was terribly impressed! Even when mom started to 'yell' at people to sing along everyone liked it! hehe(she really wasn't yelling!) The pianist that played did a wonderful job as well. He had recived some of the music just the day before and he played just beautifully!
Santa even showed up! The kids were just amazed! I had decided not to give out a bunch of candy to each child, and the rest of the commitee agreed with me. Each kid after seeing Santa got to have an orange and a candy cane. Most of the oranges did not turn into balls, but some did.
All in all I think it turned out really well. People seemed to have fun, and we even came home with some leftovers! I am so happy that it is over! I do not wish to plan a Christmas party ever again!

Am I crazy?!!

2010-12-01T14:18:00.000-08:00

I think I am because I had touble typing the word crazy, but anyway. This is going to be one of the most busy Decembers that I have ever had. First of all we have all those family/friend parties. Then this year I decided to go back to school. Having been out of school for over 10 years, writing papers has become difficult (just a bit) to remember. Being the end of the semester I have finals coming up. Then on top of it all the bishop asked me to plan the ward Christmas party. You'd think he would have asked me back a few months ago, nope he asked me the week before Thanksgiving, so I've been stressing over that as well. I Love the parties (Aaron's work party sounds really fun. It's a murder/mystery dinner!) and the baking of tons of treats, but I am seriously starting to think that I am crazy this year. I have already apoligized to Aaron about how mean and stressed I may be this month. I hope the 17th of December comes quick, because after that I just have to worry how to entertain the kids when they have no school. Please pray that I survive that long!

Indian speak

2010-12-01T13:54:00.000-08:00

Latley Isaac has been speaking like an indian in a bad 50's movie. When he sees Aaron he says, 'I find um, Daddy.' Or his brothers is, 'I find um,______' (which ever brother he found. It's really kinda finny. And since he can't quite speak english well yet he has an accent, so the way he says the words really sounds like a bad movie.
He has also taken to growling at people. So far he hasn't growled at a stranger so that's good! After he growls at the person he rolls his eyes at them. I don't know where he learned how to roll his eyes, but he thinks it's terribly funny. And truly, it is.

Shhhh, don't tell

2010-12-01T11:54:00.001-08:00

Today during our errands I decided to go to the second hand store called Sweet Pea (they have nice things alot). Isaac was just following me around looking at all the baby things being good. All of a sudden he started whispering to me. I asked him if he had a secret, and he kept whispering. We went to a different store and I started to smell something. I whispered to Isaac if he was poopy, and he whispered back poopy. I figured out why he was whispering at the kids store, he was poopy and didn't want anyone else but me to know! hahaha We are going to start potty training soon!

Thanksgiving

2010-11-30T15:43:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving this year was fun and stressful! It started in June. This is the month I planted the pumpkins in my yard! I've never planted a garden before and was really pleased with how well I did! We grew 3 50lb pumpkins! I had 3 or 4 pumpkin plants, but these 3 just sucked all the nutrients from the others. We carved one pumpkin for Halloween and saved the others for food. My mother-in-law has a vita mix and it works wonderfully! We didn't even get one pumkin done before I had so much pumpkin I didn't know what to do (there's a bunch in my freezer). So on Wed before Thanksgiving I made 2 pumpkin pies and 1 apple pie, all from scratch (crust too). I also went crazy and decided to make chocolates. Everybody was impressed that I had made all the pies from scratch. My aunts even wondered how I did the pumpkin.
We went to my Aunt Kathleens house for dinner, and of course it was wonderful! Ann made her rolls and with 2 turkeys, tons of mashed potatoes, and LOTS of dessert it was really good! Even Andrew ate! We went to my brother's house after dinner and watched the movie the Prince of Persia. I can say I am glad I didn't buy that movie!

Friday we took the 2 older boys to see Harry Potter. Even though it was a very long movie for them I still think they enjoyed it. Andrew was getting antsy by the time the ending came around. 2 1/2 hours is a long time for a 6 yr old to stay in one spot, but he did really well! Isaac didn't get to go, since it was so long. He got to play with Zsa Zsa. On Saturday we just ran a bunch of errands. Fun time in the car since everyone fell asleep! Sometimes it seems that's the only time they all take a nap.

This past weekend I really enjoyed (even with the stress). Aaron had come home early on Tues because of the 'BLIZZARD OF 2010'! Since the temp had dropped so fast that night we decided that the commute from our house to his work would be dangerous and full of ice, so he stayed home. That day we went to Andrew's program (pics later) where he had a part. He got to hold a S and say 'S is for silverware, set in a row.' He did such a good job! He even sang every song with the actions. A couple times he tried to do his own actions! Thursday was Thanksgiving, the Aaron didn't have to work on Fri. It was kinda hard yesterday when he went back to work! Oh well, we have so many things this December that hopefully we'll get to Christmas fast!

Mine and Isaac's conversation

2010-11-14T14:03:00.000-08:00

Today I took off Isaac's diaper and he wanted to sit on the potty, so I let him. Then he decided to play instead, this is how it went.....

Me: Isaac either sit on the potty or get a diaper.
Isaac: Sit on potty.
Me: Ok then sit on the potty.
Isaac: Sit on potty, Why?
Me: so you don't go potty on the floor.
Isaac: (louder)why
Me:Because I don't want you to go potty on the floor.
Isaac: (even louder) WHY?
Me: I don't want you to make a mess on the floor.
Isaac: Why?
Me: Go get a diaper.
Isaac: Sit on the potty.

I'm afraid this could go on for quite a while.

I forgot...

2010-11-09T14:07:00.000-08:00

In my last post I wrote how Andrew burned himself pretty bad. I neglected to tell you what he burned himself with. He had decided to make himself one of his favorite sandwiches, peanut butter and honey. The honey hadn't been used in awhile so Andrew decided to put it in the microwave to loosen it up. He put the honey in the microwave for 2 minutes. When he took it out it was hot, so he dropped it. The bottle was dissinigrated and when it hit the counter it exploded. The honey fell onto his arm and that's what burned him. Crazy right?

Been a Bit

2010-11-04T18:10:00.000-07:00

So it's been awhile since I've blogged. We've had some interesting things lately. Here we go....! Shortly before Halloween we were sitting at home on a Sunday afternoon. Pretty much everyone was in a various state of undress, (being that we were having a lazy day) when all of a sudden we hear a blood curdling scream. Aaron and I jump off the bed and ran toward the sound. We found that it was Andrew. Isaac had also started crying as hard as he could. Aaron grabbed Andrew to find out what was wrong. There was some foreign substance stuck to his arm. Aaron took him into the bathroom to run his arm under the cold water and to wash the gunk off his arm. As he ran Andrew's arm under the water, Andrew's skin started to come off with the gunk. We looked at eachother and said,'We have to take him in'. We started to go crazy getting everyone dressed and out the door. (I found that at certain times we can get out of the house in less than 5 min.) We got everyone in the car and took off. There is no clinic open on Sunday's in Tooele, so we had to drive up to Bangeter Highway. Aaron drove 90mph the whole way while I was on 'cop watch'. We were lucky in that we didn't see one cop the whole way. We made it to the IHC clinic in record time and rushed Andrew in. We checked in and got Andrew in real quick. Come to find that he burned himself pretty badly. We took him to our regular Dr a few days later and found out that it was a second degree burn and that we have to keep it wrapped up for at least a week and a half. The burn on his wrist doesn't seem too be healing as well as the rest. It looks uglier than it did in the picture above. If it isn't looking better soon we shall have another trip to the Dr.

Fall

2010-10-14T07:56:00.000-07:00

Don't you just love the Fall? The air is cool and crisp and the rotting leaves give off the most interesting smell! Love it! Wearing sweaters is one of my favorite things to do after the hot summer. Also when the furnace comes on for the first time. The smell of the furnace is a good smell. I'm not sure if it is supposed to smell, but mine does and the furnace works fine. We got 3 pumpkins in our garden this year. More tried to grow, but the 3 big ones just sucked everything from the other small ones. The boys are getting excited to pick one on Saturday. We may carve it then, or wait a little. I love the fact that I don't really have to water my lawn anymore as well. Although this year I didn't do such a good job. The boys can't wait for Halloween, especially since they found out we are going to do a small party on Trick or Treat day!

School

2010-10-14T07:46:00.000-07:00

I think Ethan likes the fact that I have math homework too. With me doing my homework it certainly does make him do his without complaining more. He has been doing really well on his homework this year. I usually just have to tell him once so far. It's his spelling words that he doesn't want to do. He gets his words on Monday. We write them down in his book and then he writes them down at least once everyday. On Thurs he has to write out his words 3 times each. Then Friday morning I quiz him before school. Since we have been doing this his spelling tests have become much better. Everyother subject he is doing wonderful, as to be expected. hehe. Andrew has been having tons of fun in kindergarten. He goes to all day (which is a big help to me) and he loves riding his scooter to and from with Ethan. Andrew has been working on his letters and doing a lot of art work. He made a skeleton that I thought was so cute! (pics later) He's also done pumpkins and a bat. Everything is hung on the wall. He's very proud of himself. Meanwhile my school is fine. I dropped my health class because they wanted me to write 3 page papers just about everyweek. Also pick a couple days and watch what I eat including counting calories, carbs, and how much I ate in grams. Too much to do when trying to feed little kids at the same time. My math class is ok, a good refresher. The mortuary class is the most fun. I am trying to find a subject to write about for the term paper. It's not as easy as you think.

My 'puter

2010-10-14T07:41:00.000-07:00

For the past month and a half my computer has been broken. Of course I didn't know about it for awhile because I never turn it off, I just close it and let it go to sleep. The other day I was trying to turn it off and nothing would happen. Aaron solved the problem by taking the battery out and putting it back in. The next day we found that it wouldn't load windows, it would just keep rebooting. So after a weekend of trying to fix it we took it to best buy since the computer is still under warranty. They said that it needed windows reloaded. This sounds easy enough right? Well my little netbook does not have a disk drive! My super smarty pants husband figured out how to load windows without a disk drive! Now my 'puter is back!! YIPEE!!

Why I do the things I do

2010-10-04T13:11:00.000-07:00

I have decided that you all must write on your blog more often. I am a nosey person and in order to continue being so I must spy on your lives. The blog is a very good way for me to do that and not get arrested. Yes I may sound crazy, but you already knew that I am. I enjoy driving around at night and seeing that some people have left their curtains open. This way I can look strait into their house and see what they are doing or what their room is decorated like. I don't stop and look (i'm not that crazy) I just drive by. For this reason I keep the blinds at my house closed at night.

So please write more often if you could. I am nosey and enjoy being so.

Family Life

2010-09-21T14:24:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted for a bit so I thought that I would let you all know some family happenings. I started school this year. I haven't been in school since high school, so this is kinda different for me. I know people wonder why I didn't start earlier and the reasons are these. When Aaron and I were first married I started to get signed up for school and the found out that I was pregnant with Ethan. Before I had found this out we were also going to move to Florida for Aaron to go to school. We had this all planned and then Ethan appeared. Ethan saved us over $30000 in school fees plus another $2000 in books and also how ever much it would have cost to live and move there. Aaron decided to finish school here and so he signed up for the next semester at SLCC. Aaron went to SLCC for quite a few years before transferring to Weber. Last May he graduated with a Bachelors in Computer Science. He went to school at night so that he could still work full time. The job he had required TONS of his time so we didn't see him a whole lot. If I had gone to school at the same time, then we would have NEVER seen eachother and I would have had to put the kids in daycare. I realize that waiting 12 years is a long time to wait before going to school, but it was worth it to us. I am having a hard time doing 9 credit hours, keeping up with laundry and baking things I like to bake. I have decided to only take about 6 hours next semester so that I can still do the things I need to here. There really isn't any reason for me to rush through school, so I may as well take my time and balance my life better. I am thinking of going into Mortuary Science and I know that alot of people think I'm strange, but that's true!
Aaron has been working at the air force base and taking full advantage of the gym there. Apparently it's an awesome gym. If we lived within 20 miles of the base, I could go to it to. Maybe we'll get a house in that vicinity. (yep we are still trying to sell our house.)
Ethan started 3rd grade this year. He is in a 3rd/4th grade split. He has a man for a teacher and he really seems to be enjoying it! His only problem he's having is his spelling words. We worked out a system where he has to write them out everyday with his homework. We also have a white board where we write his words down on Monday so he can see the words everytime he's in the kitchen. His friend from birth Lil' Livy also started at his school this year. They love being able to see eachother everyday and look forward to the days that they get to walk to our house together.
Andrew just started kindergarten. We held him back a year because he was born mid August and also because he is quite small for his age. He is in all day kindergarten which is really helpful to me. I can go to school while he is in school! He is loving kindergarten! He has tons of papers everyday, and now he is so excited to be able to ride his scooter to and from school everyday!
Isaac is funny and he knows it. He even tells himself jokes! No one else can understand them, but he thinks they are funny. He is the most kissy baby I've had! He gives kisses to most everyone he knows. He eats more than Andrew! And between them there is only a 10lb difference. We are really trying to get Andrew to eat more, but it's taking some work.
Aaron is now a leader over the Venture Scouts. So far there hasn't been much that he has been able to do with them, since the boys that age don't like to do things in this area, I guess. I have no calling! I think it's because when they asked me where I would like to be I told them that I did not want to be in a calling where I am over my own children. I know they are better when I am not around. I seem to only get called to either the primary or Relief society chorister. I guess they think I can't do anything else, but they've never given me a chance for anything else!
We are FINALLY getting rid of the blue civic! You all know the one that was rolled in June of '09. We had to keep it until it was paid off. We also had to have full coverage insurance on it during then too! Now we are paying less in insurance and have 1 less car payment!
I have a veggie garden this year. It's my first real garden that I've ever grown. I think I've done pretty well. I have lots of different veggies and have harvested lots too! I have alot of pumpkin plants, but only 3 HUGE pumpkins. Others keep trying to grow, but don't survive. I think the 3 huge ones are sucking all the nutrients from everything else that tries to grow. At least I have 3! We'll carve one and then freeze the others. I have 6 loaves of zucchini bread in the freezer, I think. If not I have enough zucchini to make more. I am giving those to neighbors for Christmas treats I think.
That is the end of the update for now. If you would like more, then let me know.

Bahamas Day 4 continued........

2010-09-08T19:15:00.000-07:00

So after dinner Aaron and I went to the variety show down in the theater. They had a couple of the people that had performed before, like the singers, perform again. They did alright, but I can see why they work on a cruise ship. Picture the people that sing at Lagoon and there you have it. Maybe I'm biased about singers, since I've heard and known some really good ones! The next act I liked. It was the comedian/magician. His first name is Richard and his last name I can't remember but it reminded me of the word purple. He is pretty funny, by being kind of an idiot. The last act was one done by the cruise director and some of his top staff. The called it 'Fountains', what they did was everyone walked out in a line. They were dressed like greeks, (white sheets like togas) and carried aluminum water pitchers. They had Enya playing in the background and with their moves choreographed they would hold up the pitcher then take a drink of water. Instead of swallowing it, they would spit it out at the other people. It got real funny when they all started spitting in revenge at eachother! Then at the end they took a drink of the water and started walking toward the audience. People started scrambling away from the first row. It was funny.
After that there was a game 'show' at the other end of the ship. We decided to go and watch, since it was supposed to be the director and the crew mates, didn't turn out that way. They got everyone EXCEPT the crew mates involved. They split everyone up into groups of 10 (or as close to it). Each team was given a number, and then the 'host' would call up something like, 'a woman wearing mans shoes'. So a woman wearing mans shoes would run up with the number and get the points. They had some fun ones like a person holding a lone shoelace, or one funny one was a man pretending to give birth. You could really tell the ones that had really seen it! The 'host' told the guys that when a woman is in labor there is no laughter! HAHA I tried to get a picture of Aaron doing that, but it didn't turn out. Then the calls started to get a little crazy. One was a man without a shirt on, which isn't bad, but the next one was a woman without a shirt on. No one from our team went up. They had 2 women kissing with tongue and two men kissing with tongue. Again no one from our team went up for either of those. Then the very last one was NUTS! It was a man without a shirt, pants or shoes, wearing a womans bra, lipstick and carrying a purse. No one went up from our team, but some girl found someone to do it for us. Some of these guys I swear had on velcro clothes and must have already had a bra on they got up there so fast! Then instead of letting the guys go and get dressed they had them parade around the room (children under 18 were not allowed in this room this night). Some of these men were way too into this! One was a guy in I would say his late 50's who had on his old man underpants. They were too big for him and pulled WAY too high up his back! It was a moment where I was just thinking that men should wear clothes over their underpants. This old man and his wife we had seen around the ship a couple times and we tried to avoid them, although I don't think they would have wanted to be around us because we weren't 20. They were acting like they were 20, and I found this terribly inappropriate. I realize this may be judging, but believe me when I say that I saw 'more' of those 2 then I wanted and never on the beach in bathing suits. I think they may have been swingers. I was so not impressed with these people. There were so many other people that I was impressed with on this trip, that I like to think of them instead.
After the 'game' that Aaron and I were wishing we hadn't been a part of (least we didn't do anything that we found inappropriate, like drinking or nakedness) and we walked around a bit more. We went back to our room to pack for the next morning. After we packed we watched a movie and went to bed. The last night we went to bed knowing that we were leaving the next day, but we (I) were ready to see the kids.

This was taken in Freeport, but I like it.

Bahamas Day 4!

2010-09-06T20:12:00.000-07:00

Now I am on to our trip day 4. This was the day we went to the cruise lines private island. It was located withing a group of islands called the Berry Islands. The one we were at was Stir-up Cay. The day started with Aaron and I eating a fancy breakfast at one of the sit-down free restaurants. The food was good, but what I was doing was watching the people at the table next to us. They were 2 mothers and their special needs daughters. These girls were mentally handicapped and were very sweet. I kept thinking about what a fun trip they must be on. After breakfast we headed out onto the ferry to take us to the island. There is no pier so we anchored about 2 miles or so away. We were on the second ferry to the island, so we were able to get some good beach chairs. This was the view from our chairs. Gorgeous right? We started out the day by lathering ourselves up with sunscreen. Legs, arms, face, shoulders and everywhere else that was showing. We took a walk around the little area we were in and found a grave. This captain of a ship had died and was buried about 18 something. They renewed his grave with cement about 1979. It was the only history we could find on the island. The people that live on this island are all acually employees of the cruise line. They work at the straw market and take some care of the island. They get a free place to live and 3 square meals a day. I guess some people take what they can get. It did look like they were doing some construction for some new things on the island, so I hope these people get a good paycheck as well. The people on this island were also very friendly, they also want to talk to everyone. At this island I was almost expecting a kind of outhouse for the bathroom, but they had flushies! One time while Aaron was using the bathroom I found a hammock to sit in and wait. Well this particular hammock was stretched out funny and I sat in it wrong. To get out of it I had to flip upside down onto the sad. It looked like I fell out of if I'm sure, and whoever watched it probably got a good laugh, but I made it out with not really any embarrassment. I told Aaron about it when he came out of the bathroom and HE laughed at me. There was a slide called the Hippo Slide. It was one of those giant inflatable slide you see at big events with kids. This one accommodated everyone, not just kids. It was about 40 ft tall and I can't remember how long it was, but we went down it a bunch. Aaron in fact made friends with some little boys by helping them go faster and further on the slide! We did do one excursion this day, we went on an eco tour. We got on this little boat that had enough room for about 30 people. As we were driving around the island to where the wildlife was we found out that some people had decided to be naked. It was only about 4 people and only the men were naked. Lucky for us we were about a 1/4 mile away, so nothing horrid was seen! We continued to drive to where we were going and we found a shark! There are no pictures because you would not know what it was from the picture. The shark didn't like the boat and kept swimming away from it! The water was so clear! This under the water is Turtle Grass. Lots of things live in it. We saw tons of conch shells. To take a living conch out of the country can get you 4 years in prison! Crazy. This is a sting-ray. I know it's hard to see, but that's what it is. Your not allowed to swim with these because they can sting you. It is cool to be able to see these animals in their natural habitat. These starfish are some that our guide picked out of the ocean while we were floating in the boat. Aaron is holding the female and I am holding the male. They are really soft in the water, but when they are brought out the become hard. These were really thick as well. They put the starfish back in the ocean and it floats until it feels safe, then it absorbs the water and sinks. I really like this picture, it just so pretty. Aaron also tried to 'fight' a crab while on the boat. Ok so he didn't try to fight it, but everyone were doing all these boring poses with the crab, so Aaron thought up something much funnier. There were no rubber bands on the crabs pinchers, so Aaron could have lost! After the eco tour we went and had some lunch. It was so hot out that you would think they would not be serving beef, but they were! We got a bunch of fruit and water to make up for all the salt we were getting. We had been playing in the ocean earlier that day and Aaron had had some fish attack him! So it wasn't all that scary, but he had to swim quite a bit away before the fish would leave his feet alone. I do not attract fish, so no 'harm' came to me, Although I can find every pointy rock or hole in a rock! The only way to cool off this day was in the ocean! It was very hot. Around 2 we decided that we had baked enough for the day, and got back on the ferry to go back to the ship. The sun had wore me out to the point that When we got back I crashed. Come to find out that putting sunscreen on 3 times in between the hours of 9:30-2:00 was not enough and we still got burned. Later on that night we had reservations at the steak house restaurant. We ordered the appetizers and with all the sun we got that morning, we were almost full! When the steaks came they were soo good and tender! But alas we could not finish them and the waitress was disappointed with us! This post has gone on for a bit, and there is still more of this day to tell. I will have to continue it soon!

What makes me crazy!!

2010-09-02T19:36:00.000-07:00

Don't you just hate those family members who are always asking for help in some fashion? But then when you need help you had better not ask them because it could inconvenience them! Wouldn't want to do that! Then you help these people all you can and they still like other people in your family better, even though the ones that they like better won't lift a finger for anyone! This drives me absolutely crazy! I can say this because those people don't read my blog. (as far as I know).

Bahamas Day 3!

2010-09-01T16:24:00.000-07:00

Now I get into day 3 of our trip. The night before we had stayed up pretty late around 1:30 or so. We didn't wake up until 9:30 this day. Can't tell you how nice that was! We got up and got dressed, went for a quick breakfast and went onto Nassau! We got off the boat and then you had to walk up to this building about a half mile away that they called the 'mall'. It was the entrance to the city. It had some little shops in it, but most of them were kinda pricey for the kind of stuff they were selling. One place had freshwater pearls for almost $50! I bought a set of freshwater pearls at a mall here in Salt Lake for $30, so I wasn't going to pay $50! They had this band playing and everything in the mall was really colorful. This I guess is a ceremonial outfit that they may have worn awhile ago for something. This one was made of cardboard though. There was quite the line of people waiting to get their picture taken with their face in this! As we left the 'mall' there was tons of people offering different excursions! We didn't take one because we thought we had one later in the afternoon. Turned out ours was canceled and we didn't find out until later. There was this pavillion where women were offering to braid hair for a price. For a full head braided it was $150. I knew that white women don't look especially wonderful with a whole head braided, so I didn't do it. Alot of other women did it though. You could see their scalp getting sunburned later. Some got their hair braided just a little on top and left the rest of their hair long. This looked nice on the little girls, not the 50 something women. To walk to the main street where people were shopping we had to walk through this park/courtyard type place. It had the most interesting trees! Instead of leaves it was almost like whisps of branch were waving towards the ground. I would have gotten a picture, but there were some questionable people hanging around there. The main street was almost like a diamond district place! Jewelry stores everywhere! We only went into one, and that was to get me a new watch. Which I paid the same price there that I would have paid here I think. There were quite alot of other shops that had some fun things too. We got Isaac a little bug that was made from a coconut shell. I got a dress that is very nice too. As we were walking around I saw a pirate museum about a block away. I knew the boys would have loved it, so we went. This was one of the pictures on the outside of the museum! We started walking up to the opening and there were some stockades that I had to put Aaron in! This Pirate guy ( I really don't know what his real name is) came up to us when I put Aaron in and held the gun up to his head! It was really funny. He then started talking (and boy could he talk!) and just going this way and that with his words! He had me put down my backpack and all of a sudden he picked me up! He handed me his gun and so I pointed it at him! Aaron took a picture, it was funny, he pretended that he was going to walk away with me! He started talking somemore and asked if we knew about Jack Sparrow? Well he was called Black Sparrow! HAHA He started telling us that we had to go and tour the museum. We went into the shop to look around and found the boys a treasure map! They had giant pirate flags that I would have gotten if I had a place to hang it. I wish I had bought the boys a pirate shirt, but I didn't. Well at first we didn't buy tickets to go through, but 'Black Sparrow' caught us again and started telling us about all the cool things inside. And like I said earlier, he could TALK! So we bought tickets. As we went through they has some cool stuff! At the begining they had an almost full size ship inside! There was a point where you can hear some people whispering and then all of a sudden you hear them say,' I think someone is coming, shh.' Then the whispering stops. After you get far enough the whispering starts up again. The museum had some very interesting facts everywhere all about Pirates! This was a cage they would hang guilty pirates. First they would kill you, then cover you in tar to slow the rotting process. One 'pirate' was put in one of these and hung over the Thames River in England for years. He wasn't really a pirate at all even, the people just decided he was. When you walk up to this in the museum there is a strange feeling. This cage is really from the time of pirates (I don't know if it was really used though). It is a bit creepy. They also tell you of the legend of BlackBeard. How when he was killed he had his throat slit, kept fighting and then after being stabbed multiple times and having his head cut off they threw him over board. They say that his body swam around this ship 7 times! That quite the legend! We found more stocks outside and Aaron had to put me in to take a picture. Then he almost didn't let me out! I think he liked the idea of me stuck for a bit. As we continued to walk around Nassau we notice the traffic. (Accually that was one of the first things we noticed!) There were quite a few one way streets where we were and I think it's a good thing too. Otherwise there would be ALOT of accidents! The dotted line on the street that is the lane divider is just a suggestion to these people! When you cross the street you feel like you are running for your life! There were a couple people who rented scooters (we were smart enough to just 'SAY NO'!) They were driving around with what looked like construction helmets with a string to hold them on, with their eyes closed! It was scary. At one point Aaron said now he knows what it feels like to cross I-80! Everyone was honking their horn and just driving as fast as they could. When you crossed the street they didn't slow down, they sped up! It was crazy! We stopped in this store and got a dress for my niece Meagan. The material is kind of strange. It's thin and cool to the touch, even when I got it here it still felt like that. Almost like your hands should be a bit sticky when your done touching it, but they're not. She loves it! For some reason instead of stopping for food at a local place we went to Hard Rock cafe'. We have both decided that Hard Rock, no matter where you are could not care less about their customer service. Everytime we go to one we get terrible service. No more going there. I wish we had gone and had some conch fritters. I hear they are really good, but we forgot. I really liked Nassau. At one point we walked through the courtyard of the local court house! For their center fountain/planter they had used conch shell to build it! I guess it was more practical. It looked awesome. Most of the buildings there are pink! Even the courthouse! Not sure why on that. It looked like alot of the people just kind of sat around and didn't go anywhere. I'm not sure if they do this all the time, but there was a heat wave going on while we were there. I think Nassau was one of my favorite places, and next time I want to see more of it.

Bahamas Day 2!

2010-08-29T15:08:00.000-07:00

The first night on the ship Aaron and I slept really well. Not sure if it was because we were exhausted from the day before, or if it was because we took some sea sickness med before bed. Either way it was nice. We woke around 8 and were excited to be off. This day we were in Freeport Harbor. We got dressed into our bathing suits and went off to a waffle bar for breakfast! Took a bit of a wait, but it was good. After breakfast we left the confines of the ship! My first time in a foreign country! Aaron's first time was Canada, so does that count? The air was so thick you could hardly believe that you were breathing! We hadn't booked an excursion yet because everyone we talked to told us that there would be natives offering cheaper things to do that were way fun. Well, they were wrong. Only thing out there was the cruise employees that were making sure everyone got where they were going. We found a man that was selling extra seats on a snorkling trip and we bought in. (He worked for the cruise line). We had a half hour before we were supposed to meat so we thought we would look around the market and maybe buy a hat. I like my hat. (although on the trip home it got kinda bent out of shape. gotta fix that.) We met at the place we were told and us along with a bunch of people got onto a tour bus. We thought it would just be a quiet ride through town to where we were going, but the people in the Bahamas LOVE to talk! Our bus driver was entertaining! He gave us a brief history of where we were and then told us that we drove on the wrong side of the road! (He was on the wrong side.) He then proceeded to tell us that it's all because of the American Revolution that we do. After we won, we wanted to break off completely so we started using the other side of the road. It was very funny, yet informative. We drove for about 10 mins around the town to get to where the boat was for snorkling. If we had been watching out the drivers window I think we would have been scared for our lives! There was alot of hard breaking! We finally got to the boat and saw that it was a 2 story boat! We climbed on board and got our gear and then headed upstairs for the ride to the reef. We were going to a reef called Rainbow Reef. Though I'm not sure why, it was pretty, but not terribly colorful. On the way to the reef was this candy striped lighthouse. My mom loves lighthouses so took a picture for her, because this one is pretty. It took us about another 10 min to get to the reef. When we did they told us to jump on in! They had given us a brief tutorial on how to snorkle before we got there. So we jumped on in! Once I got the foggyness out of my goggles and learned how to breath through my mouth it was awesome! We had bought some 'fish' food (really puppy food) for the fish and they come right up to you to eat it! I tried to catch a fish with my hands, but they can sense you coming. We were looking at all these fish and coral (kept kicking the coral, didn't mean too) that Aaron and I got a bit further from the boat than we should have. They had told us that if we left the safety of the reef that there are sharks about. We quickly turned around and got closer to the boat. This picture shows alot of our group in the water. You can see how clear the water is! I know this sounds silly, but I really had no idea how salty the ocean is! I also discovered that swallowing it is not the most fun. After snorkling we got to go down this slide that went from the top of the boat to the water! So fun! People even started jumping off the top into the water. I did not do this. We were happy that they sold soda on the boat because when you've drank salt water, you really want to get that taste out of your mouth! We eventually drove back to the little harbor and walked around Freeport for a bit. The shop keepers were almost yelling at us to come into their shop! I felt kinda pressured to buy things, but I'm cheap and won't buy if I don't like your price. They had all kinds of things to buy, necklaces, hand carved wood statues, straw purses, jam, even diamonds! We bought some things, but not alot. We found an ice cream shop and was very happy. It was about 95 degrees and it felt like 100% humidity! Ice cream was welcome. On the way back to our ship this bus driver had us singing songs. He was very funny too. We got back to the harbor and decided to walk around a bit. This was the straw market in the harbor. It was very fancy for a straw market! Finally we got back on the ship to take a nap. After the nap and a shower we walked around the ship and went to dinner. We didn't go anywhere fancy this night, but the food was still good! We stopped and saw a show that was a comedian, his show was pretty funny. He did alot with the audience. Aaron wanted to go to karaoke after that, so we did. He sang, but I didn't. We went to the front of the ship at night and just stood there talking with the wind blowing against us. You could see the water flowing past and I think this was my favorite part of the whole thing. While the wind was going I put my hand up to my hair and was kinda surprised when I could still get my hand through it. At home when the wind whips through your hair, it gets alot of dirt in it too. There, there was no dirt! We went to our room and watched some of a movie before going to bed. It was a fun day!

The dots in the water are a little school of fish!

My Trip to the Bahamas! Day 1

2010-08-25T16:53:00.000-07:00

So for the past 9 years Aaron and I celebrated our anniversary with a variety of things. One year (when I was very pregnant with Andrew) we did something that was 'alot' of fun.....a ride in the car. We have also gathered together as many coupons as we could for an out to dinner date. On that one we ended up paying only $10 for dinner at a restaurant! Well, for our 10th anniversary we wanted to do something tremendous! I had been telling Aaron since October that we should plan something. He would look at me with the look like, 'I know'. Nothing got planned. Finally around April Aaron decided that we should plan a cruise! I thought, 'what'? Well we planned one. Aaron had a bunch of air miles so we only ended up paying $300 for both of us to fly to Miami and back. I think the cruise cost about $1300 or so for a 5 day with an inside cabin that was a bit bigger than the smallest one. I got real excited for the trip, since this was the biggest trip that Aaron and I have ever gone on! The days ticked by, we had 2 birthday parties, started getting ready for school, (both me and the boys). We had days where Aaron had to work late and days where I worked late in the garden. All in all it was a busy summer. Finally the Sunday came where we were leaving. We went to our 9 o'clock church meetings and then came home to pack. We dropped off the boys with the grandmas and my brother took us to the airport. We were there for a while since our flight didn't leave until 12:50 am. I found out that airports and planes are cold, and I had forgotten a sweater! I was cold all night. Finally we made it to Miami. I was still chilly and then we walked outside to get a taxi. I wasn't cold anymore. Miami is hot and humid. We made it to the ship and got all checked in. We got on the boat and discovered that we were starving. They had a buffet (that they had everyday) and we ate it up. After we ate we felt tired and dirty. We were hoping to go to our room but they told us that we couldn't go in until 2pm. It was only 12:30. I was tired and ornery. I really tried hard not to be so.These are the pools that were on the deck. We didn't go in them because we figured we were going in the ocean! Why go in a pool when the ocean is so much better!?
We finally made it into our room and took a nap! I felt much better afterwards. We got cleaned up and took a walk around the ship. I think this was the point I decided that people are crazy! We had made a reservation at the french resturant for dinner. I was terribly excited. Guess what?! Turns out I LOVE french food! I even ate es cargo! The whole meal was wonderful! We had told them that we were on our 10th anniversary and so they brought us a cake and 'sang' to us. None of them spoke english very well, so picture the movie 'A Christmas Story', where they are in the chinese resturant and the waiters are singing to them. Although these waiters were not from China it still sounded the same. It was so hard not to laugh during, then one of the women waiters said, 'he has a real good voice huh?' as she pointed to one of the guys. We just grinned and said ya! We finished up the day watching a movie and hanging out. It was an adventerous first day!

Things to wonder about the airport

2010-08-15T21:42:00.000-07:00

Being at the airport early has it's advantages. Get through security without having to worry about time, able to eat some dinner, not having to run to your gate hoping that your plane has not left, and people watching. I have been doing that for a bit while I've been playing on the computer too. There are some interesting folks around here. I think I'll tell you about some of the people I see while in the various airports for the next day.

1.I am at the airport pretty late and have seen a couple people sleeping in some strange positions. I'd take a pic but too many people are awake to see me do it.
2. Do people realize how loud they play their Ipod? I wonder how much hearing loss they will have to deal with later in life.
3. Green missionaries are so super excited to get the message out that they will even teach at the gate with only a couple weeks of training. (They are so cute!)
4. A man (I think he was very Jewish) prays standing up with his face and body very nearly against the wall.
5. Many people feel the need to talk to themselves.
6. Some of the airport employees worry me. Don't you need a little bit of an education to work here? At least they don't look like they have any, I could be wrong.
7. The airport is chilly, and I should have brought a jacket.
8. There is coffee being sold places, but not hot chocolate. (Dang it)
9. It's fun to watch this woman sitting close to me with her Ipod turned almost all the way up (I swear). She is also swaying and singing quietly.

Wedding

2010-08-09T06:50:00.001-07:00

12 years ago today a friend and I were hanging out at a condo at Bear Lake. We were sitting in the condos hottub just talking when this weird guy came up and started talking to us. We started talking back and then started playing in the main pool. Afterwards while my friend and I were drying off in the sun this guy walked up to me and said, 'Call me next time your in the valley.'. I thought what a dumb line. The joke was on me, because I called. We ended up dating for a year and a half before we got engaged. Then on the 2nd anniversary of the day we met we got married! The day was full and crazy! Like most people, I don't remember alot of the day because it's like I was spinning. But we got tons of pictures! It was a hot summer, but that day seemed just a little cooler. By the time we were getting ready for the reception it had sprinkled just enough to cool the air down. It felt so nice! It was such a fun day that I wish I could go back as an observer just to watch! So now it's been 10 years. We still have days where we act crazy. Laughter has become a big part of our marriage and family life. We have added 3 little boys in the past 10 years, a house, and a couple of cars. We've gone through a couple jobs, and some hard times, but through all that we have been able to laugh. I am so blessed to have married such a wonderful man!

Hiking

2010-08-09T06:31:00.000-07:00

We were naughty yesterday. Aaron and I have recently been released from our callings at church and have not received new ones. We decided that since we had no responsibilities to others at church today that we would play hooky. Yes I know that we were naughty, but oh well. We thought that it would be nice to go on a hike with the boys. So Aaron looked up a trail on the computer (everything gets looked up here) and we found a trail that we could even take Zoey the Dog on! We got packed up with a snack and drinks and off we went! We drove to Millcreek canyon where it was full of people on bikes! They let bikers in every even day and yesterday just happened to be the 8th. We drove for what seemed like forever trying to find the trail that we had picked. I think we almost made it to the top of the canyon before we decided to just pull into a parking lot and take that trail. The one we picked just happened to lead to the trail we wanted, so that worked out well. We got Isaac in the hiking backpack and put the snout harness on Zoey (thanx Jill!) and started up the mountain. The boys were having tons of fun running around where they weren't supposed to be. We told them why they needed to stay on the trail, and after that talk they stayed pretty much to the trail. As we hiked we let Zoey off her lead and let her walk with us. It worked out pretty well until she started to get to excited and we had to put her back on. About every 10 min or so we had to watch out for bikers going up or down the trail. I want to say this about the biking manners I saw yesterday.... What has happened to manners? When I would go biking you would warn the people that you were coming! You told them which side you were going to pass, and you slowed down while you passed! The people yesterday did nothing of the sort, they would just come up behind you until you heard or noticed them. Then they would speed passed you as fast as they could. Jerks. Well by the time we thought we should have reached our destination, we had half a mile to go. The boys by this point wanted to turn around and go back, but with just half a mile? I don't think so! Finally we saw it....Dog Lake! (Which was accually Dog Pond). Zoey ran into the water to cool her feet and the boys spend the time throwing rocks into the pond. Aaron tried to teach them how to skip rocks, and Isaac got so dirty! He saw the dogs walking into the water, so he had to as well! We ate some snacks and packed up for the trip home. By the time we reached the car all of us were tired. We looked at the clock and realized we had been hiking for almost 4 hours! That's how long 6 miles takes for a family with 3 small boys. We were tired but had alot of fun!

A New Friend

2010-08-04T20:29:00.000-07:00

Today started out just the same as other days. We got up, ate some cereal, did some sit-ups, vacuumed the rug. The boys got dressed and went outside to play. A little bit later they came and told me that they had found a bird on the ground. They said that they were taking care of it. I said alright and we went to the store. Some of their friends and their grandma had picked up the bird, put it in a bowl with some honey-suckle flowers and put it back in the tree hoping the mother would take the baby back. We got back from the store and it started raining. It rained for about an hour until the boys were able to go back outside to play. I had forgotten about the bird by now, but the boys reminded me when they walked home with the bird in a bowl. I took the bowl and realized they had a humming bird! The poor thing had water in it's bowl from the rain and was wet and cold. I picked it up (I know I shouldn't have) and placed it in my hands. I stood outside to get it warmed up in the sunshine and to start to let it dry. I wanted to see if it was hurt so I turned it onto it's back to check how it's wings would look spread out. I noticed then that he kept getting his feet stuck in his wings. I would untangle them (quite the feat in it's self) and just a little bit later he would get them stuck again! I figured that he was probably hungry, so I found a baby medicine dropper and filled it with some sugar water. I would stick it on his beak and I could see his little tongue just going. It was terrible cute! Eventually he dried enough that his feet stopped getting stuck. Then I decided to take him to the neighbors that had found him to get the whole story. Apparently he had fallen out of his nest and couldn't get back up. The mother had been flying around him trying to help, but to no avail. They had put him in the tree hoping that his mother would substitute the bowl for the nest (as they couldn't find the nest, it being so small). After the rainstorm she didn't come back. In the end we decided to take him to an animal rescue. (The regular vets office wouldn't take him.) We found the only rescue that would take him was in Ogden, so away we went. By the time we were in the car this little bird was ready to explore (we don't have to wonder why he fell out of his nest). My neighbor Jan had to hold him a certain way so that he wouldn't run around the car. We dropped him off and found out that he was only 2 weeks old! He was doing really well when we left so I think he'll be fine, he's just very adventurous! I learned that holding a humming bird is just crazy! It almost feels like nothing is in your hand! He's so soft and his tongue is very cute. Humming birds also go potty alot! I know I am very blessed and lucky to have been able to be so close to a humming bird and I also know that it will never happen again. I love how children will find a hurt animal and the first thing they think about is helping it so that it can live with it's family again!

My baby is 2!

2010-07-26T06:31:00.000-07:00

I can't believe my baby is 2! We had his party yesterday with the family. When everyone started to come over he started to get excited. I had made a bunch of cakes and cupcakes. Him and his cousin Meagan couldn't wait and had to have one right then. When the rest of the family came we stated the presents. He got alot of cool things, a tiger flashlight, a dinosaur flashlight, baseball mit and ball, lots of other balls, singing broom, and more. Aaron and I got him a bike. He seems to forget about it because whenever he comes in the room he gets a big grin on his face and points to it talking wildly. The other little kids at the party liked the bike too! I just can't believe he's 2 already! I went shopping for some clothes for him and all the really cute things that I wanted to dress him in were too small for him! Isaac in his first photo shoot!
Taking a bath in the kitchen!!
To be warm during his first winter, we would wrap him all the way and then we had to put him in the swing so he would be happy.
His first Easter! He loves chocolate even now!
First camping trip!
Where's Isaac?
posing for the camera.
My baby!
He loves animals, they love him back (sometimes)!
Mad at me a dad, but such a cute pouty face!
I can't believe he's 2!

He is such a boy, especially when he is playing in the dirt. Never seen a boy get so dirty. He doesn't like wood chips or dirt in his sandles, he still is scared of bugs, but is learning to step on ants. He loves to wrestle with his brothers all the time. He is excited to see his mom when she has been away for even just a half hour. He loves 'Ready, Set Go'! He thinks he is huge! No means Yes! His favorite chair is the rocking chair. He loves Zoey, and Molly, although I'm afraid he may break Molly. His favorite toys are balls and cars. He learned how to hit a ball with a bat yesterday. He still isn't talking a whole lot, but I don't care so much. He loves to give kisses and to blow kisses. He likes prunes. He is my baby. And will be forever no matter what he says.

Dinosaur Park/ new phone

2010-07-18T16:20:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we took a trip into Layton/Ogden. On the way there I got my orientation for school done online. WHAT?! Your thinking?! How could she do that while in the car? Well as many of you know my husband is quite the computer genius. He found a program on his phone where we could use the internet as long as the phone is close to the computer. I know that alot of phones can do this, but Aaron's is not supposed too. hehe. I can now register for classes Monday after 2. I'm excited, yet scared out of my mind.

Aaron and I have been with a certain phone service for quite a few years. About 6 months ago their service started to go downhill. We decided to change carriers but could not afford to do both of us at the same time. Aaron changed about a month and a half ago. We were going to wait until Sept. for me to switch, but everytime I would talk to anyone on the phone, they would tell me how much my phone sucked! No one, it seemed could understand me very well. I would have to repeat myself alot. Aaron decided Thursday that I should switch carriers as well. I agreed when I saw that my old service was more expensive with just me on it, than Aaron's with just him. So on our way to our fun day we stopped at the phone store and I got to pick out a new phone. I called people and they were so surprised that the first thing they said was that they could hear me! My new phone is awesome and even pink. I'm not one for pink usually, but this pink is a nice color.

We were almost to our fun trip when we pulled into my sisters street. The boys were kinda disappointed that that's all we were going to do, but when we told them to stay in the car, they got confused. With everyone loaded up we took off. Finally arriving at the Dinosaur park in Ogden! Everyone was so excited! Isaac started roaring at the dinosaurs. The first part of the museum they had some anamatronic dinosaurs. A stegosaurus and a T-Rex. Isaac and Meagan were afraid to walk in, but kinda liked it. Outside the museum there were statues of tons of dinosaurs. We walked all over looking and posing with so many dinosaurs. (computer is not cooperating with loading pic, so I'll do that later.) It was so hot that eventually we let the kids play in the park area while the adults hung out in the shade. We got a pic of Isaac that my mom thought was real.
We had tons of fun. And seeing that it was national Hotdog Day, we stopped at the store on the way back to Laura's and got some hotdogs for dinner. The boys loved it, Meagan loved it. We hope to go back some other time when it's not so hot!!!

HELP!!!!!

2010-07-14T13:27:00.001-07:00

Ok~ So since Aaron graduated it is my turn to go to school. I have been getting ready and doing all the paperwork that comes with school and financial aid. I have already taken the college placement test (which I did not fail miserably) and am just about ready to register for classes. I know that I need to take more math and english, I just don't know what else I should take. There are alot of things I am interested in (most of them gross out my mother), I just don't know what to pick. I also found out that for around $7,000 I can learn to be a pilot. Aaron has told me that if I do learn to become a pilot he would buy me a small plane. I think that would be fun, but I don't want to be just that. I would rather fly for fun, not for work.

I have no idea what I want to be when I grow up. I thought I knew, or at least had an idea, but now when the moment arrives that I can actually pick and move toward the thing I want to do I am stumped. Crazy!

Just Thinking

2010-06-26T08:54:00.001-07:00

I was just sitting on my bed reading some of the blogs that I read when I just decided to write what I was thinking today. I was thinking of how blessed I am to have all these boys in my life. I don't have any daughters so the drama is limited to Ethan. He is our dramatic one. He has alot of 'troubles' in his life, but he is very sweet to Isaac, and watches him closely. He is very good to Andrew (most of the time), and lets him tag along with him. Andrew is the one that keeps us entertained alot. He loves to sing, dance, and act. He also can climb anything you put in front of him, so he scares us alot too! He's been hanging off things since he was 2 months old and dad hung him off the roof rack of the car, so all I could see were these tiny little feet just kicking in the air. It was very cute. God knew what he was doing when he made Andrew super tough with a very hard head. Isaac is so far the one that doesn't let me get too much done. He wants me to hold him, or play with him all the time. He gets mad when I have to clean or do laundry (how dare I!). He loves to sing and give kisses in the middle of songs. He loves to wrestle with his brothers and then kiss them better after he attacked them.

This morning Aaron decided that he needed to change the oil in his car. I suggested that it was time for Ethan to start learning how to do that, he agreed. He went to the store to get what he needed and found that they were having a great sale! So he decided to change the oil in both cars. He had both older boys with him underneath the civic with it all jacked up. The boys really just listened and watched this time, and they did really well with that. While they were out there I was in here doing computer junk with Isaac sitting next to me. Since he couldn't sit in my lap just now he decided that having his feet on me would be the next best thing. Then as I took a break from reading he stood up, put the blanket over his head and came to give me a hug. When he took off the blanket I of course have to act like I'm surprised it's him, and he laughs like he is so clever! I will get a picture of the boys under the car in a bit and put it on later (I hope.)

Pen and Paper

2010-06-23T13:50:00.001-07:00

Sometimes I just feel like I should start writing. Not typing on the computer, but really writing. Using a pen and paper. How many of us send letters anymore? E-mails I'm sure we are all fluent in. I thought that I would like to write someone a letter, but who? And what would I say? Using a pen and paper to jot down a quick note, or to say hello has almost become unheard of! I'm beginning to believe that it is a lost art. To feel the pen, full of ink, glide across the paper. Sometimes it can feel so wonderful just to write with your hands instead of type with your fingers. What you type on the computer can go everywhere. All over the globe, to places we have never heard of or seen. As soon as we save things we write on the computer they leave for a world wide trip. Eventually we forget that we wrote anything at all. When we write things with a pen and paper they don't travel the world unless we send them places. People we don't know won't see what we were thinking of at that moment. Things we write with pen and paper get put away. Sometimes we forget where things are, or just don't have the time to look and remember. But things we write with pen and paper find their way back into the hands of us or someone we love. They can be forgotten about for years, yellowed with age, and still someone will find them, read it, and have it touch them, again or for the first time. I hope I never lose the urge to write with pen and paper. There is no substitute for the feeling it brings.

Just to Report

2010-06-22T07:47:00.000-07:00

I realize that in some of my past blogs I have seemed very 'cup half empty'. I really haven't meant to be like that, it's just that when I feel like writing is when I am in a bad mood. It really helps to alleviate things when I do so. I decided today that I should report some of the happy goings on here.
Isaac is beginning to say a whole lot more words. He talks all the time, we just are beginning to understand more. Whenever he sees a cat, he does call it a kitty, then he laughs hysterically! Cats are apparently very funny. He loves flowers and talks about them whenever he sees them. He loves dogs, but calls them all Zoey (which is the name of our dog). Of course he can say mom and dad, but usually he just calls us when he wants us to say his name. He calls himself Ikie. He saw a picture of a 2 yr old on the tv, pointed and started saying his name. He was so happy to see 'himself' on the tv. He is very much a boy and loves playing in dirt. Since I have a veggie garden this year he has had a big opportunity to play in lots of dirt. He loves his brothers, and loves to wrestle with them. They are usually very good when he wrestles with them, and he doesn't usually get hurt.

Andrew is very excited about starting kindergarten in August. Even though he will be the oldest in the class, he will be nowhere near the tallest. Closer to the shortest I'm afraid. At his last Dr's appoint he was in the 1st percentile. I keep wondering when his growths-pert will happen. I wonder if he will one day be taller than Ethan. It's possible. He is counting down the days until his birthday. He wants anything Toy Story. We stopped at Wal-mart the other day and found a whole isle devoted to the Toy Story toys. Needless to say we had to spend quite a few minutes looking at everything. I am planning to throw him a small party for his birthday, but there are not alot of boys his age here. We'll see what happens. He is a big helper around the house and outside, mostly only when Ethan is not here. He wants to help me weed, but so far has only been able to pick some veggies. He also likes to pick flowers, so when my cucumbers blossemed, we had to have the talk about not picking the flowers that are in the garden, and also not picking the veggies when they grow. He is also one of the strongest 5 yr olds I've seen! He can do 7 chin-ups and when he is bored will turn on some P90X and do almost the whole video!

Ethan had a harder start to the summer than the other boys. He told Aaron and I the other week that he wishes he had made the decision to be an only child. We laughed and said that is wasn't his choice! He said he needed a break from Andrew, and we needed a break from him, so he went to my mom and dad's for a weekend. Bappa took him fishing, although they didn't catch anything, he said he had fun! I think he would have liked to stay another few days. He has tried to keep up on his reading, but playing outside with friends is much more fun. He is getting excited for 3rd grade! On his report card he received something that Aaron and I never thought he would get.......an H for citizenship!!! The way he talks and hasn't figured out how to whisper, we thought he would only get as good as an S! We were so proud of him! Of course he got wonderful grades in everything else as well. He got a math award, which if you know Ethan you know that he is very good at math. (Alot like his dad there, thank goodness!)

As for Aaron and I we have been doing fine. I have started getting ready to go back to school. Aaron has been helping me by reviewing my math. It's amazing how much you forget! I have been doing Turbo Jam with my friend Jill since Feb. (she started a bit before me) I have lost 10lbs now and she has lost about 30lbs I think. We can just about wear the same size! I finally got my mom doing some Turbo Jam! I think she will really like it once she gets past the really sore part! Aaron is working and pursuing a new job. He doesn't like to sit in one space. If he can move up in position, he will. He has been going to the gym everyday after work for a week and a half now. He is really liking it. He comes home in a better mood. We are planning a great trip for our 10th anniversary this August. I am so excited!

Well that's us so far.

So Far........

2010-06-15T20:11:00.000-07:00

Recently I have come to the knowledge that I know nothing and Ethan knows everything. Believe me I was shocked! I thought that his superior brain power was not supposed to come around until he was a teenager! With everything I say to him, he knows more about the subject than I do, (apparently). I swear that in the past couple weeks no one has been able to say anything to him without it turning into an argument! Earlier this week he told Aaron and I that he wishes he had made the decision to be an only child. When we told him that that in no way was his choice he started fighting about it with us. We reminded him how he had been so excited to get a little brother and how he told Andrew, (when Andrew was a baby) to grow up fast so that they could play. He says he is sick of Andrew following him around everywhere. I told him that being the oldest that is what happens. (Trust me, I know....LAURA.) He just has to either get used to it, or have some trouble. (They have the same friends.) We told him that if he wants to be left alone he can always go in his bedroom to read, or he could read in my bedroom. He then said that he just needs a break from Andrew. I could understand that so we called up Ja Ja and Bapa and set up a time for him to go spend some time with them fishing without Andrew. I hope it will help him a bit. I think he is my challenging child for right now. He is always "sick" or in "pain". And nothing ever goes the way he wants. He is a very vocal boy when he is not happy. When he is happy he will just sit there grinning. He is happy alot, don't get me wrong, it's just been in the past few weeks that his life has been so horrid. (I guess) Even though he has been like this for the past little bit, he has still done most of what I have asked. He is very helpful and very good with Isaac. He just is the oldest.

The one I am nervous about growing up is Andrew. I once asked Aaron which one of the boys he thought would grow his hair out real long when they are older. Without hesitation he said Andrew. When I think of it, it's true. He is a very independent boy. If you only have seen him without his hair brushed it's because he won't let me brush it or help him. He brushes his own hair in very interesting ways. Some will be forward and some will stick out while some is brushed back. Luckly he does not like hairspray, so it doesn't usually stay looking all crazy. He will spend 10 min. doing his hair and if I say anything bad about it he will start all over again. If some of you have seen how he dresses himself for church, you know I didn't help. His pants will be rolled up way too much and he will have clipped on his tie onto his pocket. All this and still wearing a suit jacket. He doesn't match much with his clothes, but he thinks he looks good. I'm afraid that if I try to stop him being himself now, that I will pay for it when he is a teenager. I just hope that he doesn't do anything too extreme. He is very interested in things that are in the world. I just try to aim him toward things that are more uplifting and stimulating than others. I hope it works because he could go either way to the extreme. He is also very interested in exercise. Being a small 5 yr old he can already do 7 chin-ups. (real ones). He impresses me with this!

Isaac is too young to know what he is going to do, but he loves to eat. I just figure that I had better make sure he eats the right things and is very active. He loves goldfish crackers and I am very happy they make them in whole grain. He may be a cute sweet baby, ,but boy, does he have his stubborn streak! He tells me NO and STOP all the time. Although his new thing is after he gets mad at you he will rub your arm, say sorry, and give you a kiss. I think this is sweet and is one of my favorite things he does. He also gives random kisses to me and hugs his brothers all the time. He loves to wrestle with his brothers by jumping on them when they are laying down on the floor. He does this to me while I am exercising, so I guess I get a little more of a workout.

All together I have 3 very different boys. Mostly they are very good boys, they all have their craziness, (so does their mother) but it's that which makes them special. I am very lucky to have each one, and I wouldn't trade them for anything. I absolutely LOVE all 4 men in my life!!!!

Sunburn

2010-06-07T05:39:00.000-07:00

On Saturday's we find that it is a good day to get all the household chores done. We are all home and for some reason we are awake at 8. (someday I hope to sleep in a little more.) This Saturday was no different. We got up and got started. Aaron cleans the bathroom, because I hate it. I clean the kitchen and the boys 'clean' their room and the living room. I usually end up doing the rest of the living room as well though. Well this Saturday instead of just doing the kitchen like usual I scrubbed the floor and the walls and the fridge and the walls in the living room and hallway. (with 3 boys the doorways and walls were in dire need of scrubbing.) I also started registering for school too! When all the scrubbing was done we moved a freezer into our basement. Ok so I didn't help much with that, I cheered Aaron on.

With all this done I decided that I should weed my garden, since I hadn't yet. I walked around the house looking for the sunscreen that I had recently had in my hand, but couldn't find it anywhere! Not in the kitchen, or the living room, or the bathroom, or under the couch. (I think it may be in a secret hiding place that only Isaac knows.) So I said 'oh well' and went out anyway in my shorts to go weed. Most people reading this blog are from Bountiful or at least Davis County where the dirt is soft and really dark in color. Well, here in Tooele the dirt is hard, clay like in some places, and not as dark. Instead of just being able to pick the weeds or lightly use the shovel, I had to dig down hard to get the weeds. I loosened the dirt, took out the dead plants, and replaced them with new seeds. I did this all on my knees with out knee pads (which was a mistake). When I was finally done I got up and scraped the dirt off of my knees and came in to shower. I thought I had a small sunburn on the back of my legs then, but I didn't think is was too bad. I mean I was sitting on my knees alot with my bum on my legs, how bad could it be. By the time we got to a friends house for a bbq my legs were red. Then the next day when I got up to walk and get ready for church I could hardly stand up. One leg was really bad and the other wasn't as bad. With coatings of aloe and lotion accompanied by IBprofin I was able to make it to the family bbq at Aaron's mom's house. Sitting in the grass there was a mistake because when we got home my legs were very dirty. The aloe makes everything stick to your skin. So while Aaron went to get me some vinegar, I took a quick shower to wash the dirt off me.

Now I sit here, my legs still hurting, but doing better than before thanks to vinegar and aloe, and I am glad I bought some sunscreen again so that I won't have to do this again. I would take a pic and show you, but all I have is my film camera. I hope to get another digital one soon. Just take my word for it that is a funny shaped farmers burn on the back of my legs and it looks bad. :)

Start of Summer

2010-06-03T18:15:00.000-07:00

Ethan's last day of school is tomorrow. I am going to miss the extra quiet that I get when he is at school, but now Andrew and Isaac have more to do during the day. Weather wise it has been a slow start to the summer, but I've rather enjoyed the cool air. I kinda hope that it will be a cooler summer. The boys have already started the late nights outside playing with the neighbor kids, and the racing bikes and scooters up and down the street. We live on a quiet street so it's not dangerous as long as they are watching. While watching them today I couldn't help but wonder if we are going to have any stitches or broken bones this summer. I really hope not! Isaac is excited to be able to go outside more often than before. He has tried to help in the garden and already become a muddy mess. He loved it.

Of course getting ready for summer means getting the popsicles and extra snacks ready. I have already been preparing for all that fun. My boys think that we can feed the whole neighborhood as well. We also have plenty of Wii games for when the outside world is boring (?) or too hot. Ethan is very excited for summer, so much so that he volunteered to watch the class frog for the summer. I really hope that someone else gets that wonderful opportunity! I am going to get some yearly passes to some different locations this summer so that when I do start to go stir crazy we will have somewhere to go for free.

Aaron has started to teach the boys baseball. We are using tennis balls so that windows won't break (so we hope). We are thinking of going hiking up Timpanogus this summer, but with so many people already falling off the trail this year we may find other trails to hike.

I have also signed the boys up for a summer enrichment program at the school. I figure this way they will have some fun with other people than the ones that they are going to get bored with. I am also hoping that this will help when they go back to school in the fall. And it gives me time to find my sanity during the day.

Aaron has given me the best summer present though. I know most of you have already read on facebook that we are going on a cruise for our 10th anniversary, and we are very excited to accually have plans for our anniversary, (as we have had the famous 'car ride' and the 'we got our anniversary dinner for under$10 because we had tons of coupons and no money' celebrations.) but we scheduled it the last week of summer before school starts. A perfect end to summer madness!

During the summer there will be more posts (some may not make sense depending on my sanity) and we all hope that the hospital will not be in any part of them.! Have a great summer!!!

New Garden

2010-05-20T13:59:00.000-07:00

This year Aaron and I decided to start a veggie garden. Our back yard has been in a state of disarray since we moved in really. So this year we decided that instead of doing a ton of grass seed, we would make a big patch into a garden. We have spent the past month preparing the yard. My friend Jill came over to help out (she is going to be using some of the garden space). We spent days tilling the yard and found many tree roots from various trees that are around my yard, but not in it. I had a lot of goat head stickers in my yard (which I have been trying to get rid of). The tiller helped a bunch! Otherwise we would have had to rake the whole yard. We got rid of almost all the stickers and threw them in the trash. (I hope they don't come back.) Then after we had the yard almost ready I got the green house starter set up. We started pumpkins, squash, cucumbers, tomatoes, watermelon, and carrots. It only took a week for those to start popping out of their little peat moss homes. I was getting so excited and wanting to get my yard truly ready, then the rain and snow came. For weeks it was too cold to turn the dirt any more. I would just look out at my yard and wish for warm weather. Then last Saturday it was warm!

The kids were up really early on Saturday and so Aaron and I really didn't get a chance to sleep in. We got up and ready to go out and get dirty. Aaron started raking the dirt to get the tilled weeds out of the garden area. We scooped out the extra dirt so that we could use it later. We tilled in some steer poo to get some extra nutrients into the ground. We seem to have some good dirt for Tooele anyway. It's a dark brown and soft after being moved about a bit. We marked the corners of the garden with some wood stakes and string. Then we marked where we wanted the rows to be. I went and got some of the veggies that were ready to be put in the ground. We got the pumpkins, cucumbers, squash, and watermelon in the ground. I also planted corn and peas. We are firm believers in Miracle Grow, and have used it twice already.

So far I have only lost one plant. For my first garden I think it is pretty good so far! I still have the tomatoes, carrots, and lettuce still in the house so that they can get bigger and live. I am very excited to see my veggies grow. I am even more excited to eat them!

I am having a couple problems though. They are the little girls across the street. They are from a broken home. Their mom is the live in girlfriend with the guy across the street. They have been there for about 2 months now. They are rude little girls. They enjoy climbing things at my house that shouldn't be climbed and then just act like I am so mean when I tell them not to climb them. Yesterday I had to yell at them because they were running across the garden right where I had planted the corn. They looked at me like I was stupid for telling them to stay out of the marked area. (It is clearly marked with string that is easy to see.) I didn't work so hard to have the snot bucket kids across the street ruin everything. I would tell their mom, but she wouldn't care. I hate people like that.

I am still very excited about my garden, I just hope that the kids and bugs will stay out now!

Believe it or Not!

2010-05-05T12:16:00.000-07:00

Recently Aaron has been putting his resume in at alot of places. There is a man in Draper that Aaron has been talking to for awhile. What his company does is something that Aaron is interested in and the bonuses that we have heard about are great.

The other day this man sent Aaron an email saying that he wanted him to come it for a meeting so that he could set up an offer. Aaron couldn't go that day and asked that the offer get sent through email so that he could look at it. He received the offer yesterday and read it to me. The salary offer was great! Alot more than he is making now. The hours that he would require Aaron to work are 9-10 hours a day with Aaron being on call nights, weekends, and holidays. The health benefits were not wonderful either. We would be paying $400 a month for crappy benefits.

I did the math and the money alone is almost worth the hours and crappy benefits. As Aaron and I were talking he decided that if he did take this job then it would be very difficult for me to go back to school. Aaron would also not see his family as much.

The first thing that Aaron had mentioned when we started measuring the cons was the fact that I would have trouble going to school. I Love that he really wants me to go. To turn down a job with such a good salary and bonuses so that I could go to school is wonderful! I Love Aaron!

Just Things

2010-05-03T20:13:00.000-07:00

I've been catching up on some of the blogs I read. (Stef, you have funny little kids!) It's made me think about how funny my kids are (at times). Isaac for one thing is getting to be a really strange little boy! I just put him to bed and a few minutes later Aaron and I hear this little voice saying 'hi, hi'. I went into his room to see him holding back the curtain and saying hi to the outside. There was no one out there, but he was saying hi none the less. When I told him that he needed to lay down and I gave him a little bum smack he giggled and said 'ouch'. He makes his brothers laugh really hard everyday. He finally went to nursery without crying on Sunday. He did it because he now knows where they keep the balls. He found a ball and during the prayer proceeded to get ready to throw the ball in the nursery leaders face. Luckly Aaron was standing right there and was able to grab the ball just in time!

Andrew is mad at me alot lately. Today it was because we were at the cemetary with a friend putting some flowers on her dad's grave. We decided to walk around and look at some of the older grave stones. Andrew kept stepping on the gravestones, even with me telling him every 2 minutes to not step on them. Finally he lost it and while looking at me stepped on a gravestone. While he was doing this he had his arms tightly folded across his chest with his bottom lip firmly out. I finally had to ask him if he wanted people to step on his stone. He said no and stopped stepping on them. I hate to talk like that, but it worked. He got mad tonight too. I told him to get ready for bed and once again with the pout firmly in place got pjs, went potty, slowly put the jammies on and then crawled into bed. He's having a rough week so far.

Ethan is so ready for summer. He asks me everyday how many days until June. he has finally learned to take things slow when taking a test. He's doing so much better at reading comp now! He's making a secret art project at school. So secret in fact that he's been telling me about it for 3 weeks now. It's a plate that he decorated and the teacher sent it off to be glazed. He's so excited about this plate! He is such a good big brother to Isaac. He takes really good care of him. He even puts up with Andrew tagging along after him everyday after school. (most of the time).

Graduation

2010-04-23T17:09:00.000-07:00

Aaron graduated with his bachelors today! He started going to school before he knew me and has changed his major about 4 or 5 times. About 3 years ago he finally picked what he wanted to do, I told him to please just finish this one and then if he wants to do something else go for it. He got his degree in Computer Science. I can't tell you how proud I am of him. Not only that he stuck with it, but that he picked something that you need such a brain. They had some people getting their degrees in sales. That to me (now this is just my opinion) is almost a degree that you are not going to use. Can't you go anywhere and be a salesman without spending so much money and time preparing?!

Aaron has acually been working in his field for over 4 1/2 years already. We are very lucky there, because there are people that have to intern for about a year before they can really work in the field. Aaron is working at Hill Air Force Base here in Utah as a contracter. He is doing really well.

I am so proud of him for finishing, even though at times we thought this day was never going to come! It seemed so far away, but it finally came! Now what is he going to do with all that extra time? Maybe my yard will be looking better than ever!

My mom, Aaron's mom and me came to the whole graduation. Pres. Monson spoke to everyone. It was really awesome. I am disappointed with Aaron's dad though. He came late for the second meeting(where Aaron walked across the stage to get his diploma), heard Aaron's name and then left before it was over. He didn't call anyone or stay around to congratulate his only son. I guess if it's not about him, he doesn't care. Lovely man.

Anyway I want Aaron to know that I Love him very much and am very proud of him!!!

30

2010-04-05T11:20:00.000-07:00

So I turned 30 the other Monday. I was not looking forward to this age, but who can stop time? Aaron had been asking me for about 2 months what I wanted, and to tell you the truth, I had no clue. I usually have no idea what I want when someone asks, they should just pay attention to what I ask for during the year! So finally I thought that having a netbook would be a good idea. I am going to start school this fall and would really enjoy not having to fight the boys for use of the computer. (they think it's theirs, I know it's mine.) One day a few weeks before my birthday Aaron and I stopped at Best Buy just to look at some netbooks. As we were looking a sales man asked us if we needed any help and we started asking questions. They guy of course tried to get us to buy the most expencive netbook by telling us all the wonderful things about it. I decided that I did not need all those things and got a netbook that was in the medium range. So far I really like it. It's so easy to use and it's nice that I can sit on the couch or be in bed and still be on the computer. I am going to use it for school, but not until I go!

On my birthday the boys gave me presents. Isaac gave me some make-up (that was the wrong color so I had to exchange it), Andrew gave me one of those metal waterbottles that I've been looking at, but haven't bought yet. Ethan gave me Lego Batman for the Wii. I told Ethan that it was really a one-sided gift, and he answered,' Ya, I know.' So at least he's honest!

We dropped the boys off at my moms house and took off to Salt Lake. We drove to the Gateway and stopped at the shoe store. Aaron needed new black sunday shoes and I had some coupons that were going to expire the next day. They were having a buy one get one half off sale so I started to look around too. We got 2 pairs of shoes with the coupons and the sale we paid $40! They were $95 together, so I feel we got a really good deal. We went to Old Navy and walked around although I can't find hardly anything I like there anymore. Does that mean I am getting too old for that store?

We took tracks to Lambs Grill and on the way got struck by my mothers curse. Some strange crazy lady sat down next to us and struck up a conversation. She even had us read a paper that she wrote. I was happy when it was time for us to get off the train. At Lambs Grill we were starving and they sat us at the table that was next to the dessert! We were just drooling looking at everything. The food could not come fast enough! When it finally did it was soooo good! If you ever get a chance you should go there! I feel like the 1940's mobsters should be in the resturant as well, the decor is awesome!

We stopped at the new Deseret Book and it is a wonderful store. If you get a chance you should go to that too! On our way back to the Gateway to see a movie (thanks Rachel) I got a text that said we won an endzone with Five for Fighting the next day! It's where about 30 people get to come and meet the artist and be there for the interview. The artist also sings a couple songs. Both Aaron and I are big fans of Five for Fighting and have been for about 10 or so years. The endzone was great and we got his autograph along with a picture. He was giving a concert later that night, but Aaron had school so we hadn't bothered to get tickets. Luckly the power at school went out so we decided to go. I am a huge nerd and had never been to a concert before. (not counting the syphony) It was great! The opening band was so good that we bought their cd. When Five for Fighting came on he did a great job. He sounds just like he does on his cd's. It was so much fun and I wasn't ready for it to be over. I could have listened to him for about 2 more hours!

All in all it was a great birthday!

Just venting

2010-03-30T07:38:00.001-07:00

I read these articles that have these women that are either victims or playing the victim. These articles are about mormon women. They listened to some bad advice given to them by a bishop or someother athority figure in the church. After the thing turns out bad the women sit here and talk about how the church teaches women to be submissive. I don't know what kind of leaders they have grown up with, but I was never taught to just take it and not ask questions. I was always taught that we ALL have our own minds and free will. I was never told that it is a womens roll to get married, have kids, stay home and raise the kids, and do nothing else with my life. I was always told that it is good to be a good wife and mother, but don't be JUST that. I was told that I should lift myself up with knowledge. To be what I want to be. To choose for myself and not be told what to do. I really hate that these weak women get into the news media more often than the women that are really doing things that are wonderful.

I know that staying home with my children will help them along their way, and make them better people, but I am going to school. I want to be the type of women that can take care of herself. I do not want to be submissive to anyone, I don't want to be seen as that either.

I realize that these women that are saying that we are taught to be submissive are just looking for someone to blame. It's hard to blame yourself for taking the wrong advice. That's how it's going these days though. Don't blame yourself, blame someone else. That's what seems to be going on lately. It makes me sad. I hope that I can raise my kids to follow my example and go to school, no matter how long it takes, finish.

Dr. Who dream???

2010-03-22T06:29:00.000-07:00

Last night I had a strange dream. Those of you that know me know that it is not uncommon for me to have them alot. This one was a bit different though. I like the show Dr. Who. I am not sure why exactly, because I know alot of their stories are REALLY made up, but it's a fun show.

Last night the dream was that I was in a house full of these vampires that had the ability to ride a witch's broom stick. They had been able to do this because they had conqured the witches and had them locked up in the basement of this house. They had also kidnapped someone who turned out to be Thomas Jefferson. They were holding him hostage while they had him rewrite some of the Decloration. They were making him do this by capturing his wife and chaining her up in the other room while threating to do horrible things to her. The vampires would fly though the town to terrorize the residents and then come back in the house to threaten Thomas Jefferson again. All this while David Tennant (Dr. Who) was talking with the lead vampire to try and get freedom for all the hostages, which didn't work. Dr Who was just about to get to some butt kicking when one of the kids woke up and the dream ended.

I figure this is just one of my crazy dreams, mixed in with the hype about New Moon coming out, or I see this government as a bunch of evil vampires out with a vengance trying to change everything about the Constitution. I am not happy about the health care bill obviously.

AAAARRRRGGGGGG

2010-03-15T16:05:00.000-07:00

As many of you know, I have a very specific talant. It consists of being terribly clumsy. Although through the years I have gotten a little more graceful (not much), most of that through pregnancy. Amazing how being pregnant makes it so you don't want to fall down so that you pay more attention to how you move. My talent still thrives in my life though. ( you know how everyone tells you to let your talent grow, I think I took that too much to heart.) I will now tell you how 'in fact' talented I am.......

During the first week of March I cleaned the house. Not just any cleaning, but a deep cleaning. Ethan was being baptized that Saturday and so we were having family over. Never wanting the family to see how I really don't care about the deep cleaning (although I think they already know) I cleaned my kitchen REALLY well. I even washed all the crystal that sits in a certain spot on the counter. Well anyway while bending over to pick something up off the floor I came up kinda fast and met the counter with my head. Some of you may be wondering how in fact I hit my head on a counter while going up instead of down, here is the explanation. By my back door the counter curves around a bit and has some shelves in it. (For family members it's kinda like the counter and the shelves where grandma kept the phone books.) I hit my head soooooo hard that I could really feel it in my neck. It was all I could do to not curse, since Isaac was right there. I thought to myself afterwards about how dumb that was and how I was really going to have a headache later.

I was really surprised! I went through the weekend terrible crazy and had a wonderful time. Come Sunday night was when all the 'fun' realy started though. I got a small headache (nothing I couldn't handle). Monday started with me doing my exercising and then the headache that never left. By Tuesday it was such a pain that I had to start taking 4 ibprofins. (not good I know) Wed. I was up to 7 ibprofins a day. (I hate it too). I also started getting dizzy. Thursday I let people know what was going on. They all said the same thing, 'go to the drs'. So Friday I did. The dr asked me if my head hurt when I touched it. I told him it was kinda tender, so he came up and did the dr thing where he pushes really hard and askes if it hurts. As it turns out I may have bruised my skull.(I hope that's it anyway.) He perscribed some pain killers for me and I left to get it filled.

I went to Walmart to get it done because I was hungry as well. As it turns out they only had 6 pills even though my script called for 30. They said that they should have more by Monday. Aaron just went to pick the rest of them up for me, (this around 4:45). So you w(ould think since they told me to come back on Monday that it would be ready. Of course it wasn't. First they made him wait to fill it and then they made him wait even longer because they said they hadn't updated their computer yet. Kinda makes me mad! Don't think I will be going to Walmart pharmacy again. Walgreens you are now my pharmacy of choice!!!!

Yes, by the way my head still hurts and while I had one more pain killer in my possesion it does not do the trick. I guess I need at least 2. Ya know if I wasn't so talented this never would have happened!! ;)

On Saturday Aaron got me my birthday present!! I got an Asus Netbook! I love it so far and have used it to write this blog!! Couldn't even tell the differerance could you!! I know, it's awesome!

You know your a mom when.......

2010-02-24T14:36:00.000-08:00

You know your a mom when..........

Your the one that has to take the toy cars out of the toilet.

You just get out of the shower to find out the baby spread cat food all over the kitchen floor and

you clean it up while still in a towel.

You hear a child crying, you listen for a moment and then are able to say weather it's you child

or not and if it's yours you know exactly which one it is.

You have to ask your oldest child if the word stupid is written on your forehead when he asks

for certain things.

You bring the baby in your bed to finish sleeping and he rubs your head and gives you a kiss.

The only people you speak to in a day are all short, but all they do is complain.

You look forward to September.

You see or hear other peoples children throwing fits and you are grateful that it's not yours,

but you really feel bad for the other mother.

You make it to 9:00 church ontime and you feel like you just ran a race.

You don't understand how a child can be sooo sick, but as soon as you make it to the Drs

office they are perfectly fine.

While your exercising the baby likes to crawl over you, under you, and everything else to make

the workout even harder.

You can talk to 2 people at once while helping another one with homework.

You child learning his phone number is a great day!

Random children at the park hand you things.

You have to explain that you are not a resturant and there is only chicken for dinner, no cereal.

You have to have your mom call you, just so you can find your phone because the baby took it

for a walk. (and you find it in a shoe in the closet)

You walk around the house looking for something; you can't remeber what your looking for

or why your looking in the first place.

You have up to 2 loads of laundry a day.

Your oldest child looks at your engagment picture and asks you, 'who is that with dad?'

You know all the appointments that everyone has, while everyone else has no clue what's

going on.

Everyone asks you where everything is, and you can answer them.

The best thing in your night is when you ask the baby if Jesus protects him and he answers

yes.

Your laying on the couch and all the children are laying on you.

You have no sanity and your brain doesn't work, but it was worth it.

I agree

2010-02-17T15:27:00.000-08:00

My cousin just came up with the best idea!! It's a 'Runaway Mothers Club'. It's great! I want to join!! Even if it's just to remember what it's like to shop without telling people to stay out of the clothes racks and trying to find those that I lost. (Ethan thinks he is old enough to wander by himself. He's thought that since he was 2 though. I lose him alot, but I have found him everytime so far!!!)

Lets get going with this club idea!!!

Random Thoughts

2010-02-02T08:19:00.001-08:00

Latley I've been going to bed and have had some really good ideas to blog about. I lie there and think to myself how the things in my brain would be really good to write down. Then I go to sleep and wake up the next morning going, ' where did my though go? I can't remember what it was!' I think I need to start taking my ginko baloba or fish oil or whatever vitamin helps you remember!
Ethan has turned 8 and joined scouts. Not sure how I feel about this. When my brothers were in scouts they did those disgusting ways to clap, like the watermelon where you act like your taking a bite and then you spit. It's just gross. Aaron says that cub scouts are ok and that it's regular scouts that I am going to have to worry about. I can teach them everything that they need to know! I can build a fire, tie knots, survive in the mountains, bear safety and all those sorts of things. I guess it really depends on what type of leaders you have. My brothers had really crappy leaders. A friend of mine had crappy leaders and then died on a camping trip. I hope they will grow up with wonderful leaders and then I won't have to pull them out of scouts.

I hope that I can remember some of my ideas that I had to blog about and then I will come back and make this better.
We went to Ethan's 'It's Great to be 8' fireside and had to bring the rest of the boys. Aaron and I took turns playing with Isaac out in the hallway. When we came out we asked Ethan what he had learned. He said he learned about the Hyum book. We said,' no you didn't.' and Andrew piped up saying,' ya you learned about the hym book and the girl book.' Aaron and I just looked at eachother and started laughing really hard. (we assume he meant the Faith in God books.) Then Andrew started dancing around singing about how his head is awesome. We told him that it was enough and he stopped. Then out of the blue we hear him just say, 'My head is awesome.' We all just started laughing!! When we finally stopped and were quiet again we had about 2 min of silence and then we hear in a small wisper ,' My head is awesome.' It was so funny! Andrew has some comedic timing!! Well there are some thoughts and some happenings.

Grapes

2010-01-21T16:22:00.001-08:00

While eating grapes Isaac decided to have a contest with himself and see how many grapes could fit in his mouth. 5 1/2 was the final number. This is a pic of him with 5 grapes in his mouth. He must have his dad's huge mouth! hahaha

Dinosaur poop?

2010-01-21T15:32:00.000-08:00

In the morning my kids watch 'Dinosaur Train'. They have a few repetitive episodes that are on. For the most part it's a show about this dinosaur family that likes to go and learn about other dinosaurs. To get to these other dinosaurs they ride the dinosaur train. I just have a few problems with this show. For one if they are dinosaurs then why do they call the train the "dinosaur train"? That would be like us calling a train a "human train". It's kinda dumb. Second this family the show is about are like the teridactles (but not called that) and they have a tyranasauras rex kid living with them. Why hasn't this kid eaten them yet? That's what it would really do! Today's show was strange. It was all about how dinosaurs poo. Aparently dinosaurs would hold it until they could go behind a tree, bush, or a large rock. They would also poo always in the same place. What is the point of this episode? Showing the kids to poo outside behind a bush? Well mine have already done that (only peeing)! (Although Andrew did once use the neigbors front garden, showing his behind to the world.) I know this is a dumb thing to be crazy about, but it's kinda a strange way to teach things about dinosaurs. Normally this show doesn't bug me too much, it's just the poo episode that gets me.

Also today at Carls Jr my friend Jill and I were having a coupon inspired lunch. While we were sitting and eating we started talking to some people next to us. As the conversation progressed we came to realize that Jill had gone to grade school with the man! They started to remember all the crazy things that they had gotten in trouble for! While we were laughing about running into someone from grade school another person came and sat down near us. I looked at her and realized I knew her! She went to my jr high! All of us just started laughing about how crazy it was to run into people none of us had seen in years! It was really fun! I love running into people!

Funny boys

2010-01-11T20:47:00.000-08:00

The things that kids say...hahahha

We have the ghostbuster video game on the Wii. Ethan and I were playing it the other day and there was a ghost we had to catch by getting his red tenticles first. Ethan got really into the game and started yelling, " The ghost has red testicles! You have to shoot the testicles first!" Aaron and I instead of correcting him we just looked at eachother and laughed.

With windows 7 there are some interesting pics you can put as your wallpaper. I chose one that has a cartoon man dressed up in a costume that looks like the clouds, he is holding 2 feathers and is flying with the birds. I chose this while the boys were sleeping and when Andrew saw it he asked who was in the picture. Aaron and I of course told him that it was daddy. He looked and the picture for a bit and then asked, " How did you get dad's long long legs in the suit?" I can't remember what I told him, but he believed me. He didn't wonder how dad was able to fly with just 2 feathers?!

I am sure that very soon Isaac will be saying crazy things very soon as well. Right now he just walks around and says "mama" alot. Although the past few days he has been kinda miserable with an ear infection, but everytime I look at him and smile, he smiles right back with the sweetest smile that you have ever seen.

I have 3 crazy boys!

There was a little girl, who had a little curl........

2010-01-02T17:12:00.000-08:00

'There was a little girl,
who had a little curl,
right in the middle of her forehead.

When she was good,
she was very very good,
And when she was bad,
she was horrid.

Does everyone know this little poem. I have known it since it I was a little girl. My mom, and grandmother used to tell it to me a lot. As I was looking in the bathroom mirror getting ready for dinner with my Father-in-law I saw some of my hair on my forehead was a little curly, which in turn made me think of this poem. Let us all hope that I will be very very good tonight!

States Family Mind....

2009-12-23T09:40:00.001-08:00

I was at my parents house yesterday and I was talking with my dad. I was telling him how I had, just the other day watched the movie 'Bye Bye Birdie' on Netflix. When they asked me if I had watched the old version or the remade one I said, " The old one of course, who wants to see a remake of that movie?". Both my parents started to laugh then mentioned how they must be strange parents if all their children enjoy old movies. (we are talking old movies that not really anyone watches anymore.) My dad then started grilling me on who was singing these old Christmas songs that we were listening too. When I started getting them right, he started asking me who was in some old movies that we watched growing up. When I started getting them right, I told him how my older neighbors think it's funny that I know who Danny Kaye, and the Andrews sisters are. They were all surprised that I know who Abbot and Costello are as well.

When my dad was talking about how he must be strange if his children know who these people are, I told him that I think it's just part of the States family gene pool. He looked at me kinda strange and I told him that it's just the way we think. All of us have certain ways the mind is working. It all started with Grandma States I believe. (It may have started earlier, I just don't know anyone else.) She used to say things like, 'Gimmie your face.' when she wanted to wash or wipe your nose. She said alot of things that I have never really heard other people say. As her grandkids have grown-up we tend to use the same phrases without even noticing. I will say something and my mom will look at me with a surprised look on her face. When I ask her why, she says that grandma used to say the same thing.

I also noticed that as cousins we are very close minded as well. I have this fly in my kitchen window. I don't know how he is still living (since it's been so cold!) but he is. I don't know why I haven't swatted him, but I haven't. He just became my little fly buddy. While I was thinking this i thought of my cousin Sara. In alot of ways we are paradox close. But when I saw my fly buddy I thought that this is such a thing that she would do as well. If the fly is in the house, not flying anywhere, not bugging anything, and just trying to live in winter, we just let the fly live. (I haven't named it yet, so don't worry.)

The reason for this blog is just to say that the States family has a strange gene that gets passed around to all of us that connects our minds with oneanother. This all thanks to that wonderful woman that surrounds us all. Louise States.

Where did it go?

2009-12-18T12:52:00.000-08:00

Has anyone seen my brain? I had a great idea for a blog and then "POOF"! It dissappered. My mind seems to have left the vicinity of my head.

If anyone sees my mind floating somewhere around their house, please let me know. I would eventually like to get it back. Thank You.

p.s. If you by chance happen upon my sanity, I've lost that as well.

These small people may be the reason for my missing things!

Andrew's List

2009-12-14T08:27:00.000-08:00

I thought I would share with you Andrew's Christmas List:

Big box of Crayons
Lightning Maqueen that moves by itself
A big house made out of books
Statue of me and my brothers
Big Santa toy
A statue of just me.

I thought the statues were the best part!

Christmas gifts

2009-11-25T14:13:00.000-08:00

Last year I kinda flaked on getting any of my nephews or nieces anything for Chirstmas. This year I decided that I was going to get them something. In fact I decided to make the gifts! This is not like me. I am one of the most uncrafty people I know. (Though I am trying to change that.) I got all excited about this gift making idea, got everything I needed and then.....let it sit. My sewing machine is sitting on a table in my living room, so I would look at it and think to myself....'mmm I really should get started on the projects I've commited too.' Well I got some of the items done and then stopped again. Well this week I found out that my sis-in-law that lives in Idaho is coming down for Thanksgiving. This made me decided that I needed to get off my bum and get going. If she is coming down then I can just hand her the gifts instead of spending more money and shipping them. This morning I finished the last gift for her family!! I am sooo proud of myself! Ya I still have like a bunch more to do, but I got the biggest family done! That means that I should be able to get the rest done with not alot of problems! I know this sounds lame, but I did it! LALALALALA!!!! I'm so proud of myself!

This is a picture of my neice Meagan. She is wearing a tutu that I made and that I am making the girls. I'd show you what I am making the boys, but I don't have pictures yet. The older boys are getting aprons and the younger ones are getting capes. So far they have all turned out pretty good I think!

Sneaky

2009-11-12T13:00:00.000-08:00

I have sneaky little children. I do occationally let them get away with things so that they will be easier to catch the next time. The sneakyness just continues though!. I just realized how early children start being sneaky this morning! I have bought some Christmas presents and hidden them in my room. Well Andrew found a ball that was for Isaac, saying that he found it in his room when I know very well it was not even close to his room. I took the ball and hid it again, this time in my closet. Since it had already been seen and it was for Isaac, I didn't hide it very well. My figuring that Isaac has really no long term memory and won't remember the ball. I was wrong. This morning when I am on the computer doing the computer stuff he went into my bedroom. All of a sudden I look behind me and lo and behold he found the ball! He is usually kind loud when he is walking into the bedrooms and I know what he is doing. This morning he was very quiet! Little stink head! I guess I will have to get something else for a present now that he remembers the ball!

The older 2 are sneaky as well. The other night, I went into the bathroom to use it and smelled a smell like spray paint. I looked around the room and saw the colored hairspray that we use for Halloween. I thought, 'oh great now they are all green!' Nope I was wrong again! I called the boys upstairs so that I could ask what was going on. Well when they got there Ethan was acting like nothing was wrong and Andrew had all the evidence on his shirt. No they hadn't gotten into the hairspray, they had gotten into spraypaint! I asked Andrew why he felt the need to spray his shirt and he told me that Ethan had done it. Ethan looked at me and told me that he had no clue as to what was going on, and that he was completley innocent. We all know that when a child has a look on his face like Ethan did, that they are lying! They got sent to their bedroom for the rest of the night. I decided to go downstairs and see what else they had painted. I found a frisbee that was now red and a red circle on the floor. I was not so mad about the frisbee or the circle (our basement is unfinished), but I was very mad about the ruined clothes and the lying. Sneaky naughty children

I have thought about getting paint thinner to clean off the shirt, but he sprayed the decal, so the thinner would take that off too and the shirt would still be ruined. Maybe I should keep the shirt as blackmail later on in life. Never know when I might need it! Sorry I don't have pics to show, but my camera broke again. We are going to try and fix it soon.

Halloween

2009-11-02T07:05:00.000-08:00

We had some fun on Halloween! First that happened is that we fixed Aaron's car!! The brakes were real soft and not working right, we replaced abunch of different parts and bled the brakes, but nothing worked. Finally Aaron called a friend who was also a honda guy. There is a big black round thing connected to the firewall that we had to replace. I thought it looked scary to work with so I went to the DI to get Aaron's costume. By the time I got home, Aaron was done, and guess what?! The brakes finally worked like they were supposed to! So today Aaron is driving his car to work! I am so excited to have my car back!

In the afternoon my mom wanted to take pictures. So we all drove up to Bountiful and got ready at mom's house. We got some strange pics! We also stayed in Bountiful to go trick or treating and the boys got some good candy! We picked a good neighborhood! We had Batman and Robin, the cutest Dracula ever, I was a vampire, and Aaron was a Nerd!

It's dead!!!

2009-10-28T08:59:00.000-07:00

Well my digital camera is dead. My hopes are that maybe a guy at best buy may be able to reserect it later. The only camera I have to take pictures now is my very nice Nikon regular camera. I also have my phone, but it doesn't do great. I hope that I will be able to get some Halloween pics soon, I will just have to get them developed and scanned. The scanning is not the hard part. It's the developing, I just forget to do it alot! I will try hard.

Andrew had his halloween parade in preschool yesterday. It was so cute and very cold! All the kids and the teachers were in costume. One kid was a hobbit and wore flip flops! I felt really bad for that kid, I hope his parents make him wear better shoes for trick or treating! The teachers were donald and daisy duck, full costumes no less! Andrew himself decided to be Optimus Prime. He walked around the preschool driveway and waved! It was very cute. Then they lined all the kids up and sang a song about Halloween. Even Andrew sang! They had done a little carnival and Andrew brought home lots of candy and treats, he was even nice enough to share with his brothers. So that meant that Isaac got his first pixie stick! He walked around on a sugar high saying ooooooo,ooo,ooooo, holding his hand to his face and looking up while walking into things. It was really funny!

Everyone is getting excited for Halloween, Ethan is at his carnival today. They don't let the kids wear costumes to his school anymore, and alot of the teachers wish that they would. I am trying to get Aaron to dress up for Trick or Treating. If you would like to help me just leave him a message on his facebook page! I hope to get pic here soon.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!!

Am I the only one??!!

2009-10-19T08:19:00.000-07:00

I pigged out during this weekend. Well I guess I can't say 'pigged' but for me it was. I've been trying to eat healthier and been doing a good job of it too I must say. But this weekend was not the best ever. The boys were just cranky and Aaron worked on his car pretty much all Saturday, which I do admit that it needed. (Just need a light bulb to pass safety!!) We also had no money so we couldn't go anywhere! I was bored out of my mind and going nuts, so on Saturday night I went to the 7-11 to get a coke and some little doughnuts. I know I shouldn't have, but I did. These I took home and proceded to eat after the boys were in bed so that I wouldn't have to share. Aaron and I then did watch a movie together. If you haven't seen Frost/Nixion you should see it. It's not the best movie I've ever seen, but it was good all the same. I learned some things that I didn't know about the Watergate investigation and about other things.

Aaron asked me why I was so bored this weekend. Well for one thing is was Witches Nite Out at Gardner Village. We've been going to that since it was called Harvest. We missed that and we really didn't do anything. I tried to explain it to him saying that in the morning he gets up and goes to work, and interact with various people, then at the end of the day he gets to come home. I told him that when I get up in the morning that I am already at work. I clean the house, do the dishes and laundry, and take care of the boys. Then at the end of the day I just go to bed. I don't go anywhere, so on the weekend I like to escape the house. I wonder if he got it? I think he did, he's a smart cookie.

Anyway this weekend will be better. We are going to Bear Lake with my in-laws. I know that it's too cold to swim in the lake now, but I wouldn't go in it anyway. We are staying at a condo thing where there is an indoor pool. I truely expect that this will be fun, and if not then dang it, we are going to have fun if they like it or not! hehehe

bored

2009-10-13T13:03:00.001-07:00

Someone should type something on their blog so that I have something to read!!! Come on I know you all want too!!!

Here are some pictures to look at. The top left is my sis Laura being very excited to eat cake. Top left is Andrew dancing with a skeletin. Bottom right is my friend Jill who is not really picking her nose, it just looks like it. The last pic is a giraffe.

mmm.. What to say

2009-10-05T20:26:00.000-07:00

It's been awhile since I last blogged and if I don't type something soon my sis-in-law will start pestering me, so here I go! ;) What has happened in the past little bit? Well Aaron is now further along on his car! He would have gotten it started the other day had autozone not given him the wrong parts. The engine doesn't really register on their computer under a 93 civic. I cannot tell you how excited I am for him to get it finished so that I can have my car back! I really miss being able to go to the grocery store in the morning on a weekday. My friend Jill is helping me get Andrew to and from preschool, and I GREATLY appericiate that!

Aaron is getting closer to graduation!!! May gets closer everyday, and I am very excited for that! Big party, everyone invited! We've been waiting 10 years for this! I know that seems like a very long time, but he has changed his major at least 3 times and is going to school full and sometimes part time while working full time and having 3 boys in the process, so I think he's doing great!

I have decided that I do not want a butt shelf and am starting to exercise. The first day was today and my shoulders are tired. I had trouble picking up Isaac today and even feeding him was a small challange! I feel so wimpy right now, but hopefully soon I will be less so. I've noticed alot of my old friends running marathons and such latley. I'm thinking that if I stick to working out and start running I may be able to do something like that in about 3-5 years. I haven't really ever run that much before so I want to give myself a couple years to practice! It may take longer, but well see, it may not happen either, but I still want to get in shape.

Well that's what's been happening latley. Sorry there are no pics right now, but oh well. Write more later!

I'm so lucky

2009-09-26T15:59:00.000-07:00

I was just talking to a friend who just celebrated her 10th anniverary. I asked her what they did since this was a special day. She told me that they had grandparents watch the kids for the night so they went to a play at Hale Theater, then today they were going off to do something fun! I was excited for her (since she doesn't get away from the kids often) and told her to have tons of fun. I ran into them at Walmart around 3 this afternoon. I asked them what they ended up doing. She said that they took her husbands grandma out to lunch. I said that's all? And her husband just kinda started laughing. I swear that if this woman wasn't the kind she was she would have started crying right there. I mean what a crappy thing for her husband to do?! "Hey honey for our anniverary lets take grannny out!" He hasn't done anything for her in a long time. It makes me feel terrible for her because she is such a wonderful person! I couldn't do alot of the things I do without her, and there is nobody better for getting into trouble with!

It makes me think of how lucky I am. Ya I really don't get to see Aaron too often, but when he is around and not doing homework he is trying to have fun with his kids or think of ways to make me happy. For our 9th anniversary I thought we weren't going to be able to do anything. We did have the night off from the kids since my mother-in-law was taking them, I thought we were just going to have a quiet night at home. He called me as I was packing the kids bags and told me to pack one for ourselves. I asked him where we were going and he wouldn't tell me. After we dropped off the kids and had dinner with the extended fam for Andrew's birthday we drove to a BnB for a romantic night! Then we spent the next day just together. It was wonderful! When I asked why he decided to surprise me like this he said,' It just seemed like we needed a break together." Boy was he ever right. Even when we can't get away he can still make me feel like he wants me around.

I feel bad for people who don't have what Aaron and I have. We have worked for it, but alot of it also just seems to come natural for us. It's nice to have my husband be my friend that I can joke around with too. I wish my friend had the same as I have. It's strange because as I don't see Aaron as often as I would like (work long weeks and school) my friend and her husband see eachother alot, yet I still have the better marriage. Just a thought there. I am so lucky to have my crazy, strange, strong, handsome, 'god' like (hehe), wonderful husband!!!!!

I'm such a girl

2009-09-24T19:45:00.000-07:00

Recently Aaron tilled this little strip of ground by our driveway. When he did that he disturbed a family of mice. We know this because 1 died of fright on our neighbors driveway, and Molly (our cat) has caught at least 2 that I know of. I don't know how big this mouse family was, though I think it was decent size.

Today after dropping Aaron off at the airport for another fun filled work trip we came home and I proceded to make dinner. I needed to get a fork to check the spaghetti and as I opened the silverware drawer there it was. A little mouse running away. As soon as I saw it I did the approprite thing. I screamed like a little girl. Yes I did. Can't believe I did. I am not squemish about any type of animal, dead or alive (bugs are not animals, they are gross.). But here I was screaming! Stupid girly me! And while I was screaming did my boys run into the kitchen to find out why their mom was screaming and try to avenge me?! NO!! They were sitting in the living room watching Babar the Elephant.

It looks like the mouse hasn't been in long, and yes I think it is just a mouse and not mice. I haven't found any poop anywhere and the cat food on the floor under the sink is still there. (Until tomorrow morning anyway!) I plan to buy some traps for under the sink, but still hold out hope that Molly (who is a very good mouser) will have a midnight mouse snack. She won't come upstairs during the day since we got Bella. That'll change eventually.

Sacrament snack time

2009-09-20T20:07:00.000-07:00

I have to ask a question, it's one that I was thinking of just today in Sacrament meeting. Since when did Sacrament meeting become snack time? I don't mean the baggie of goldfish or some other little snack, or the sippy cup for the baby just in case we've done that and I don't think there is anything wrong with little children having a small snack to help them keep quiet during the meeting. Today was something different. Latley I have sat behind different people who have brought nearly a full on picnic for their kids! They bring out the juice boxes, couple granola bars for each child, fruit snacks for everyone including parents, and sandwiches. These are not only for the small children, but for the ones that are Ethan and Andrew's age (7 and 5)! I realize my ward goes at 1pm, but even I remember to feed my kids lunch before church. (If I can remember it then most everyone should!) Can't children play or sit quietly for an hour with out a 3 course meal anymore?! After they eat each item the wrappers just end up on the floor with the parents looking the other way petending to not notice that their children are making a mess of the Sacrament Hall. I think we as parents should learn to find better ways to keep our children quiet for an hour without tons of food! We use coloring books, cars, and church toys that our Aunt Arlyn has made for us. Most of the time they work. This may sound preachy, but I am tired.

new Bella

2009-09-15T15:41:00.000-07:00

We got a new doggie on Saturday and the Super adoption. We went there just kinda looking around. The boys were determined to get a puppy from a neighbor of ours, and we did not want a puppy. At the adoption we saw a lot of little cute dogs that we would have liked, but weren't ours. (You know when you see the right dog, cat, couch, or anything like that.) We walked around a little more and saw this little Jack Russel. We took her out and walked her around and she was a very nice little thing! We got her. They spayed her for us and we got to pick her up on Sunday. We didn't tell the kids where we were going so she was quite the surprise for them! We have had her now for 3 days. For these days she has been a little doped up still, and not quite herself. She still hurts so she's on pain meds and she still is having trouble with stairs. Those things should clear up within a few days though.
By watching her I have found out somethings about her previous owners. They got her and made her their pretty little princess! They fed her soft food and did not socialize her with other dogs. She was not around kids too much either. This will be her life from now on. Kids are everywhere, she is getting used to this idea, and is slowly trying to play. Soft food is only for people. Dogs eat hard food! You ask how I know she was only fed soft food? Well while at my friend Jill's house today Bella started to chew on a rawhide treat. Her gums started to bleed. She will be fed soft food mixed with hard until she is weened from the soft. I'm thinking of getter her a toothbrush to strengthen her gums faster. She is living in a house that already had a dog and a cat, get used to it!
We will be training her for a bit, she is already house broken so I don't have to do that (thank goodness!). We are also kennel training her. I don't like dogs running around the house at night or sleeping on the beds, they sleep in kennels at our house. She will be a very good dog in about 2 weeks or a bit longer. She just needs to get used to us! I will post pics later, I just didn't feel like hooking the camera up to the computer right now. I'm lazy I know.

Catch Phrases

2009-09-06T20:29:00.000-07:00

Isaac has started coming up with new things to say. Most of the time now he says 'me'. When I am doing something that he wants he will stand up and scream, ' ME ME ME'. When I am out of the room he will crawl around the house crying,' me me me'. Everything is aways about him I guess! Then today he started crawling around saying, ' do de do de do'. Just going around singing to himself! It is funny. You really start to wonder what he is thinking! Also today we had pancakes for dinner, rather than eat the pancakes that I had broken up for him on his highchair, he threw most of them on the floor. Then the ones that had not found the floor he decided that instead fo eating those he would hide them under his leg. I asked him what he was doing and he looked strait at me, took a pancake piece and proceeded to hide it under his leg, like I wasn't going to find it!! Crazy baby!!!

silence

2009-08-30T20:19:00.000-07:00

We just put the boys to bed, and so far they have stayed there. With it being 9pm I find I have time to sit and think. Something that I rarley have too much time for, unless it's about things like, 'what are we to have for dinner?', or that I need to start my Christmas projects soon. (there are quite alot of them.) While I am sitting here my husband Aaron is doing some homework. He is FINALLY graduating in May with a Bachlors. I know your thinking, finally?. Well he has been going to school off and on for the past 11 years. So yes FINALLY. He has enough credits that he is a super duper seinor!!! We will be having a big party at the end and I'll let everyone know when exactly it is. He sits there doing homework right now, and even though I don't really understand (or really want to) what he is going into, I find myself a little jealous. Jealous of the fact that he gets to go and expand his mind while mine seems to turn to mush latley. I know that he will finish and then I get to start going, but it just seems too far away. I know your thinking that I could go to school at the same time as him, but not for what I want to go into. There would be late nights, and one of us has to be home to watch the kids. I don't regret having the kids first, no, I know they were suposed to come when they did. I just wish my brain wasn't so mushy at times. It's full of school assignments, when payment is due on what bill, will I ever get my car back, crap I have a lot of Christmas projects to get done, and such as that. Though the thoughts that are running through my mind now, will probably always be there and may get more complex as life goes on with kids, but I wish for smart things to be there too, for books to read that are not just Dr Suess. (Working on that one now with 1776.) Someday seems far away, but for now it's something I get to look forward to!

Why I am stuck

2009-08-28T09:35:00.001-07:00

As I have written before Aaron rolled his car in June during a rally cross on a fun run. We have since then been able to buy just about the same exact car. I say the same exact, but the only thing they have in common is they are both '93's and honda civic hatchbacks. Everything else about these cars is completly different. The civic that we got recently is very ghetto. The inside door panels were spray painted silver, it just feels so different.

Anyway, Aaron has not had anytime to work on getting the engine switched in these cars, so he has been driving my car to work and school. All summer the boys and I have been stuck at home, only being able to get to places as far as we could walk. With 2 boys that seem to get really tired legs very easily it's quite a feat some days. Luckly it's been a cooler summer so walking places wasn't really that bad (I don't take heat very well). Now Aaron has some weekends that he is able to work on his cars. I am really hoping that he can get it done soon, I swear I am going nuts!!!! I can't even go to the store to get groceries until Aaron gets home around 8-9 pm! I hope he gets it done soon!!!!

Uintas

2009-08-26T09:05:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we went on our first family camping trip. It wasn't just our family's first, but also the first with my entire family. My mom especially had never been camping before this!

We had planned to be in the Uintas before noon on Friday, but things didn't work out the way we planned. Aaron had been in Iowa for the begining of the week and was going to fly home Thurday night. He missed his connecter flight by 5 min and ended up not getting home until noon Friday. We finally made it in the mountains by about 4:30. We had some fun finding a camp site, but we found one at Mirror Lake. We set up camp and then some of us went fishing, others stayed around the camp site, and I made dinner. We had a dutch oven chicken dinner with fried potatos that everyone seemed to like. (That was my first real time cooking in a dutch oven.)

That night Aaron had trouble sleeping, because his back was acting up. He went up to the car to sit with the seat warmer. When he got out of the car my brother Skot thought that Aaron was a bear. Skot is strange that way. Thinking that a bear would just step out of a car and look at you. Next morning we went fishing. At first nothing was happening, then Aaron's pole started to go, Andrew grabbed the pole and realed in his very first fish!! He was so proud!! All in all it was a good trip and we hope to go again!

first day of school

2009-08-25T15:59:00.000-07:00

Ethan had his first day of second grade on Monday. Sunday night he had a really hard time going to bed. Then when I had to wake him up Monday morning he had a look on his face, like he really wasn't sure what was going to happen. He got up and got to eat french toast for breakfast (which is not a common occerance at our house). I showed him where his clothes were and he got dressed. Since it was the first day of school the other boys and I walked him to school. We got there and made sure his teacher was the same (as they do like to change them sometimes). We walked down to his classroom and made sure he knew where he was in the school. We walked in and met his teacher who's name I have trouble pronouncing. Crasscro or something. (I'm sure I'll learn it later.) He wore a name tag the first day and got to sit where ever he wanted. (when he heard that he got to sit where ever he wanted he had a look on his face like that was awsome!!) I left and went home. Later when he got home I asked him how his day was. He said that the best part of his new class was that they didn't have tables, they had desks!! And they get to put things in the desks!!! That and one of his best friends is in his class. A boy named Harry who is one of the sillest boys I have ever met! I would put a pic of him on here all ready for school, but Aaron drove away with the camera in the car and I had to take it with my phone. It's on my facebook page if you really want to see it. He's turning into such a handsome kid! No longer looks like a baby, now he really looks like a boy. Crazy!

Losing Andrew

2009-08-17T07:45:00.000-07:00

As you can see from this picture of Andrew asleep on the kitchen floor, he can fall asleep almost anywhere when he is real tired. Well last night we got home really late. Earlier in the day we had dropped Aaron off at the airport, then we went to my mom's for a bit and ate dinner. After that we went to my Aunt Sylvia's for a visit with Rachel, who lives in New York and we don't get to see a whole lot. Then we decided to go to my brother Patrick's house. We roasted marshmellows, made fire grilled sandwhiches, and had fun talking. Andrew played with the wind chimes and did some Ti Chi dances that he made up (which were acually pretty good)! We were there quite late and everyone was tired when we left. We drove home and all the boys fell asleep in the back of the car. When we got home I got Andrew out of the car and stood him up beside me, then I woke up Ethan and got Isaac. I brought Isaac in the house and I went out to get some more of the stuff out of the car. I didn't see Andrew, so I thought he must be inside somewhere. I came in the house and looked on the couch, not there, looked in his room, not there, looked in the bathroom, not there, looked in my room, not there. Now I'm looking under the bed and behind doors, not there. I go outside and start to call him (realizing that he is asleep and won't answer, I still felt the need to call). I walk around the car, look between the trash cans. Now I'm starting to freak out a little. We had just bought a new lanturn that I now get out of the box and start wandering around the yard (still calling). Finally I found him. He was in my neighbors yard asleep in the grass! It was so dark out that I don't know how long I would have had to look if I didn't have the lanturn. I brought him in the house and got him ready for bed. Called my sister to tell her and finally calmed down! Can't believe I lost Andrew to sleep walking!!! I'll pay more attention in the future!!

Some Summer Things

2009-08-10T09:18:00.000-07:00

We have had a fun summer so far. True there are things still left to do, but here are a few that we have done.

It started with Ethan almost breaking Andrew's nose by throwing a nerf sword at him. We ran to an evening Drs office and found out that it was just a really bad bruise that stayed for 2 weeks on his face!

Then we all got the swine flu!!! We were not a happy family at this time!! Those are fever cooler pads on their heads since we all had really high fevers!!! We got better though.

We have gone to the Zoo a couple times. Isaac really likes the zoo, he always has fun there. When we had the boys sit by this window to get the pic taken Andrew was a little nervous. The last time we were there in the evening we were at this window. One of the zoo people was cleaning this window and the cat was playing with her trying to get the paper towel through the glass. Andrew walked one way and the cat followed him trying to get him, then when we told him what was happening he quickly walked the other way with the cat still trying to get him! It was really funny!

We also went to the Black family reunion. We camped there one night and the boys loved it!!! They thought that camping was the best thing ever! The reunion was at Pineview, so the boys had tons of fun playing in the water. Andrew who is scared of doing nothing (this kid climbs and jumps off of everything) is scared of the water! He needed to have some floaties and then he was ok. Andrew also played some games with grandma Black. He loves to pose for pics!!! Isaac had fun too! Although he never went into the water, he played with lots of toys! They had tons of food there so we were never short. Andrew had 6 snowcones, and about 6 cotton candys!!! Piggy!

On July 26 my baby turned 1!!!! We had family and friends over and had a little dinner! Alta came over and made a dutch oven dinner and it was really good! Isaac didn't like so many people, but as soon as we brought out his cake he was ok. His cake was decorated as a hamburger! It was awsome!! At first we had to show him what to do, but as soon as he figured it out he really got into it!! He made himself a frosting shirt and even got in on his feet! It took 2 baths to get him clean and even after that I found cake in his ear and nose the next day!!!! He had a blast!

Last Night

2009-07-31T07:57:00.001-07:00

Last night Aaron came home from work and it was still light outside!!!! There are weeks where I forget what he looks like in daylight! The most exciting part of last night though was that Andrew learned how to ride his bike without training wheels!!!

It all started out with Aaron fixing the tubes on Andrews bike. After that Andrew told Aaron not to put the training wheels back on because he needed to learn how to ride a two wheeler. We got Andrew on the bike with Aaron holding on the back, then off they went down the street. As they were coming back Aaron let go. Andrew, not knowing that he was riding by himself until we started to cheer, was mad peddling! He stopped and Aaron helped his take off again. This time Andrew rode onto the grass and fell over. He immedetly blamed Aaron for aiming him toward the grass!! As we set him up again he looked at Aaron and said, 'No, I got it.' We were a little surprized as it was only 5 min into the lesson. We helped him with the take off and there he went! We were both surprized! He still is having a little trouble with the take off, but he is out there riding by himself!

Also Aaron gets bit by mosquitos like he's the buffet table at Chuck-a-rama during seniors night. But last night no one got bit! We had about 20 dragonflies flying around our house! I've never seen so many dragonflies! When Aaron left for a church meeting, they left too! I told Aaron they were there to protect him from all the west nile mosquitos!!! It was just an amazing sight to see so many together. Molly (our cat) had a lot of fun watching too, although none came low enough to get caught by her!!

Update

2009-07-08T13:35:00.000-07:00

I have decided to update my blog. I am very bad at this, but oh well, like I have told many of you I am a boring person!! What has happened since I last wrote....mmmmmmm. Well, just about right after Ethan got out of school for the summer he sprained his wrist. We took him to the insta care in Taylorsville. While we were they, so were alot of other really sick looking people! I checked Ethan in at the counter with Isaac sitting beside me on the counter. Couple days later what happened?!! I caught swine flu, though I didn't know that's what is was! I had it and Isaac had it. Aaron stayed home from work for a day to help out (which I thank him for) and what does he get?! Swine flu. Although he was more of a baby about it! We took him to the Drs and as he goes back into the room Andrew goes with. Couple min. later Andrew comes running out yelling," They are going to stick a shovel up dad's nose!" I had no clue as to what this meant! Apperently it was a test for the flu, and it was a stick thing, not a shovel. After Aaron gets the flu who do you think gets it next? You guessed it, both boys! We all took procautions to make sure no one out of our family got it, and we did a good job too. I decided that the news is really putting this all out of proportion, they are really treating this like the plaque and it's nothing like it! That's one thing that happened! On to the next!

Aaron is involved with the SCCA. He really enjoys Rally Cross (driving on dirt on a track marked by cones to see who gets the best time.) At the last rally in June it was really rainy and cold. We were racing at Miller Sports Park on one of their many dirt parking lots. The dirt for the most part was easy to slide in. Aaron finished all of his runs and then decided to do a fun run. Now by this time it had rained a lot, and a friend of ours had been out on the track in a bulldozer compacting the dirt which with it being wet was more like a clay. Aaron took off and started to have a good run. On one turn he threw his car from 2nd into 1st to have the back of the car slide around and make the turn look good (he had been doing it like this all day.) Well this time with the dirt the way it was the back tires didn't slide, he then proceded to flip over. He got lucky and landed back on the tires, but still! The car is now totaled, but the engine is ok. We have a replacement car, just need to do the engine swap now. Oh and Aaron was fine (after i checked on him I started to call him names.)

This is one of the pics of his car. I was so mad!

Another car problem that we had was just last week! I was on my way to a Drs appointment on Thurday July 2 when all of a sudden the car started to act like it was out of gas. I was able to get over to the side of the road alright. I thought I knew what the problem was and tried to fix it. Nope that wasn't it. I kept trying things. This with my hood being held up by my head, standing in the freezing cold rain, wearing shorts and a white tee-shirt! One cop stopped when I thought I had fixed the problem. He asked me if he could help and I said that I think I had it. I tried to start the car and nothing. I popped the hood again and balanced it on my head. Then the cop drove off (jerk). I called Aaron who was in Nebraska right then and bawling on the phone telling him that I was on the side of I-80 and couldn't get the car going again! He told me to try many things that just didn't work. All the while with the rain pouring down and traffic speeding past. (I was so scared). Finally I called my dad to come help me. We waited in the car for him. I was out by Salt Air and he had to come from Bountiful. I have seen the videos of the cars on the side of the road being hit, so I made my kids and me sit in the car with our seatbelts on. Finally my dad showed up and we tried to fix it again. Nope, it didn't work. I was really upset. Not only was my car broken, but Aaron's birthday was Saturday and I had a whole bunch of things planned for that weekend! I couldn't do any of them without a car. I ended up calling a tow truck, which I then had to wait an hour for. So I got to spend over 2 hours on the side of I-80. So much fun!! YUCK!!!!!!!!! Turned out the fuel pump was dead, so Aaron got to drop the gas tank (which I had just filled) and replace it. We did get to do some of the things I had planned, but not all.

Well I hope this was a decent update for you! I'll try to do better later.

Neighbors

2009-05-19T13:26:00.000-07:00

My neighbor from across the street has come over and started mowing my lawn! This could be because of a few things... Either my lawn looks really bad concederin that I was going to mow it on Friday, but didn't so now it's long and weedy (still have to put some fertlizer on it), or he is just being really nice! I think it's a little of both to be exact! I feel kinda bad about him doing this though. Since my lawn is long (we cut it long on purpose to keep it healthier and save on watering) when cut real short it is hard for the mower to take it. He is cutting it real short and his mower keeps cutting out on him! I really appereciate him doing this and being all neighborly like, but now I wish I had just mowed my own lawn on Friday!!! Should never have procrastanted! I don't even know this guys name! They stay pretty much to themselves so I haven't been talking to them alot. Man I feel bad about his mower cutting out! I wish he wasn't cutting the grass so short, but what can you do?! Thank goodness I made cookies today so that I have something that I can give him in return for my lawn. I know cookies can hardly make up for the labor of the lawn, but they are homemade oreos! I hope that counts for something! I'd give him a soda as well, but we just have caffiene free coke and sprite zero. You can't just give that out to anyone, they are kinda an aquired taste drink! Man I feel bad. I will keep up on my yard work from now on. I will not promise anything because I may once again forget my yard work and then I will have to feel horrid once again! :)

Strange kids

2009-05-18T07:34:00.000-07:00

I've decided that Andrew is one of my 3 strangest children. Yesterday at church I went to pick them up from primary, I looked down at Andrew and his sweater sleeve is wet. I asked him if he forgot to roll up his sleeves when he washed his hands or got a drink and he says, 'no, someone was chewing on it.' I told him that we are not supposed to chew on our clothes and he says,
' it wasn't me, it was the other kid in my class.' That surprised me a little. I looked at him, trying not to laugh and said,
'you let some other kid chew on you sleeve?!' Andrew looked at me like it was completley normal and says,' Ya, but I didn't know he was doing it."
There were someother people around me getting their kids and they heard Andrew and mine's conversation, I looked at them and we all just started laughing! Leave it to my kid.

Alright then

2009-01-04T09:35:00.000-08:00

I admit that it has been awhile since I wrote on my blog. Since the last we had Christmas and New year. I hope that everyone had a good holiday and that they enjoyed it. Ours was good. There was the week before Christmas where we had a party just about everyday. The days that we didn't go to a Christmas party the boys were disapponited that we stayed home. They were VERY excited for Christmas eve though. We went up to my Aunt Sylvia's house just like we have for as long as I can remember. Lots of people sang and all the kids ran around like monkeys. My brother Patrick sang a song with Skot playing the guitar for him. They both did a really good job, for the part I got to hear anyway, Isaac decided that it would be a good time for him to throw a fit! They opened up their jamies and then off to home we went to wait for Santa. The next day Andrew was so excited that he started opening everyone elses gifts! We had to rewrap a couple of the grandparents gifts. Isaac got into it by trying to open the presents and eating the paper. Even Molly the Cat played! I will post pics a little later!

Finally!!!

2008-12-10T09:09:00.000-08:00

It only took us..uumm....well I don't know how long it's been, but our camera has been broken for a lloonngg time! (Aaron took the camera rally racing and well dirt and bouncyness does not agree with cameras!) All or at least most of the pics that we took and put on the net lately have been taken with our phone. But finally after months of saying how we need a new camera I got my wish! We bought a new camera! I'm very happy! Now we should be able to take pic of things and put them up and have them look good! yyyeeeaaahhh!!! Here is a pic of the sock fight that Aaron had with the boys. Notice that the sock now looks like a bat!

Names

2008-11-17T11:57:00.000-08:00

I've discovered today whilest sitting in Ethan's classroom that while here on Earth we have many different names. The first one of course being the name that your parents gave you. That lasts a little bit or at least until you recive a nickname wherein the name that your parents gave you is only used by your parents when you are in trouble, unless your in lots of trouble, then you get to have everyone around you learn your entire name! We all know that your middle name is used pretty much to let you know what kind of trouble your in.

Next your name is consistant with that of someone, ie girlfriend or boyfriend. This, my friend, can last a very long time! Especially considering that some people in this life have opted not to get married. So you are known as for example 'Aaron's girlfriend'. Of course after marriage that changes to 'Aaron's Wife' or in my house I am known as Queen. This is because I've told them I am the Queen. (Although the children to tend to tell me I am not a Queen, but a mommy.) The question after that is always what do you do? Before I had children I had a job, but now I tell people that I am a Trophy Wife. My husband would not be where he is today without me. Nope he would not have 3 children and a mortgage without me. (Well okay maybe he would, but it's more fun with me!)

After the children come your name has changed again....to mommy, mama, mother, or whatever the children call you. This is one of the best names you can have! Also it is one name that sometimes gets on your nerves. When a child won't leave you alone and is constantly saying over and over, mommomomomomomomomomomomomomom. You start to wish that you had an answering machine so that you could have them leave a message. (I've tried saying that mom isn't here right now, just leave a message, but it doesn't work. They are smarter than I thought!) To my childrens friend's I am Ethan's mom, or Andrew's mom, and someday I will be known as Isaac's mom. Do your childrens friends ever really learn your name......I'm not sure about it, but I guess I will find out eventually. When you help in a childs classroom once you step though a school door you are known as Teacher. I now know why my Jr high and High school teachers hated it when someone called them teacher!

My mother now has a new name. She has had it for almost 7 years, yep that is grandma. Although she dispises her name being grandma so much that the kids call her JaJa. We don't know where this came from, but one day Ethan just started calling her that and it stuck!

So we go through life with many names, some we like, some we hate. In all the names that we go through I figure the hardest part can be remembering who we are at that moment. I hope that I can know who I am always, or have the ablity to find out!

Children

2008-11-15T10:58:00.000-08:00

I am having trouble latley trying to remeber that children are supossed to drive you crazy! This past week has been quite the trial for me. It all started on Wed the 5th of November. My older boys just went crazy running everywhere, jumping off of everything and not listening at all!! Then the next morning I was getting some chicken out of the freezer so I could make it for dinner when all the icecream fell out on to the floor! I lost it! I picked up some of the icecream and threw it at the back door. (It was quite frozen so it didn't make a mess.) My husband saw this and asked me if everything was all right. Of course it's not! He should have noticed something was up before I threw the icecream. That day I cleaned out the freezer. We defentely have more room in there now! I got rid of all the old icecream and popsicles. Everyone brought me icecream after Isaac was born, like all I am going to eat is icecream! I called my mom later that day and she came and picked up Andrew for a few days, which really helped alot! I was even able to help Ethan get his homework done really quick! I was surprized how fast it goes when Andrew wasn't here 'helping'. I thought that things would get better this week, but to no avail. They are still everywhere! Listening is something that little boys really don't do well I've discovered. Although they will listen to anyone else! Is that really fair! I say NO! It's been a stressful couple of weeks! I hope that things let up soon! I am going on a girls day with my friends the Jills on Sat. so that will help. We have bought tickets to Twilight! We are excited and plan to act like little teenagers! We shall be abnoxious! We shall go to the Blue Boutique and try on rediculious shoes! Yes I will let off steam in a form of being completley silly!

Awhile

2008-11-13T07:39:00.000-08:00

It has been a little bit since I wrote on my blog. I thought that I would write today. (If I can stop making spelling and grammer errors! The backspace gets used alot on my computer.) Someone came to look at our house last Saturday. We spent that morning cleaning like mad crazy people! Got it done though. My husband left his PDA on record in the kitchen (we hid it.) so that we could hear what they said as they walked through.We figured that the kitchen would be the place where they would talk if they did at all. Well they came in and this is what I have decided based on what I heard. The couple looking at the house was a young couple, looking for their first house. I demised this by the fact that her shoes clomped on the floor, so she was wearing nice shoes. ( my house nice shoes clomp they don't click.). Then the fact I got that they were looking for their first house was their lack of questions. I understand that they may not have even really liked my house, but even if your not impressed with something you should always have questions. Then the realestate agent was overweight. I got this because of the way he was huffin and puffin as he came up the stairs. Anyway they were pretty quiet, excpet for the agent apparently he thought that I had twins! Lets hope that that never comes true! They went down stairs and woke up my kitty, they thought that was funny though. I guess Molly was truly offended! Anyway they did not offer anything to us for the house, but then again they were the first people to walk through! Lets wait a little longer! I think my primary pres. would have a fit if I moved today!

Selling our House

2008-11-03T16:46:00.000-08:00

We are in the prosses of selling our house. I am scared to death! My mother-in-law is our agent, but I am still scared! I am strange though, I shake when we buy a car, when we bought this house I nearly fell off my chair and fainted. I really felt like I was signing my life away! Now we have out grown this house and need a bigger one. I hate having to qualify for things! The suspense! I hate not knowing the future! I know things will work out the way they are supposed to be, but I like knowing what is going to happen! I hope our house gets sold for the price we like and that it's good people that buy it!

Fall

2008-11-03T16:44:00.001-08:00

I ablsoulutly love the Fall weather. It is my favorite time of year. I know it's colder, windy, and snow is soon to follow, but I love it! The smell of the leaves rotting on the ground is the best smell! I don't know why I like it, but I do. Maybe it's because it does smell the best! Other people I know share my enthusiasum, but they think I am strange about the smell. It is the only season that smells really different! I Like it ALOT!

Halloween

2008-10-29T18:04:00.000-07:00

I LOVE Halloween! It has always been one of my favorite holidays, if not the only favorite! I like the candy of course, anyone that knows me knows I have a fantastic sweet tooth! Although now that I am older I can have enough candy. It can take awhile to get there, but it's possible! I love halloween for the costumes! I have always been a sucker for dressing up! I also have never been anyone to dress is something 'cute', no I have always tried to be something strange if not scary! At a party this year I sprayed my hair green and put devil horns in my hair, (my horns are clips so that it's hard to see how they stay on!) My husband wore a mullet and looked really strange. Although he played the perfect part! Buisness in the front and party in the back! One year I wore my devil horns and went as a mormon after midnight! Now I must explain that I am mormon so I am allowed to make fun of myself! Everyone I told thought that is was funny anyway. I'm sure that I offended someone there. Oh well you can't go through life and not offend at least 40 people!

My boys love Halloween as well. Though they like it for the candy! I've tried to make sure they are always something scary or something like that. When Ethan(6) was almost 2 he was Dracula! I had a binky with vampire teeth on it and my mother-in-law made him a black suit with a red vest. It was awsome. Lately though my boys all want to be superheros. That's as close as we get to 'cute' This year we are having 2 Batmen and 1 Superman! My house will be safe from evil! As long as it's comic book characters! In the picture though Ethan is Spiderman, Andrew is a Dragon, and Isaac is Superman!

Family Pictures

2008-10-27T14:14:00.000-07:00

Yesterday my mom got everyone together to have family pictures. She picked Memory Grove in Salt Lake for the pics. When we got there I noticed that that park is one of the most busy parks on Sunday. We ended up parking about 2 blocks away, which really wasn't bad. We followed my dad around the park for about a half hour waiting for him to pick 'the' spot. When we finally found a good spot we began to settle down. We started cleaning up the kids who until that point had been playing games with my brothers, their uncles. So of course that means that pants that were clean before now had grass stains. Men that don't have kids don't realize how hard it is to keep them clean when they are wrestling on the grass, or they do realize, but don't care. I'm not sure which one. Ten minutes of settling down in 'the' spot mom and dad decided that this was not 'the' spot. I had started to feed a screaming baby when they decided to walk around somemore! I finished up as quick as I could and we took off once again!

Everyone seemed to have the same idea that we had, go to the Grove and take pics. There were families everywhere havings pics done. Some woman was even there fixing her boob so that it would look right in her pic! (She did this as she walked past us without a care! We thought is was a little funny.) We finally found another spot and took some pics. My boys would not cooperate to save my life! Andrew had to sit where he wanted, so we all moved to suit him, Ethan would not keep his legs from going funny, then neither wanted to smile! We took 4 pics. I hope my brother can fix one up to where it looks like we all like eachother! Then came the huge family pic. Boy that was fun! The only way to get Andrew to smile was to let him sit by my sister-in-law Catie! What a mess! Then we looked over at the bridge and what did we see? Some gay men getting their pics done as well. I have nothing agaist gay men, but must they pose with their hands on eachothers butts?! My boys had funny looks their faces when they saw it. To say the least we distracted them as best we could. My niece pointed at them and shook her head. That was funny.

We walked around some more and took some more pics. The end results I hope are worth it! This is our first family pic in a very long time. I hope we don't have to do it again for awhile! With the kids crying, and my brothers not helping and being silly it was a fun evening though!