dancing in the rain

Family Vacation 2011. Nauvoo trip Part 3

2011-07-12T16:11:00.006-06:00

On our second day in Nauvoo we had a tour scheduled early in the morning with the couple who hosted us for a BBQ the night before. They are tour guides for the sites owned by the ----- (formerly RLDS church). We toured the Joseph and Emma's Homestead, Joseph and Emma's Mansion house, and the grave site where Joseph, Emma and Hyrum are buried. The sites owned by this church do not allow pictures so I left my camera in the car, but I should have brought it at least to get pictures of the outside of the buildings.

Joseph and Emma's Homestead was a small house originally but had been added onto later when his son lived there. They told of the history of the house and showed us which parts were original and which were added. Some of the artifacts were ones actually owned by Joseph and Emma when they lived there.

Joseph and Emma's Mansion house was built because all too often Emma found herself hostess to members of the church who needed a place to stay. It was used as a hotel with a portion of it used for the family's private residence. It was a beautiful building anyone would love to live in. The Mansion house (as well as the Homestead) had several places that were built solely to hide Joseph from those who intended harm to him.

The burial grounds have been moved from where they were placed originally. Emma had kept the burial place of her beloved and his brother a secret from everyone (aside from a very select few) in order to protect it. When she died, her family buried her close by. Years later when the shore line of the Mississippi River began to change it became necessary to move the family graveyard. A nice memorial has been built by the ----church as a marker for their grave.

After the tour we went on a carriage ride. This ride took us through some of the wooded areas of Nauvoo.
And told of experiences those who first inhabited Nauvoo had in the area. Could you imagine having to clear these kinds of wooded areas to be able to build a house and have some farming land? Not to mention the fact they had to divert water out of the area to be able to farm it. When they arrived it was nothing more than a marsh.
I had to get a picture of our tour guide
These are some of the original homes that were in Nauvoo. I'm sure they have had a lot of work done since they are still lived in today.
The Mighty Mississippi as seen on our carriage ride.
Following the carriage ride we went to the Temple grounds to get some photos for our Temple Tour.

I thought it was appropriate to post some pictures of the memorial for Joseph and Hyrum that is in from=n of the Temple
There happened to be someone else there who was willing to trade taking family pictures in front of the temple for us.We headed into town to visit some more sites. The kids has fun trying on the "running water" yolk. A boy's job, as soon as he was tall enough (Harrisen is not quite there) was to carry one of these down to the river fill the buckets and carry them back to the temple site This was quite a distance and up hill towards the temple.
The other kids wanted to give it a try. Madison...And Bailee....We had tickets to another show "Just Anna Amanda" so we took a break from the heat to go see the show. Another great performance by the "Young Preforming Missionaries".

We decided to head to Carthage when we stopped for lunch that way we could eat in the car on the way and have more time.
Carthage was AmAzInG! We had to wait a little while to go in because there was an EFY group in front of us (How fun would that be? EFY in Nauvoo) when we did go in it was really nice because there was not a group behind us that was waiting to come in. The missionary giving our tour took her time telling us all about the building and the events that took place there. When we got to the room where Joseph and Hyrum were Martyred we were actually able to close the door and sit in the room and talk as a family about the feeling you feel in that room. It was amazing! The missionary said never before since she had been thee had this happened. So awesome!This little room was the room that the prison keeper and their family would live in. the prison and another bedroom (where the martyrdom took place) were upstairs. This was definitely one of the highlights of the vacation!

Following Carthage we returned to Nauvoo to visit the places we still had yet to see We went to the print shop, the post office, the Seventies hall, the black smith shop (where we all got prairie diamonds), and the brick yard (where our family was given a Nauvoo brick) before going to see some of the homes. The Lucy Mack Smith Home and the Woodruff home were my favorites. By the time we finished the homes everything else was closed up for the evening so we drove to the end of Parley street, the same way the saints did as they left their beautiful city Nauvoo to head west. Then we headed back to Burlington. Leaving Nauvoo for the last time on this trip. What a great experience for our family. Tomorrow we'll have a bit of a drive, stopping to see some more sites on the way.

Family Vacation 2011. Nauvoo trip Part 2

2011-07-12T14:21:00.007-06:00

Since I have SO many pictures (and believe me I could have taken more) I decided to post Nauvoo into 2 posts, after all we were there 2 days so it should be easy right? But first I had to throw this one shot in...ha ha this is what typically could be seen when you looked back anytime we were driving. (nearly 4,000 miles in 10 days really is a lot of driving but it was fun)

As I mentioned here we stayed in Burlington Iowa which is about a 30-40 min drive to Nauvoo. We chose here first of all because hotels are MUCH cheaper here than they are in Nauvoo but we also thought the drive on the way back each night would give us a chance to talk about what we saw and how we felt through the day. Which really was a good decision because this is when we did our family scripture reading and usually read something in D&C that had to do with what we saw that day.
It turned out to be really nice. On the way there the first day we saw this old run down (maybe even abandoned) barn. It was really pretty, I wish the colors in the picture did it justice.
Yea! after 2 long days of driving we finally made it!

One of the first places we toured was the assembly hall. Talk about a cool building! when you walk in on the ground level it was a theater of sorts, (sorry my bad no picture) in this room they would meet for all sorts of community events, conferences, plays and such.

On the next floor up was a room that sometimes would be used for law enforcement and sometimes as a place for people to stay (a bit like a hotel). for display purposes it had many beds with even more quilts and other artifacts from the time period. Here are a few examples.
These beds were both in the same room, and there was more beds in that room as well. this would have slept several families at the same time..
They had quite a few quilts all through out this room showing the popular styles of quilts that were made back then. There are some beautiful quilts.

on the next floor was a large room that was used by the women as they would set up quilts and visit together as they quilted but the main purpose of this room was for fun. They often held dances and other such events in this room.
There was a loft in the top just the right size to fit a small band. This room was so big and open and loud I could only imagine how fun it would be to have a live band playing and be dancing around the room. What fun! (sorry I forgot to take a picture of the loft but one of the kids got one...if I could just figure out who that is in the middle of this picture. Bailee? Alex maybe?)
Next was the bakery, right next door.The oven at the bakery....and I thought my kitchen was small.One of the more hands on places to visit was the Family living center, where they taught us how to make a rope. Everyone helped, except me because I was happy to be taking pictures of the progress.
After threading the hemp into the proper places the worker made assignments. Alex wound the wheel...I don't remember how many times but it was A LOT.Harrisen was anxious for his turnBailee spun the wheel on the other side while Kirsti moves the spacer along to keep it from getting tangled and keep it tight.
Keep going all the way to the end.
Harrisen's turn to turn the big wheel a little more.
once they reach the end you can't just cut it you have to tie the ends off. That was the job for Mike...once they showed him what to do.
he did great.
Once the rope was done they gave it to Harrisen. He is so proud of his rope.

They also had demonstrations on making candles, making yarn, pottery, and other skills the early saints needed to have to survive and build up the community.
Next we made a quick tour of the Browning gun shop before going to see a play by the Young Performing Missionaries. It was a great play and now all my kids want to audition when they are old enough.

When we were done we had a BBQ with some really nice people that my sister hooked us up with that she met on her recent trip to Nauvoo. It was a nice way to end our first day in Nauvoo.

Family Vacation 2011. Nauvoo trip Part 1

2011-07-12T10:48:00.004-06:00

For our family vacation this year we decided (since the kids just finished D&C in seminary) it was good timing to make a trip to Nauvoo and stop and see other church history sites while we were in the general direction. In addition to visiting church history sites we wanted to visit some family and friends we had been missing.

Our time was limited, and there would be a lot of driving, so we decided to leave on a Sunday. Normally we would not travel on Sunday be this time we felt we needed the extra day in Nauvoo. So Sunday after church we loaded into the car and headed off. Driving straight through to Sydney Nebraska that first day.

While there we stopped into Cabala's, which was much smaller than I remembered, especially after having visited the one closest to us just a few months prior. One funny note I have to say was that in driving towards Cabala's we drove through town. All of us thought it was extremely funny that the local health clinic and the mortuary shared the same parking lot.....I tried to get a picture but it just wasn't possible to get the words on both buildings to show in one picture. But it was HILARIOUS. We joked about it for a while.

Next stop was Winter Quarters Nebraska. We thought this would be a quick jaunt off the freeway but NO it was a lot harder to find than we thought. we looked for quite a while, grabbed some dinner (note to self, fried chicken is not good eating in the car food) and an atlas and eventually found Winter Quarters at about dusk. It was worth it! The Temple was beautiful and the visitors center was really neat.
They had some life size replicas of the way the pioneers traveled and some cool hands on things for kids to see what it would have been like to be a pioneer.
They played with the hand cart and all took turns with the smaller set that they got to load things into and try to make it all fit.
The statue in the front was cool we liked that it had kids about the same size as our family and showed everyone helping.The Temple.... It was really cool to be able to walk around the grounds and see it from all angles. there are some beautiful stained glass windows that were hard to see in the pictures since it was later in the day. It was cool to see the fireflies just starting to light up as we walked around. Sorry the picture is on it's side, one day there will be a way to change it without loading it onto my computer and using photo shop.

After Winter Quarters we loaded back into the car for the long drive to Burlington Iowa where we would be staying for the next few days while we visited the sites in Nauvoo.

At this point we have driven from Utah through Wyoming, Nebraska and Iowa.

We'll save Nauvoo for the next post.

I'm thankful for hand me downs and good neighbors

2010-11-04T10:50:00.003-06:00

It's not exactly what I was looking for but this......
is much better that this was....
we made do with what we had, which was a couple of old end tables and a video stand. I tried to ignore the web of wires and plugs visible under the table and took pictures that wouldn't show the mess....but now it's a meat and organized thanks to our neighbors who were throwing away a fairly nice TV stand. one day I'll make or buy one that's a little longer and has more workable space for DVDs and Wii games but for now I'm happy to not see the web of wires. And have a nice place for some room decor. Thanks guys!

Halloween 2010

2010-11-04T09:40:00.004-06:00

I've been working early vote sites most of the month so getting costumes ready was on the back burner and didn't get done. Madison and her friends Lynzee and Rylee got together one day after school to come up with matching costumes. Here's what they came up with. I was impressed.
They were all Fairies....though I forgot to take my camera to the trunk or treat so I didn't get a picture of them all together. Madison felt beautiful in her costume!
Have you ever had to try to come up with a costume that fit with a full leg cast? Not an easy task I must say.
I thought it would be cute to have him be Tiny Tim. He would have nothing to do with it. Weather it was because I said I thought it would be "cute" or because he didn't have a clue who I was talking about I don't know but he was not going for that idea.
So the night before the trunk or treat I was still straining to figure something out and thinking maybe we wouldn't be able to play in the cast bit after all when I thought of this.....
A road construction worker who had been hit by a car. Perfect! He was thrilled and it was easy to make. I cut tire tread stencils out of some newspaper and went to work.
Mike had the idea to do a little play on the WCF (workers compensation Fund) commercials that are currently playing by having him wear this sign. Everyone thought it was hilarious.
Bailee has been talking all month about what she wanted to do. she wanted to dress up as a scarecrow, put her carved pumpkin on her head and scare the bigger kids as they were trick or treating. It was funny to watch them grab for the candy in the pot on her lap and jump when she said "boo"
Alex and Kirsti were not planning on dressing up but at the last minute they decided to go as french DJ's (Kirsti took her beret off before we got the picture.
It was a fun Halloween...and I liked the fact that I didn't have to do much to get costumes ready.

Harrisen's accident

2010-10-11T20:16:00.002-06:00

WARNING GRAPHIC PICTURES IN THIS POST
As I called the kids into dinner one evening (Sept 27,2010) Harrisen decided to jump on the fish tank Bailee had been cleaning out for me. He found out just how bad that choice was really fast as he cut both knees to the bone. Thanks to the help of our nurse neighbor Jan, we were able to get him fixed up enough to get him to the ER. the girls and I all saw how deep the cuts were and we were all pretty scared. I was worried with how much blood he was loosing. He was a trooper! although he was scared he didn't cry too much...until the tried to numb it.

Here he is laying in the ER bed
this is the least graphic picture of his cuts, the swelling closed the cuts so you could not see how deep it really was by this point.
The right leg was cut a little lower and thus received less damage since it hit his tibula (shin) the Left leg was cut in the fleshy spot between the kneecap and the shin. He cut 50% of the tendon and just scraped the artery.
This is how he left the ER, with the instructions not to bend or put weight on his left knee and to see a orthopedic specialist either Friday or monday.
They did a really good job of stitching it up. This is the right leg, the one that had the least damage.
This is the left leg, the one with the most damage.
after carrying him around for a day....we borrowed some crutches.
It took a few days to get the hang of it but now he can really fly.
His first cast was only on for a week, then they had to cut it off to take the stitches out. here they are cutting it off.
He now has his second cast (he chose blue this time) and will have that one for the next 4 weeks. (which is 2 weeks less than we were told at the first visit. Depending on how well he heals, this may be the last cast, then physical therapy. Let's hope for the best.
We are glad you are OK buddy.

Little boys and their tadpoles

2010-09-15T20:47:00.001-06:00

Harrisen didn't come home from school today....Madison tried to call from the school but they wouldn't let her for some reason (I was NOT happy) so after walking all the way home (It takes them about 35 min) she told me he was missing and we went searching for him. after looking for quite a while we finally found him walking towards the school with a bottle in his hands and covered with mud. Grrr!
Apparently after school was out Harrisen saw some older kids at school with tadpoles in bottles. He liked them and asked where he could get one...so the told him they got them at the pond. without thinking about Madison, he headed over to find one for himself....and find one he did
It's hard to tell from the picture but this thing is HUGE. we borrowed a fish tank from a neighbor to keep it in until we could get rid of it.
Since we couldn't let it go where he found it without being fined we donated it to the Jr high science teacher. He was thrilled.

Madison and Lynzee hair cuts

2010-08-18T15:01:00.000-06:00

This is Madison with her BFF Lynzee. They both have long hair and they like having it the same. Neither of them would cut it unless the other wanted to cut it too....they both wanted to this time.
Before....During......
After...
Not really a whole lot shorter to the rest of us but this was HUGE for them.

Thanks Amy for taking them both at the same time and cutting it the same.

Harrisen's 6th birthday friend party

2010-08-16T19:31:00.001-06:00

Harrisen wanted to go somewhere for his birthday part. we decided on the splash pad.
Because we had to drive he couldn't invite too many friends that was hard for him.
everyone had fun playing in the water
They especially liked the squirt guns
and the buckets that dump
when they had too muck of the water they wandered to the play ground
and climbed
on everything
time to blow out the candles
and eat treats in the Bowery
then we all headed home. The boys all had a great time...and no clean up for mom at home. I think this was a good plan.

Harrisen's 6th Birthday

2010-08-16T14:32:00.001-06:00

Harrisen wanted to go to the park for his birthday....so we did.
He got a football...(I think he was excited after opening all the clothes he opened first)
and a guitar....
And what he had been asking for a skate board!! happy birthday buddy!

Harrisen's first attempt at riding his new board.

His friend party will be posted as soon as I can figure out how to get the pictures off my phone.

Logan Temple

2010-08-06T17:25:00.005-06:00

Some pictures on the Logan temple from our Temple tour 2010.
Logan temple at night
Logan Temple daytime

I couldn't resist this one ...
aren't they so cute.

This Temple is special to us as it is the one we were married in. I can't wait to get these ones done. one of them may end up on a prominent wall in my home.

Bear Lake

2010-08-06T13:26:00.000-06:00

Every time Bailee sees anything on TV or movies that shows a beautiful blue body of water we hear "can we go there?" for over a year now she has been begging to go to some beach that had bright blue water for her to play in. so at the end of our vacation week we decided to make a day trip to Bear Lake. We didn't tell anyone where we were going just that we were going for a drive and that it might be a good idea to have a swimsuit. The fact that we had just stopped at Jenny Lake the day before and none of them had suits helped. It really wasn't that bad of a drive even just to let them play for 1 day. We left early and came home late, but didn't spend the night away from home.
Here is Bailee playing on the beach by the pretty blue water...a dream come true.
Madison enjoying the warm water.
I think Kirsti is laying out...or just enjoying the warm water.
Mike and Alex spent most of their time like this....Mike Sleeping, Alex texting, and sleeping.
Look Mom I can float.
Me too
We made mermaids (this one is Madison)
Lots of them (back to front. Harrisen,Kirsti, Bailee, and Madison)
Bailee
Kirsti (and a little Harrisen on the side)
Harrisen
Madison and I made this really cool turtle. we even found a bunch of these really small shells to add texture to his shell.

The wind was blowing (hard) but we all had a good time and came home tired and burnt....spray-on sunscreen works better when there is no wind. we topped the day off with a famous raspberry shake and headed home.

Oquirrh Mountain Temple

2010-08-05T17:15:00.004-06:00

Some of the pictures of the Oquirrh Mountain Temple from our Temple tour 2010.

Jordan River Temple

2010-08-05T16:53:00.004-06:00

Some of the pictures of the Jordan River Temple from our Temple tour 2010.
I had to get this cute shot of the kids taking pictures of the Temple

I'm not sure which one of the kids took this last one on an angle but....I kind of like it that way.

Draper Temple

2010-08-05T16:44:00.001-06:00

Some pictures of the Draper Temple from our Temple tour 2010.

Timpanogos Temple

2010-08-05T16:39:00.005-06:00

Some of the shots from the Timponogos Temple. From our Temple tour 2010
Sorry most of them are sideways.

Prove Temple

2010-08-05T16:09:00.001-06:00

Here are a few of the shots from our visit to the Provo Temple as part of our temple tour.

Temple tour 2010 intro

2010-08-04T13:54:00.001-06:00

Mike and I have been talking for quite some time about how nice it would be to have a nice big TV in the front room that we could have framed to look like a picture and how nice it would be to have some pictures of temples for a screen saver type thing so that instead of seeing a TV you would see a nice framed picture of the Temple. (We could also substitute family pictures for temple ones if we wanted to.) So this year with our taxes we got the TV and hung it on the wall. (though we have yet to have it framed, that will have to wait a while)

Our family has really enjoyed having it, and it has been really nice for them to be able to have friends over to watch movies and to play video games on the big screen. but we had yet to tell them one of the biggest reasons we wanted to have it.
Mike having vacation time to use at work and with out much to fund a vacation with we came up with what we called our "Temple Tour". We planned on a short vacation with my parents to Yellowstone, stopping at Jenny Lake, and Jackson Hole on the way home. This would take the first couple days and the rest of the week we would sleep at home and visit Temples during the day and take pictures. each of the kids were allowed to take some of the pictures. since most of our kids have their own camera, Madison and Harrisen just had to share our camera and everyone got to take pictures.
So with this in Mind for later in the week we stopped at the Logan Temple on our way home for a night time shot. Most of the kids slept it was after all about 3am. But this is the first of many pictures for our Temple tour 2010....
Logan temple at night.
Eventually we will put all the pictures on a flash drive, photo shop them to make them look a little nicer, and set them to a slide show that can be put on the TV, for now we'll just post the raw photos by temple location. Watch for more Temples soon under the label Temple Tour

Jackson Hole

2010-08-04T13:21:00.000-06:00

Our last stop on the way home from Yellowstone. I had never been to Jackson Hole before and mentioned we should stop by there and give ourselves a little bit of time to walk around.
What a fun little town! we had so much fun going to all the shops and seeing all the sights.
The Kids loved posing with all the statues (Back row L to R Kirsti, Mark Twain and Alex Front row Strange boy,Bailee Harrisen, Madison and strange girl)
Harrisen, Bailee, and Madison reading a book with grandma ha ha ha
Madison kissing and Harrisen hugging a moose
The whole trip to Yellowstone Harrisen kept saying "where is a bear? I want to hug a bear" well now we found one we are OK to let him hug.
These arches were everywhere! I teasingly mentioned to Mike (loud enough for the kids to overhear) that we should build one in our back yard. Bailee was quick to respond "MOM! that's a lot of death!!" ha ha Love that girl.
Jackson Hole was great we would love to go again and have a few days to walk around and enjoy it.

Jenny Lake

2010-08-04T13:12:00.000-06:00

On the way home from Yellowstone we decided to drive through the Tetons. and stopped at Jenny Lake for the kids to play around a bit.
They loved it
and couldn't believe how beautiful it was.

Yellowstone 2010

2010-08-04T10:44:00.000-06:00

for our vacation this year we headed to Yellowstone with my parents.
we saw LOTS of wildlife
(sorry about the sideways pictures, can't remember how to fix that)
There were buffalo everywhere and most of the time we could get a real close shot. sometimes they were so close to the car I couldn't get the whole animal in the shot. (a bit scary if you ask me) this one was about right.
the black blur right there in the center of this photo is one of the two bears we saw. The other was too far away to get a picture of. This one was only a few yards off the road eating berries. It didn't seem too bothered by the swarms of people our of their cars taking pictures.
one of the many beautiful waterfalls.
Harrisen and his dad enjoying lunch.
Another pretty waterfall. I like the bridge above it, driving over it you would never know what was under it.
these signs were in many of the picnic sites.
These cool buses were everywhere, we thought they would be fun as you can stand up and look out the top.
one of the hot pots we liked.
this mom and child deer were sitting about 10 feet off the walking trail. pretty cool.
Too bad we didn't bring anything to collect bugs for bug collections this one was HUGE. and on Mike's leg.
getting a drink from Yellowstone Lake.
this little pond was so cool full of all those Lilly pads.
Old Faithful
another hot pot with pretty colors
this one was super deep and the water was really clear. too bad a picture doesn't show depth perception accurately.
this car was owned by a tourist. We all thought it was really cool. Grandpa visited with the owner while we took pictures of his car.
another picture of his cool car.
group shot of the kids
group shot of all of us
these little critters were everywhere! and not afraid to scamper right up to you.
Madison got a cute shot of this one.
It's a tradition....we have to get a picture of Madison by her sign every time we go to Yellowstone.

We had such a good time. Thanks Mom and Dad for inviting us and Adam and Amber for the use of the cabin. It was a much needed vacation.

Slip and slide

2010-07-24T10:22:00.001-06:00

We decided to buy a slip and slide for the kids.....then opted for a giant piece of plastic instead so we could play too.
Yes that was me in the back.
everyone loved it!
and I took several trips down the slide before I quit.....in fact most of the kids quit before I did. It was a nice way to cool off on such a hot day.
More pictures to come if I can figure out how to get them off my phone.

4th of July 2010

2010-07-08T10:03:00.000-06:00

We were so excited to have Aunt Cindy and her kids here for a visit for the holiday. We did a lot of fun things in the week they were here....none of which we got pictures of. I have got to start remembering the camera.
We went on several outings including out to Antelope island which is fun, but would be much better without all the biting bugs. the kids love playing in the water and I love that it doesn't get deep too fast.

the teenagers have a tradition that they all go shopping for matching outfits for the 4th so this is what they picked out this year. (L to R Kirsti, Alex, Ashley, Kaisha) you look cute girls.
Since Kirsti is a class officer this year at the Jr high she got to be in the parade. Here's a shot of their float, er eh boat.
and the kids always have a good time chasing candy. (L to R Bailee, Madison, Harrisen, Drake)
after the parade we had fun with family BBQ's and fireworks. we all love celebrating our freedom.

A trip to the Aerospace museum

2010-05-28T19:02:00.000-06:00

We took the kids for a trip to the Aerospace museum. They had a great time looking at all the planes and helicopters, but the best part was the room in the back with all the fun things to play with.
Above: Madison and Bailee dressed up and flying the plane.
Harrisen in front of a helicopter
WOW that is one big wheel on that plane
Kirsti discovered this cool science trick. You stand on a board that spins, hold the spinning bike tire in your hands, and depending on which way you turn the wheel in your hands the board you are standing on changes directions.
Everyone had to try it
Bailee in the flight simulator
Harrisen in the flight simulator
Madison on the moon
Harrisen on the moon
Harrisen the astronaut
wow that is a big plane
Madison and Harrisen holding the plane up ha ha
We had a good time. What a fun day trip.

School House Rock

2010-05-08T13:42:00.001-06:00

The Elementary school play this year was School House Rock.
Bailee got a lead (Dori) which was the part she wanted and she amazed everyone with her talents in both singing and dancing.Madison was part of the chorus which is what she wanted as well. She is in here somewhere...why does it look so muck darker on the computer than it does on my camera. she is the one in the center, towards the top.the final song the final performance....everyone looks so happy.
and the post wouldn't be complete without a picture of them with their BFFs
Emilee/Bailee and Lynzee/Madison...(aka Lizard and Maggot)

My kids have really enjoyed being in the school plays and Bailee especially looks forward to being in the plays at the JR High level next year.

Someone had a birthday

2010-05-06T14:05:00.008-06:00

Guess which one of these cute kids had a birthday this month....
Kirsti had her 14 th birthday this month.Isn't she beautiful?
She wanted a Justin Beiber CD and a shirt....the last thing she expected was a phone.
But I think she liked it.
Oops should have turned this one...oh well.

Kirsti is a wonderful daughter full of love and laughter. Her greatest joys are in making someone smile. We are so glad to have this happy beautiful girl as a part of our family. HaPpY BiRtHdAy KiRsTi!!!

The SpLuRgE

2010-04-03T13:10:00.000-06:00

We are not the type that tends to splurge and we don't buy any of the electronics that people usually like to have.
This year, however, since Mike had found a job, and since we were getting a decent amount back from our taxes we decided to surprise the kids with something they would never expect. Our friend Jason Felix helped us make sure we had what we needed and offered to help set it all up while the kids were away.
So on the last Saturday in March, since we had tickets to the general Young Women's meeting in Salt Lake for those old enough to go. I found a sitter for the younger kids (thanks Hilary and Amy) and took the older kids to spend the day in Salt Lake.
We went shopping a the Gateway most of the day then went to the Joseph Smith Memorial building to watch the movie they had playing. The movie finished just in time to go to the broadcast. Following the broadcast (and because Mike and Jason needed more time) we went for a late dinner. By then the younger kids were tired and wanting to go to bed so done or not we were going home. This is what we came home to......
The last thing they expected to see was a 60" flat screen and surround sound. (Mike and Jason were watching a movie in surround sound so they noticed that right away) The Blue ray they didn't notice until a bit later.
Madison who was the first one to see came running back out to tell the other kids but was so excited she couldn't talk...just jump around and screech once in a while.
It was fun to see all their excited faces, and amazingly enough they weren't that tired anymore.
Since the following week was Spring break, each of the kids got to have some friends over for a movie night one night that week.
Here's a clip of some of the fun Madison and her friends had....

They are so fun! that was one of the highlights of the night. JuSt DaNcE!

Once Upon A High School Musical

2010-03-29T12:36:00.002-06:00

Alex and Kirsti were in dinner theater this year. They performed Once Upon A High School Musical. A play that their director wrote about what High school would be like if all the students were Disney Characters. (They threw in a few number by Michael Jackson just to shake things up a bit)
Alex had the part of Sleeping Beauty (above, in the pink and blue dress 2nd one in from the left) and Kirsti had the part of Jessie from Toy Story 2 ( Below center with the cow print chaps)
They really enjoyed the show and especially had fun with the Michael Jackson songs.I think Kirsti knew we were trying to take a picture of her.This has been one of our kids favorite things about JR High. this is a fun after school program that has left them with some good friends and great memories.

Here is a clip of what Harrisen was doing while the girls were on stage...

Sorry it's so dark, but if you look close he is "breakdancing"on the floor. He LOVED the music!

Science fair

2010-02-26T19:17:00.005-07:00

Bailee chose to participate in the science fair this year. Her question was " what cleans laundry stains the best" she chose three types of laundry stain removers and then for kicks we picked toilet bowl cleaner to test on one.
After surveying some of our friends we chose 4 stains to test. Grass, Mustard, Tomato, and Car grease. We stained each corner of 8 wash clothes with one of these stains. with 8 wash clothes she pretreated 4
and soaked the other 4.
Then she let them sit for 15 minutes
and then washed them all together so that there would not be any differences in the temperature of the water or the amount of soap used.

The results were kind of interesting. Most of the laundry cleaners were about the same in taking out the tomato, mustard and grass, But this one was the only one that worked on car grease...
But the cleaner that worked the very best on everything except the oil was....She did a great job on her board...
and she took 3rd place in district. Good job Bailee!!!

The Cabin

2010-02-15T19:08:00.004-07:00

Uncle Adam and aunt Amber invited us to go up to their cabin in Island Park with them. We had sooo much fun! Snowmobiling, sledding, and playing in the snow. Here is a group shot of all of us...and some of the kids in front of the cabin...
sledding....
peeing...
this is Harrisen driving the little snowmobile all by himself.....He LOVED it!!!
and here is Bailee driving the same one...
Mike and one of the kids on the big one...
This is their cute cozy cabin....
sledding on the snow banks while they await their turn with the snowmobile...
We had a great time and didn't want to come home. Thanks so much for inviting us we can't wait to go again.

Alex is 15

2010-02-06T18:56:00.001-07:00

Watch out world Alex is old enough to get her permit now....

she Loved the "Owl city" CD she got...
and her hoodie...

and her new purse....
any guesses what her favorite color is???

Here is a shot of all the kids at her party...she opted for a few friends and a game night. then they decided to take a walk in the rain...
Happy birthday Alex we love you!!

2010-01-20T18:43:00.000-07:00

Mike had an interview in California. that evening when he was on his way home I went to relief society. When I came home this is what the girls had done for him to see when he walked in the door... (sorry I couldn't turn the pictures)
The next day they called and offered him the job while the kids were at school. He thought it would be fun to just change the sign and see if they noticed. Here is what we changed it too...

They noticed...After just a few weeks shy of 2 years we are happy that Mike now has a job!!!

The best turkey ever!

2010-01-18T18:05:00.003-07:00

As I was preparing the turkey for Thanksgiving Mike was looking around trying to find a guide for knowing how long to cook the turkey and found this video for making the perfect turkey. We didn't have all the ingredients, but, ever since I keep thinking I need to try it. It turned out wonderful! Best turkey I have ever had...my parents and Mikes dad agree. Most tender and flavorful turkey they have ever had. If you want to watch the video and learn how for your self click here. There are two parts (one for the turkey and one for the gravy, I only did the turkey part) and you have to follow his link for the seasoned butter. It's all there on his blog. Yummmm!!

December in a nut shell

2009-12-31T16:23:00.000-07:00

We set up the tree the day after Thanksgiving...Harrisen was so excited he grabbed his things and tucked himself in to watch the lights sparkle for a while. It didn't take long before he was sound asleep.
December was a crazy month for us... It started out with me having my flowers accepted to a boutique and having to hurry and get a bunch of them made. Thanks to all my friends who helped me get ready, I was able to have it all done. And thanks To Stephanie for helping me figure out how to display it all...and loaning me her stuff. It all went well and I actually sold quite a few flowers.

The evening of the last day of the boutique was also the night we had my families Christmas party...Which was really fun but we had to leave early because we got news that Mike's mom (Nancy) had a heart attack. We left the party, and hurried home to grab clothes and stuff for everyone and headed for St George. Since the next day was Bailee's 12th birthday we decided it would be best for us to take the whole family. We arrived late and went right to bed. In the morning the adults got up early and went in so we could see her before she went in for surgery.
The surgery went well and they had to bypass 6 of her arteries.

The kids had a good time despite the reason we were there. They all fell in love with the palm trees and the younger ones had to hug them good bye before we left (why did I leave the camera at home? It was so cute). Monday we headed for home so the kids wouldn't miss too much school. By Tuesday morning (our 16th wedding anniversary), we found out that she had a stroke sometime after we had left. It was a long hard week for all of us but thankfully she is doing much better now.

Bailee had her last big birthday party. She opted for a late night with some of her friends from school.
The younger kids enjoyed the few snow storms we had. Pretty good snowman considering the three of them built it by them selves. Good job Madison, Lynzee, and Harrisen!
All the Christmas footage was video so none on this post....sorry.
This year I made them each snuggies, and all the girls new Christmas dresses. Can't wait for family pictures.

Here is a shot of how cuddly the kids were on the long drive to Idaho. Drake (my nephew) was ordained a deacon the Sunday after Christmas so we went up there to support him.
Mike and Harrisen made a quick fishing trip with uncle Cory and Luke while they were there. Look at the size of that rainbow. Good job guys!
It was a fun and busy month for us all. Ending with some sledding on New years eve. Watch for the sledding post soon.

Thank heavens for post options...I'm kind of slow getting thinsg done around here.

Boxers

2009-12-25T16:24:00.001-07:00

I need to post this on Harrisen's blog but it's too funny not to post here as well.

Harrisen got his first package of boxers for Christmas. I told him they were called boxers but that they were underwear. He was so excited. Later on in the evening on Christmas Harrisen and Brodey (his much older cousin) were wrestling on the floor in the living room when Harrisen pop up and says" Oh wait.... I forgot to put on my wrestling underwear!" he ran into his room and came out looking like this...
Boxers and his snow mittens...." Okay I'm ready Brodey!"

Such a silly boy!

Madison is 9

2009-11-16T21:28:00.003-07:00

Today is Madison's birthday. I can hardly believe she is 9 already. here are some pictures I took of her.
She is such an amazing and talented girl. Sometimes quiet and shy, other times loud and giggly.
She loves to spend time with her family and friends. She loves church, and though sometimes she won't admit it she loves school too. (especially her teacher Mrs Scheller)She loves all animals but especially loves Horses, dogs and cats.
Some of her favorite things to do right now are: she likes to make earrings, Make hair flowers, Play the Wii, play outside, play with her friends (especially having late nights), read, paint her nails (when I let her)Make up songs on the piano,and pretty much anything mom is doing.
My sweet little baby girl is growing up.
Some of the things I love about Madison are:
*Her happy smile
*Her cute personality
*Her ability to make others happy
*Her cute laugh
*she is smart
*I never have to tell her to do her homework
*she makes good choices even when mom and dad are not around
*she is eager to please
*she is helpful
*she likes to cuddle
*she is eager to learn new things
*She is kind to everyone. I lOvE yOu MaDi GiRl!!!
LoVe, Mom

Madison's FHE lesson

2009-11-15T21:44:00.002-07:00

Madison wanted to share with the family a talk she heard at a friend's baptism. She told me what she wanted to do and I told her that would make a good family home evening lesson. So here is how it went.

First she asked daddy if he would come up and help her to which he was glad to oblige. (he didn't know what was coming he he he)
the she said ...lets just say you were younger than 8 and you died...( she wipes a glob of peanut butter on his nose) when you get to heaven they will let you in only if you are clean...you are not quite clean but you have an older brother that will clean it off for you because you are so small. Then she uses a paper towel to wipe his nose off.
Okay now lets pretend you are older than 8 this time(she wipes quite a bit of peanut butter all over his face) but you are not baptised....
because you are older you have more sins but if you accept the Gospel and get baptised your brother will again be able to wipe away those sins. Paper towels are again used to clean off his face.
Okay now lets pretend that you get baptized but you make lots and lots of little mistakes....
(she then puts LOTS of peanut butter all over his face) now you have to choose if you will let the Atonement work for you and make you clean again or not.
Then she gave him a bunch of paper towels and let him go to the bathroom to get it all cleaned off.

Madison gave us a great example of how baptism and the Atonement can and should effect us in our lives. Great job Madison!
And thanks for being a good sport Dad!

Madison's Birthday party

2009-11-13T14:50:00.000-07:00

Highlights from Madison's 9th birthday party...

Pretty easy party this year. She wanted a late night so everyone wore their jammies.
We opened presents...
We decided on "Hanna Montana The Movie" for the video and had some of my young women come teach the hoe down throw down (Thanks Shaleese and Aimee!)

The girls all had a good time and Madison is happy.

One of the best things about fall is...

2009-11-07T19:10:00.002-07:00

jumping into a pile of leaves almost as tall as you are
and rolling around in them with the ones you love
"dog pile on Koda"
GoT HiM!!

Ahhh to be a kid again!

More Halloween fun

2009-11-01T18:55:00.003-07:00

We wanted to make caramel apples yesterday after trick or treating, but we got home too late to make homemade caramel so we decided to wait and do it after church today.

I forgot to take pictures of the actual dipping but here is one of Bailee twirling hers waiting for the caramel to cool enough not to drip all over.
the finished product.....mmm they look good!and tasted even better!

I think we just started a new tradition.

For the recipe to make the caramel look here.

Halloween 2009

2009-11-01T11:46:00.008-07:00

Our fun neighbor Glenn came over to show us his costume while we were getting ready to go trick or treating. He made tome stilts that strap to his feet and had an awesome hat that actually was a head on top of his head. He looked way cool and scared the kids a bit even though they all knew who was inside the costume.

Alex and Kirsti dressed up a few times before Halloween for other activities and decided not to dress up for Halloween on Halloween. To see Alex's costume click here Kirsti never did get dressed up at home and cleaned up before she came back so we never even got to see her in her costume thus no pictures. (she thinks this is funny)

So we just have the younger three this year.
It was kind of hard to get a good shot of all three for some reason. Too much shade or too much sun.
Bailee the fortune teller... Full view and close up...

Madison...er Wednesday full view
And close up
Harrisen the fire fighter full viewAnd close up
Lance got to go trick or treating with up this year.They were so excited for the first few houses...
Then not many people were answering the doorHarrisen's "soot" in his hair started to run when his head started to sweat...it looks even more like he was crawling through the fire now.HaPpY HaLoWeEn EvErYoNe!!!

Annual pumpkin carving with the Bouwhuis side of the family

2009-10-24T20:23:00.001-06:00

The Bouwhuis side of our family gets together every year the Saturday before Halloween to have soup and carve pumpkins. Here are some pictures of everyone having fun getting their pumpkins ready for Halloween.

Alex gutting her pumpkin
uncle Mark marking his for carving
Me and Bailee cutting away (I think I'm working on Harrisen's)Bailee cutting and Harrisen trying to find the top to his
Becca marking hers for cutting while little Tressa plays with her (Becca's) phone
Madison's finished pumpkin
Bailee's finished pumpkin
Kirsti's finished pumpkin
Harrisen's finished pumpkin
and Alex didn't finish hers until later so we forgot to take a picture.

And what would the annual pumpkin carving day be without Uncle Rob and his masterful works of art...
Here he is carving away

For his son Zealand he carved a "Bobot"

I tried to get Zealand to pose with it...he didn't like that idea so muchand for his daughter Tressa the prince waking sleeping beauty...She was proud to pose with hers
and here is Mason's idea of what a pumpkin should look like .....
in case you couldn't read it here is a close up of the sticker on his belly Silly Mason! We love your sense of humor!

Everyone had a blast with the pumpkin carving and we sure missed all those who couldn't make it this year....Dang H1N1.

picking pumpkins

2009-10-24T20:03:00.000-06:00

This year we heard that a local nursery was doing a hay ride to the "back 40" for families to get pumpkins. For a canned food item to give to the needy we were able to get free pumpkins and a hay ride to boot.

they all had so much fun exploring the pumpkin patch to find the best pumpkinBailee running out to the farthest part of the patch to see what was there
Harrisen picking the first one he saw ( he soon changed his mind and chose another one)
Alex picked the first one she saw and climbed back on the trailer
Kirsti and Madison finding their favorites
Madison helping Harrisen try to get his off the vine
Bailee and Madison carrying theirs back to the trailer
All set and ready to go carve them....
We had a great time. this was a fun way to get our pumpkins.

Ward Halloween party 2009

2009-10-18T19:12:00.002-06:00

They all wanted to be something scary this year. here is our attempt at "Mommies mummies" as they called themselves. (Thank you Bailee for going easy on mom and going for the fortune teller.)
Mummy Maddi
Mummy Harrisen
and fortune teller BaileeThey all had a blast at the ward carnival but the mummy costumes didn't last long we were re wrapping all night long. we'll have to re think things for Halloween.

Fall 2009

2009-10-17T19:24:00.000-06:00

We decided to go for a drive to see all the fall colors and collect some leaves for the kids to take to school. At first we had a hard time finding a spot that we dared let the kids out of the car (opening day of deer hunt was not the best day to venture into the woods without the proper safety attire)

Eventually we found this wonderful little spot that we were able to explore, collect leaves and take some great pictures of the beautiful colors. We all had fun playing with the camera, there are a lot of pictures, some taken by kids some taken by mom and some setting the timer so we all could be in it.

We had to get a couple of family pictures in, even though we weren't all dressed for family pictures, it was just too pretty.

I hope you all enjoyed all the fall colors as much as we did.

Alex sings the National Anthem

2009-09-16T19:45:00.000-06:00

Alex got to sing the National Anthem to begin the school volleyball game on Wednesday. She did a better job at singing it than I did at recording it here is a video clip....

In the fridge...

2009-09-14T10:36:00.003-06:00

I opened the fridge to get out some vanilla to do some baking and one of the shelves in the door was empty....except for this....

Do my kids really think I sit around all day and eat their candy???

Maybe it wasn't directed to me?!?! at least I can hope.

Egg whites and curls

2009-08-29T14:08:00.004-06:00

Alex has been wanting to try putting egg whites in her hair to make it go curly for a long time. Picture day at school was Friday so she wanted to do it for that. If there is anything to make a mother of a lot of girls nervous it is trying to do something you have never done before to your girls hair for picture day. I like to at least practice first. I wasn't sure how it was done but our neighbor Michelle Shurtz does it to her hair and since that is where Alex got the idea we enlisted her help. Kirsti decided she wanted to try too. Michelle came over and actually did it for them while I watched. It was actually pretty simple. We got some egg whites and stirred them with a fork just enough to separate them a bit. with wet hair we used a little gel to just separate the hair a little then used the egg whites just like you would hair gel. Once the egg whites were in Michelle used her diffuser and dried the hair. The trick is to stay in one place until the hair is almost dried. If the blow dryer gets too hot use the cold shot button.

The above shot is Kirsti holding her head over while Michelle dries her hair And this one is Alex Here is Kirsti finally done.

And Alex done

And we had to get a picture of the three of them. Silly me I should have taken some pictures of what it looked like for school in the morning. The curls stayed about the same and the girls just added a clip to the side. Adorable! and the EASIEST picture morning yet!

Garden 2009

2009-08-19T12:57:00.002-06:00

When we plant the garden in the spring I always hope I'll get help when it comes to the weeding and harvesting of the garden. The kids are pretty good about weeding when I assign it to them. As long as I tell them they can't do anything else until it is done. They will even go and get things out of it if I ask them to. But imagine how happy it made me feel when I looked out the window to check on the kids that were in the back yard (being way too quiet for me not to wonder what was up) and this is what I saw.... Bailee and Harrisen (if you can't tell who it is) enjoying fresh food straight out of the ground. Carrots anyone?

I'm happy to see them enjoying the garden!

Harrisen's Birthday Big # 5 the big day

2009-08-17T12:42:00.002-06:00

His birthday being on Sunday... We didn't do much... open a few presents and wait for Monday for cake and ice cream.
He loved his new dart gun (so does his sisters)
and the Wii game he wanted (Wii playground)

then he had to wait for the rest until Monday night.

Monday

Grandpa Galvez gave him a "fishing thing" for their upcoming fishing trip.

And he got the Havoc Hele that he has been wanting (thanks grandma!)

and lots and lots of school clothes...He especially needed all the pants he got from Grandma and grandpa B.

He had a great birthday and has been busy playing with all his fun new toys ever since...(does that mean I can get rid of some of the old ones without him noticing?)

Harrisen's Birthday Big # 5 Party time!

2009-08-13T12:08:00.001-06:00

Harrisen got to have his first friend birthday party he was sooo excited! His birthday was on a Sunday and we had a crazy weekend so we had the party on Thursday instead.

We opted for an outside " swimming party".
We had some in the pool... Just splashing around.... or relaxing... some playing with the "rocket" sprinkler... it didn't take long before they ditched the rocket part and just started squirting everyone (some kids did not like that idea) eventually the rocket got turned off. There was a water slide... or a hose hooked to the slide with a pool mat at the bottom to make them slide farther. (A big hit anytime we do it) After playing for a while we got ready for the opening of presents...

He LOVED them all but the biggest hits of the day were ones that sounded like bodily functions...such a boy thing. (He thought it was hilarious to put the whoopee cushion in daddy's chair at the computer....every time he stood up! We were laughing all night)

Then we had a PINATA

Which was a "hit"

... until the bottom fell off without breaking open...

I just picked it up and started dumping.

Then the dash for goodies came...

Everyone had a great time. Especially Harrisen. He couldn't wait to play with all his fun toys. He had a blast playing tricks on his family. and playing with all the fun things he got.

At bedtime... he and dad had some fun with his new "Mac"
All in all it was a good day....can't wait till his real birthday in a few days.

Chinese dishes

2009-07-26T16:49:00.000-06:00

One Sunday I pulled out the china to use for Sunday dinner. Over dinner we were talking about how we should use them more often and I mentioned using them every Sunday. The following week in church Bailee leaned over to me and asked " Mom were you serious about using Chinese dishes every Sunday?" Amused I said "Chinese?" quickly she corrected herself "Japanese?"

Loving having the Brewers visit

2009-07-22T14:34:00.000-06:00

We are all loving having our good friends the Brewers here for a visit. here are the few pictures that have been taken so for... I'll post more later if I remember to pull out the camera...gosh I need to be better at getting the camera.

Kailee and Kirsti playing dress-up (above and below)

Harrisen and Londynn inseparable and in the water as usual.

July 4th 2009

2009-07-04T15:30:00.003-06:00

Alex in the parade on the 4th of July

Waterfall canyon

2009-07-04T15:26:00.004-06:00

Seidel's invited us to hike waterfall canyon with them

We all had a great time but boy were we tired when we got home.

Bouwhuis world tour 2009

2009-07-04T15:21:00.005-06:00

Okay so I forgot to go back and add comments to all the pictures...her are a bunch of random pictures from our family camp out with the Bouwhuis family 2009
wow there are a lot of us!

All right everyone line up on the stairs for a picture...yeah right?!?!?

Fun on the lake

going on a boat ride

The above one is of Mike and Harrisen fishing.

and that is Kirsti and her favorite cousin (the only girl her age on either side of the family) Hannah

another of Kirsti and Hannah

Going out on the boat.

the four wheelers were a hit!

But not as much as the zip line.

service project...clearing wood from fallen trees...with this many people it makes things easier.

We all had a great time thanks Myron and Rachel for planning it for us!

Last day with braces

2009-06-17T15:16:00.001-06:00

Alex got her braces off! she was so excited. I told her she had to get one good picture of them on before she could get them off. She was not happy about this.
I forgot to get the after shot so I'll have to add it later... if I can get her to slow down enough to be able to take it.

Okay so here is the one they took at the Orthodontist. I still would like to get a better shot but this will do for now.

Beautiful girl with an awesome Orthodontist. If anyone is in need of an Orthodontist....all ma I'll give you a card for a free evaluation. You will love him.

June BiRtHdAy BaSh

2009-06-13T14:59:00.000-06:00

The Birthday bash was at Adam and Amber's this month since Addison had her baptism this month too. After the baptism and lunch we all went ice blocking.

It had just rained (hard!) so the hill was really wet which made for more fun sliding down. and for some it was their first time On her stomach Piggy-backing Even the adults got in on the fun Go Mason!!!

We all had a great time despite Mother nature. Thanks for the memories guys!

GrAnDmA aNd GrAnDpA ArE HoMe!!!!

2009-06-11T14:13:00.001-06:00

June 11 2009. Grandma and Grandpa Bouwhuis arrive home after serving an honorable mission in the Zimbabwe Africa. (Actually they spent most of their time there in Malawi) Everyone was so excited to have them home again. Here is a group shot of everyone waiting and watching. Here they are coming down to meet all of us

Everyone is so excited, talking and laughing and having a great time.
Excited chatterMy brother and his family made this cute sign I love this picture

The tallest of the grand kids...see how he compares to grandpa.We are so glad they are home!
Some of they kids found something fun to do while waiting for the baggage that never came.

After the airport we all met for ice cream

Between the two pictures I think I got everyone...But I could be wrong. There were a lot of us. we pretty much filled up the place. I don't think they were prepared to be able to handle that many on a weeknight. He he he sorry.Uncle Adam surprised us all by paying the whole bill. Wow Thanks!

It's good to see them home safe and sound, Can't wait for the rest of the events this month.

Bye bye chickens...at least for now.

2009-05-29T17:28:00.003-06:00

City council meeting was a disappointment to many. I was surprised, as was our Mayor, with just how many people showed up to the city council meeting in favor of having chickens. Not one person there spoke against them. Yet. . . Still it was voted down by the council.

Past experiences with large amounts of farm animals, crazy harebrained notions and even a little of what I would call a conflict of interest was what made the final decision. 'Who cares what the people want. . .what is in MY best interest' is the feeling I got from the majority of the council.

I thank the two, who despite what they wanted, found out what the people of our fair town wanted and voted in such a way to represent them. For that is the way it should work.

I don't see this as the end. As one of the council members stated "I believe if put on the ballot it would pass" So here begins a journey, where it will end I do not know, but I too would like to see it on the ballot. Anyone who wants to help, let me know, it will take more than me to fight this but I believe it will be worth it in the end. let's gain some freedom back to help us become more self sufficient. After all it's not like I'm asking to raise a cow in my back yard!

Got Chickens???

2009-05-26T15:03:00.006-06:00

We have some baby chicks at our house. They are sooo cute!
Harrisen's preschool gets eggs to hatch every year. My favorite one is the striped one.This year we have been thinking of keeping them to raise for the eggs. After having Mike be layed off for so long we are trying to think of ways to be more self-reliant. No we are not even going to consider getting any bigger farm animals. But chickens are small quiet and fairly easy to maintain. So we brought the chicks to our house when they were done with them at preschool. The kids all love having them here and have been little mother hens taking care of them. We find out tonight at a city meeting if we will be allowed to keep them. Apparently we are not the only ones in the city that want to be able to raise them for the eggs.

I've never seen chickens cuddle but these ones definitely do. They all like to huddle up next to and on top of each other to sleep. Especially the smaller black ones and the striped one.

If we don't get to keep them. . . I hope they enjoy their new home at Wades.

Yard sale

2009-05-26T14:58:00.003-06:00

We had a yard sale to raise money for Alex's student government trip. Lots of people donated items for us to sell. Thank you all so very much!
Our kids had fun looking through all of Eve's old books. We raised the money needed and I won't be having another yard sale for quite a while. At least not till I forget what a pain they are.

My new big girl toy.

2009-05-16T11:14:00.003-06:00

I got a new big girl toy. . .

After seeing this post my friend Deb offered to give me her kitchen aid whoot whoot!
I told myself I had to have all my chores done before I could play with it. . . Done okay now I get to make cookies!!!!

SO cool and so fast I love it!!!!

Don't they look yummy? Now I can make yummy cookies too. Usually Mike makes all the cookies because mine turn out thin and almost transparent. These turned out great. I'll be making cookies more often.

Now I'm gonna try making Eve's rolls with it and see if they turn out as soft as hers do. . .

He he he . I'm having so much fun. Thanks Deb!

Green thumb??? or Brown hands.

2009-05-13T21:07:00.003-06:00

First of all I have to say... On Mothers day we went over to Mike's sister's house for a get together. While there Mike notices her Lilac bush, which was in full bloom and smelled wonderful. All through the evening he commented on how nice it looked and how good it smelled.

So Tuesday while at the nursery buying tomato's and such for the garden I decided to get Mike a Lilac bush, just like the one his sister had, for an early Fathers day gift. since it would be too warm to plant it in June I went ahead and bought it now.

I had the perfect place all planned out. Between the antique beet digger we inherited from his grandma and the edge of the house there was a nice opening just right for the (full grown) bush.
But then I decided I didn't want to disturb the bush later by raising the beet digger (which had sunk into the ground too much over the years and needed to be raised a bit) or by putting in the railroad ties we had always planned on putting around the flower bed but hadn't because we ran out of ties. I might as well do this before I plant the bush right?

Okay so I dig out the ties that are already in because they are too low too. Made a phone call and got free ties, all I had to do was go and get them. easier said that done... Those things are HEAVY!!! In order to raise the beet digger I had to dig up all the plants that were around the wheels, I ended up with 3 wheel burrows full of plants that I needed to transplant. then to put in the rail road ties I had gotten I had to dig up some sod first, May as well move it the the part of grass the neighbors sprayed roundup on last spring (what were they thinking we have no money to re-seed).

I got the sod moved (by the way it looks great I hope it takes) then I had to dig the trench for the ties to sit in. Wow we have a lot of roots in out yard. Once the trenches were done I lifted (well kind of rolled) the ties in place. Then went to transplant some of the plants I dug up. which I soon realized I needed to raise the sprinkler valve box before I could plant anything over there. By then Mike and the kids had got home so Mike and I lifted the Beet digger while the kids put cement pavers under the wheels. Then I set the kids on digging out the valve box (which was surrounded by paving bricks, he he he nothing can be easy right) while I planted elsewhere.

Needless to say it has been a long two days but guess what....
We have our first bush! That's right, this is the first bush we have ever planted in our yard. After all that work... I think we should give it a name.

So in short, I moved railroad ties , raised a valve box, dug up and transplanted sod, Lifted an antique beet digger, dug up and transplanted more plants than can count, and did a ton of weeding, just so I could get Mike a Lilac bush for Fathers day. I hope it doesn't die on me.

All that dirt is tough on my hands, I need to just soak them in lotion for a few days.

Makin' Cookies

2009-04-29T21:00:00.003-06:00

We haven't done this for a while. Not since we had the little mishap with mistaking Tbsp when it should have been tsp. Ha ha ha That was an adventure!
We decided it was time for our family cookie making party again. We all wash up really well, multiply the recipe by six, take turns adding the ingredients, and then dig in, using our hands as the mixer.
Chocolate chip
and peanut butter

The kids love it when we do this. Especially since it means we have fresh cookies for a long time since we freeze the extra dough for later use.

The kids are going to miss this when I finally get a good electric mixer to mix the dough.

Service project?

2009-04-29T20:52:00.003-06:00

One of the requirements with Alex being in student body is that they have to so some extra hours of service. Saturday She went to the local city clean up day with her fellow officers. They painted the youth center. Sorry about the sideways picture again.

I think she got more paint on her than the walls. That little bit of white on the top of her head. . . It is so thick I could peel it off in layers before I could see her hair underneath. As you can see by her smile she loved every minute of it!

The joys of cottonwood trees

2009-04-29T20:28:00.005-06:00

If this post didn't deter you from ever wanting to plant cotton wood trees in your yard. . . maybe this picture will. (Sorry about the sideways picture.)

This is what we have to deal with for a few weeks. One foot has been viciously scrubbed with a pot scrubby for at least 5 min. (Yeah the same kind you use to get the burnt stuff out of your pans) the other has been soaking in water waiting for it's turn with the scrubby.

Every year when the weather first begins to warm up, you know the time when the kids are dying to be outside after being cooped up all winter, Cotton trees (or any other poplar for that matter) drop these little yellow things that are filled with sap and stick to EVERYTHING!

So if you were to come to my house you would see. . .Yellow stains on all the floors, Yellow stains on everyone's socks, most of the kids clothes and even a few yellow stains on counters and things that I can't seem to keep a certain 4 year old from climbing on. And just in case you are wondering. . . there doesn't seem to be anything out there that will remove the stains. Although they do wear off after a few months of working at it.

Did I mention that I won't miss some things about these trees when we cut them down.

ZORB

2009-04-26T19:11:00.004-06:00

My family had a Reunion in New Zealand this past few weeks. Because of our financial situation we were unable to attend (sad face). Here is a journal entry from my parents on one of the things they did while there.

Wednesday April 15th 2009

We started the day in Rotorua. Cherylann, Amber and Mason wanted to ride on the ZORB. It is a big plastic ball that you get inside and then they roll you down a hill. Amber and Cherylann rode in the dry one but Mason was too big and had to ride in the wet one. In the wet one you just sit in the ball and the water acts as a lubricant and you slide around inside. It the dry one you are strapped into a kind of a chair and as the ball rolls you somersault head over heals. It is actually a ball suspended inside a larger ball by things like bungee cords. When you are inside you don’t hit the ground but it is like you are floating around inside a bubble. It looked like a lot of fun and they said it was a real blast. Cherylann and Amber were a little dizzy when they got out because they were spinning as the ball spun. Mason was fine because he was just sliding around as the ball turned. Adam got a card so he could check into maybe getting a franchise in the States. It would be great for family reunions.

The balls on the left is returning to the top of the hill on like a conveyor belt. The one on the right is coming out of the zigzag run. You can see the person sliding around inside the wet ball. The one in the center is Amber upside down doing somersaults as the ball rolls down the hill.

Amber is getting ready to get out of the ball. You can see the seat she was strapped into. The man is opening up the hatch so she can get out.

Cherylann getting ready to get out of the ball.

Stop the ground from moving please.

Here is Mason after going down the zigzag in the wet ball.

Kinda makes you want to try huh!

I'm glad they all had a good time and are all home safe now. Maybe next time we'll be able to go and take our kids to the Reunion.

I looked out the window

2009-04-19T12:59:00.004-06:00

I looked out the window and what did I see. . .

Blossoms popping out upon my tree.

Spring is one of my favorite seasons! I am glad that it is here!

The votes are in

2009-04-16T10:47:00.002-06:00

Yesterday was the final day for elections at the jr high. Alex and Kirsti both made it for the interview portion. Meaning the student body voted them in, but the final decision is made by teachers, through interviews. I'm thrilled that they both made it that far.

Before the interviews started, they were all warned not to say um, uh, or like. When Kirsti had her interview she was thrown off by a couple of the questions and said um... before she answered the question. She didn't make it and feels the reason was mostly because of that. I'm amazed at her attitude about it though. Instead of being upset, mopey, and sad that she didn't make it she is excited that so many of her freinds made it and knows what she needs to work on for next years election.

Alex was sooo excited about making it for the interview portion that after her interview she called home to tell me that she had had her interview. She was so happy and bubbly. When they announced the names of the winners neither Alex's nor Kirsti's name was mentioned so she grabbed her bags to leave. Some of her friends that did get called were crying that she had to leave, then one of the teachers told her she needed to stick around for a minute. That is when she found out that she really did make it. She was even more excited when she found out that she made it for Student Body Secretary. Which, in her interview, when they asked her if she could get any position she wanted which one would it be. Her answer was " I think it would be really cool to be the Student Body Secretary."

Alex is sad that some of her friends that she wanted to work with didn't make it but she is so excited to have this opportunity. I just know she'll do a fabulous job.

I'm so proud of both of them. Alex for making it and having the opportunity to do something so exciting for her. And Kirsti for her positive attitude, even though she didn't make it. Yesterday Alex said to her "Wow Kirsti, I'm impressed with how well you are handling this. Last year, I cried when I didn't make it." Her positive outlook has made a good impression on others at her school too.

WaY tO gO gIrLs!

Office

2009-03-31T18:16:00.004-06:00

Alex and Kirsti are running for student government this year. Here are their posters.

Alex's:

And Kirsti's

Thank you Stephanie doing some great pictures for them.

We hope they make it.

Cousin party

2009-03-28T18:36:00.001-06:00

A sick babysitter led to a last minute change of plans and to us having some extra kids for a couple days while my brother and his wife went away for their anniversary.
It was a great cousin party all weekend.

Harrisen, Ally, and Megan.
"Sleeping out" In the living room was one of their favorite activities. they would pull out their sleeping bags and put them in the living room no matter what time of day it was but at night they wanted to be in a bedroom. Silly kids. The swing was a big hit too, as long as the older kids were home to push them.

Little Megan. . . such a silly girl, it doesn't matter how you do her hair, as soon as you are done she adds a headband. She didn't even want to take it off to sleep. Cute girl!

We had so much fun with them both we hope we get to watch them again sometime.

A day at the park

2009-03-19T18:23:00.001-06:00

Hilary inspired me!
A warm day + a tidy house + extra kids for the day = a trip to the park.
Anastazia trying to be big. . . she never made it past the bottom platform without help but she had fun climbing on that platform over and over.

Lance and Harrisen on the slide. There was almost always one coming up and one going down at the same time. I'm not sure how they did that without knocking the other off, but they had a blast at it.

Here is one of the rare times when they were both headed in the same direction.

And Harrisen calling over the top trying to get Anastazia to come up too. . . Yeah right.

This is what Anastazia is smiling at in

This picture.

I think this must have been her first time at a park. For the first 20 minutes she just stood and stared at the big toy and didn't quite know what to think of it. I had to pick her up and put her on things before she would try anything. In the end I think she was having fun but she didn't put up a fight to go home like the boys did. Such an easy baby.

It was a fun day at the park. I hope the weather warms up again soon so we can go as a family. I'm anxious to try out our new Marshmallow shooters. But not in the house of course. I would be digging marshmallows out of the furniture for years!

Baby Tommy

2009-03-15T18:31:00.001-06:00

Meet baby TommyIsn't he cute!!! I love his wispy hair. What a sweet baby.
We got to go up to visit for Baby Tommy's baby blessing. We all had a great time.
Especially Harrisen! He loved playing with Luke. The two of them picked up the nick-name of Thing 1 and Thing 2, because of all the mischief they like to get into.

Alex and Kirsti enjoyed catching up with Ashley. It is fun to see the teenage girls having fun together. Especially when they don't see each other all that often.

Bailee and Madison had fun exploring with Drake too but I didn't follow them to take pictures. (bad mommy!). We all enjoyed the time we were able to spend visiting with the Mayberry family and hope to be able to go again soon.

Solo and Ensemble

2009-03-03T18:38:00.000-07:00

Alex's group won for the school solos and ensemble so she got to go on to district. The video of the song is too long so we had to settle on a still shot for the blog. She did a great job. We are so proud of her musical abilities. She is good at teaching herself to play whatever she is interested in. Right now she is enjoying the flute.

Madison's class assignment

2009-02-26T22:28:00.005-07:00

In Madison's class at school they are talking about Family Time. They were each assigned a day that they were to talk about their family. We were supposed to e-mail pictures in so they could show them to the class but I am having photo shop issues and couldn't re size them to send them all so I sent a link to our blog and did this post so they could look at the pictures Madison picked out to show them.
This first one is of our whole family:

This one is of the kids playing in the leaves. Left to right we have, Harrisen, Alex, Madison, Kirsti, and Bailee Here is one of Madison climbing on the toy at the park Here are all the kids again on the toy at the park, Left to right again we have: Bailee, Alex, Harrisen, Kirsti, and Madison

All the kids again

This is Brodey. One of the many cousins in our family

Here is some of the neighbor kids at our school's out party

We got a puppy last spring. . . this is Koda

Another picture of our cute puppy

Madison with cake on her face. Silly girl.

Here is a picture of all of our girls right before a dance recital. L to R Bailee, Kirsti, Alex, Madison.

We went to four corners. That is the only place in the U.S. where 4 states (Utah, Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado) touch each other at the same point. Here they all are standing in all four states at one time.

Hare is Madison looking out over the scenic view on our vacation to Mesa Verde.

Here the kids are standing right next to some petroglyphs. if you look real close at the rock to the right of them you can see some designs that are carved into the rock by the ancient Indians.

This is a picture of all of our feet next to a real dinosaur foot print. Pretty cool huh!

This is our Family, on the Mesa Verde trip, In the area we had to hike through to find the petroglyphs and the dinosaur foot print.

We like to help each other with the chores.

Here is Madison and Harrisen doing the dishes for Mom. Some of the things we like to do as a family are:
*Go on vacation together,

*Play games,

*Spend time with our cousins (Madison has over 70 cousins and all but 7 of them live between here and Provo),

*Go sledding in the street behind our truck at night,

*Sledding in the mountains (also at night),

*Camping,

*Playing the Wii together,

*Making large batches of cookies and everyone mixing it with their hands.

*Eating dinner as a family, and

*Cuddling up together to watch a movie.

AnD ThAt Is OuR FaMiLy In A nUtShElL

Silly girl!

2009-02-20T08:44:00.007-07:00

You know your family has been eating too much Chili when your daughter walks around the house looking like this..... She even wore it to bed so she could fall asleep easier.
Silly girl!

Snow fort

2009-02-20T08:07:00.005-07:00

I had a hard time deciding weather I should post this on the Family blog or just on Harrisen's I decided to go ahead and do it on both.

I haven't been feeling the best the past few days so the other day, after being up more than usual, I decided to lay down and take an afternoon nap. I vaguely remember some clamoring outside my window, but when I woke up all the kids were excited about the new addition in our front yard. While I was sleeping, Mike and Harrisen spent their time building a snow fort in the front yard.

Mike didn't want to be in the pictures with Harrisen because he said they made it for Harrisen. Man I wish I would have woke up long enough to get a picture of them in progress.

Harrisen (as well as the girls) have had a blast playing in their snow fort this week. Thanks to a really great dad.

14 years ago Today

2009-02-06T14:29:00.010-07:00

14 years ago today we experienced the most emotional day we ever have.

I was 1 month from my due date and we were expecting identical twins. For months we had been reading stories from Mikes grandpa of the adventures he had had with his identical twin. Tales about trading places in classes and playing switch on their dates. We laughed and tried to imagine the fun our little girls would have.

We had just unpacked a double stroller from the box. There were two cribs set up in the nursery with matching Noah's ark bedding (appropriate because the animals were two by two) which I and my sister had made. We were ready! We had been buying diapers ever since we found out we were having twins and had a closet full of them. Along with many matching outfits for them to wear. On the way to our routine Dr. appt. we stopped at a dress shop and picked up two beautiful dresses for our baby girls to be blessed in. We had already picked up two adorable white blankets for the occasion.

I will never forget the look on the Doctor's face as he first looked at the screen of the ultra-sound machine. He turned the screen and studied it for a moment while we couldn't see. Then he began to tell us the bad news. One of our twins had died. Her umbilical cord was wrapped around her sisters leg and, as we would later find out had been severed. In order to save the other baby we were sent immediately to the hospital to be induced. She would have to be born soon or she too would die. We called our family and had more support from them than I thought possible. Everyone who could be there was, And there were many prayers said in our behalf.

Labor went quickly and within a few hours we had a baby girl, but she was quickly whisked away to the NICU because of contamination from being in the same sack as her sister. I wasn't able to see her until many hours later. After midnight.

About an hour after the delivery we were able to spend some precious time with our little Taylor Jade. We took some time to say good bye to our little girl and commit to memory her tiny features. Then we invited the grand parents in to do the same. What a tender and emotional time for us. Let's just say that we were grateful for the knowledge we have that we will be with her someday. This life is not the end.

Finally as they were transferring me to the recovery room they took me to see my baby girl. She had so many wires and tubes hooked up to her, and she looked so tiny and fragile.
It was such a joy to finally be able to hold her!
( I couldn't find any of the pictures of her all hooked up to the wires, but this one was taken within a few days of bringing her home.)
The next few weeks were an emotional blur. Planning a funeral for our baby, Spending time at the hospital with our other baby, Mike going back to work, and both of us trying to keep from falling apart at the same time. We were so blessed by many wonderful people who went out of their way to make sure we were okay. Finally we were able to take our little Alex Nicole home and life seemed like it just might become normal again.
Finally we were a family.
Alex has been such a joy to our family. Her bright happy smile brightens every day.
Age 2. . .

She was soo excited to go to preschool. especially because it meant she got to ride a bus to school like the big kids in our neighborhood did.
Age 4. . .

After hearing about a group of girls that had donated their hair for wigs for sick kids, Alex decided to donate her long beautiful hair to "Locks of Love" so that some sick little girl could have pretty hair too. We had to have some good pictures so we could remember how long and beautiful her hair looked
Age 5

She is so friendly and fun to be around. She is the one in the middle with her tongue hanging out. Kaisha (cousin) is behind her and Kirsti (sister) in front.She is such a ham!
This picture was actually taken when she was 12 but it is the most current individual picture we have of her. . .

I am so glad we have been blessed to have Alex as part of our Family. She has grown up to be a wonderful young woman, and is a great example to her younger sisters and brother.
We LoVe YoU AlEx!

Science Fair

2009-02-01T12:53:00.006-07:00

Bailee was required to do a science fair project this year for her science grade. Ugh! The original project she chose was different but we found out someone in her class decided to copy her so we changed at the last minute. when I say at the last minute that is exactly what I meant. The afternoon before it was due ( less than a full 24 hours) she decided to change from bones in vinegar to earlobes and tongues.

A family friend had mentioned that only half on their family could roll their tongues and the other half couldn't. All of those who could not roll their tongues had something else in common. They all had attached earlobes, meaning their earlobes went right into the side of their face without any definition at the point where they meet. Those in this family who could roll their tongues, had detached earlobes meaning they had earlobes that hung down slightly at the bottom. Bailee decided to see if there was a connection.

We went to the mall and to some other stores and talked to anyone who would let us.

The results were that although both are hereditary there is no connection between the two.

Bailee did an awesome job and really did most of the work by herself. only having help on things she couldn't really do by herself, (who is going to let an 11 year old girl approach a bunch of strangers all day, by her self) and with some graph making and typing skills from her dad.

Good Job Bailee!

Christmas 2008 (better late than never)

2009-01-08T12:57:00.008-07:00

I know I am late posting Christmas but I have had some trouble putting the video on, And since Mike had some important resumes that took priority, Well I haven't been able to get it done the way I want.better some than none right.

First. . . we get together on Christmas eve every year with Mikes family to act out the Christmas story.

Mary and Joseph

A Shepherd. . . er uh maybe a sheep? Either the kids are getting too old to enjoy this or they didn't get to do what they wanted. I'm not sure but they weren't as animated as they usually are. well except Harrisen and Jordan they got into their parts pretty good.

A happy wise man
A new star. . .( or an old flashlight)

And an awesome Angel

Second. . . Christmas jammies. Aunt Michele found a great deal on Jammies last year the day after Christmas so I didn't make them this year but it was fun for all the cousins to have the same thing. I should have gotten a picture of the whole group, oh well. All the girls had the red shirts and the boys had light blue. Everyone had the penguin pants. Uncle Martin's mom was even nice enough to crochet all of us some cute comfy slippers. Thanks!

For the next part first you have to know we have always gone super simple for Christmas. we have never gotten anything expensive that we didn't need. One year we got a TV but if we hadn't we wouldn't wave been able to watch conference that year. Since we don't watch much TV and not even videos that often I felt it was more of a need than a want.
This year we were blessed beyond what I could ever imagine. It didn't cost us a thing but the kids were more than thrilled with what they got. Especially Kirsti. Listen to how excited she is.

Here is where the video I wanted on should go. Sorry maybe later. It was so funny to see Kirsti running back and forth to everyone begging them to open their Santa gift so she could see if they got the big one and she walked right passed it several times without even noticing.(Anyone have any ideas how to get a video on that is possibly too big for the normal way to download,call me) Here is what happened when I finally pointed out the pile in the middle of the floor.

Just in case you couldn't understand what all the screaming was about, we got a WII. Santa was very generous this year! Thanks Santa!

Harrisen didn't really know what all the excitement was all about but you should have seen his reaction to the Mario cart game he got. He went around hugging it all day and he had never even seen it played so, I'm not sure he fully knew what it was. This video too was too long to post. Ugh!

All in all we had a great Christmas (aside from worrying about uncle Mark who had some health problems that put him in the hospital Christmas morning, we are glad he is doing better now and we had fun having Preston over for Christmas). The kids are even still enjoying their gifts (which almost never happens, after all it is two weeks after the big day you know).

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas too and wish you the best for the coming year.

The un-expected visitor

2008-12-20T15:11:00.003-07:00

The girls went sledding with some of their friends in our neighborhood this morning. Harrisen was so sad that he didn't get to go. That was until we had an un-expected visitor.
The real Santa came to our house to pay the kids a visit and everyone who went sledding missed out on seeing him. Harrisen is not sad about missing sledding anymore!

2008-12-17T08:08:00.003-07:00

Christmas Tags
Steph Tagged me with these fun Christmas tags. Here they are:
Christmas Tag:

1. Wrapping paper or gift bag? Wrapping paper

2. When do you put the tree up? The day after Thanksgiving

3. When do you take the tree down? Sometime around new years, either a few days before or a few days after, depends on how much help from my kids I want.

4. Eggnog?? I LOVED my moms when I was a kid but she hasn't made it since I was in Jr high and the stuff at the store just isn't the same. I haven't had any for years.

5. Favorite gift received as a child? Books. Yeah I was kind of a nerd then too.

6. Hardest person to buy for?? My husband. He always says "Don't get me anything I don't need anything." UGH! Maybe this year he will get what he asked for.

7. Easiest person to buy for? Madison, get her a stuffed animal and she is happy. She doesn't even care what it looks like she loves them all.

8. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes.

9. Mail or email Christmas cards? Christmas cards .

10. Worst Christmas gift ever received? I don't remember anything too terrible.

11. Favorite Christmas movie? I like all of the old classics, espeially the non-cartoon ones.

12. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Any time I see something fitting. I started last December for this year, The best time to get Christmas Jammie's is at the after Christmas sales, you can get great prices for next years Jammie's.

13. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Only for The white elephant gift at our annual couples Christmas party. This year we gave all those bottles of sage that my father in law gave us a few years back. I think 6 bottles of sage is more that any one family could use in one lifetime.

14. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Christmas candy. Well actually this year it has been soft ginger cookies. I have made them 5 times in the last three weeks.

15. Lights on the tree? Yes. White.

16. Favorite Christmas song? I love Christmas carols but this year I am liking, Joy to the world, & Christmas cookies the best.

17. Least favorite Christmas song? Christmas Shoes. It's a little over played.

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Christmas Eve we travel. We go to Mikes sisters house and let the cousins act out the Christmas story and open their Christmas Jammie's.
Christmas day we stay home. FINALLY! I love it We used to travel all day, Things are much more relaxing and enjoyable now.

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? Oh yes.

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Star, but not one with all the tinsel and lights, I got enough of that as a kid.

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? On Christmas Eve they open Jammie's. The rest is Christmas morning.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? I would have to agree with Steph on this one. . .Whiny kids. They turn rotten this time of year.

23. Favorite ornament theme or color? One I haven't used for a few years, I'm trying to find the perfect tree skirt to match but For a while I did what I called the "Love of Christ" tree. Pictures of Christ and His ministry along with hearts I made out of fabric. I LOVE it. I just got tired of seeing the tree stand, I really need to find something that I like to go with it so I can use it again. This year we have the snowman theme and it is my second favorite.

24. Favorite Christmas dinner? Ham and scalloped potatoes, Or the traditional Turkey with all the trimmings, just like Thanksgiving.

25. What do you want for Christmas this year? A job for my hubby!

These are a few of my favorite things.....

Five favorite treats during the holidays:

1. Homemade candy
2. Soft gingersnaps
3. Oranges
4. Little smokies
5. Candy canes

Five favorite Christmas movies:

1. It's a Wonderful Life
2. Miracle on 34th Street (the old version)
3. Elf
4. White Christmas
5. Miracle on 34th Street (the new version)

Five Traditions during the holidays:

1. Decorating the tree
2. Seeing lights
3. Making candy
4. Christmas Eve Pajamas
5. Decorating a gingerbread house with the kids

I am tagging Laurie, Candace, Cami, and Michele

Fourth picture of the fourth album

2008-12-07T13:09:00.004-07:00

Hilary tagged me with this tag. Only my fourth album only had two pictures and so did the fifth so I went for the third album and chose the fourth picture and VIOLA . . .

Here we have Bailee, how appropriate that this picture would be of her when yesterday was her 11th birthday.

Where do the years go? It seems like just yesterday she was our little Christmas baby. It was so fun to dress her up in all the fun Christmas outfits that were so tiny. She is the only one of our kids that ever had "Holiday outfits" bought for her. What a fun season to have a baby.

She is also the youngest person ever to attend our annual Christmas party. Every year we have a party for couples at Christmas time and the year she was born we still held the party even though she was less than two weeks old. Usually my parents would keep the kids but Bailee got to stay because she was so small. Everyone loved holding her and she was great about being passed around all night.

Bailee is a delightful part of our family she has always brought so much happiness into our home. We are blessed to have her as a part of our family.
We love you Bailee!

Thanks Hilary for tagging me with this tag. I tag anyone who wants to participate.

Light rope

2008-11-23T21:18:00.003-07:00

Since it was so warm last week, I decided to hang the Christmas lights before the really cold weather sets in. It took a little longer that I thought since I had to re-attach the rain gutter as I went along.

By the time I was finished it was dark and the kids were having a blast digging through the box of outdoor lights that our friends gave us a few years back. At the bottom of the box they found a rope light. Here is what we did for the rest of the night.

Even though it was cold by then and they all had bare feet (the rope lights hurt when they hit cold bare feet) everyone was sad when we finally decided it was time to call it a night!

Harrisen's date

2008-11-14T22:52:00.003-07:00

Usually we have a rule about not dating until the age of 16 . . . well we made a little exception tonight. Harrisen went on his first "Date" with not one but THREE girls tonight.

Debbie ( the cute girl in the stripes) came over and asked if her and her friends could have Harriesn over tonight. Her parents are out of town and told her that she couldn't have any boys over while they were gone. She just couldn't resist having Harrisen over and sending some pictures to her parents via their cell phone. ( She is such a hoot!). He has been so excited all day, it's all he could talk about.

When they came to pick him up he invited them in so he could finish the brownie he was eating and have me fix his hair for the date. After he was done getting his hair done he walked up to Mike and said " My hair is done, I'm ready for my date now."

He loved all the attention he got from Debbie, Crystal and Michelle and couldn't get enough. After bouncing around at Debbie's house for a while he suddenly stopped, got serious and asked "So do you girls want to watch a movie or something?"

With the smile he had on his face when they brought him home. . . Oh boy are we in for some trouble. He is only four and already he is such a "Ladies man".

Heaven help us in 12 more years. The girls will be beating down the door.

Husband tag.

2008-11-13T18:17:00.002-07:00

HUSBAND TAG!
I was tagged with this cute one by Candace.

1) Where did you meet? Young single adults. . . He was the ysa rep and I was there by accident. Oops!

2) How long did you date before you got married? Too long! we started dating Summer of 1990 and were Married December of 1993.

3) How long have you been married? Coming up on 15 years.

4) What is your favorite feature of his? His Blue eyes (and the little bits of gray coming in on his temples but shhh don't tell him that)

5) What is your favorite quality of his? His strength in the Gospel (even when life throws him a few curve balls)

6) Does he have a nickname for you? Doe. . . at least that is what I get whenever I call him Dear (deer)

7) What is his favorite food? Almost anything if I cook it. He likes a good home cooked meal. but if we have to eat out he likes the Carl's Jr $6 jalapeno burger (as do I).

8) What is his favorite sport? Baseball and Basketball would surely top the list but I really can't think of one he doesn't like.

9) When and where was your first kiss? Is it bad that I remember when and where we were the day before our first kiss (when I actually realized he had feelings for me that went beyond the friendship we shared) and not the when and where of the kiss.
When I got home that night,I remember thinking. . . I think he wanted to kiss me . . .what will happen to our friendship if that happens? I don't want to loose him, he is my best friend. Then threw caution to the wind the next day after spending the day "Ring shopping" (as a joke, long story) with him.

10) What is your favorite thing to do as a couple? Um . . . just with us or are the kids present? We like to kiss in front of the kids just to hear all the giggles and the "EWWW... Gross. . . Look they are kissing again" comments we get from them. They actually love it they just don't want to admit it. What child isn't comforted by the knowledge that their mom and dad are in love.

11) Do you have any children? Yup! a few.

12) Does he have a hidden talent? Writing resumes. . .really he has had a lot of practice and is getting to be an expert. (now if only the right person would read it)

13) How old is he? 5 years older than me, You'll have to figure it out. But only if you know how old I am 'cuz I'm not tellin' (you're welcome honey)

14) Who said "I love you" first? Um Yeah I think that was me. I'm way to foreword. Or at least I was back then.

15) What is his favorite type of music? EVERYTHING just as long as he doesn't hear the same song twice in one week JK. ( the seek button on the radio has been worn out on every car we have owned, before we sold it)

16) What do you admire the most about him? His Strength and Determination

17) Do you think he will read this? Quite possibly. especially if I leave the blog open when I'm done.

I tag Michele, Laurie, and anyone else who wants to play along.

2008-11-02T13:02:00.004-07:00

last week was red ribbon week at the Jr High. one of the days was crazy hair day. This is how Kirsti wanted to wear her hair: the view from the side:

She actually won "craziest hair" for the girls.

We pulled all her hair up into a pony on top of a plastic cup then did a messy bun with the leftover hair on top.

Tagged

2008-10-26T14:00:00.003-06:00

Hilary tagged me A few weeks ago but I haven't been able to get to it until now. (Sorry Hil)
So here we go.
7 random facts about me:
1. I LOVE 9:00am church because it means I get to take a nap when we get home. (Which I am about to do now)
2. I love to shop but only when I can get a good bargain. (I almost never pay full price for anything.)
3. I had purple(ish) hair through my rebel stage in high school. Surprisingly my parents weren't in a big rush to get family pictures done during that time, so no, I don't have any pictures of me with crazy hair.
4. I really enjoy long walks at night (after all the kids are in bed) but only if I can get someone to go with me, because I am afraid the boogie man is going to get me.
5. I rode my bike for the first time in 5+ years. We went for almost 5 miles, and couldn't sit comfortably for the next 5 days.
6. I love hosting parties at my house. (only I wish it was bigger so we could invite more people).
7. I love the fourth of July because we get to celebrate our freedom. I also love Thanksgiving because we get to celebrate everything that is right and good in our life. The best holidays are the ones where we get to celebrate the blessings we have been given. All the colors and smells of fall only add to the enjoyment of the Holiday.
The seven people who I tag are, Carrie, Michele, Laurie, Eve, Candace, Deb, Marie. If you want to join too go ahead! Happy Blogging!

LOL

2008-10-09T21:12:00.001-06:00

Harrisen was in bed (not asleep). When Mike came home he ran into the kitchen to talk to him and said "Dad I saw Santa in the sky with his lining shites (shining lights?) and he was checking to see if all the ducks were sleeping yet. Cuz if they are still awake they will get stolen by helicopters"

where did that come from?

Conference

2008-10-05T18:10:00.004-06:00

We were lucky enough to get tickets to conference today, (thanks to uncle Martin). The kids were so excited to go. The opportunity to be in the same room was so exciting for them.

Conference was great and I was amazed at how reverent they all were. All throughout the session we didn't have to remind them to be reverent once. Especially amazing since we were sitting with their cousins and what kid is not excited to sit with their cousins during church. They were thrilled to have the opportunity to be there.

Their excitement was increased when after the prayer we had the kids walk towards the end of our row (we were sitting by the doors where the general authorities come in and out) so they could get a better view and maybe get the chance to shake hands with someone as they passed by. Just as they all got to the end, one of the ushers came up and asked if it would be okay if she took our kids up to shake hands with the prophet. WOW! We thought he was just going to shake their hands over the railing but to our surprise he actually came down to where they were at and shook each of their hands. Taking time to talk to them too.

What a wonderful experience for them. I hope they will always remember the way they felt when they got to shake hands with the prophet.

Piano lesson

2008-09-30T18:05:00.006-06:00

The piano teacher came a little early today and since I had already let Bailee go to a friends house Harrisen got to take her spot. He was so excited. She taught him how to find "C" then they played a game to see how many "C"s he could find.
Then they worked on how to find "D" and "E". He did a great job and she said she would make time for him every time she comes and wouldn't charge any extra. she even told him he can be in her recital in November.

He really feels like a big kid now.

Harrisen's Letters

2008-09-30T13:05:00.004-06:00

Can anyone guess what letter Harrisen is working on in preschool? Yep! those are great H's he just scratched into our car.

It's a good thing he's so cute.

An emotional day

2008-09-28T16:43:00.005-06:00

I have served in the Young women's program in our ward for the last several years. It was an emotional day today when I was released from this calling.

When I was first called I was excited mostly because I would be working with my best friend in the calling. Through the time I served I loved serving with her, but I was also able to get to know many other women who have become an important part of my life. I have made new friends that I cherish more than I could ever say.

But the thing that is the hardest of all for me now is the girls I'm leaving. We have the most amazing young women in the whole world right here in our ward. It has been so wonderful to be able to be a close part of their lives. I have loved how the girls have involved me in so much of the things they are doing in their every day life. They have invited me to their performances, came over just to talk, asked for advice when they were struggling, and most of all just had a good time.

I have had quite a few girls go through my class in the time I was in and I have loved the time I have been able to spend serving these girls. We love to play games together, laugh and be silly.

I have been blessed to be able to watch their testimonies develop and grow. Many of these girls have earned their young women medallion while they were in my class. What a wonderful experience it has been for me to be able to see their hard work, and then to see the joy on their faces as they received their award. I pray with all my heart that they will remember the spiritual experiences we have shared. The lessons and activities that have strengthened their testimony, and the faith experiences from girls camp.

For those of my young women girls who will read this post:
There will be many opportunities where you will feel the spirit and your life will be touched. But the times that will forever remain with you as a part of your Testimony are the experiences you had in your youth that helped you develop the testimony that will sustain you for the rest of your life. Thank you for allowing me into your hearts and letting me share these experiences with you. I hope you know how very much you mean to me. I will always treasure the times we have shared. You are AMAZING! You are all beautiful daughters of a loving Father in Heaven. He is soo proud of you as am I.
I will miss being with you. I will miss your ups and down, your highs and lows. I will miss sharing gospel experiences with you. Please remember that you are always welcome in my home. I will still be there for you when you need someone to talk to or to hang out with.
I love this gospel! I love the opportunities it gives me to serve. I know that there are great things in store for you and I hope to be able to watch as you reach your divine potential.
You have great new leaders. They love you and you will come to love them.
I know with all my heart that this church is true. I know that our Savior and Brother Jesus Christ Paid the price for all of us to be able to return to our Father's presence. I hope you will always remember that He is your friend, He knows you, He loves you, He wants you to turn to Him.
I love you so much! Thank you for being who you are.
Love Katherine
P.S. it's still okay to share a hug in the hall at church too.

September birthday bash / karaoke party

2008-09-20T20:46:00.010-06:00

I have a large family! Growing up with 11 children in the family was pretty big but now that we are all married and have children of our own it's huge! With nearly 50 grand kids on our side ( not to mention all the adults it takes to take care of that many kids) going to every one's party on their birthday is a difficult task at best. To resolve this my mom decided that every month, but only once a month, we would get together and celebrate all the birthdays for that month. We call it the birthday bash. We get together for dinner, and a treat but usually we just have a lot of fun playing together. Last month it happened to hit on Harrisen's birthday and we went bowling which was a lot of fun. This month we went to my brothers house and while some played and had fun with the Foosball table
Most of us partied it up with the karaoke.

The girls especially loved singing and dancing to Hanna Montanna.

And Spencer was a great back-up singer for all of them

Some just danced to the music

The little ones wanted to sing but couldn't read the words and needed a little help from the older girls.
Even the babies enjoyed singing into the mike
We had a mother daughter duet

and a few songs for the grown-ups to sing

I had to show Harrisen what to do at first

But as you can see he really got into it in the end.

I really wanted to get more video of all this but the one video I got was the only song had a light enough background to put enough light on their faces for you to be able to see them so we settled for a bunch of pictures instead.

Everyone had a great time and nobody wanted to come home when it was time. Thanks Uncle Myron and aunt Rachel for the great memories.

Talking through the wall

2008-09-15T10:45:00.003-06:00

Harrisen's room is right next to ours, and sometimes after I tuck him in at night he likes to talk to me through the wall. Last night was one of these nights. Here is how the conversation went.

H: Moomm, MOM!

M: What sunshine?

H: Are you asleep?

M: No.

H: Are you trying to sleep?

M: Yes son, are you trying to go to sleep?

H: Yes but, well I was just thinking.

M: About what son?

H: About the book you just read to me, the one with the colors.

(I had just read a lift the flap book about colors to him)

M: What about it?

H: Well, I was just wondering how they make that kind of book?

M: That's a good question son, how about if we see if we can figure it out tomorrow okay?

H: Okay, Thanks mom. Goodnight.

M: Goodnight son.

These talks are so cute because he doesn't even want me to come into his room. He just wants me to talk to him through the wall. Like he needs to know that I'm going to bed too, so he knows he isn't missing anything. I'm sure it is just a phase but I wanted to record at least one of his through the wall conversations before he grows out of this phase.

I figured it out!

2008-09-09T22:09:00.003-06:00

Okay so I just had a thought. . . as I sit here at 10:00pm eating a huge piece of leftover FHE treat, I think I know why I can't seem to loose any weight.

I'm looking at this huge cake, that the kids haven't touched since I served it yesterday (even though I told them they could all have some as soon as they were in their jammies). I thought to myself "I bet I'm going to end up eating this whole thing by my self only because the kids aren't eating any. Although I could just throw it out, I won't because. . . are you ready for this?

my parents taught me not to throw away good food!

So there you have it, if you can't loose any weight think about it, would your parents have thrown any cake out just so they wouldn't eat it? I think not! It's all my parents fault that I have no self control.

Just kidding mom and dad,

Harrisen's Motorcycle

2008-09-09T08:33:00.004-06:00

Did you know that this. . . Sounds like this. . .

Harrisen figured out how to turn his bike into a motorcycle.

More Harrisen funnies

2008-09-06T22:22:00.007-06:00

I was cooking some noodles and they boiled over just a little. When the element started smelling from the liquid being spilled on it Harrisen said " Mom will you turn off the elephant? It smells stinky in here"

Last night Harrisen had a tummy ache so I put a bowl by his bed in case he needed to throw up in the night. He was fine but I hadn't removed the bowl from his room before I tucked him in tonight. A few minutes after I tucked him in I could hear him pretending to throw-up into the bowl. I told him to put the bowl down and go to sleep to which he replied "but mom I'm practicing throwing up."

Dreamimg

2008-09-03T21:12:00.002-06:00

Tonight as we were reading scriptures I was cuddling Harrisen and he was just starting to fall asleep when I noticed that he had an eyelash hanging loose from all the others. He hates it when I pick at things in or on his eyes but I figured he was asleep so he wouldn't care if i got it off for him. As soon as I finished he opened his eyes and in all seriousness said " Mom, don't try to open my eyes for me anymore because I'm watching the race and I like watching that race okay." Then immediately closed his eyes and was back asleep.

I guess he is dreaming about a race tonight.