Gracias Al Cielo

Howdy!

2011-06-07T14:02:00.000-07:00

So howdy ya'll!

Yes, I know, it's been a long time. I will give you a short recap of what has been going on with me and then in the next week I'll try to update with photos of the kids. I can't believe the last post I made was of our Thanksgiving. The time is seriously flying!

OK, so first of all, in case some of you don't know, we are expecting our 3rd baby! I am due October 11th and 18 weeks along. Now that I'm feeling better the weeks are going by quicker but for a while I was just down and out. I know that most of ya'll know what I'm talking about!

Next, I went back to school! Last year one of my New Year's Resolutions was to finish my education. Well, after a lot of thought, I decided to go back and work on getting my Dental Hygiene degree. That is something that I thought of doing back in High School. When I started college, Ricks (now BYU-I) didn't have a Dental Hygiene program(they still don't) and thinking that I would stay there, I looked into nursing and teaching. Obviously I didn't finish any of those! Instead, I got married, and went to massage school(which I still love).

In the end, I talked to a hometown friend of mine that actually got her DH degree and decided that it was something that I was still interested in. SO...I reapplied to BYU-Idaho and took a few classes online. It wasn't near as difficult as I thought it was going to be, which was nice. Plus, I want to take the classes, so I'm putting in the effort. So far it's been a good experience. I have 6 classes to take before I can apply for the Dental Hygiene Program. So I'm excited. I have felt for a while that I needed to go back to school and finish in something. I just didn't know what. I didn't want to get a general-type degree, I wanted to finish and be qualified to actually DO something. I think this will fit me the best.

Other than that, and being a mom of two busy kids, we haven't been up to too much. I have been feeling much busier than usual. I wasn't sure how I would juggle it all, but find that I just have to plan my weeks out better than I usually do.

So I hope everyone is doing well. I have a little break between classes, so I will try to update with pictures of the kids. And in a few weeks, we'll find out what we're having. That will be exciting news!

Christmas 2010

2011-05-16T09:40:00.000-07:00

This year for Christmas we DROVE to GA!

It was crazy and definitely won't happen again. But we really wanted to be there for my niece's baptism and we had 3 drivers, so it was worth it. The kids were very good. I must confess I let them ride with a bit more freedom than I should have(meaning -they didn't have to be strapped in a car-seat 24/7), but what do you do with a 30 hour trip one-way?

It was a fun week. We love to be with family!

Alex, Luke, Joshua & Shayla waiting patiently to "Walk Through Bethlehem" at the local baptist church.

Handsome cousin Zach

We took the kids to a bounce house place one day. They all had a blast!

Group shot outside the play area with my sister and brother-in-law

Elianna was "missing" for a while and we found her in my mom's close. In the meantime she had found Grandma's secret stash of coins. It was funny. She had gone in and closed the door and she doesn't know how to open doors yet. So she entertained herself for a good 15 minutes!

Isn't this the type of face you want to see Christmas morning? Love that smile!

Elianna loved all her gifts!

Looks like Joshua did too!

This was his favorite, thanks aunt Julie!

After Shayla's Baptism we took family pictures. They were long overdue! We are all here minus one-Matt, Bryttani's hubby, wasn't able to make the trip.

LOVE! this picture of Elianna and my Dad. So precious!

Another shot of the family. Just want to point out Zach in the red jacket. I thought he was adorable! Looks like a cruise captain!

my sweethearts

All cousins together-(top)Elianna, Joshua, Shayla, Zach (bottom)Luke, Alex & baby William

Here's the girl of the day, Shayla

My mom and dad, aren't they a handsome couple?

Grandma and Pa with the grandkids

A Happy Thanksgiving

2010-11-27T23:17:00.000-08:00

So I just wanted to take a minute this Thanksgiving weekend to put my thoughts down. I have a lot to be thankful for. Sometimes our lives are just so busy and it's easy to get frustrated. The ways of the world makes me lose focus sometimes. It's nice to have a day or a weekend to reflect on things and be with my family.

I woke up Thanksgiving morning just super grumpy. I totally woke up on the wrong side of bed! But I got up and wanted to make a nice breakfast for my family. So I went ahead and was trying to be nice and not yell at anyone because I new it was my own fault for being grumpy. While eating breakfast, Brett and Joshua started going back and forth saying what they were thankful for. And it was very cute, and before I knew it, I was smiling. I was becoming happy and not so grumpy. It was nice. It was a good reminder that I should be focused more on the good in my life.

I have a very blessed life. I don't have much to complain about, however, I know I do a lot of complaining! So to prove it, here are a few things I'm thankful for this season(things I'm always thankful for)-

I have a wonderful husband that I love so much.
I have 2 happy, healthy, beautiful kids.
I am able to be home with them and hopefully teach them values that will strengthen their lives. We are blessed to be able to travel and visit my family a couple times a year.
I'm thankful for our house and the things we have in it.
I love my fireplace, that it was able to keep us warm when the power went out last weekend.
I'm thankful for my Car and that it keeps us safe while in it.
I love my bed, it's so comfy!
Thankful for most kinds of herbal tea, I can't live without it!
Thankful for my parents that taught me so much.
Thankful for my mom, she always takes the time to talk with me and listen. I hope I will remember to do the same for my kids one day.
I love how Joshua is always full of excitement and emotion, how he can easily go from full-on laughing to a cry because his heart is so tender.
I love to watch Elianna sing and dance around the house.
I think it cute when Tucker, my dog, snores.
I'm thankful for my sisters, I love them so much!
Thankful for all my friends, even my blogging ones! I draw strength from each of you and learn from all your examples.

I'm sure I could go on for a long while. I have so much to be thankful for. We all do. It's just nice to think about it.
And from now on when I wake up grumpy, I will remember what I'm thankful for.

Time for Catch UP!

2010-11-24T20:55:00.000-08:00

Why can't I just stay caught up? I'm a terrible blogger, really. I knew this was going to happen. I'm always playing catch up. OH WELL. Here's what we've been up to this fall.

Elianna Turned 2!

She is now turning into a little girl, no longer a baby girl. She still carries the nickname "Squish" or "Squishy girl". I don't think she'll appreciate it when she's a teenager, but it fits her for now. She got the nickname when she was a baby, she was a chunk! So cute. Who doesn't love the baby rolls!?!
She is now potty trained and doing great! She loves to sing all day long and I love to listen to her. She loved The Wise Man/Foolish Man song for a while, but now she's on to Row Your Boat and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. She tries to sing the ABC's but that's tougher. She is talking pretty good. Not too clear with some words, but Mom knows what she's saying most of the time!
She does, however, know how to get Joshua in trouble as well as scream! We are working on that, and having her use her words instead of yell. It's a work in progress.
For her birthday we took her to Build-A-Bear where she found her bear, Coco(nut). She LOVES Coco! It's so darn cute. She cannot go to bed without her.
She also is in a dance class that I may have mentioned before. When she first started all the kids were just trying to figure things out. It's now been a few months and it's amazing at how well they are doing. Elianna's favorite thing is to walk backwards during the warm-up.
Here are few photos of her in action-

Elianna and Coco

Backwards, Backwards!

Yay for the POTTY!

Love her chubby cheeks!

Moving on to other events-

Joshua took a basketball class this fall. He loved it, of course. He pretty much schooled all the other kids. They actually didn't play a game, they are all too little and uncoordinated for that. The class mainly focused on basic things like dribbling, passing, bounce passing, shooting and running drills. He had a blast and asked me everyday of the week if his "basketball class was today?" He has a hard time with patience, like most little kids.

I know this is dark, but I loved this one of him running full speed!

Halloween!

Here are our pumpkins this year! This is my favorite thing about Halloween.

Elianna was a very cute Pumpkin
(here she's looking at the TV not the camera)

Joshua was Optimus Prime

Here are Chris(Brett's brother), Yudianny,
Jaydon(Woody) and Sean at the Primary Party

Halloween is always fun. The kids love to dress up and I love to carve pumpkins. As soon as Halloween hits I just have to make pumpkin pie! I don't know why, who else is with me?

And that is all folks! I hope you enjoyed our little recap.

Gone Country, without the boots!

2010-09-27T21:12:00.000-07:00

Last year was our first year doing a big family reunion at Buckhorn Ranch- which is Brett's grandparents ranch in Alamo, NV.

We have great fun out in the dust and dirt. Maybe next year we will buy some boots!

Last year, Brett's Dad built a zip line that goes from one of the mountains/hills down to a goat field. It was just a bit low last year. This time around they improved it a bit and even I went down it. It was very fun, fast and gave you a thrill. I didn't have a chance to go again because I was trying to take pictures of everyone else!

Getting ready for take off!

Yudianny flying by!

Kirsten getting ready for the abrupt stop

Aunt Mandi

Brett using his feet to stop!

If you can see Joshua's face, he's just giggling with chuckles!

Uncle Gary brought down a huge blowup water thing. What are they called? I don't know what the technical name is, but you know what it is.

Pretty much the whole time we're down at the Ranch, we just pretend that we like to be dirty. :)
And we get used to the grit in everything! We drive around on 4 wheelers and play with baby goats and have campfires and hang out with family. We really do have a fun time.

on a 4 wheeler ride

cousin Kendra and her brother Tyler

Cousin Jeffery and Aunt Karen

Brett starting a campfire. I ate so many marshmallows I was sick! Nothing's better though!

Tucker has the best time of all, he was born to be dirty!

Skate Park Mom!

2010-09-27T20:03:00.000-07:00

Joshua was introduced to Skateboarding by a friend Mandi. (She's now in college and is so fun. She loves Joshua and he definitely loves her)

Well, she taught him how to ride a skate board one Sunday evening. He thought it was super cool. A few days later, I got a call from a good friend wanting to know if we wanted to go to a skate park to let her boy and mine play together.
When I told Joshua, he was so excited he ran up to his room and SQUEALED so high-pitched like a girl! I laughed so hard.

Needless to say he had a great time even if he doesn't have a skateboard. It is, however, on his Christmas List already! We have been a lot since. Him and Brett cruise around. It really is a fun outing.

About to go down a hill

Trying out a skateboard

Turning the BIG 3-1!

2010-09-27T19:46:00.001-07:00

So this year for Brett's birthday I kept telling our friends we were going to have a BBQ for him and invite everyone over...well, we didn't. Sorry to all that we invited prematurely!
We got home from GA and it seriously took me a while to get back in the swing of things. Getting back into a routine again was hard for me. It was weird. I think I just missed my home.
Well, life moves on and before I knew it, it was Brett's birthday! Since I wasn't on top of it, we had a small family party instead. It was fun and we enjoyed the family especially since his sister Karen's family was up visiting.

I made him a Homemade German Chocolate Cake with Homemade Icing!
IT. WAS. DELICIOUS. Really. I'm not just saying because I made it. :)

This was cute of Grandma Jarvis feeding cousin Jeffery. SO CUTE!

I honestly can not believe that we have known each other for 10 years. I met Brett just a month after BYU-I started, 2000. We started dating and have been together ever since. We were so small and young. And we thought we knew what we were getting into! Yeah right! We were crazy in LOVE and I'm happy to report that we still are. I don't know what I would do with out you, Brett! I love you!

Growing Veggies

2010-09-27T15:26:00.000-07:00

I was super excited to try growing my own veggies! I wanted to do it last year, but never did. Of course, I always grow a couple of tomatoes that usually do pretty well in a container.

Well, this was the year for me. I had gotten a book about how to square foot garden and decided to give it a try. I didn't want to actually have to pull weeds and all the boring chores that go with having a garden. This concept of square foot-ing seemed to better suit me.

I planted 9 baby carrots, some lettuce, 2 jalapeno's, 2 red pepper, 4 cucumbers, 2 each zucchini, yellow squash, cantaloupe, watermelon, pumpkin and 4 corn.

Here's what it looked like at the mid-begging point. ( I didn't get a shot of the very beginning, it's just a box with dirt!) Early June

I have 2 boxes, each are 2' by 6'

A carrot that we picked before we left town. That was Joshua's favorite job.

This is what it looked like when I got home.

I was impressed how tall one of my corn's got. The others stayed small!

Cute little watermelon! It's still growing!

One of my Zucchini. This one split on the side though.

All in all, I got a few zucchini and yellow squash. I still have a watermelon growing. My pumpkins got loads of blooms, but no actual pumpkin. We were bummed. We really wanted to grow our own pumpkins this year. The flowers were very pretty though. The tall corn did get the silks, but never quite got all the corn kernels. There were a few.
I didn't get any cucumbers or peppers or cantaloupe. Oh well, it was fun. I blame the weather! If we had decent weather in this state, then I think I would have had better results. Even my tomatoes, which usually are bursting with delicious red fruit when I get back from vacation, are still green. I honestly think it was the weather. I mean, it snowed the weekend before Memorial Day!

It was definitely fun and will do it again next year! Maybe I'll try growing them in a green house, I bet that would work better.

Mr. Matt Graduates from BYU

2010-09-23T20:33:00.000-07:00

August 12th

The day finally came for Matt to Graduate! We were very happy for him and for Bryttani! She was thrilled for him to be done! Congrats Matt!

Welcome to the South! Part 3 The Beach

2010-09-22T21:56:00.001-07:00

July 31st - August 7th

Panama City Beach, FL

Let me just tell you all that I was sooooooooo ready for the BEACH! Also since Brett had just gotten to town just days before, I was soooooooo ready for him to give the kids most of attention and not just me. Grandma and Pa are wonderful, but they missed their dad.
I was just ready for the sun and sand and ocean and the waves and the food and the pool and the hot tub. The list could go on and on! It's the BEACH!

The beach is like a second home me. I know most of you know the story. So I won't bore you with details, it's just so relaxing! We seriously plan the day with what we're eating and that's about it. (no wonder I gained 4lbs in one week) Something fun, though, were my friends that came down with us this time. My older sister just had her 5th child and weren't able to make it, so Jesenia and Bryan and their girls rented the unit! It was just a blast.

At first with the oil spill going on, I was real nervous about there being oil on the beach. I found my new favorite website about panama city and checked it out weekly. They did have just a handful of oil that had been picked up some time in July. Then the winds changed, thank goodness, and it went away. What a relief! Other places near by had gotten more oil. We were so lucky. It was beautiful the whole week, even with the occasional thunderstorm. Joshua was quite taken with the lightening!

We did rent a pontoon boat for the whole clan one day. We went over to Shell Island and had found and captured a crab, thanks to Bryan! That was crazy! We also found a bunch of Sand Dollars. Most of them were just babies, so we didn't keep them. I think Jesenia did kept a few of the big ones. I like to find them. And then they sort of move along your hands just slowly. It creeps me out. And if you hold then long enough they turn your hands sort of orange, like they leak ink or something.

And that is really it. Besides eating and eating some more! We just love to hang on the beach.

Here are some pictures- Enjoy!

First Morning! My eyes are squintey, but I'm up!

The humidity make the pictures blurry. Love this of Joshua!

Cute little Elianna. FYI-She did NOT like the sand!

Joshua with his girlfriend, Seneca

At the dog races with Pa

Mom's the bettor

Bryan and Jesenia w/ Paylen

on the way to Shell Island

Love this girl!

Mr. Joshua getting ready for a fun day!

My sexy mom- look at those legs!

Once we got to Shell Island, there was a bunch of grass separating the island. In the grass were hundreds, thousands of tiny sand crabs! Creepy! Can you see them? they are little.

Just beautiful

I thought I was more tan than that! oh well

Look at that happy face! I love her chubby cheeks!

My boys

Bryan with the crab!

It's a strong little thing!

EWW! Don't worry, we put it back!

Sun finally breaking through the morning clouds

quite the crowd looking for sand dollars

my handful of sand dollars I found

somehow a hermit crab found his way on board!

all the kids looked like this on the way back

At Boondocks Restaurant

See you next year!

Welcome to the South! Part 2 Long Lost Friends

2010-09-22T21:27:00.001-07:00

While I was home I finally got to catch up with a few friends. I didn't get a picture with my friend Brian and his new baby, but he sure was a cutie!

These cute girls are a blast from my past, minus the little girl. The one in the Middle in purple is Mandy Serrano. And her little girl is Maddie. Her sister Krissy is in the green. Mandy and I were great childhood friends while I lived in GA. Mandy is a year older and Krissy was a year younger than me so we all were great friends. Although they kept saying how they used to fight over me, especially on Sundays after church. We'd always want to hang out and I usually would end up at their house because it was easier that way.

I hadn't seen them in a long time and a visit was long overdue. We have a lot of History between us and even though some of it was up and down, it's refreshing how much we are all still alike. I'm sure if I lived in GA I'd still be hanging out with those cute girls. I also can't believe how fast time flies by! We all have kids and have husbands and are growing up. But in each of us is still the young, carefree teenager just wanting to have a good friend to lean on and to have fun with. We sure knew how to have a good time! Am I right?

I then got to catch up with Brooke Bennett! What a Hoot!( yes I said hoot) She is hilarious and always has been. She was a great friend of mine in High School. We were very close for a long time then one day just decided to take a break. Neither one of us really knows why. We didn't talk about it at the time, and we were still good friends, just not BFF's. But I sure did miss her and am so glad we got a chance to meet up. She lives in Valdosta now, which is about 2 or so hours away and she came to Warner Robins just to see me. That sure made me feel special! I got to meet her sweet husband and her little girl. Joshua liked playing with her even though she was Elianna's age. It was very cute.

Here's her cute family.

Thanks guys for giving me time out of your day. You all made me feel special and I really do miss you!

Welcome to the South! Part 1 NC

2010-09-22T14:00:00.001-07:00

July 9th - 21st

We finally made it out of UT and home to GA! As soon as we left the airport and walked out into the humid air, I took a deep breath and just let the moist air soak into my skin! And then I started feeling the sweat start to drip off my forehead and remembered how HOT it can really be!

Traffic was bad on the 75, so we took a detour and found ourselves passing the Chick-fil-a Dwarf House. I said,"Stop! Let's go there!" So we did. For those of you who don't know, The Chick-fil-a Dwarf House is known for having a little restaurant on one side, among other things. There aren't that many of them.

We stayed in GA for few days before we took off for NC to visit Mamma Betty.

Here's the girl on the way to NC. See the rain on the Windows! She's saying she's "1".

Here's Joshua asleep wearing Daddy Ray's hat. He just fell in love with it because it looks like a 'race car flag'. Mamma Betty said he could have it.

It's a 5 hour drive up to NC. She lives just outside of Ashville in the Mtns. And to our surprise, my Aunt Phyllis was in the process of building a house. She also had put up a little chicken coup and had a goat named Barney. So everyday we were down on the "farm" gathering the eggs and picking corn and tomatoes and cucumbers and anything else that needed picking. The kids loved it and felt like true farmers for, oh, a week! It was fun. And we got to help out with our new little cousin Annabelle (Phyllis' grandbaby).

Sweet little Cousin Annabelle!

Barney the Goat

Farmer Joshua gathering the eggs

I love this of Elianna Shucking Corn! Then she would eat it, YUCK!

Love how Joshua's slouched down here. I kept telling him to sit tall and he kept getting smaller!

Picking tomitoes

Her favorite things to eat!

Then Joshua had to have one too

My kids love Corn especially Fresh corn of the cob!

There were lots of things I wanted to eat! One place that I haven't been to in a LONG time was a fish camp place called Hook & Anchor. It is one of the best fried Fish camp places. They are hard to find here in UT.

Then another Cousin of mine had just gotten a horse and wanted to know if Joshua wanted to take a ride. Of course he did! Here he is getting ready for a ride on Tough, the horse.

Can you tell he's having the ride of his life?

I thought this was neat. This Butterfly had an injured wing so my cousin Talina(the one with the horse) was holding it.

Before we left, Joshua went to a movie with Talina and her kids. So mom and I took Elianna to explore a little bit of Lake Lure. We took the road over to Chimney Rock. There is a river that runs into the lake. We found a little trail to the river from the road and decided to check it out. It was really cool because of all the huge granite boulders that had fallen into it over the years.

The water was very crisp!

After we let Elianna play for a little bit at the park.

That evening it finally rained! It had rained everywhere around that week but at the house. It was a nice downpour. After wards, as the sun was setting the mist was rising and it made the sky so pretty.

Here's the famous Mamma Betty. This is the woman who I owe my 'scowl' to(Brett thinks). She's the best and I love her so much!

Next morning I thought I'd better get a shot of Aunt Phyllis' house on the hill.

It's going to fun to see it when it's all done.

We were sad to have to go. We really love visiting family and being int North Carolina. I like to get a reminder of where I come from, well, where my mom's from, and get a taste of humble living. It's good for me.

Last Few Weeks of Summer Before GA

2010-09-21T19:53:00.000-07:00

June 29th Eclipse Opener

I went with a few girlfriends to the Eclipse midnight showing. Of course it's always a blast! This picture is of me with Becky Peterson and her sister. It's funny because her sister actually works with MY sister Bryttani in Orem. It's a small world!

July 2nd

The Aquarium

Mom! Fish!

The sneaky sting ray! He would splash us with his wing!

My cute babies!

I decided to take the kids to the aquarium before we left town for a while. It was so funny. Elianna was crazy about all the fish. Mind you, we have been here before, but for some reason it just clicked in her head. She was especially crazy about the sting rays. And one sting ray was especially friendly and was coming up to the sides and putting his wing (or whatever you call it) up on the edge so you could touch it better. It was fun. I didn't get a picture, but she went nuts over the penguins too!

July 4th Weekend

We had a busy July 4th weekend. Since it fell on a Sunday we went up to have a pool party at Aunt Kathy's Saturday evening. We always have a great time at the pool!

Me and My Girl

Love this shot of Joshua mid-air!

He has really become a great swimmer this year!

The Squish eating her 1st S'more! She loved it!

I'm thinking I see some resemblance here!

Then on Monday the 5th we had dinner over at some Great friends, Nick and Gina. They are so fun because they have 4 cute and energetic boys that Joshua loves to play with. We had dinner then played out in the front yard with their Water Rocket. When it finally became dark enough, we shot off fireworks. We are definitely going back for more because Nick had an interesting selection of Fireworks that you don't find very often. We had a blast! Thanks guys!

Getting it ready!...Set...

Blast off!

July 6th

We had one last Playgroup Bash before we left on Friday. I just needed on more reason to procrastinate packing, right? I turned my backyard into a little water park and we all had a fun time. There were over 20 kids over at one point. We had pizza and caprisons and rice Krispy treats. What more does a kid need?

I don't know why kids like balls on the tramp...

The big hit was the water blasters!

Few of the moms trying to relax

OK-OK-OK!

2010-09-15T22:58:00.000-07:00

I have taken a three month hiatus. I did not think I would be for so long. I have lost of updates to put up. SO PLEASE don't count me out! Lots of cute pictures to share of our summer fun!

Plus it's Elianna's 2 year Birthday on Saturday! So I will be catching up with everyone. Stay tuned!

Lake Powell

2010-06-15T16:52:00.000-07:00

This last weekend we finally made it to Lake Powell. We were invited to go with some friends. They have a houseboat at Bullfrog. And since I've never been there, we jumped at the chance to go. It was really a lot of fun. The weather wasn't as nice as it was on Mead, but fun all the same. We did have a storm hit us Saturday evening. It was exciting. I was a little nervous about being on a houseboat. But then once we got there it was really nice. I'm used to the house at Logandale, but it was nice to be on the lake. We didn't have to load all the beach stuff daily, we just woke up and hopped in. The kids loved it. Elianna had a blast. Joshua swam all day long. There were 4 families with us. Two of the families had older kids. There was one girl in particular that Joshua followed around all day and night. The only thing he would say was, "where's Mandie?" She was so nice to let him bug her all day long. One afternoon, Brett took me out on the boat to see some of the cliffs that Powell is known for. It was beautiful. Overall, it was a great trip. I don't think I'll be buying a houseboat anytime soon, but if you want to invite me, I'll definitely come along.

My happy girl

I love her Chubby Cheeks

The Storm coming in

Cool looking hills

A huge cave in the hill

that's not our houseboat, but just to give an idea on how big the cave was

Awesome cliff

"Where's Mandie?"

This guy Conner was the only one Elianna liked. I love her bashful smile!

On the way home, we took an hour and half detour, not on purpose, and drove through Capital Reef National Park. Brett was not too happy about it at first, but it was very pretty. There were a few cliffs that would make for good rock climbing. Not that I would be the one climbing. Anyway, it made for a long trip home, longer, but the kids entertained themselves pretty well.

Lake Mead June 3rd-6th

2010-06-15T16:39:00.000-07:00

It's that time of year again. Time to go to the lake. We went down with a few friends. So for all of you that couldn't make it, you'll definitely have to come next year.

We went down Thursday. Went to the lake Friday. It was beautiful weather. The kids got tons of sun. A few were a little burnt. The next day we stayed at the house and played in the pool and game room. We didn't want the ones with sunburns getting more sun. Sunburns are not fun.

Memorial Day

2010-06-15T16:09:00.000-07:00

Every year we make another improvement on our backyard. Two Springs ago, we removed a Mountain of Bushes. Brett still has a Hamstring that bothers him from pulling out the bushes.

Last Spring, on Earth Day, we had 9 trees removed from our backyard. 9! And we still have 9 back there. It was a forest. So for all summer last year we had a big ugly bare spot of our yard that was just an eye sore.
Well, this year was the Spring that we finish it off.

We put in a retaining wall that goes along the edge of the grass. Then we brought in 4 loads of dirt to level out the area. It was a lot of work, but so worth it. We put the tramp up on the raised area. We're going to put in a sand box and maybe a swing set too. I'm so happy to be finishing our yard.

A few weeks before, Brett burnt out some of the stumps.

Elianna's Bum. It was hot, so her and Joshua were playing in the water.

Here's the wall we put in.

Our New Trampoline

2010-06-15T15:56:00.000-07:00

May 22nd

While Joshua was out camping, we went over to Kmart and picked up a tramp. I was super excited. I've been wanting one all my life, really, but especially the last few years. Last summer we got close to picking one up, but we wanted one with an enclosure. Last summer when looking around they were about $350 or so. Kmart had them on sale for $220. So that was a pretty good deal. Thanks Steffanie for telling me about their sale.

It was actually really easy to put together. Brett and I had it up and running in an hour. And I'm very glad we had the enclosure. While we were putting the net up, Elianna rolled off the side down to the ground. It was a little scary, but she was OK. Here are some shots of the happy kids.

Joshua's First Camp Out

2010-06-15T15:41:00.000-07:00

May 21st

Grandpa Dan invited Joshua on a camp out. Joshua was super excited. His first order of business was to have Hot Dogs and Roasted Marshmallows. He's a funny guy. So here he is with his roasters getting ready to go.

May 1st

2010-06-14T21:36:00.000-07:00

April Showers bring May Flowers...is that the old Saying?

Well, it's still raining. It's still cold. But my kids wanted to go outside while the snow was melted for the time being. Don't get me wrong. I love the rain and the snow. I just would like for it to snow in the Winter, not the Spring almost Summer. Anyone else out there with me?

He's "fueling" his bike.

I love this Action shot of Tucker! He's so funny!

We then went inside and Elianna showed me how she is going potty. She's not totally trained yet. She's just getting used to going and getting the hang of it. She's very proud of herself.

Logan Baby Animal Days 2010

2010-06-14T21:10:00.000-07:00

We then took a weekend and turned it into a get-a-way. My good friend called me up to see if we wanted to come up and stay with them (in Willard) and go to the Baby Animal Days in Logan. I said, Sure! It was so fun. We stayed at their home. And just had a fun time with my great friend.

Joshua and Seneca going on a "Date".

Cute Paelin, she's a true baby doll.

Elianna didn't want to look at the camera, so Brett helped her.

Yee-hah!

Not too sure about this.

In line for the Bear World Exhibit

These little cubs were sooo tired. Awww

This Cub was not! He was climbing out of the area.

So, he got to play out in the grass. It was so fun to watch him prance around.

We had a great time! Maybe we can do it again next year, let me know!

Sweet Elianna at Lunchtime

2010-06-14T21:04:00.000-07:00

Here's a picture of Elianna at Lunchtime. I have caught her like this a few times. So I thought I would document it. She's such a cutie pie! I love my sweet girl.

Easter, Easter and Conference Weekend 2010

2010-06-14T14:52:00.000-07:00

For years my parents send us Tickets for Conference, since they can get them pretty easily from Georgia. We use them when we can, but it's not always easy to go every time. So this time, I told my parents they should come out for April Conference. Especially since it was Easter weekend too. So they came out and we had a fun time. Bryttani and Matt stayed with us too. It was a big happy family, except we were missing my other sisters family. Joshua missed his cousins once again. But we'll see them soon in the summer.

But before they got here, we celebrated Easter early with Brett's parents. They went to Logandale for that weekend.

First we made Rice Krispy Eggs

Elianna getting ready for the Hunt outside.
Freezing Outside
Getting some goods.

Reaching for the egg.

Then my parents came into town and we had a great time. We had an early Easter dinner Friday evening because Saturday we were going to Conference. And then Sunday they flew home. Sadly I don't have any pictures of the dinner Or of them at all. I don't know why not. But I have plenty of the kids.

Saturday morning we went to the Easter Egg Hunt that our neighbor hood has. It was terrible weather, so we had to move it indoors. It was in the church gym.

My dad is in the background.

Pictures with the scary Easter Bunny.

The moment I've been waiting for-

I don't know who was in that costume, but I felt bad for 'em.

Easter Morning

Coloring the Eggs

We then had to have one last egg hunt. Can't get enough of the Hunt!

Instead of keeping them, we crushed them.

Maybe I am Asian...

I hope everyone had a great Easter Weekend!

Transforming my Wall

2010-06-14T14:40:00.000-07:00

End of March 2010

For the longest time I've been unhappy with my Living room wall color. It was a cinnamon brown. I did like it originally, but when we replaced the fireplace, it just clashed horribly.

So I finally got the energy to repaint it. It's in the Sage Green family. And I really like it. Tell me what you think. You can see the brown color where I didn't take the rack that holds the TV. It was kind of orange/brown like a cinnamon.

Already Failed!!!

2010-06-14T14:34:00.000-07:00

OK, so I have already failed on my New Year's Resolutions!!!

Well, just the one about blogging anyway.

I've done pretty well with everything else so far. I enrolled in school. Not taken any classes yet, but enrolled.
And I have taken a name to the temple last month. So that was good.

So I'm not a failure, at least. I'll take the next few hours and post our current happenings.
Stay tuned!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

2010-03-17T21:14:00.000-07:00

I honestly don't even recognize this day as a "holiday". Growing up I never remembered to wear green and people would always pinch me all day long, and I just absolutely hated it.

OK, now that I got that off my chest.

I did celebrate today because Chick-fil-a was having an awesome deal. And you all know I love Chick-fil-a. Anything you bought today you can get for Free all month long as long as you have the original receipt. So I pulled on a bright green shirt and showed up right at noon. The Drive-thru line went all around the building and down the street. So I went inside instead, and it was a complete Mad House! Kind of exciting though.

So that's my St. Patrick's Day story. And I didn't even get pinched. I hope no one else did either.

Lake Powell

2010-02-24T10:39:00.000-08:00

In all my many years living in UT, we have never been to Lake Powell. On the way down to Phoenix I saw it for the first time!!!! We saw the Wahwep area of the Lake. On the way down to Phoenix it was beautiful and clear blue skies. But on the way home, when we stopped, it was all cloudy and gray and not as impressive. Then all the rest of the way home we drove thru a snow storm. So I have seen part of the beauty of Lake Powell, and hopefully this year we'll get to go there.

This could have been a better photo if I had some filters for my camera. Work in progress.

We also stopped at Glen Canyon Dam. That was scary going over the bridge. But I thought the photo turned out good. The sun finally came out a peep.

A Wedding in Phoenix

2010-02-24T09:34:00.001-08:00

Mesa Temple

This past weekend Brett and I went down to Phoenix for his friends wedding. His name is Paul and they were mission companions in Chile. Brett has some amazing experiences with this guy when on the mission. It's been like 10 or so years since Brett's mission and even though we only see Paul here and there, I can see this instant bond that you don't find very often in friends.

We were very happy for Paul to get married and wondered why it took him so long. In fact, he dated his new wife 6 years ago! They dated briefly, then about a year and a half ago, they started dating again. It was funny because they refer to their story as a "dysfunctional" one at best. It was a very nice wedding and day! I think it got up to 78 degrees that day!

Another thing that happened at their wedding was that I recognized one of the photographers. Crazy, I know. She had different hair, but her face was the same. She was a friend of mine when at Massage School. Her and I were pretty close and over the years I have thought about her. I think I lost her number when I got a new number a long time ago. It's crazy that time fly's and you forget to nourish your friendships, so they just slip past. It was great to see her and we exchanged phone numbers so hopefully (with the help of facebook) we'll stay in touch better.

And another reason I wanted to go to Phoenix, besides the wedding, is my best friend from High School lives there. I saw her a year ago when we met in Logandale, NV. It was so fun to see her again, and meet her husband this time! I only have and instant bond with a few people and she is one of them. It's a shame we live so far away from each other.

If you see at the top of the photo it says 95. The previous score was 81 and the Jackpot was 500 tickets. So 95 is Brett's new score to beat at Dave and Buster's and he is holding 500 tickets in his hands!

Me and Tabitha trying to strike a pose.

Brett and Me at Tempe Town Lakes

Tabitha and Me at Tempe Town Lakes
We tried to rent a paddle boat, but because it was raining off and on, it was closed.

PS...after seeing my face with bangs, it looks like I need to lose a few pounds...

Curious Kitchen

2010-02-15T19:37:00.000-08:00

Tonight in the car this is the conversation Joshua and Brett had;

Joshua- Dad, did you know that Jesus is our older brother?

Brett- Yup, that's right, he is.

Joshua- Mom says she doesn't like me to play with older boys. (pause) That's crazy!

_________________________________

Anita's Getting Married

2010-02-12T10:44:00.000-08:00

Anita, Brett's sister is getting married!!! I'm so excited. And she's marrying a really great guy. I really like him.

So they are getting married March 6th and I threw her a "family" Shower last night. It was fun and we had a great turn out. While she opened her gifts we put the bows from the gifts in her hair. Then when Mylo arrived, he gave her a kiss for every bow that she had. It was very cute. Here are a few pictures.

First here's the cake I made. It was very yummy!

When Mylo arrived, he said, Wow, you look very cute. And she did.

A view from behind her head.

The kiss. They are sooooo adorable together and are both very happy. You can see the smile while they kiss.

Good luck you two. We love you.

New Hair Cut

2010-02-12T10:32:00.000-08:00

Wednesday, Bryttani and I had a girls day. We went and saw Dear John, which was really good. And then she cut my hair. I usually have her just give me a trim. But today I told her I was entertaining the idea of having bangs. But not sure. I really like Anne Hathaway's hair in the Devil Wears Prada. But I have cowlicks in the front of my hair and can't have bangs like hers very easily. But since I never do anything daring with my hair Bryttani says we should do it.
So this is the result.

Just know that I took these photos myself and they are not the best angle.

So what do you think? I think it's fun for a change. And I can always grow my bangs back out. They grow pretty fast.

Tucker Goes to Jail

2010-02-12T08:57:00.001-08:00

What I am about to reveal happened on Monday February 8th and it still makes me upset, although now it's kind of funny too. And I do admit that I am partially to blame, but not totally. I'll start with a little back story.

Tucker is a friendly dog. He loves to be petted and played with and walked. He's like any other dog, I'm sure, but he's just ultra friendly. In the summer time when it's nice and warm, I feel bad for him being stuck in the back yard. So I let him out in the front. He likes to watch the cars go by and the kids playing. And he likes to socialize with other dogs. Most of the time he just sits in the front yard, but eventually he starts to head down the street. Everyone knows his name, and a neighbor down the street actually went out and bought dishes and food for him and puts it out on her porch for him. Sweet, really. Although I was wondering why he was getting so fat over the summer.
Well, on Halloween morning I get a notice from the Sandy City Animal Control on my door saying that someone called a complaint in about a "rogue dog going rampant" and was a "danger to society." WHAT? Do you know Tucker? At that point in the summer, he could barely walk! He was in bad shape. It was sad. I couldn't get him to lose any weight (because of the neighbor) and I had taken him to the Vet a few times and it turned out his Thyroid was messed up, so he's now on a Thyroid medicine.
Anyway, I was upset because I knew who it was. A few weeks before this, we were coming home from a walk, and we passed by a not-so-friendly neighbor's house and they were outside. I said a cheerful Hello. And the "man of the house" asked, is that your dog? in a very rude tone. And I said yes, he is, still in a cheerful tone. Then I waved bye. But I could tell by his tone he wanted to say something more, but didn't. But they have a son that Joshua plays with sometimes in the summer and the parents know me from church.
So, I get the notice, nothing ever happens with it. Someone was supposed to call me, but never did. Then a few days later, another (friendly) neighbor came over to tell me about the not-so-nice ones who were going to call the Animal Control, and I told her that they already did. And I was mad, because they have never talked to me about it. I didn't know why they were upset with Tucker. Since that time, I have kept Tucker in the house or in the backyard/garage because I didn't want to cause a bigger problem with the neighbors.

**********

A few weeks before Elianna was born, we got some new carpet in a few rooms in our house, and we've been wanting to finish it in the rest of the house. So we finally pulled the trigger and Monday morning I met Brett at RC Willey to finalize our carpet purchase. Then we scheduled the carpet to installed Tuesday morning. So we had a lot of furniture and stuff to move. Brett and his crew from work came over at 3:30pm, Monday, to help move the big pieces of furniture into the garage. In the meantime, Tucker snuck out of the house while the doors and garage were open. Brett and Crew left @ 4pm.
I haven't even noticed Tucker gone. At 4:15pm I get a call on my cell phone from the Sandy Animal control informing me that he got a call about a "rogue dog" in the area and he picked him up and now I have to get him from the pound (aka. jail)!!!!!!
I WAS FURIOUS!!!! I don't know if many of you have seen me upset, but it does happen here and there. But this was worse. I was FURIOUS! I still didn't know he was even gone and then when I looked at the time, it had only been 30-45 minutes since he had been gone. They must've just said, next time you see him, call the "Police" and have them "arrest" him.
So I load the kids in the car, and we drive off the Pound. While I'm driving I call Brett in a fury. "What are we going to do?...I'm so mad...What can we do? What's wrong with our neighbors?...Why don't they have to guts to talk to us to our face?...etc" Brett doesn't know...it's not fair...I'll go with you to talk to them when I get home...etc.
That wasn't helpful, really. I wanted to know what I should do! Should something be said, should I let it slide, should I tell their kids to scram when they want to play with Joshua? So I call my dad. He would know what to do. And he did. I started to calm down, and think a little more rationally, but not too much. And he said I should go over there and ask them what the problem is, tell them I've kept him in the house all winter, and just get to the bottom of the problem. That seemed like the only thing I really could do. I'm not a pushover and I couldn't let someone push me and my dog (or family)around. Only I'm allowed to push Tucker around. :)

I pick up Tucker. And I felt bad for him. He was in Jail for about an hour. Poor guy. On my way back home, I call Brett to see if he wanted to come with me. If Brett was with me, he would be nicer than me. He would be more tactful. Well, he was pretty busy since he had come over earlier to move furniture, and that night we had a dinner at his mom's house, so I was solo, unless I wanted to wait til tomorrow. I didn't nor could I wait. It had to be dealt with.

So, I pull up to their house. Get out of the car. By this time Elianna is crying, but oh well. I get to the door and knock as loud as I could.
Their garage is open so I know they are home. The "Woman of the house" opens the door...yes? Can I help you?
Me- Just making sure that you are the ones who keeps calling the animal control on my dog.
Her- No, it's not me
Me- Oh really, are you sure? Because I'm pretty sure it is.
Her- well, it's my husband
Me- well, whatever. It's the same house hold. ( just know that my voice is slightly raising as I'm going along, and I'm not looking friendly, and you can only imagine how sarcastic I'm being)
What exactly is your husbands problem with Tucker?
Her- well he gets into our garage and sniffs around
Me- is that all. does he make a mess?
Her- sometimes.
Me- Well, I'm very sorry for your inconvenience to have Tucker Sniff around. If he does make a mess, I'm very sorry. Why haven't you ever come to me and talked to me about him being a problem. You know who I am. Our kids play together. I live 4 houses away. This is ridiculous.
Her- I have been to your house.
Me- Um, no. You have not. I have never talked to you about Tucker before. You may have sent your 6 year old to tell me Tucker was at your house, but you have never talked to me to my face.
(she did not have anything to say at that)
Me-so If he does make a mess, or whatever, come and tell me I will fix it.
But this is ridiculous and stupid. You know who I am. You know where I live. You know my son. That's all. I'm done. It's just so stupid.

And that was it, she said nothing else, and I went home.

I was just so upset by the cowardice of the situation. They know me. I teach their kids in primary, that is, when they are allowed to come...it's just stupid and wrong.

Any thoughts? I was more upset than I probably should have been. I think I was actually pretty nice. I could have been a whole lot nastier. I hope I got my point across. Why do some people just choose to be difficult? That's the problem with your neighbors also being in your ward when you live here. A neighbor dispute, is suddenly a ward problem, or can be.

Don't mess with me, I'll take you down. :) I'm kidding, but it's kind of true.

Curious Kitchen

2010-02-12T08:27:00.000-08:00

Joshua is very perceptive. He picks up on things very quickly. Not just with words and phrases but even on how to operate our Blackberry phones to find the games, or his Aunts iphone to find her games. It's really surprising. That said, I'm always telling Brett not to say words around him...not "swear" words, but "bad" words for our house...he doesn't always, especially if we're watching wports.

So here are a couple stories of Joshua and the "bad" words.

We were over at Brett's parents house watching a football game, probably a BYU game. And Brett and his father can get heated. After a play that didn't go over well, Brett was upset. And Joshua blirts out, "Crush him you dirty fetcher!"

I just close my eyes and tried not to laugh and Brett's dad just busts out laughing. It was quite funny. Brett's mom, however, says You're going to regret teaching him that. And then Brett started to laugh.

(This next phrase Joshua says a lot, yet still randomly, and it's still funny every time. And I don't know where it came from )

We're driving in the car and Brett and I are talking with one another, Joshua says " Guys? Did you just call me a dirtbag?"

Or the other night after dinner, I'm cleaning up the dishes and Joshua's still eating and no one is talking... "Did you just call me a dirtbag?"

Or we're tucking him into bed..."did you just call me a dirtbag?" He then laughs and says, "Just kidding. I'm not a dirtbag!"

He really is pretty funny. I love to see him and Elianna play together. He's getting softer when with her, and she's getting used to him. So not as much squealing-in-fear from her. Pretty soon I'm going to be telling funny stories of Elianna too.

Curious Kitchen

2010-02-01T19:07:00.000-08:00

A few months ago we found a new babysitter that we just love. Joshua and Elianna love her and she loves them. And it's great because we know that when she comes over she actually plays with them and has a good time. I don't have to worry about her just watching TV or whatever.

However, Since we have found the lovely sitter, ANYTIME Joshua hears Brett and me just talking about what we are doing for the day, he asks-Who's going to babysit the kids?

The first time he said it, I asked him-are you the kids? And he says- yes. Like I'm an idiot. It was so funny.

So last night, Brett and I were just talking about what we were going to be doing for the week and Joshua was at the table and out of no where he says-Who's going to babysit the kids?
I say- No one is going to babysit the kids, I'm home and you're with me.

So then he counters with- Oh, Ok. I just love to say who's going to babysit the kids, it's my favorite.

Brett and I just looked at each other and laughed. What a little nut!

Finally Caught Up! and a Few Resolutions

2010-01-17T22:47:00.000-08:00

I'm finally all caught up! Aren't you proud?
Hello? Is anyone even going to check my blog anymore?
Sorry I've been a slacker. I have had a very busy Thanksgiving and Christmas season. I'm sure everyone did! Am I right? Well, it was fun and now it's over and in a year, we'll be doing it all again.
I don't know what happened exactly, I was just so behind. And it seemed like everyone that I talked to was behind in one way or another. So this year, I am going to try to stay on top of things. Is that what a New Year's Resolution is? I don't usually make those, but I guess I just committed to some sort of one. ;)

Well, since I'm going along with New Year's resolutions, I'm also going to make sure that I update the blog at least once a month. I've also been thinking about finishing up my college career. I don't want to be a "dropout" anymore. So we'll see how that goes, if I decide to go through with it or not. And I want to start doing my family history again. A few years ago I would go downtown to the family history center once a week and work on it. Then I had kids and things weren't so easy. But now the church has a new site, I'm going to start classes and learn how to work it.

So, does that sounds like enough things to work on this year? I hope so. What are some of your goals this year? Let me know!

Christmas with the Kitchen's

2010-01-17T20:59:00.001-08:00

Merry Christmas to all! I hope everyone had a great Christmas. We certainly did! I, sadly, didn't take any still shots for Christmas, I ran my video camera non-stop. So I uploaded our Christmas morning. It's a bit long, yet short considering I had a lot of footage. These are of the kids opening their "Santa" gifts. Enjoy!
* runs about 30 seconds before it starts. Sorry.
**and the audio is delayed a few seconds. Oh well.

Joshua Turns 4!

2010-01-15T22:52:00.000-08:00

December 19, 2009

My sweet Joshua actually had his birthday on the 18th, but the celebration was this day. The day before I made the cake. I made cupcakes, then drizzled in jello for good measure. I refrigerated them a few hours, then squeezed them all together and frosted the top with a special fluffy icing I love. You can see how the rest turned out. I thought it turned out great. But that's just me.

The next morning was just tidying up the house so I could let 10 little boys (aka, terrors) run rampant in my house. Let's just say it was organized chaos. They arrived, played, ate pizza, played some more, smashed the pinata, then ate birthday cake, and last but not least, opened presents. We only had one casualty, which meant he had to go home. I was sad about it and I really tried to be firm and to get him to calm down, but to no avail. I had to call his mom, and I was just so embarrassed for her. But I called her after, and no hard feelings. He was just having a hard day.

Other than that we all had a great time. And I hope all the kids had fun too.

So thank you to everyone that let their sweet boys come to Joshua's party (they really aren't terrors). We really appreciate it. Joshua was thrilled with every single one of his gifts. It was a blast and I would definitely do it again...I just don't know if it'll be at my house. ;)

Actually I was thinking that next year I'm going to do an "un-birthday" in June or so with his friends. Then on his actual "big day" do a family birthday. Does anyone have suggestions on that?

Waiting For Santa

2010-01-15T22:28:00.000-08:00

December 18, 2009

The night before we actually got to see Santa, we tried to see him at the mall, but we were too late and the line was closed. I was a little upset because we had a busy weekend and I wasn't sure when I'd be able to get back...with Brett. Of course I can go by myself, but since it was Elianna's first time, I wanted him to come.

So the next night, Friday, Brett came home just a little early so we could stand in line for, oh, 45 minutes to see my little darling kids see Santa.

Joshua of course, is a seasoned Pro at seeing the old "Bowl full of Jelly" and was very polite. He asked for a bike and a "super awesome Bumblebee Transformer." Then added a nice sound effect to go with it.

I absolutely love this action shot of Elianna. I knew this was the reaction we were going to get, isn't it awesome?!? She's such a little fireball. Brett says she's "just like her mama." She is. :)

And I couldn't leave, after the long wait, without getting a group shot.
Isn't it perfect? I love my kids.

Festival of Trees

2010-01-15T21:08:00.000-08:00

December 2-5, 2009

For the past 5 years I have attended the Festival of Trees at the South Towne Exposition Center. Kind of as a kick-off for the Christmas Holiday. For those of you who don't know what it is, it's a huge fundraiser for the Primary Children's Medical Center where volunteers donate Christmas tree packages and others bid for the tree packages. 100% of the proceeds go to Primary's and last year they raised $1.2 million in just 3 days. Isn't that awesome?

Last year as I was going about the aisles looking at the trees and reading some of the kids' stories, I was wondering about how I could help out or volunteer or donate cookies to the candy shoppe, anything. I just felt like I needed to do something. I mean, if I could donate a tree, I would definitely do it. However, that can get pretty expensive to do alone.

Long story short, a lady in my neighborhood asked me if I wanted to volunteer for the Festival of Trees. Her and her sister have been volunteers for a long time. Now her sister has her own committee since she's on the board. So I said sure, sounds like fun.

I went to a few meetings for prep, and to find out what I was in for. Let me tell you, it was a lot of work! In addition to donating our own tree, the committee I was on was in charge of the entertainment and all that that entails. Luckily I wasn't the one in charge of the whole thing! What a busy job. She was in charge of filling in every half hour slot for two stages for 3- 12 hour days! But she did it and it was fun.
My job, was to be a host to these groups that came to perform. I checked them in, showed them to their dressing area, then took them out the stage and introduced them, then after the performance take them back to their area. It was busy, yet very fun. I worked 2 shifts. Then I volunteered Brett and I to help deliver the trees early Sunday morning. It was so very fun. When we delivered the trees, we then go into the home and set the tree up exactly how it was at the festival. It was great. Did I already say that?

I hope to post some photos soon. I'll put them up as soon as I get a copy. And I hope to do this again next year. And if anyone out there is interested in volunteering, let me know. We can put you to work. ;)

Thankful for Family

2010-01-15T09:36:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving 2009

I sadly do not have a lot of pictures. I'll have to get my mom to email me some.

I was super excited for Thanksgiving because my parents were coming out here instead of us flying out there. My mom has been here a few times on her own, but my dad hasn't been out here since Joshua was born. I was very happy they could make it out. But as long as time sort of dragged by for them to get here, once they arrived, time flew by. Before we knew it Thanksgiving had come and gone and they were on their way back to GA.

My dad is so funny because he won't pose for the camera. Not a problem for my mom though. We were all happy to see each other. Upon arrival, we immediately went to Cafe Rio and had dinner. It is a treat, since my parents don't get it very often. Tuesday evening we went to the Salt Lake Temple with my sister and her husband. It was neat. I haven't been to the temple with my parents since my wedding, then my sister's wedding. So it was nice to be there with them. My parents came out the Salt Lake to get married way back when.

Before we knew it Thanksgiving day came, we had a wonderful, yummy feast full of homecooking I don't get all that often. We all ate til we were stuffed. It's a bittersweet feeling-stuffed. I don't feel too bad about it because I don't ever eat that way, but on the other hand, my stomach just aches afterward. Oh well.

The next day my parents had to leave. It was a sad event. We didn't even have time to say a long good bye at the airport because their flight had been moved up a half hour, without us knowing, and luckily they made it to their gate right in time. I'm glad they made it on the plane and made it home safely.

I'm always grumpy after I leave my family. I've always missed them, but I miss them more now that I have kids. I want my kids to know them and be good friends. I am grateful we have the internet because my kids and parents talk to each other thru Skype
Isn't it nice to live in technology?

So we did have a nice and relaxing Thanksgiving week.
I hope eveyone else did too.

September and October Photos

2010-01-15T09:04:00.000-08:00

September 19, 2009

Let me back up just a bit and show you these cute photos. I wish that when I sent out my Christmas cards I had time to use these pictures. But I was just too busy, so I made due with the beach picture back in August. These are cuter though. These first ones are of Elianna, the day after her birthday. She's such cutie and she did not like to smile for the camera. She's already a bit of drama! But they turned out really cute and showed that she really can be nice...a little.

October 19th, 2009

Then about a month later, we took our own family picture. And I had a few shots of Joshua taken for an early 4 year old photo. We went to Murray park and it was just perfect because the week before it was raining and the week after it was snowy. We lucked out. However, that morning Joshua decided to fall down the stairs. He was trying to carry his dirty laundry down for me, and took a fall. He was OK, but smashed his eye pretty good. It immediately started to swell and start to bruise, so I used my magic wand and made it back to normal. Well, I think it's magic. A friend of mine told me a secret that her mom used with them. Are you in suspence? It's Mentholatum, or Vicks Vapor rub. I use the one for babies. It says not to use it near eyes, but I get pretty darn close. I'm sure there it a scienticfic explanation, but basically it acts as a cold press on the area, causing the area not to bruise. I'm not kidding. I've used it since he was a baby and he's taken some major falls that have left instant "eggs" on his head. I immediately put the rub on and within minutes you can already tell a difference. Anyway, the eye was a little puffy, but not too bad. Who can tell which eye it is?

New Moon-mania!

2010-01-14T22:11:00.000-08:00

November 19, 2009-11:45pm

Yes, I am one of those crazy ones that went to the opening of the New Moon movie and stayed up all night, practically, just to see Jacob with his shirt off. Oh wait, I meant Edward...(his shirt should have stayed on). I must clarify, in the books I like Edward. Jacob doesn't really pull on my heart strings. However, I must confess, in the movies I am now a Jacob fan.
I do not like the book, New Moon. I don't like Bella being a crybaby. I just can't take her head trash. The movie, is a different story. I really liked the movie. I liked how they bypassed her depression (it was obvious enough) and focused on Jacob. He should definitely get more screen time. :)

Anyway, we had a fun girls night out. It was the perfect way to get ready for Thanksgiving.

In these shots you can tell how tired I look.

PS. Katie, I don't know what happened to the photo you and I took together. Do you have one on your camera? Email it to me if you do.

Halloween 2009

2010-01-14T21:30:00.000-08:00

October 23-31, 2009

So we had very fun Halloween season. The week before, our primary threw a Halloween bash for the kids. That meant that even I had to dress up because I am the primary presidency and I was in charge of the craft area. I was surprisingly nervous because I haven't dressed up since Brett and I were in college. I had no idea what to wear. So I went to the Halloween Express store and picked up some fairy wings and some glitter and became a dark fairy. It wasn't that awesome, but I was satisfied.

Anyway, it was fun and we had a great turn out. We served pizza and the gym was set up with all difference game stations. We had a "Witch's Brew"- a story of how to make a witch. It was all a lot of fun and it was a lot of work to throw it.

Next up, was the Trunk or Treat the day before Halloween. It was held in the church parking lot. I even tried to decorate my trunk with spiderwebs and and skeleton. I'll have to work on that for next year. It was freezing, of course, but that's the fun of Halloween. There is always a snow storm come Halloween.

On the actual big day, we went to Grandma Jarvis' retirement home for round of trick or treat. It was cute. The ones(elderly) that wanted to participate camped out by their doors in anticipation of the kids to come. They were very nice. Some of them wanted to chat. I don't have a picture, but we had Joshua, Elianna, Jaydon, Sean, Bekah and Jeffery. We were quite the group walking around in tight corners. It was fun.

We then came home, then we headed over to our neighbors house a few streets over and we put on a hot dog roast for the trick or treater's. We had hot dogs, doughnuts, hot cocoa and apple juice and a huge barrel of fire. It was a lot of fun. People were surprised we were giving it all away for free. Maybe I should have put a tip jar out. :)

Overall, we had a great few weeks. What a fun holiday.

Here are a few pictures of the kids costumes.

Joshua was a Football player, obviously a Dallas Cowboy football player. And a few people would say, hey, you're a cowboy. And Joshua would say, what? No, I'm a football player. And then we would all laugh. I'm sure Joshua couldn't believe how his costume could be confused for a cowboy!!!

Elianna is a ladybug fairy. The costume came with a hat that had antennae, but it didn't have a strap so it just fell off. But she was super cute without it. I love my kids and I love that they find joy in simple things. Happy Halloween!

Cornbelly's at Thanksgiving Point

2010-01-14T21:15:00.000-08:00

October 9, 2009

Every year I try to take my kids to Cornbelly's and have some fun. But this year, It just wasn't so awesome. I just don't know if I'll be back. I really do like Thanksgiving Point and I have a membership, but Cornbelly's just gets more and more expensive and it's just not worth it.

That said, the kids sure had a fun time. Elianna took a little ride down the slide, and Joshua did whatever he wanted and pretended he was a cowboy for a day. That have a little kids area with some water games. They have hay rides and a pumpkin patch, train rides, tractor rides...etc. The fun thing that I like is this huge pillow trampoline. We all can jump on it and it's really fun.
So am I going next year? Maybe, maybe not. :)

Soccer Fun

2010-01-14T20:49:00.001-08:00

September 26, 2009

Joshua started his first round of soccer this fall. It was so funny. All the kids just running around crazy bumping into each other and trying to get the ball. By the third game, Joshua started to pay more attention, he even scored a goal or two. I guess we'll try it again in the spring.

Sorry the photo is sideways.

I love his curly hair. He's becoming such a big boy.

Coming Back

2010-01-08T22:55:00.000-08:00

Ok, do I even have any readers out there?

I have been a slacker...yet, full of valid excuses.
I will get back on track though. I will start again soon.

Birthday Girl.

2009-10-20T23:24:00.000-07:00

September 18, 2009

I can't believe my baby girl is ONE! What a fun year we've had with her. She is such a sweet little peaceful spirit. She barely made a sound til she was 6 or 7 months. She didn't even smile til she was 5 months. She was just checking us out, taking us in. She is such a doll. It's funny because when I looked at Joshua when he was 1, he seemed so big to me. He's always seemed bigger than he is. Elianna just seems to be perfectly fine to be where she is. She isn't walking yet. She just fine crawling around. She's a scared little thing when thrown up in the air. She clenches her fists and holds her breath. She's just so cute.

The night before the big day, I stayed up and made her cake. I've been wanting to take a cake decorating class for a while and haven't done it. So instead I bought a beginners book and a beginner kit and tried to tackle it.

Here's what it's supposed to look like.

Here's how it actually turned out.

I think it turned out OK. I didn't have the correct Frosting tip for the rosettes but that's Ok. It was really fun. It's a spice cake with buttercream frosting. It was pretty tasty.

Elianna thought it was yummy. She was a bit timid to "attack" the cake. But after a while she got the hang of it.

Joshua liked the cake too.

We then gave her a bath because she got very messy. Do you see the cloudy water?

After getting her dressed in her PJ's, her attitude took a turn. When she opened her first present she only wanted to look at that one. So when we took it away it sparked the unhappiness.

She did calm down for a little while.

Enough to play with her new toy. (Kitty Piano with songs)

She loves music.

Then off to bed for the Birthday Girl.

But first a goodnight lick from Snoop.

Elianna, we are so happy you are in our family.
We love you tons and look forward to seeing you grow and change.
You are our sweet baby doll.

A Little Bit of Fun

2009-10-20T23:01:00.000-07:00

First Part of September, 2009

The weather had been so nice and I wanted to be outside. I wanted Joshua to run around as much as he could because I knew that as soon as Halloween comes, it is cold. It's always rainy/snowy around Halloween. Any day I get that's warm, I get him outside. So since it was so nice I thought I'd take him down to Thanksgiving Point. And as soon as he saw the Dinosaur Museum he wanted to go in there. Oh well. At least he got to run around inside and not in my house.

My Sweetheart Elianna, she goes where ever we go.
Joshua lining up the dinos.

Earlier that morning Brett showed off his mustache.

SO then Joshua had to show his off too.

I think it suits him.

The next weekend Brett and his partner put on a conference at the Airport Hilton and we thought it would be fun to stay a night or 2 there. We checked in Thursday night and hit the pool with Nini and Matt then off to bed. It was pushing 11pm.

Joshua made himself at home.

Elianna, not so much.

She pretty much freaked out, which is really unusual for her, and cried til about 12:30. Then she woke up at 6:30 am and was up til 8 am. It was so crazy. She usually goes to bed at 8 pm and sleeps til 9 am.
The next night was worse. So I took the kids home and let Brett get a good night sleep at the hotel. I don't know when we'll be taking her out to another hotel again. Don't worry, we still love you Elianna.

Brett's BIG 3-0!

2009-10-20T22:13:00.002-07:00

August 23, 2009

There was a lot of thought that went into Brett's 30th birthday. I originally wanted to take him to New York for the weekend and see the Broadway Rock of Ages. It's totally up his alley. It's an 80's themed musical, so bands like Journey, Van Halen, White Snake. Classic cheesy 80s music.
I ran it by him and he said OK. When I checked into flights, they were WAY too pricey. So that wasn't going to work.

Then I thought about going to see a band that he likes that was playing his birthday weekend in San Fransisco. We had never been there before and thought it would be fun. But when I doubled checked the concert dates, we read them wrong and they were coming in October or something. Not cool. Nothing was working out. And I wanted to give him a fun birthday. I asked him if he wanted a big party and he said no. So finally, I began looking into really nice restaurants and staying downtown. I decided to take him to The Roof on top of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building since we've never been there before. Then we stayed at the Marriott and had a fun evening out. He had a great time. It said Happy Birthday on our table. The rolls were amazing. The food was really good. It's a buffet, which I didn't know til I called. The desserts were good too. Sometimes buffet desserts aren't as good as they look. It was hard not to over eat. I'm sure I did, but I at very slow so I didn't get that stuffed feeling. The only picture I have is from his phone.

Happy Birthday Brett. I love you.

Brett's BIG 3-0!

2009-10-20T22:13:00.001-07:00

Curious Kitchen

2009-10-20T22:03:00.001-07:00

So on Sunday we went to visit Brett's grandma at her Retirement Community. It's small and the kids were getting fussy. We knew it would be a short visit. While we were there, Brett's uncle Keith called to check in with Grandma (mom for him). Brett talked to him for a little bit and found out that he was working in New Jersey, which was news to us because he lives in California. He chatted with him for a few minutes. Then Joshua, who was hanging on every word, said enthusiastically he wanted to talk.

Brett gave him the phone-

Joshua- Hi.

Keith, Hey Bud, how are you?

Joshua (very energetic)- Good. You got a New Jersey too? I have one too but it's green. And I wear it when I play soccer. I got a trophy at my soccer game.

Brett and I were laughing so hard.

I don't think Keith understood what he was talking about. We love you Joshua, you are so funny.

Fun With Bekah Boo

2009-10-20T21:39:00.000-07:00

August 20, 2009

Brett's sister, Karen, came up for BYU Education Week at (you guessed it) BYU. Brett's mom and sister do that every year together.

So since his other sister Mandi was in town from Boston for a few weeks, she was babysitting duty for Karen's kids. And I felt bad for her since she'd only been home for not even 24 hrs. So I decided to help her as much as I could. We went to the park a few times and we went to the farm at Thanksgiving Point.

So here are some cute photos of the cousins.

Joshua Goes to Pre-School

2009-09-21T15:55:00.001-07:00

August 10, 2009

Joshua started pre-school as soon as we came home from our family vacation. And he was talking about it on the plane ride home and all day Monday because either my mom or Brett's mom told him that when he came home from vacation, he was starting school. And he remembers important stuff like that.

So Tuesday was the BIG DAY! I'm a little slow, and sadly I don't have his "1st day of school" photo. I do have his 3rd day of school photo. (And I do feel bad because I know growing up my mom always took our photo on the 1st day of school and it was so fun. My sisters and I would pose all girly and tilt our head. And we were so excited to show off our new school clothes.)

He already had his awesome Lightening McQueen backpack, so he was all set. (Since he didn't need all the usual school supplies.)

He thought it was great that I was "dropping" him off and not staying with him. At first he was the only boy in the class and I was pretty concerned because I didn't want him to be the only one. But after a while, another little boy came. So there are two.

He goes to Pre-school at the Utah Dance and Arts Center. They have a really fun pre-school. It's a little small, but Joshua has a great time. He told me the other day that he wanted to go there everyday, not just sometimes. Which is 2 days a week.

Here's a funny story- Since he was about 18 months I've had him take a class at the Little Gym. It's about $75 dollars a month for 1 class a week. A bit expensive. Well, I had found out that at the Utah Dance and Arts Center, they let boys dance for free. You just need to buy the clothes and shoes that are needed. I thought that was great. I didn't want to pay for the other one anymore. So Monday after we came home, before the first day of preschool, he had his first dance class. That morning we were out for a walk and I said-
Joshua, guess what? You're going to a dance class. Isn't that going to be fun?
Joshua- What? Mom, I'm not a girl.
I was a little stunned. I didn't know that he had put that together.
Me- That's OK, boys dance too. It's going to be so fun.

Well, later on, we get to the class and he was the only boy in this class. The first half of the class was fun. It's bunch of 3 year olds jumping around. It was the "tap" time. They had drums and were being loud and noisy. Y'know, boy stuff. Then they switch to "ballet." The kids all line up on the the bar and the classical music turns on. And he's just was standing there in the middle of the room with his head down like he's ashamed. It was sooooo funny. Then he comes out and says- Mom. I cannot do this.
I laughed and said Ok, at least you tried.

It's too bad though. Because I have a friend that has her little boy in one of the classes and there are 4 boys in that one. So I think that makes a difference. Oh well.

Panama City Beach, FL

2009-08-26T20:00:00.000-07:00

August 1-8, 2009

1982-1st time in PCB, 8 months ( yes, I look like my mom)

Now that the Wedding Party was over and everyone can relax, off we went to THE BEACH!!!

Let me give you a little background to why I love Panama City so much.
1983

1) My parents bought this condo when I was two. It was originally a hotel, probably a Best Western or something similar. It is a little small, but it was the only hotel/condo on the beach at the time. Since I was 2, we have gone there just about every year, with the few exceptions of us living in Turkey and in Seattle. Now the beach is hoppin' with all kinds of HUGE Resorts.

1984

2) Panama City Beach is on the Gulf of Mexico. The water is clear and warm and there is a shallow sandbar. Perfect for playing in. The waves are gentle also perfect for kids. The sand is the big selling point. It is perfectly white and when you step on the sand it squeaks with every step. Also, the sand it very fine. It's not rocky or pebble-y, just silky fine.

1985- me and Mamma Betty

Have I sold you on it yet?
3) Another good thing about it is it's location, is the Hurricane's bypass Panama city. They have been hit a few times, the last major one was in 1993 or so. The Katrina hurricane that was a few years back didn't touch it. It's just perfect.

1986- I'm the one in the middle, pink dress.

4) When you go out to buy a timeshare/condo these days, you buy a season. A high or low time of year that is suitable to your family. You can choose to go to your Resort or you can trade it in through different exchange companies. or rent it. I'm sure you know how this works. Well, back when my parents bought, you bought a week of the year. The weeks are numbered 1-52, and we have week 31. It usually falls on the first week of August (depending on Leap Year, that's messed us up before.) Why does this matter? It does because we know all the "regulars" that come every year. It's like a second family. Our beach family. That's what makes it so fun. We knew kids that we coming, it was fun to see them that one time of the year. My parents have friends, we have friends. It took a lot of whining about us being "bored" out of the equation.

1994-when we moved back to GA

5) Last reason I love it so much is because it's the BEACH! In GA, school starts the 1st week of August, so I never had to go to the first day of school. It was the last Hurrah! before going to school. And I show up all nice and tan the next week. It was great.

1995-we discovered the bumper boats

I know that was a little long. This year was super fun. The weather was great, the beach was not too crowded and the water was nice and clean and warm. Joshua had a great time with his cousins, Shayla, Alex and Luke. Elianna had a great time in the water. She loved the waves.
And Joshua really surprised me. At the beginning of the week, he didn't want to get in the water unless he had his floaties on. But after watching his cousin Shayla, he decided he didn't need the floaties and started swimming. I taught him to doggy paddle last summer, and just picked it right up again. After a bit, he'd get tired and put his floaties on, but he did so good.

Pool fun. Joshua has Chocolate all over his mouth. Elianna is loving the watermelon Pa is feeding her.

Night at the Dog Races. This is my beautiful niece, Shayla. She's so cute.

Beach Fun. Elianna had a blast. She's a true girl who loves the beach.

Family night- picture time, then dinner, then fun at the arcade, go-carts, and bumper boats.

Are you ready to Party?

2009-08-24T20:50:00.000-07:00

July 30, 2009

So this year was my parents 35th Wedding anniversary. It is the 20th of August but this year we celebrated it in July. Since my whole family comes out every year to go to the beach, my dad thought it would be a great idea to surprise my mom with an Anniversary party before we went to FL. So we, my sisters and my dad and myself, started to plan this early spring. I can't even remember exactly when it started. My dad hired a band that my mom and him have seen. My older sister was in charge of the center pieces and the dessert. I was in charge of the invitations and guest list and my dad was in charge of everything else. He had a right hand wo-man and she was so great. She cooked basically all the food. She's a saint. I don't think she wants to see another bean or brisket for a loooooooooong while. But she was so great and helpful. Bryttani's job was to cut my mom's hair and help with Julie's kids and whatever else Julie had her do until she was summoned to cut my mom's hair.

So here's how it went down. Brett and I and the kids all flew out to GA on Tuesday the 28th of July. Which I was sick as soon as the plane landed. Not throw-up-plane sick. But Fever sick. It was so strange. No one else got sick, which I was grateful for. So we got my mom parents home and my fever was so high. I don't think I've ever experienced that before. My mom was worried it was the pig flu, but I'm not so sure. Brett and my Dad gave me a blessing and then I was sent to bed. I tossed and turned all night. Had to pee a million times, and I striped down, then got cold, then stripped, then got cold about 4 or 5 times. I hardly got any sleep.

I was up at 6 am and just tried to watch whatever was on TV til my mom got up. She made me some food. Then slowly everyone else woke. By 10am I fell asleep on the recliner chair in the den and my mom took care of the kids. Joshua just drives around and round on the power wheels truck, so he's easy. My fever went away that day, but I was left with a killer sore throat. It started on one side, then transferred to the other a few days later. Other than that I was pretty healthy.

Anyway, while I'm recovering, my two sisters are driving down from Pennsylvania (that's where Julie now lives) its a 14 hour drive. Did I mention there were 4 kids with them?!? Well, they got into GA in secret Tuesday morning, I think(it was a secret). My mom thought Julie's getting into town Friday sometime and was waiting to hear from Bryttani. Bryttani was in NY visiting Matt, which she did for a day or so, then drove to my sisters house to help her with the kids on the drive down.
Because Julie had so much to do, and Bryttani was trying to help as much as she could before she '"flew" in. she never could give my mom a for sure day she was coming into town. It bugged my mom. It was funny. Bryttani "arrived" Wednesday night. The next morning (Party Day) while she was cutting my mom's hair, my mom got a call from my dad. He told her that he was taking her out that evening and to dress nice/casual and that he had two tickets.

That was all it took to start the questions....there's a handsome reward if you know anything... has he said anything to you?...What tickets do you think he has?...and on and on. Since she was busy that night, then we all made other "plans." for the evening.

We headed over to the church at 5 to help with any last minute things that needed to be done. People started arriving at 6. Brett called my Dad at 6:15 to pretend he needed him for something. We had a person on watch for them. And then in came the honored guest herself. When she walked into the gym everyone said "Surprise, Happy Anniversary". It was quite funny, she looked sort of put out and completely surprised. Embarrassed a little too. ( Mom, you're worth the fuss. ) We had my mom's mom and sister and husband come down. And my Dad's brother, who I haven't seen in a very long time, came. It was so fun to see everyone. The gym was packed with friends from church and in the community.

We ate dinner first, then the party began. That band was awesome and we danced all night. They played "oldie but goodie" type songs and were absolutely great. I was a little nervous at first to dance. Brett and I had taken a short set of dance lessons ages ago. And I wanted to try to go the murray dance center on a weekend to brush up on our moves, but that didn't happen. But after a while, I just didn't care anymore and just had fun. I think that if I ever had training I would be a good dancer, I've always liked to dance. What little girl doesn't?

It was a slamming success. Thanks to everyone who came and had fun.

Happy Anniversary to my great parents.

It's a little dark, but if you look, my mom is still shocked.

The Cupcake Cake that my sister Julie put together. It was delish!

My sweet parents

Extras...

Another FB Friend

2009-08-24T14:06:00.000-07:00

July 20, 2009

What can I say other than Facebook is my friend. You know how it goes on FB, people add you as friends, maybe you haven't seen them in 10 years or so, but hey- the number on the friends goes up on the FB page. Well, that's how it goes for my next friend I got in touch with.

I knew Seth Strasburg from when I lived in GA. He was a bit older than me, I was a Freshman when he was a Senior. But when you live in a town full of other religions, the LDS kids stick together at school. His family lived in my town for a few years then moved to the Atlanta area. After HS, I think he came out to UT to work or go to school. Not too sure, but I do know that his mission was in South Carolina and at one point in North Carolina where my Grandma and Mom's family live.

The last time I saw him was when we were visiting my Grandma and he was in the area and my dad called him up and we took him and his companions out to dinner at Pizza Hut. (Here in UT, there aren't any sit-down Pizza Hut restaurants, but everywhere else in the world, there are.)

So life goes on, we connected on FB. Nothing special, I found out he lived in Provo. So one April afternoon I decided to venture to Costco with my 2 kids. It was right before Easter and who walked right pass me? It was Seth. I almost didn't recognize him because I had only seen his picture a few times on FB. I called his name out and he turned. I was glad. So we exchanged info and I told him I'd have him over and we'd catch up.

Well, April has Easter, and May has Mother's day, June has Father's day, July has multiple holidays. You know what I'm getting at, I was just getting busier, especially with the summer. But then I started to feel guilty. I hadn't forgot about him, I was just running out of time before I went out to see my family at the end on July. So I contacted him through FB and told when and where and set up the dinner. I wanted to see him before I left otherwise, who knows when we could get together.

We had pizza (must be a tradition) from Papa Murphy's and my sister came up. Which was great because she remembers all these funny, random stories and events that I don't.
It was really great to have him over and catch up with what's going on in each others' families and lives. I even made homemade ice cream for him....he was always so nice to me. Thanks for being a good friend, Seth.

Independance Day

2009-08-23T21:32:00.000-07:00

July 4, 2009

This year for the 4th we stayed home and played. It was cloudy in the morning, but I just knew with all my heart it was going to be a beautiful day. Especially since we were planning a fun trip to Raging Waters water park. Bryttani came up Friday night and we were planning a fun weekend. She was missing Matt terribly.

First things first, though, we have to eat breakfast. That means the Boy Scout Breakfast at Harmon's (a grocery store). Every year our boy scout troop holds a breakfast. It's pretty yummy. We support food functions!

Then we came home and packed up for a fun day at the water park. I made PB&J's packed all sorts of "healthy" snacks to sustain us through out the day. Then we get to the waterpark, and luckily it wasn't that crowded...yet, because of the cloudy forecast. But we got there at 11 and people were already starting to get the grills going and food was starting to smell so yummy. One group that was nearby were Samoan, and their food was so mouthwatering. Brett was temped to go over and pay them money for a plate. What, PB&J isn't good enough?

Joshua was so fun to take. We started on the kiddie area, then by the end of the day he was going on the small to medium sized rides with me and Brett. It's so fun to be able to do fun things with him. He's so tall, that's good so he can ride the rides.

We came home and got ready to BBQ. Hamburgers and hotdogs are always a fav. I don't have a picture. We also had potatoe salad and roasted corn on the cob and watermelon. Yummy.

Once it got dark enough, Joshua wanted to lite the fireworks. I bought a $20 kit at the grocery store. It wasn't much, but fun. Then we rushed over to see the big fireworks at the Jordan High School. Fun stuff. Until next year, I hope everyone had a great 4th!

My Little Bike Rider

2009-08-23T20:40:00.000-07:00

July 1, 2009

For Christmas this last year, Joshua asked for a bike. And Since we went out to GA for Christmas, he was a bit disappointed when he didn't get a bike. Well, little did he know that Brett's parents were getting him a bike and we hadn't yet done our "Christmas" with them yet.

From the moment he saw his bike, he was so excited and he couldn't wait til he could ride it. It's just a small little beginner bike with training wheels. Well, before we had a month of rain in June he was able to ride his bike and he was getting pretty good. I noticed that he wasn't even using the training wheels. He'd ride fine, until he took a turn, then it would make him off balance and he'd fall. So one day, I decided to take them off. And he hopped on and I pushed him out and he was riding his bike! But....then he'd turn his head to see if I was still behind him pushing. I wasn't, obviously, and he'd stop and say that I need to push him. That went on for a few rounds and I decided that he just wasn't quite ready. When I put the training wheels back on, I bent them up so he could use them at all.

Then the month of rain started and he didn't ride as often. But in the somewhat nice days, we'd go outside and he'd ride his heart out. And the funny thing is, he was not using the training wheels, he just needed them for comfort.

On July 1st we woke up to a beautiful, non-rainy morning. And like always Joshua wanted to go out and ride in the circle. I told him after breakfast. He held me to my word. While he was out riding, I watched him take a turn that was pretty sharp and one of the training wheels caught the road and knocked him over the other way. He kind of whined and got back on his bike and rode over to me on the porch step. "Mom, I think we should take those wheels off or something." he says. OK. I took them off and off he went. Didn't even need my help to get him balanced or anything. So that's that.

Elianna's cheering Joshua on, runny nose and all.

Lake Mead

2009-08-15T13:08:00.000-07:00

June 14-20, 2009

I'm really bad at taking pictures when we go down to Lake Mead because we go there all the time. We go down with Brett's side of the family multiple times a year, but the one in June is like our "family reunion". And I didn't take a single picture. I had my camera with me and have intentions of taking pictures, but I just don't. Brett took some pictures on his phone and Grandma Becky took some pictures too. So I do have a few photos. And I think when I get around to it, I have a video of Joshua trying to ski with Brett.

Joshua loves the boats and this year he tried to ski with Brett. He also went on the Landlock surf board with Brett. That's his favorite thing. The first half of the week we were with all family, then on Wednesday, some of the family left and Dan And Becky's friends from their ward came down for there annual waterski trip. We usually aren't invited to stay, but this time we were. So we stayed and enjoyed the fun company.

Also, our 8 year Anniversary fell on the Tuesday while we were down there. So we went out to the Bellagio and ate there. We have never been inside the Bellagio before and I have to say it was a bit disappointing. I love the fountain/lights show out front. But the inside was nothing too special. But it was fun. The one really fun thing they did have inside was a huge garden. They have life size ladybugs and turtles and flowers all made out of flowers. There is a ferris wheel and a greenhouse. It was very cute. And it smelled so nice and fresh.

My Lost Friend

2009-08-15T00:01:00.000-07:00

June 25, 2009

I don't know how many people are on FB (Facebook), but I'm on. And so far I've been connected with a few friends that I've lost contact with over the years. This beautiful friend of mine is Kim. We met eachother in Massage Therapy School back in 2002. We hung out a lot, but then one beautiful winter day she came with Brett and I snowboarding. And while going down the fierce bunny hill, she fell and broke her wrist. I felt horrible. I mean, we're in massage school. She had to take a leave of absence which meant she was moved to a different class when she was ready to come back. We tried to stay connected, but life goes on and cell phone numbers change, y'know?
Anyway, I'm so happy we hooked up again. After talking to each other over FB, we finally made time to meet up at Joe's Crab Shack for lunch. I didn't meet her husband, but I did meet her new little boy, Oliver. I think he's a few days older than Elianna. It was great to see her and I'm excited to do more things with her.

Trying To Get Some Sun In The Rain

2009-08-14T23:40:00.000-07:00

June 3, 2009

Most of you know that it rained a TON in June. It was like 22 days out of the month. Well, this is still at the beginning of the month and the rain was just beginning. It was cloudy, then sunny, then cloudy. But we decided to have lunch at the Children Garden at Thanksgiving Point. Elianna hung out in her stroller eating apples and grapes and whatever else I could feed her. Joshua had fun at first, then he started to get cold. And once he was cold, he gets whinny. So we went home. The outing wasn't as long as I had hoped, but I didn't want him to freeze either.
It's a lot of fun there. We like it.

Daddy's Little Girl

2009-08-14T23:21:00.000-07:00

June 2, 2009

Elianna is just so sweet and cute and cuddly and I can go on and on. Brett calls her the Squishy girl. He absolutely adores her. And I can already tell that she thinks he's just amazing. Everyday when he comes home from work, she just lights up and wants him to hold her...at least for a second. Just like Joshua being a daddy's boy, she's a mommy's girl. So she'll go to him for a bit, then back to me. I love it. They are so cute.

Movie Night with the Chip Dip

2009-08-14T22:43:00.001-07:00

May 29, 2009

We have on our hands a big boy. He's only 3 (4 in December)! He talks and acts like he's five. He's just so much fun. So, we thought we'd have out first movie night with the little guy.
We rented Disney's Bolt from the Red Box, which we don't do a lot of, and we popped popcorn and pulled out the sleeping bags and just camped out on the floor to watch the movie.

Elianna was alseep so it was very nice to just have some one on one time with the little man. He is definitely missing the exclusive attention he used to have. He still gets ton, but it's just not the same. I don't know if he'll ever get used to it. He's doing pretty well though.

Anyway, if you haven't seen Bolt, it's definitely worth it. It is so funny. We all fell asleep since we were all so tired. But bright the next morning he was up watching it again over breakfast. It was so fun.

A few weeks later we watched the Tale of Despereux. ( I don't think I spelled that right) Brett absolutely hated it. It was dark and creepy and about rats. I've never read the book, so I thought it was about a pirate mouse. So when it first started out on the ship, I was like, OK. But then they went to the island for soup, it went downhill from there. I liked the mouse, but the rats were creepy. Sorry to those of you who liked the movie but we were not fans.

In a while Crocodile

2009-08-14T22:09:00.000-07:00

yes I know it has been a while, get ready for our fun summer.....So far!

Just a note

2009-07-26T12:23:00.000-07:00

Hi ! I know I haven't blogged in a while. I've got some pictures and video of some of the things we've up to this summer, but for some reason I just haven't been in the mood to sit down and blog. I have hardly been on the computer. It must be the nice weather and activities keeping me away.

I'm actually going out of town on Tuesday to go see family in GA for a few weeks. We'll be in GA for a week and then we're going down to FL to have fun on the beach for a week.

So, when I get back, I'll sit myself down and update you all with what we've been up to.

See ya!

Curious Kitchen

2009-06-28T11:58:00.000-07:00

6 months and counting...

Some of you may know this story, but I'll recap for those of you that don't. Back in December we were sitting around the table eating dinner where Joshua talks non-stop all the time, when he said 'when I 16, I'm going to drive Daddio's cool car truck!'

Brett- I don't know about that. Maybe you can start in something smaller

Joshua- Like a motorcycle?

Me- Joshua, when you turn 16 and your a really good boy, then you can have a Transformer Bumble Bee car. But only if you're really good and listen to mom and dad.

You should have seen Joshua's face light up. it was so cute. Why did I say that you might wonder...well, I wanted him to be quite and eat his food, which he did.

Well, it's been 6 months and he still at every prayer continues to pray for a bumble bee car when he turns 16. It's incredible. I thought he would forget, but not so far. A few weeks ago we made a deal that he has to pay for half of it. So now every time he gets a penny or any type of left over change he tells me he's going to put it in his piggy bank for his bumble bee car.

*************************************************************************************

Like Father, Like Son

Last night we were on our way to Sonic to get some cool summer treats.

Joshua- Guys, where we going?

Brett- We're going to go get some treats

Joshua- Oh, so we can sell them?

We laugh-

Brett- No, they are for us, but I like the way you think!

*************************************************************************************

A Church Prayer

Joshua said the closing prayer in Primary today:

Father, thank you for this day. Thank you we can go home safely. -then as I am about to tell him to end the prayer he says- Thank you I can be a bad boy and listen to my mom and dad- Amen

Then the whole primary and teachers are laughing there heads off. I think he meant to say 'good boy' but oh well, it was hilarious.

Then after church at home, I was giving Brett a hug and Joshua comes over and hugs us. So I pick him up and we continue the hug and he says-we're having a family. And Brett says, yes we are.

Until next time....

No longer MIA

2009-06-28T11:53:00.000-07:00

I have been busy, but ya know...mostly lazy. I've had time here and there, in between stuff to Blog, but I just haven't wanted to do it. I'm sorry. I really enjoy reading other's blogs so I feel guilty a little when I don't post something. So I will try to catch you all up this week.

My American Family

2009-06-01T20:05:00.000-07:00

We're all sitting here on the my bed. Me, Brett, Elianna and Joshua watching Transformers. It's Joshua's favorite show. And I thought I'd just post and say that it's awesome.

Elianna is bouncing up and down and laughing her head off at Joshua. And Joshua is showing her is battle wound of the day on his elbow and giving her a hug. And Brett and I are on laptops watching the show and the kids.

Isn't that so funny that we are both on laptops? I guess we're in the age of computers.

But for right now, for one small moment everyone is happy. What a special moment!

May Review!

2009-05-26T20:18:00.000-07:00

So May has come and practically gone. What have we been up to? Well, a whole lot fun nothings. Mostly just playing outside and fixing our yard and going to the park and trying to keep up with house work. I only have a few pictures. The 1st weekend of May we actually went down to Logandale, NV for Brett's sisters new baby's blessing. (Does that make sense?) Then we went to Lake Mead one day too. That was fun to be in nice weather. We left when there was a huge Thunderstorm in Salt Lake and happily came home to nice weather and it's been pretty nice weather so far.

The pictures above are of Elianna outside just hanging out. We're just playing in the back yard when we got home.

I hate to say it but Mother's Day was kind of a bust this year. Brett really dropped the ball. I was really sad because he's always spoiled me since I've actually been mother. There wasn't a breakfast, or a present or even a card. I'll probably embarrass him, but he eventually wrote me a card on one of MY Thank You notes! I was so upset, I'm sure you can imagine. Luckily he put in some cash to save himself a sleep on the couch. The next day I went out with my Sister and his sister Mandi and Mom and we went to Ross to find some clothes. It was fun. Bryttani really knows how to find the goods in all the clutter. I can't go to that store by myself. I get overwhelmed and just turn and walk out the door. So that kind of Brightened up my Sad Mother's Day.

These next pictures were at MayDay at Wheeler Farm on the 16th. We took Joshua over to have a fun time on the bouncy slides.

Brett and Joshua going down the slide. This one was really steep so when Joshua got to the top, he was scared. So Brett went up and if you look closely he has a huge smile on his face.

Elianna's toes getting toasted in the sun.

She's such an Angel. I really just love her so much.

We've also been busy with Joshua's Tee ball practices and games on Tuesday's and Thursday's.
It's really not crazy as it usually is. Elianna's been taking her nap at 12 for the last month and I think that will be a regular thing. It's been nice actually. I'm not having to rush around to get ready to be somewhere and I'm not having to rush the kids. I'm just letting her sleep and Joshua play til after she's done. So I'm rearranging my schedule a little, but over it's real nice.

Anyway, That's what we've been up to. Nothing too exciting, but it's nice to have some downtime. Although now I'm feeling an itch to do something. Maybe June will bring some excitement!

Curious Kitchen

2009-05-22T12:37:00.000-07:00

On Friday's I go to the gym a little later than usual, so by the time we get home, Joshua is starving. We all are. So today Brett was still home working downstairs. While I was making Joshua a sandwich I guess he went downstairs to see 'Daddio.' He then comes up and sees his sandwich and starts eating. In the meantime, I'm at the stove cooking up some eggs to make an egg and cheese sandwich for me and for Brett. I figure since he's home I'll make him something to eat too.

I finish the sandwiches and took one down to Brett.

Brett- Did Joshua tell you that I wanted a sandwich?

Me- No, did you tell him to?

Brett- Yeah, well, Joshua came down here and said you were making him a cheese sandwich. So I told him, I want one too, Go make me one. Then he says, That's silly Daddio, boys don't make sandwiches, only girls (gwrils).

I laughed at that, then thought that maybe "Daddio" should do some cooking around here. :) That probably won't happen. So I'm sorry to whoever my future Daughter-in-law is. But maybe by that time, hopefully he'll get some cooking skills.

No Time To Breathe...

2009-05-18T22:08:00.000-07:00

So I haven't been on the blogging scene lately. I just have been so busy. I don't know how, just one thing leads to another and another. Am I the only one that happened to?

And I haven't uploaded photos, but I will soon. Just wanted to say Hello! and that I am around and will try to post something soon.

Brett's Fight!

2009-04-27T22:53:00.001-07:00

You think my husband works! No way, he does this....and it's pretty funny!

To see the actual fight live Wednesday @ 1pm EST go to www.maverickslive.com

Mini Cards

2009-04-27T21:30:00.000-07:00

April 23rd-7pm

So after the baseball game I headed straight over to the church to teach a mini card class.

I did a card making class a few years ago for enrichment and long story short by the end of the class I was frazzled and crazed and dead tired. The class had also confirmed what I had known all along that I am not a great teacher. I can do things that I am taught and do them well, but I have a hard time teaching what I know. And that's why I have my friend Melanie come and help. I met Melanie at least 5 or 6 years ago when I was working as a massage therapist for a chiropractor. She's a Stampin' Up! demonstrator and is so creative. She's taught me alot about cardmaking and being more crafty.

Anyway, back in January our Relief Society sent around a questionnaire about what kind of stuff is everyone interested in and what not. So apparently someone suggested that I give another card class again. So then a few weeks later I get a call and, honestly, I was totally floored and a little flattered. But I can't take any credit really. So I reluctantly agreed to do it.

I met with my mentor, Melanie and she came up with a great idea to do mini-cards. There are basically scrapbooking kits that are divided in two and walla! it's your card kit. Here are the two kits I presented:

Pink Set

Blue Set

I personally like the blue set the best, but both are very cute. They are 3 x 3 inch cards and adorable. So cute for any occasion. We just used stickers and paper and a few embellishments here and there like buttons and brads and ribbon, but over all very clean and simple. To keep the cost down, I broke up the prices. The basic set was $12 and came with the box to put the cards in (14 cards). I also made a tin that was $3 extra (16 cards). And regardless of box/tin, envelopes were about $3 extra too (14 or 16 cards).

Overall I think it was a success. We also offered cute little paperclip bookmarks that people could make too. I haven't taken a picture of the ones I made yet, but I will. They were very cute. I'm using mine already!

Joshua's First Tee-Ball Game

2009-04-27T21:09:00.000-07:00

April 23rd-5pm

What an exciting event this first Tee-Ball game was. Talk about organized chaos!

It was fun to watch him though. All the kids were cute. And they all wanted to catch the ball. I did get a few shots of him with the camera, but I did finally break out the video camera and dusted it off to film the game. Poor Elianna. I think that was the first time I video taped her. And it was Joshua's game! How neglected the 2nd child is...I was a second child! I should know better.

Joshua was not being too cooperative taking these pictures. So I only took a few. Brett stayed on the field with him the whole time and helped him. He got to bat a few times and after he would hit the ball, he didn't know where to run. So he ran after the ball instead of going to first base. I didn't care too much because all the kids did that too. I think they all need more practicing. After the game, a few days later, we went to get him a bat so we can practice batting with him.

It was fun and I was proud of my little guy.

Curious Kitchen

2009-04-27T14:45:00.000-07:00

So I got this idea from a friend where every week she has a post of funny things her kids say, and it's so cute and funny and just a great way to remember the cute things they say. So, I decided to do it with Joshua. He really says some cute and off the wall things. Here's the first one that came from this last weekend.

Brett's getting ready to go work downstairs in his office for a bit and Joshua is in our room watching cartoons, Saturday morning.

Brett-"See ya Bud, I'm going to work"

Joshua-" Daddio, you going downstairs to go to work?"

Brett-" Yup"

Joshua-" Daddio, can I come too?"

Brett- " No, I'm working and you don't know how to work like Daddio."

Joshua-" I don't? " He pauses to think then says matter-of-factly, "I do know how to eat yogurt, Daddio."

Brett and I look at eachother, What?!?

Until next time, that's all in the Curious Kitchen!

7 Month Baby Doll

2009-04-25T18:50:00.000-07:00

Presenting our Sweet Baby Doll

I decided to take a few nakey pictures of her one night. Just a few days shy of 7 months. She was happy to pose for me. I know I'm bias, but come on, she's so beautiful. Look at that face!

Ok,ok, enough bragging. Her first tooth broke thru on the bottom middle left @ 6 1/2 months on the dot. And the next one to it, bottom middle right, broke thru exactly @ 7 months. She certainly let us know that she was in distress. She was cranky and for her, that does not happen often. She is still a drool monster and wears a bib daily. And at night she would wake up in pain, poor thing. And poor mom. She has spoiled me with sleeping all night early on, so I'm not used to getting up. But it's Ok.

She is eating more and more food and baby food. She likes Oatmeal in the morning mixed with a mashed banana. She likes applesause and peaches and yogurt for lunch. And for dinner I give her a jar of actual baby food of mac and cheese, chicken and noodle dinner, or chicken veggie dinner. So far she likes anything I give her. I've given her toast and little bits of eggs or ham. Just whatever I eat I try to give her a little taste.

I have introduced a few different sippy cups with water. She hasn't taken to it so fondly yet. I keep it out when she eats so she gets used to it there on her tray.

She FINALLY rolled over on her 7 month birthday and I missed it. We were at dinner with some friends in our ward and Grandma Becky and Grandpa Dan watched the kids and let us know later. I was kind of sad because I've been giving her a lot of tummy time and just waiting for the roll. So she rolled from on her back to on her front. So far she hasn't gone from belly to back, that's still a work in progress.

That's all for now to report.

This is her in a beautiful dress I received from my Aunt Phyllis when I was having showers with my first pregnancy and we all thought I was having a girl! I was so excited to finally use it.

This is how Elianna smiles. She doesn't grin from cheek to cheek she just opens her mouth super wide and that's how we know she's a happy girl.

Easter Weekend

2009-04-24T22:34:00.001-07:00

Finally! Our Easter post. We had a great Easter. We usually do, but isn't Easter just a fun Holiday? It's the announcement that Spring is here and Winter is over. It's the renewal of life and baby animals and flowers. It's the reminder of our Savior and his Sacrifice for us. I really enjoyed Elder Hollands Conference talk. It really touched my heart and reminded me of the love that He has for us, for me; the true meaning of Easter.

Here's what we did.

First up was Dinner at Grandma Becky & Grandpa Dan's Friday evening.

Brett's sister Karen and fam. came up from Vegas. So that was nice. They have little Bekah and brand new Jeffery. Bekah just loves Joshua. After dinner they went on a hunt. It was fun. Joshua was into this year. Last year he didn't really know what to do. Brett's brother Chris and fam were there too. Jaydon also loves Joshua. It's going to be fun for Joshua to be the older cousin on this side. It's so cute already.

Saturtday morning, 9am sharp, was the neighborhood egg/candy hunt.

It's a blast. The whole neighborhood is invited and it's just a huge production. Our previous Bishop and his family sponsers the whole thing. They live in a cul-de-sac and all the neighbors are involved. All the candy is spread out over 4 or 5 yards. They release the kids depending on age, small to older, order. And everyone has a great time. Then we have a small breakfast of pancakes and eggs and juice. Tables and chairs are put in the street and it's just a nice time to talk to the folks in the area.

Elianna had her first bit of pancake. And Joshua was not thrilled to see the Easter bunny for the first time. It is Creepy.

That evening we went with Brett's family to a place called Jumping Jacks out in Jordan Landing.
It's a huge bounce house. The kids had so much fun. Afterwards we headed back to Becky's and she gave the kids their Easter presents early. The kids decided to have a Fashion show.

She gave the boys Lightening McQueen swim suits and gave Bekah a Disney Princess swimsuit. She actually gave Elianna a cute little outfit, but since I just went to Kolh's to shop for her the day before and got her a swim suit, I pulled that out of my car and had her join in the swimsuit fun. It was hilarious because they where screaming 'Easter' for every picture. And it didn't sound like Easter with Bekah and she was the loudest. It was more like 'Rerer'. So cute. We love our Cousins!

Easter morning was kind of cramped.

We have 9 am church so we didn't do the whole Easter Basket thing. I will do that next year.
But I managed to take a quick picture of us before church. Don't look too close, you can tell we're tired.

After church I made a delicious dinner with a Honey Baked Mini Ham, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, a salad and rolls. My sister Bryttani and her husband Matt, came up and she brought deviled Eggs. They were so yummy. After dinner we dyed a few eggs and did another EGG hunt, not Candy hunt. I said Enough to candy. It was funny because Joshua is growing too tall for his undershirts and his belly hangs out. I guess I need to get on that.

Overall, we had a wonderful Easter. We just hung out. Later on that Evening Brett's parents, Anita and Grandma Jarvis came over and we played a few games. It was fun. It was then that we had Strawberry's & Cream with Angel Food Cake. It was so Yummy! I love Easter.

Tee Ball

2009-04-24T22:24:00.000-07:00

So this year we decided to sign Joshua up for Tee-Ball. A friend of mine in the my ward has a little boy his age and she wanted to get the boys together so I said OK. It sounded fun. We don't really play baseball in my house so this is a new experience for Joshua and Brett! This is his first practice. Tuesday April 7th.

Look at that stance! He really took right to it. He was excited about getting his glove and ball. This is a coach-pitch team. So after 3 pitches, he'll get a chance to hit off the Tee.

After practice, Coach gave him his uniform. He's so cute. We'll see how it goes.

April Catch UP

2009-04-24T22:22:00.000-07:00

So I've spent a bit of time catching up on March. I'm now going to catch up for April before the month ends. I will not be slow on this again because I don't like to back track.

End of March Madness

2009-04-19T23:40:00.000-07:00

Here's a few pictures to finish up March.

Friday March 27th, We went to the Discovery Museum @ the Gateway. I was supporting a friend. Her Due Date was the day before and no baby, so she didn't want to stay home. So out we went to have some fun. It's a little pricey, but so worth it. It's a two story building with tons to do. We sweetened the deal afterwards by going to get a caramel apple at the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. Yum!

Then, 2 days later the 29th, came the storm. We had been telling Joshua that the next time it snows we'd go sledding. It finally came and it snowed just enough to go sledding. Joshua had a great time. When then went to Grandma Becky's to get Hot Cocoa.

Joshua you are so much fun! I love to do these fun things with you because you have such thrilling energy. And I love to watch you learn and explore.

My Little Eater

2009-04-19T23:33:00.001-07:00

March 25th
Elianna's first experience with Peas. And boy did she like them. She now eats those Gerber Puffs and Wheels. She likes banana chunks and Captn Crunch Berries.

What a fun little sweetheart! I love you Elianna.

Early Bloomers

2009-04-19T23:16:00.000-07:00

I'm so excited to present my Tulips. After Elianna was born I finally put some tulips in the ground. They are my favorite flower. So this is my first one out with a bulb.

Not So Funny story- It's a nice day out and Joshua's out front. There is a little shovel out there too on the front door. I'm inside on the phone, and I hear Whack-whack- whack. I hurry outside and see Joshua beating the crap out of my new tulips. And three of them are damaged and will not bloom. I was very upset and he was set to his room. Oh well, hopefully they'll come up next year.

A Raisin & A Nose

2009-04-19T22:00:00.000-07:00

The Scene: I'm in my Bathroom fixing my hair and makeup. It's 1pm. We have 10 minutes before we're supposed to leave for Joshua's Little Gym Class.

Joshua was watching Dora waiting for me eating a small box of raisins.
He enters the bathroom and says Mom I like raisins.

I reply, I know you do, they are so yummy.

He says, Mom, I think I have a raisin in my nose.

What!? -pause- Are you kidding me?

He says No.

I then proceed to look up his nose and, of course, couldn't see anything. But I sure could see it just with my eyes and you could feel it. A little plop on the side of the nose.

So what do you do? I called the doctor. They were at lunch til two. I called Brett and he wanted me to try to get Joshua to blow it out.

I tried that and a few other things, but nothing. Since the doctor was at lunch and I didn't want to take Joshua to his class anymore because what if snorted it up any further running around? I ran some errands. I killed an hour just driving around. Then at 2pm, I called the DR. again, but the soonest appointment wasn't til 4:30. I just didn't want to wait. So I'm driving to the Insta-care and we're at a red light and I turn around to Joshua and say, Let's just try one more time to blow it out. He tries to blow it out and after a few tries, I can see the bottom of it. It was gross.

The light turns green so I go and pull over to the shoulder. I tell him to make one more big blow. He does and out it came. So nasty. We call Brett to let him know.

I think because I waited a little while, it was able to get moisture and swell a little. Not too much, but just enough. Before it was too small to get any force.

So, I don't believe Joshua will do that again, I hope. Just so you know that I was laughing pretty much the whole time.

A week of Sunshine

2009-04-19T21:24:00.000-07:00

Still posting about March. We did get a week of beautiful Sunshine before the remaining snowstorms hit. We were outside at the park almost everyday and then on Friday March 20th, I went to Wheeler Farm with a friend and her kids. Here's some shots.

Thank you to my friend Stephanie B. for showing me how to do these colleges. It's so much easier to upload when you want to share a lot of photos. Thanks so much.

This is Joshua's 'buddy' Rodney. Rodney is just a few months younger, but they are about the same size. Rodney is a very cute boy and a good friend to Joshua. I think Joshua takes his friends for granted. They had a ton of fun romping around the Farm. It was fun to see all the baby animals.

My 6 Month Sweetheart

2009-04-15T20:27:00.000-07:00

So yes, just like everything else I've been blogging about, this, too, is overdue. She'll actually be 7 months on Saturday, but here we go.

Elianna is such a joy and a beautiful soul. She's a complete chiller and happy to be so. She can sit up and play, but hasn't yet rolled over. She's so funny. She will stay on her 'tummy time' for a while and instead of trying to figure out how to turn over when she's had enough, she just starts to get upset, which doesn't happen very often. I just laugh at her and she looks at me like I've betrayed her. I love it.

Nicknames Brett has come up with so far; Chica, The girl, Sweetcheeks, and Baby doll. Joshua actually was the one who came up with the 'girl'. I say to her every morning, good morning girl. And one morning Joshua was with me and he said it too, but the way he says girl sounds like the word Grill with a w, so gwrill. Try it, it sounds cute. So that's how we say it, Gwril. And it kind of stuck.

She continues to sleep thru the night. She likes to talk and is starting to squeal to herself. She likes her toes and touches them when she's sitting up. She's getting into the chewing and drooling stage. I'm sure she'll get a tooth soon.

At her 6 month appointment, she was 17.8 lbs and 26.5 inches tall. In good health and in good form. She did have to get some shots and that is an ordeal. She has this cry when given the shots that only happens when getting shots. It's very high pitched, and she's just so distrought that she can't fully cry so it's just tiny high-pitched squeals until she can control herself to cry. It's so sad and funny, I almost cry with her, but I can't help but laugh. Would it be a cruel thing to record it next time?

She is stingy with her smiles and laughs. If she thinks your super funny, she'll laugh. So we are not super funny a lot. She's so cute when she smiles though. Her smile is just a large open mouth. She opens it just really big and that's it. so funny.

About once a week we Skype Grandma Alesa and Pa. Sometimes we Skype Julie's Family so Joshua and Elianna can see the cousins. It's so fun. Grandma Alesa always has bubble gum so she can blow bubbles for Them and they love it. Joshua loves to show off and Elianna is getting used to their voices and will give them a smile.

She doesn't know what to think about the computer.

So happy 6 months, Elianna. You are so welcome in our family, we love you very much. You brighten up our lives with your happiness. We love to watch you grow. You bless us everyday and know that you are loved by your Heavenly Father.

Basketball Diaries

2009-04-14T21:19:00.000-07:00

So everyone who knows Brett, knows that he is a lover of Basketball.

He plays year round and is so glad that our Ward has pretty good players. They manage to get together about once a week. Well, every year from January to about March, Basketball madness happens around here. Our stake has pretty good teams and everyone plays against eachother over the course of 6-8 weeks or so. Once that is over, the best teams go to Region and plays for another 2 weeks or so. Well, this is where the more intense play comes. Everyone wants to Region Champs. This is the 4th season Brett has been in our ward and his team has won 3 out of the 4 years. Last year they didn't win because we were in Hawaii. So is Brett the cause...who's to say?

Well, it seems like during the Region Tournament, things get more intense. This year it was Brett's turn to get busted up.

Here's the Scenario:
Brett has a game Saturday morning at 8 am. I decide I'm not going because I just want to sleep in. Elianna is just a great sleeper. She sleeps all night and wakes up around 8, so it's nice. Anyway, I'm in bed. Brett got up and left at 7:30am. Joshua came in and turned on the cartoons around 8:30. I'm still in bed. Elianna hasn't even peeped, she's awesome. So I'm just in pure relaxation, with the exception of the Backyardagains in the background, then my phone rings. I look at the time, it's 9:10. It's Brett. I answer and Brett informs me that he's at the Instacare up the road because his chin is busted up. He's kind of in a panic, he didn't have his insurance card, and he's bleeding. Long story short, I had to go get him and he had to have stitched. He ended getting 11 or 12 stitches.

Not the greatest light, but you can see the stitches. I couldn't look at it for a few days.
The good news was, since I was up that early on a Saturday, while Brett was getting stitched up, I ran over the Chic-fil-a to get breakfast. Yummy!

Other injuries to report that game was a dislocated finger, and a few chipped teeth. I'm sure I'm leaving something else out, but that's all I can remember. It was a crazy game, apparently.

So, with that happening on Saturday, Brett was in for an intense week of Basketball. Since Brett played B-ball in high school, every year since they have an Alumni tournament. It just so happens that that always falls at the same time as the Region Champion week. So this was the start of that week. Everyday he played two games a night for 4 nights. It was fun. And Joshua loves to watch his dad play. He takes his ball and wears his b-ball shorts Grandma Alesa gave him so he can match his dad. So Sweet!

Ok, so Joshua's shorts must be in the wash after 3 days of wear. But he is in a football jersey if that makes up for it.

Sweet Elianna just slept. What a cutie! I just love her cheeks.

And I am just happy to come and watch my guy play a game he loves. It's a lot of fun.

So, no other injuries to report. And yes, We did win the Region. It was a tuff game, but well played. Until next year. So long!

The 12 Year Reunion!

2009-04-13T21:47:00.000-07:00

A little while back I wrote about how an old friend of mine found me through Facebook.
Here's our story.

Tiffani & Tabitha '97

The Exciting Adventure of Tabitha Lynch and Tiffani Rodriquez

Being military Brats, Tiffani and Tabitha both knew how it was to be stationed somewhere. Usually, the longest time you live at a place is 4 years. Tiffani was lucky in that way. The shortest place she ever lived somewhere was in Turkey and was there for 2 years. She then moved to Georgia in 1994 and her parents retired there and are there today.

One of the downsides to being in a military family is not being able to just settle somewhere. Not being able to have friends that you've known since you were 2 or 3. There are definite luxuries, like living all over the world. Experiencing other things that other kids your age would not. But one thing that you always hope for is a best friend. Someone to give that BFF friendship necklace or bracelet to.

That lucky day came to Tiffani and Tabitha when they found each other in the year 1996. Just in time for Freshman year of high school. What a year it would be! A year of sleepovers and talking about boys and crushes and first kisses and church dances and flirting. What fun! A bond was formed that year. A bond that ran true and deep and long.

Then came the summer. Tabitha went to Ecuador for the summer to visit her Dad's family. That's when the rebellion started. There's a rebellious streak in us all. Some just know how to control it better than others. That's where Tabitha faltered. It wasn't her fault really, she had a controlling mother that always worried, all moms do, Even about things that didn't happen. Time after time did Tabitha call Tiffani to see if she'd bring her something to wear for school. She'd show up to school in a huge oversized t-shirt with a puppy dog on it because that's the only thing she was allowed to wear. And then Tiffani would bring her a decent shirt to wear so Tabitha wouldn't be shunned.

However, she did go to Ecuador and had a great time with her family, but she came back a wilder girl. That's the Latin in her. Tiffani tried to keep her steady and tame, but couldn't always control the wild child. But then a few months into Sophomore year Tabitha got Dreadful, horrible news. She was told that her dad was being sent to Korea and her family would have to move again! To Iowa! Her mom's homeland. She was crushed, just ruined. And so was Tiffani! What would happen? How would they get through the tough and trying years of HighSchool? What were they to do?

Well, the time came and Tabitha had to go. There were many tears. Pictures were taken and poems and stories were written for memories sake. But they had email, and the phone and letters to write. They were sure they could stay true-blue BFF's.

Tiffani tried to get on with her life. Focus on school and what-not. But Tabitha had had enough. Enough! She hated Iowa or Nebraska or where ever she was. She was tired of moving. So she decided to cope with it by being the rebellious wild child she found in Ecuador. So she acted out and was a teenager! But her mom had had enough herself and taught her daugher a lesson by doing the worst thing you could ever imagine. She grounded her from Tiffani.

Tiffani received an email from Tabitha's mother telling her that Tabitha would not be contacting her again and that was that. Tiffani thought it was a joke and responded to the email, never to be written back ever again. Tiffani was heartbroken. What happened? Was Tabitha ok? What's going on? All these questions. Poor Tiffani. Poor Tabitha.

Weeks, then Months, then years went by. Finally one day she called Tiffani out of the blue and they did talk for a little while. Tabitha sounded different, so did Tiffani. But that was it. Nothing else. Weeks, months, and years went by. Tiffani and Tabitha finished high school. Tiffani and Tabitha both headed out west. Tiffani to Ricks College in ID and Tabitha to Oregon to Nanny, then down to Phoenix to be with her family (by this time they had moved there). They had no idea. Tiffani met her Husband Brett and were married in Jun 2001. Tabitha met her husband and was marred in March 2002. Great things were happening to two great people. But were still so far apart. Always thinking about eachother. Thinking that they should find each other. Thinking that they should be able to throw wedding showers and baby showers for thier best friend. But how?

In this day and age of super human computers, fate would have it that Facebook would be discovered. Tiffani found it first however and searched for Tabitha, but it all came to nothing. Oh well. Then months after Tiffani had joined, Tabitha made her debut and joined the Facebook rage. She searched and search to find Tiffani, and then finally to her amazement, she did! She added her as a friend and sent Tiffani a message. When Tiffani saw the message pop up in her email in late January, she was floored. She didn't know what to do. She was so excited and happy and a little nervous. It had been over ten years. Would she be different? How different? Would she like her?

A few days later Tiffani made the call to Tabitha and it was so awesome. The two still had the bond that was formed all those years ago. They had missed eachothers' laughs. They were happy to find out that Tiffani was in Salt Lake City, UT and Tabitha in Phoenix, AZ. How close, yet so far still! They decided that they had to meet immediately, but because of busy schedules it would not happen till the first full weekend of March. So be it. They would wait.
Finally the weekend of the reunion came. It was friday March the 5th. They met in Logandale, Nv. Both were a little nervous, but when their eyes met for the first time after all these years, they found that these two were still the same. They were older and wiser and a little chubbier, but hey! they have kids now. But still the same old kids from way back when.

This is the start of a beautiful friendship for years to come.

The End.

PS. Tabitha, I love you and am so happy that we are BFF's again! See you soon!

Draper Temple Open House

2009-04-13T15:06:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I know I've been a "blog Slacker", but that's the only way I've been slacking! We've been remodeling our bathrooms. The half bath/laundry room and Joshua's bathroom upstairs. Nothing too fancy, just getting them in working order so when we have company over we're not worried about them using the bathroom and it doesn't flush..that's always embarrassing on both sides.

So I have a lot to blog. I'll start with the exciting Draper Temple Open house. I sadly do not have any pictures, but that's ok. The Draper Temple was announced in October 2004. I remember that was very surprising to me and to Brett. We wondered where they would put it in Draper. We lived in Herriman at the time and didn't really think about it, to tell you the truth. In the meantime we moved over to Sandy, Ut and we really love our house and the ward and the neighborhood. Then slowly they started Construction on the Temple in Sumer 2006. I know that because I just looked it up. I'm just trying to lay some background. However, the first time I actually noticed it was when I was running some errands and was out in South Jordan and was coming East on Bangerter Hwy. early 2008, and saw it nestled up in the corner of the Mountain and I thought to myself, Oh, That's were the Draper Temple is? It was beautiful and I was miles away. When Elianna was born in September and my mom came out we went over to the Temple site and checked it out. I wanted my mom to see it. We got lost because it's way up there in the mountain. I loved the architecture immediately.

Then in December, I think, we find out in our ward that we were the last stake to be assaigned to the Draper temple and that we were going to be able to volunteer for the open house. We would have two days to be able to work. I was so excited. Brett signed us up for Ushers for the 1pm-5pm shift on both days. But I let them know that if they needed me I would make myself available to stay late or come early or whatever.

So our first day to volunteer was February 3rd, 1-5pm. I was a bus tour guide. Because of the way the temple is set up, it's in a neighborhood, so parking in limited. There were 4 church meeting houses that the 'tourists' would show up at; red, blue, green and yellow. The 'tourists' would get tickets online, then show up at the corresponding chruch house, then once there, watch a movie. After the movie, take a bus up to the temple, go thru the tour, end at the stake center for refreshements. They would then find their bus to take them back to their original church house to find their car. Is that confusing?

I was at the Blue Bldg on bus number 3. I had a blue sign, so the riders could see what color bldg. it was from, and a radio in case the bus broke down or something like that. While on the 6 minute ride up to the temple, I would read off a short script about the temple, different facts on where the stuff came from. For example, the limestone was imported from France, the granite from China and the wood was African Cherry from the west coast of Africa. The "short" script was actually pretty long and I would have to rush a little. Also, while talking, I had a microphone and had to stand up and face the riders on the bus. It was challanging to stay standing especially when there were turns.

It was a lot of fun. At 5 pm when the shift was changing, it turned out that my replacement was sick and wasn't able to make it. So I stayed for another 5 1/2 hours riding up and down on the bus. During the day it was in the 40's and sunny, but once the sun went down it got to be pretty chilly. It was exhausting by the end of the night. And the next moring I was surprisingly sore from standing up and down on the bus.

The week prior, our stake had a meeting to brief us on what we'd be doing and they kept saying over and over to smile, all the time. Just smile. It was the best way to make someone feel welcome. So I really did try to keep a smile on my face.

Since I was able to stay all afternoon and evening, I was able to hear all kinds of comments. The number one comment in the afternoon was people commenting on the outrageous homes that are built right next to the temple. The homes are huge and embarrassing, I think. There is no need for homes like that. It's like they're trying to compete with the Temple. And if you've been up there, you know what I 'm talking about. One comment I remember is from a kid in a family with 4 or 5 kids. They were sitting in the row opposite me, so I didn't have to try to overhear. He was going on and on about the homes and why didn't they live in a house like that. His house was small and little and he said that if they lived in one of those houses, he could have his own room. He was actually starting to get upset at his parents because of where they lived. And just wanted to turn around and slap him. I glanced at his parents and they didn't appear to be poor, but their faces were slowly looking pained. They were just wanting their child to be quiet. I thought it was upsetting because they just went through the temple with their family and now it was being ruined because of their ignorant kid.

However, in the evening, the huge homes just disappeared into the night and the Temple lights came on. The whole mountain lit up. Oh, how beautiful it was. No one mentioned the homes again. Just the temple. It was nice. I also heard a lot of people comment on how well organized the whole thing was, so that was good. I know there are always things that do go wrong, but I'm glad that overall it was a success.

A few weeks later, we went on the tour, just our family, so we could see the temple and to see how the tour actually was set up. It was very nice. The spirit was very strong the whole time. I know Joshua and Elianna won't remember it, but it was nice to be in there with them. We got the sit in the marriage and ceiling room and then in the Celestial room with them. It was a very special moment. Joshua was very excited to be there though. He had seen it from the outside a few times and was so excited to go in. He'll see it from the Freeway and yell-Mom, there's the temple! He's so cute.

The next day to volunteer was March 4th, 1-5pm. This time we were in the temple. Again I let them know that I was available to come early if needed. So the night before at 9:30pm I got the call that I was to come early at 10am. Luckily Becky said that was fine for her to watch the kids.

So at first, I just kind of did whatever was needed in the stake center where the tour ended. I was a cookie runner for a little while. And that was a bad place for me to be because the cookies were so delicious. They were from a local bakery in Draper called Little Dutch Boy, if I'm not mistaken. On weekends they went thru 25,000 cookies. It's just amazing. They had 4 rooms dedicated to bottled water alone. Just stacks of them up to the ceiling. Then the last hour and a half I just monitored the hall. Then at the 2pm, I headed over to the temple and found where my next shift was. In the temple I was put in a random hallway on the bottom level. It was the entrance for the handicapped tourists. They would start the tour there and an older missionary couple would be there to show the movie and proceed from there. I got to talk to the Elder missionary, name of Larkin. He was full of stories and it turned out that he owned a well know mortuary and cemetary and has buried the last 9 presidents of the church. He was good friends with President Gordan B. Hinckley and President Monson. I wished I could remember some of the stories, but honestly I was so tired by this time and my feet were killing me. I hate that I can't remember. So that's how I finished my day.

The only mistake I made was the shoes I wore. I don't know what I was thinking. The first time around I wore heels and it didn't bother me at all because I was on a bus for 9 hours and I was sitting. The second time, I was up walking around and standing in place. It was awful. I actually had a dent in the bottoms of my heels. So I won't ever wear heels again in that situation. I learned my lesson. It just didn't even cross my mind that I would be up and around and standing. I really thought I'd be on a bus again. Oh well. It was great experience and a great memory.

The dedication was the weekend of March 22nd. We haven't yet had the chance to go to the temple yet, but will do soon. Hopefully sometime this week.

Stay tuned, more to come...

sooooooo.......

2009-04-10T21:19:00.000-07:00

...it's been a long time since I've put up a post. Soooooooo sorry! Don't know how many readers I have waiting in anticipation, but I promise to get my butt in gear and blog. I have so much to update. So, in the coming week, you will be posted.

Tif