4 Crazy Kids, 3 Tons of Laundry, 2 Frazzled Parents and a Partridge in a Pear Tree

All I Want For Christmas...

2010-11-15T22:41:00.002-07:00

Jack's Christmas List 2010:

*a new car
*a pancake maker
*BYU shirt
*a drink of water
*mom & dad
*a Halloween pen
*a big train
*a red toy

How's that for random!? He makes us laugh!

Nobody warned me...

2010-10-23T00:17:00.005-06:00

I am a week and a few days post-op on my old lady bunionectomy. Recovery hasn't been too horrible. The pain has been surprisingly very tolerable. I haven't taken pain meds on a regular basis since Friday (2 days post-op). I will take some here and there, but usually only after I have probably done a little more than I should have. The boot has been my biggest enemy. I hate it. I hate that I move so slowly now. I hate that I can't sleep on my side like I love to. I hate that I have to take one stair at a time with both feet. I REALLY hate that I can't drive. That's been the hardest part for me! I am going to force Austin this weekend to take me to a parking lot and let me see if I can manage driving with this monstrosity on! I have been tortured by wearing this massive, heavy thing, that's nothing short of a ski boot, round the clock until my appointment yesterday. They removed my boot, which just happened to be soaking wet. Why? Oh, because my two layers of press and seal saran wrap with a towel wrapped around the top of my boot, all covered by a kitchen-sized garbage bag, triple wrapped in masking tape failed me in the shower. I was doing well until the very end of my shower when I realized that the bottom of my foot was wet. That's not a good sign. I called Austin in to help me unravel my foot out of the bag as soon as we possibly could, but it's never a good thing when there's a lake in the bottom of the bag. Woops! Soaked to the core. I left little puddles of water everywhere I went for well over an hour! We weren't overly concerned because I fortunately had my doctor's appointment later that day.

Once we got to the appointment, the medical assistant unveiled the ugliness that was my foot, we went in for x-rays and then the doctor removed my stitches. It looks like it is healing well, no signs of infection and everything is as it should be. My boot is still supposed to stay on unless I am showering (thank goodness!) or just sitting down with my feet up. I was hoping that I would hear the words that I could sleep without my ski boot on, but no such luck. But, the thought of being able to take it off a couple times a day was music to my ears. My leg gets so itchy and I constantly have the desire to pop my ankle (just a bad habit I have)! Now, I can scratch and pop to my heart's delight!

So, I showered today for the first time without my boot. I was caught completely off guard that my foot was going to be completely clueless as to what its job was!! I took one step out of my boot and nearly fell over! I thought, "Oh, well this should have come with a warning!" My foot went all wacky on me! I could even feel my brain kicking into high gear trying to tell it what to do. It was one of the weirdest experiences I've ever had with my body. The only other thing I could think that may be of equal weirdness is when I get my epidural before my C-section and my legs are in a certain position. After I got my epidural and they wheeled me in the OR, they usually change the position of my legs. I remember seeing a reflection them in the light above the operating table, not knowing that my legs had been moved. I couldn't get my brain to catch up with reality. Really bizzare. Anyway, back to my psycho foot. I'm sure that most people who have been through foot or leg surgeries are completely aware that your legs and feet will have some catching up to do, but it wasn't something that even crossed my mind as I took my first step out! I had to hold on the the walls through my whole shower for fear of toppling over! I can tell that my calf muscle is already lazy and my equilibrium was off because now my feet were on equal grounds, not one being several inches higher than the other like they have been for the past week. The human body amazes me. It adjusts to change without you even realizing it and then before long, the normal feels odd. Am I even making sense? I swear I'm not on pain meds anymore! :)

Hopefully as the days go on that I get to stand on my own two feet, it will feel less and less awkward. I have three more long weeks ahead of me, but hopefully it will go by quickly. I have to admit that it has been kind of nice to be forced to slow down, forced to spend more time inside of the house. I have been getting quite a few projects done and I am proud to say that in October that I am all done with my Christmas neighbor gifts! And there's the silver lining....

Kidism

2010-07-20T00:53:00.000-06:00

And here we are with another one from Spencer. I know these seem to always be about him lately, but man, he comes up with some good ones!

Austin was helping him get dressed for church on Sunday and we were in a bit of a rush...surprise, surprise. He told him, "Spencer, we need to go fast." Spencer says, "Why dad? Is it Fast Sunday?" Austin chuckled and told him, "No, but it is hurry and get ready for church Sunday." Spencer came back with, "Oh, I haven't ever heard of that one."

Feeling Honored

2010-07-16T00:45:00.004-06:00

Well, tonight was a boost for the self-esteem. To start, I had a group of sweet young girls come to my doorstep with a plateful of delectable cookies and told me that they were honoring me for my divine nature. Who, me? Couldn't be! My kids were so confused at the purpose and so enthralled with the cookies that a good conversation about it all ensued. "What's divine nature?" So, I explained that anything divine is from Heaven and to know your nature is to know where you came from. In essence, it's to know that you are a daughter of God and to act accordingly. So, we talked about that for awhile. As I'm explaining this all to them, I'm feeling more and more inadequate for the recognition, but still very grateful for the compliment. Then Spencer says, "I haven't ever said this before, but Mom, I love you so...." and then he trailed off and got embarrassed, afraid that his sisters would laugh at him. Then he worked up the courage several minutes later and tried again. "Mom, I think of it this way. I made this up. I think that I have two hearts. One for love and one for life. And the one that I care about most is the one about love." How old are you? He got embarrassed again and I thanked him for his cute words.

Since we had just finished up dinner and were still sitting around the table, we decided to each take one bite out of each cookie so we could all try them all. They were all soooo good! And what an awesome variety! Everywhere from peanut butter bars, snickerdoodles, and sugar cookies to chocolate chip cookies, peanut butter cookies and s'mores bars (whoever made those, I want the recipe! I've never seen anything like those before!).

Then we started clearing up the table and Spencer then tells me, "Mom. If you weren't my mom, and I was friends with your kids, I would silently think to myself, 'I wish she was my mom.' "

I almost didn't know what to say. It was like ego overload for me! I feel so blessed to have such a sweet little boy who isn't afraid to share his deepest thoughts and feelings. I feel an immense amount of responsibility to foster that in the best way possible and to keep that part of him fed. I know that my Savior has blessed me with such choice little spirits and at times (well, most of the time) I don't feel like I'm worthy. And then I receive an "award" for my divine nature and I realize that I am. I have to be. It all comes full circle.

Father's Day 2010

2010-07-07T12:55:00.006-06:00

Unfortunately, we didn't get a lot of pictures this year, but I did manage to snag a few of the presents that Paige created for her dad. She came up with the Candy Gram all on her own...I just helped her a little with the layout.

They made these "awesome" ties for their dads at activity days.

It was great to see all of the dads at church being good sports

and showing off their very fancy ties! HA!

I'm sure my children are too young to appreciate what an awesome dad they are blessed with. He really is everything I had hoped for for them and even more. He is always wanting to be involved and will repeatedly use his lunch break or take a little time off of work to be there to support them in school events and go be a "mystery reader", help out in the classroom or attend parent/teacher conferences. He is a great teacher to them and is always trying to expose them to new and interesting things. I'm grateful for him and am excited that my children get to learn and grow from him and his example! I love you, hun!

It's a done deal!

2010-05-28T08:24:00.015-06:00

Jack's surgery (officially called "Tube ventilation placement, tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy") was yesterday morning. Austin talked me into moving it to the last week of school. It made for a very stressful week, but now that it's done, I'm really glad we did it. I was a nervous wreck the days leading up to it and I think I barely slept the night before. He checked in at 7:45am at the American Fork Hospital and I was very relieved to walk in and within minutes see two familiar faces. Mel Jorgensen and Cheryl Grace were there and even though neither were our nurses, it was still comforting to have them there!

As you can see, Jack is very unhappy to be here. Ha! He had been so excited about it. Obviously, he didn't know what was coming to him, but my smart husband had been talking up "the trip to the big doctors" for days and it paid off! Jack would talk about it constantly, so by the time it actually rolled around he was thrilled to be there! He quickly won over the nurses and staff...it made it that much easier to actually go through with it.

Jack picked up this baseball in Austin's car on the ride over. Who knew that would be his source of comfort? He held on to it the whole time before and after!

The socks they put on him were ridiculous. They're "one size fits all". Yeah right.

Jack's nurse was very sweet with him. She played catch with him for awhile to win his trust and affection and then she loaded him up with stickers. He used them all right away!

Jack showing us that the doctors are going to fix his mouth. Don't mind the dry patch around his mouth...we weren't allowed to use any lotions on him that morning. And, as for the scrapes on his eye and lip, well, Jack just wouldn't be Jack without some sort of injury. I think he was just trying to get more sympathy! :)

His nurse was willing to take our camera in and take some pictures. I'm so she did because otherwise....

we wouldn't have been able to have this nasty proof of how incredibly large his tonsils were (scroll fast if you're a wuss...I mean, if you have a weak stomach! :) ) It was all the nurse and the doctor could talk about to us when they were done. The doctor said they're about twice the size of the ones he usually removes!

Poor kid, huh? The doctor was excited for him because now "Jack will be able to sleep so much better". When we informed him that Jack is a great sleeper and always has been, he was in awe. He said, "I don't even know how he breathes when he sleeps!" If you look at the left side of both of them (the one on the left is facing the wrong way) you can see they have flat sides. That's from them pushing against each other when his mouth is in a relaxed state. I hadn't thought about it, but he explained that whenever we look at his tonsils, his mouth is wide open, which stretches the tonsils. So, when we could see them, they still looked huge and close together, but I never knew that when his mouth was closed that they would go even closer together!

After the surgery was over and before we had Jack back, the nurse came in and told us that everything went really well and smoothly. Those words are invaluable to a set of worried parents! I know that it's a common and simple procedure, but I couldn't help but let my mind explore the possible "what if's". When they wheeled him away, I gave him a kiss and thought, "that could be the last one for all I know." Lucky for us, it wasn't and everything went fine. She said she was very impressed with Jack's bravery. When they wheeled him back to the OR he remained happy and never once whined or cried. I was excited to know that he wasn't in a state of panic or hysterics. And then they brought Jack back to us. Oh my. They had warned us that he was going to be mad coming out of the anesthesia, but I was not prepared for how he really was. Jack is usually a mild mannered kid and is usually easy to distract or reason with. Well, apparently when he's not really coherent, any sort of reasoning or distractions are not going to work. He was screaming and flailing and trying to rip the IV out of his hand. They had to put a hose that blew out oxygen right in front of his face because he kept holding his breath. I could tell the IV was really hurting him and one time he actually got a pretty good hold of it. He kinked it which sent the monitors into a tizzy and she had to come try to save the line. If she couldn't fix it, she'd have to replace it, which we REALLY didn't want to do. So, I'm sitting in a chair holding him against me with all of my strength with one hand and the other hand is trying to keep the oxygen going toward him. Austin was trying to hold his hands away from each other while holding the arm with the IV in it still so the nurse could fix it. This portion of our day lasted WAY too long. He was hysterical and yelling, "I'm stuck, Mom!" Yes, he really was. He was still really out of it and in pain from the IV. It was one of the saddest experiences of my life. I was trying to stay calm and collected so that I could try to calm Jack down, but when I looked up and saw the tears streaming down Austin's cheeks, I couldn't hold back mine back any longer. Finally, the nurse fixed the line and was able to save it, another nurse got him a sippy cup of apple juice (which he surprisingly started drinking right away without even a flinch!) and after about 30 minutes we were able to get him completely calmed down. Once he was fully out of the anesthesia, he was totally fine! He kept dozing in and out of sleep and would squirm like he was uncomfortable. So, I laid him down in the hospital bed with his blanket, stuffed dog and baseball and turned on the TV and he was a happy camper!

These pictures were obviously taken after worst part of the ordeal was over.

They told us that once he drank all of his juice and was able to hold it down for 15 minutes that they could take his IV out. We knew that once that came out that we'd get our happy Jack back. He was so willing to drink, something I was not expecting at all! He had it gone in about 15-20 minutes and the IV was out shortly after that! Woo hoo!

This was his best attempt at a smile at this point! :)

Of course, we had to get an ice cream cone on the way home!

And, honestly, from this point up to the moment that I write this, you wouldn't even know that he had anything done. He hasn't whined, he hasn't complained or cried. He's as happy and energetic as can be and is eating and drinking like a champ!

It's so stinking cute to hear his little voice now! It's a little bit higher pitched and so much clearer! Granted, his pronunciation isn't drastically improved (yet...), but his voice is no longer muffled! I thought I would miss his old voice, but his new one is so cute that I'm ok with it! I love this little man so much! Thanks to everyone for their comforting and encouraging words and prayers! Knowing we had so much support made this experience so much more bearable! Love to you all!

What? What's that you say? I can't hear you.

2010-05-12T10:50:00.007-06:00

Ah, our sweet little Jack man. We've recently learned a whole lot about him and his speech problems. Like I've said before, most of what he says is vowels and he's still super hard to understand. I get most of what he's saying, but not all of the time. At first, I was just chalking it up to him being a boy and being a late talker. Spencer was a late talker too. But when his 3rd birthday rolled around and there was still little improvement, I began to worry. I talked with his pediatrician about it at his 3 year check up and he suggested speech therapy. I inquired about a hearing test, but he said that the speech therapist would take care of that. So, off we went to Mrs. Sorenson down at Forbes (the kids' elementary school) to speech therapy. She was about half way done with her assessment when she said, "I don't even need to finish this to know that he will need extensive help." Awesome. I asked her about a hearing test. She said that it probably wouldn't work well for a child this young, but we could go ahead and try. She put the huge earphones on his head and sure enough, every time he heard the beep, he would say, "Hear that?" He would then grab the earphone on the side that he was hearing the beep. She was impressed that he went through the entire test and then concluded that his hearing was fine. So, ignorant me, went along with it and assumed that his hearing must be fine. We've been continuing on with speech therapy with slow progress. She has said on several different occassions, "It's been awhile since I've had one like this." That's never good.

Several weeks later, I was talking with a friend whose son was exhibiting similar speech patterns. She had told me all about their turn of events that lead to them finding out that he couldn't hear very well. I then decided to take it upon myself to get more extensive hearing tests done for Jack. I called an audiologist (who happened to be in the same building as our pediatrician) and set up an appointment. We went in and Jack did really well through several different tests. He was tested for nerve damage and pressure within the ear. The doctor put Jack and I in a sound proof booth (one day when I'm rich and famous I'm going to get one of those to sleep in! Holy moly! You don't realize how much white noise is going on around you until you go into one of those!) and put headphones on him and played beeps at different pitches. The result of his testing indicated that his eustachian tubes aren't properly equalizing the pressure build up in his ears. He said that his ears are constantly like ours would be if we went up a mountain or in an airplane and we couldn't get our ears to pop. He likened him learning language to someone being taught English, but every time they are taught it's by a different teacher with a different dialect (australian, english, southern, etc). He said his ears probably do shift a little bit with the pressure in turn making his hearing change constantly throughout the day. I asked him what the course of action would be to fix this problem. This is where my frustration with him began. He said, "Well, he has to learn to pop his ears." What? You want me to try to teach a 3 year old how to pop his ears? You really think that if they haven't popped on their own by now that they are even able to? Then I said, "What if he can't?" He replied, "They usually correct themselves by the time they are 8-10." Are you even remotely serious? You want me to wait for 5-7 years for this problem to correct itself? I kept on and kept on, searching for options and he kind of washed his hands of it and said that he only had a glimpse through a small window of the whole problem and that he wouldn't be able to figure out what to do with him after only being with him for a half an hour. This stupid conversation went on for about 20 minutes only to then determine that that's not his job! He does testing and hearing aids. He said that for further treatment I would need to see his pediatrician. Where was that answer 20 minutes ago?! So, off we went, up the elevator to his pediatrician. I explained the problem and they immediately referred me to an ENT who happened to be on the 3rd floor of the same building. So, back out to the elevator we went and made an appointment with them for two days later.

We met with the ENT who reviewed the previous tests done by the audiologist and ran some tests of his own. He put a device in Jack's ear that completely plugged the ear and sent some sort of shock wave or puff of air (I can't remember) into Jack's ear that would determine the station of the ear drum. The ear drum lies at the base of the ear canal and should be flat and flush. That is what they call a zero. If the ear drum bulges towards the ear canal (the outside of the head), then that indicates a build up of fluid within the inner ear and if the ear drum bulges toward the middle ear (the inside of the head), then that indicates that something is creating a vacuum within his ear. Both of Jack's ears have a vacuum effect going on. He explained that his eustachian tubes (which equalize the pressure build-up and run from the middle ear into the back of the nasal drainage system and throat) are not functioning at all. The solution? Simple. He just needs tubes put in his ears. It's a low risk surgery where they make a small slit in the ear drum and insert a tube that looks like a very small and elongated spool. Although that won't fix the problem with the eustachian tube, it will allow the pressure build up to release in his ears. The eustachain tube usually corrects itself by the time the child is 8-10 (which is what the audiologist was trying to tell me, but he was suggesting that we just wait until then. Loser.) He was explaining how simple and painless the procedure is and we were about to wrap up the appointment when I then asked him how much tonsils and adenoids play into this situation. He asked about recurring strep or other throat infections. He did have one throat infection in February that was horrible. Here's a picture of his throat. Brace yourself. It's nasty.

If you look at his infection covered tonsils, you can see that they're touching. I explained this infection to him but then also informed him that this has been an isolated incident and not a recurring problem. He said that they usually don't remove tonsils or adenoids until kids are between the ages of 4-6. That's when they usually cause the most problems. He said, "If this were my kid, I wouldn't do anything until there's a significant cause." Then he said, "Well, let me take a look at them before you leave." Jack opened his mouth and the doctor peered in and said, "That sure changes things!" I asked him what he was talking about and he said, "His tonsils are huge!" I assured him that I was well aware that they were. He said they were a Stage IV. That meant nothing to me so I asked, "Out of what?" . He said that the biggest they can get is a Stage IV. Lovely. He said, "I take it back. If this were my kid, I'd have these removed as soon as you can." Judging by the size of his tonsils he drew the assumption that his adenoids were enlarged as well. Come to find out that the adenoids sit at the base of the eustachian tubes! He said that he would put money on the fact that the oversized adenoids were probably blocking the bases of the eustachian tubes which was in turn creating the vacuum! He also said that his tonsils are so large that they are preventing his tongue from a full range of motion so that he can't even properly form words! So, not only can he not hear us very well (he likened what he hears to what you sound like if you put your hand over your mouth and talk), but he can't speak well either!

He instantly became very apologetic because he had talked up such a simple procedure to me, but with this new diagnosis, that would change. It is a much more involved surgery and the recovery would be significantly more intense. I got teary eyed and he became more and more apologetic, assuming that I was a scared mom. Of course I was nervous for the procedure, but that was not the cause for my tears. I couldn't explain to him in words how excited I was for a cause for Jack's issues and a relatively easy solution. Over this whole process I couldn't help but wonder how much of the issue with Jack was a physical problem and how much of it is mental. After the original hearing test with the speech therapist, I was led to believe that it was probably some of both. Now this doctor is telling me that it's probably all physical and it could all be fixed!! I was overcome with gratitude. I knew at that moment that our prayers had been answered and that our family fast had played a role in me becoming more proactive in this situation.

So, we have Jack scheduled for surgery on June 24th. They could have gotten us in sooner, but since the recovery is supposed to be a beast, I wanted to be able to devote my full attention to him. The last couple of weeks in May are a nightmare because of all of the year end performances at school and dance and then I have my piano recital on the 25th. The first two weeks of June all of the kids have swim lessons, so the 24th it is! I so wish I could be in his head to hear the "before" and "after". The doctor said that he should be caught up with his speech within six months! Yipee!! Please keep him in your prayers that day that everything goes well and without a hitch and that there is rapid recovery and improvement with his hearing and speech!

Kidism

2010-03-22T00:18:00.002-06:00

Spencer came up to me and showed me a cut on his finger. I asked him what happened and he said, "A pickle did it." "A pickle?" I asked. This response from a 5 year old made me laugh: "I know. Weird. Right?" He's a one of a kind!

Science Fair Year #1

2010-03-18T00:23:00.002-06:00

And so it begins. This was our first year doing a science fair project. And yes, I said "our" first year because we all know that that's exactly what it is. No third grader can do an adequate project completely on their own. However, this was Paige's idea and she did come up with the majority of the design. She ran all of the trial runs, but there was major construction work by her dad and I did most of the presentation.

She decided to build a hamster maze and put Bubba and Gus Gus to the test. Her question was: "If we put them in the maze over and over again, will they get better at the maze?"

Hypothesis: Yes, they will get better at it the more they run through it.

Paige with Gus Gus and Bubba

Result: They did get to know it better the more they ran through it. However, they aren't always interested in getting to the finish line! Gus Gus especially picked his favorite spot and was able to quickly find it each time!

And the verdict is in: FIRST PLACE! She was beyond excited about it! Trophy AND a medal AND momentary fame (in her eyes anyway...)? What more could a cute little girl want? Now I'm just worried about keeping up with the precedence we've set! Yikes! Wish us luck next year!

Today was my lucky day!

2010-02-04T14:43:00.002-07:00

Paige was up all night crying because of a toothache. (Not so lucky). So we got her an appointment this afternoon up in Sandy. On my way down Sandy's State Street I see a cop on his motorcycle, radar pointed straight at me. Not another car in sight. Speedometer: 60 mph. Speed Limit: 40 mph. Our eyes made contact and I grimaced, knowing I was dead meat. I actually said that outloud, "I'm dead meat." My heart fell to the pit of my stomach and my legs went numb. I slowed down, fully expecting him to pull out and turn his lights on. I immediately made an unnecessary left hand turn, just in case that would confuse him and he'd lose me (I know that will never work, but at least I'd feel better knowing I'd tried! HA!). Well, it was my lucky day because he didn't move! I was shocked!

Then, off we go to the dentist's office to alleviate Paige's pain. We inform them that we currently don't have dental insurance and that we are hoping to be on a plan in the next couple of weeks, so we need just the bare minimums done now and we'll fully take care of the rest later. He informs me that one tooth that has previously had a pulpotomy (a baby tooth root canal) and a filling put in it now has a loose filling and infection has settled in. However, the tooth behind it is the one with the deep cavity and the one most likely causing the pain. He wanted to pull the front tooth and give the back tooth a pulpotomy and a filling. All I heard was $$$$$$$$. So, I told him our situation with the insurance and he still suggested that course of action. After some persuasion, I talk him into just giving the back tooth the pulpotomy and seeing if that helps the pain situation and if not, we'd be back. So, he finally caught my drift and did as I asked and even put in a temporary filling that would do the job until we could get insured. I walk up to the front desk to pay the bill and she tells me that it will be $140. I told her that my other daughter just had the same procedure done a couple weeks prior and they gave her a permanent filling and it came to the same price. She investigated, gave me a 20% discount for not having insurance, honored my $100 off coupon that I left at home (and is expired!) and I walked out of there having paid them $12! I was so proud of myself! I'm not usually one to negotiate these things very well. Austin even told me before I went that I could get him on the phone with them if I wanted and he would do it for me. I called him on our way home and I think I really surprised him!

So, $128 saved due to a simple conversation and no ticket that I fully deserved!

Good day....good day.

New Year's Resolution

2010-01-29T09:42:00.002-07:00

This is project #1 of 5483. My goal this year is to completely organize my house. I really wish I had a picture of these shelves in my laundry room before I started this project. Actually, I don't. That would've been way too embarrassing to show to anyone. I had craft/school supply/party stuff strewn in like 4 different places in my house and the thought of having to use any of them was so overwhelming because I never knew where anything was and it would take me forever to gather up all of the necessary supplies. Well, no longer! This makes me happy. Hopefully, I'll have more pictures to share of newly organized spaces. Anyone have ANY organizing tips for me? I'm all ears!

Spaghetti Reincarnated

2010-01-26T15:48:00.005-07:00

Last night, after I wrapped up my last piano lesson, I went to pick up the girls from dance. I told Austin that there was meat in the fridge all made up ready to be formed into meatballs and thrown in the oven. Well, I knew Austin and Spencer were up to something when I left and Austin whispered to Spencer, "Don't tell, okay?" and Spencer got a very mischievous grin on his face. I didn't pry so that they could have their fun. Well, to my surprise, spaghetti with meatballs turned into....dun, dun, dun... "Dead Man with Blood and Worms". Spencer thought this was the coolest thing ever and I must say that Austin was pretty proud. As Spencer was giving me the tour of this dish (the dead guy, the noodle worms, the blood sauce) he then went a little impromptu and added, "And there's his spirit." Austin: "His what?" Spencer: "The smoke rising up...it's his Spirit." Insightful or disturbing? I'll leave that up to you to decide. Anyone want to come over for dinner?

The olive eyes and frown make me laugh!

And just before the blessing, I handed Austin the knife to cut him up with (yuck) and he immediately did this....

Now that's just gross.
(Despite the presentation, dinner was morbidly delicious!)

Old stuff, new use...

2010-01-26T14:10:00.005-07:00

So my cuckoo children have recently rediscovered the Baby Einstein movies. After watching it, Paige came up to me and said, "Man, that's a workout."
Me: "A workout? What were you watching?"
Paige: "Baby Einstein."
Me: "How is that a workout?"
Paige: "We make ourselves do whatever the toy is doing."

I laughed and sure enough, her little forehead was glistening with sweat! The next day I look over and Spencer is sitting in a weird position, waving his arms out and in. It was then that I realized that he's imitating the little plastic bear, clanging cymbals together! Oh, my....

I had just finished writing this post when the girls came home from school and within minutes were back into their workout regiment! I snapped some pictures and video to let you in on the entertainment...

Oh, Jack...

2010-01-21T09:53:00.002-07:00

If you know Jack, you know he is a man of many words at this point. He talks constantly, however, there is one slight problem. Most of what he says can't be understood. 90% of his words do not contain consonants...just vowels. It's actually kind of fun to pretend to speak Jack-ese. Just hold on to your tongue and talk...good job! You've just mastered a new language! However, to try to interpret Jack-ese, well, not so fun.

The other day, Jack was trying to tell me something. After repeated attempts, and increased frustration on both ends of this conversation, his desires were still unknown. Spencer to the rescue! In his most serious voice, and with both hands (fingers tightly pressed together) going up and down like they do when he's trying to explain something, Spencer suggests that we let him give the interpretation a try. "Mom, let me try. I can figure out what he wants. I speak Jack Spanish." Sure, enough, within 20 seconds, Spencer had it figured out and got Jack what he wanted! I tried not to laugh too hard at the term "Jack Spanish" because he was so serious at the time, but I still get a chuckle every time Jack is talking and I can only hope that one day I can be fluent in Jack Spanish...or that Jack will learn to speak correctly...whichever comes first!

Thanks for the reminder...

2009-12-21T21:30:00.002-07:00

Spencer was saying family prayer tonight and amid asking for help for us to remember Jesus as a baby and to remember all of the people that saw Jesus as a baby, he asked that "Mom and Dad could get all of the grumpies off of them". Alright, things must be pretty bad and pretty stressful. Time to slow it down, folks. Sorry, Spence. Thanks for the reminder. Goodbye, grumpies. Off with you!

Man...this time of year is busy!

2009-12-20T23:13:00.003-07:00

I haven't even been able to think straight over the last couple of weeks, let alone get things ready for Christmas! It all started on Dec. 8 and it hasn't stopped until right now!

December 8th: I had the first of two Piano Recital Rehearsals.
December 10th: My second rehearsal and the Relief Society Christmas Party. I'm now in the Relief Society Presidency and I'm in charge of the activities. Luckily I have an amazing coordinator and committee who did a fabulous job, but it still was quite the ordeal.
December 11th: Celebrate Linda's birthday at Outback and make sugar cookies.
December 12th: Girls' Christmas Dance Recital and sugar cookie decorating tradition with the Rogers.
December 13th: Meetings, meetings, meetings and lots of kid juggling between my meetings and Austin's meetings
December 14th: Addressed and mailed out 100 Christmas cards
December 15th: Piano Recital
December 16th: Started on Neighbor gifts
December 17th: Still working on Neighbor gifts
December 19th: Shopped with 4 children for 2 other children off of the angel tree (way bad idea...), prepared for Relief Society booth at Ward Christmas party, grocery/Christmas shopping, made soup and dessert for said party, attended party and manned booth that had enough glitter to last anyone a lifetime!
December 20th: Met with ladies to rehearse musical numbers at 9:00. Met with separate lady to rehearse a different musical number at 10:00. Accompanied for the ladies at 10:30. Presidency meeting at 11:00. Church at 12. Accompanied the "instant choir" in sacrament meeting. Visiting teaching from 3:15 -5:30. Headed straight to my parent's for Sunday dinner. Now I'm home...
Still not done with neighbor gifts, nothing's been wrapped and I've barely started shopping for my cute sweet husband. Will there be time? It may take a Christmas miracle. Next year, I'm starting a new tradition of not accepting any responsibilities after the 13th of December, so that when the 12 days of Christmas starts, I can actually enjoy them! :)

2009-11-03T11:46:00.001-07:00

Just came across this and it made me smile.
Partly because it's very cute and
partly because it excuses the fact that my house isn't immaculate...ever.

--Emily

Some homes try to hide the fact
That children shelter there.
Ours boasts of it quite openly,
The signs are everywhere.
For smears are on the windows,
Little smudges on the door;
I should apologize I guess,
For the toys strewn on the floor.
But I sat down with the children:
We played and laughed and read.
And if the doorbell doesn’t shine,
their eyes will shine instead.
For when at times I’m forced to choose
The one job or the other,
I want to be a homemaker
But first I’ll be a mother.
--author unknown

You better believe we're going to use this one!

2009-10-29T10:04:00.006-06:00

I was reading on Stephanie Nielson's blog (nienie dialogues) and I chuckled outloud!

She said that her husband was attending to their two screaming daughters and said,

"Oh girls, guess what? The devil called and said you guys were doing awesome."

That's hilarious!

I told Austin about it and he said that he will try to work that line in before the week is over.

Quite the Contrast

2009-10-15T20:43:00.011-06:00

(Warning: This is way outdated and overdue. It was inspired by the fact that it feels like everyone I know is taking off somewhere or doing something fun this weekend and we're not. It got me daydreaming.)

On April 16th, 2009 we woke up to this:

And we went and did this:

And three days later, we were in Cancun doing this:

And staying here:

And wearing these: (well, only some of us!)

And playing these:

Talking the boys into going with us to get these:

And visiting these:

Being scared out of our pants by signs outside of our hotel room door that looked like this:

Being pestered by these:

Trying to get the boys to stop pestering these:

Loving these:

Constantly eating a never ending supply of yummy food like that looked like this:

With our best friends/crazy people like these:

Thanks for the wonderful time! I want to go back RIGHT NOW!! Let's go! Thanks Mom and Dad for making it possible and for watching the four munckins while we went! We couldn't have done it without you!

I got a kick out of this...

2009-10-07T14:29:00.001-06:00

My girls brought this home from school. Look closely...doesn't it make you totally want to go?
It ended up being fun for the kids, but the flyer made me laugh. Why wouldn't you just make up a new flyer?

Happy Birthday Little Man!

2009-10-07T11:07:00.011-06:00

Spencer just turned 5 the end of September. To start off his birthday bash weekend, he invited his new friend from pre-school, Austin, to go out to lunch with us. These two boys are so funny together!
Austin (my husband) wasn't feeling well, so he stayed home with Jack while I took the boys out. We went to lunch at Spencer's choice...The Purple Turtle. Then we hit the arcade and links at Trafalga! Austin was really into this motorcycle racing game!
Spencer trying to teach Austin how skee ball works!
I tried to talk them into the outside course, but I think they were too enamored with the black light. It was such a nice day outside, but we had fun nonethelesss!
After watching these boys "play" miniature golf, I think I'm going to adopt their rules! You can drag the ball as long as you want with your club, no one keeps score, if you don't want to finish that particular hole, you just pick it up and plop it in the hole. We moved right along!:)

The next day we went with the family to Olive Garden and then to Barnum and Bailey's Circus at the Energy Solutions Center. Spencer had to have the Mac and Cheese AND the vegetable soup. They made vegetable soup in pre-school and he hasn't stopped talking about it since. It all started so well....

This picture isn't really all that great...until you realize that I was actually taking a picture of that girl's hair. I guess it was homecoming or something, but the closer you look at her do, the worse it gets... Sheesh, I'm not very nice.... Oh well!:)
Anyway, it all started so well, until Paige gave me this look:
"Mom, my stomach hurts. I don't feel well." This is only 2 days after both Spencer and Jack had the nasty flu. I think between the two boys, they threw up like 3 dozen times! Poor things. So, once she started complaining, I knew we were in for it. Olive Garden only had paper bags, so we darted over to Macy's (the department store..not the grocery store) and asked them for some empty bags. My mom ran in and the lady had to walk my mom to the door with the empty bags so she wouldn't get fired by security. Anyway, Paige put a bag to use in the car on the way to the circus. She said she was feeling much better....so off to the circus we went!
Then not too long into it, she graced us with another experience. We weren't as prepared for it, and I couldn't get the bag open fast enough, so she got it all over herself. I took her to the bathroom cleaned her up and Austin, the smart man that he is, grabbed some empty popcorn buckets. Thank goodness because 10 minutes later, Kamae starts complaining that she's not feeling well. And then they both had repeated performances...and again....and again. So, who needs to pay for the circus when we can have our own little 3-ringed circus right there in our seats!?

This is Paige humoring her father and re-inacting her experience at the circus.
Kamae...not so willing to comply.

At intermission, I took the girls up away from everyone else and we watched the rest of the circus from the nosebleeds. Good times, good times...
Luckily, Spencer had already had his round of it, so he was good to go. Unfortunately, I got it AGAIN so Austin was on his own for Spencer's actual birthday the following day. He got up and made all of his birthday breakfast-in-bed. He's such a good dad. He went all out with the blueberry theme that Spencer requested!
Spencer was just a little bit excited about his Lego presents...

We also got him a scooter which is adorned with the infamous family joke bow. Isn't it loverly?
We headed down to Grandma and Grandpa's that night. We were supposed to go for dinner, but I was still so sick and I wasn't sure if the girls were still contagious. So, we just went just for a little bit for cake and ice cream....and of course, Grandma and Grandpa's presents! He loves the remote control car, the cute baseball bank and his sweatshirt! Thanks G&G!
Austin, once again, came to the rescue. He whipped up a Lego piece shaped cake and I thought he did a pretty dang good job! I was in no shape for cake making, so Austin stepped right up! So very blessed to have such a good daddy to my kids.He reluctantly posed for a picture....
All in all, I think Spencer had a great 5th birthday! We love you so very much and wish you a fun upcoming year!

Here's how it went!

2009-09-19T13:40:00.003-06:00

Who are the newest memebers of the Robert's Advisory Board? You're lookin' at 'em, baby!

So, my friend Robyn and I met with the President, CFO, Director of Marketing, Director of Merchandise and the American Fork store manager yesterday! I was extremely nervous and was so glad Robyn was by my side. We sat down will all of them and the President basically explained to us a little bit about Robert's past and where they are headed. They are in the process of making some huge and exciting changes! They are switching over to several new systems (one of which features an auto-replenishing system...I clapped when he said this! That basically means that when a certain item is down to a low number of items in stock, it will automatically re-order it for them!), but these new changes are putting a lot of things into a state of chaos until they are all up and running. They are fully aware of it and were looking to us for ideas on how to help their customers "bare with them" during this change. I told them that information is key. Had I known that they are in the process of making some awesome changes and that it has to get worse before it gets better, I would definitely have a different outlook and a lot more patience! I suggested to put up some "under construction" signs and to display a time line as to when the customers can expect certain changes.

After a lengthy conversation about their situation and getting our "valued input" on what they can do to make this easier on the customers, they asked us if we would be willing to be a part of their advisory board. That means that we would stay in contact with them with any of our concerns, we would contribute to their blog that they will be creating, they will look to us when they have new products they are considering and have us "test" them and give them our input. If we find anything out there that we would like to see them carry in their store, we will tell the director of merchandising. I now have all of their emails and phone numbers, and they have left the door of communication wide open!

After accepting the position (we're still unclear whether or not the position is compensated or not...I'd be happy with some free new products!) they then took us for a walk around the scrapbooking department and asked us to express our frustrations, concerns, advice and questions about particular area. As we did, they were jotting down notes and whispering to each other. We felt pretty dang important!:)

They did hold up their end of the bargain and gave me a $100 gift card (that I'll glady split with Robyn...couldn't have done this by myself!) and they gave us each 2 Cricut cartridges! I couldn't have been happier!

So, after walking away from this meeting, here are a few things that I learned that I didn't know before (you may already be aware of some of these things):

* Robert's honors all competitors coupons
* Robert's has a new website, www.robertscrafts.com that you can now order online from
* Robert's offers rainchecks...if they have a sale on an item and they run out of that item, you can get a raincheck to get the item at that price when it comes back in stock
* Robert's has an email mailing list that offers better coupons than you can find in the store
* Robert's should be back on their feet and running better than ever in 45 days. That's when they are hoping to have their new systems up and running and have the majority of their aisles reset with new and exciting products!
* Robert's is separating themselves from Provo Craft. It was a mutual decision and they will still work together, but because they were associated, there were a number of vendors that wouldn't sell to Robert's. Now that they are no longer the same entity, Robert's can start carrying some new vendors!

I was so excited to learn that they are working to fix and improve their store and that I wouldn't show up one day to find that they had gone out of business! I'm just giddy about this new partnership with them and am looking to you guys for any of your concerns that you'd like me to address...I'll gladly be your voice!

More than I bargained for!

2009-09-16T09:13:00.007-06:00

So, after my gazillionth time of leaving the local craft store, Robert's, in utter frustration and sending texts to my crafty friend, Robyn, about how much I loathe this store now, I finally decided to send them an email while I was still all fired up. Here's a copy:

"I'm at the breaking point. Over the past several months I have been so incredibly frustrated with your store in American Fork. I have started counting how many times I have left your store frustrated and we are up to 7 times....IN A ROW! I have gone to your store (and only continue to go due to lack of better options nearby) for very basic things, only to leave empty handed. Basic things such as: black cardstock, white cardstock, black ink, brown ink, adhesives that come in disposable cartridges (on two separate occasions), Cricut cutting mats...the list goes on and on. What is going on? What has happened to your store...it didn't used to be this way. I have walked down your aisles of scrapbook paper to notice that there are at least 10 items out of stock...in each aisle!!

I was so excited to learn that Robert's headquarters were moving into the American Fork store because I thought that that would help the store improve. It has done just the opposite...this store is falling apart. I vented to one of your workers tonight about never having what I need and she gave me this explanation, "Well, we're switching vendors and we can only get what they send us when they send it to us." I was talking to her specifically about the Cricut cutting mat. Hmmm...who might be the vendor for the Cricut? Oh, Provo Craft?! What do you even mean that you're "switching vendors"? Isn't Robert's Crafts owned in part by Provo Craft?! I've had it! And so has everyone I know. Anytime your name comes up, people sigh and express nothing but frustration. You better only hope that no competition moves in anytime soon because your American Fork store would go out of business with the way it's currently being run. I have shopped at Robert's for years. Years. And never have I been so disappointed. So, I am begging you to fix this ongoing problem. It really can't be that hard to keep a steady supply of white cardstock. Seriously. If you're going to put all of your adhesives on sale, then make sure you order more BEFORE you put them on sale. That was the explanation I got for you not having any adhesives...and it was over a week after your sale. As you can tell, this situation leaves me just a tad bit frustrated! I've never been a huge fan of Michael's, but in comparison, it's becoming more and more appealing.

If you care at all about customer retention PLEASE try to do something about the continual lack of stock of basic items, at the least. And if the real reason you are having problems is due to the switch in vendors, isn't it possible to at least purchase from the current vendor until the switch is made? If not, then by the time your switch is made and product is in stock it will be too late for a lot of your current customers as they would have already made the switch to another store due to their frustration.

The reason I have taken the time to write this letter is because I have generally enjoyed shopping at Robert's. I am usually doing a papercraft of one sort or another, so I have spent a lot of time (and money) in your store. In the past, Robert's has treated me well. I want to want to shop there. But lately, that is becoming increasingly more difficult."

Well, I about had a heart attack and hyperventilated when I got this response the next day:

"Emily,

Thank you for taking the time to express your disappointment with your recent shopping experiences at Roberts. We agree that those experiences are very frustrating. We don’t want you or any customer walking away from Roberts disappointed and frustrated.

We strive to give the best service and provide products our customers need and want. We are always looking to improve and ask for your help. On behalf Roberts President I would like to invite you to spend some time with our leadership team (President, Directors of Buying, Operations, and Marketing) to provide them with your recent shopping experience feedback. We would also ask for your suggestions to learn how we can better serve you and the rest of our valued customers. For your time, we would give you a $100 Roberts Gift Card.

Our leadership team will be available in the American Fork store this Friday to meet at your convenience. Please contact me on my cell phone at to arrange a time that works best for you. If you have conflicts on Friday, we can discuss another time that works best for you.

Eek!! I have to meet with who!? Are you kidding me? That scares the bejeepers out of me. Since Robyn has shared in my frustration and even edited and added to my email, I'm making her go with me. So, I guess, if any of you locals have any frustrations that you'd like me to address, let me know! Now's your chance!

P.S. Amber, I will definitely be informing them of your lame prize! Backstory: My friend, Amber, entered one of their scrapbooking contests. She put a lot of time and I'm sure money into her layout and she won! What did she win? A hodge podge of outdated, random scrapbook items and stuff they were already getting rid of (like the individual stickers that kids tear off of the rolls and don't buy!). We laughed for a long time about that and it's an ongoing joke between us now!

Paige turns 8!!

2009-09-11T13:21:00.008-06:00

I realized as I started going back through my pictures and my posts that I really haven't done much all year! So, I am going clear back to January and going to try to play a little bit (or a lotta bit) of catchup!

January 19th, 2009

Holy moly! Paige is already 8! Wasn't it just yesterday that you were a skinny, tiny little baby that my little brother and sister were too scared to hold because you looked so fragile? Wasn't it just yesterday that you were doing the army crawl across our studio apartment floor? Wasn't it just yesterday that you knew all of the names of Snow White's dwarfs? We had little plastic figurines and you knew each one so well that you could name them just by seeing the bottom of their feet! Wasn't it just yesterday that you learned how to ride a bike and started your very first dance class? Wasn't it just yesterday that I got a phone call from your kindergarten teacher requesting that I talk to you about not kissing boys at recess? Sheesh! Where has all the time gone? I know you still have so much more growing up left, but these past eight years have gone by so quickly and have probably been the best eight years of my life! I have thoroughly enjoyed being your mom and am so sorry that you have to be my parenting guinea pig. I remember my dad having many talks with us, mainly as teenagers, about how he and my mom had never been parents before. They didn't have any prior experience raising children and they were learning just as we were. Well, now I know exactly how he felt. I try my best and I am often aware that sometimes my best isn't very good. I am trying and I pray daily for guidance and patience so that I can be the best mom to you. I want nothing but the best for you and want to provide you with opportunities that will allow you to fulfill all of your dreams! Your potential is limitless and I just hope you know how truly loved you are. You are such a special child with such a ginormous spirit! You have been bearing your testimony to us and to your friends since you could talk. Your recollection of scripture stories far surpasses mine. You are so smart and are so eager to learn. You love science and animals and random trivia facts. Reading came very easy for you and you love to do it. Your favorite books are children's encyclopedias. You are loving your dance classes and have greatly improved over the past year. You are such a joy to watch perform and you have your own cute distinctive style. You like to hang out in the back corner or at the end of the line...whether it be in school or at dance. I remember asking you why and your calculated response caught me by surprise. You said, "I like to be towards the end because usually the people that go first don't really know what they are supposed to do yet. If I'm towards the end, I can watch everybody else and then I know what I'm supposed to do." One smart cookie! I have so much to learn from you and love being your mom and friend. You have no idea how excited I am about the upcoming years ahead. I can only hope that we stay close and continue our great relationship! Just be patient with me because it's you that's teaching me how to be a mom. I love you, Paige!

We started off her birthday celebration with her birthday dinner at my parents' house. She had spaghetti and french bread that absolutely has to be accompanied with olive oil and balsamic vinegar to dip the bread in. She had recently fallen in love with Olive Garden's salad...so much so, in fact, that Santa brought her her very own bottle of Olive Garden's salad dressing. So, we had our re-creation of Olive Garden's salad, olives and all. And, of course, she had to have pickles! For dessert, she requested a chocolate heart birthday cake with chocolate frosting and sprinkles. I think she had been playing a little too much Cake Mania at the time!

More to follow: Paige's big 8th birthday bash and her baptism!

I'm Back!

2009-09-09T00:49:00.003-06:00

I feel like I've been away in some distant land, only to peek in now and again on everyone else, and now I can finally come back to bloggerville! I have been completely computerless for over a month and before that it was hit or miss with my previous monster of a laptop. Don't worry, Robyn, I loved it while it worked and it did it's job well when it did, but then it died a very slow and painful death and it was so frustrating! The main problem was with the stupid power supply. It kept burning up my power cords! Literally. I would sniff around trying to figure out what that burning plastic smell was only to figure out that my cord...the part that goes inside of the computer...is melted into a rubbery, metally mass of nothingness. Either that or the cord would snap off, leaving a bit of it in the computer. I think we were up to 4, possibly 5, on the the power cord count. Not to mention that it was missing F7-F11, numbers 8-0 and the delete key and I'm going to guess "O", "P" and ";" got ousted as well. Thank you, Jack. My poor disc drive would come completely out of the computer when you tried to open it (as in you'd be holding it in your hand...no longer connected to the computer) and the tray that held the disc was cracked so badly that you'd have to try to level it back up as you slid it back it or else it would catch. So, to all of you out there with kids who think that your computer is theirs...beware. It will never be the same! Save it while you still can!

So, my sweet husband, who just bought me a new ring for our 10 year anniversary (YIPEE! I LOVE IT!!) surprised me this month by getting me a laptop! I thought it would be awhile since the ring put us in a bit of a crunch for a short time. In our concerted effort to pay for everything upfront, I didn't even think a new computer would be an option anytime soon and knowing that it was because of me that things were tight, I consciously tried hard not to complain about being computer-less. However, I have the most unselfish, most caring husband in the world. He never ceases to amaze me. That man can figure out how to do just about anything if he puts his mind to it! I love him...a lot! Not because he buys me things, but because he always has the best interest of his family in mind and he constantly is making me feel like the most wonderful, most beautiful woman there ever was, even though it's really him that is the best husband that a woman could ever hope for! I can be a bit scatterbrained and unorganized at times (which is really frustrating to me...I don't mean to be!!) and he helps pick up that slack. You're the best, Austin!! Love you!

Wow, I didn't even see that little shout out coming when I started this post! Gotta give credit where credit is due, though! But now, because I have a working, reliable computer, I will be able to start posting again!! I've thoroughly enjoyed reading all of my friends' blogs, but am excited to start sharing again what we've been up to lately! Hopefully, I'll get all of my pictures transferred over without any problems and we'll be up and running!

2009-07-28T01:10:00.003-06:00

I was tired of opening my blog to no pictures, so here's one that I keep coming across that makes me happy every time I see it! I made these for a bridal shower around Valentine's Day. They're called cake pops and Bakerella (her link is on the side) is queen of them! They are a bit time consuming, but they were really fun and not too hard to make! Sorry...I know my photography skills could use some definite help!

2,4,6,8,10

2009-07-17T18:49:00.002-06:00

This is only valid for four days! Since March, we've been able to say that our kids are 2, 4, 6, and 8. But now that today is our 10th anniversary, we can add that to the list! However, Kamae turns 7 on Tuesday, so that's going to through a nice little wrench into that pile of number fun! Yeah, we're dorks. But we'll only get to be dorks about that for four days, so we're going to live it up while we can!:)

Happy Birthday, Jack...3 months ago!

2009-06-22T14:09:00.014-06:00

I'm sure that no one really cares, but we've had some technical difficulties lately and my wonderful husband has been able to resolve almost all of them! So, I think I may actually be able to start posting again! Thanks, Austin, for putting up with all of my whining and complaining and for helping to alleviate some of these frustrations!

March 2009

So, for Jack's 2nd birthday, both he and I got a present! For the first time in over 8 years, we took the crib down! He had figured out how to climb out in 2.2 seconds, so we decided to bite the bullet and get him a bed. I'm sure most normal moms would view that as a sad moment in motherhood, but I was thrilled! I'm ready to be done with the "baby" stage and move on to the next! You always want what you can't have, so who knows, maybe once I'm completely moved out of it, I may want it back. But, as for now, it's a good place to be. We, however, were not looking forward to the next several months of teaching him to stay in a bed! In the past, the only reason our kids were ever moved to a bed was because we had to use the crib for the baby behind them. So, to voluntarily make this move was a little hard, but it all worked out! He now does a very good job at staying put (for the most part), but I do recall a night where I counted at least 14 times of walking up the stairs to lay him back down! It's a good thing he's cute....

Happy Birthday, Jack! Our birthday tradition is to serve breakfast in bed, but we didn't think that would be a good idea for a two year old in a brand new bed. Maybe next year!

Aebelskivers...if you've never had these, oh, what a shame! They are a piece of fried heaven! My lifelong best friend, Kamae, gave me the pan for our wedding because she remembers having them at our house for the first time! Thanks, Kamae! We've put it to good use!

Forget the fork, I'm just gonna shove the whole thing in...

Ah, the beautiful post-church nap...

This is the best picture I have with him and his cake. He kept snatching pieces of candy from the cake and so in all of the pictures he is chewing! He loves trains and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, so this was the best of both worlds for him!

Aunt Kristen singing her lovely rendition of Happy Birthday....it's not a real Andrus birthday without it! You should have seen Jack's face! He kept looking at her like she was crazy! I guess if the shoe fits!:) (This picture looks straight up 70's...what's up with that?)

All of the grandkids! Back L-R: Kamae,Kami, Paige, Talia

Front L-R: Peyton, Nate, Abby, Brady, Spencer, Jack

The gluttons for punishment! Both of my sets of grandparents regularly join us to celebrate! With all of us there, it gets a bit loud and crazy, but they always come back for more! How lucky we are to have both sets of grandparents that live relatively near by, who enjoy relatively good health and who relatively enjoy being with us....relatively!:)

Grandma and Grandpa Andrus

Grandpa and Nana Rader

She sure does have a way with the nieces and nephews! We love you, Kristen!

Check out that tongue!

It's not a true party without an Orton cheeseball!Awesome gift from Grandpa and Grandma!

Processing...processing....what is this?

Anxiously waiting...

"My ball!" With so many other anxious kiddos around, he staked his claim really fast!
Nice form, Mr. Man!

Happy Birthday, Jack Jack, Mr. Man, Monkey, Jack Man, Dude-alicious!

How can one little boy be so cute and loveable and so trying at the same time? Terrible two's gained a reputation for a reason and you aren't about to let that reputation down! I have no room to complain about your attitude and demeanor....you are generally a very happy kid. However, you just don't stop! You're so curious and adventurous, but I just have to keep reminding myself that that is how a 2 year old learns about the world around him. You are so kissable and hugable and are willing to shell those out at almost anytime. You've got the pucker and the audible "smack" sound down! I've got you trained to where if you are on my lap and you want to get down, all I have to say is, "Do you want to get down?" and you'll turn to me and plant a big fat one on me! If we are walking down the stairs, you know that if I stop on the stairs, the only way to get me to take the next step is for you to give me a kiss! So, I get about 15 kisses the whole way down the stairs and I could get another 1000 more without getting sick of it. You now give kisses with a hand on each of my cheeks and it just melts my heart! I love that you have three or four other "moms" in the ward and you are always so excited to see them and greet them with a hug, kiss, wave or a low-pitched "hi". You love moving my hair back with your pudgey little fingers all pressed tightly together and blowing in my ear because you know it tickles me and I love to watch your face as you watch mine! You are so good to stand against the wall when you get in trouble and so eager to say sorry and give a hug. Anytime you hear a horn honk, you wave, no matter where we are. A car alarm went off in the parking lot the other day and the horn kept honking and you kept on waving, even though you weren't even sure where the sound was coming from! You are not a man of many words, yet, but the few you can say are just so cute and you have the deepest little two year old voice. Whenever you are just chillin', whether it be in your high chair or sitting on the couch or laying down waiting to get your diaper changed, you always cross your fat little feet. You've done that since you were teeny tiny hanging out in your car seat and Grandma Andrus is always one to notice...she loves it! Your feet are so fat top to bottom that I could only find one pair of sandals that fit you. I don't like them very much at all, but I wasn't left many options. Even then, when I put them on, every time you say, "Ow...tie" (tight). I pretend to loosen them because they are already as loose as they'll go and you fake contentment and move on. And everytime I take them off, I can see the detailed imprint of the inside of your sandal. Poor guy! You love, love, love to be massaged! I was laying in bed with you the other night and I was just tracing my fingers around your cute little face. Your eyes were closed and you were expressionless, so after about 5 or 6 minutes, I naturally assumed you were asleep. No way. You were just thouroughly enjoying laying there. Then I started rubbing your foot and after a couple of minutes I patted your foot and said, "Goodnight, Jack." Without opening your eyes or changing the non-expression on your face, you picked up your other foot and shoved it in my face. I chuckled and I rubbed that one for a little while, too. Then I patted that foot and said, "Goodnight, Jack." Again, without opening your eyes or giving any other indication that you were even still awake, you shoved your hand into my face. I laughed out loud for a good 20 seconds and still no expression from you, but your hand stayed in the air, waiting to be massaged. I rubbed that for a little bit, and just to see if you'd continue, I put it down and patted it and said, "Goodnight, Jack." You didn't let me down! You picked up your other hand and shoved it in my face! I laughed and laughed and you just laid there motionless. After I was done with that one and patted it and told you goodnight for the last time, you opened your eyes slightly, gave me a half smile and rolled over to snuggle in for the night. Oh, I just wanted to eat you up! The other day you were in the shopping cart and you were giving me fives. I would move my hand out of the way right before you hit it. You caught on quickly and started holding my hand in place with one hand and giving it five with the other. Then I put up both hands and you grabbed each hand with each of yours. Then you looked at me like, "Now what do I use to give you five with?" Then you looked back at my hands and gave each one a kiss right in the middle of my palms. I just love to see how your little mind works! Despite the ripping down of curtain rods (for proof, look closely behind him in the first picture of his birthday breakfast), painting yourself, the table, chair and floor with black paint, writing on the wall with silver Sharpie (that still shows through after 3 coats of primer and 2 coats of paint), drawing lovely pictures on my windows with green and yellow crayons, eating all of the candy out of my piano lesson box and leaving trails of wrappers all over the house, dumping out a whole bottle of Wacky Melon shampoo (leaving the bathroom smelling very reminiscent of my Strawberry Shortcake doll from my childhood), plucking off the F9 - F12 keys from my laptop keyboard, using everyone's toothbrushes (even when we are at someone else's house...sorry about that!), spraying aimlessly almost an entire bottle of aerosol hairspray, countless experiences of you playing in toilet water, shoving batteries in the VHS side of the VHS/DVD player, I love you, Jack and I always will! Look at him...how could I not?

You'll always be my little man.

Girl's Weekend

2009-05-12T22:46:00.003-06:00

Danielle has been one of my best friends since our first kids were born. Since we became friends, we have only lived near each other for about 6 months. We have since gotten together about once a year for a girls weekend. We alternate who visits who and in the past we have just hibernated in a hotel room or a basement and scrapbooked for days on end, watching movies and eating tons of junk. Scrapbooking has become so burdensome in so many ways that we decided to do something different this year....sewing. Now, for those of you who know me and sewing....pick your jaws up off of the floor! I know, I can't believe it either. I was open minded and it actually didn't turn out to be that bad! We made some really cute kid's aprons and Danielle got adventurous and made a really cute shirt for her little girl! I tried that and made a wrong cut that wasted a ton of fabric and threw it across the room...I think I'll stick to aprons for now.

It was a miracle that we were able to pull this trip off this year. We didn't get together last year and we were having a hard time finding a time this year that worked for both of us. She called me on a Tuesday and asked what I was doing that weekend! She had found a cheap flight that left on Saturday and came back on Tuesday. In a matter of hours, we had the flight booked and childcare arranged! And several days later, I was in Texas! We stayed in my Uncle Brent's hotel and it was perfect! Thanks, Brent!

What trip would be complete without a Sunday trip to the "Doc in a Box" (as my Nana called it...I told her I was adopting that term!)? Danielle's kids had had strep the week before and Saturday night her throat started bothering her. So, instead of waiting to see if it was going to ruin our trip we went and nipped it in the bud!

So, post trip I was confused at why we didn't take more pictures. Then I realized why. This is what we did for 90% of our trip! Just envision this setting with more or less mess, change of sweats, and less and less junk food on the table and more and more in our guts...
And what girls' weekend would be complete without a pedi!? :) I've had my share of pedicures and this one was by far the most unique! They put this cooling cream on my legs that made them feel like they were swimming in dry ice! Then they wrapped my legs what felt like nearly scalding hot towels. My senses have never been so confused! Were they hot or cold? Both...so weird. They tingled for hours!
Thanks for the great getaway Dani! You're the best! Counting down the days until our next one!

Ideas? I know you have them...

2009-05-12T20:48:00.002-06:00

So, I was recently called as the assistant girl's camp director in our ward! I couldn't have been more ecstatic! I've been in this primary tunnel for so long, that I never thought I'd see the end of it. Don't get me wrong, I love working in the primary, but except for a few short stints in the relief society and the choir, (probably 8 months combined) I've been in primary for nearly my entire married life...almost 10 years! And...yes, I am still in the Stake Primary, but at least I am dabbling in young women's now! So, we are knee deep in the planning stage and I am wanting this to be the best year ever! I haven't been to camp since I was like 14 or 15, so I can't remember all of the cool, fun things we did. So, if you remember any fun crafts, songs, traditions, skits, pranks, games, etc. please....I'm begging you...please share! Our theme is Royal Princess Academy...Fit for His Kingdom. Not that your ideas have to go along with that, but just wanted to get those wheels turning!

A new favorite...

2009-05-01T10:14:00.003-06:00

Seriously...he's amazing, funny and simply inspiring! His pieces are my absolute favorite to play...I am anxiously awaiting this sheet music!!

What a slacker!!

2009-04-15T01:06:00.007-06:00

Wow. It wasn't until tonight that I realized what I slacker I have been. I'm going on almost 6 weeks with no new posts and hmmm...when was the last time I actually posted a picture? That's a question that I don't even have the patience to find the answer for because I'd have to go so far back in all of the posts! I think the technology gods have convened and decided to plague me with the curse of the cord. What is the deal? We no longer have a desktop, just two laptops. Mine, however has been battered and bruised by the children, during which, my power cord has been snapped in two...twice. In the same spot. After the first severing, we ordered another online. Once I finally got that, the cable that goes from my camera to my computer was no where to be found. Austin has since found my cable and ordered me a new power cord, but post-purchase decided to do a little more researching and realized that it's being shipped from Hong Kong or Taiwan or somewhere crazy like that, so it'll get here...NEVER! At least it feels that way. So, I've been without a computer for a little while, but no where near long enough to excuse such slackerish behavior on this blog! So, I'll try to be a little better. I'm using Austin's computer and I'm not sure what pictures he has on here, but I am bound and determined to post something. So, I'm going to peruse and I'm just as interested as you are (who am I kidding to think that someone else is interested...) to see what I come up with. Wish me luck...I'm going in.

Oh wow....it's been even longer than I thought. Not sure on the date, but these are the cupcakes I made from the (embarrassing) BYU vs. U of U game. At least we started hopeful....
And then I realized that I never posted Christmas! Someone slap me upside the head... Here are just a few of the kids.

Aunt Stephanie, Uncle Andy and Jennifer came out to ski and we met them up in Park City. Here's Jenny and the kiddos! Stephanie ran with the kids in circles around the hotel for about a half an hour! She's so great!
Two mellow guys....My grandpa Rader and Mr. Jack Jack. They were just cuddled up on the couch and Jack stayed there forever!
And, apparently this is what happens when you leave your camera just laying around for anyone to pick up on New Year's Eve! Serves you right, Moke!
"Come on down! You're the next contestant on The Price is Right!" Every year, my parents hold off on giving us our Christmas presents until New Year's Eve and then we have to win them on the Andrus Family Price is Right game! My mom goes all out and creates games from the show for each one of us to play! It can be pretty cheesy, but as you can see, we get genuinely excited about it all!

And...Happy New Year, 4 and a half months later! This is the best picture I got of the two of us...he wouldn't stop pulling faces!
So, there you have it folks. My attempt at doing something....anything! And, it'll be a little while before there's more because we are leaving in 4 days, 5 hours and 5 minutes to fly off to Cancun for a week with our best friends, Scott and Linda to celebrate our 10 year anniversaries! My, how time flies! We've been talking about taking a trip for our 10 yr. for hmmm....let's see now....ten years! We've been talking about it for so long, that I really can't believe that it's almost time! I am so excited to enjoy some lovely weather, no responsibility, food galore, beautiful oceans, sun, sun, sun and to have some uninterrupted time with the love of my life! Can't wait!

Kidism

2009-02-28T02:08:00.003-07:00

Man, this kid just keeps 'em comin'! He is such a crack up!

We are driving in the car...
Spencer: (pointing out the window to a girl walking on the sidewalk) "Mom! There's our babysitter! Mom, look!"
Me: "Yep! That's her!"
Spencer: "She's so nice!"
Me: "Oh, I am so glad you liked her."
Spencer: "Yeah. She was so nice. I wish she could be my mom."
Me: "Really? Oh, that makes me sad."
Spencer: "But she was so nice. I want her to be my mom."
Me: "Spence...that hurts my feelings."
Spencer: (after realizing that he really had hurt my feelings) "Oh, it's just a joke, Mom. I was just kidding...I was just joking. It's just a joke, Mom."
Me: (somewhat chuckling) "Well, that wasn't a very funny joke."
Spencer: (after a little pause....and he says this with such concern and seriousness...) "Why, Mom? Because it didn't start with knock, knock?"
I just busted up laughing and then I said, "Now, that was funny!" He didn't get it...

The other day Spencer and I were talking and he was telling me how much he liked to watch movies. Then he said, "I like them so much, that at night, when I go to bed, I watch them in my sleep." I had to explain to him that those are called dreams! He has been having some very interesting and vivid dreams lately that he tells in full detail, so that's how I knew what he was talking about. I just found it so interesting that he thought he was watching movies in his sleep!:)

25 Random Things About Me

2009-02-17T00:04:00.003-07:00

I think I've been tagged a thousand times now and I usually don't fall into such traps! However, I have really enjoyed reading these random facts about others, so I felt that it's only fair to do one myself. So...if you want to do this about yourself, then consider yourself tagged. If you have no interest, then you are hereby declared "not tagged".

1. My arms don't straighten all the way. When I was a cheerleader, they'd make fun of me and say, "Everyone do a high V...Emily go ahead and do a high U." Hahaha....very funny people...sniff, sniff.

2. I once had a pet octopus that I brought home from an elementary school biology lesson. I put it in a plastic beef jerky container to bring it home in (you know, the ones that looked like a tennis ball container). He didn't even last a day....poor guy.

3. I am absolutely terrified of heights. It makes my legs weak, my palms sweaty and my stomach sick. I even get those symptoms when I see someone else stand on the edge of something high up (like tonight on The Bachelor when they were standing on that cliff...I had to turn away and my heart was racing!)

4. I grew up without a middle name (it's now my maiden name), but when I was little I would say that it was Paige (now the name of my 1st born). As I got older, I seriously considered changing my first name to Emma and making my middle name Lee, because...why not?

5. I jump every time I have to open those stupid cardboard crescent roll containers.

6. At the end of our sophomore year, the night before our biology final, we toilet papered our biology teacher's house with 96 rolls of toilet paper (class of '96, baby!).

7. I am scared of most animals.

8. I am horrible at keeping up with things that require continual maintenance. It's why I don't have a garden, highlight my hair, own a pet or buy clothes that require ironing. It's a miracle that my children are still alive!

9. I am getting more and more forgetful as I get older and a lot of the time I end up just looking like a big fat flake. I don't mean to...promise!!:)

10. One of my simple pleasures: an empty dishwasher.

11. I thoroughly enjoy being a product of the 80's. Cabbage Patch Kids, legwarmers, neon banana clips, crimped-haired side ponies, Kirk Cameron, Goonies, Debbie Gibson's Electric Youth perfume with the pink spiral that went up the tube, Malibu Musk, Jane Fonda's Workout, Locomotion, Smurfs, voting on the new shape in Lucky Charms, charm necklaces, jelly bracelets (oh, I could go on all night).

12. I graduated from BYU with a bachelor's degree even though when I first went to college I really never intended on finishing!

13. I once belonged to a "club" in high school called B.A.B.E.S. even though I shouldn't have been allowed in because I never did do what it took to be initiated!

14. Very few things make my heart happier than to make food for people that they just love...mainly desserts and treats.

15. My older brother and I are 11 months apart and the deadline for school was right in between our birthdays. Therefore, we were always in the same grade. What's funny to me is that I am learning that there are still people out there, who (whom? How do you ever know?) we have known since kindergarten, that think that we are twins.

16. I am definitely challenged when it comes to sewing, jewelry, decorating and doing my hair.

17. It frustrates me when people assume that because I can play the piano, that I can also lead music and/or sing. I despise leading music and although I don't mind singing, I am not good at it. It's one of those things that I am looking forward to in heaven...an angelic voice.

18. I played softball and tennis in high school, but always wished that I could be a much better volleyball player. I love that sport, but I am really not very good at it.

19. I am addicted to candy. I could eat it all day every day and would generally choose it over dessert!

20. I can't wear sunglasses. I feel like I am a massive wannabe and that if I wear them that no one will take me seriously. I think they look great on other people and I wish I could wear them, but I really just feel like a big fool! Plus, my eyelashes usually brush up against the lenses and that is super annoying.

21. I took acting classes in San Francisco when I was a kid and then I auditioned for commercial placement agency. I got the acceptance call the same day we found out that we were moving to Twin Falls, ID. Nothing ever came of it other than that I can still recite most of Shel Silverstein's poem, "Sick" ("I cannot go to school today," said little Peggy Ann McKay. "I have the measles and the mumps, a gash, a rash, and purple bumps. My mouth is wet, my throat is dry, I'm going blind in my right eye"....etc. I will spare you the rest...you're welcome!:))

22. I could listen to my husband tell other people funny stories all day. I think he's a pretty good story teller!

23. I love spicy food! If it makes my eyes water and my nose run...sign me up!

24. When I get legitimately scared by someone, my instincive reaction is to hit them or throw something at them. Ask Austin about the plastic bear bottle of honey I chucked at him...

25. When we were little, my best friend, Kamae, and I would sneak into her Grandma's closet, pull down a big box of See's chocolates from the shelf, and take a bite out of each one until we found the caramel one. It wasn't until I was older that I realized how rude that was and how much money those cost! Sorry, Gram Bernie!!:)

Kidism

2009-02-02T23:14:00.001-07:00

Spencer: "Mom, will you hot this up?" holding a roll and pointing to the microwave.

Kidism

2009-01-27T21:17:00.004-07:00

This actually happened about a year ago, but this past Sunday in church reminded me of it! Austin plays the "ring game" with the kids during Sacrament meeting...the same ring game that he says his dad used to play with him. You just take off your wedding ring, clinch it in your fist and then the child currently sitting on your lap tries to get it out. (Mind you, a couple of weeks ago, Austin's ring flew several pews in front of us during church and then he forgot to get it. After a late night trip back to the church and multiple phone calls, it was regained...whew!) Well, about a year ago Spencer wanted me to play this game with him. I had never played it and I thought that the point was to try as hard as I could not to let him get the ring. Well, he was struggling to get it out of my fist and after a couple futile minutes, he looks up at me, exasperated, and says, not very quietly, "Man, this is a hard level." I about died laughing! And, at this point in time, we didn't even own a video game system, so how he knew what different "levels" were at the age of three is beyond me!

Kidisms

2009-01-27T12:17:00.002-07:00

I just found these in my "drafts". Not sure why I didn't post them...they are about a year old as well!

Spencer crying in the bathtub. I ask him what's wrong and he says, "My eyes hurt!" I ask him if he's okay and he says, "Yeah, but me and my eyes want to get out...I think."

Mom: How long are you going to be in the bathroom?
Spencer: Uh, I dunno. Like 4 hours, I think.

(Paige, walking away from the TV, silently crying)
Mom: What's wrong?
Paige: I really want those QuickGems (hair beads from an infomercial), but I can't have them.
Mom: Why not?
Paige: Because they say you have to be 18 or older and I'm not.
(I know, it sounds like a cheesy blond joke, but this conversation actually happened.)

Happy Birthday Paige!!

2009-01-19T11:31:00.005-07:00

I can't believe my baby is eight years old today. Here are some old videos that Austin found on his computer.

How do you think this one would fair on America's Funniest Home Videos? We should submit it.

UPDATE: We did submit the video of Paige and her cool glasses to America's Funniest Home Videos and they liked it. I got an email from them saying, "We are very interested in the clip you submitted to us! The producers really like the clip and are considering using it on an upcoming show." So now we are signing all the legal documents to let them use the clip. As a result they have asked us to remove the clip from the web. If you did not see it, email us and we can send it to you.

Kidism

2008-12-18T01:49:00.005-07:00

(My sister, Kristen, with my little bro, Elder Andrus).

So last night the girls had their Christmas dance recital and my single younger sister, Kristen, was sweet enough to come. Afterword, Paige is introducing Kristen to her friend and says, "This is my Aunt Kristen. She's getting married soon." Since Kristen isn't currently dating anyone, Kristen shoots her a look that says, "What are you talking about?" And Paige quickly follows up with, "I hope."

We leave the recital and per tradition we go get some ice cream. While making a huge mess with her triple chocolate cone, Kamae randomly blurts out, "Kristen, you need to start dating a guy."

I promised Kristen that she was not the topic of our last Family Home Evening, even though it may appear that way! We love you, Kristen!

P.S. Any one know any cute, single guys that live in Utah? Just kidding...kind of. :)

I thought this was cute...

2008-12-18T01:35:00.003-07:00

Dear Santa,

I've been a good mom all year. I've fed, cleaned and cuddled my children on demand, visited the doctor's office more than my doctor, sold sixty-two cases of candy bars to raise money to plant a shade tree on the school playground . I was hoping you could spread my list out over several Christmases, since I had to write this letter with my son's red crayon, on the back of a receipt in the laundry room between cycles, and who knows when I'll find anymore free time in the next 18 years.

Here are my Christmas wishes:

I'd like a pair of legs that don't ache (in any color, except purple, which I already have) and arms that don't hurt or flap in the breeze; but are strong enough to pull my screaming child out of the candy aisle in the grocery store.

I'd also like a waist, since I lost mine somewhere in the seventh month of my last pregnancy.

If you're hauling big ticket items this year I'd like fingerprint resistant windows and a radio that only plays adult music;

a television that doesn't broadcast any programs containing talking animals;

and a refrigerator with a secret compartment behind the crisper where I can hide to talk on the phone.

On the practical side, I could use a talking doll that says, "Yes, Mommy" to boost my arental confidence, along with two kids who don't fight and three pairs of jeans that will zip all the
way up without the use of power tools.

I could also use a recording of Tibetan monks chanting"Don't eat in the living room" and "Take your hands off your brother," because my voice seems to be just out of my children's hearing range and can only be heard by the dog.

If it's too late to find any of these products, I'd settle for enough time to brush my teeth and comb my hair in the same morning , or the luxury of eating food warmer than room temperature without being served in a Styrofoam container.

If you don't mind, I could also use a few Christmas miracles to brighten the holiday season. Would it be too much trouble to declare ketchup a vegetable? It will clear my conscience immensely.

It would be helpful if you could coerce my children to help around the house without demanding payment as if they were the bosses of an organized crime family.

Well, Santa, the buzzer on the dryer is ringing and my son saw my feet under the laundry room door. I think he wants his crayon back.

Have a safe trip and remember to leave your wet boots by the door and come in and dry off so you don't catch cold.

Help yourself to cookies on the table but don't eat too many or leave crumbs on my carpet.

Yours Always,
MOM...!

P.S. One more thing... you can cancel all my requests if you can keep my children young enough to believe in Santa.

Installment #4 - PAIGE

2008-12-02T17:34:00.009-07:00

I know you're probably sick of these by now, but we're almost done! Thanks for all of the input!

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Installment #3 - KAMAE

2008-11-23T17:28:00.012-07:00

Here we go again!!
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Installment #2 - SPENCER

2008-11-20T16:02:00.015-07:00

Thanks for all of the votes on Jack...now for Spencer's!

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Family Pictures by peekaboo photos - Installment #1 - JACK

2008-11-18T11:34:00.005-07:00

Okay, I need everyone's votes on their favorite close up and body shot! I can't decide!

We're Off To See the Wizard...

2008-11-05T18:31:00.016-07:00

It's a little strange, I know, but ever since my kids were little itty bitties, I have wanted them to be characters from the Wizard of Oz for Halloween. Now that I felt like they were old enough to enjoy it, I was so excited to have this dream come to fruition, but the girls were so set on what they wanted to be. Paige wanted to be Raggedy Ann and Kamae was going to be a ballerina. I can't remember what Spencer wanted to be (mainly because that changed every other minute) and you know, Jack just didn't care. So, I figured this year, I'll let them be whatever and maybe next year I can impose my idea on them. Well, Paige really wanted Grandma Orton to make her Raggedy Ann costume for her, but seeing as how she is in China (they are teaching English there through a BYU program) for the next year, that wasn't going to happen. So, Paige, after weeks of thought, finally decided on her own that she wanted to be Dorothy. I couldn't believe it! Kamae's idea evolved into an angel fairy. And then, once I mentioned that she could be Glinda the Good Witch, she was all over that and once Spencer found out that the Tin Man had an axe he was all for it (don't tell, but we decided not to do an axe...he forgot all about it and we felt that it was better for him not to have to carry anything, let alone something that he would turn into a weapon...even if it was made of cardboard and foil!)! My fantasy was off and running. My mom already had the Dorothy dress in her plethora of dress ups for the girls (we found Toto and a basket at DI...not sure why they're not in the picture), my funny friend, Penny, had a tin man costume down to the silver shoes that she lent us, my amazing friend Robyn spruced up Kamae's dress to make it look just right and so pretty (we bought the dress and she added sleeves...notice how perfectly puffy they are, a shimmery overlay, some tulle slips to make the dress poofy and she made the crown...I'm telling ya', she's amazing...thanks again, Robyn!), and we found a lion costume at Kid to Kid for Jack (it was actually a baby bunting that Austin (notice that Austin has to do the sewing around here) created into pants...even though they were too short, for $4.50 it was just perfect!). It was great! So, now I can check that one off of the list! It made me so happy to see them all together like they could star in their own little play!

3 out of 4 looking...guess that's our average!

And to top it all off, my sister, Kristen's work had their crazy Halloween party again this year. And their "Executive Row" 's theme was (they are the ones that did Disneyland last year)....drum roll please.....the Wizard of Oz! How perfect was that? The kids were so excited to go and have their picture taken with the other one of "them"! Here are the pics:

We had to get one of the Scarecrow. He was the only one missing from our little group!

Look at how amazing that lion costume/make-up is! They always go over-the-top!

Check out that tin man! Where do you get stuff like that?

The founder of Omniture is the Wizard of Oz.
(Pardon me, but I can't remember his name!)

And, it wouldn't be a complete Ominutre Halloween Party without the little people! Of course, they were the munchkins! I just can't get over the fact that they fly them in every year from Vegas! And they are so nice and more than willing to take pictures with the kiddos!

I guess the kids didn't remember that the little people were there last year as Snow White's Seven Dwarfs. Kamae was so confused...she whispered to me, "Mom, how did those people get so small?" I think that she thought that they were regular people who got small just for their role as the munchkins. I briefly explained what I could to her and told her to just be quiet. Apparently, my explanation didn't satisfy her curiosity or confusion about it all. Look at her face:

My sister's department did Candyland, the board game. It turned out really cute and she was the gumdrop queen. They even had a big Gingerbread house that the kids could walk through!
And they also had a BYU Cougar section (I won't mention that we had to walk through Ute territory to get there) and, of course, we needed a picture with Cosmo! You can't tell from the picture, but they are standing on real grass that they brought in to make a football field! Mind you, that all of this (Wizard of Oz, Candyland, etc) is all done in their workspace. They have to build it all around their cubicles and offices! Crazy people! It's absolutely amazing, though, and so much fun! We were only able to be there for about an hour, so we didn't even see half of what was there, but what we were able to see we loved! Thanks for inviting us, Kristen!

Go Cougars! Rah....rah....rah, rah, rah!

We could only stay for an hour because we needed to rush home to our Halloween Party! Tanya, Andrea and I planned a "Pre-Trick or Treat, Meet, Greet and Eat" where people could just stop by our house to get some soup, rolls and hot chocolate. If they wanted to, they could enter the "Spooky Treat Contest". We had lots of cool entries and there was even a prize for the winner! We had all of the guests cast a vote for their favorite!

We had white chocolate covered chocolate cookie mummies, green cookie witch fingers, yummy peanut butter bars, witch's hats, fluffy pumpkin dip, jello hands, amazing pumpkin roll, peanut butter witch's fingers (they even had a hidden pretzel inside to resemble crunching on a bone!! They looked so real, I couldn't bring myself to eat one!)...and the winner was.....

Bloody Potato Chips!
Jeff and Marianne Orr

brought some Ketchup Chips (you can only get them in Canada) and, obviously, they were a hit!! They won a ceramic pumpkin bowl full of caramel corn! Hope you enjoy! We figured that by the end of the night we had over 115 people come through our house! We were so happy that we had a good turn out...it just may have to become an annual tradition!!

Did you have a nice trip? See you next fall!

2008-11-02T01:57:00.018-06:00

Yeah, I'll bet you're expecting to hear some awesome story about someone biffin' it big time. Although I kind of (actually, I really) want to make one up right now, this post is actually just about the season fall. Sorry to disappoint. I just couldn't think of anything creative to call it, so I thought I'd throw you for a loop.
Gotcha (doubt it).

So, here's what we did to celebrate the fallness around here.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

We met up with my mom and brother to go to Noodles and Company before taking our annual trip to Gardner Village to see the witches.

My dude-alicious.

So, I left my camera at the table with my brother and kids while I went to go order. And, this is what I find when I download the pictures...some random girl! It's a cute picture, so if you know her, give her my email address....fat chance.

Paige getting caught preppin' to blow her straw wrapper across the table. Thanks for teaching them that one, Craig!:)

I realize this isn't the best one of Spence, but look at that little man in the back...gotta' eat him up!

Oh, now we're lookin'!

Chowin' down on their yummy mac and cheese. Seriously, what makes it so good?

Shove it in, sista!

Feelin' so big. He did NOT want to be fed and I came bibless, so my ingenious mom turned his shirt inside out and backwards. It's alright, after we changed it back, his back was only sticky for a couple of days!:)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

We're off to see the witches!

If anyone has four kids or more, you can appreciate this picture. Granted Spence isn't looking (the boy has a disease. Maybe a phobia. Who knows, but 99% of the time he cannot/will not look at the camera while getting his picture taken! So frustrating!), but the rest of them are actually looking and smiling! Miracles do happen folks...here's proof.

Okay, so he's makin' a liar out of me. Here's the 1%.

This witch was gettin' jiggy with it out in the little plaza.

What? I know I'm cool.

They decorate this place up so cute and clever! Love it. I wish I took more pictures of the witches! They're pretty creative!

The kids are enjoying their suckers from Afton's Sweet Shoppe. You'd think that if you were going to draw attention to the water with the witch in it, you'd try to clean the water up a little. In it there was garbage and pumpkins and moss and who knows what else! I was just praying that Spencer wouldn't try to get adventurous and get too close to the water, because from my distance, what could you do? Nothing. Luckily, I didn't have to worry about it!

My sister, Tiffany, organized the trip this year (thanks, Tiff!). These are our kids on the bridge minus her Peyton and my Jackers. From left to right Spencer, Nate, Paige, Talia, Kamae and Kami.

We had a blast up there, although it was super crowded. My other sister, Kristen, met up with us and apparently it took her a half an hour to get into the parking lot to park! Insane.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Austin and I promised the kids that we would do something fun as a family over fall break. So, we went took them to go see Wall-E. In the past, attempts at movies in the theater with all four kids had been ridiculous, but this one actually went really well. I snuck in some Lunchables for each of the kids and some treats and drinks and they were all very content through the whole thing...including Jack! I left the theater having enjoyed myself rather than thinking why in the world did I spend money to be frustrated!?! After that, we headed to the library and then to the dreaded Chuck E. Cheese. We went to the one in Sandy which was refreshingly nicer than the one in Orem. It seemed cleaner and brighter, but I still think I used an entire bottle of hand sanitizer when we were there. I can't let myself think about the germs too much or I get the willies!!
Here are the munchkins in Chuck E. Cheese heaven:

And of course, October wouldn't be complete without carving pumpkins. The girls had a pumpkin carving contest at school later that week. I guess the stipulation was that they had to do it themselves and not use a pattern. So, they were insistent that they do theirs on their own. They didn't quite grasp the concept that just because they draw a picture on their pumpkin it doesn't mean that it will carve well and look like they want it to. They were a bit frustrated, but it all worked out. Even though their pumpkins didn't win, I think they felt accomplished for having done it all themselves!

Picture Tagged...

2008-10-26T14:14:00.002-06:00

I am usually a poor sport when it comes to being tagged, but I thought this one looked simple enough. I am supposed to post the fourth picture from the 4th folder in my picture file. Here it is... (I'm a little nervous to see what it's gonna be....)

Oh, this one's easy. I was more expecting a picture of my big toe or half of Jack's face or the back of our car. My kids find my camera (even though they have one of their own) and take the most random pictures. But, I can't bring myself to delete the craziness because they make me giggle. If you ever want a new perspective of your house (and sometimes of yourself), give your kids your camera for a day and check it out!

So, this picture is us at Lego Land in Southern California. It's one of the few ones that I took that day because I had already decided that I was just going to enjoy the day and not be so concerned about taking pictures of everything. So, I set them up by the fountain, took a couple of shots and that's about it for the day! Oh, I now remember that I did take at least one more picture....it's the one of Spencer bawling his eyes out in front of the sign that indicates that he is too short to ride the bumper cars. That's a good one... Anyway, that's it! Hope you enjoyed the brief look into the fourth folder in my picture file!:)

Tagged...Linda, Sarah, Robyn, Andrea and Krissy! Have fun and can't wait to see what you come up with!

So Cute....

2008-10-24T00:26:00.001-06:00

Little Old Married Couple

2008-10-12T01:26:00.009-06:00

Spencer and Carmyn. These two kids are so incredibly cute together! They play together a lot and have developed this old married couple relationship. It has become so natural for them that it just cracks me up, but also scares me a little bit!
The other day, they were playing Hulaballoo, which is a game where you put different shaped and colored mats on the floor and the DVD tells you which one to step on. The first thing the guy says is to make sure you take your shoes off. Spencer looks down and says, "I have my shoes off already!" Then, without skipping a beat, he heads over to Carmyn who has now taken a seat on the floor, and he starts taking her boots off for her. She saw him turn to her and raised her leg up to him as if they both instantly knew what he was going to do!
On Thursday we went on a pre-school fieldtrip to the pumpkin patch. (I, being the lame mom that I am these days, didn't bring my camera.) Anyway, they had some slides there and after going down the first one, Carmyn did not want to go down the second one. Meanwhile, Spencer has been down several times and then realized that Carmyn isn't joining him. I asked her a couple of times if she wanted to go down the slide and she most definitely did not. Spencer came running over to her, out of breath, and said, "Come on, Carmyn." "No." He put his hands on his hips and told her, "It's really not scary. I already went and it's not scary at all. Come with me, I'll stay with you." And off they went. He grabbed her by the hand, led her up the stairs and then towards the top, let her go in front of him, he put his hand on her back and then ushered her to the top of the slide. My goodness! There's lots of women out there who'd appreciate that sort of treatment and a three year old girl is getting it!
I have tried really hard over the past couple of years to teach him to be a gentlemen, but I was more intending for him to practice on me! He holds doors open for her, carries her backpack into school for her, puts her shoes on, they are either walking hand-in-hand or he puts his hand on her back and leads her along, he always makes sure she is taken care of and he is very protective. They even bicker at each other at times, but rarely do they fight or make each other cry.
It's just so interesting because it comes so natural for him to treat her like a queen. I guess I shouldn't be too surprised...he has a very good example of that at home. His father is also known for treating his girl like a queen. :) I'm so grateful for the good example he shows to our children. I just had no idea his influence would have such an early effect!

I guess all of this doting can really wear a gent out!Opinion poll: I have had an ongoing internal debate about whether or not I should let this sort of behavior occur. Would you even go so far as to consider this a "relationship"? Am I crazy? I just don't want him to get in the habit of being with "a" girl and having a sort of relationship. I know that sounds silly. They are three and four and I know it's all so innocent, but I don't want it to become so natural to him that when he's older it's not so innocent. Although, they, nor I, have ever used the term "boyfriend" or "girlfriend", they can act like it, but I am also very against little kids having "boy/girlfriends", no matter how innocent it may be. I just think it teaches them too young to get into relationships and when they get older, it escalates from there. However, I do like that he is learning how to be a gentlemen, and the two of them are best of friends, they get along great and they are just so dang cute together, but, oh I don't know...I'm rambling...what would you do if you were his mom (or dad)?

Calling All Ideas!

2008-09-28T12:53:00.002-06:00

Well, I was officially transferred(?) from the Stake Primary Secretary to the Stake Primary Music/Nursery Leader today. What I am hoping to get from you are all of the wonderful ideas that you or someone in your ward have used during Singing Time. I have to do a Stake Primary Music Workshop, and it is mainly to share new ideas on how to teach and practice primary songs. So, please share all of your wonderful ideas with me!! I know I can count on you guys!

Kidism

2008-09-23T21:41:00.002-06:00

I was helping Kamae practice piano and she was getting really frustrated and almost started crying. I told her to stop playing, calm down and explain to me what she's not understanding so I could help her. She put her arm across the piano keys, laid her head down on her arm let out a huge sigh. I asked her again, "Kamae, you have to tell me what you don't get so that I can help you." She lifted up her head and loudly said, "F 'n G!" I just bust up laughing, but of course, I couldn't explain to her why!

First Day of Pre-School....A Month Later

2008-09-22T09:23:00.008-06:00

Spencer had his first day of pre-school at Knowledge Adventure on August 26th. I got talking to the owner at a BBQ (she's actually a sister-in-law of a friend of mine) and we ended up trading piano lessons for pre-school! It's perfect! Also, Spencer gets to go with his best friend, Carmyn and it's only about 2 blocks from our house! He absoluetly loves it and his vocabulary and "team work" skills have grown tremendously!

*If you look closely, you can see on the very bottom of his chin where he biffed it! He tripped on a rock and abruptly introduced his chin to the tree trunk!

Robyn and I decided to take these two munchkins out to lunch at Carl's Jr. to make their first day of school even more special. My friend, Krissy, even agreed to hold on to Jack for a little while so that we could make it just about them (thanks, Krissy!) If you haven't seen Spencer and Carmyn together, you should...they are like an old married couple! They just crack us up! I have some more pictures of them together, so I'll elaborate more on it in another post.I was totally teasing Robyn on this morning because she was all emotional about Carmyn going to pre-school. I couldn't even mention anything about it without her getting teary. I was laughing and saying that she'll get over it real fast and that I have been counting down these days. So, I am walking Spencer down the stairs on our way into pre-school and he is holding my hand. I squeezed his hand and then he squeezed mine back. The flood gates immediately opened and there I was with tears streaming down my face. I was trying to hide it because Austin was right behind me and I know he'd think I was ridiculous and I know for sure that Robyn would have had a hay day with that!:) Talk about eating crow! I think I cried a little on Paige's first day of kindergarten, but other than that, it's pretty much been a non-cry fest for me. I was a little caught off guard myself, but when he squeezed my hand it was just like he was saying, "It's okay to let go, mom. It'll be okay." Ahhh...how am I going to handle my kids going off to college? I can't even think about that one...getting teary-eyed just thinkin' about it...

First Day of School...A Month Later!

2008-09-21T20:19:00.006-06:00

Sadly, I still haven't found my camera cable, but Austin borrowed a USB adapter from a co-worker that let me plug my camera card straight into my computer. So, I now have some of last month's pictures! Hooray!

The girls started school on August 18th and they go at 8:00 in the morning! If any of you know me very well, you know how much of a stretch that is, but once we got in the habit, it actually hasn't been too bad! In fact, I even find myself waking up at precisely 6:57am...even on the weekends...grrr... Don't fret, though. I am awake long enough to look at the clock and then I'm off to the land of nod again! I know...shocker!

Paige is now in 2nd grade and has a first year teacher, Mrs. Hendershot. She is adorable and I am impressed at her enthusiasm and confidence. We also have a brand new principal who was the director over the student teachers. I was told that he picked the cream of the crop to come and work at his school and so far, I can vouch for that! She's from Benicia, CA (one of our bitter rivals in high school softball), but I didn't hold that against her!:)

Kamae is in 1st grade and fortunately has Mrs. Hacking, who was Paige's kindergarten teacher. She's a veteran teacher (she's technically already retired, took a year off and now is back!). She knows what she's doing and is pretty strict, but loving at the same time. I was a bit frustrated with the lack of progress in kindergarten last year and I am glad that she has Mrs. Hacking to pick up the pieces. I know she'll make great progress this year!

Let the countdown begin....

2008-09-13T21:29:00.005-06:00

I have watched this numerous times and it just doesn't get old! I laugh just as hard every time! I do want to throw out a quick disclaimer, though. The clip I chose is clean, however it looks like you can link to other clips after it's over. I have no control over those and they seem to be changing, so view those at your own risk. But, enjoy this one...good stuff, baby, good stuff.

Big lessons from a little boy

2008-09-12T13:04:00.003-06:00

Spencer walks upstairs with a handful of Honeycomb cereal. Jack starts grunting that he wants some so I ask Spencer if he will share.

Spencer: "Sure. Whenever Jack wants some, I will share."
Me: "Spence, that's so nice. Thanks for sharing."
Spencer: "I will always share with my brother and sisters whenever they want something. I want to obey."
Me: "You have been really good about obeying lately. That makes me so happy."
Spencer: "Yeah. I like to obey because I want to see Jesus. Mom, that's how you see Jesus, right?"

My heart just melted. Yes, Spencer, that's exactly right.

Retro Post- Utah Jazz Half-time Performance

2008-09-08T12:08:00.005-06:00

Well, since I can't post anything current, I decided to go back through older pictures and see if there was anything I skipped over! Of course, I found some, but I can't believe I didn't post about this fun event!

The girls' dance company was invited to perform at the Utah Jazz game half-time last April! It was such a neat experience and I am so happy my girls got this opportunity. There were lots of extra late-night (well, late for my girls) practices, but all of the hard work was worth it! I took them out of school for the day and we headed up to the Salt Lake Energy Solutions Arena for their afternoon rehearsal. It was awesome because the arena was empty and we pretty much had the place to ourselves!

After the rehearsal, we went and got some lunch and then went to my mom's house to get them ready for showtime! We did hair and make-up and got them all dressed in their costumes!

They were so excited, but once we walked in and they saw how many people were there, the excitement got mixed with nerves! We watched the first quarter of the game from our nosebleed seats and the longer we were there, the more excited they got! After the first quarter we headed down to meet their dance team! They did so great! Unfortunately, not everyone there was interested in the half-time show, including a group of four men with front row seats. They decided to stand up and carry on a conversation, standing the whole time right in front of Paige. I wanted to walk down there and give them all a swift kick to the rear!:) Luckily, my mom got some pictures of her because I couldn't see her at all from where I was video taping!! Grr.... However, the camera man followed Paige on their walk off of the floor and she was on the Jumbo tron alone for about 10 seconds and I was able capture that on tape!:)

Sorry for the delay...

2008-08-31T21:29:00.002-06:00

I know it's been awhile since I've posted, but there is a semi-good reason! My camera is full and we can't find the cable that empties it onto our computer. What's a girl to do? So, for now, I'll just whet your appetite for what will come when that stinkin' cable decides to come out of hiding (actually, it's more for my benefit...Dori on Nemo and I have lots in common when it comes to not being able to remember squat!)!

*Paige and Kamae's Dance Company Audition
*1st Day of 2nd grade, 1st grade and pre-school
*Swiss Days

I'll bet you are all sitting on the edge of your seats in anticipation!

Up for a good laugh?

2008-08-07T23:56:00.008-06:00

I am a diligent forward reader. I receive a good share of forwards from a good share of friends. And lucky for me, they are usually worth reading. The funny ones, however, at best only get, what we Andrus' call, a "cartoon laugh"* out of me (*cartoon laugh: the one syllable "huh" laugh...the kind of laugh that kids or maybe even special adults make when they're watching things like the coyote run into the fake scenery wall that the road runner just rolled out onto the street or when Goofy gets all tangled up in his snow skis). But, since I myself am not much of a forwarder, only a select few are forwarded on from me. Well, tonight I read one that my dear friend, Krissy, sent me (I can't thank you enough...it was a perfect way to end a night out for ice cream!). Maybe because it's two minutes to midnight, but more likely because it was so dang funny, I, for the first time in a long time while reading a forward, laughed out loud and even cried because I was laughing so hard! So, I thought this one was so good that I am going to one up the forward and even post this one on my blog! Yep, that's big stuff, people....big stuff. I don't know, maybe you've all read this before and I'm just the forward nerd that is just now catching up with the cool group. But, I'm willing to bet that if you have already read it, it's just as funny, if not funnier, the second time.....I hope you enjoy it as much as I just did!

Dave Barry's Colonoscopy Journal

... I called my friend Andy Sable, a gastroenteritis, to make an appointment for a colonoscopy. A few days later, in his office, Andy showed me a color diagram of the colon, a lengthy organ that appears to go all over the place, at one point passing briefly through Minneapolis . Then Andy explained the colonoscopy procedure to me in a thorough, reassuring and patient manner. I nodded thoughtfully, but I didn't really hear anything he said, because my brain was shrieking, quote, 'HE'S GOING TO STICK A TUBE 17,000 FEET UP YOUR BEHIND!' I left Andy's office with some written instructions, and a prescription for a product called 'MoviPrep,' which comes in a box large enough to hold a microwave oven. I will discuss MoviPrep in detail later; for now suffice it to say that we must never allow it to fall into the hands of America 's enemies.

I spent the next several days productively sitting around being nervous. Then, on the day before my colonoscopy, I began my preparation. In accordance with my instructions, I didn't eat any
solid food that day; all I had was chicken broth, which is basically water, only with less flavor. Then, in the evening, I took the MoviPrep. You mix two packets of powder together in a one-liter plastic jug, then you fill it with lukewarm water. (For those unfamiliar with the metric system, a liter is about 32 gallons.) Then you have to drink the whole jug. This takes about an hour, because MoviPrep tastes - and here I am being kind - like a mixture of goat spit and urinal cleanser, with just a hint of lemon.

The instructions for MoviPrep, clearly written by somebody with a great sense of humor, state that after you drink it, 'a loose watery bowel movement may result.' This is kind of like saying that after you jump off your roof, you may experience contact with the ground.

MoviPrep is a nuclear laxative. I don't want to be too graphic, here, but: Have you ever seen a space-shuttle launch? This is pretty much the MoviPrep experience, with you as the shuttle. There are times when you wish the commode had a seat belt. You spend several hours pretty much confined to the bathroom, spurting violently. You eliminate everything. And then, when you figure you must be totally empty, you have to drink another liter of MoviPrep, at which point, as far as I can tell, your bowels travel into the future and start eliminating food that you
have not even eaten yet.

After an action-packed evening, I finally got to sleep. The next morning my wife drove me to the clinic. I was very nervous. Not only was I worried about the procedure, but I had been experiencing occasional return bouts of MoviPrep spurtage. I was thinking, 'What if I spurt on Andy?' How do you apologize to a friend for something like that? Flowers would not be enough.

At the clinic I had to sign many forms acknowledging that I understood and totally agreed with whatever the heck the forms said. Then they led me to a room full of other colonoscopy people, where I went inside a little curtained space and took off my clothes and put on one of those
hospital garments designed by sadist perverts, the kind that, when you put it on, makes you feel even more naked than when you are actually naked.

Then a nurse named Eddie put a little needle in a vein in my left hand. Ordinarily I would have fainted, but Eddie was very good, and I was already lying down. Eddie also told me that some people put vodka in their MoviPrep. At first I was ticked off that I hadn't thought of this, but
then I pondered what would happen if you got yourself too tipsy to make it to the bathroom, so you were staggering around in full Fire Hose Mode. You would have no choice but to burn your house.

When everything was ready, Eddie wheeled me into the procedure room, where Andy was waiting with a nurse and an anesthesiologist. I did not see the 17,000-foot tube, but I knew Andy had it hidden around there somewhere. I was seriously nervous at this point. Andy had me roll over on my left side, and the anesthesiologist began hooking something up to the needle in my hand. There was music playing in the room, and I realized that the song was , I remarked to Andy that, of all the songs that could be playing during this particular procedure, 'Dancing Queen' has to be the least appropriate.

'You want me to turn it up?' said Andy, from somewhere behind me. 'Ha ha,' I said. And then it was time, the moment I had been dreading for more than a decade. If you are squeamish, prepare yourself, because I am going to tell you, in explicit detail, exactly what it was like.

I have no idea. Really. I slept through it. One moment, ABBA was yelling 'Dancing Queen, Feel the beat of the tambourine,' and the next moment, I was back in the other room, waking up in a very mellow mood. Andy was looking down at me and asking me how I felt. I felt
excellent. I felt even more excellent when Andy told me that it was all over, and that my colon had passed with flying colors. I have never been prouder of an internal organ.

Orton Summer in a Nutshell

2008-08-05T00:34:00.021-06:00

Okay, so it's going to be in a really big nutshell. Aside from the most recent post, I realized that it's been awhile since I've posted any pictures. So sorry you've had to put up with those obnoxiously long stories and all of those rantings and ravings. Since you've endured, you are all rewarded with a picture summary of our summer! Lucky you!

I can't believe that school starts in two weeks! This summer has flown by! It always amazes me that as you get older, time goes by faster. Why is that? I think I had more fun as a kid (mainly due to lack of real responsibility)...isn't time supposed to go by faster when you're having fun?
I am definitely ready for school to start, but I also remember not too long ago being anxious for summer to start! Will I ever be content? :)

So, here's a sum up and just some pictures of a few of my favorite things...Paige, Kamae, Spencer and Jack!

**Disclaimer: There are very few pictures of Spencer. The boy can't hold still long enough to have his picture taken and if by some miracle he does, he is making some weird face or his eyes are half closed. One day we'll get a good one of him. I'll put some in just so you know he's still around!

Paige went from early December to late April missing both of her front teeth. A good portion of that time she was also missing the two teeth on either side, leaving quite the gap! If you look closely you can see her right front tooth just starting to poke through! For the record, though, they have now all grown in, and quite nicely, I might add. I'm most appreciative of the non-crookedness...so far, so good!

A snap-shot of Miss Kamae. It was refreshing to get one of her not "posing", as she just loves to do!

Kamae, Paige and one of their best friends, Kelzey. She just lives around the corner and it is so nice to have them so close. They all get along really well and they have some really intense dance-offs in her front room! Highly entertaining...you just can't let them know that you're watching.

Paige's art project. Okay, so this isn't really a summer picture. I think it was actually done in April or May. Anyway, she did this for her school art fair. Since I was the one to help her, we decided that we could bake an art project, since I wouldn't really be able to help her much in any other area. She and I spent several evenings on this project and we had a great time doing it together. She put a lot of thought and planning into this and I think it turned out pretty cute!

Out of the 30 or so pictures of Jack I took this particular morning, this was the only one that turned out!

Jack's first time down a real slide. The kids were all very willing to help him...sometimes to his dismay. He loved it, though, and kept going back for more!

Look at how long her hair was! Prepare yourselves for the next picture!

Off with her hair!
It turned out really cute, but over the next week or so, I definitely had "cutter's remorse". She looks so dang cute with it short, but there are still times that I miss her long locks! She cut off about 8", just a couple of inches shy of being able to donate it to Locks of Love. Had we gone short enough to donate, I think we would have had to go short enough to shave her neck...I just couldn't do it, but now I feel a bit guilty. Maybe next time.

Jack's first real haircut. Austin gave him his first, but this was his first time in the chair. As you can see, he didn't mind it one bit!

I love it when babies are old enough to eat whatever we're eating...no more bottles or special baby food! Jack is thoroughly enjoying this piece of pizza! He gnawed on it for a good half hour and then wanted more.
We went to a Rader family reunion (my mom's side) in June up in McCall, ID. It was gorgeous and we all had a great time. There was so much to do and so many friends to be with that the kids didn't ever get bored! There were canoes and paddle boats in a big pond, fishing, frog catching, horse back riding, 4 wheeling, games, activities, yummy food, talent shows and on and on! Thanks Rader Family for a great week! Aunt Kristen and Uncle Craig were so good about keeping the kiddos entertained...thanks so much!
Where did this frog-catching, bug-loving girl come from? She surely can't be mine!

I got the biggest kick out of seeing just Jack's eyes peering over and just his cute feet sticking out from under this table!
Give this boy a ball and he is one happy camper!

Kamae on her way out for a ride.
Last time she rode a horse (she was about 2) the horse got spooked and she fell off and got a big goose-egg on her forehead. She claims to still remember it, so I was glad that that didn't stop her from trying again.
Paige ready to go!Paige and Spencer.
This was the coolest thing! Up in the mountains where we were, there was a beach! A slow moving river comes winding down and there is actual sand! We all took a trip to the beach and this is how the majority of the people got there...in a big flatbed trailer being pulled by a 4-wheeler. It's just a funny sight, if you ask me!

Paige has collected rocks since she could walk. Most little girls would go pick flowers...not her. If I let her actually keep all of the rocks that she has collected over the years, our house would be chock full! I thought it was a phase....apparently it's a really long one!:) It cracks me up because her enthusiasm over each one is unwaivering!Okay, so the water was a bit cold. It was fresh mountain run-off. But look at the skin and bones of this kid...according to our Wii Fit, he's a bit (or a lot) underweight! Those swim shorts are a 2T (he'll be 4 next month) and you can see they're about to fall off! I am constantly telling him to pull up his pants.

I knew the water would be cold, so I hadn't intended on Jack going in. My dad said he was willing to take him out and give it a try, so we just stripped him down. He actually didn't mind it too much and once he got used to it, he was in heaven!Thankfully someone there had an extra swim diaper for him to borrow, well...have. He just loved scooping up the sand and chucking it! Half of the time, it just ended back on himself!

I'll tell you...this ranch is a kid's dream! They have this really long rope swing and Austin would grab the end, run up the hill as far as he could and throw them down with all of his might. These kids would fly through the air! They loved it, but it about gave me a heart attack! Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of them at the highest peak, but trust me, they were way up there!

Our ward primary participated in the Steel Days Children's Parade. They all wore red, white and blue and decorated their bikes. They had a blast!

This was Spencer's first primary activity. He was so excited to be able to go and actually get to do something his big sisters got to do! Notice the eyes on his bike...that was his favorite part!
The next morning, the girls got to dance in the big Steel Days parade with their dance company. The parade route is almost 2 miles and it was hotter than Haiti! They thoroughly enjoyed it as they have for the past several years, but were so hot and tired by the end!

All lined up and waiting to go. Little did they know that they'd have to wait for nearly an hour...they were #67 in the line-up!Then, right after the parade, their group volunteered to perform at a fund-raiser fair for the Down's Syndrome community in our area. Once they got on stage and started performing, we could tell something wasn't quite right. Their formations were all off and it seemed like they didn't really know what they were doing. They've been doing these dances for months now, and we couldn't figure out what was going on. When the dance was over, they told us that the stage was burning their feet (the stage had been sitting in direct sunlight for hours)! They kept right on dancing, but they kept trying to back up so they could dance in the shade! Poor girls! It ended up being a long, hot, exhausting day, but lots of fun!

I still have some pictures to post of Kamae's birthday party, but my camera died mid-party, so my mom and my friend Robyn have most of those pictures. Once I get them, I'll tell you all about it! Other than that, that is pretty much our summer! I hope you have all had a great summer and are as excited as I am for school to start!

Happy Birthday, Miss Kamae!

2008-07-21T13:27:00.005-06:00

July 21, 2008

I can't believe she's six! What? When did that happen? At the same time, however, I've had to remind myself numerous times over the past year that she is only five. With her and Paige doing so much together, I sometimes forget that they're not the same age. I have decided that the ages of 5 to 7 are my absolute favorite. It's been fun to watch her go to school, make new friends and act like a big kid. She has done really well with reading and is thouroughly enjoying being on her dance team. Hannah Montana is her idol and she even got to see Miley Cyrus perform at the Stadium of Fire (thanks for taking her and Piage, Glazners and thanks for the tix, Hardings!) Her progress in so many areas has been a joy to watch and I love having her spunk in my house. She can be a spitfire at times, but that's what I love about her. She's not afraid to be herself and be quirky and funny, yet she can be so affectionate and sincere. I love her with all of my heart...happy birthday, Mae Mae!

Here are some of Kamae's fun facts:
Height: 3' 9"
Weight: 45 lbs.
Favorite color: pink
Favorite food: apples
Favorite activity: swim
Favorite friends: Kelzey, Halie, Brevin, Ariana, Paige, Kami, Talia, Craig, Kristen, Grandpa, Grandma
Favorite Book: Fancy Nancy
Favorite Restaurant: IHOP
Favorite Store: Costco & Justice for Girls
Favorite Song: Nobody's Perfect (Hannah Montana)
Favorite TV Show: Hannah Montana
Favorite Movie: Little Rascals

December 2002

July 2003

July 21, 2004

July 21, 2005

July 21, 2006

July 21, 2007

2008-07-15T21:30:00.003-06:00

I saw this typing thing on my cousin, Staci's, blog, and thought I'd share I weird fact about myself. I love to type!! I loved typing class in junior high and was the teacher's pet. I always finished before everyone else and would go ask her if there was anything I could do to help her. When Austin and I first got married, I applied for a job at the phone book directory place, just so I could have a typing job. Then they told me what I actually had to do and I canned the idea. I played the game Typer Shark for like a week straight. When I first got called into the Stake Primary, they decided to redo an old training manual that had been put together years and years ago. I volunteered to retype it just because it had been copied so many times over and was in poor shape and because it sounded like so much fun to me. Anytime I get to do a free typing test, I get really excited and giddy inside! It's almost (but not quite) as fun as Christmas morning! So, thanks, Stace, for bringing some joy into my evening! I've read on several people's blogs that they enjoy doing laundry. Well, I'll do all of your typing for you if you do all of my laundry...c'mon, I know you have stacks and stacks of papers lying around that need to be typed!:)

2008-07-15T21:21:00.003-06:00

84 words

Speed test

Missing Children

2008-07-03T23:57:00.004-06:00

My sister-in-law recently had a terrifying experience with her two-year-old twins escaping from her backyard. Before long, the whole neighborhood was looking for them and eventually they were found looking at a neighbor's dog four houses down and across the street! Oh, that horrible feeling.

So, she asked people to share some stories to make her feel better. I thought I'd share mine here so that I can have these lovely experiences documented.

I have two stories and unfortunately they are both about the same child...Miss Kamae.
When she about 2, I took her and Paige to the mall. I was pregnant with Spencer and I decided to let them play at the treehouse. We had never played there before and since I was pregnant, I was anxious to get off of my feet. I strategically placed myself on a bench where I could see them go in the one side and up the stairs and out the other and down the slide. Little did I know that there was a second staircase going out the backside. So, I see her go in and I'm waiting for her to come back out. She doesn't come. I ask Paige if she can see her and she says no. I go to look for myself and sure enough, she's not there. It's then that I realize that there's a back staircase and I was so mad at myself for not completely scoping out the scene before I sat down. I quickly went to the store that was directly behind the play area because we were just in there chatting with someone that I knew that worked there. I was hoping that that's where she was. I asked my friend if she'd seen Kamae and she hadn't. At that point I realized how potentially serious this situation could be. I think she saw the panic in my face, so she called mall security and holy moly, was I impressed. They were there in no time, all in plain clothes with ear pieces. They found me and asked for a description. Before long, they got word that she was down at Claire's, probably 3 or 4 stores down the hallway. One of the workers had spotted her and realized that she wasn't with an adult, so she picked her up and sat her on the counter and was looking at earrings with her. Bless her for stopping Kamae! Who knows how far she would've gone if she hadn't. Unless you have experienced that yourself, that feeling is indescribable.

The second time was just a couple of months ago. I was at one of the girls' dance competitions at UVSC. They were performing their last dance and Paige was in the second row of the formation. There's a part where they squat and then kick their feet out behind them (kind of like a push up). Well, their spacing was a little off and the girl in front of Paige kicked her right in the face. Paige, knowing that you're not supposed to stop dancing for anything, cried through the entire dance, but kept right on dancing. I was so proud and so heartbroken at the same time. It was one of the saddest things I've ever watched.

So right after that dance I immediately followed them off of the dance floor to console her and make sure she was alright. I realized once we got into the locker room that I had forgotten all of their sweats on the bench that I was sitting on. So, I asked another mother if she'd keep an eye on my girls while I went back to get them (the locker rooms are so crowded that I didn't dare just leave). When I came back, a look of panic was on this mother's face. I asked what was wrong and she said, "I don't see Kamae. She was just here two seconds ago and when I saw you walk in, I looked for both of your girls and now I don't see Kamae." I told her that she was probably around here somewhere and then I started to look for her.

I went over to the bathrooms. No luck. I came back into the locker room and yelled her name. Then the other mom's started looking around and we couldn't find her. I started pretty non-chalant, then as more time goes on, I start calling her name, then I start walking faster, I start asking strangers, I start yelling her name, etc. I go to the people at the entrance and ask them if they've seen her leave. Still no luck.

Fortunately, she was still in her costume, so it was pretty easy to describe her. As I am asking the ladies at the entrance table, another worker walks up and asks what was going on. I think she could hear the panic in my voice. It just so happened that she was the director of the whole competition. I can hear other mom's calling Kamae's name and the director called in security. By this time, I think we've been looking for at least 10 minutes. I am fighting back the tears, because I know that once I start crying, I'm no help. I need to stay calm so that I can be useful.

I start describing her to security. Paige is by my side and I say, "She looks just like this (pointing to Paige) but she's in pink (Paige was in blue). The director overhears that and says, "We need to make an announcement." We wait until the current performers end their dance and then she interrupts the competition. Over the microphone they inform people that there is a missing little girl who looks like this (they have Paige walk out onto the floor) but in pink. They give out her name and age and say "If you see her, please bring her to this table." People are so nice...as soon as that announcement is made, I see strangers leave their seats.

I go back to looking for her. Mind you, we are in one of the gyms at UVSC and there are several locker rooms that all connect to each other and it feels kind of like a maze. I could easily get lost in there myself (well, that doesn't take much).

At this point, true true fear is setting in. It's probably been 15 minutes. I can't help but think that this is the perfect place for a nasty man to come snatch a little girl. There are so many people there, so many girls to choose from...with each passing second, that possibility is becoming more and more of a reality. It's a sickening feeling.

Two men run up to me (literally running) and say, "Have you found her yet?" "No." And they took off running again. I had probably been asked that question 100 times at this point and each time I have to say "no", that feeling gets worse and worse.

Finally, I hear the words I have been waiting for. "We found her!" Relief. I can breathe again. I run over and ask where. Can you guess where? In the locker room. Which one? The one that we were all in originally.

Apparently, she had put herself inside of a locker, had shut the door and was hiding. Seriously? You have got to be kidding me! Now I have a flood of emotions. I am so happy/relieved that she is safe and I can hold her. I am still so freaked out that I am shaking. I am so incredibly angry that she deliberately made it so that we couldn't find her. I am without a doubt extremely humiliated that I have the entire place looking for her and she was in a locker and she had put herself there.

I take her by the hand into a corner away from everyone and just start sobbing. She is completely clueless as to what has all transpired. She has the most confused look on her face. She can't figure out why I'm crying and so upset. I explain it all to her and once she realized the severity of it she started crying...a lot. Then I have to calm her down as well as myself.

We had a good long talk about it all and made her promise to never do anything like that ever again. Her explanation was that she just wanted to hide and she was waiting for us to find her. But, that would explain why that mother that I had asked to watch my girls saw her one second and then didn't the next. That poor mom...to this day she feels responsible. I keep trying to tell her that I don't hold her responsible even in the slightest, but I think she'll feel guilty about it till the day she dies. She was in tears that day before I was. When we started up classes again after the 2 week summer break, she came up to me and apologized again and wanted to make sure I didn't hate her. Seriously? It's not her fault in any way, shape or form. Who would've known to make sure they don't crawl inside of a locker?

So, those are my scariest experiences. Like I said, the internal horror is not something I can even put into words. But, being reunited after thinking that you could maybe never see them again is one of the best feelings in the world. Do you guys have any experiences? Please share them in the comments!

What a difference some planning can make!

2008-07-01T17:21:00.002-06:00

Well, I'm happy and relieved to report that this past Sunday went much, MUCH better than last week. Jack was still Jack, but the other kids were amazing! It was like night and day! They all packed their church bags and had me double check to make sure they had the right things. We talked about the plan on our short drive to church and they were all on board. We walked into the building and they all headed straight towards the overflow (because we now have to sit in the very back) and they made sure they were sitting in the right order. The girls sang the hymns the best they could and one time I even looked over to find Spencer sitting up tall with his arms folded! It was very rewarding to know that a little bit of planning and heartfelt talks with the kids were paying off! It was a much better experience than the week before and they all attended Primary with no tears and Spencer's teacher even commented to me on how well behaved he was that day! Yipee! There is hope after all!

*Side note: Last Sunday about 1/2 hour after church, Spencer's teacher stopped by the house. She came to tell Spencer that she missed him in church (how awesome is she?) and she wanted to give him a giant (like 6" diameter) rainbow lollipop. Austin relayed to her why he didn't make it to Primary that day and regretted that we just couldn't let Spencer accept that treat after the kind of day that we had and the lesson we were trying to teach him! Austin, Spencer and the teacher made a deal that if he was good the next Sunday that he could earn it in class. She quickly caught on and made the deal with Spencer. Well, he was very proud to be able to walk away yesterday with the lollipop that he couldn't stop talking about all week!!

I thought Sacrament Meeting was supposed to be a place to get away from it all...

2008-06-22T12:36:00.009-06:00

From what? My kids fighting and making messes and crying? Not so much. I left in the middle of Sacrament Meeting crying today. Not because I was feeling the Spirit. Because I wanted to strangle Spencer. Really.

**WARNING**
This post is lengthy and I am on one right now! If you're not in the mood to hear me rant and rave, stop reading right now!! :)

Over the past month or so, Jack has become increasingly difficult in church. Church starts about the same time he usually goes down for his morning nap. He refuses to sleep anywhere other than a bed (it doesn't even need to be his bed, just a bed. My arms? Never.) So, tiredness combined with the fact that he now has an opinion and has a squeal to voice it with, it's really a stressful situation for all involved.

I told Austin as soon as we woke up this morning that we needed to adequately prepare the diaper bag with things that will keep him occupied. Snacks, sippy cups, a myriad of toys, whatever. And, I really didn't want to be late for the 115th week in a row. So, we get going this morning and are sticking right to schedule. Our entire family is ready for church by 9:30 (it starts at 10)! It's a miracle. I start packing the diaper bag and am having a renewed faith that church actually might be worth going to today. We can do this.

We get to church five minutes early and things are going great. However, Kamae is leading our family in and chooses the row four from the front, in which one of the most intimidating people to me is sitting on. I thought about relocating, but convinced myself to stay. I think to myself, "We're early. We're prepared. We can do this." We fill up the other half of the pew.

Sacrament Meeting begins and all is well until the Sacrament is being passed. The bread comes and goes and Jack flips out because he wants more. I had already armored Austin with a bag of snacks because I saw this coming. Jack was so riled up about it, however, that he wouldn't even pay attention to Austin's hand right in front of his face holding some more food. Austin has to shove it in his mouth and we're good.

Jack eventually wanders down towards me and I have my arsenal all ready to keep him busy and happy. I start hiding finger puppets under the stacking cups. He's loving it; I'm loving it. The aforementioned lady is kind enough to help entertain. Then he starts dropping the cups. They start rolling under the pews. Jack crawls to get them and hits his head. Whimper. He recovers quickly. Whew. This goes on for 10-15 minutes and I'm patting myself on the back for coming prepared, thinking to myself, "As long as I bring the necessary equipment, this isn't so bad!"

Then Jack decides he's done. Done with what, you might ask? Done with everything. He wants on my lap, he wants down, he wants his sipper cup, he wants to throw it, he wants the hymn book with the binding that's falling apart so he can further destroy, wants to drop that on Spencer's head, who's now laying on the floor. I see everything unraveling quickly, so I get Austin's attention (who is at the end of the pew...I'm smack dab in the middle) and tell him that Jack needs to leave. He quickly escorts him out, followed by Spencer.

Now, Spencer knows he's supposed to stay. But, he also knows that I am too far away to do anything about it. So, Spencer trails after Austin, which I'm sure Austin is unaware of until he gets to the foyer.

I realize that if I am going to get anything out of this meeting, now's the time. So, heaven forbid, I start paying attention. I glance over at the girls, one of which is laying down on the pew, kicking the other one gently, but just enough to be annoying. I get her to sit up, but I can't get them to leave each other alone...they are either playing or fighting or play fighting. I didn't care what they were doing, it was too loud.

Spencer comes back in, alone, with his arms folded. Then he starts trying to talk to me from the other end of the pew about a book. I can't understand him. I motion for him to come closer, but he just says it louder. Still don't know. I hold up three fingers and he comes towards me. I pull him onto my lap and ask him to whisper it into my ear. I can barely understand the boy when it is just he and I in a quiet room, let alone when I have girls next to me giggling and someone speaking into a microphone and he's whispering so close to my ear that there is condensation. I can't understand him still and he's getting so frustrated. He says he wants to go back out to Dad. I tell him no. He says he needs to go potty. I call his bluff. He starts throwing a fit. He's pushing my arms to get out of my grip. I am thinking of every threat I possibly can. Then I try a different angle. "Spencer, this is Jesus and Heavenly Father's house. We need to be very reverent and listen. Do you think they would be happy if you were hurting your mom?" No affect. I pull out a book and start looking at the pictures. I ask him to find the chicken. It works. Sheesh. Now find the cow. Now count all of the birds in the whole book. That's as far as we got. I had released my death grip by now because he was calmed down. He slithers away when I am again trying to get my girls to be quiet. He's now at the end of the pew and I am a good 8 feet away. He looks at me and I tell him to come back. He stands up and says, "I'm going to get Daddy." I mouth, "Sit down." He walks around so he's now standing in the aisle at the end of our pew. Three fingers are up now. Two fingers... I give him the death look. He starts to come back. I tell Paige to sit on the other side of me so I can grab him. She does and as I lounge over to grab his arm, he stands up. I am now practically laying on the bench and I slide over a little more for my second attempt. He stands in the aisle. I dive over Kamae to finally grab him and drag him back into our row. He starts crying really loudly because he says I've grabbed his arm too hard. By now, I can only imagine everyone's attention directly on us. I swear the speaker even stopped. If not, that's how it felt. I quickly put my hand over his mouth and whisper through gritted teeth, "Stop crying.... Now.... If you don't stop crying, you'll get in big, big, big trouble....... Knock it off......" But now he's starting to gasp for air because he's all worked up and his little nostrils weren't going to cut it. However, I know that if I let go, it's going to be quite the wail. I figure it's better to let him be loud than to make him pass out, so I let go and sure enough. Loud and clear. I let him get the air he needs and my hand goes right back, this time with space between my fingers for ventilation. By now he thinks I'm trying to kill him. He's squirming and bawling and I just pick him up and haul him out.

I open the chapel doors, only to miss Jack, who is on the other side, by an inch or so. Austin is standing right there and I mouth, "I'm going to kill him." I take him into the gym and stand him against the wall. He starts wailing and I break down. Austin is just staring at the two of us, like "What the @#$@ happened in there?" Now, I'm pretty sure that that's not how you are supposed to feel when walking out of the chapel doors.

We both had a good cry. It was several minutes before I could get a hold of myself to begin explaining to Austin what had happened.

When Sacrament meeting ends, he hands Jack to me and takes the other kids away. I couldn't find them for about 10 minutes (mind you, Paige is supposed to be giving the Scripture thought in Primary at this point). Austin finally comes and finds me and escorts me into a Sunday school room where all of my kids are sitting on chairs, perfectly still, perfectly quiet with their arms folded. They all say sorry because they were told to.

I was just so mad and so so humiliated. Paige fell apart and said she didn't feel like going to Primary today because she was so awful. Kamae started crying because I think she felt like she was supposed to. Spencer looked at me and said he was "so so so so so so sorry, Mom." As a mom, what do you say? I couldn't bring myself to say it was OK because it sure wasn't. I just said, "I'm sorry, too. I'm sorry that you can't go to Primary today." He fell apart.

Jack is getting ornerier by the second. We take the girls into primary, splotchy faces and all. Austin helped me to the car to take Jack home for a nap and as far as I know, Spencer will be sitting by him on that same chair for the rest of church. They are still there. I came home and devised a reverence plan for next week. I am just beside myself. I can't believe that we're "that" family. Not next week. Not us. Not ever again. Hopefully.

As if you haven't read enough...
Here's the plan I devised, if you're interested. Wish us luck. Pray for a miracle.

The Orton Family Reverence Plan

We have to earn the privilege of sitting near the front of the chapel.

*We will start in the very back. If we are good, the next week we will move forward several rows. If we are irreverant, the next week we will move back. If we are pretty good, but still need a bit of practice, we will stay in the same place until we get it right.

*In order to get the seats that we need for that week, we need to get there early.

What to bring:
Paige and Kamae:
Each bring one bag
Contents:
Scriptures
1 book
1 Friend
1 Spiral notebook
1 pencil

Spencer:
Can bring one bag
Contents:
Scriptures
1 book
1 coloring book
1 small bag of snacks
1 bag of crayons
quiet book from Grandma Orton

Jack:
Stacking cups
finger puppets
snacks (cereal, string cheese, pretzels, etc.)
sippy cup
diapers & wipes

Sitting order:
Paige Mom Spencer Dad Kamae
-or-
Kamae Mom Spencer Dad Paige

Ideas to participate in Sacrament Meeting:
* Sing the hymns
* Listen to the talks and come up with trivia questions to ask the family later
* Draw a picture about something that the speakers were talking about
* Sacrament Meeting Bingo
* Read the Friend

Rules for Sacrament Meeting

* Get a drink and go to the bathroom before we leave for church
* There will be absolutely no leaving during the meeting
* Stay sitting up at all times
* Stay on the bench at all times
* If you need to say something, it must be whispered
* If one of the parents has to take Jack out, you are not allowed to go. Don’t ask!
* No trading or borrowing things from another person...what you bring with you is all you have. You are in charge of getting your bag prepared properly.

Once we make it back to the front of the chapel and do a great job, Mom and Dad will take you out for a fun evening!

Kidism

2008-06-15T00:39:00.002-06:00

I was informing Austin the other day that the girls had a make-up class for gymnastics on Saturday morning because they missed their class during the week due to dentist appointments. Kamae overhears me and starts jumping up and down and clapping and says, "I'm so excited, Dad! We get to go to a make-up class!" As she's saying this, she's miming putting on mascara. She really thought that she was going to a class that was going to teach her how to put on make-up! We got a pretty good laugh out of that one!

Who are you and what have you done with my children?

2008-06-12T08:57:00.006-06:00

Now that summer is in full swing (well, except for the weather....seriously, what's going on?) I decided that it was time to get my kids doing chores. I know that most of you have probably had your kids doing chores for eons now, but with me teaching piano last year, I just didn't feel like it was fair to them (or the babysitters) since I wasn't around to oversee it. So, I've been chomping at the bit to get chores going now that they have my full attention! Sunday night I sit the kids down and start going over their new chores. There are some they have to do everyday and 6 that they have to do once a week (one on Monday, one on Tuesday, etc.). So, I fully expected to get the loud sighs and eyerolling as I'm dishing out their responsibilities. No siree! They are jumping up and down with each new chore that they "get" to do (their words) and with the ones that they are really excited about, I got a kiss on the cheek! Holy moly! Are they serious? Who knew?! I guess I should have started this a long time ago! So, Monday morning I wake up and the girls are already dressed and their room is clean and beds are made. I'm not awake for 1 minute before they are requesting the chore chart to be printed! I print it off and post it on the door and they are just giddy! They got it all done (and it's quite a bit) in record time and they've been just as excited every morning since. Paige even does a load of laundry and is getting pretty good at it. Okay, folks, I'm not delusional enough to think that this enthusiasm is going to last, but I am sure going to enjoy it while it does!! Now, if I could just get them this excited about practicing piano, we'd be set!

Last Day, I Promise

2008-05-27T23:53:00.006-06:00

We inevitably started the day off swimming. Well, I guess I shouldn't say we. Austin took the kids swimming after breakfast while I went back and laid Jack down, got ready and started packing our exorbitant amount of stuff. I honestly can't believe how much stuff we ended up having to take and we actually used almost everything. It's insane. Actually, here's a picture of all of our schmack...for only two nights. Seriously?

It's never a good thing when you're glad it can all fit on one cart. So, like I was saying, the kids went swimming...again. It makes me wonder if one day we ever owned a pool if I would ever see my children dry again or if the magic would wear off after too short of a period of time. The funniest thing about all of this is that when we were driving home, I noticed that most of the kids had really rosy cheeks. I thought, "Oh, no! They're getting sick!" Then one of them mentioned that their shoulders hurt. It wasn't until Austin mentioned that his did as well that I realized that they all got a little sunburned! As you can see, it's an indoor pool! Isn't that crazy? Who would've thunk? I can only figure that it's from the reflection off of the water. So, note to self: "Wear sunblock, even indoors!?!"

When they were all done swimming, we got them all ready and Austin and I started loading up. I looked over and all of the kids are on the bed just glued to whatever was on TV. I snapped a picture, which, in turn, became a little picture fest. I took probably 10 and sadly, this is the best one. C'mon, Spencer...

That kid's impossible to take a good picture of. Most of the time I think it's because his eyes are so darn big that it's inevitable to get a shot of him with them completely open. But this? I have no explanation...

After we got all loaded up, we were definitely excited to see that all of our tires still had air in them! :) That's always a good thing. We headed out and decided to take a stroll down Main Street. It was so fun. Like I said before, it's sad that we've never done this in our own town and someday soon we need to. You never know what you're gonna find!

The kids thought this was the coolest thing on the planet.

A little further down we found the cutest soda fountain in Bulloch Drug store. My friend, Ally, recommended it and I'm so glad we went! When I'm rich I will have one of these in my house! I was in heaven. Surrounded by candy jars and soda fountains. Not just because I love candy and soda, but the whole atmosphere made me giddy. I would've loved to have grown up in the 50s and I think this is as close as I'm gonna get anytime soon!

Look at all of the candy jars behind us! Yippee!!

After sodas, candy and A LOT of free popcorn (I'm sure the girl was so glad when we finally left), we finally thought we were headed home. On the way out we spotted a museum. Austin and I decided to check it out. We laid down the rules before going in: if it would cost us less than $10, we'd go in, if it was more, we'd opt out. Well, can't beat $6 for our whole family. I thought the kids would be beggging to go home, but they loved it! We spent WAY too long there for my liking, but I was patient and let Austin and the kiddos have a grand ole' time.

Paige pretending to work an old loom.

Some funny signs I came across. If you can, try to read the small print.

Spencer could've stood here all day!

Mr. Orton's class is in session.
They all took turns being in the dunce corner. Them trying to look sad just cracked me up!
Woops!
Try again!:)

We finished up at the museum and started heading out of town.

Okay. Prepare yourselves, folks. This had to be the most entertaining part of the whole trip. I'm so glad we didn't miss it! I was driving and when I saw this, I practically stopped in the middle of the road to take this picture! I couldn't believe my eyes!

We actually saw people "LARP"ing! Time Out: The only reason I have any clue what this is is due to my quality education from Beauty and the Geek. When they explained this on the show (I guess one of the geeks was way into it), I couldn't believe that people actually did that! Then I saw a group with my own two eyes! I was belly laughing! LARP stands for Live Action Role Playing (I think) and they take these foam swords and shields and make up this whole story line and whack each other and they "lose" limbs, etc. It's ridiculous. If I didn't have all of the kids with me, I would've gone and hung out at the park just to get a closer look. The saddest part of all of it to me, though, is that I can see a stroller in the second picture. Oh, that poor, poor baby...

And thus concludes our epic journey to Cedar City. For your sakes, I hope we don't take another, more eventful trip anytime soon! But for my sake, I hope we do! We had such a fun time and it accomplished everything we hoped it would...fun, bonding and memories! I'm so blessed to have such a wonderful family!

Day Two

2008-05-18T20:21:00.012-06:00

I know by the time I am done blogging this that it's going to feel like the longest trip in the world. We went over a month ago and I'm sure no one really cares anymore, but I have to finish what I started. Sorry it's taken so long...life's been a little crazy.

Day two starts with the kids being so so so excited to go eat breakfast. They know from our trip to So Cal that breakfast in a hotel means that they have many choices and they are in charge of what they get to eat. So, we went down and ate breakfast and they all took way more food than they could ever eat, but that's all part of the fun of it for them. Then Austin took them swimming while I laid Jack down for an early nap and I got ready for the day. They came back a little while later and we started the long process of getting them all ready for the day, which had to include baths due to the excessive amount of chlorine in the pool. They were so excited to leave because we were heading out to go bowling, then out to lunch and then to go see Horton Hears a Who. We head out of the hotel, all excited, to come upon this:

Seriously? Our front tire is completely flat. So flat that our car was tilting. Remember that our first stop before heading down was to? Oh, yeah! Get new tires! Let me tell you, I was so excited to get to buy another one. We thought maybe we just got a dud, but the people said it was a puncture. Lovely. It was so anticlimatic! We get all ready, all psyched up to go bowling and they get to wait in the car for about 45 minutes while we put on the donut. Our car jack gave out on us, so we had to find someone else's to borrow. Good times. Good times.

But, just as before, I thought the kids were going to be all whiney now that our plans have to be delayed to get a new tire. (No, we couldn't just get it fixed because it was on the side wall of the tire. So, we got to buy another new one! Yipee! I love the added expenses of trips that you weren't planning on!) So, we head over to Wal-Mart to get the tire replaced and the kids were so excited that we got to eat at the McDonald's there. I never let them eat at ours because I am so not a McDonald's fan. So, they felt like they were getting spoiled. We ended up at Wal-Mart for over an hour, but they found ways to entertain themselves. Who knew?

I'll bet good ole' Ronnie's never had this much attention! The kids were so determined to take pictures with him. Whatever floats their boats, right?

So, we finally leave and go watch the movie. Luckily Austin and Spencer had already seen it (they went with Scott and Linda and Tanner once during one of the girls' dance competitions) because Jack was not at all excited to be there. He started out okay, but once he had had enough, he was done. So Austin spent most of the movie pushing his stroller up and down the hallway along side the stairs in the theater. He pretty much just got to hear it the second time. Thanks, Austin!:)

Then we went over and went bowling. Okay, so what's up with the price of bowling? It was about $30 for our family to bowl one game. It's bowling, for Pete's sake! Whatever. The kids had fun, we built some memories and that's all that matters.

Jack took the nap he was desperately needing during the movie. He slept almost the whole time!

Kamae posing for the shot as usual!:)

I was so proud of Paige. She felt she was too old to use the ramp, so she bowled the whole time like a grown up. She would get so frustrated, but she didn't give up. No matter where she started or what she did, the ball would go to the back left corner EVERY TIME! She's anxious to go back a try again.

I know it's blurry, but she actually had pretty good form. You know, since I'm such a bowling expert and all!:)

This happened at least twice. Either Kamae or Spencer thought they wanted to be like Paige and not use the ramp. The picture's really dark, but the ball didn't even make it to the pins. We'd have to call the person to come and help us. I'm sure they loved us! (The ball's on the left side.)
Jack woke up towards the end and was a much happier camper.You'll have to excuse all of the food chunt on the collar of his shirt. That's from all of the food I was trying to shove in his mouth during the movie to keep him quiet!
I just like this picture of him. This is what he's like a lot of the time...just watching and observing.

All I have to say is that I was very glad to be somewhere that I knew I wouldn't know anyone. We realized while we were at Wal-Mart that Austin and I forgot to bring socks for bowling. So I just bought a package for Austin (since he needed some anyway) and I just wore a pair of his. I was also wearing capris, so needless to say I looked so hot that I needed to take a picture. Aren't you proud you're my friend?The final scores. I'll bet you can't figure out who fudged their score a little!

Of course as soon as we got back to the hotel, the kids were right back in the pool. This swim suit that Jack has on is 6-12 months. Normally he wears bigger clothes than that, but look how long these are! It made me laugh!
I bought the kids some goggles at Costco before we left! It was the best $15 I've spent in a long time! They loved them! I was glad they had them, too, because with as much chlorine that was in that pool and how long they were in it, their little eyes would have been fried!
Paige being silly.
Austin bathed the boys and they came out of the bathroom like this! Ah, my cute little men!
Day two comes to a close. The kids went to sleep really well...it helps that we had a packed day and they were all really tired!

Day One (continued)

2008-05-06T21:34:00.005-06:00

I forgot to mention in "Day One" that we no sooner walked into our hotel room before the kids were stripping their clothes off asking where their swimsuits were. Needless to say, we spent most of the day swimming. Then we went to Brad's Food Hut for dinner (oh, yummy greasy fried food and thick shakes) and came back and played games. It's so fun now that our kids are older and they can play games that are actually enjoyable for Austin and I as well. Our favorites are Mexican Choo Choo (dominoes), Sorry and Pictionary, Jr. We get pretty competitive during Pictionary! We just went in the breakfast "dining room" and slid some tables together. We laid Jack down in the hotel room with a make-shift monitor (we forgot to bring one, so we had my phone call Austin's and left mine in the room and brought his with us and left it on speaker. It actually worked pretty well! Thank goodness for free mobile to mobile minutes!) Jack finally went to sleep and we played games. When we were done, without thinking, we gave the kids the room key and they ran up ahead. Do you think they were nice and quiet upon entering the room? Of course not! They barge in and Jack starts crying. Yeah! Now I'm completely exhausted and Jack's awake and ornery! Grr... I wasn't a happy camper. He just crawled around on our bed for awhile and then he eventually went to sleep. It's never easy trying to get four kids (one being a baby) all to sleep in the same room. It did happen though...eventually.