Stroud Scene

Happy New Year!

2012-01-16T00:28:00.000-08:00

Here we are at the begining of a New Year. I feel like we're only a couple weeks into it, yet I'm running months behind. For everything that I cross off my list five more get added. Blogging was left by the way-side of things I don't have time for right now. It's the only journal that I keep so it's a new-years resolution to make it a priority. Aiming for once a week as long as we're in town I figure that's reasonable enough. It will probably take me to June just to get caught up anyway so I won't have a shortage of things to post. I just posted my Girl's Italy trip photos tonight, even though as you can see from the date I started to create that post in October (so, so sad). So don't think it's weird when you see Halloween Pictures in February right next to Valentines day. Love you my dear family and friends! Thanks for hanging in there with me through the months of absences. I'll do my best to catch you up on our lives...

Venice Girls Trip!

2011-10-16T13:43:00.000-07:00

I've been planning a trip to Venice with my girl friends for about two years now. Squirling away the funds, and planning (well, Brandon did the squirling and Denise did the planning). I did the enjoying! It was the four of us...

We flew from Phoenix to Atlanta to Paris to Venice...our last mode of transportation looked like this...
...waterbus didn't see a single car there, our gondolier didn't know how to drive.

We saw the sights...the Rialto Bridge built in 1591 pairs of shops actually line the bridge! Beautiful.

Views from the Bridge...

St. Mark's Square...Denise found us an awesome apartment about a minute's walk from St. Mark's. We were right in the middle of it all!

We went up St Mark's Campanile (Campanile di San Marco in Italian) It's the bell tower of St Mark's Basilica in the Piazza San Marco. It reached it's "current form" in 1514.

It's the tallest structure in Venice, so we could see it all.

This is a birds-eye view of the Doges Palace...which we were able to tour on our last day there...more later.

In St. Mark's square....EARLY in thr morning, it was SOOO crowded during the day!

Also in St. Mark's square...Saint Mark's Basilica. It was undergoing some renovations.

Typical Sights to see on a Venician Street...

Denise and me...

Went to the Opera at La Fenice. Built in 1774, burned down and re-built twice. It was a georgous building!

Saw LOTS of churches...

Grand Canal

On the Accademia Bridge over the Grand Canal

Traffic Jam...

Inside of the Doge's Palace in the courtyard. Wish I could travel through time and see Carnival Ball coming through the courtyard after they got out of their carriages. I love to be in places rich with history! The Doge's Palace is like our White House. The Doge is the President. It was where they ran the government, and held trials

Supplies coming in for the Coup (grocery store)The cart on the boat there with two wheels would be loaded up then pulled by hand to the stores

Had a strict three item diet while I was there...

All good things must come to an end. You really could spend a month in Venice and not see everything that you want to. We had five days. We left early in the morning for Italy's Cinque Terre: Vernazza...

The Train ride there...Still can't believe we made it on the right trains and transfers when no one spoke english.

Cute Little Italian Mama...we met her on the Train ride...the girls were teasing me that they went to sleep and by the time they woke up I was speaking Italian with her :0) She was so sweet! She even invited us to come and stay with her and she would cook for us...I love to travel and meet people.

It's a beautiful little fishing village right along the coast. "Cinque" means 5 in Italian, because there's a chain along the coast of five little villages. You can hike between them or take a short 5 minute train ride to each one. After Venices 15 hour days of go-go-go, this laid back little town was just right.

Me and the staple of my diet while I was there, Gelato! First car we've seen in a week and it's closer to a tricyle than a car. It's the trash collection vehicle. I think that the locals thought we were pretty wierd taking a picture of the trash car.

Vernazza was a much slower paced town, it was delightful to visit with locals and shop and walk and hike...

Hiked up to this tower that overlooks the town in one direction and the opposite direction looks out to sea. They used this watch-tower to protect the village from pirates.

Hiked one town over to Montoroso. It was a long, hot hike with lots of stairs. But it had nice scenery!

We took the train back and ate lunch...delicious food there!

We ate more gilato and people watched down by the water...Some fishermen threw this octopus up on the dock right infront of us.

I know it doesn't look fancy, but hands-Down Best Spagetti I'll ever have in my whole life!!!! I inhaled it, and since it was our last night ordered a second plate and ate that one too. I seriously have dreams about that spagetti, and it's not like I have a passion for spegetti. It was just so so Good!

We had to bid "arrivederci" to this sweet sleepy little town...

...and say "Buon giorno" to Pisa. We took the traditional "Look mom! I'm holding up this leaning tower"-pictures.

It was truely the trip of a life-time. I love these girls and the time that we got to share there in Italy! Memories that I'll always cherish!

We hopped on the plane to come home. It seemed it took us two days to travel home, but my loving family was waiting for me there and I missed them! Brandon juggled the kids and work for me while I was gone. The kids had all set up their "desks" to work when Daddy needed to work. And he did tons of fun things with them. Oh, how blessed I am!

Ciao!

Family Trip: July 4th in Flagstaff

2011-10-14T19:45:00.001-07:00

We had a fun relaxing time for the 4th in Flagstaff...

Went to Bearizona and saw some pretty cool animals like a White Buffalo and lots of bears.

(Bailey really did have fun)

Went Swimming...

Went to the carnival that was in the down-town square...

Watched some Firecrackers...

Came home to watch the Haboob come over the mountain then take over the house. It was wild! It was black as night outside then it cleared back up to day. Lived here my whole life and never got to see one come like that. It was awesome!

Family Summer trip to Maui

2011-07-27T17:07:00.001-07:00

Our summer trip was our best family trip ever. The kids still talk about it, beg to go back, pretend they're going there with their little suitcases on at least a weekly basis. Maui is heaven on earth. How could we make moving there work? Of course, if we're going to be living there I want to live at the resort...

The ocean out in back of our resort.....perfectly clear water and un-crowded beaches.

Bailey and Brock never came out of the water. There was really good snorkeling starting about 10 yards out and they loved seeing all the fish!

Sophie wasn't as crazy about the ocean as the sand. Except she kept asking to go wash her hands cause they were dirty.

Daddy hanging on to Sophie keeping her from getting too far into the water...just can't keep the sand out of the suit though...

Sadie on the otherhand loved both. Couldn't get enough beach! Rachel and I spent hours with her in the tide grabbing pretty rocks and shells befoe the water would take it off again. Then she'd make a castle in the sand and decorate it with all her finds. She said the Beach is her favorite place in the world!

The Pool was amazing! The little girls were in heaven. It really was so cool! Not that we spent a lot of time there. We've got pools at home. We don't have an ocean like that though!

It was so nice to have a sweet girl with us to watch our kids so we could do romantic dinners together at nights. How's that view for dinner?

In front of a Banyan Tree getting ready for our Boat ride and Snorkeling day...

Everyone loved the boat ride, only three of us felt a little sea-sick (even taking motion sickness meds) It got pretty choppy and hot on top of that boat. But the kids totally loved it. Once again, having Rachel there with an extra set of hands was totally indespensible. We had multiple kids in the water and on the boat, wanting to go down the boat slide again, etc. She made it so much more enjoyable!

There were ups....

and downs....

views on the way to the snorkel sight

Lots of snorkeling videos, no photos sorry....

That night when we got back we had a picnic on the beach and watched the sun set down over the water. The kids loved playing on the beach some more...We plaied until the sun had gone way down and then some before we walked back up to our rooms.

More Beach time the next day...

Building Sand Castles...

Wearing Mommy's sunglasses...

Ok, you know you can't make a 4 year old strike that pose right? It was just a spontainus flip of the hair. So funny...

Walking down the beach's board walk to the Luau on the beach. The little girls especially were so excited to dance on the beach, and Brock wanted to see the roasted pig and the fire-knife dancers.

The girls gathered up fallen flowers while we waited for the Luau to let us in. It was about a 10 minute walk, and it was warm and we had been in the sun all day. Rachel passed out in line. Brandon caught her and all was fine. She even got us into the Luau with cold drinks in our hands right away! :0)

There's that roasted Pig Brock was so anxious to see...

The dancers the girls loved....

Next day was more time at the beach...can't get enough!

Sad when it's time to go...

Leaving the Airport...

When do we get to go back?

Aspen

2011-05-22T19:08:00.000-07:00

I know. I do. I am a lucky girl! Brandon took me to Aspen, CO for a long weekend getaway for our anniversary. It was a few weeks after the date, but it's what worked with work travel schedule. It was so beautiful. We drove from Denver to Aspen. It's about a four hour drive, and you can fly straight into Aspen. But we love to drive together, and it was such a beautiful trip...

I've skiied in Utah and Arizona, Colorado was totally different. It seems that we've always driven through the valley's and into the mountains for atleast a 1/2 hour or more to get to the slopes. Aspen and Vail, you walk across the street and get on the ski lift. It was so beautiful, the people so friendly and nice. It's like an island attitude transplanted into a ski town. Everyone is very earthy. We had so much fun. Oh, and I saw Melanie Griffith at Starbucks. She even talked to me. She said: "excuse me, can I get by? My kids are right up there", then she cut in line. I know, totally an earth shattering conversation. I guess stars go on vacation too, and it's not always to the tropics. He! He!

Standing on top of one of the peaks, looking out at the mountains I realized how much of a wilderness this little town was nestled into. The pictures just couldn't capture the vastness of the mountains. I wish I had a panoramic!

And the big event was the Mat Karney Concert. Which was held in a building that was the origional theater in town (origionally a silver mining town), built in 1890 I think it was. It was a beautiful building. The concert was super fun too. Brandon's so good at finding these intimate concerts that Mat does. We sat in the second row right in the center!

So it was an awesome trip. I had so much fun with my baby. We have been married for over 15 years now. I love making awesome memories with him and our family visiting these fun places. Like I said, I know: I'm a lucky girl!

Easter

2011-04-27T23:09:00.000-07:00

The Dresses are done, wohoo! I hope to get some better pictures from some my sister took. I didn't get any from before church, when everyone was at their best.

These are before church when no one's hair was done yet, and Sadie's straps wern't adjusted to the right size yet. She wasn't awake when I finished the dress so I couldn't finish until that morning. Everyone is always too preoccupied to entertain such outragous notions as looking at the camera and smiling for a second.

The look on their faces when they found Easter baskets in Daddy's office...

Bailey's earings from the Easter Bunny...she was pretty excited about them.

Our silly Daddy always scores some laughs. The EB brought Mommy & Daddy snorkling equipment, yeah! I know that will come in handy!

Sweet little cuddly Sophie, before she turns into a candy gremlin...

After Church, a long car ride and a nap...we weren't at our best anymore, but I still think those kids are pretty cute if I do say so myself. I'll have to take some individual detail photos of their dresses to post later...

Bre and I in our classic "Photo we take of ourselves"...it's a gathering tradition.

Me and my hero, my dad. (Yes that is an actual smile for a picture...I must be his favorite! :o)

Brock's Tron Party...

2011-04-27T22:09:00.000-07:00

The week after our trip to Aspen was the wedding, the weekend after that was Brock's party, the day Julene came to town, and two other weddings I played a very minor roll in helping with. It was kind of hectic trying to pull it all together and with the help of my sweet friends I was able to. Denise made these FANTASTIC cupcakes (so good! she really could go into the business of deliciousness) for both parties ...friend party in the morning, family party that night... then staied and finished helping me pull Bailey's room together before Julene arrived (I should post some of those pictures too, it was such a rewarding project). My friend Peria that had borrowed some stuff for her son's wedding returned the things to me that moring, and took my girls home with her for the party, came back with them after the party and then her and her girls helped clean up the party mess and get everything ready for the next party! My dear friend Shelly ran all the games for me so I could work on getting the food ready for the boys (and because I really hate playing the roll of MC even to kids, I'd much rather work behind the scenes). Who could ask for better friends than that?! They all just jumped in so willingly and made it happen! I'm so greatful for such wonderful friends...if only I'd taken pictures of them!

Such cute cupcakes!!

This was just the first wave of cupcakes, there was tons more for the second gathering...

Everything was so cute and simple! There is suprizingly NOTHING out there for a TRON party. I was shocked and dismayed that I had already told Brock Sure! A Tron Party should be super easy! It just came out right? Absolutly nothing in the stores. The Disney website did provide some free printables THANK GOODNESS, past those few things the colors was all I could do to keep the TRON theme alive.

It ended up being a truly wet and wild party. The boys were all neon blue smiles from ear to ear though, and that's all that matter's right?

Brock in Wet outfit number three, the shirt Daddy brought him back from Brazil. The super soaker presents were a huge hit!!

Boy's & their toys: Super Soaker War games...

Just after the wish has been made for the traditional "Happy Birthday" Song...I think he got everything he wished for!

Kids enjoying the cupcake goodness. I'm sure glad I had the kiddos eat those cupcakes outside!

LOVE Sadie in this picture. It's so "Sadie" to have her little apron and chef's hat on, and her legs crossed. I love that girl so much!

Cohen and his cupcake. He is as he would say one "HAAANDSOOOM" boy!

Bre the Nanny...

2011-04-27T22:03:00.001-07:00

My sweet sister Bre was willing to come into town to play nanny for me for two weeks between a trip Brandon and I took to Aspen (More on that to come) and all the time I was gone for the wedding stuff. She is such a sweet, fun, patient Aunt to the kids. They absolutly adore her! She's the perfect person to watch my kids. She's responsible, but is way more concerend with playing with the kids than stuff that doesn't really matter and can wait. I love that about her! For two weeks after she went back home the kids asked daily when she was coming back and the younger one's kept asking where it is that she went! I adore that they love her so much!

If at first you don't succeed...

2011-04-26T18:17:00.000-07:00

I having been trying to be better at this. It's either feast or famine when it comes to be blogging apparently! So I'm taking another crack at staying "current".

So I've been keeping super busy the last couple months. I have a really good set of friends who are sisters. One of the sister's (Danae) was getting married and the other sister (Denise) was trying to pull it all together for her. So I helped with the wedding. It was super fun. Danae was a really easy to please kind of bride. We did a bridal shower at my house, a family dinner the night before the wedding at Denise's House and then the reception the day after the wedding so there was lots to do for many days. I love it so much though, especailly working with such fun, creative friends. We had to move the reception inside at last minute due to the rain so there was lots we couldn't do. I don't have those pictures yet, so I'll have to post some when I get them. It all turned out really cute in the end.

The Family Party was a great opportunity for the families to meet eachother as the groom was from Idaho and the families had never met. There was over 100 people there. It had a "cowboy theme" it was fun and relaxed and casual.

Here's Denise and her cute family. I was her partner in crime on the wedding plans.

Danae (the bride) , Me and Denise

Earlier that day when we were cleaning and setting everything up. Don't hate me for posting it Denise, you're georgous even without your makeup on!

True to form I am too busy to stop and take pictures of the event itself, I'm hoping the sweet photographer won't mind sharing a few with me. These are the couple I got of the decor...

...and the bride and groom...

I took a couple of pictures of the reception with Denise's camera so I'm hoping to get some of those up here soon too! More to come...

My Special Family

2011-03-09T22:57:00.000-08:00

I've been reminded so much lately how blessed I am with such a wonderful family! I've had these little every day, non-spectacular moments that have left their stamp on my heart. I'll just be watching something as simple as Brandon holding Sophie or Brock and Sadie playing together or look over at Bailey in the car and realize she's growing up into this beautiful (on the inside and out) girl and I feel that squeeze in my chest and my eyes tear up, and my heart is full of gratitude to my Father in Heaven for the miracle that is my family. I don't mean to come across as bragging, I'm just grateful, and felt the need to write it down, and this is the only journal-type thing I keep. It's just that my Family is the biggest blessing in my life. Brandon is the most wonderful husband in the world to me. He's sweet, thoughtful, and generous, he makes me laugh and he is truly my best friend. I have more fun with him than anyone in the world. He supports our family so that I can stay at home with my four beautiful children. There is nothing that I would rather be doing. I'm grateful to be a wife and mother. Brandon is so sweet with these adorable, healthy kids of ours. He's such a great daddy.

Sometimes these little things happen, moments that I feel true joy in my children. I was hanging up some clothes in my closet the other night when Bailey came into the bathroom and struck a pose in her jammies and slippers. Two seconds later Sophie came in and did the same. Bailey had been playing with her all night. Got her Jammies on her, reading books, giggling and chasing, the whole thing. She's such a wonderful big sister to her little sisters and brother. She's a terrific example to them. The Lord sure knew what he was doing when he sent me Bailey first! I'm so grateful for healthy kids, for happy kids. Each one is a miracle in my life.

Uncle Shane comes for a visit

2011-03-09T22:48:00.000-08:00

Uncle Shane used to live with us before he was "Uncle Shane", and just plain ol' Shane. We love him so much. He's so special to us. He's married now with a family of his own, and has since moved way over on the right coast. We miss him around here. It was great to have him in town for a few days so the kids could get to know him again (two for the first time really). It was nice to get him all to ourselves, even if only for a little while. Sadie after the first day when Shane had to leave for his in-town conference kept asking when "Daddy's friend" was coming back. Then for a few days the question was "mom, who do you think is funnier, Daddy or Uncle Shane?" That's some stiff competition, because Daddy is hilarious to the kids! He's so sweet and fun with the kids. They had a great time with him! They keep asking about him, and why he had to go...they miss him. We miss him too.

That's totally how he dresses everyday too.... ;0)

Strangest Weather We've been having...

2011-03-09T22:41:00.000-08:00

So, I'm not quite ready to bid farewell to "winter" yet. There is such a minor difference in the weather here. We had this one week...yes, that's snow on the tops of the mountains you can see from the front of my house. Dressed all nice and snuggly warm....then 80's this week and im digging out the shorts and t-shirts with all the new leaves sprouting. What's up?! I feel like we should get at least one more month of sweater weather!

Science & Art Fair night at the school...

2011-03-09T22:32:00.000-08:00

Bailey made a volcano. Love the Neon stripes of Lava, don't you?

Brocky has a poster and his eggs-periment to see how different foods and drinks effected the color of your teeth.

Their art... Brock's Self Portrate. I think that's the face he's making in it too. :0)

Sweet Bailey's chalks (on the bottom)

So proud of my brillant kiddos!

Happy Valentines Day!

2011-03-09T22:30:00.000-08:00

New Addition to the Family

2011-03-09T22:19:00.000-08:00

No, Brandon and I arn't announcing a new arrival in 9 months...we got a dog. She's adorable! THE KIDS LOVE HER! We named her Remi. She's a quick learner, and very smart. The little girls play with her all day long. They even crawl into her kennel with her so she's not alone. She's very sweet.

Sadie's Birthday Party

2011-03-09T22:12:00.000-08:00

Sadie all year long was saying that she wanted a "Strawberry Shortcake" party. I went to the store with her to see if we could find some little plates, etc. She immediately latched onto the Valentine’s Day stuff and wanted that instead. (She was due on Valentine’s Day as a matter of fact then was born a little early!) It turned out really cute, wish I was better at taking pictures the day of, so busy. She looked super cute in her Valentines outfit, loved her chocolate cupcakes and had a brilliant time playing with her friends.

Snorkeling Photos: Found 'em!

2011-03-09T21:55:00.001-08:00

Here's those photos that I had mislocated when I was posting our Hawaii pictures. These were taken in Maui in Molokini Crater (except for the actual crater) and by turtle town. The disposable underwater camera of course does it no justice! It was so much fun! The boat ride was so relaxing. Filled with informative Marine Biologists that were not long out of Collage. They were all so excited about their jobs and the ocean! Who wouldn't be when your job was to snorkel in Maui everyday!!! Served us lunch and breakfast and snacks on the boat and everything. Maybe my favorite excursion, well worth it!

Sadie's 4th Birthday

2011-03-09T21:13:00.000-08:00

For Sadie's Birthday I spent the day with Sadie...just me and her! It was so nice. It is sad to admit that I've never spent all day with just Sadie doing fun things. There's your kids personalities as a part of the group, then they're someone else entirely one on one. Bailey and I do Girls nights, but I haven’t done that with just Sadie or Sophie. I am home with them every day, so I have always tried to make more effort with Bailey. Sadie and I had SO MUCH fun together. My sweet friend Peria happily took Sophie for me for the day. Sadie and I went and saw Tangled at the movies, and ate lunch, went to the Disney store where she picked out her present, played on the toys. Everyone oohh-ed and ahhh-ed over how cute she is (which to totally is! ;0) It was so wonderful. Something I need to do more often with each of my kids. If you haven’t done it in a while, do it…..do it! I loved it so much, it was a day that I just got to enjoy that I had Sadie, she’s so amazing, and beautiful inside and out. I’m so lucky to have her in my life and as my daughter. I love her so much. It was such a wonderful reminder for me of what’s truly important in my life. It’s so easy to get caught up in the every-day aspects of life, that I sometimes forget what a huge miracle it is to have these wonderful little spirits in my presence every day.

I can't get these next two pictures to rotate for some reason...maybe because I took them with my phone's camera. No matter how I rotate them, they upload sideways, sorry.

I'd been sick all week so this is my store-bought cake that Sadie picked out.

Utah Trip- Part: 2

2011-02-07T08:57:00.000-08:00

New Years Eve we left for Papa Dave's House. We did loads of fun things there too. We went to Downtown Ogden to see their Christmas Village. Papa Dave took us in the motor home. It was like 5 degrees outside, so we looked fast. Once again, Sophie was impervious to the cold. She just kept running ahead to the next little cottage.

Papa Dave was sweating in his Russian Ushanka hat. Kristin's Daughter Kristy served a mission in Russia. There's a cute little tiny thing that comes to visit from Russia every couple of years since Kristy's been back named Masha. She brought the hat back for Dave. The kids adored her. Those Russians know how to do cold!

Here's Kristy and Masha. Kristy is the gorgeous red head that is almost as tall as Brandon but scrunched down since I didn't have my shoes on, and felt like the shorty in the middle. Masha, she's the shorty in the middle :0).

One night we met up with all the Ashworth kids (and their kids) and went down to this place called Fat Cat's. It's like Amazing Jakes on Steroids. They had indoor surfing, and indoor skydiving (that was crazy!) We played games and ate at Costa Vida. The girl’s favorite was the little tiny merry-go-round that used to be in every grocery store. I loved watching the indoor skydiving. That instructor was sick. I have video but not photos, sorry.

Papa Dave took us up to Snowbasin for lunch one day. Bre and Addi came with us. We rode the gondola up. It was not the best weather; I actually ended up being glad that we didn't ski. Super windy, and pretty wet just makes it even colder.

Lunch- eat...then play with Bre...and we were back down.

We went to the Treehouse Museum one day (like ALL day) and the kids still didn't want to leave when it was time. It's such a perfect spot to entertain kids when it's too cold to play outside for very long. I think there's a children's museum downtown that is supposed to be similar, but ridiculously expensive to get into. The kids had so much fun, milking cows, riding bulls, climbing the tree, dolls, crafts, knights, plays, trips around the world, too many to name! Sadie's favorite (hands down) was the school, with adorable little desks and chalk boards. A close runner up was the Lego tables where Sadie built her own personal metropolitan area. I know that she's mine, so I'm biased, but she is so SMART! She loves to play quietly at things like Lego’s, Reading, Computer Games, Play-dough, for long periods of time. She's always asking me "How do you spell _______" as she writes things down. It's one of my favorite things about her. She's so cute!

Dave and Brandon took the kids sledding a couple of times. What's a trip to the winter wonderland without sledding?! They all loved it. Especially Sophie, just like her daddy!

It was a wonderful week. No one wanted to go home. We miss our Utah Grandparents so much! They were spoiled with love and fun all day, every day. We wish that we could be closer to them! It was also sweet goodbyes to their Utah cousins. Many tears and my kids now ask everyday when are we going to move to Utah?! They had so much fun playing with all of them. Thank you Papa Dave and Grandma Kristin for your wonderful, magical, fun house full of warmness and hugs. It is a place where we feel so at home, where a kid can be a kid. Thank you for coming home from a long day at work, and callings, and still doing crafts with my kids Grandma! Thank you for playing with them every morning and feeding them, and sending me back to bed Papa Dave! We loved visiting you!

This trip also had an extra sad note to goodbyes...leaving Bre up there. It broke my heart to leave, knowing that she was staying. She has a sweet family in her sister and brother-in-law that are there, but it's the first time anyone in my family has lived out of state on a permanent basis. My kids adore their Aunt Bre almost as much as I do! My mom has also cared for Addison for the first year of her life while Bre had to work. The move meant that Bre gets to stay home with Addi, but both Nana and Addi are having separation issues. They gave each other Skype for Christmas. Addi wants Nana to hand her things through the monitor, doesn't quite get what's in the realm of possibilities yet. But it's amazing what technology can allow! What a blessed and amazing time we live in!

Utah Trip- Part:1

2011-01-30T20:26:00.000-08:00

We drove up to Utah Christmas night. We made it just a day or two before the big storm hit. We spent about a week with Brandon's Mom Julene and the same with Brandon's Dad Dave. I think my kids think that Christmas lasts for three weeks. Everytime we changed locations there was a tree with a billion presents under it for them. They are so spoiled (and loved). Here's some things we did while we visited Julene...

We took the train down to Temple Square to see the lights. It was cold!

We took a horse-drawn carrage around temple square. (It was warmer under the blankets). The horses name was Tom. Sophie just wanted to face forward, stand on the bench and yell "Gitty up!" Over and over. Not sure where she picked that up from. We had to practically pin her down to get her under the blankets to try and get her warm.

Train ride home everyone was a bit more subdued.

Daddy trying to warm up Sophie's hands. She was really cold but didn't seem fazed by it.

Julene got us a gift certificate to La Caille Resturant in Sandy for Christmas. We had a reservation for the night the storm hit. I took a few pictures but they mostly came out white because of the storm, here's some from promotions. Or you can click here for their winter photos from their website. It was a beautiful place. We ate dinner right by the fire. I can see why it would be a popular choice for brides.

Brandon inside the lobby.

table by the fireplace

The best part of the meal we both agreed was the soup, mine french onion, Brandon, Lobster Bisque.

On the ride home it was still snowing, but not as bad, and there wasn't cars spinning off the road in front of us anymore. It was really beautiful (inside our heated car). So we enjoyed the lights and the ride home a little more.

We took all the kids to the Myan one night. It was really fun for them to watch the cliff divers. They climbed up the wall by our table and gave Sadie a high-five. I think the interview process for that place starts with a swim-suit shot. That guy had like zero body fat. Sorry girls I only have video of that.

And we also went to visit Brandon's sweet Grandma Blanche and Uncle Hal. We love listening to her sweet stories and all the wisdom that her years have given her. She'll be 97 this year! Doesn't she look fantastic?!

Christmas Fun

2011-01-30T19:46:00.000-08:00

Every year I say I'm not going to be going crazy this year with all the things that I "have to do". That I will try to focus more on doing the things that are fun with my kids that I "want to do". While I was unable to completely eliminate my must-do list, we still had some fun with the kids... We did gingerbread houses, read a Christmas story MOST nights. Had hot chocolate with marshmallows and made cookies together. We watched Christmas movies at night with the backdoor open snuggled up under blankets (so we could pretend it was winter outside). I tried to have my kids hear more from me about Christ then Santa. I realized some of it was sinking in when Sadie brought me a birthday card that she made for Jesus. We had fun. Even with the hectic days and up late nights Christmas is still my favorite holiday.

So my sister Kim and I were up texting back and forth in the wee hours of Christmas Morning as we finished setting up for Christmas. My sister sent me this totally brilliant idea that I had to do... Kids get up, you know, about a half hour after you go to bed Christmas morning and want to open up their presents. They sneak down and look if you don't get out of bed immediately. Well, we were leaving for Utah on Christmas Day, so we did need to get SOME sleep since we'd be driving all night long. So, we told the kids (torture of all tortures) that they had to wait until 8:00 before waking us up. My sister told me about this little idea to keep them from sneaking down any earlier. Note to self: next year make it touch the floor!! Sneaky little turkeys just went under, my brain really wasn't functioning to full capacity that night...so sleep deprived all week!

One of my goals for next year is to take more pictures of Christmas. I really only have a few...darn.

Christmas Night at mom's house. Last time the whole family is together before Bre moves up to Utah... :0(

Hawaii Cruise

2011-01-20T11:05:00.000-08:00

I'm so behind I feel like I should just skip to now but maybe I'll just post a bunch of photos and a short blurb. Here are some photos from the trip Brandon took me on in OCTOBER (only a quarter of a year ago)! Hawaii Vacation for over two weeks! Heaven! We stayed in an awesome hotel right on the beach in Honolulu before and after the cruise, the sand felt like soft brown sugar under our feet!...

All Aboard!

First night on board...

First Day of the cruise was on Hilo...it rained & rained (I guess that's why they call it the rainy side of the island)

Brandon and I saw this Old Man Face tree stump on our hike...

Brandon travels all over the world, and he tries pizza everywhere he goes. I found this super delicious Pizza at Cafe Pesto...Brandon and I both like Margarita Pizza, but we also tried the Luau Pizza with Luau pulled pork, sweet Maui onion, cilantro and pineapple...makes my mouth water just thinking about it!

The Lava Flows: we watched them from our balcony that night as we left Hilo.

Woke up pulling into Maui with the biggest rainbow I'd ever seen & it was right there! Could see the whole thing end-to-end!

Snorkeling in Maui Day one...where are those pictures from the underwater camera?! I'll post them later when I find them.

Road to Hana Day two on Maui...

Stopped at a fruit stand and had some fresh coconut & Sugar cane. Can you believe the size of those Avocados?!

We spent the day in Kona. Drove through the Lava Fields to get to the Beach. Almost completely alone, and watched the sea turtles swim right by us! Paradise to read and only hear the ocean, not someone's radio! I love California too, but the beaches in Hawaii...there's no comparison! Awesome day!

First Day on Kauai we went golfing...recognize the mountains? They were the ones used in the opening credit's of M*A*S*H

Second Day in Kauai...Beach Day. Smoothies, sun & sand, and a sand crab...a super tiny one.

Leaving Kauai...these beautiful remote mountains are completely unreachable except by boat or hiking for days to get in, no roads lead to them. There used to be a few small villages at the base of them. We cruised by them and heard their history. They were so pretty, the photos defiantly don’t do any of this justice!

Back in Honolulu the next morning...we jumped in the rental car, put the top down and drove out to north shore. Honestly I think the Drive along the coast was better than Rd to Hanna. Ate lunch at Ted's Bakery...BEST bakery ever! Pie was like nothing I've ever had before. It was so incredibly perfect in every way!

Ended up at PCC for the rest of the afternoon & night. Entertaining and informative!

The next few days we spent shopping and relaxing on the beach. We did go on a Catamaran ride on our last day there. That was one of my favorite things. They pulled right up on the beach in front of our hotel to pick us up and it lasted a couple of hours. We saw sting rays and sea turtles and dolphins. It was a wonderful trip! We loved every second of it!!

Birthday Surprize!

2010-12-12T18:22:00.000-08:00

I just had one of the best birthday's ever. I got to sleep in while Brandon entertained the children. Then they brought me breakfast in bed with a side of presents. Brandon sent Bailey and I off for an afternoon of nails and shopping. Played with the kids a little in the afternoon then it was time to get dressed for date night (surprise). We went to dinner at Roy's, my personal favorite were the Lobster Pot stickers. Yum

I knew that Brandon had Tickets, but "Tickets" can mean so many exciting things. He kept it a surprise right up until someone walked out on stage and announced who it was. Weird that there was no promotional posters or a table with stuff for sale.
BRIAN REAGAN!! So, so funny. My face forgot what it was like NOT to smile and laugh. When we were leaving I thought I knew what it must be like to get Botox, My facial muscles were incapable of creating expression.

Sophie is Two!

2010-11-22T13:39:00.000-08:00

Sophie just turned two. We made some cute owl cupcakes for her Birthday and had a fun fall family dinner. The kids really loved making the cupcakes with me, and you know how I like a pretty table. It's just some stuff from around the house, but to put it together on the table made it all feel more like an event. She was super cute when we were trying to sing her the happy birthday song, she would blow out the candles as I would light them, so I had to keep relighting them through the whole song so should could blow them out at the end. Silly tradition when you think about it.

We had her Birthday Party this past Saturday. It was just extended family, but it was fun for all the cousins to get together and play, especailly with the weather being so nice out. We did a candy party, that girl loves candy like crazy and had tons of fun! My mom very appropriately calls her a little candy gremlin. She's all cute and cuddly until she get's her first taste of candy then she changes into a monster! I got the idea for the cake from this cute girl I know from way back when. (Sorry about the fuzzy photo, I didn't realize it was fuzzy until the cake was gone) She has the most amazing tutorials on her blog. Oh, the fantastic ideas from Fancy Nancy...

Halloween 2010

2010-11-01T01:30:00.000-07:00

Yeah Halloween! I love to make my kids costumes, and at the same time I'm relieved when it's all done. They're too old and opinionated to match anymore...:0(. That part makes me sad. It was really fun to coordinate our costumes. But it's exciting for them to choose what they want to be now. I made all of, if not part of the girls costumes. With Brock's costume the work was put into hunting down stuff. That seemed weird to me, I thought he'd be the easy one. It was harder than I anticipated. I love getting all my kids decked out for Halloween!

Here's the few group shots. It was nearly impossible to get anyone to hold still for very long, much less in the same spot. They love Halloween! "we're too excited to sleep! (giggle, giggle)"

Bailey's costume definitely took the most effort on my part. She came to me and said that she wanted to be Frankenstein's Monster...what? okay...so you know me, I did my best to cute-it-up. I made her dress, and hat, bought the stitch-tights and the arm scarves. She was spooktacular! And I must say...she really got into posing for photos. Believe it or not, did not arrange her for a single one of these photos...

Brock decided about 6 months ago that he wanted to be Indiana Jones. The weird thing was that he never changed his mind about it. I was having some problems finding a whip that wasn't $50+, so I thought maybe we could just use a rope of some kind. That's when in talking to Brock about it I realized this costume decision for him was all about the whip! I'm glad that I found a foam one, it shouldn't inflict too much pain on his sisters that way. Such a boy.

Sadie on the other hand changed her mind a million times. I did explain that once we bought the stuff for her costume that was it, no more mind changes. I had to remind her a couple of times that we already made our choice. She wasn't upset, she just started planning what she'd be for future Halloweens. She made such a cute fluffy black cat. She wore her mask the whole time too! I was amazed! I made the tutu dress and the black glovettes, super easy costume this year. She was adorable.

Sophie was another easy costume. I found the body part of her costume online, it may have been for dance or something just a leotard with fluffy tulle. I had to shorten the straps then added the ears and tail to make her a cute little poodle. She also had wrist and ankle puffs but couldn't be persuaded to leave them on. And definitely wouldn't hold still for pictures. For a girl that LOVES candy Halloween was right up her alley! She didn't quite get the whole trunk or treat thing though, she kept taking candy out of her bag and giving it to the people that were trying to give her candy. It was so cute. Sweet baby!

Cast Came off!

2010-10-22T23:27:00.000-07:00

Before:

The Cast came off on Thursday! She's wearing the brace for the next 6 weeks.

Falvey Cup

2010-10-04T00:27:00.000-07:00

One of the many perks to Brandon's job is that he gets to play in a fantastic golf tournament once every two years. It's always in conjunction with the Ryder Cup. His so very generous boss selects a group of guys to create the Falvey Team and they play against their comrades from across the pond, the Lloyds of London Team. There is so much planning and preparation that goes into this momentous event. This year they played in Doonbeg, Ireland. Five days of golf on one of the most gorgeous golf resort courses on the planet. Brandon is so grateful for the opportunity to go and participate. Who else gets to go do that?! The course and resort is seriously spectacular. I'm just jealous that I didn't get to go this time. It was just too close to our Hawaii trip to leave the kids for so long...I know sometimes I have to make sacrifices.... :0) If you have a minute go check out this amazing place online...http://www.doonbeggolfclub.com/index.html. I can't wait to see all the pictures. But here's a few from the course that I got off the web site...

Ouch! Sophie's Broken Arm

2010-10-03T22:59:00.000-07:00

Sorry, this next entry is long and “Journally” for me and any family or friends that wants to derive more detail from this novel I’ve created. If you don’t want to read it all, just scroll down and look at pictures. The Reader’s Digest Version is that Sophie fell off the couch and broke her arm. Hospitals + babies= misery. She now has a sparkly hot pink cast for the next 8 weeks. And I’ve made her some cute arm slings because… really?! WHITE for a one year old with teddy bears and balloons?! She loves the attention she gets from it. The End.

Well, we had our first broken bone. It was terrifying. I hope that we never have to go through that again! It was just a regular night. Brandon was gone at the gym, the kids were getting ready for bed. I already had the two little girls bathed and in their pj's. I was reading and Sophie was playing on the couch next to me. She wanted to get down, so she laid down on her tummy and started to swing her legs off the side when she went over sideways. It sounded like she landed on something plastic that broke because I heard the crack. I jumped up to gather her up and give her hugs and reassurance and was surprised to look down at a crooked arm. I yelled for Bailey to bring me the phone. Couldn’t get a hold of Brandon…he left his phone in the car for maybe the 3rd time ever (of course!). I handed the phone to Bailey and told her to call Denise to watch them till Brandon got home. I took Sophie (who had stopped crying already) upstairs with me so I could change out of my skirt and into some Yoga pants for a long night at the emergency room. I just laid her on the bed, and she held perfectly still. Brandon called back and was on his way home. I loaded her up and took her to the hospital. They braced her arm in the ER Triage. It looked like this...

They strapped a board to her arm and stuffed the space between the brake and the board with gauze. That's the white space you see in the photo. Ewww, I know.

They gave her a good pain killer too and she was relatively happy playing with the stickers they gave her and taking pictures with my camera of her hands, and face and her cute little feet. She snuggled with me and made little jokes telling me and her blanket we had to wear her stickers.

Then they took X-rays. She still did okay with that. It was definitely broken through both bones of her forearm. Then came the setting of her arm that’s when things got really crappy really fast...

They had to give her an IV. She screamed bloody murder. My heart broke for her I couldn’t hold her, but had to hold her down and she didn’t understand. It hurt, and she was mad and scared, poor baby. They blew it and then we had to start all over again and poke all over again. This was the first failed attempt. The final IV they got into her arm.

Then they tried hooking her up to about a billion different sensors to monitor her heart, and oxygen, and blood pressure, etc. She was just done and was ripping everything off and screaming like a banshee during the whole production.

Then they gave her a tranquilizer and that freaked me out. She was screaming one second and the next second it was like no one was home. I expected her to go to sleep, but her face just went slack as she stared off into space and she went limp in my arms. It was creepy. I don't have any photos during this stage in the proceedings, but here's a few after she WAS asleep so you can see all the stuff she was hooked up to. Plus she had some on her foot and maybe five different sensors on her chest and tummy too.

They set her bone, disgusting, I can’t believe I watched. Then they X-rayed it right there to make sure that it was in the right spot before the soft set it. They wrapped it all up with basically a plastic sleeve and an ace bandage. They couldn’t put the hard cast on yet because of the swelling. Then she started coming out of it, and it was like a baby on drugs. .. Totally gave me the willies. Then she drifted off to sleep from exaustion and trauma!

By 2am we were on our way home. By 6am a heart-sick Brandon was on his way out of town for work but at least it was just for four days!

After more drama at home, drugs that made her bounce off the walls, multiple phone calls and finally a trip to the Pediatricians office we got her in 3 days later (instead of the week that I was first told) to get a hard cast on. After they put it on, they just sliced the hard cast open down either side and wrapped it with and ace bandage till a week later when the swelling was down and her permenate cast could go on. Those three days was like taking care of a monkey on speed with nothing holding her arm in place but a toothpick and an ace bandage. I’m so grateful for her wonderful Pediatrician who wouldn't take no for an answer, and kept calling till she found the best Orthopedic Doctor (litterally) and all that he was able to do for us. I’m grateful that she’s now back to her normal spunky self. The cast doesn’t hinder her from doing anything (except swim) and she doesn’t whine or complain at all. She’s adjusted to it beautifully. She loves all the attention that it gets her from strangers. She’s mastered holding up her arm and putting on a pouty sad face. That get’s great reactions from spectators. She's always twice as dirty now because she still insists on doing everything herself. With just the one hand things like feeding yourself becomes a very messy endeavor for a 1 year old. Sorry, I better run. I've got to make more slings and put padding on every horizontal and vertical surface we own so we never have to do that again!

Mat Kearney Surprise!

2010-08-30T12:45:00.001-07:00

So, Brandon told me back in May that he had a surprise trip planned for me. I know, how lucky am I?! I was super excited about the trip. I figured out California based on the fact that we could drive or fly (we flew) and that he said I needed to pack a swimsuit not a sweatshirt. So I made arrangements for the kids (Super Human THANKS! mom and Denise!), packed a bag and we headed out to California last weekend. IT WAS AWESOME!!! I love time with just me and my guy! (Note: never lean back and take your own picture! Your jaw and chin disapear!)

First class to LAX. Now I see what Jerry was talking about... "You won't know what you're missing. I've flown first class, Elaine-- I can't go back to coach. I can't... I won't..." I don't know if I can go back. Brandon is used to getting upgraded quite a bit due to his flight status and the amount that he travels. It's still a fairly new experience for me though. Sweet! (Had to put a goofy one in there of him to off-set mine. Only his is cute 'cause he's doing it on purpose :0)

We had a hotel on the beach so we took a little stroll when we first got there....

Then that night was the big event that Brandon planned the trip around. We got dressed and headed out to Saint Rocke for dinner and a concert....MAT KEARNEY!!!

We love him!!! His acoustic concert was INCREDIBLE!!!! He sounds just as good live as on the album. He's got two albums out, and they're the really good kind that you can listen to the whole thing and never skip ahead to the next song. Aren't they cute?!

Dinner was delicious and Brandon scored us a table right up against the stage. CAN U BELIEVE THOSE SEATS?! Mat even made a comment and singled us out during the concert for our super seats!! My favorite concert ever! LOVE his music and lyrics, seriously check him out on iTunes or his web-site! And what incredible musicians they were! They could sing, play the guitar and suitcase at the same time, or make up lyrics on the fly. Very charming men! There was just two of them, opting to leave the band at home for the acoustic set. But they were masters at every instrument...even the Samsonite bass drum and tambourine boot! Wish I had video of that!

We hung out after the concert was over and got to meet Mat and Tyler! They were both super nice, sincere and down to earth... but still had that ultra-coolness that only comes with being a musican. We probably chatted with Tyler for 20 minutes or so. He was so sweet to endulge our questions that I'm sure he's been asked a million times. We bought his new album while we were there (also very good and available on itunes: Tyler Burkum Darling, Maybe Somday) Got their autographs and some pictures. I must admit to being a bit star-struck! But they were freakin' awesome!!!

We remained on our concert high for the next three days...actually I'm still on my concert high! But anyway the next day we slept in then I woke up and started getting dressed for the beach when Brandon asked me if I wanted to go to Disneyland for the day.

I love my kids, but when you take them to Disneyland it's for their enjoyment. Yes, you receive the joy of watching them, but not from having an awesome time for yourself. It was so fun! We held each other's hands, got to laugh and talk in line. Eat what sounded good to us (even though it wasn't good FOR us), rest when we felt like it, etc. LOVED IT!

The next day we hit the beach for a little RNR. I got to lay there and read a book. It was heaven.

Lunch overlooking the marina, georgous! A quick shower and change later and we were on our way back to the airport to head home. I missed my kids but I didn't want to leave either. LOVED IT! Why don't we take off like that more often?!

Thank you baby for a wonderful weekend that I'll remember for forever! You're the best husband ever! Love you!

Bailey's Birthday

2010-08-25T00:38:00.000-07:00

I can't believe that my baby is 9 sometimes. She seems so old, but I know I'll look back and think about how little she is! She's such a huge helper to me, I don't know what I'd do without her! She is SUCH a GOOD big sister. She's always reading to, playing with, bathing, cleaning up, feeding...her little sisters and brother. Like I say, she's the second mom around here! She's sweet and loves to craft, paint, draw, read, bead. She loves exotic foods, movies, girl's nights, charts, games, helping me with anything, swimming, soccer, and her friends. She was definatly meant to come down to earth to me first! I love you so much Bails!

Red, White and Blue is the old standard for Bailey's Birthday...Tons of Fun, Friends, Family and Food!
Friends & Family:

Food & Fun:

4th in Flagstaff....

2010-08-24T21:19:00.000-07:00

We have a little family tradition of taking off for cooler climates for the 4th of July. This year we went up to Flagstaff it was awesome, here's some photos of our trip...

On our way up to Flag. Kids were so silly and excited but really good!

There was a sweet hiking trail, pool, and kid's swing set and playground right on the hotel property, so we didn't have to go far for entertainment. It was definitely a kid-friendly place to stay!

Bailey's our little firecracker baby. How fun to have fireworks every birthday and to go somewhere special! Whenever my kids see an American Flag they say "look mom! Like Bailey's Birthday!"

Love watching fireworks in a sweatshirt!
They were right over our heads and HUGE! It was so fun. The fireworks were in Winslow, the Flagstaff show was canceled because of the fires they were having. It was just about an hour drive and it was worth it!

Lots of tree climbing in that beautiful weather we tried to stay out as much as we could.

We did little streamers and pop its, the kids love it. Daddy helps so no one burns any fingers off!

Sadie in her sweet shades (or mommy's!)

No place more secure than daddy's arms!

More tree climbin'. Back at my mom's after we picked our car back up and dropped off the rental. It was hotter in the middle of the night outside than the middle of the day in Flag.

Twilight...

2010-07-31T12:33:00.000-07:00

I am slightly embarrassed to admit it, but here goes. Hi, my name is Melanie and I'm a Twi-Hard. Much bigger fan of the books than the movies, but I love the movies none-the-less. I've bought the books the day they come out, my sweet husband goes to Wal-Mart at midnight the night the DVD’s released to get one for me and my friends, been to the midnight showings of the premiers, the online survey says I’m most like Alice Cullen, I am definitely Team Edward, and yes I own a shirt that says "Someday my Vampire Will Come". There, now it’s out.

This year Bre and I went together with some of her good friends to the premier of Eclipse. It’s a strange crowd at Twilight movies. It’s weird to hear 40-year-old women screaming like they were 16 and The Beatles just stepped on stage whenever Jacob takes his shirt off...I have two words for you ladies…Jail Bait. Jacob is just a kid; okay a kid with some muscles, but still a minor. Our theater was definitely full of “Team Jacob’s” and a guy in a Tutu, but Bre and I had tons of fun laughing at everyone’s reactions and playing with the camera while we were waiting for the movie to start. Thanks for hooking an addict up Bre; I had tons of fun with you!

Father's Day

2010-07-25T22:09:00.001-07:00

Kid's giving Daddy his presents. They made him cute ties and candy cards. Such a good daddy. Spent the morning with Daddy. Made breakfast when we got back from church. Let Daddy take a nap. We tried unsuccessfully to call Papa Dave. Brandon misses his dad every day, but especially on days like this.

Headed out to my families for dinner. We had a pot-luck and brought everyone's husband's favorite meal. It was a hodge-podge of enchiladas, BBQ pizza, chicken, Spanish rice, baked pasta and cinnamon rolls...delicious. I love my dad. I said that I wanted to take a picture with him and all us girls. I asked him to sit in his chair that way we could all fit around him. He said, "Great! Now I'm going to look like an old man!" You'll never be old to me, just always my dad. I'm so grateful for the wonderful men I have in my life.

Oh, and this was Sophie making a HUGE mess while we were opening Father’s Day gifts with my dad. She really enjoyed herself with that one!

Summertime Fun

2010-07-25T21:54:00.000-07:00

Played at the pool for a few days with sisters and the little cousins. Our friends were out of town and let us use their pool while they were gone. Brandon was out of town so we stayed out at mom's and the rest of the crew joined us. We went swimming every day. It was great fun!

Everywhere Justin went in the pool he had at least three kids hanging onto him...except when he was practicing his dives for the Olympics.

Bailey, Bre and Jocelyn...

Sophie in Brock's goggles...why not? Everyone’s wearing them...

Sadie in her cute and indestructible glasses...

Dad playing lifeguard...

Takin' care of baby Cohen. My sister Kim and mom.

Graduation

2010-07-25T18:26:00.000-07:00

Brock graduated from Kindergarden. They had a little program. I don't know why, it was the same with Bailey, it makes me think of their High School graduation. Time seems to go so fast, and I know it will be here too soon. It was so cute!

Baking fun...

2010-07-25T17:53:00.000-07:00

Did some baking, and some short-cutting too. Cupcakes were for a dear friend's birthday. I loved the black and white demask cupcake papers I found. They were so cute with the oranges.

Here are a couple ideas for cute teacher's gifts. One was no work at all, the other was worth about a day and a half, but they both ended up super cute. The pink box of truffles was teacher appreciation day. Got the truffles at Wal-Mart added the ribbon and tulle that I already had, and a tag with a personal note.

Apple cupcakes were for the last day of school. I did them with a friend of mine and we split the batch for our kid's teachers. They were a bit more involved but ended up really cute in the end.

80's Party

2010-07-25T17:46:00.000-07:00

My friend Shelly just turned 30 this year. In honor of the 80's, the era to which she was born, she hosted an 80's Party. Can you guess what 80's star's we are? Putting the costumes together was fun. Loved dancing to all that sweet music at the party and listening to Andy sing to his wife. It was awesome. I'll have to see if I can get some picts from the party!

Brock's Birthdays

2010-07-25T15:17:00.001-07:00

Catch-up time! I'll do my best, school is starting so maybe I can do a little every week again.

So here's Brock's B-day Parties photos: There were three, I know it's ridiculous, but it seemed to make since at the time! The day of his Birthday... Chocolate delicious! It's not really your birthday if you don't have a cake and a present. Six years old means that your day has to be special! Just our little family.

He took a couple of friends to the movies the weekend following his birthday. My entire family live close by so family parties gets a tad crazy. Throw extra little boys into the mix it's a bit much. So Brandon was super-dad and took the boys to see How to Train Your Dragon. I ordered some Viking helmets and tattoos online that they wore to the theater. Why don't I have a picture of that? Brandon used the helmets as popcorn bowls at the theater. So cute.

And Here's the BBQ family party: BBQ, playing in the water with cousins,cupcakes and fun. Brittany gave me the idea for the cute cupcakes. When I was putting his candles in the cake, Brock told me that I was missing one, because I only put in Six and he turned six last week. So cute, had to explain the difference between a Birthday and a Birthday Party. Here's the invite too...

So he's six now and here are a few of his favorite things:
Wii Lego Indiana Jones
Blue
Playing with his sisters and Friends
Pizza & Root beer Floats
The Movie Bolt
Playing Outside
Riding Bikes
Swimming
Here are a couple things he dislikes:
Shopping
Chores

Brock is sweet, generous and playful. We love having him in our home.

Easter

2010-05-15T18:41:00.000-07:00

Easter in our "casual clothes". My sister took a few pictures of the family when the light was still good at my mom's dear friend and neighbor's house. She always has the most amazing flowers!

I wanted to sew 50's style dresses this year for Easter. I LOVE the full skirts with pettislips, the little jackets and gloves. I got vintage patterns on eBay to make the dresses, but ran out of time to sew the little white jackets with black buttons. (The more kids I have the more I have to sew, and the less time I have to do it.) I originally wanted to do Navy and white, but then I found hot pink shoes and decided that I needed to switch gears so I could justify buying them...it's okay if it's their "Easter Shoes" right? They go with more than I originally thought and the girls are so cute in them! Brock was a good sport to wear the pink tie, even though the kids at church teased him about it, and he says he'll never wear it again, poor little guy! I paired the dresses with little cardigans from Children's Place, and volla...cute little Easter kids!

We headed over to Mom and Dad's for Easter Dinner. The kids as always had fun doing Easter egg hunt, after hunt until the sun went down. I'm so lucky to live close enough to my family to enjoy holidays with them. My mom and dad are always such gracious hosts, with a million kids running screaming with delight through thier beautiful home. They always carry the brunt of the work, food and clean-up. They never complain. I love them so much!

I always have fun talking with my sisters. I love what our relationships have morphed into now that we're all married. I love calling them when I'm happy or sad or frustrated and need to vent. They can validate my feelings, or tell me when I'm wrong. They watch my kids when I go out of town or into the hospital. They love me no matter what. I'm the luckiest girl in the world.

Here's the finished family photo that Shannon snapped for us. I LOVE it, and blew this one up to hugeXginormous for my living room wall. It looks so good.

Mr. & Mrs. Awesome

2010-04-26T18:18:00.001-07:00

This is my sister Bre and her husband Justin. They are the kind of people you really enjoy being around. They are the "Fun" Aunt and Uncle. My kids cry when they go home. They are really, super, seriously awesome. Their last name should be Awesome...Mr. & Mrs. Awesome. You want to hang out with them, take them on vacation, move in together, and keep them in your pocket all the time. They are two amazing athletes. Their beautiful baby girl was born with a ball in her hand, she has no other choice. Justin could take your head off with a baseball...literally. He’d also give you the shirt off his back with a smile on his face. We went tubing with them last year. Justin and Bre took turns haulting kids and inner-tubes up the hill for half a day while I sat in the car with the new baby. Bre is watching some of my kids when Brandon and I take our trip. She only has a two week break from work, and she’s taking my kids for a week and a half of it. I feel mean, and selfish and she’s excited about it. She’s planning adventures for while she has them already. You have no other option but to be happy when you’re with them. I love them so much.

Bre & Addison came out and spent a day with us, she gave the kids about a dollar a piece in pennies to throw into the fountain...there's another reason that Bre's the "fun aunt". She plays games with them, and takes them on bike rides...to the park. Bre's serious about having a good time. Justin's a pretty cool guy too. He likes to beat you at games. He doesn't gloat or anything, he's just good. Anyone think their pretty good at a game, Justin will beat you 9 times out of 10. The boy has a gift. Seriously.

14 Year Anniversary...(Back in Feb...Still getting caught up!)

2010-04-26T09:35:00.000-07:00

It's been 14 years now that Brandon and I have been married. We've experienced much together in those 14 years. Like all marriages we've had our share of hard times and heartache, but I've also experienced such joy that I couldn't have dreamed possible. I can honestly say that I've never been happier than I am right now. Brandon was traveling for work on our anniversary...we both were so sad about that. He sure worked hard to make it up to me. Dinner before he left at the Melting Pot. Tickets to a play "Mary Poppins" and dinner when he got back. I love Mary Poppins. He kept it all a surprise for me. I'm so lucky to have a guy who actually enjoys the plays and musicals. I know it's a rare thing, but Brandon was brought up to appreciate music as a child, his parents took care to expose their kids to lots of things. I'm grateful for that! He scored once again with the presents. Brandon got me a sewing machine that I'm so in love with. It also embroiders. It's like a sewing machine/computer. It does so much, that I was honestly a little intimidated by it! But Brandon came through again, and had signed me up for a course of 6 classes that is specific to learning all the functions of my machine and I can re-take the courses as often as I want for life! (oh yeah, plus a sewing table and travel bag to get my machine to and from my classes in style.) I know... I'm a lucky girl! We have so much fun together. He's my best friend. My wealth of knowledge 14 years imparts: don't let life distract you from what's really important, be slow to accuse and quick to forgive, and date night, date night, date night. Nothing like being together, just the two of you, not mom and dad, but... "hey! I remember you! That's right, I love you and have fun with you." Even if the babysitter is all you can afford, and you walk around the mall for date night, don't miss it!...that's it, that's the extent of my expertise. I love you baby, you're the most important thing in the whole world to me. I'm so glad I get to spend everyday of eternity with you!

Valentines Day

2010-04-26T09:18:00.001-07:00

Daddy spoils us! Everyone got presents for Valentines day. Daddy got all the girls a little something. I got Brocky a movie that he's been wanting. Brandon also got me roses and a Pandora Bracelet with some cute charms that he picked out. I think I could probably start a whole second blog about how much Daddy does sweet things for us and spoils us. Love you so much baby!

Sadie's Birthday

2010-04-14T08:05:00.000-07:00

For Sadie's third birthday we did a baking party. She loves to help in the kitchen, and asks just about everyday to make cookies or cupcakes. So I thought that it couldn't be more perfect. I got all the kids aprons and my two awesome sisters helped the kids make their chef hats. The kids made their own dinner, then decorated their own cupcakes. They had lots of fun!

Yes, she's wearing a bike helmet...

Sadie got a bike for her birthday. She was a little unsure at first, but within a few hours she's flying around corners on it! She loves it!

We made a giant cupcake for her cake. I saw the giant cupcake pans, but they were like $30! So I tried just baking the cake in a bowl and a fluted pan I had. I should have taken a picture of it before I left to get the older kids from school, cause when I got back, Sadie had been working on it alone and it was leaning pretty bad on one side and starting to crumble. She had lots of fun helping to make it though and that's all that matters. Right?

You Scream, I Scream, We all Scream for Ice Cream

2010-04-08T08:42:00.000-07:00

She Really liked that ice cream...then when the camera came out to capture the goo she just kept saying "Cheese"..."Cheese"..."Cheese!"

Utah

2010-03-27T14:28:00.000-07:00

We headed up to Utah Christmas Night. Brandon drove all night long. Papa Dave had a whole week off of work...never happened before, we were so psyched to have him for a whole week! We played in the snow up at Snow basin, road the gondola up to the top and had lunch at the Needle Lodge. Such a fun day!

We snowmobile/Rhinoed into the Cabin for a night too. Played games, snacked, wrested kids, talked politics and played snow clothes on-snow clothes off-snow clothes on-snow clothes off as the guys took the kids out for rides in the snow.

We went and visited Grandparents Stroud, Roger and Joyce, and Natalie and her cute kids. It was so fun to spend New Year’s Eve Day with them, visiting and catching up!

We went to go look at lights in the downtown village New Years Eve. We had all the grandkids with us and it was cold, but snowy and beautiful. This is Sophie all bundled up...so cute! We had nacho night and games until Midnight.

My eyelashes really didn't look so creepy in real life. They were pretty cha-cha...I had silver glitter tipped falsies on for the New Year’s Celebration, picture doesn't do them justice!

The kiddos all ran outside and banged on pots and pans at Midnight. They thought it was a hoot.

We played in the snow all day on New Year’s Day. The kids loved it! Brandon and Papa Dave with some "help" from the kids made a fun snow fort. We went sledding down Papa Dave's hill in his front yard, and made snowmen.

Sadie's favorite was going down "Papa Dave's Snow Slide"

Kids made Snowmen with Papa Dave and Daddy...the one on the left is Oscar the Grouch. We heard "Why can't we live someplace with snow?!" the whole drive home.

Brandon found these cute hats and mittens for the kids on one of his trips to Canada. They were adorable. Love Brockys!

Here are the kids in the finished snow fort. I wasn't much help. I was supposed to be packing some snow on the inside into the cracks to reinforce the walls...I managed to make a window.

This is the Waterwheel that Papa Dave built. Not the best picture, but it really is amazing. When it's not frozen in the winter, the little waterwheel spins on the water from the natural spring that runs through Papa Dave's property. The deer come down to get drinks out of his spring, and eat the veggies that he plants for them and get a taste of the salt licks he puts out for them. We can see deer in his yard nearly every day (or night) that we're there in the winter time!

Here's Papa Dave showing Brocky the inner-workings of his water wheel/well...Brock was pretty excited to go in. He's been wondering what was inside the waterwheel...

Here we are the day we were leaving Papa Dave and Grandma Kristin's House...Sadie asks to go back to play at Grandma and Grandpa Stroud's house at least once a week. Wish we were all closer!

Here we all are visiting Grandma Blanche Hale and Uncle Hal (taking the picture!) Hal took the kids out to see Brakie the horse and feed him some carrots. Then Brock fell asleep on him later.

Isn't she beautiful? I think she just turned 96! Hal takes great care of her and we had so much fun visiting with them. Grandma used to watch Brandon during the day when Dave and Julene were first married and still living in Utah. She loves to tell stories about how she used to take him for walks. And he hid in her car when he was just a little guy because he wanted to go home with her. Very special lady in our hearts!

We finished our trip up visiting Grandma Jinky! She just built a beautiful new house. The pictures just can't do it justice! She's on the side of the mountain overlooking the city. She's decorated it so beautifully that the builders have come in to take pictures of it for their promotional info. She's sure got a talent for making a home beautiful!

Catch up time: Christmas

2010-03-27T09:40:00.000-07:00

Christmas Eve Jammies

See how accurately I've captured the kids Christmas morning? Each of them a blur...

Sadie's Favorite: Her Kitchen Stuff! She still wears her apron and chef's hat everyday. She loves to help in the kitchen!

I was terrible at taking pictures over Christmas. I think we have more video of the day of. We headed over to mom's that afternoon, then left that night for Utah. Kid's all got leapsters and didj's...very helpful for that long drive! Brandon drove the whole way through the night we got there early the next morning. We did fun stuff everyday leading up to Christmas, after the house was decorated, then we did treats and painting. We read stories and watched movies....I tried to do something fun with the kids everyday so I didn't get too caught up in the bussle of things...which I have a tendancy to do, I always take on too much.

So Much to Blog....So Little Time....

2010-01-11T20:46:00.000-08:00

December was full of loads of fun things. Getting ready for Christmas, the big day and a trip up to Utah. There are lots of stories and lots of pictures to share, and I'm getting behind and over-whelmed. I did want to be sure and share my favorite Brock-ism before I get so far behind that I just throw in the towel and skip the whole month.

We went up to Utah to visit with Brandon's family. Brandon's Dad Dave and his wife Kristin got a camper for us all to head up to the cabin for a day of snowmobiling and fun. We had all the kids piled up into the bed on the way to the cabin pulling the Rhinos and Snowmobiles behind us. When I heard Brock explaining to one of his cousins that "Papa Dave could build that Rhino, he could build anything. Yep, he's just like Jesus." at which point there was a slight pause in the conversation. He then followed it up with "...but he can't walk on water."

I'm forever grateful for the grandpa's that my children have. Papa Dave and my dad are both pretty handy men. Brock knows it. It doesn't matter if a toy is shattered into a million unrecognizable pieces and mom's ready to throw it out, Brock will pick up all the pieces and bring it to Grandpa's house and he'll fix it for him. Now, just have to work on that walking on water....

2009-12-09T17:17:00.000-08:00

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Sophie Turned One

2009-11-28T23:48:00.000-08:00

My baby turned one. How time flies. We had a fun party with lots of food, family and friends.

Sadie helped me make the cake.

It was fun to do a "Fall" Themed party...we had soups and rolls and it was a nice cold stormy day, perfect for the menu!

The kids made cute apple turkeys...

Sophie was thrilled with the babies and stroller/walker that she got...

And she loved eating cake...

She's such a good baby, we're so thrilled that she's part of our family.

My girls...

2009-11-09T00:31:00.000-08:00

What's a "good picture" when you have little kids? Everyone's looking at the camera with their eyes open...sometimes that's the best you can hope for!

Halloween!!!

2009-11-02T22:44:00.000-08:00

Halloween means sewing costumes to me. Ever since the first Jeanie costumes Shelby and I made in Jr. High. From the time Brandon and I were first married he's been such a good sport about it! If I made it, he'd wear it and Brandon's not the "dress up" type. We usually coordinate, and Brandon's fine being the side-kick. We've continued doing it as we've had kids, but the older the kids have gotten the more opinionated they've become. This year I made two in the line up. They are simpler than the ones that I usually make, they aren't even involved enough to need a pattern. But I enjoy doing it for the kids. We had a wonderful and busy Halloween...We carved pumpkins, and made craft haunted houses and costumes, played in soccer games,and went to two trunk-or-treats when it was all said and done. The kids were adorable. Bailey was my good little witch. Originally I found a High School Musical Cheer Costume at the Disney Store on sale. She loved the movie so I figured it was a safe bet. I brought it home and she said it was nice, sure she'd wear it. I knew I'd have to bring it in in the back for her, and so when ever I asked her to try it on for me, I could tell she was less than excited. I asked her if she wanted to be a cheerleader, she said the costume was fine. I could tell by the look on her face while I was pinning it that she wasn't thrilled though. I told her she could be whatever she wanted for Halloween, if she didn't like this costume I could always return it, she said that she really to be a purple and black witch. Sweet thing would rather wear something she didn't really want to be for Halloween than waste money or hurt my feelings bless her heart. So we made her a cute little witch costume.

Brock was Darth Vader (who he calls Dark Vader with a life-saver instead of light-saber). We borrowed the helmet from a cousin. It was pretty sweet, you could talk into it and it altered your voice to sound like Darth. Brock had a blast with it, but decided it was too heavy and difficult to see out of to trick-or-treat in. No one had a problem telling who he was even without it.

Sadie was a fall fairy. I was a little worried about getting Sadie to dress up. When ever I asked her if she wanted to be this or that she would say no, and would never let me know what she wanted to be. I thought maybe she'd change her mind if she saw the costume. So I bought her a Minnie Mouse Costume off a clearance rack, she loves Mickey Mouse... a safe bet right? She refused to put it on. I thought maybe she needed something completely different, so I went and bought all the materials to make her a costume. Made the costume and could not get her to try it on, no matter how I explained, begged, pleaded or bribed. She wasn't willing to put on anything. I'd started to except the fact that she may not have any costume on at all Halloween night. Then the week of Halloween she saw a Diego episode that Alicia was dressed up like a butterfly. Then she saw me finishing up her wings and she said, "are they Butterfly wings like Alicia?" Then Bibbity-bobbity-boo, all she wanted to do was wear her costume, expecially proud of the wings and the butterflies in her hair and on her dress. She's worn it everyday since too, and I'm more than a little pleased with it. I love that she is so happy in it. She doesn't even want to take it off to sleep. Talk about your 180's. Super adorable in it too.

Sophie was a busy little bee, which was very fitting to her personality. I knew it was perfect when I saw it. I need to get a better picture of her in it, she was so cute, it was just tough getting her to hold still!

Love Halloween.

U2 for Me 2!

2009-11-02T22:25:00.000-08:00

Yeah! I finally went to my first (and hopefully not last) U2 concert! They were amazing. Sadly, I was not pulled up on stage with Bono or the Edge, but my sister's Bridesmaid was!! So jealous. I loved that they mixed in stuff from all their albums. They're timeless and wonderful! I had so much fun! Bono brought in a spaceship for a stage and extended it with a huge catwalk that went all the way around it. He said that he wanted to feel closer to the audience, and create more of a since of intimacy...on a grand scale. He was cleaver and charming and very entertaining. They played for 2 and a half hours. They are amazing! Black Eye'd Peas opened for them...that's when I took the first picture of the monsterus stage, not a lot of people there for the opening act, they really packed in once U2 was there. We sat in some seats instead of the GA on the
floor. My friend Denise is expecting and wasn't a great idea to be tossled around in the masses. Such a diverse group of people there. It was so fun! I'm so glad that Brandon got me the tickets. I'll remember it forever.

Savannah

2009-10-25T21:36:00.000-07:00

Savannah...It’s the oldest city in Georgia, and in the top 10 most haunted cities in the nation.

They are famous for their pecans, pralines, southern hospitality and Paula Deen. It’s charming and beautiful and perfect for a weekend away, even better if you go with someone who you love, and can laugh and shop with.

It’s filled with delicious food. It is about the food right? That’s why you work really hard to lose weight before you go on vacation, so you can eat whatever you want when you’re there. So come along with me on my eat-a-mentory, because that’s how I keep track of what we did…

This is Vinnie Van Go-Go's...best pizza in town, we ordered it on our way in and picked it up and took it back to the hotel. The place was hoppin' at 10:00 on a Thursday night. It's not fancy, but some seriously good pizza!!

The next morning we slept in a little then headed out to the one place I was the most excited about...Paula Deen's resturant. I have actually dreamed that I moved and found out my next door neighbor was Paula Deen. We of course turn out to be the best of friends. I know, sad and a little obsesive, but she's great and so was the resturant!

We had fried green tomatoes for an appitizer, ho-cakes and biscuts, crab cake sandwich and Asparigus sandwich with a slice of key-lime pie for desert. It was all so wonderful, but my favorites were the fried green tomatoes and definately that key lime pie...it took first prize for the best from the weekend for me.

After we did some shopping at some really fun places (Paula Deen’s, the best kitchen place in town: Kitchens on the Square, sampling $70/bottle honey), then we got some Gelatto (mango and pink grapefruit), and chocolates and a drink. If you've never had gelatto, I suggest getting the fruit kinds they are too good to be true, and I'm a "chocolate" person.

We walked around for quite a few hours we headed out to the river for “First Saturday”, which was also “October-Fest” this time of year in addition so it was hopping with bands and loads of good food. We got two monster sized pulled pork sandwiches, with potato salad and huge lemonades, Warning: Objects are bigger than they appear! They were ginormous.

We headed back to the hotel with some beignet’s (French donut with praline dipping sauce) and watched movies until late (well, late for Britt, not so late for me who was still trying to adjust from Pacific Time!)

Next morning we headed out to Tybee Island we had a delicious lunch: Grouper tacos and fried green tomatoes BLT Sandwich. We topped it off with a piece of Turtle pie that was so delicious served cold. Then we headed out to the beach. It was surprisingly warm there; we were expecting it to be much colder. We were the weird people that go to the beach in Jeans. Sophie didn’t care; she ate the sand even in her jeans. We went down the pier and saw a manta ray in the water. We went and got some huge Smoothies to cool off. It was hot. Apricot, pear, mango, and Strawberry Pina-Colada.

We headed back to Savannah and went to my favorite land-mark: the Forsyth Park Fountain. It was so beautiful! It was built in 1850. It’s crazy to be standing there looking at a fountain that you know someone else stood there in the exact same spot looking at the exact same fountain 150 years ago, and hopefully someone else will be looking at in another 150 years. While we were there there were multiple weddings going on and it was so charming and beautiful.

We ate dinner at the Old Pink House. The most haunted house in Savannah, We ate in the room that someone killed themselves in back in the 1800’s. It’s weird to think about the fact that you’re now eating a perfectly lovely dinner in a room that was once filled with such sorrow and despair as someone took their own life. Goat cheese stuffed Artichoke Heart with a red pepper sauce, Filet mignon, and crab stuffed grouper. Topped off with more walking and a chocolate, carmel covered apple back down by the river.

We took off the next morning after breakfast and cookies, and a little shopping at Kitchens on the Square store again...seriously like kids in a candy shop.

Lesson's Learned...1)my baby is pretty cute. This is something I knew of course, but when people are crossing streets and resturants just to tell you she's adorable, and you can't take a step without someone saying it, and people are taking pictures of you as you walk by to "did you see that beautiful baby?!" "She's so cute" "Oh! Look at that baby!" you start to realize what it might be like to be a celebrity. Sophie ate it up, she started waving and saying "Hi!" to everyone she passed which only egged everyone on even more. It was fun to have people fuss over her so much!

Lesson 2: Drunk guys will hit on you even with a baby (Brittany got a "Well, giddy-up!" when she was wearing her too-cute cowboy hat and I got told that I looked like a Bond Girl.
Lesson 3: You can put on 10 pounds in one week if you eat whatever you want.
Lesson 4: The three "F"'s to a fantastic Vacation: Family, Fun and Food!

Sadie

2009-09-15T00:21:00.000-07:00

She's my active, intelligent little girl. She's changing so much lately, I felt the need to document. Her speech patterns have risen to a whole new level. No longer little phrases here and there, we now have conversations. She has the cutest little inflections at odd places in sentences when she talks. A random word in her sentence will go up at the end like a question. She loves to help around the house and make her own bed.

She knows all her shapes, colors, letters, and most of the sounds that they make. And she recognizes them everywhere we go. Last week we were renting a movie and she saw the letter “Z” in the architecture of the beams on the front of the building. She calls-out letters, shapes and colors in signs at the store.

She would read books and play with play dough all day long if I had nothing else to do, she absolutely loves it. Still working on the potty training… she manages to notify me the second she’s finished going, then we go sit on the toilet. She’s figuring out her boundaries…”Sadie please pick up your toys”…”It’s okay, you do it mommy”. Every flower she sees out the windows in the car she yells “look mommy’s flowers!”

Updates to her health: Her eyes seem to be getting better. (She needed glasses when she turned 15 months old because her right eye would cross). When glasses didn’t fix it, we tried patching... then more patching. When that didn’t work her doctor told us she needed a surgery which she got at the beginning of this year. It was extremely traumatic and painful experience for everyone, and it didn’t even work. When her doctor started talking about surgery number two, I found a new doctor. Turns out she just needed a stronger prescription. Her eyes don’t cross anymore unless she hasn’t been wearing her glasses and she’s extremely tired. She still likes her old frames though, so I have to hide her old glasses from her or she'll swap them out.
She may lose her front tooth. We find out tomorrow at her follow-up appointment if we can keep it or not. She hit it a couple of months ago on the bench outback when she was playing. The dentist said that we could do a root canal, but there would still be a greater than 50% chance that she'd loose it anyway. After the last surgery I'm definitely not putting her through anything like that, especially for a less than 50% chance! We’ll see how it looks tomorrow!

Birthday Boy

2009-09-15T00:08:00.000-07:00

Brandon turned 20-16 this past week. We had loads of fun. Here’s a few highlights from the birthday…
Kids donned door knockers in honor of their daddy…

A wonderful dinner (I highly recommend a trip there if you’ve never been), it’s one of our favorites! I will admit that one of the best parts of this particular evening was eavesdropping on the strange couple that were on their first date together in the booth across from ours. We could shamefully giggle together about it thanks to the privacy curtains. Brandon said that if he ran into the guy in the bathroom he was sorely tempted to tell him to make a run for it while he still could. Yikes she was frightening! After she was done tallying up everything that went wrong with her multiple marriages, she proceeded to list everything that her current date wasn’t…”thin, handsome, intelligent…” to which he apologized for! Then she moved on to her daughter and her wishes that she had got some “skinny genes because she has such big thighs…but I always tell her ‘at least you have legs’”…like I said Yikes, I wonder why she’s been married so many times?! She was truly clueless to how terrible she sounded. But it did make for an interesting evening. We left with a new level of appreciation for each other to say the least.

The Kids and I made him an éclair cake. Not the fanciest cake in the world, but it was super easy and delicious!

We love you so much daddy, you're the best! Happy Birthday!

Tickle the Ivories

2009-09-14T23:34:00.000-07:00

We just bought a piano! Everyone’s excited to have it in the house. Bailey will start lessons really soon. Brocky’s already asking to take lessons too. Everyone’s enjoying the piano…even Sophie has found the keys a couple of times. I’m excited to have this kind of music in my home, and for the kids to have this experience in their lives. Brandon’s the best pianist in the house, and neither of us has really played for years. It’s been fun to have a few things come back to us though.

We bought the piano from Grandma Jinky. When we had it shipped here from California, she got the movers to take a fun slide for the kids too. When I told Brock he was so excited, he said, “Guess what Bailey?! We’re getting a waterslide instead of a piano!!” I didn’t think that he could get more excited than when we told him that the piano was coming. I was wrong. He was thrilled when I explained that we’d have both.

Labor Day Weekend

2009-09-08T10:32:00.000-07:00

Labor Day weekend holds a special memory for me. It’s been 14 years now this weekend that Brandon and I met. Time has gone by so quickly. We were actually introduced to each other once briefly before Labor Day weekend, but we didn’t get to know each other until this weekend of 1995. I had just graduated from High School and was going to Phoenix College on a Softball Scholarship. All my high school friends had gone away to college. My friend and Laurel Advisor, Renae, took pity on my lack of social life and introduced me to her younger sister, who in turn invited me to a fun weekend where a lot of young single college-age kids were going up to a cabin for the weekend (supervised by some adults of course!). Brandon, Shelly and I were all heading up a day later than everyone else because we had to work. Brandon drove us up, and we started to get to know each other on the drive. He told me about his family and his mission. All weekend long we had fun together. It was a great group of friends. We had fun talking, playing games, dancing and going for hikes. We had an awesome time, and Brandon called me and asked me out on a date when we got back. We didn’t even wait for the weekend. I became more and more in love with him. We could never seem to get enough time together. We put 15,000 miles on the old Jimmy driving back and forth between our houses in the six months that we knew each other before we were married. We’ve changed a little since then, and we’ve been through a lot together, but I still grow more and more in love with him every day, and still can’t ever seem to get enough time together. Can’t wait for the next 14 years!

Beauty and the Beast

2009-08-23T12:03:00.000-07:00

We hit the Hale Theater for Date Night last night. I'd never been before but Brandon's been multiple times growing up. (Brandon's Mom was a Hale; it was her uncle that started the original theater in California, then later in Utah). We saw Beauty and the Beast last night, and I must say… I was impressed!! The costumes and sets were beautiful, there wasn’t a bad seat in the house, and the acting and singing was of equal quality to anything that you see at Gammage. I couldn’t believe that we aven’t been before now! If you haven’t been before, you should go!

Summer Time Fun

2009-08-20T12:14:00.000-07:00

A little water = hours of entertainment when the temperature is an unseasonably cool 110! The kids love playing outside. Somewhere along the way Sadie ended up naked from the waist down. Sophie is even entertained just sitting in her saucer and watching the kids.

It's A Beautiful Day!

2009-08-18T21:43:00.000-07:00

This is Bono. I love him. If I wasn’t married, and he wasn’t married, and he knew I existed…then wow, look out! Then again, if it weren’t for my sweet husband we might never have the opportunity to meet. Not that we have met, but it is now an extremely remote possibility. I’ll actually be in the same room with him (and the other 63,000+ screaming fans). Ever since I was 12 years old and I watched a U2 concert on TV at Shelby’s house it’s been my secret fantasy that I would go to a U2 concert and Bono would pull me up onto the stage to dance with him. In all likelihood it will remain a fantasy for the rest of my life. But I’m going! On our Saturday date-night Brandon snuck a note my menu while I was in the restroom. I came back and opened up the menu and it slipped out. I thought it was just some piece of paper that some random person had left in there. But my curiosity compelled me to open it up and see what it was. There was a big picture of Bono printed on the page and the note said that he had bought me (and my two friends Denise and Danae) tickets to the U2 concert. I was so excited that I nearly screamed in the restaurant. He likes U2. He doesn’t LOVE U2, so he figured I’d have fun going with my girlfriends that LOVE U2 like I do. Pretty sweet huh? I can’t wait!

My two littlest...

2009-08-05T16:07:00.000-07:00

Having only two little girls at home with me during the day is so much fun. When they joined the family there was already two or three siblings, so it’s nice to have more regular individual time with them.

Sadie’s a card and does and says the cutest things. The other day when someone said, “That stinks” Sadie very matter-of-factly countered with, “Brock Stinks”. She gallops around the house, singing and talking to herself. She’s AMAZING at finding missing items, loves to help me clean and for me to paint her nails. She stays super happy all day long. There are the occasional meltdowns that are typical of two-year-olds.

But for the most part she is a joy! She loves her big brother and sister and loves to come with me when I take them to and from school, but she’s not bored when their gone. She’s independent so that makes her pretty easy. She loves to play in the pool, read, and be the big sister for a change. She just doesn’t quite understand yet that she can’t do everything that she sees Bailey or Brock do with their baby sister.

Sophie is good natured about it for the most part, and only cries when she’s been hurt. Outside of those occasions she rarely cries. She is the happiest baby & smiles all the time. She looks just like Brandon.

She’s been scooting around the floor for a couple of months now. She could teach the Army a thing or two about crawling. She actually has rubbed some of the skin off her big toe on both feet where she pushes for traction.

She still takes a good sized nap during the day. For the first time in 8 years, I have quiet time during the middle of the day. It’s weird but nice. With Brandon working from home it’s heaven to have lunch together. If he takes a late lunch after the girls are down for their naps, it’s like date night in the middle of the day! We get to have a conversation from beginning to end without being interrupted. I love it!

Super Brock

2009-08-02T21:25:00.000-07:00

I heard a conversation tonight that went like this…
Brock: “Daddy, can I be a Scientist when I grow up?”
Daddy: "Sure Buddy! You can be anything you want."
Brock: "I Can?! Cool! ‘Cuz when I’m a scientist I’m going to figure out how I can turn into a superhero!"

He makes us laugh.

The rest of the night sounded like this:

"Scientists eat all their dinner."
"Scientists always remember to flush."
"Scientists use a tissue."
"Scientists don't whine when it's time for bed."
"Scientists have to work really hard at school"

So far it seems to be a pretty good motivator. We'll see how long it plays out.

One Big Day

2009-07-29T11:25:00.000-07:00

Monday was one of the fullest days of our lives…we could have easily made it into two days. To start off it was the first day of school. Yes, already. Brocky is my little first-timer. He was nervous but did really well. He has a WONDERFUL teacher who took him under her wing. Of course, he wanted daddy to take him. He put on a brave face and marched on in. It was like looking into a fish bowl with all the parents peeking through windows and snapping pictures of their cute little ones. Bailey’s old hat at this. She didn’t get nervous for one minute. She has a little friend in her class and their seats are right next to each other. They both love school. Thank goodness!

After we dropped the two oldest munchkins off we took the two little girls and headed to the mechanic to have them fix some wiring to the airbag that must have come loose… when they were repairing the air conditioning…that they screwed up when they were installing the new gear shifter… from when they had to replace the ignition cylinder… when the key wouldn’t come out…to catch the fly. I don’t know why she swallowed the fly, perhaps she’ll die.

Brandon loves his car. He’s had it for seven years now, and in Brandon time, that’s forever! You know your husband loves you when he sells the car that he loves to buy the car that you love. He is good to me. So after the mechanic we went and bought the new car. I love it. I love it. I love it. It can fit more than two people in it, so that’s great! And you don’t have to be Biff Tannin to drive this one like you had to be to drive Brandon’s car. There are a million reasons that Brandon loves it too but that would use language like rims, exaust, horsepower, air-in-take system and the like and that is beyond my grasp…I don’t speak gear head.

I had to run home in the process to grab the kids from school, go back to shake on the deal, then rushed back home with the kids to shower and change for girl’s night, leaving Brandon behind to transfer cars. I grew up with the most amazing group of friends. We don’t get together often, and we’re spread out all over the world but it was so good to see everyone. I was lucky to have such good friends in High School. They are still a wonderful group of gals. We met for yogurt at Mojo’s and chatted for hours about husbands, families and kids. I loved catching up. Thanks for encouraging me to start my own blog and end my days as a stalker of other people’s blogs. It may only be interesting to me, but I stink at journaling and scrapbooking, so hopefully this will serve both purposes.

4th of July

2009-07-29T10:07:00.000-07:00

Enjoying the cool, sweet weather.

It is the best preserved meteor crater in the world!...(little factoid for ya...)

We spent the Fourth of July Holiday in Flag this year…just our little family and it was wonderful. We got to enjoy the fresh clean air, pines and cool weather, swimming, fireworks, a great big crater hole, good food and loads of smiles. Loved every minute of it!

Bailey's Baptism

2009-07-29T09:06:00.000-07:00

My oldest just turned 8. It was an amazing experience to plan a baptism. I asked Bailey what she wanted and her main requests that were outside of the norm were hot pink, butterflies and fruit salad. We found a beautiful white dress (I decided not to make one this go around so I could enjoy the experience more instead of being stressed out about sewing the perfect dress). She was so beautiful. Everyone in the family helped. My sister Shannon took some gorgeous pictures of Bailey for me. There were invitations and programs. Family gave talks and prayers. Bailey was the only one from our Ward being baptized on Stake Baptism day, so we really got to customize it for us. My sweet, sweet sister-in-law, Brittany sang a song for the Baptism, "What Heaven Sees In You". This song expressed my feelings of the day so much better than I ever could. It was the most beautiful, perfect song. Sitting next to Bailey at this milestone in her life, seeing the baby she once was in my memories and knowing the future that lies ahead of her still. There were so many wonderful things I'll remember when I think about this day for the years to come, but mostly it was one of happiness and peace. Life goes so fast. I love my family and these memories that I'm making with them. I don't want to miss a thing!