Life With Half a Dozen

Makeovers

2011-06-27T10:00:00.001-06:00

My girls favorite thing to do lately is to give themselves makeovers. And let me tell ya, they always end up looking amazing. All they need is a little eye shadow and some nail polish and they are entertained for quite a while. ANTM watch out!!

The whole make-over thing is starting to rub off on Kash. After the girls finished painting each of their fingernails a different color they left all the nail polish out. Well along comes Kash and instead of giving his finger nails a makeover, he decided to give my bathroom cabinets a make-over with hot pink fingernail polish. It looks amazing. But not as good as his whole foot did the other day when he painted it with purple nail polish. And let me tell you, he was proud as punch of the job he did.

Willie Wonka

2011-06-26T21:14:00.001-06:00

Meet Violet. Violet Beurogard. The past 6 months we have heard a lot of lines from the play "Willie Wonka". Haylie auditioned to be in the community play and got the part of Violet, the gum chewer. I was very hesitant to let her go in the play but after years of begging to be in one and some persuasion from my Mom I decided to let her try out. I was actually gone the weekend of try outs and I told her if she really wanted to do it she had to find her own song to sing and find a poem to recite and find her own way to the auditions. (nice mom!) And this was all one day before the auditions. Well she did and she ended up getting one of the main parts which she (and my Mom) were thrilled about. It did end up being a good experience for her. She really enjoyed it and made some good friends doing it. The last two weeks were pretty brutal but we made it threw. There were many late nights and then she still had to go to school the next morning. And unfortunately she inherited grumpiness and tears when she gets too tired from my side of the family.

Here is Haylie and her friend Corrine or "Veruca". They spent alot of time together at the play.

I think Haylie did a great job, especially since she has never done anything like this before. Her costume wasn't her favorite but it worked great for the part. At the end of her last scene she ends up blowing up like a blueberry so her dress needed to be a little puffy. There is an air costume underneath that ends up blowing up. I don't know if Haylie will end up doing anything like this again, but if not I think she learned alot from the experience.

Party time

2011-06-24T11:59:00.005-06:00

I am so excited it's the last day of school!! So are the kids.

No more making lunches, no more backpacks in the entrance, no more papers and notes and more papers coming home, no more searching frantically for socks, no more getting up early, no more trying to remember every ones schedules and field trips and swim days, no more phone calls from school from kids that have forgotten things, and no more signing planners!!!

On a side note I can't believe how much Briggs has grown this year. His feet are seriously the same size as mine and he has past Haylie in height now.

Skylie's last day was two weeks ago. She loved kindergarten. It's been nice having her home so she can entertain Summer for me. Her she is on her last day. And yes she insisted on wearing those jewels on her forehead to school. Beautiful!

Skylie and her friend Brooke. They kept doing these weird poses. I didn't get one normal picture of them!

Well I'm looking forward to two months of no schedule, warm weather (hopefully), swimming, camping, and playing!!

Dance recital

2011-06-19T21:15:00.004-06:00

This year Skylie took dance lessons out in HillSpring. Sarra and I took turns driving out every Tuesday and it was well worth it. She had so much fun and the teachers were so good. For the last month of lessons they performed at all the old folks homes in the area. I thought that this was a really fun idea because they got to wear their costumes so many times and got to perform their dances way more. Skylie's favorite part was of course getting make-up on.

Here's a few pictures from the recitle and other performances.

These were my favorite costumes. So cute. I stole these from Sarra's blog. (thanks!!)

Skylie and Jane are such good little friends. They had so much fun together.

I love how pretty much every kid is doing something different in this picture!

My organized child

2011-06-13T22:20:00.000-06:00

So Kash's favorite thing lately seems to be lining his toys up in a perfect row.

He seems to think it as much fun to do it as it is to play with his toys.

A while back we were at my parents house and discovered this....

I really think the only reason he asked for this orange was to line them up. He didn't even eat one piece of it.

Steve will be so happy if Kash's obsession with organizing stays.

And I don't know why, but I thought it was so funny when I came into the kitchen one day and found this random elephant hanging out on the chair.

I guess rules are meant to be broken.

2011-06-05T20:38:00.003-06:00

So I just broke my number one rule. No pets aloud. Ever. My kids have been begging me for a dog or a cat forever. I will never give into one though. They want a hamster or a lizard or a bunny. Then they started asking for a fish. I told them no forever but they would not stop begging. So I finally told Haylie and Micah if they could keep their room spotless for one month then I would get them a fish. Well they tried and tried but just couldn't do it. So I finally shortened it to two weeks. It took them a while but they finally did it. So here it is....

The lady at the store did tell me they like to hide behind plants. I guess she was right. Haylie and Micah are so excited. I told them I will not do anything to take of this fish. They have to feed it, clean the tank, and whatever else needs to be done with it.

Swim lessons

2011-06-03T09:31:00.004-06:00

So I am the type of person that hates change and hates trying new things. If I go out to eat I always order the same things. I have a routine at home that I like to stick to. I do the same workouts all the time. So I surprised myself and others this week when I decided to take adult swim lessons. Not only is this something I have never done, but I really don't like swimming. At all. I don't like being wet, I don't like being cold, I don't like jumping in the water. I don't even know how to dive, or swim besides a little doggy paddle thing I do.

Well last night was day two on the lessons and I am actually really enjoying it. I have discovered a couple things that actually makes swimming a little more enjoyable for me. One, I have never worn goggles before or even opened my eyes under water. I usually squeeze my eyes closed in a panic when I am in the water and wearing the goggles helps a ton so I can actually see whats going on. And I never knew before to blow out of my nose once in a while, I kept getting water in my nose and choking. And like I mentioned before, I always panic under the water and can't relax, well I find if I force myself to try and relax it is much better.

My kids are being so funny about this whole thing though. Here are some of the comments I've had to listen to over the last few days:

"But Mom, why do you need to take swimming lessons?"
"Mom, do you really need to wear that cap on your head?"
"Your wearing goggles???"
"So are you taking swim lessons so that you will be more fun when we go swimming like Grandma and Leslie? They are really fun to swim with. They play with us and stuff."
"Mom, I thought people only wore those caps when.....well, never mind."
"So why are you taking swim lessons again?"
"I really want to see you wearing that cap."
And Micah told me that Haylie said my swim suit was ugly. When I asked her about it she got mad at Micah, "Micah you weren't supposed to tell her!
These comments don't make me feel self conscious at all! haha.

I'm NOT a good blogger

2011-05-29T21:21:00.002-06:00

How in the world did I ever have time to blog before??? I'm seriously struggling right now to even read other people's blogs, let alone write on my own. I do have lots of things to blog about, a few b-days, a really embarrassing story, a couple awards the kids have got, a really gross story, a couple fun trips we've gone on, mother's day, easter holidays, dance recital, the list goes on and on- but unfortunatly I can't find the time to sit and write about it. I'm hoping that this will get me motivated to make the time. So stay tuned!!!

Hit by the plague

2011-04-14T14:23:00.005-06:00

"Sick as a dog", "dropping like flies", "I feel like death". These all accurately describe what has been going on in our house over the last week. As of today, this plague that has been sweeping threw the whole town has hit all of our kids. Steve and I haven't got it yet....knock on wood. It has actually been a pretty peaceful week. I have been making sure the kids are getting their doses of tylenol and antibiotics, and they have been doing a lot of this....

And a lot of this......

( Yes, there is a child under this blanket)

Well I'm hoping there is an end in sight and everyone will get feeling better.

On a happy, fun, relaxing, non-sick note, I went up to Edomonton this last weekend with Brette. It was my cousin Christie's reception, so we decided to go up to it and make a weekend of it. It was really fun to get away. We did alot of shopping. And that about sums it up. We shopped until the stores closed on Friday, got up Saturday first thing and started again. Shannon and one of my good friends Hilorie met up with us Saturday, and we went to West Ed which was an absolute zoo. I could not believe how many people were there. It was a really fun weekend and I think every Mom needs to get away without kids once in a while. It was great to see some cousins and I could not be happier for Christie. She looked amazing!

Must of been Really Tired!

2011-04-07T11:10:00.003-06:00

So my kids have fallen asleep in some random places before but I think this one tops them all....

Love so many things about this....

1. That it happened when Steve was home with the kids.

2. I know it sounds mean but I love picturing Steve on a search all over the house to find Kash, including walking right past him at one point, to find him asleep on the counter. This kind of stuff usually only happens to me.

3. Love thinking about what was going threw Kash's mind when he decided the counter was as good a place as any to go to sleep.

4. Love that Steve actually took a picture of it.

You've got to try this

2011-03-30T19:14:00.002-06:00

I'm not one to post recipes on my blog, mostly because I don't have that great of recipes I guess. But this is one that everyone needs to have. I used to make it all the time but I think I ate it too often and got sick of it, so I took about a year break from it. Well I made it yesterday and it's just as good as I remember it. Everyone in the family loves it, it's healthy, and easy.

Granola

5-6 cups of oatmeal

1 cup shredded coconut

1 cup raisin (I always use craisins)

1/4 cup sesame seeds

1/4 cup sunflower seeds

1/2 cup flax seeds

(I put pumpkin seeds in mine too)

1 cup sliced almonds (I cut whole almonds into chunks)

2-4 tsp cinnamon

1 cup honey

1/3 cup olive oil

Mix this all together and bake at 325 for 25 minutes, stirring every 5-10 minutes. When it's done you need to let it sit on the cookie sheet for a while. It's really good just plain or mixed with yogurt.

Some days are crazier than others

2011-03-21T12:53:00.004-06:00

So while I was eating breakfast today I decided to take a look at my calendar and see what's going on for the week. And boy do I have a "fun" week ahead of me. Every day is packed with stuff going on. Now I know that no one is probably that interested in the glamorous life that I lead, but here is a little peek to what's in store for me tomorrow.......

7:30-Briggs has to be to choir

7:30-8:15 I will sneak to the gym and hope that girls will be ready for school when I get back.

8:15 -quick scripture study and get girls off to school

get things cleaned, kids bathed, myself showered.

9:55-Briggs class sings in festival

10:45-Micah class sings

11:10-Haylie's class

12:00-Get Skylie off to kindergarten

2:15-pick Skylie up from school and get her ready for dance

2:30-Skylie leaves for dance in HillSpring, luckily I don't have to drive!

3:15-kids home from school, we all know the madness this brings

3:30-Haylie piano

4:30-5:30 Briggs champs

4:45-Skylie home from dance

5:30-6:30-Haylie has champs

5:30-6:00-parent teacher for Skylie

6:30-8:30-Haylie play practice

7:00-Haylie has to perform at the gymnastics finale

Hopefully I can squeeze making and eating supper in somewhere. And most importantly, watching the biggest looser with Becca sometime in the evening.

Anyways, that's my day! Glad they aren't all like this.

Converstaions

2011-03-20T19:28:00.002-06:00

Well I really need to get blogging again, even if it is just so that no one has to see that "Haylie is 11" ever again. There's lots I need and should blog about, but for my own entertainment I'll just write about a conversation I heard the other day. Cause those are my favorite.

Me: If you could be any dinosaur which one would you choose?
Skylie: Ummm, a tyrannosaurus. What would you want to be Summer?
Summer: Umm, I think a dragon.
Me: Why would you choose a dragon?
Summer: Cause I could blow fire.
Skylie: But then you would kill people.
Summer: No, I would only kill bees. And robbers.

I don't know why but Summer is always so concerned about robbers lately. She is always asking questions about them. Do robbers run fast? Are robbers girls or boys? Do robbers live here? Why are you locking our door? Is it to keep the robbers out? What do robbers look like?

Another conversation that happened a while ago when Skylie and I were putting the nativity away.

Skylie was putting away the donkey and says to me, "Mom, I know how to say donkey in french."
(I'm thinking what in the world is she going to say and where did she hear it.)
Me: Oh, how do you say it?
Skylie: Donk.

Haylie is 11!

2011-02-06T16:20:00.000-07:00

I can't believe that Haylie is 11! Crazy! For her birthday we really didn't do a whole lot. Every year I always try and have a party for her but since it is right in the middle of Christmas holidays no one is ever around. So this year I decided I just couldn't do it. We were out at my parents house on her birthday and I did try and make it fun for her. But it was pretty low key.

For her birthday she got slippers, a shirt and a scentsy warmer.

Luckily Shannon and her family got there that day to add a little excitement to Haylie's day. They conveniently got there just in time for ice cream cake. I love the cake that Steve picked out for her. It is so Haylie.

11 facts about Haylie:

1. She always does her own hair and has for a while now. She loves trying new things with it which takes a while some mornings. Seems like we are always waiting for her to finish her hair.

2. Loves babysitting and has been asked a few times to babysit for others.

3. She loves sitting and talking with me. And always as lots of questions for me. Which I love. I hope that as she gets older that she will still do this.

4. Loves anything with a peace sign.

5. She auditioned for the play Willy Wonka and got in. She could not be happier.

6. She just had her first basketball game and loved it.

7. Has an obsession of buying ear rings. The crazier and weirder, the better.

8. Would eat fries and gravy and chicken fingers every meal if I let her.

9. Loves hanging out with her friends. Every Friday is a friend day.

10. Loves gymnastics and tumbling.

11. Is such a fun, friendly girl.

2011-02-06T14:51:00.001-07:00

I was looking threw pictures and found these from when we were out at my parents. The kids wanted to go outside but it was really windy and blowing snow all over. So Matt put goggles on the kids and we sent them out.

After all the work of getting them bundled and these goggles on I thought they would last maybe 4 minutes out in that freezing wind. But the goggles must of really worked cause they lasted at least 30 minutes. I don't know why I get the giggles every time I look at these pictures. They just look so cute and funny walking around with those goggles covering their faces.

I also get the giggles thinking of Brette and Leslie working hard on their ransom notes to the girls.

Beads. Everywhere.

2011-02-05T15:09:00.000-07:00

It's a good thing that I'm not a very busy Mom. And that my house is so clean that I'm always looking for extra jobs to do. Otherwise it would have been really annoying cleaning up all these beads. There were plenty more other than here, they were scattered all over my basement and in my laundry room too. It's been kind of fun finding more and more everyday. You know, just gives me something to do.

This could of been a huge disaster. Luckily it wasn't too bad.

And luckily he decided to clean it up himself.

Biggest party of the year!

2011-02-01T09:30:00.000-07:00

New Years Eve this year we went out to my parents to party. Now that the kids are getting older we let them stay up and have fun with us. Here's some of the highlights of the night. Here is most of us. Not sure why my Mom and Dad and husbands aren't in it.

Started off the night with some good food. I love that the kids are scattered all over the floor eating. Only a couple pop spills which was pretty good.

Us sisters usually see eye to eye on most things. The balloon drop, not so much. But once the smart one got involved we figured out how to do it. And I must say, it was the most exciting event of the night.

We played a few games. There were a few party poops but we won't mention any ones names. I only wish that I had gotten pictures of the dance party on the wii after. I'm pretty sure the boys are thankful for that, my Dad and Steve in particular.

We gave the kids the job of making noise makers. It kept them occupied for hours. Some of them got a little creative.

And you can't have a new years party without a pinyata. Luckily there were no casualties this year.

The after math. Beans and rice everywhere although they don't show up great in the picture. Balloons everywhere.

Thanks for having us Mom and Dad!!

15 things I've learned

2011-01-31T22:00:00.000-07:00

Finally it's over. No more crutches. No more walking cast. And I hope I will never have to use any of these items again!!

So a few days after I broke my foot one of the first people I talked to at church asked me, "Well is there anything in your life that you need to learn right now?" I kind of laughed about it with her but for some reason the question has stuck with me over the last 7 weeks. I guess there is something we can learn from everything that happens to us in our life, whether it is something big or something little and silly like a broken bone. So here are some of the things that I learned...

1. That it really hurts your hands being on crutches. Worse than the break itself. Until my hands finally built up some calluses, I would cringe at the thought of grabbing on to them.

2. That it is okay to accept service. I'm one of those that likes helping people out but has a hard time accepting the help of others. This has really helped me get over that.

3. Being on crutches is a great conversation piece.

4. That I have awesome friends. One day I had a friend show up unannounced to clean first thing in the morning. My house was a dive because it was a Monday morning and we all know how that goes, except it was about 10 times worse than normal. Anyways, it didn't even seem to phase her, she just dug in and got it done. While I sat on the couch and watched helplessly. Oh and did I mention she was on her hands and knees scrubbing my kitchen floor including all the corners. I had lots of phone calls and help from other friends too which I appreciated so much.

5. It is really hard to carry a glass of hot chocolate while on crutches.

6. Sometimes you have to get really desperate with who you let vacuum your floors...

7. I learned once again that I can always count on my Mom and sisters to help me out when I need it. Leslie happened to be here almost the whole time I was injured and was a life savor to me. I know had Brette and Shannon been here they would of done the same. But Leslie would show up randomly every time she was in town and clean, switch laundry, vacuum my stairs, whatever I needed. I don't think she has any idea how much that meant to me. She even went with me to finish my Christmas shopping. She dropped me off at every door and then picked me up so I wouldn't fall on the ice with my crutches. She would pay for all my stuff so I could go sit down. Everyone else helped out tons with me and my kids while I stayed out at my parents.

8. Which brings me to my next thing I learned, don't ever go shopping on crutches. It will be way worse and more tiring than you think it will be!!!!

9. Steve and the kids are great helpers. I felt like I was always calling someones name (mostly poor Haylie) to come help me with something or to get me this or that. They really didn't complain too much about helping out way more than usual.

10. I learned first hand about tender mercies and that Heavenly Father truly does love me. I was having a really bad, frustrating day where I honestly didn't think I was going to be able to get threw the day without having some kind of breakdown. Anyways right at one of the lowest moments in my day comes a knock at my door. It was one of my friends with supper for me and my family. I found out later that she felt prompted to bring me supper that day and that she needed to bring it to me now. The timing of everything was so inspired and as silly as it sounds it made me feel that I was actually going to make it.

11. I learned it's kind of fun being pushed around where ever you want to go in Costco. While Leslie pushed the shopping cart around, Brette got to push me. Which she loved.

12. As fun as it is being pushed in a wheelchair, the motorized ones at Walmart are even more fun. Those things really cruise around and the chair is so comfy. If your at all injured, pregnant, whatever, I highly recommend it!

13. I learned that I need to do more deep cleaning in my house. Sarra came over one day to help me clean and vacuum. She was putting away some dishes and opened up one very disorganized cupboard. While she was standing on my counters organizing the cupboard she happened to look on top of my cupboards and was uphauled at what she found! I'll admit it, I don't wash on top of my cupboards, no one ever sees up there. Except Sarra. So after almost a whole bottle of Vim, she got it clean. Thanks Sarra!

14. I realize how much extra time I have on my hands now that I can't exercise. I do think it's important to excersise, and I really enjoy it, but I have to admit, I have been loving the break. It's been so nice to just hang out in the evenings with Steve instead of rushing off to the gym as soon as the kids are in bed.

15. I guess one of the main things that I learned is to be more aware of the people around me and the things that they are struggling with. All it takes is to be struggling around in the store or just trying to walk up the sidewalk to make you realize there are people that struggle with things like this every day. It has made me want to offer more help to others. It's made me so thankful for my health. So thankful to know that this is only a short, temporary thing. It's also really gotten me on a service kick. Being on the receiving end of service for a few weeks really has made me realize how much it means to know someone is thinking about you, or wants to help you. So it has taught me that I need to give more service.

Like I said before, I know that is was only a broken foot, it could of been way worse, but it did open my eyes to a lot of different things and it taught me a few very valuable lessons.

This is starting to get a little old!

2011-01-27T14:04:00.009-07:00

Okay, it's official. Skylie is just destined to be a hair dresser. No more getting mad at her when she cuts her hair. It must just be something she really can't control. It is really the only logical explanation.

She cut her hair three or four major times, and I know she is always snipping random pieces of hair off all the time. The other day she said a piece was bugging her so she just cut it off. I told her quite firmly that next time some hair is bugging her to tell me and I'll fix it. Well the very next day I walked into the bathroom and there she was again, cutting the back of her hair. She had gotten some gum stuck in it and took it upon herself, since she knows what she is doing by now, to just cut it out. I'm glad I walked in when I did because she obviously couldn't see where she was cutting and it could of gotten really ugly. I'm just worried at the rate she is going that she's not going to have any hair left.

Really though, what would you do??? It reminds me of Micah when she was little and was always drawing all over everything. It was almost like she couldn't control it, the creative juices were just overflowing. And now I look at her and understand why. She absolutely loves art and drawing. So maybe that is just Skylie's thing-doing hair! I just want her to wait until she is a little older until she starts experimenting!!!

Christmas Eve

2011-01-26T19:52:00.007-07:00

Figured this is only a month old and still not too late to blog about. We spent Christmas Eve this year out at my mom's house. I went out a few day's early so my mom could take care of me and the kids with my broken foot. It was fun and such a relief to not have to hobble all over my house by myself trying to take care of my kids.

So for Christmas Eve we had my Uncle John and Aunt Pattie and their family and Grandma and Grandpa over. It was fun for the kids to have other cousins their and fun for us too. So of course we started off with food. My mouth is watering looking at it! I seriously love appetizers.

The kids picnic

Then a surprise visit from Santa!! The kids were so excited. Especially after he threw a massive amount of candy all over the ground then left.

Next we had a little program which consisted of bell playing by the kids (love my mom's finger in the background pointing to who's turn it is), and my Dad with the accordion, some singing, and the nativity.

Cutest little shepherd!!

After the program we opened presents since we weren't going to be around the next day. A lot of crafty presents this year.

My Mom sewed the most adorable princess dresses for Skylie and Summer. They may not look thrilled in the picture but I can promise you they love them. I can't believe what a good job my mom did on them.

She also sewed Briggs a quilt which he loved.

And Brette out of no where sewed the cutest pillows for Haylie and Micah.

For my Grandparents, Leslie organized making a book of memories for them from all the grandkids. It turned out so good and they loved it so much.

And because my Mom didn't spend enough time sewing this year, she continued on in the tradition of making matching pyjama's for everyone. This is the best picture I could get!

These pictures make me happy

2011-01-21T10:09:00.002-07:00

Once a year, every Christmas Eve my Dad busts out the accordion. We always wish we could hear it more often and this year we got our wish!

In Briggs's class they were reading a book and it had a picture of someone playing the accordion so of course he announces that his Grandpa can play. His teacher who is my Aunt Cheryl suggested to Briggs that maybe he come in the class and play for everyone. Now those of you that know my Dad know that this is a little out of his comfort zone. But unfortunately for him he also has a little bit of a soft spot for his grand kids and I don't think he had the heart to tell Briggs no. So off he went to perform for not only Briggs's class, but all the grade two's and the teachers. He even learned a new song for the performance. Briggs could not of been more excited.

So since the accordion was pulled out of the storage room a few weeks before Christmas it got a lot more playing time than usual. There's always laughing, singing, and dancing when it's out. Here are pictures to prove it.

Mom don't be mad at me for putting these pictures on, it just shows what a good, fun Grandma you are!

The kids all have to take their turn trying it out.

Spiderman

2011-01-19T13:03:00.002-07:00

So it's pretty obvious that I'm struggling with the blogging thing lately. The more I get behind in blogging the less I have any desire to do it. There are actually a ton of things I would love to blog about, but again, I just don't have the desire to do it. So I thought I'd just start with a short post and a picture, hoping this will motivate me to get going again.

So here is my picture of our very own spiderman.....

Kash's new favorite thing lately, puts this over his face and runs around like he thinks he is the coolest thing ever!

Christmas Tree

2010-12-19T21:04:00.002-07:00

I swear that putting up the Christmas tree is almost just as exciting as Christmas day for the kids. They were bouncing off the walls!! I always have the tree all set up (branch by branch with our tree), lights put on, and everything ready to go so we can decorate that night for home evening. By the time I got that done, which included duct taping the tree together, running down to extra foods twice because I got green lights the first time and had to return them, I was exhausted. So I pretty much let my kids decorate the whole tree themselves.

Which resulted in this disaster as everyone tore threw every box...

and this, tons of decoration on the bottom branches. (which normally drives me CRAZY but I decided not to let it this year and left them.)

I think they did a pretty good job.

Summer thought these beads looked beautiful strung all over the chairs. She would get pretty mad when anyone touched them or any fell down. They only lasted about 3 days and then they happened to mysteriously disappear... Luckily Summer didn't notice.

Just a Quote.

2010-12-15T10:05:00.002-07:00

So nothing drives me more crazy then when the little girls wake up anywhere between 4 am and 6 am and turn on the lights to their bedroom. This happened this morning so of course all three of them are awake and playing at 6 am which is way too early for me. So I was getting after Summer this morning about it since she was the culprit this time.

Me: "Summer you can't turn the lights on in your room. It wakes everyone up."
Summer: "Mom it was on accident."
Me: "No Summer, something like that is not an accident. Spilling the carton of eggnog this morning, that was an accident. Turning on your light isn't."
Summer: (looking completely shocked and gasped) "Did I tell a lie?"

Injured

2010-12-09T20:02:00.004-07:00

When I was younger I thought it would be so fun to break something like my arm and especially my leg. I thought it would be so fun to have a cast and have everyone sign it. Thought it would be so cool to be able to use crutches to get around. I thought I'd get lots of attention and would be waited on. I TAKE IT ALL BACK! Unfortunatly I am going on day one of crutches and I want to die. It's even more unfortunate that I don't have a cool story to go with it at all. Here's my lame story.

The other night I was at the gym trying my very hardest to burn off the hundreds (actually thousands) of calories I have consumed in the last while thanks to a cookie exchange I went to. Anyways I was running and jumping rope. When I got home my foot felt like there was a needle or something going threw it and really hurt. Complained a little to Steve and got no symathy, he said he gets that all the time. Anyways woke up the next morning, could hardly walk but I hobled around on it all day. This morning got up and I really couldn't walk. Steve made me go to the hospital. Turns out I have a stress fracture in my foot from working out I guess. I googled it and I guess it is really common with lots of running, jumping, basketball, stuff like that. And Kelly Ripa even has the same injury in her hip so that made me feel a little better.

So no more burning off the Christmas calories for me. Instead I get to hobble around on crutches for the next month or so. It's really not as fun as I thought it would be as a kid. Today I almost fell down the stairs and Summer was a witness. Now she is so nervous that I'm going to fall. She's always telling me to be careful, especially when I'm on the stairs.

Well if anyone has any tips on how to make dinner, vacumm, pick up kids, mop and sweep with crutches I'd love to hear them!

Oh and to answer questions from my blog about the nail polish. Well I told her she looked beautiful, maybe not in my friendliest voice, but I did say it. And how did I get it off the floor? Well I didn't. Haylie suggested I pour nail polish remover all over it, which I will eventually, but I hate how the smell of it lasts for so long.

Art Show

2010-12-08T10:04:00.003-07:00

Micah is seriously the sweetest girl. She is so quiet, does not demand a lot of attention, she is perfectly happy reading a book (and when she does she blocks everything out around her), drawing, or doing some kind of craft. When they advertised for art classes I knew this was right up Micah's alley and I signed her up. She has taken two eight week classes now and is loving it. I love picking her up after her class because she is absolutely beaming. From the time she could hold a pencil she has been drawing, coloring (all over EVERYTHING), and always loved sitting at the table just practicing her letters or writing her name. She loves writing stories, and writing songs. She has a little design book that she designs all kinds of dresses in. Anyways, the other day there was an art show to display all the art work they have worked on in their classes.

Here's a cute necklace that she made. They made the beads first, then painted them and then put it all together in a necklace.

Here's some scratch art that she did. Hers is the butterfly. Her teacher said she worked so hard finishing this.

Love this cat that she made.

It was fun to go and see all the fun stuff that she has been working on.

Mischief

2010-12-05T19:23:00.000-07:00

Turned my back for one minute the other day to find this....

How would you respond if your daughter sweetly asked you if her toes looked beautiful? She was proud as punch of the job she did.

Speaking of messes, Kash seems to always know where to find the markers lately...

He loves shoes

2010-11-23T13:19:00.003-07:00

I'm not sure what made Kash think this cute little baby boot would ever fit on his fat, wide, chubby foot.

But he sure gave it his all trying.

He tried every angle possible.

He tried turning in backwards.

He tried the other foot.

But after about 5 minutes I think he realized it was useless, threw it, and ran off to do something else.

Halloween Fun

2010-11-14T19:51:00.003-07:00

Halloween was really fun this year. On Saturday I decided to go get some pumpkins to carve which is one of my worst things, but I knew the kids would like it. Of course since I waited until the day before Halloween there was no pumpkins to be found anywhere. So I decided that maybe we could do some crafts instead. I was thinking maybe one or two small, simple little crafts but before I new it there was paint, glue, plates, pipe cleaner, tape and all sorts of crafts spread all over my kitchen and into the living room. It was fun and I'd way rather do that then carve pumpkins.

I thought this little mummy was really cute that Summer made. It's just a juice box wrapped in paper. She was really proud of it too.

I love the faces on Skylie and Summers ghost! You can tell Micah is a perfectionist with hers.

Here are a few more of the crafts the kids made. The rest are stuck on windows and out on the steps.

This year our ward had a Halloween dance. The kids loved it. It was fun watching them out dancing with all their friends. I really have a hard time finding costumes for all eight of us but once they are all figured out and bought I love dressing up and getting the kids all ready. Here they are all ready for the dance! And no Kash is not dressed up like an orphan. These are his favorite mismatched clothes he wears almost everyday with the boots. He was supposed to be a fireman but would not put the costume on.

Our all time favorite show in our family is Nacho Libre. Someone is always quoting something from the movie. Usually it's Steve. So for those of you that have seen the movie you'll appreciate our costumes.

The kids were seriously so excited that Steve was dressed like this. I think Steve was a little excited too. And I think only those that have seen the movie will appreciate the next picture.

Baptism

2010-11-11T16:15:00.000-07:00

I know this happened a while ago but I still wanted to blog about it. We baptized Briggs the day after his birthday. It was conference weekend so we did it after conference on Sunday. It turned out to be such a nice, special day. Briggs really wanted a suit for his baptism so that's what he got. I can't believe how grown up he looks!

The program turned out really nice. Briggs wanted his Grandpa Gibb and Haylie to speak at it. They were both great talks and I was proud of Haylie for getting up there and doing that. Micah led the singing and Haylie played the piano.

Briggs and one of his best friends Kody.

After the baptism we all came back to our house and had a dinner. It was so warm outside so the kids got to play outside. I love things like this that give us the excuse to get together as family and visit and eat.

We can always count on my mom for a journal!

Usually Briggs is surrounded by girls so I love this picture of him and so many boys his age.

Opinions please!

2010-11-10T14:31:00.003-07:00

So we have been waiting for over two years to get our house stuccoed. The day has finally come and it looks much better. I wish that we had taken a before and after picture but of course I forgot. So here is where I need the opinions.

Love the look of the house except for the eye sore at the point of the house. You know, the ugly piece of wood that jutts down half way threw. This has ALWAYS really bugged me and to me the logical thing would be to cut it down, or at least cut it so it is the same height all the way across. I have begged Steve to do this but he says it won't work and then rambles some explanation about how the house used to have a flat roof or something. Anyways, I find that now that the house is stuccoed it stands out even more. Something has got to be done.

So what do you do??? Just repaint it white? Paint it the same cream as the build-outs? Put cedar shakes on it? Paint it the same color as the house in hopes that it blends into the house somehow? I really don't know what to do!!

What's new...

2010-10-28T17:25:00.000-06:00

Kash got a new train set from his Grandma Holland for a late birthday present. He is loving it. Hours of entertainment for him and all the rest of the kids.

Briggs got all new biking gear. Unfortunately after his and Steve's last biking trip his biking bag with all his gear somehow flew out of the truck. They went back to see if they could find it but someone had already taken it. Briggs doesn't seem too sad about it now. You can only see his eyes but under that helmet is the biggest grin you've ever seen. It's too bad that we just bought his new boots a week earlier for his b-day only to have to replace them.

And we got a new hairdo. Courtesy of Skylie.

She decided she wanted bangs so took it upon herself to cut them. We found a pile of hair a few days later in the front closet.

She is loving the new look.

Absolutely ZERO remorse.

Pretty much thinks she is the hottest thing alive. HAHA. I love Skylie! Every time I do her hair she stresses to me to leave her bangs down, don't comb them back. Don't worry Skylie, there's not much I can do with that butcher job. I do know it could be worse though.

And thank goodness for everyones supportive comments about the bear rug, hopefully we will not be getting a new rug. Steve went out bear hunting one day but hasn't said anything about it since. Hopefully he's moved on to something new.

Kash is 2

2010-10-28T17:12:00.000-06:00

So I can't believe that my baby is two now. It's weird cause normally by the time my youngest is two I usually have a newborn. Not this time. Instead I still just pack him around like he is still a little baby.

Kash brings so much happiness to the family. I know that sounds cheesy but it's true. Everyone loves laughing at him which only eggs him on to be more goofy.

He is always the center of attention. Might be a little spoiled. Everyone loves kissing him and always want kisses in return.

And most of all, we love his cheesy, goofy, crazy grins and faces that he pulls. He especially likes pulling them when the camera comes out.

I didn't really have anything planned for his birthday so the day of I decided I should do something. So we had whatever family was around over for a barbaque. It turned out to be really fun.

Kash loved all the balloons he got for his b-day.

He also got a ball, a couple stuffed animals (his sisters really wanted to get him), and a t-ball set.

Here's a few Kash facts:

-he will not let us put milk on his cereal. He wants it dry. Just like his Grandma Gibb.

-He does not talk very well yet.

-When he does talk he has the lowest little voice. It's so cute.

-Every time he see's me he says, "Hi Mum" in his deepest voice.

-Loves sucking his thumb.

-He loves hats.

-Always says "dan do" (thank you) every time I give him something.

-Loves cheese and anytime I turn my back and there is cheese out, he takes big bites.

-Loves his toy dirtbikes. Actually any kind of bike he loves.

-went through a stage where ever time he saw someone older that was a man he would say, "hi bumpa"

-Loves wearing his blue shark gum boots. All day long.
-Loves going to nursury.

-Loves following Steve around.

Happy B-day Kash!!!!

Another Birthday..

2010-10-23T14:53:00.001-06:00

It was Briggs's 8th b-day a few weeks ago. He has been talking about going to the skate park in Lethbridge for his party for months now. Luckily the weather was gorgeous and they were able to go.

Here's the crew getting ready to go. The only bad thing about going into Lethbridge is that there wasn't room for me or a few other friends he wanted to invite. I hated missing his party but told Steve he had to take tons of pictures.

This is right up Briggs's alley. He pretty much spends every spare minute riding his bike. He loves it.

Here is everyone at the skatepark. What an easy party. The kids entertained themselves the whole time.

After the skatepark and Mcdonalds everyone came back here for cake and presents. Steve got the biking boots for Briggs.

Briggs had such a fun time and asks everyday if we can go back to the skatepark. Can't believe that he is eight!!!

Here's a few facts about Briggs:

-He loves riding his pedal bike and doing tricks. He is always practicing his wheelies, standing on his seat, building ramps to jump and putting things in the way to jump over. He loves it.

-He loves playing with friends. He loves doing boy stuff and there is a shortage of boys in our house. Luckily he has some good friends that live close by.

-He always wants me to tuck him in at night. And I always do.

-Loves dirtbiking with his Dad.

-He is a sweet, nice, tenderhearted boy.

-He is one of the tallest in his grade.

-Loves playing football and basketball.

-He worries about stuff all the time.

-He can't sit still. Always poking or tapping or bugging someone. He really doesn't do it to be mean, I just really think he can't help himself or he's bored or something.

-He just started piano this year and really likes it so far.

-Loves jumping on the trampoline. Can do a backflip.

-Loves being outside.

Happy 8th B-day!!!

A new rug....

2010-10-17T20:43:00.000-06:00

So Steve and I have a pretty good arrangement, I usually let him get or go do what he wants (within reason) and he does the same for me. Up until now. Tell me if I am being unreasonable about not wanting this in our house......

He is bound and determined to hunt a bear and then make a bear rug out of it and put it in our house!!!! There is no way in the world I would put this anywhere in my house where I would see it on a daily basis. It's creepy and gross and would probably give the kids bad dreams. What's your opinions on a bear rug in your house???? Am I being unreasonable here?

Artist....

2010-10-07T14:47:00.001-06:00

I left Summer and Kash quietly painting one afternoon, glad to have something for them to do. This is what I came back to...

I really should of know better.

First day of school....

2010-09-27T12:58:00.000-06:00

Everybody else posts about the first day of school so I guess that means I can too! To say the kids were excited would be an understatement. I remember as a kid being so excited to wear my new school clothes, put on the new back pack and new shoes. It's so fun watching my kids do the same thing.

I walked them to school for the first day. Unfortunately Haylie and Micah are too cool now to have their Mom walk them into their classrooms. Luckily Briggs still wanted me to go with him.

Micah, grade 4, Mrs. Dittman

Haylie, grade 5, Mrs. Bright

Briggs, grade 2, Mrs. Romeril

Skylie started kindergarten this year and didn't start until the next day. I got to go with her on her first day. Luckily since this is my fourth kindergarten orientation I was well prepared for the "kissing hand" and didn't shed any tears. (they always read the same story, then you have to kiss each others hand and it makes me tear up usually). She was really excited for her first day and has been loving going to school. Her teacher is Mrs. Bennett.

As for me, I'm liking having the schedule that being back to school brings. I'm already sick of making lunches but I'd better get used to it. Poor Summer doesn't know what to do with herself in the afternoons when Kash is sleeping and she is by herself. (poor me is more like it, haha)

Bikes, apples, and prayers....

2010-09-26T21:16:00.000-06:00

Summer's favorite thing to do is ride her bike. She asks almost everyday to go on a bike ride to the church. I think she secretly wants to run into Jacob. She has been riding with training wheels so much that I figured she was ready to ride without. So one night we went over to the church, took them off, and away she went. Now she bugs me even more to go on bike rides with her "two-wheeler" to the church.

This little guy could not be happier that Summers old bike isn't being used anymore. He loves pushing it up and down the road for some reason. He doesn't even try to ride it, just pushes it. So tonight Steve decided he needed to learn to ride it. I don't know why it was so cute to me watching him ride it around by himself. Either it was the pink bike, or that he is still my little "baby", or maybe that he thought he was the coolest thing alive.

My friend Becka moved in across the street and the kids have been having a blast playing together. Hunter and Micah are the little apple pickers. Everywhere I look I see apples they have picked. A bowl of crab apples in my kitchen, a bunch scattered in the driveway, let me tell you how much I loved stepping in a rotten one on my lawn. If anyone has apples they want picked I know two very willing and ready kids for the job.

As much as I don't like seeing the summer coming to an end, I do love the colors of the fall leaves.

And one last random. Lately Kash likes to try and say his prayers at night after the girls are done. Usually he just says, "Father, amen". Tonight he got really creative though. He folded his arms and leaned on the crib like he always does, then said, "Poppa, Poppa, Poppa (repeated at least 12 more times, then he said, "bike, bike, bike, bike (repeated at least 12 times), then "Dadda", amen. It was so cute!

Another pet....

2010-09-24T15:02:00.001-06:00

So the other day I was trying to get my laundry room organized. There were some towels that apparently been there for a while because when I picked them up guess what I found....

thats's right, another salamander!!! What in the world is going on in my house???? And how long has that thing been in there? By the looks of it it has been dead for a while now. The real question is how many times did I step on it without realizing it? It was under a towel right in front of the washer where I step almost everyday. Ok, maybe the real question is why was that same dirty towel in front of my washer so long and not thrown into the washer to be cleaned. Really, how are they getting into my house???

My new favorite thing...

2010-09-23T15:02:00.005-06:00

Those that know me well know how much I like to vacumm. Those of you that don't know, well, I like to vacumm. I'm kind of a freak about it. I don't like anyone else to do it but me. If my kids vacumm I have been known to re-vacumm after they leave. I cringe when Steve volenteers to vacumm (although I am glad that he helps). Anyways, my love of vacumming has quadrupled because of this......

I have gone threw about 4 crappy vacumms since we've been married and finally had enough with it and went out and bought a dyson. I am honestly in love with it and it was worth every penny. And yes Steve, I should of listened to you 2 years ago when you told me to buy it.

Calaway Park (calgary part 2)....

2010-09-16T16:51:00.000-06:00

So after we went to the zoo we went and stayed at Leslie and Mikes house. The upstairs to their basement rental was empty so we were lucky enough to get to stay there. The next morning we headed to Calaway Park. We try and go every year and the kids love it. This year my whole family was there except for the husbands. Here's a few of the pictures from the day.

Summer went on this about 10 times in a row. It was right before closing and there was no line up so she just kept going and going.

Love the log ride. You can't really tell but Skylie was honestly drenched from head to toe.

This was Kash's favorite ride.

This was right before Kash decided he didn't want to sit in the front seat anymore and moved to the back. I was so scared he was going to fall in. Luckily he didn't.

The Zoo (calgary part 1)....

2010-09-14T15:00:00.002-06:00

One day after swimming lessons me and my Mom loaded up the kids and went to Calgary to meet up with Leslie for a couple days. My kids have never been to the zoo before so that was the first thing on the agenda. We were on a tight time schedule since we didn't get there until the afternoon, but we were able to see most of the things we wanted to see. Here we all are minus Leslie.

I think my favorite animal was the giraffe but the tiger was a close second. It walked right beside the window we were at and it looked so cool that close up. The kids all liked a lot of different animals, but most of them liked the monkeys the best. We sat and watched them forever. They were so entertaining.

The kids could not get enough of this bear.

I wish that Kash could of fit on!

And there were just enough of these little elephants for all my kids, except this random boy was on and didn't want to get off. Oh well.

They loved the gorilla's. I think it was Brigg's favorite.

The kids loved the dinosaur land, once we convinced some of them that they aren't real (skylie and summer). In there defense, I was a little scared when walking by a big one and all the sudden it started moving and making noises out of no where. They loved looking at all the different dinosaurs and pushing the buttons to make them move and make noise. It was really cool.

The funniest part of the day was when we were leaving. We got to the gate to go out and I went to find the parking ticket to swipe so that we could leave and it was no where to be found. My Mom searched her stuff, I searched mine again and it was no where. We sat there having no clue what to do and finally backed up and just sat there trying to find it while everyone else starred at us. Mike and Leslie had already gone threw so Mike ran back to find out what our problem was. After trying a few different things Mike finally drove their vehicle threw again, backed out, ran over and gave us his new ticket, then we were able to use that to get threw. Anyways, it was really funny. Through it all me and my Mom were laughing so hard, and I can only imagine what was going threw Mike's mind. haha. I'm just glad that Mike was there because me and my Mom would probably still be there trying to figure out how to get threw.

Echo Lake...

2010-09-13T14:00:00.006-06:00

Well since it's been almost 2 months since we were actually at Echo Lake, I don't really remember many of the fun little details. But whatever. I do remember that we had a few slight problems with the boat. Like almost sinking it twice. We eventually figured that one out. I do remember that we had ok weather, a few rainy shopping days which are always fun, and a couple warm days. I do know that Summer got up on the attached skiis for her first time (after a few tears were shed and surprise, surprise Steve making her try), Briggs got up on the wakeboard for the first time (well he got up last year briefly). I do remember Summer and Skylie freaking out when they had a run in with a crayfish. Like always we went turtle hunting and Scuba Steve caught a few for the kids to look at. I do remember that we had fun, like always.

In fact here we are having fun before we even got to the Lake. We were just over an hour away from home and our burb broke down. At least we broke down in front of some little bar in the middle of no where and we were able to eat while we waited for some help. Steve's parents were nice enough to come meet us and switch us vehicles. Luckily our vehicle made it home for them. So here we are waiting for them.

Well here's some pictures from the week. I have a hard time narrowing them down, so there are a few.

I love that Briggs wanted me to go knee boarding with him. I think he felt bad for me when I didn't get up the first time. haha.

Scuba Steve junior. Briggs loves snorkeling.

This was Kash's favorite spot.

One of the kids favorite things is knee boarding.

Wait, I take that back. This was probably their favorite thing. Jumping from one diving board to the next to the tube.

I swear I have a picture of everyone of my kids doing this. Unfortunatly someone showed Kash how to honk the horn.

This was my favorite spot!

When we are at the lake I don't do the girls hair very often, so the first day I did everyone's in braids hoping that they would stay in for a few days.

We love Echo Lake. It's so pretty, peaceful, and relaxing.

Holland Camping Trip.....

2010-09-06T22:19:00.006-06:00

When Joe and Karen come home for the summer we usually try planning a camping trip while they are here. This year we went to the Waterton Dam. The kids had a fun time playing in the water and in the sand. Kenny brought his boat out and the kids were able to go on some fun tube rids. It got a little chaotic at times with all the little kids but it was a really fun weekend. Here's all the cousins...

Mikey and Skylie taking grumpy Kash for a walk. He was not having a good day. At all.

Kash wasn't the only one grumpy, take a look at Summers face in this picture.

Haylie loves all her little cousins and is so nice to all of them.

The morning after we got there I realized that Skylie wasn't at the campsite. I started looking for her and found her on the beach. Not a care in the world, all by herself, singing a song. It was so cute.

Skylie and Mikey are only a month apart and had so much fun playing while they were here.

Of course there was a lot of junk food which helped contribute to my 7lb weight gain over the summer. grrr.

The only downfall about the sand, it's everywhere!! And so hard to get rid of. I swept and vacummed and brushed off all the mattresses, shook out all the sleeping bags, and still had sand in my trailer.

Here is the newest Holland cousin Brady. He is so cute and such a good little baby.

1st of July.....

2010-09-06T21:12:00.006-06:00

Okay so I'm two months behind. But at least I'm getting to my summer pictures finally. I feel like I can't post about anything until I get these posts done first. So here we go. The first of July. One of the funnest weeks of the summer. We always look forward to family getting together and all the cousins coming up (minus a few this year which we were sad about!!) This year we started things off with the first annual H.S. triathlon. It was honestly so fun. I can't say that our team won, but we accomplished our goal of not losing either. It was probably the most talked about event of the week, and when we weren't talking about it we were thinking about it, or dreaming about it in my case. Leslie did us proud with her swimming skills, I thought I was going to die as the biker, and Shannon finished it off with the running. Again it was really fun!! Here we are before the big race began!!

So these pictures are a little out of order, but another thing they added to the festivities this year was a rodeo. They had a pig chase, a chicken chase, and sheep riding for the kids. Here is Skylie trying out riding a sheep, which by the way I can't believe she actually tried in the first place.

Even after me warning her numerous times that she would get bucked off I don't think she was fully prepared.....Here she is after.

I have no idea where this picture came from or how to get rid of it.

Well the rest of the day went as normal. A great pancake breakfast to start off the day which was delicious, the parade which was actually really good this year and even seemed a little longer than normal. Haylie was really excited to get to ride Scotty in the parade with my Dad. And of course Briggs and Chase rode their bikes. Then the program and the famous beef and beans followed by the races. Here's some pictures from the day..

Leslie ended up winning the brew off this year and Brette was determined that her's was better. So here they are having their own secret brew off. (nerds)

Here's most of the cousins that were there this year. Fun times!!!!

Love my sisters!!!!!

Love this picture with my grandparents!!

The rest of the week was a none stop party also. There was family softball games where the Gibbs beat the Gibbs, H.S. 100th ward celebration, family dance, fireworks, lots of food, lots of ice cream and of course lots of laughs.

Quick update...

2010-08-22T22:41:00.006-06:00

Here's proof that we're actually alive...

After 2 months of no blogging I'm sure some wondered.

I have been way to busy camping, swimming, hanging out with family, eating ice cream, going to the zoo and Calaway, having fun with cousins, and playing with friends to take the time to blog. And now I'm really regretting it. I have no idea how I'll ever, if I ever, get caught up.

I have lots of fun pictures to post but here is one that I took yesterday down at the river that I love.

I feel free....

2010-06-25T15:16:00.005-06:00

The spring is such a crazy time of year. I'm happy to say that it is over and we made it through!

As of today, no more getting up early for school, no more making lunches, and no more signing planners!!!

This last month has been full of...

Coach pitch which I didn't get a picture of cause the last two games were rained out. Briggs had a fun time playing, when it wasn't raining.

Haylie and Briggs both had their track and field meet. Micah's was of course rained out. Or was it snowed out? They had a fun day. Didn't get a picture of that either but here's Haylie's ribbons she won. They didn't give out ribbons for Briggs's class.

We also went to divisionals for Haylie. She wasn't feeling so great that day but still had a fun time. She loved getting to hang out with her friend Livi that she doesn't get to see too often.

We had the kids marathon a couple days ago. It was a gorgeous day for it. Me and the younger kids hung out at the finish line to watch the kids go threw, then we had a picnic lunch at the remington after.

We had Haylie and Micah's piano recital the end of May. They are both so lucky to have such a talented Grandma that is willing to teach them piano. They both were able to get their songs memorized and learned in time. I was a little nervous for them but they pulled it off and sounded great. Trudy doesn't teach very many students anymore so we had the recital here this year. I think that's why I didn't get any pictures of this, I was too stressed about getting my house clean.

Last week was Haylie's voice recital. It was very long, but good. This is one thing I'm glad to have over for the year. Her lessons were every Monday evening which didn't work out great for FHE. I always had to be really on the ball and get it done early.

This weekend is my softball tournament and once that is over I will feel like a free woman!!!

The other day Haylie was playing at a friends house and had a little tumble which resulted in four stitches. The knee is a really awkward place to get stitches Haylie is finding out. She can't walk great, swim great, and definitely not run great (found that out at the kids marathon).

Love the summer and the no schedule. That is until swim lessons start. And basketball camp.

Lame update, I know.

Our new pet....

2010-06-25T14:57:00.002-06:00

Someone please tell me how in the world it is possible that I found this in my house yesterday....

In case your confused, yes this is a DEAD SALAMANDER!!! In my house! Last night Micah told me she found something weird in her room and to come look at it. I never expected this. The thing that really creeps me out is that if there is a dead salamander, that means that at one point there was a live salamander. And is there more lurking around??

We googled salamander's last night to find out a little bit about them and how they would get into a persons house. I highly doubt it came in threw the door and down the stairs. Anyways, turns out they can squeeze threw very small cracks. If there is cracks somewhere I would of thought we would of gotten water in our basement though which we didn't. We also found out it eats insects which it would of had a year's supply of in our basement since Skylie feeds the ants so well. They are everywhere. Luckily it also needs water which is why I'm assuming it died.

Has this ever happened to anyone else and how did it get into your house???? I will not stop thinking about it until I find out how it got in. I will also check every shoe I put on because I also read that is where they like to hide.

Weekend in Waterton....

2010-06-22T13:51:00.011-06:00

This past weekend we took the trailer up to Waterton and went camping. We were going to leave Thursday but got rained out. Friday wasn't looking too promising but I decided to stop being a scrooge and just go. Cold weather and all. (have I ever mentioned how much I hate being cold??) Anyways I'm glad we went because it ended up being beautiful there.

This is my idea of camping right here. Relaxed on a chair, enjoying the sun and reading a book. Unfortunately Micah is the only one that got time to read.

Well it's pretty easy to sum up what we did. Rode bikes, threw rocks, rode bikes some more, climbed bears hump, rode bikes, and got ice cream. Oh and did I mention ride bikes???

There was this hill that Briggs was obsessed with going on. It had a little jump going down and then another one coming back up it. He was constantly begging someone to go with him. I even went once and showed him my amazing biking skills. I asked him if he saw the air I got and he said, mom that was just a wheelie. Then I ended up falling down the hill and I think he was a little embarrassed for me. I think he preferred Steve going with him after that!

The kids all wanted to climb bears hump. Usually one of us would go with the older kids and the other would stay back, but we couldn't decide who got to stay, so we decided to just go with everyone and see how the little kids did. They all made it and did really good.

They found this stream to cool off in and loved playing in it. On the way down Steve was showing the girls how it was fun to jump down the stairs. Kash saw him and decided that he wanted to do it too. Well this was taking forever for him to do so I decided to carry him, and that did not go over well, that is why he is so sad in this picture. So after a while I put him back down so he could jump too. Anyways it took a while for me and Kash to get down since he insisted on doing it all on his own but we finally made it.

Don't you love Summer's "hiking boots"? Her and Skylie both insisted on wearing their gum boots.

We all made it!!!

The kids love the new park in Waterton. We had it all to ourselves on Friday.

I love the crew of bikers! Biking was my favorite part of Waterton. I love it and am always up for a bike ride.

We could spend forever throwing rocks. That is so entertaining for kids for some reason.

My favorite part about camping is that I don't have to cook. Steve does all of it and I love it!!!

It was a great weekend. Steve is already planning where we are going to go next. I have a feeling next time it will involve dirtbikes.

Family Fun Run.....

2010-06-17T09:34:00.004-06:00

A couple weeks ago Haylie and I went in the 5km Fun Run. Haylie wasn't sure if it was much fun during the run, but after it was over she was glad that she did it. Here we are coming into the finish line. I love Micah running beside us videoing us.

We did it in 34 minutes which I think is really good for Haylie's first time. It was fun running with her and being able to chat the whole time.

After they had tons of food and prizes for everyone. Haylie won a sub from subway and a t-shirt and I won a pool party at the pool. Briggs and Micah want to go in it next just for the prizes!

Finally five.....

2010-06-14T19:44:00.014-06:00

So for the past month Skylie has asked everyday if it's her birthday and if she is five yet. Well that day finally came a couple weeks ago. Then for a whole week following her birthday she asked me everyday if she was still five. She had a fun birthday. Here she is opening her presents that morning. Every time we go to extra foods she is sure to tell me what she wanted for her b-day. Out of the twenty things on her list I hoped that I chose her favorites.

So later on that day we headed into Lethbridge to go swimming at the Ramada with the Eatons. It was probably one of the worst swimming experiences, for me anyways. The kiddy pool was closed, the water was freezing cold and so was the air which is usually muggy and warm, which made the disgusting, dirty hot tub chuck full of people. It was so gross that at one point they had to kick everyone out to disinfect it. And yes I was desperate enough to warm up that I went in the hot tub. Anyways, the important thing is the kids didn't seem to mind or notice and had a blast. The highlight of Skylies day which she still talks about is when her, Charlie, Janey, and Haylie were all on the double tube and ended up flipping over in the water slide.

After swimming we headed over to the Dairy Queen and got ice cream cake which is another thing Skylie has been asking for for over a month. Don't you love her butterfly clip that the Eaton's gave her?? So cute.

The kids were in such crazy moods. Charlie kept putting ice cream on his face and Summer's hysterical laughter only egged him on I'm sure. These kids have so much fun together and ask almost every day if they can play with them.

Here's the whole crew!

I can't have a birthday post and not write a few little facts about the birthday girl, so here it goes....

1. She has a really fun, crazy personality which we all love.

2. Her favorite food (today anyways) is ichiban, macaroni, and cheese and crackers.

3. Her favorite color is orange, yellow, blue, purple, and pink. She has decided she likes boy colors now. Even though they aren't beautiful.

4. She loves dressing up and putting on makeup.

5. Loves playing polly's and barbies.

6. She loves shoving apple cores behind the tv. One time I found 8 of them and I'm very confident they were all from her.

7. She loves a good party at 3:00 am. She just gets up, turns on a movie and gets herself a snack. And usually brings Summer along with her. It's a little annoying.

8. She says the funniest things (funny to me anyways). Here's a few of her latest quotes....

"My nose really hurts. I need to smell my blanket."

"Whenever I hold my ears like this I get so frustrated cause the dogs make me hear them."

We were sitting at the table and she kept sniffing so I asked her if I should get some kleenex to wipe her nose and she said, "No, I'll just smell if away."

9. She is really excited to go to kindergarten in the fall.

10. She finally learned the other day to ride a two wheeler. We really should of tried earlier but she isn't a huge fan of riding her bike. She rode up the street on her first try.

Happy 5th B-day Skylie!!

If the shoe doesn't fit, wear it...

2010-06-11T13:43:00.005-06:00

We have a problem in our house. Anytime we go to leave somewhere, someone is always missing a shoe. The other day for example I was trying to find Summer's shoe's. I found three different shoes without a match. It is not uncommon to see my younger kids in mismatched shoes. The root of the problem is this little guy. He is always wearing every one's shoes then leaving them in random places.

I'm sure everyone is thinking, well just don't let him wear them, but would you say no to this face????

The biking club.....

2010-06-10T13:32:00.004-06:00

Yesturday Briggs's friend dropped this off for him. I thought it was so cute. Briggs had the biggest grin while he was reading it. Later he told me, "I think I know why I was invited to the biking club. Cause I'm a really good biker. I'm like.....um...the second best biker." He says Kody is a little better cause he can jump from one set of stairs to the next. But he can do all the other tricks. haha. I love little boys so much!!!!!

May long at the Farm.....

2010-06-04T15:51:00.010-06:00

Anyone that has read Brette or Leslie's blog about our May long weekend might want to stop reading now because you'll see the same pictures and read the same stories as theirs. I was going to try and beat them to it but between having some computer problems and an extremely long book that I'm a little addicted to reading right now, it just didn't happen. So for the long weekend we were going to bring our trailer to Waterton, but after looking at the forecast I decided that I didn't want to be trapped in a trailer all weekend with my kids with gross weather. So I decided that we'd haul it out to my parents instead. I turned out to be a really fun weekend.

These pictures are all in reverse but I did not feel like switching them all around. Here's a random of Leslie and her butterfly clips that she holds very dear to her heart. She got a little jealous when she saw that they looked cuter in Skylies hair and demanded she take them out.

Thought this was cute of my Mom with Summer and Marlie out on our nature walk to the waterfall.

Here's almost all the cousins. Cute little Jake is the only one missing. They all got along so good this weekend. It's fun that they all have someone their age to play with. Kash can't wait until Nixon and Jake get just a little bigger.

While I was busy stuffing my face with Jennies delicious peanut butter marshmellow squares Kash decided to take off up the hill that everyone else was climbing.

It was actually really steep here and I'm surprised he made it so far on his own.

Here we are on the top. Kash is in the "I'll do it by myself stage" and actually made it to the top pretty much on his own. Then wanted to slide down by himself like all the other kids were doing.

I swear Summer asks me everyday if she can play at Marlie's house so it was a dream come true to get to play with her for three days straight.

Shannon loves encouraging my children to wear "pretty" things in their hair for church. I had her hair done cute with a little headband braid for church only to find out in sacrament meeting that Shannon told Summer she could wear this cute pink headband to church. Oh well. She thought she was the prettiest thing alive with in on.

This is my Dad's new toy. He came into the house and interrupted our game to tell us to come out and see Haylie, Micah, and Kadie. Well we found them way up in this bucket. Then he told everyone that no one else could have a turn until I went up. I was a good sport and did it and it was actually really cool. I had Skylie go up with me and she ducked down pretty much the whole time.

One highlight of the weekend was the good old Pioneer Parlor. It was the opening weekend so we of course had to go get some ice cream.

Here's our whole crew. They were probably glad to see us go!

Summer is really into drawing and painting lately. Proudly displaying one of her many drawings.

I wish I had a video for these next few pictures. You have never seen anything more awkward as us trying to push the ladder together, then pull it apart, then figure out how it worked, figure out where to put the ladder on the tree so poor Haylie wouldn't fall and then trying to get the ladder there.

This was probably the most awkward thing, my Mom trying to figure out how to tie the rope for the tire swing. She finally took the shoelace right out of her shoe to practice on and Leslie tried to copy everything she was doing with the rope. It was really funny.

But despite all the troubles it was a huge success.

I really take too many pictures of this little guy. But how could I resist??

When we were younger we always played in the trees behind the house. We were always making forts and whatever else. This weekend the kids played in them tons. They made forts, found a ghost, and even tried carving their names in the trees like we used to do. It was all fun and games until Chase fell out of a tree and ended up having to get 7 stitches.

Kash was obsessed with two things this weekend, the quad and my Dad's brand new hat with the price tag on it still. He definitely wore it in for him.

Brette being the good aunt that she is took pity on the poor guy and actually gave him a ride.

Chase and Briggs with the cool swords my Dad made for them.

This is the closest Skylie could come to getting a kitten for her birthday like she wanted.

That was long!! Anyways, fun weekend, lots of food, laughs, and games like always!

Like Father, Like Son......

2010-05-19T21:58:00.004-06:00

So the other day I was babysitting a little boy around Kash's age and I was watching the two of them play. It was so cute watching them. The one little boy's Dad is really into trucks and that is all that this little boy cared about. He was loving all the cars and trucks and played with them the whole time he was here. Then there was Kash. All he cared about were the dirtbikes. Wonder where he gets that from. Anyways, it was fun observing that at such a young age these little guys just know what they are supposed to like, cause it's what their Dad's like.

I know this picture is kind of fuzzy, but this is what Kash does. All day long. He even sleeps with his bike. Or "bi" as he says.

And I'll tell you one person that couldn't be happier about Kash's obsesion with dirtbikes. Steve. He is loving every second of it. He will take him for little rides around the yard anytime Kash wants one. He even took it up to the church parking lot when I was gone and took him on rides all around the parking lot.

Since it seems like I'm always putting up pictures of Kash, here's one of everyone else. This is the Daddy daughter date night. Steve took the girls to the movies one night. The girls were so excited and they had a fun time.

And I accidently uploaded this picture but I guess I needed one of Briggs anyways. He loves doing tricks on his skateboard. He loves it even more when I will sit and watch him, ooh and ahh a bit, and take pictures of him.

Happy Mothers Day....

2010-05-16T20:59:00.004-06:00

I love all the fun things that I get on Mother's Day from my kids. Briggs has been busy all week at school making tons of cute things like cards, a necklace, and pictures. I got cards and pictures from everyone else. Skylie's is the bottom one in this picture. I love when they start writing letters. I think it's so cute. The top one is from Summer.

So when Summer gave it to me she told me what it said on it....

Summer: (pointing to the love summer part) Mom this says I get to go trick or treating after my birthday.

Me: "oh that's nice Summer."

Summer: (pointing to the to mom) "and this says I love your mom (she's really into calling my parents your mom or your dad, not grandma and grandpa).....and I love Dad......and I love Kenny."

By this point I'm thinking well surely the Happy Mother's Day must say something about me......but nope. She goes on to tell me that the rest is about Skylie, and how she really really wants a kitten for her birthday, and all sorts of other things. haha. I love her.

At least it's a cute mouse......

2010-05-16T20:11:00.004-06:00

So this is what I busted Kash doing the other day.....

Made the mistake of leaving the cheese on the counter within his reach.....

I don't know what it is with my kids and cheese. But they love it. When Skylie was little she was always into the cheese. If she woke up in the morning before I did and needed a little snack before breakfast she would just grab the whole block of cheese and start munching on it. One time I knew that I had a huge chunk of cheese left in the fridge but couldn't find it anywhere. A couple of weeks later I found it in the basement under the stairs. Good old Skylie.

Looks like Kash is following in her footsteps. This is what it looked like after his little snack......

Laramie part two.....

2010-05-03T20:33:00.007-06:00

On our way to Denver we took a little detour threw this cool canyon. It was so pretty and worth the drive, well except for me getting a little car sick-but that really doesn't take much. It reminded me a lot of Logans Pass except you don't have a huge cliff on one side that your worried about going over.

We all loved it except Jake. This is him hating his life. But he's still cute.

Brette making the moves on her new man. haha.

Anyways it was really pretty. Took a bunch of pictures but they don't really do it justice.

These pictures are kind of out of order but whatever. The first day we were there was one of my favorites. We went to Martins Cove and Independence Rock. So we were on our way to Martins Cove and in the distance we saw this huge rock in the middle of no where. We thought it looked so cool and as we got closer we realized that it was Independence Rock. I don't know what I thought it would look like, but it definitely was not like this. It was humongous! When we got there, there was a sign saying feel free to climb it so we did.

It was so big and we took the most awkward way possible to get up. I don't know if you can tell from the picture but it was almost straight up. This was taken from maybe half way up.

At the top there was tons of people that had carved there name in the rock. This one was from 1858! I wish we would of had longer to look around up there but there was a terrible storm coming in and we barely made it down before it hit full force. We were drenched by the time we made it back to the car.

Here we are on the top!!

So here's some picture's from Martin's Cove. I love reading about the pioneers and have read a couple books on the Willie and Martin handcart companies. It was so cool being here and seeing where things took place and feeling the strong spirit that was here. This is the sweetwater river. It was the most windy river I have ever seen. Any idea how many time's the pioneers had to cross this??

This is one of the four statues that represented the valley boys that came and carried many of the people across the river.

Here we all are squished into the rhino that took us on our tour of Martins Cove.

We loved our tour guide. He definitely knew his stuff and loved telling us all the stories he knew.

This is the actual cove that the pioneers stayed in to protect them from the weather while they waited for help. (once again, the picture really doesn't do it justice) It was a windy day when we were there and when we got down into this spot we really were protected by the wind. You are surrounded by a huge rock wall on one side and a huge hill on the other. It was such a neat experience going and seeing this and I'm so glad that we did it.

Just a cute picture of my Dad and Jake. Jake is such a cute little thing and it was so fun not having my kids hanging off me so that I could actually sit and hold and enjoy him.

We were gone for a week and for some reason I only took pictures the first 3 days and after that I didn't take a single one. So that's about it for pictures. We did a lot of shopping which was really fun. We stayed over just outside of Denver one night and did some major shopping at some amazing outlets there. Other than that we mostly just hung out and had fun. It was a great trip but I don't know if Steve wants me to go again for that long anytime soon. I think he definitely got a taste of what it's like to be the mom!! He did a great job though and had everything under control when I got home. House clean and even the laundry caught up.

Laramie part one.....

2010-05-02T21:52:00.003-06:00

It was brought to my attention that I didn't blog once in April. Oops... The weird thing about that is, is that we actually did some fun stuff that would be worth blogging about. It seems like I only blog about random things like diaper rash cream and coloring on dressers and then when we actually do something fun I don't blog about it. Anyways. What I'm saying is I have a lot of catching up to do. So this is my most recent adventure. My Mom and Brette have been planning for months to go and visit Leslie in Laramie, Wyoming. I wasn't going to go because it's so much work trying to make arrangements for my kids and all that, but then at the last minute decided that I didn't want to miss out on the fun and went. My Dad didn't want to miss out either and ended up coming at the last minute too, then drove a truck home he bought in Utah.

So here are a few highlights from the trip.....

-on our way we saw a sign that said something about the battle of little big horn and colonel custer. This really peaked my Dads interest and we ended up pulling over at the museum, which ended up being the wrong place. Anyways we found the right place but it was closed. It was fun being in no hurry and stopping along the way. We also stopped at a lookout point in Billings, which is actually a really cool looking city.

-finally getting to see the wonderful city of Laramie! (Les you weren't exaggerating haha)

-All the pranks that my Dad pulled on us involving a couple prank phone calls that I fell for both times and the first morning he got up early and threw a bunch of rocks at our window. Brette and I had no idea what the noise was until he confessed at breakfast. We looked later and sure enough there were a bunch of rocks on our balcony. Oh and I can't forget the pizza box.

-All the good laughs we had about the gst, the pizza box, what our personalized license plate would say, delicious looking butter, getting lost, and absolutely nothing!

-Lots of shopping!!!!!

-Going to Martins Cove and Independence Rock. More about that later.

-Hanging out in hotel rooms watching TLC.

-playing games at Leslies house.

-All the amazing meals that Leslie made for us.

There was seriously so much antelope along the way. Here's a little fact, they say that there are more antelope than people in Wyoming, and I believe it. I loved taking this picture cause it reminded me of what I think of tourists that go to Waterton and take pictures of deer. But I just had to take it, and we were all a little excited too.

My Dad was getting mad cause we all had camera's and were not taking near enough pictures of all the scenery. He finally took my camera and got the job done himself. This rock wall was cool looking. We were driving on a path in the rhino and were surrounded by this huge wall of rock forever. The pictures don't do it justice.

And here is Devil's Gate. I thought this was so cool. I love seeing things that you hear about so much. Love having the visual. I would of loved to walk over to it but it's probably a good thing we didn't cause there was a huge storm brewing.

A lot of the scenery on the drive was really boring. But we some of it was really cool. We couldn't get over how much we felt like we were in a western movie or something from this rock.

Well I'll do another post later about the trip. Stay tuned......

Mischief......

2010-03-30T22:27:00.003-06:00

What is it about diaper rash cream that is so irresistible??????

Almost everyone of my kids has done this. On a positive note, he didn't get it in the carpets anywhere. Just all over my bathroom, which was a dream to clean up compared to getting it out of carpet.

Doesn't he look like he is truly sorry in this picture and will never do it again?????

A Few Random Things.....

2010-03-28T20:32:00.004-06:00

Remember this disaster......

I never did do anything to try and fix it. Just decided to leave it and let it run its course. It has been a disaster for about 6 months now. Well I'm happy to announce that it finally, almost looks normal. A couple weeks ago I cut about 2 inches off and here is the result....

I cut Summer's hair the same day and she really wanted to be in the picture too. Anyways, just happy that her hair is finally looking better and hopefully she learned her lesson.

These two are always together. They are so funny to listen to when they play. Skylie makes up all the rules, tells Summer exactly what to say in all the games, and Summer just goes along with it. I don't know what Summer is going to do next year when Skylie starts kindergarten. Maybe Summer will just have to start bossing Kash around.

Love this picture.

Not sure what Summer is doing in this one...But do you notice the gap that Summer has between her front teeth??

Well that is no longer there anymore. Because I'm an awesome Mom and don't floss her teeth (and maybe missed a brushing here and there..) she got a cavity in between her front teeth and that gap kept getting bigger and bigger. (And don't worry Joe, I made sure she got a toothbrush for Christmas this year..haha.) Anyways, a couple weeks ago we had to go in to the hospital to get her dental work done. She had a couple other cavities that she had fixed too. I wish that I could of gotten a picture of her but of course didn't. So when we got there she had to put on the hospital pyjamas that they have. She would not put them on because they weren't "beautiful". I finally told her I'd buy her a webkinz if she put them on. Luckily it worked.

On Summer's arm and stomach she had these little bumps that she calls "eyeballs". I can't remember what they're called but they kind of look like warts, and I know it starts with an "M". Anyways Dr. Clarke came in and cut them off while she was under. She was more worried about that then getting her teeth fixed. At supper that night I had Summer tell everyone what she did at the hospital and this is what she told us. "Well first they came and gave me a drink of juice (Tylenol), and then they made me go to sleep, and then they cut off my eyeballs." I really don't even think she knew they fixed her teeth. I'm just glad that's taken care of but I'm dreading the bill.

Micah's B-day....

2010-03-09T11:01:00.006-07:00

Micah's Birthday was back in February. Can't believe that she is nine!!

Skylie and Summer were with me when I went shopping for her present and they were picking out the most random presents for her. You can see a few things in the picture below. Luckily Micah is so kind that she acted really excited about everything they gave her.

For her party we decorated sugar cookies, had cake and ice cream, then went down and went swimming. I've decided that this is one of my favorite things to do cause you don't have to do anything. Just sit and watch everyone swim.

Here's a few little facts about Micah.....

-She is such a thoughtful and kind person.

-She loves writing and illustrating stories. She always has something on the go and has done this ever since she learned to write her letters. She also loves writing songs.

-She is quiet and kind of shy. I'm always telling her to speak louder because I can't hear her. She is quiet but has a little fiestiness in her too, and I love it when that side of her comes out

-She is such a good sister to Skylie and Summer and is always playing with them. Lately she has been playing school lots with Skylie and teaching her how to spell her name. (someones got to)

-She is bookworm number 2. Probably the only thing that her and Haylie have in common is that they both love reading.

-Loves to draw and wants to be an artist. She loves any kind of craft, painting, or coloring.

-She has lots of friends but really doesn't care about inviting them over. Although she asked for a friend today which was a first, but she wasn't home. She is content just being by herself, playing on the computer, reading or drawing.

-She loves to sing and play her high school musical dance on the wii.

-Loves school and does really good in all her subjects. She is a really quick learner.

-Her favorite food is spaghetti and lasagna.

-She doesn't really care for any sports but is in gymnastics which she really likes.

Micah is such a pleasant person to be around. We sure love her!! Happy B-day!

Haylie's B-day.....

2010-03-09T10:54:00.002-07:00

So I know that Haylie's b-day was in December, but I'm still going write about it. Just a few months late. We had a very small friends party. She really wanted her party on her actual b-day, which is right smack in the middle of Christmas holidays, so there really wasn't really anyone around. But she didn't care. Still wanted the party so we did it, with her 2 friends that were around and cousins. First they went swimming then came back for some cake. It was fun.

So here's a few things about Haylie...

-She is such a little bookworm. Loves to read. She got a bunch of books (around 30 between her and Micah) for Christmas and she just finished all of them.

-Loves playing with friends. Every weekend she is over at someones house or they are here.

-Loves school. Mrs. Dittman is her teacher this year. She does really well in school which is good for me cause I don't really have to help her much.

-Just went to parent teacher and was glad to hear that she knows how to avoid girl drama which I'm so glad for. Her class (whole grade it seems) has quite a bit of drama and I am so glad that she does not get involved. Her teacher says she knows when to leave and stay out of things. Hopefully it stays that way.

-She is taking piano and started voice this year. She sang in festival for the first time this year and was really scared but did really good.

-She is starting to become concerned with how she looks and what she wears and how her hair is done.

-won't eat anything that has hamburger in it. Well except cheeseburgers. As long as there is no mustard on it.

-Very determined girl.

-Loves going dirt biking with Briggs and Steve.

-good little basketball player.

-does not have the patience to sit and play a game.

-she is always moving. always doing cartwheels, head and hand stands, doing the splits, and if she is telling a story or talking to me she is pacing back and forth.

Well that's all I can think of for now. Happy late B-day!!!

Conversations....

2010-02-23T14:20:00.003-07:00

Skylie and Summer are always into mischief. The other night they were supposed to be going to sleep and of course weren't. I didn't care too much cause at least they were staying in their bedroom and not bugging me while I was reading my book. Anyways they did eventually fall asleep. After doing this......

It really bugged me cause one of my worse jobs is painting dressers. And I've already had to paint this one once. Anyways when I found it I called for them to come up and they knew I was mad.

Me: " Why did you guys color all over your dresser?? Who did it?"

Summer: "Don't be mad mommy. You need to tell us it looks pretty. Don't be mad."

(I guess they did do a good job of outlining every drawer)

Me: "You guys are only aloud to color on paper and coloring books."

Summer: "But mom we were just trying to make it look pretty like Christmas. Don't be mad."

Pretty like Christmas??? Haha. After that I was over it.

Growing up......

2010-02-23T13:59:00.002-07:00

Haylie has been bugging me forever to get her ears pierced. It's always the same response from me. "Not till your 12." And of course Haylie doesn't like that answer, doesn't understand why, and all her friends have theirs pierced. So about a month ago she came home from school sad cause one of her last friends that didn't have them pierced was going to and it just wasn't fair. Anyways during this same time I was having a problem with Haylie with her eyes. She has one lazy eye that she can't see out of that great. Because of this she is supposed to wear an eye patch over her good eye to strengthen her bad one. Trying to get her to wear this eye patch is not easy. It's obviously annoying to wear, embarrassing, and she can't see good when she wears it so it is a constant battle. So I decided to do a little bribing. I told her if she wears the patch everyday for at least 3 hours, for a month she could get her ears pierced. Worked like a charm. So this last Saturday we went down town and got them pierced. It was a little sad for me cause it made me realize that she is growing up and not a little girl anymore. But I fought back my tears and we got it done. I've never seen her more excited.

Here she is before.....

After...

Nurse Skylie.....

2010-02-07T21:02:00.005-07:00

We seriously can not keep enough band-aids on hand with Skylie around....

Your probably wondering what in the world happened to her poor leg that she needs 50 band aids on it. Looks like maybe she got a hold of my razor or had a bad accident on her bike. Nope. Someone probably bumped into her or she fell. Any excuse to put on a band aid. Especially the big expensive ones. She usually always has a band aid some where and will keep it on forever. And no I don't give her permission to do this, she just knows right where they are and helps herself any time she gets "hurt". She even likes to put them on innocent bystanders......

The other day I was popping a zit, gross I know (why at my age am I getting zits anyways????) and I started bleeding a little. Skylie had a horrified look on her face when she saw it and said, "Mom it would be a lot safer it we put a band aid on that." Then she jumped up and got me a band aid and on it went.

Christmas and New Years

2010-02-07T19:54:00.004-07:00

So is it too late to post about Christmas?? Hope not. It's been so long that I'm not really sure what to write. So I'll just sum it all up by saying we ate way too much, laughed a lot, played a lot of T.T.R. and Blokus, played with cousins, made a lot of trips back and forth between mine and Steve's parents, played with new toys, had a b-day party, and did I mention ate a lot??

Here's our standard Christmas Sunday family picture. Well without me and Steve. I was still in my pyjamas.

And here's my very, very worst tradition that the kids love. Gingerbread houses. I think next year I'll try individual ones. Maybe then I won't have one child pouting cause she didn't get her way.

Christmas Eve was at the Hollands. The kids loved all the new coloring stuff Grandma gave them.

Our awesome nativity!!

Christmas morning. My mom always makes all the cousins matching p.j.'s. Turned out so cute.

Here's some pictures from New Years Eve. I have to say it was a really fun night. We normally always hang out with friends and get a babysitter for the kids but this year we did a family thing and the kids loved it. We set the clock ahead a few hours so they really thought they stayed up till midnight. We had some great entertainment. A puppet show from Haylie, Micah, and Kadie...

Here is Briggs and Chases's standard entertainment, a sword fight. The more we ooh and aww, the more intense the fight becomes. It is really funny. Not sure who is winning here...

Everyone ready for the countdown with our awesome hats on.

And of course more food, any excuse to eat!!

Haylie's b-day is on the 30th so we had a little party for her with some friends that were around and then we went swimming at the Ramada with the Hollands. Lots of fun!!

Out at my mom's the kids did a lot of sledding, tubing, and playing outside. Matt and Mike built a really cool snow fort that I should of taken a picture of but didn't. The kids had fun playing in that too.

Flashbacks....

2009-12-20T19:58:00.006-07:00

I was out at my mom's trying to kill some time while Steve and my Dad were trying to get the new surround sound hooked up and my mom was gone. I started looking threw some pictures on my mom's computer and came across these ones. Can you guess who????

This is such a hideous picture of me and I can't believe I'm putting it on here but this is how I want to remember this stage of my life I'm in right now. Having a baby on my lap, trying to comfort another one, me in my pyjamas, dirty high chair tray. This is my life. And I love it. Even though it's crazy and chaotic most days, I know I'll miss it one day.

And here's the last one. I love this picture because this is Briggs' on his 3rd b-day getting this dirtbike, and he was just as excited to get the exact same dirtbike for Christmas this year. Every birthday and Christmas it seems he gets one of these bikes cause by then his is broken. I remember when he was little and he would pack these bikes around with him everywhere. Bike was actually his very first word. He's a little obsessed.

Late night snacks.....

2009-12-20T19:32:00.003-07:00

My poor neglected blog... After the Christmas craziness is over I plan to get better. I know my last post was about Summer but since there is always something to write about with her, here goes another one.

So after having four kids I pretty much thought I had things all figured out, thought I was a pretty good mom and had pretty good kids. Number five has definitely been....um interesting. Love her to death but she has definitely thrown me off a bit.

So Summer always wants breakfast. She will eat it and then an hour later want more. And then for lunch want more. And then for a snack..breakfast. This isn't as bad as it sounds cause it's not like she wants frootloops or frosted flakes non stop, it's usually mush so it's at least healthy. And I don't always give in. But on to the real problem... she has been waking up at 3:00 am almost every night lately insisting on breakfast. So what would you do is my question.

Do you make it a quick, painless thing and get up, get her breakfast and tell her when she's done to go to bed. Yes it's probably not the best thing cause I'm giving into her and letting her have her way which is something we're trying not to do, it's probably not a great habit to get her into either, but in total is about a 5 minute process.

Or do you not give in, and tell her to go back to bed. This option involves about a 20 minute fight to get her to go back to bed, only to have her in your bedroom about 10 minutes later to do it all over again. Oh and if you lock the door on her it is even worse cause she will cry and scream until you open the door. It's really quite pleasant. It usually is at least and hour or two before anyone gets any sleep.

One of us is determined not to give into her and one of us just doesn't care cause they value their sleep more than anything. Anyone that knows us well can figure out who is who.

So what would you do??

And I'll end this post with a quote from Sarra about Summer. "She is so small, but so powerful". I love it cause it describes Summer exactly.

Conversations....

2009-11-23T21:51:00.002-07:00

Summer: Mom can I have another doughnut?

Me: I already said no Summer.

Summer: Please??? I want another doughnut.

Me: No.

Summer: I want another doughnut. (yelling in her mad voice)

Me: No.

Summer: Mom you should go to bed. Just go to bed mom. You're tired. (in her nice voice as she is on a stool staring at the doughnuts)

Summer: Mom go to bed.

Summer: Mom just go to bed. Your tired. (very mad voice)

I love that she is so smart and tried to trick me into going to bed just so she could sneak a doughnut. I was trying so hard not to burst out laughing the whole time. And I hate to admit it but, I gave her the doughnut. Persistent little girl.

Halloween....

2009-11-01T20:20:00.005-07:00

We had a great time for Halloween. Our goal was to get over the sickness that was taking over our house by Halloween and we did it. Everyone was well enough to go. Here's some pictures from the night.

These two loved getting dressed up like princesses. About an hour before we left for trick or treating Skylie announced that she hated her witch costume and we couldn't get her to wear it. We went downtown and found this princess dress and she was much happier. They both thought they were the prettiest girls in the world. And anyone that knows Skylie, knows she was all over all the makeup she got to wear.

My Little Artist....

2009-11-01T20:01:00.002-07:00

All Skylie does these days is draw and color. And I'm obsessed with her pictures. I love them. I love how when all my kids have started drawing pictures with people, they all look the same as this. The long bodies, the big eyes.

The other day Sklie drew a ton of pictures and hung them all over my bedroom and down the hallway. My favorite is this one she hung over my bed. I love the rainbow dress.

Happy B-day...

2009-11-01T10:59:00.006-07:00

This last week Summer had her 3rd birthday. I'm glad that she was young enough to not realize that is was kind of a lame b-day. I was really sick and so were a few others in the family, so I really didn't have the energy to do anything fun. But she didn't care. All she wanted was a pink birthday cake and she was fine.

The morning of her b-day she found these strings I have for scrapbooking and I gave them to her for a present. She was so excited and had fun laying them all out all over the floor. At that age it doesn't take much to make them happy.

Steve showed up at home with some balloons for her which also made her day. I think they were played with almost every minute of that whole day. Luckily he got two of them so Skylie could play with one too.

Trudy made Summer the cake since I wasn't feeling up to making one and my Mom brought by the dairy queen cake. It was so good.

Here's a few facts about Summer:

1. She is obsessed with my mom. She always wants to go to Grandma's house and will not give up easily. My mom will sometimes not come by just to avoid the tears that are always shed when she has to leave.

2. She does everything that Skylie does. They are always playing together and she is always repeating everything she says.

3. Loves playing ponies and barbies.

4. She wakes up almost every night. Not sure why. Lots of times just to get her to leave me alone I push the couches together and let her sleep there.

5. She is the last to go to bed at night and always the first one up, bright and early at 7:00 usually.

6. When she gets up she demands breakfast and will not stop bugging until I get it for her. If you ignore her and try to go back to sleep she will yell at me and tell me to talk to her.

7. She has the prettiest hair.

8. She could eat breakfast for every meal. Especially likes oatmeal.

9. She always wants to have a friend over. Usually it's Marlie. Too bad she lives 4 hours away.

10. Very strong willed.

11. She asks me about 5 times a day to make brownies for her.

12. She loves going to Sarra's house to play with Jacob.

13. Loves having books read to her.

14. When she is happy she is really happy, when she's mad she's really mad. Not very often in the middle.

15. She was a little disappointed to find out she couldn't start going to school once she turned 3.

16. She doesn't like being left behind. If I'm driving the kids to school she wants to come, if I'm going to the store she wants to come. And to avoid the tantrums, I usually just let her come.

17. Loves helping me make stuff in the kitchen. Stirring things, dumping in ingredients, whatever.

18. Loves riding her bike.

We sure love this little girl. Happy 3rd B-day!!!!

Quick Roadtrip....

2009-11-01T10:35:00.007-07:00

So a couple of weeks ago we decided to make a quick, spur of the moment trip to Utah. Our cousins their decided to throw Leslie a baby shower and my Mom, Brette and I decided we just couldn't miss out on the fun. So we went. And Leslie had no idea we were coming, which made it even funner.(is funner a word??) Haylie and Micah really wanted to come and so after a few little lectures about how they weren't aloud to talk, be annoying, climb on people, and had to sit in the very back, I decided to let them come. So Friday morning we all piled into the burb and were off!

Well here we are at the airport. Leslie and Mike are living in Laramie right now while Mike is going to school so Leslie flew to Utah for the weekend. She was expecting Melissa to pick her up and you can tell from the pictures she was a little surprised to see us!!

Speechless!

Here's some random pics at the airport while we were killing time waiting.

This is a picture of us lost at the airport. Well actually in the parking lot of the airport. We were parked in the furthest parking lot from the airport. It was quite a long walk. So after we picked up Leslie and started our journey back to the car, we saw a sign that was for a shuttle bus taking us to the parking lot we were parked in. We gladly jumped on and were so excited about not having to walk back. That is until we got off at the wrong place. Anyways we eventually made it back to the car, we just waited at this sign and eventually got picked up again by the shuttle bus.

Saturday we crammed it all in. We managed to get ready, get a tire change on the suburban, do a little shopping, made it to the shower just in time, do some more shopping, have fun with the cousins, and of course eat. And Haylie and Micah had the time of their lives because Emilys girls happened to be going to Lagoon for the day so they got to go with them. They had a blast!!

Here are all the cousins at the baby shower. It was so fun getting together for the day.

Here's the cute pregnant girl!! (les don't kill me for putting this picture on) We love the heart on your stomach pose. haha.

Emily is such an awesome hostess, she had the shower at her place and let us all crash their for the weekend. It was fun getting to spend some time with her.

And here is just a few little fun things that we learned on our trip...

1. Sometimes you don't even need to hear the sound to enjoy a movie.
2. There is NOT a temple in Butte.
3. Cheese actually tastes good in a can.
4. The odometer on the gps is more accurate than the one in the burb.
5. That an airport is almost just as fun as Lagoon. And a lot cheaper.
6. You can never eat at Wingers too many times.
7. That Margaret isn't always right, and can be a little annoying at times.
8. That it is worth the drive to Utah, even if your only there for one day.
9. You should never pull the rope on a shuttle bus that alarms the driver to stop, especially if it's not your stop.

Our trial run with the trailer....

2009-10-15T11:20:00.005-06:00

So I've been meaning to write about our first camping trip with our new trailer for a while but haven't. So like I always say, better late than never. We didn't go far at all. Only about 5 minutes away to the campground here in town. It was so much fun. The kids had a few friends come and we also had Tim and Sarra and their family come hang out and have tin foil dinners with us. Thank goodness Sarra did come cause I forgot plates and utensils for some reason. Luckily for some weird reason she had a stash of spoons in her glove box.

The kids had free reign of practically the whole campground and they took advantage of that. They ran around all night playing and having fun. Anyways here's some pictures from the weekend.

Love this picture!!

I'm pretty sure these two will get married.

Kash thought he was really cool sitting in these little chairs.

Then he tried standing and it backfired on him.

The boys taking a break from wrestling.

It was a fun time. We found out that you don't have to go far to have fun. The trailer worked great and the kids had fun sleeping in it.

A glimpse of my life today....

2009-10-13T22:11:00.005-06:00

Today I folded a huge mound of laundry. And even put a lot of it away.

Today I had to hide from a crying two-year old.

Today I was reminded about 50 times by Summer that I was the Grandma in the game.

Today I did not clean up the lipstick that ended up all over the bathroom mirror and counter top. I didn't even know I owned any lipstick.

Today Skylie sure thought she looked pretty when she put lipstick all over her face and put my eyeshadow on.

Today I had to teach my kids about why we shouldn't be jealous and about overcoming the natural man. They ended up laughing at me. And Briggs had to point out that he was a man.

Today Kash shocked himself while pulling out the vacuum plug.

Today I got a little upset when I found out the new DVD I just bought is lost already. I once again said I refuse to buy any more movies.

Today two little girls sprayed about half a bottle of hairspray all over my bathroom and in each others hair. I made a mental note never to buy the aerosol again. Too easy for little girls to spray.

Today I was really stiff from my aerobics class yesterday.

Today I dropped a huge, full jar of pickles and it splattered everywhere, including Summer's eye. While I went to grab a towel Kash slipped in it and covered his clothes and hair in stinky pickle juice.

Today I tried to take a nap. Unfortunatly it didn't work.

Today we ate Thanksgiving leftovers for supper.

Today Summer was spraying Kash with leather protector. Luckily I caught her before too much damage was done.

Today I was sad I couldn't watch my kids play champs. I didn't have the energy to pack all my kids there.

Today I was happy to hear Steve say he was really proud of Briggs and Haylie for how well they did at champs.

Today my kids smashed soda crackers all over the kitchen floor.

Today I slept in.

Today I was excited to go play basketball.

Today I was a little overwhelmed.

Today Skylie dumped a whole bottle of water on the carpet.

Today I almost reached my breaking point when I found diaper rash cream all over the little kids bedroom.

Today I was thankful for Micah who volunteered to put Summer in bed, read her a story, said prayers with her, and gave her some of her stuffed animals to sleep with.

One year older....

2009-10-07T20:26:00.008-06:00

Last week we got to celebrate Briggs's 7th B-day. Here's a few highlights from the day.

Before school opening presents from the family. This was a present that Micah made for him. I know that this post is about Briggs but I have to say that Micah is such a thoughtful girl, she was so worried about what to get for Briggs. Then she went down to her room for a while and came back with this little guy made out of pom-poms. You can always count on her to make something for everyone. She is so creative. She also made him a tiger out of a toilet paper roll.

After school we had a party for him with his friends. He invited 7 friends but one of them got the flu that day so couldn't come. Birthday parties are something that I honestly dread doing. I don't like doing the invitations, especially delivering them, thinking of what to do, cleaning the house. In the end it is worth it I guess. Briggs had a blast. And with boy parties it's not as bad. If you run out of things to do there's always wrestling (which they did and only two boys got hurt..) and jumping on the trampoline.

Here's my awesome smartie cake. This is the first year that he hasn't had a cool cake like dirt biking or monster truck and so I was hoping that he wouldn't notice, and luckily he didn't say anything.

So my mom saw this fun idea at a reunion this summer. You make marsh mellow guns out of pvc pipe. Then you stick a marsh mellow in the top, blow and out it comes. So I had Steve cut everything the right size and we put together these guns and decorated them for the party. It was a little chaotic since I was by myself but it was alright. They loved decorating them and spent more time doing that then I thought they would which I was glad for. And you need to notice the bags that they all have. My amazing Mom whipped those up for me on a minutes notice and had them delivered within a few hours. They were perfect for the boys to keep their ammo in and the boys loved them. Here they all are ready for the war!!

I made a few targets out of milk jugs and made a bulls eye target for them to practice on. But before long a full on marsh mellow war erupted.

And by the end it looked like I had a hailstorm in my back yard.

They went threw about 3 bags of marsh mellows. I really didn't care as long as they were entertained. The guns were a huge hit but there was one major downfall. A couple of the boys must of been really slobbery when they were shooting and their marsh mellow would get soggy and clogged up and guess who had to disassemble their guns and pull out the soggy marsh mellows. Ya that was me.

So this is a little out of order but Briggs got these swords from me and it was cute watching the kids fight with them. It's funny how Kash is only one but because he is a boy he knew that these were cool and loved trying to fight with them.

That is until ninga Steve came after him. He was very concerned.

I will take seven loud, hyper, slobbery marsh mellow blowing seven year olds any day over these two......

At least the kids kept the guns outside like they were supposed to. They actually know how to shoot the guns properly and it really hurt. Especially when you get hit in the face. And I am speaking from experience. You know the saying "it's all fun and games until someone loses an eye"? Well just ask Briggs about that one. He was the poor victim that almost lost an eye. And just have to add that Kash was in marsh mellow heaven. He was more than happy to eat all the marsh mellows that they were shooting all over my living room.

Since I can't do a birthday post without telling a few things about Briggs here we go....

1. Anyone that knows Briggs knows he is OBSESSED with dirtbikes. He is constantly asking Steve to take him dirtbiking. I'm not a fan of the hobby at all but Steve reassures me that it's ok. (coming from someone that shattered all the bones in his face a few years ago)

2. He also loves riding his pedal bike (which I prefer). He is always finding little jumps everywhere, whether it's the curbs, mounds in the ground, sticks, whatever, he is always doing little jumps. We have a jump that Steve made that stays in our driveway that him and his friends love.

3. He reminds me so much of Weston. He's constantly poking, bugging, wiggling, smothering, maybe a little pesty, loud, and did I mention poking. Maybe this is just a boy thing to do but since I only have Weston to compare him to, I do.

4. Briggs worries about things. The other day at champs him and some friends were playing in the hall and I went out and told them the janitor was going to come and get mad (cause he always does). Right away Briggs wanted to go in. He kept telling his friends to come in, and let's just go play on the stage. He was worried about getting in trouble. Or maybe he's just really obedient....

5. Loves playing on the play station.

6. Gets along really good with his sisters and will play all their girly games with them cause he has no choice.

7. Is almost always the last one left at the dinner table.

8. In grade one and has picked up on reading really good. Loves me reading stories to him at bedtime.

9. I hardly ever get mad at Briggs. For the most part he is such a good kid.

10. Loves riding his skateboard. He would go to the skatepark everyday if I let him. Every time we drive by he says, "mom there's no big kids at the skate park, we should go".

11. Loves to play with friends and always wants to have one over.

12. I honestly couldn't tell you his favorite food. He's kind of picky (reason he's always last at the table). I'll have to ask him. I do know that he really likes cheese pizza. And hot dogs.

13. Has a tender heart. If he does something wrong or you have to get after him he always feels so bad.

14. Can do a back flip on the trampoline.

15. The first thing he asks when he gets home from school is "can I have something sugary? I really feel like something sugary."

16. Loves playing basketball, baseball and golfing.

We all love Briggs so much. He is such a fun boy to have around. Can't believe that he is 7!!

Competition time......

2009-10-06T13:20:00.005-06:00

Steve was just a little too cocky the other day when he challenged Haylie to a headstand contest. He was so confident he would win that he told her if she won she could stay up as late as she wanted, but if she lost she had to go right to bed.

Well after over a full minute Haylie still looked like this....

And Steve was starting to get a little wobbly....

Although Steve claims that he was just getting bored, and that's why he ended up kicking Haylie over at the end, I'm pretty sure the real reason is cause he didn't want to lose to his 9 year old daughter. I think it's safe to say that Haylie has Steve's competitive personality. She was just as determined to win as he was.

Faces......

2009-09-30T20:59:00.003-06:00

Is it so bad that sometimes I get mad at Kash just so he'll make this face........

He doesn't cry, doesn't make a sound, just makes this funny face. And keeps this same expression until all of us are laughing. All it takes is to say "no Kash" or "stop" for this funny little face to appear. We have some great laughs over it.

Just some more random pictures.....

Road Trip......

2009-09-29T12:35:00.006-06:00

So I'm finally getting around to blogging about our little road trip that Steve and I went on. This is Joe and Karen's 3rd year in Indianapolis and we hadn't been to visit them yet, so we decided it was time to pay them a visit. We were going to fly, but then we found a holiday trailer that we decided to get that was only a few hours from them, so we decided to drive so we could bring it home.

I must admit I wasn't overly excited about the 26 hour drive, but Steve convinced me it would be fun and we would get to see a lot of nice scenery along the way. Well it was definitely long, but it wasn't too bad for the most part. Once you get threw Montana it was very pretty. Tons of trees, lots of farmhouses with cool old barns, lots of cornfields which were a topic of conversation many times, and lots of rivers. It was good to actually be able to talk to Steve without being interrupted by kids. And I had forgotten how fast you can stop for lunch, eat, go to the bathroom and get back on the road without kids slowing you down.

We got to Joe and Karen's Sunday night. We had a fun time with them. Steve and Joe got to play lots of golf which he loved. Karen and I got to do a lot of shopping which I loved. It was fun seeing where they live, meeting some of their friends, hearing funny stories about their crazy neighbors, seeing the sights of downtown Indianapolis, eating Karen's delicious home made ice cream, playing hide and seek with Mikey and Max, eating amazing Chinese food, playing rook, and just hanging out and chatting. For some reason I didn't take any pictures while we at their house so here is one I got off facebook of them. Wish it wasn't so small!!! Can't wait till they're done school and can move a little closer to home.

So on Thursday morning we woke up bright and early and left to go to Nauvoo and Carthage Jail. It wasn't exactly on the way, but when your driving for that long anyways what's a few hours?? This is somewhere I have always wanted to go so it was worth it to me. We were only in Nauvoo for about 6 hours. Could of been there a few days. But I did get to see most of the things that I wanted to see. There was such a neat spirit there. Especially at the temple.

They had a lot of different statues all over but I think this was my favorite one. Joseph and Hyrum on the last ride to the temple and looking over Nauvoo.

This was the gunsmith place which was right up Steve's alley. He loves it when I make him pose in front of things, especially when I make him point and act excited.

We also went on a couple of wagon rides which had someone narrating the whole time, one on the outskirts of Nauvoo and one in the town where we were able to see where everyone lived, and see different things like the bakery, brick place, school, shoe store, post office and lots of other things.

Another temple picture. We were tired of getting pictures by ourselves so we decided to use the timer on this one so we could actually be in one together.

There were flowers everywhere which were so pretty.

This is at Carthage Jail. From the moment you stepped out of your vehicle you could feel the strong spirit of this place. In front of the jail, the window which Joseph Smith fell from.

The room that they stayed in. After our tour was over the guide told me to go back in and get a picture without everyone in the room.

I know this last picture is really odd but Steve found an acorn and we both thought it was so cool. We have never actually seen an acorn before.

The next morning we went and picked up the trailer and headed home. On the way home I thought I would offer and drive for a bit since Steve was tired. I told him to nap for even an hour then he could drive again. I had never pulled a trailer before but I was pretty confident I could do it. It couldn't be that hard. So things started out really smoothly. Traffic started getting a little busy but I wasn't too worried. Then before I knew it I was trapped in Minneapolis during rush hour, 5 lanes of bumper to bumper traffic. And this lasted about an hour and a half. My hands honestly hurt after from gripping the steering wheel so tight. Steve was about having a nervous breakdown. It really sucked. But I know now that I am capable of driving pulling a trailer. The first chance I had to pull over I did and Steve took over.

We weren't planning on getting home until Sunday but we put in a really long day Friday and made it home Saturday. Everyone was surprised to see us and I think Jim and Trudy were a little relieved. They watched all 6 kids, with some help from Kristy,which I am so thankful for. I know it was a very long week for them and I'm glad they made it!!

A Haircut Gone Bad.......

2009-09-23T13:59:00.004-06:00

Here are the culprits. Skylie and Summer. Skylie decided to cut Summer's hair and Summer cut Skylie's. Let's just say that Skylie did a much better job...

I was on the phone and these two were downstairs "playing". Skylie came up and proudly told me that Summer had cut her hair. I could see a few little snips in the front but it didn't seem to major. Nothing to freak out about. I thought I'd better get the scissors before anymore damage was done though.

Went downstairs and was not expecting to see this....

My first thought was where did all this hair come from?????

Then Skylie turned around......

This is what I would classify as a reverse mullet.

Summer's officially over......

2009-09-10T12:59:00.003-06:00

Summer just isn't complete until we've done two things, gone to Waterton and Calaway park. There was only a week left of summer holidays and we hadn't done either things. So we crammed both into the last week.

Kristy and I packed up all the kids one day and went to Waterton. We didn't do much, just played at the amazing new park and rode bikes around, but that was all we needed. The kids had a blast and there is nothing that I like more.

Of course we had to go to Big Scoop, the "kids" really wanted to. Ok maybe I was just really craving rolo ice cream, which they were out of.

The cutest, happiest little Brayker..

Here's our cousin picture. Know one but Kristy and I will know how painful it was to get everyone just sitting together. I don't even care that hardly anyone is even looking or smiling, just a miracle that every one's there. Wish that Mikey and Max were there.

Two little cousins that surprisingly didn't get sick from the amount of popcorn twists they consumed. They were too busy eating to smile for the picture.

And for the Calaway Park trip Steve was able to get a couple days off work and come. So we went up Thursday morning, went on rides till the park closed and then headed to a hotel that had water slides that the kids played on all night. The kids had so much fun. Summer was literally one hair to short to go on a lot of the rides. There were a few meltdowns through out the day because of this. Besides that everyone had fun and got to go on all the rides they wanted. I still get a little sick thinking about the ride I went on with Haylie. It was called "Chaos", and that is the only word to describe it. I was honestly sick the whole rest of the day. I was really lame that day and didn't want to pack my camera around so I did not take one single picture. Looking back really would it of killed me?? Oh well. Here's the one and only picture I got of the day.....

Everyone in the car (except you can't see Micah but she is there) after Calaway.

So after Calaway we headed to our hotel which was almost just as fun a Calaway park. For those people considering have 6 children here's a warning. They will not let you book a hotel room if you have more than 7 people. Even if one is a small baby who takes up hardly and room. According to them we couldn't even fit in the deluxe family suite. It was quite annoying. So we had to book 2 rooms. And they didn't have any adjoining rooms left of course, so Steve stayed in one room with half the kids and I stayed with the other half. The kids had a blast swimming all night and all morning. We did a little shopping the next day and then headed home.

School Days.....

2009-09-10T12:47:00.004-06:00

Summer is officially over I guess. I must admit, I wasn't overly excited about school starting again. I really don't mind the kids all being home. I love having no schedule. Love not having to wake up early in the morning. Love not making lunches every morning. Love having a built in babysitter. Love not having to stress out about friends and what my kids are doing at school.

But I must say, now that school has been going for almost 2 weeks, I AM LOVING IT! It's amazing how much you can get done with 3 less kids around and how much cleaner the house stays. They all have really good teachers and good classes and are having a fun year so far.

Better Late Than Never......

2009-09-10T12:30:00.005-06:00

So Kash turned one on July 31st and yes I am finally blogging about his b-day. Can't believe he's one already!! I had to laugh at the difference in having your first baby turn one and your 6th baby turn one. With Haylie we had a big party, all of Steve's family and mine were there. It was a stress. With Kash we didn't plan one single thing. I'm thankful his Grandma Holland bought him a present otherwise he would not have gotten one. At about 3:00 that day I decided that I should make him a cake, maybe only cause I was kind of craving cake. Not that we loved Haylie more than Kash, but I guess you just realize that he has no idea what's going on anyways, and that simple is better. Anyways enough rambling.

We did have a fun day. We had hot dogs and chips for dinner and discovered that his favorite thing in the world is watermelon. Really could a kid be any happier......

The aftermath of the cake. I know he's a filthy mess but you just have to put a dirty-cake-face picture on don't you?? And I love how the elastic from his hat is cutting off the circulation in his poor chubby little neck.

The party animals. (Have I ever mentioned that Steve loves his picture taken?)

After dinner we all hopped on our bikes and went for a family bike ride. One of my favorite things to do. We went to the "castle" park which makes for a long bike ride for the little kids, but it was worth it. Kash had fun and so did everyone else.

Here's a few fun things about Kash.....

*He is the happiest baby
*Constantly is getting attention by someone
*He is always sucking his thumb to the point that it is annoying. My other kids were thumb suckers too, but he is by far the worst.
*The second he hears the door open he is there, ready to go outside.
*His favorite place is the garage where dirt bikes, tools, skateboards, and bikes are at his little fingertips.
*He loves following everyone around and loves just sitting and watching the constant chaos going on around him.
*His cheeks are so chubby that you can't help but kiss them all the time.
*When he wakes up he never cries, just hangs out in his crib till someone comes and finds him.
*Started walking at around 11 months.
*Has seven teeth now.
*Loves going for walks in the wagon.
*Always dragging a blanket around with him.
*Loves to eat pretty much anything.
*He never wears shoes.

Bear's Hump....

2009-09-10T12:09:00.004-06:00

Last weekend we headed up to Waterton with the family, something we haven't done all summer yet. Me and the older kids wanted to hike Bears Hump so Steve gladly volunteered to stay back with the younger ones. I dropped them off at the park with bikes and a stroller and off we went. I haven't done this hike in a long time. My kids have a few times but it seems I'm always pregnant or something. All I have to say is it was harder than I remember. And I did not complain when they wanted to stop every 3 minutes and have their pictures taken.......

Briggs would of had his picture taken on every rock if I would of let him.

Briggs and Haylie were the speed walkers and made it up before Micah and I. It was nice going at her pace (or maybe she was going at mine) and being able to talk to her one on one.

Haylie is at the age where she likes to be a goof in every picture.

Well, here we are. Made it to the top. The view really is amazing. It was fun listening to the kids say the exact same things that I would think of and say when I was their age.

I must say that I was a nervous wreck while we were on the top and I'm not one to usually get overly nervous. If the kids ever got even a little close to the edge I would freak out. Just looking at the next picture makes me freak out a little.

It was a fun time. I would love to do it one more time before the snow comes but I doubt that will happen. After we got done we went and found Steve and the little kids. His parents were up there camping so he walked over and found them. We hung out there for a while, invaded in on their dinner, then went home. It was a beautiful day up there, not a breath of wind which you don't get very often.

Before/After.....

2009-08-17T20:27:00.006-06:00

Haylie and Micah's room before......

Still need to get decorations up, but here's the after.......

Haylie's hair before.....

and after......

This one is just flat out embarrassing. I can't believe my back yard looks like this. Well part of it anyways. We just haven't got around to landscaping since we built the garage. Before.......

and after Steve spent all night with the weed whipper....

My sweet little thumb sucker before........

and after....

Steve: "All we need to do is keep this sock on his hand for about 3 weeks and he'll get the idea. I'm not going to have a thumb sucker. You might have to take it off to wash it but other than that, it stays on."