McAllister Family

2012-01-06T13:54:00.000-08:00

It's the start of another year and I've been missing my Mom a lot lately. Of course, the holidays are always hard, and this was our third Christmas without her. Then just this past week a wonderful lady in our ward passed away after a battle with pancreatic cancer. She reminded me a lot of my Mom and I made sure to take the opportunity to hug her and tell her how much I love and admire her. It is so strange to think that she is now up there with my Mom. Then I read this post over at beneathmyheart.net and it made me cry. She lost her Mom a few years ago to cancer as well. I totally identify with her. I thought I would repost it because it really captured a lot of my own feelings.

Last Friday night, I decided to make some popcorn for my boys while they watched a movie. There were only a few days left of their Christmas break, and we were soaking up some family time.

I LOVE popcorn! So I was so excited to be making some. The popcorn bowls were stored in the lower cabinet by the stove, so I bent down to get them out. As I was reaching for the bowls, my arm hit some of the casserole dishes that were stored in there too, and two of them slid out and fell on the floor with a loud breaking crash.

I froze as I looked down to see what had just happened.

There on the floor lay two broken casserole dishes. Not just any two dishes.

One glass casserole dish used to be my grandmother’s. It still had her handwriting on a piece of tape on the bottom of the dish with her name on it. My mom inherited that dish when her mom passed away. And it was passed on to me when my mom passed away.

The second dish was a gift to me from my mom. It was one of the last birthday gifts I ever received from her. I loved that casserole dish. Every time I used it, I felt mom’s love.

And there it lay on the floor broken.

As I knelt beside the broken dishes, my boys’ came running in the room to see what had made that loud crashing sound.

“What happened, Mom?” they asked.

I could hardly speak.

“Go get Daddy.” I said to my oldest.

Jonathan yelled at Cy to come quick, and then I heard Cy running across the house. He had no idea what had just happened. He was probably expecting to see something terribly wrong, but instead, he just saw me kneeling on the floor by some broken dishes.

He stopped.

“Mom gave me these dishes.” I said through a face full of tears.

“Go in the other room, boys.” He said.

And then without saying a word, Cy came and knelt down behind me, wrapping his arms around me, and I began to sob.

I couldn’t stop crying.

I felt stupid for crying so hard over broken dishes, but I couldn’t stop crying.

We knelt there together without saying a word for several minutes. And then finally I was able to choke out, “I know they are just dishes…. but they are all I have left of Mom.”

Cy got up quietly and got a broom to start sweeping up the broken pieces. I stood up beside the sink and watched as he put the bigger pieces on the stove and swept the smaller pieces in the dust pan.

I still couldn’t stop crying. Those broken dishes had opened up that broken place in my heart where I lost my mom.

I laid my head on the counter top and continued crying. My heart was hurting. I think my heart was extra tender at that moment. For the past few weeks, my heart had been flooded with Christmas memories of Mom, and I had been holding it all in. Christmas just hasn’t felt the same since Mom has been gone.

It’s still special, don’t get me wrong. But boy do I miss her at Christmas.

I was standing in line at a store a couple days before Christmas getting some gifts for my boys, when I overheard a mother and daughter talking at the register beside me. The daughter looked my age, and she had her toddler with her. They were talking about Christmas plans and what gifts they still had left to buy.

All of a sudden, I felt a pain in that broken place in my heart. I remember having those same conversations with my mom just a few years back.

I missed Mom.

When the daughter got up to the cashier to pay for her items, the mom said, “I’ll get this.”

“No, Mom. You don’t have to do that. I’ll get it,” the daughter replied.

“No, no, honey, I’m gonna pay for this,” the Mom insisted.

And again, my heart sank as I handed the cashier my money.

I remember moments like that. When Mom used to help take care of me. When she knew that money was tight and I was doing my best to take care of my boys, and she would say to the cashier, “No. I’m gonna pay for this.” And I felt my mother’s love. That deep, deep love of a mother.

BROKEN.

That’s how I feel sometimes.

Just like my broken dishes.

Cy offered to glue the birthday dish back together for me, and I’m going to let him.

I won’t be able to ever cook in it again, but at least I can put it on a shelf and look at it. He won’t be able to glue it back together perfectly, but good enough.

I’m a lot like that broken dish.

My life may look “good enough” on the outside, but my heart still has broken places in it that can never be fixed.

My mother will never be back. I will not be with her again on this earth.

Broken places.

Do you have them?

Truth is…we all do.

We all have those broken places in our lives where bad things happened to us. Or maybe things didn’t turn out like we had planned. Maybe we have been disappointed by something or someone. Maybe we have things in our past that have left scars on our hearts.

But here is the good news:

Beautiful things can grow in broken places.

source

Beauty has sprung from my broken place.

Though the heartache of losing my mom will never go away this side of heaven, I can honestly say that beautiful things have grown in that broken since then.

I am not who I was before my mom passed away, and I am grateful for that.

In my broken place, I have found a better perspective of what is truly important in life. I have found a deeper walk with Christ. I have found a greater love for family and friends.

Only Christ can bring beauty from our broken places.

source

But we have to let Him.

We have to trust. We have to pray. We have to hide His word in our hearts.

I love the following verse. (I inserted the word brokeness.)

2 Corinthians 12:9

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness (brokeness).” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses (brokeness), so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

God’s love can be made perfect in our brokeness. Praise HIM!

We all are broken, aren’t we? Some of us have little cracks in our lives and some of us have big gaping holes.

My prayer is that as we start this new year together, we would allow Jesus to grow beauty in our broken places.

I do feel broken in many ways, and even though it may not show on the outside all the time, I feel it deeply on the inside. I think I am still looking for ways to have something beautiful come from the broken places in my heart. After Marilyns funeral the other day I sobbed. Kate was the only one home and she came to my rescue. She let me just hold her and cry. She whispered in the softest, most tender voice, "It's okay, Mama." And I felt my Mom's love. Many people commented on her post and wished that they had even a fraction of a relationship like that with their mothers. I am so grateful for the closeness that we shared/share and that she will always be my shining example.

December and the new museum

2011-12-30T21:11:00.000-08:00

On December 28th my Grandpa Hague turned 85 years old and took us to the new museum. He is the former director of the Utah Museum of Natural History. I grew up going to "Grandpa's Museum" and loved it. The old museum was closed down and has relocated to this new building on the U of U campus. It was so neat to go through the new museum with him and you could feel the deep passion he has for everything that has gone into building this amazing place.

This is the view from the top of the museum. Even though is was really smoggy, it is still a pretty amazing view!

Grandpa is such a wealth of knowledge and it was such a neat opportunity for us to have him give us the tour.

Such an amazing and massive building!

If you zoom in you can see the orange plaque between them has their names on it. The Donald and Lorna Hague Family.

I used to lay in this very dinosaur print when I was a little girl. It is a vivid memory, so even though this is in a small corner of the museum, it was one of my favorite parts!

The kids really enjoyed all the exhibits and had fun with all the hands on stuff!

Grandpa loves to talk to Richard and Richard is such a great listener. A few times throughout our visit we had to go find them and make them catch up to us! We could have spent all day there with Grandpa, but we had to move at a more kid friendly pace.

The stones and gems were one of my favorite displays in the old museum.

The third floor of the museum is named for my Grandpa and this beautiful painting of him (painted in 1984) is right as you walk off the elevator. He has contributed so much time, talent and expertise to make the museum what it is.

I sure do love these guys, and they have so much love and pride for the museum.

This was one of my favorite parts of the whole tour. It was fun to watch passersby realize that the man we were taking our picture with was the man in the painting!

There was so much to see and my Grandpa knew about every little detail in the whole museum. Amazing. This display case alone has 600 items in it!

Rewind to the beginning of the month:

Emma's school teacher got married and had a reception at the school. Emma was in heaven dancing with her teacher and all her class mates. Her teacher is like a real live Disney princess and Kate thought she really was!

Her teacher is so sweet and Emma loves her so much. Mrs. Barton let Emma keep her bouquet and Emma was beyond thrilled! She felt so special!

Of course, our December is filled with a lot of Voice Male concerts and my kids are always eager to collect the rubber duckies after the shows. Here is their loverly display. And, of course, I didn't get any pictures of Voice Male....only the ducks.

Here is our family on Christmas Eve. After a potato bar dinner with Martinellis , the kids opened their jammies and I remembered that my Aunt Barbara had made these for Richard and me years ago. We looked like dorks, but it was fun. We had a totally awesome dance party and watched "Elf".

Other fun things we did this month:

Attended 2 Voice Male concerts, made lots of goodies (including a fondant cake because we love Cake Boss), had Christmas Eve breakfast at Dave's and went to a movie, wonderful family celebrations with both Hague and McAllister families, spilled hot chocolate all over Kate at a family party, breakfast at IHOP with Grandpa Kevin, ward parties, choir concerts, pack meeting and caroling, playing piano and singing lots of Christmas songs, and enjoying lazy days in jammies, watching movies and playing Just Dance!

We did have a wonderful Christmas. But we only took videos (no pics!) of Christmas morning. The rest of the day was spent making a lot of food, Richard being at church for 3 hours (he's in the bishopric), me being in charge of the Sacrament mtg. program (which actually went very well), and me stressing about it all. I think I wanted to be a kid this year and enjoy the magic of Christmas. But with the whole Sunday thing, I think I was overly stressed and it didn't feel like much of a relaxing Christmas Day, which is what I really wanted. However, we did have a great Christmas. I love my family and we are so very blessed. I think I'm ready for the kids to go back to school. I'm ready to take down the decorations and get my house back in order (well, as much order as possible with all the craziness). Ready to get back into regular blogging again. I guess I'm ready for a new year. I'm not ready to start my diet (again), but I figure I have until Monday to live it up. I'm gonna go have a piece of cake. See ya in 2012!

A little before and after

2011-12-02T21:23:00.000-08:00

Here is a little of what I have been up to lately. These kind of projects keep me sane. Back in the spring I swapped kids rooms and painted the girls room light blue. Kate was still in a crib, but we have since gotten bunk beds and I redid the room and love how it all turned out.

I LOVE this mirror from IKEA!

I made all the pillows. I searched everywhere for the "perfect" red and white bold flower print and made the other pillows out of felt. They were really fun and easy!

My goal was to get rid of all pastel pink, purple, and green. I love the yellow, blue, red and black! I still have to recover the dolly crib that is lined with pink gingham.

In their old room these boards used to be pink and purple. I peeled off the vinyl and repainted them and obviously had to have the vinyl reprinted.

Here is the AFTER. I saw a picture that inspired everything. I love that it is unique. Not that I don't love the black/white/hot pink combo, I just wanted something different and I love how it turned out. I still have a few little finishing touches to add, like wood initials above their beds, but overall I am so happy with how it all turned out!

Let's remind ourselves of the BEFORE in all its messy, boy glory!

Here is the AFTER of the kitchen table...sorry the picture isn't too clear. Next I think I'll have to tackle the banister because it kind of clashes with the walnut table top. Slowly but surely, I will phase out all the oak (yuck!) in my house. I also have bathroom vanity cabinets and kitchen cabinets on my list. I've been wanting to paint my table forever and finally did it.

The BEFORE. I was just tired of this look and if you looked close up there were so many stains and scratches. It needed a makeover!

I guess I'll have to put all my other big plans on hold and work on Christmas "stuff"!

Roy and his girlfriend

2011-11-29T22:02:00.001-08:00

This summer Kate rode on the float in the Lehi Parade. The theme was "Memories of....Grandpa's Farm". Roy Littleford was the "Grandpa" and Kate got to sit with him on the float. He took good care of her and she loved him. She talks about him all the time. A few weeks ago he called me to ask if he could make something special for his "little sweetheart". He made Kate this little doll table and chairs. He brought the cute plate with it and even made her a card that told her she is pretty and special. It makes me cry that he is so cute to do that. Kate always hugs him when she sees him at church and it is the cutest thing. I love living in a ward that has a great mix of old timers, middle age families and younger families. Our kids benefit so much from having relationships with these great people that have been around forever. Isn't this just the sweetest thing? And what beautiful detail!!

Happy Halloween in pictures

2011-10-31T21:26:00.001-07:00

These pictures were taken at the Trunk or Treat. In some years past Richard and I have dressed up, but this year we were party poopers, I guess.

Brady, Daniel and Savannah- the BYU crew

Kyler, Landon and Matt

Shiloh, Emma, Kate and Savannah

He had his heart set on being a kissing booth. I gave him a bag of Hershey Kisses to hand out if anyone requested a kiss because I didn't want him freely handing out real kisses. He is a cute boy!

I had no idea how I was going to pull off the Cosmo request from Daniel, but TA-DA!! I did! :)

A close up of the mask. I did this all with paper mache. I know, I know. I'm crazy. Or am I awesome? Or am I both? Who cares! It turned out great and he loved it and it cost about $1 to make and even though it was a lot of work, it was actually pretty fun!

This day she was Sleeping Beauty. This morning at the school parade she was a ballerina. Tonight at Grandpas she was Cinderella. This is the only picture I took!

This was a hit! I got the idea from Family Fun and it was so fun and cheap to make. Not very durable, but so dang cute!!

After the Trunk or Treat on Saturday we carved our pumpkins. I am always amazed at how messy this gets!

Emma's stands for "Emma loves (Grandma) Judy" and Kate's is the smiling one

I made a love pumpkin for Richard and me and Landon did the angry bird.

Daniel did the wolf and the "D". The D fell apart and caused many tears and much pouting, but a little wooden skewer fixed it up real nice and all was good....and then he burned his finger.

All the lights were off for this, but notice Daniels upset, teary face and the frozen peas on his burnt finger. After all, what would a pumpkin carving night be without a little drama!

Katelyn's 3rd Birthday!

2011-10-27T20:58:00.000-07:00

How did this happen? When did my baby grow up? She is such a little girl now...the only baby thing left is her binky...maybe that's why I can't give it up! She is such a joy to our family. She makes us all laugh and she has so much personality. I love this little girl more than I can explain. She's been looking forward to her birthday for so long and every single thing she sees at the store she asks if she can have it for her birthday and happily puts it back after I say, "Okay, we'll see!" I hope now that her birthday is over she will still be okay with that strategy! She had a fun birthday today and here are the highlights.

First thing in the morning, loving the present ritual!

Her new Sleeping Beauty dress. This is also her Halloween costume!

Eating her breakfast like a good little birthday princess!

Grandpa Kevin came and took her (us) to Target to buy a present and she immediately found this and we were done! Easiest shopping trip ever! Then we went to lunch with Grandpa and came back and put the scooter together.

She loves her Grandpa Kevin and was so excited to have him come be part of her day!

She loved helping me make pink cake balls with rainbow cake and rainbow frosting insides! She didn't even want ice cream to go with them...all she wanted were these beauties!

No day for Kate would be complete without a little time spent at the piano making up songs and singing the whole time.

Her "party" meant that we all wore Dora party hats at dinner. She was completely satisfied with that!

All day long she said, "Today is Happy Birthday to me!!" I think she had a great day!

Much needed

2011-10-25T12:29:00.001-07:00

I just spent the most fabulous weekend in Seattle with my very best friends. I love these girls so much and am so blessed to have the most amazing friends. The trip was full of laughter, silliness, food, primping, relaxing, shopping and just being together. I will do a big post with lots of pictures soon. But right now I'm wishing we could have spent a little bit more time together because now I'm back to reality and trying to make Halloween costumes and do laundry. I LOVE THESE GIRLS!

Erin, Julianne and Denae

Jenny, Heather and Mindy

Sing, my angel of music!

2011-10-19T16:19:00.000-07:00

This little girl just cracks me up. I love her energy and passion! Just thought I'd post these two little videos. The singing one is obviously from Phantom of the Opera and I love how you can tell she is just hearing every note in her head....oh, and putting on lip gloss at the same time, of course. Please watch the whole thing because the funniest part is at about 41 seconds in! At first, I thought the hopscotch was just SO loud, but then I realized how cute it was and pulled out my camera.

Fun fall decorating

2011-10-10T12:42:00.001-07:00

I kind of skipped over my summer decorating. The only thing I decorate for is patriotic and I don't have much stuff anyway. I did, however, do a little front room change up, which I will post about soon. For now, I just wanted to share my Halloween decor and ideas since I've been doing that all year for holidays. Now that I've decorated I'd better get started on my kids Halloween costumes. Daniel and Landon have some crazy ideas and I don't know how I'm going to pull it off. But I will! BTW- Sorry about all the side pictures, and sorry that the quality isn't better. I think a better camera might show off how these things look in real life, because it's much better than the pictures. We do what we can, but you get the idea!

Cute little school projects the kids have done. I think they are always honored that I keep and display things like this!

This is a favorite decoration of mine. I got this at Rodworks a few years ago

These pictures didn't turn like I asked them to. I wrapped the candles with a strip of scrapbook paper and a piece of twine and I think they make a fun little difference. The little hanging pictures are just cardstock and stickers. I made those the first year we were married and just store them in a book each year. They've held up great and were cheap and easy!

Just a little close-up of one of the cards- the writing was just done with a silver metallic pen.

This picture should be by the entry way table picture, but these are some fun patterns I created and stitched.

I just thought this was a cute Halloween pillow- found it at IKEA for $2.99

This is the other side of it- so fun!

There are really cute Halloween frames to make or buy (I got this one at Kohl's) to display fun memories of past years.

My entry way table

Another fun picture- Halloween 2001. The little bird and the candelabra are from the dollar store (it's much more glittery in person) I painted the glass in the white frame with chalkboard paint. Now I can use it year round and just change the sayings!

D.I. candle stick, dollar store pumpkins and dollar store ribbon!

Sorry about all the side pics! I added this wreath to the wall and I love it there! Usually I hang it on my front door, but this is way better.

Just a simple fall garland and more pumpkins. The window pane is new to this wall, but is a great way to use an old window pane! I LOVE this!

Daniel's pumpkin for the contest at school. Isn't it cute?

I made this to put at my Mom's grave. It was fun to make- I just used black paint and free handed it. You could use stickers and mod podge...the options are endless.

Just another view of this cute pumpkin. I think it would look cute with just the letter too.

Another idea...I used glitter glue to give new life to my old decorations. Here I painted the little orange beads to "pop" a little. It actually made a big difference and looks much better.

Two years

2011-10-07T12:58:00.000-07:00

Today marks the two year anniversary of my Mom's passing. October 7, 2009 was the most beautiful fall day I can remember. Today is cold, dark and dreary and I hate seeing the snow in the mountains already. We just skipped from summer to winter and I really need fall! One of my favorite memories of that day was after we (no children) had all arrived at the house that morning and cried and prayed together, we all went in the kitchen and sat around the table. My sister-in-laws sisters had brought Del Taco breakfast burritos, fruit and pumpkin chocolate chip cookies for breakfast. We sat around the table and talked and laughed. It was in that moment that I knew somehow we'd all be okay. Somedays it sure doesn't feel like it, but that experience is such a special memory to me. I can feel every emotion of that breakfast. I can see the way the light poured into the windows. I can feel the sting in my eyes from the tears. And through it all, ultimately it is okay. What I wouldn't give to see her again right now though! I miss her every day. I mourn the things she was supposed to still do in this life, but am grateful for the life she lived. Thank you, Jessica for this beautiful poem.

In a perfect world,

everything would always go right.

There would be no disappointment or trials,

and life would be filled with only

sweet, warm, and fuzzy feelings.

But how would we know

if things were good if we had no comparison?

Would we recognize the blessings in our lives

without having their opposites to compare them to?

Without the darkness,

would we appreciate the light?

Seems to me if we want rainbows,

we gotta have rain.

The trick is to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps

and go out and look for puddles to play in;

recognize the tempest for what it is

and train ourselves to look for the good

in every situation.

By overcoming our adversity,

we find the joy in everything.

So go on, go play in the rain!

Loading sheep

2011-10-04T21:21:00.001-07:00

The boys willingly missed school on Friday to go load sheep. They were happy to get up at 5:00 a.m. and get nice and dirty. Here are some pictures and a few videos of their morning.

This picture reminds me of pictures I've seen of Richard when he was a boy out on the sheep ranch. I'm so glad they can go and share these experiences together.

Landon, Cole, Ky and Daniel

Ky, Cole, Landon and Daniel

They love chasing and trying to rope the sheep

Pre- buck. Watch the video below and see what I mean

Beautiful!

I love how Landon's buddy Ky just laughs at him as he gets bucked off. He was truly worried about his boy parts. That sheep had horns and he was not in a very good position!

This shows the ewes being let back out after the lambs have been loaded. I love how Richard yells at the boys at the end. For some reason it makes me laugh.

I'm so glad that my boys have a Dad that shares these times with them. He's awesome. Now if only I could get them all to do their own "sheep laundry".

Happy Birthday Emma Jae!

2011-10-01T21:50:00.000-07:00

Today was Emma's birthday and she has been looking forward to it for so long! She has asked so many times over the last few weeks "how many more days until my birthday?" Today it was "how many minutes until my party", and then "how many seconds?" We decided to have a baking party and it ended up being a ton of work for me, but like I told Richard, it was worth every ounce of work and effort because Emma deserved every bit of it. She is such a sweet, caring, helpful girl and we love her so much. She is so great with Kate and is always a peacemaker. She is fun to be with and so smart, talented and beautiful.

Birthday morning opening presents. I don't think she ate breakfast because she just had chocolate covered raisins. It's her birthday!

She got a new doll, chocolate raisins, a new dress, some hair accessories and some walkie talkies (that I had to communicate with her on all day....which is not easy when you are trying to put on make-up or cut up food.)

The party began with the girls decorating bakers hats that I made out of poster board and tissue paper. They all decorated them so cute!

Take a look at the aprons! Aren't they darling? I made them from bandanas I found at Hobby Lobby for .99 cents! I found the ribbon there also for 50% off. They were fun and easy to make and turned out so cute!

My sweet birthday girl

This was the only shot I got of lunch. They made fruit kabobs and ham and cheese cracker sandwiches. At least I fed them a fairly healthy lunch, because what came next was major sugar overload!

I split the girls into 2 groups and had some learning to dip cake balls into chocolate and drizzle them with white chocolate.

The other group decorated their cakes. I've been baking and freezing them all week because I only have one 6" round pan and there were 12 girls!

Some of them seriously piled their frosting like 4 inches high!

For such young girls, they actually did a really good job at making the cake balls!

And here they all are at present time. You can't tell, but they are all mixing ice bags with baggie ice cream. That was the last thing we did and they got to eat the ice cream and take home their cakes and a little box with the cake balls they had dipped.

I'm so glad I could make her day so fun for her. She was very grateful and I think my favorite moment of the day was when she told me through her walkie-talkie that I'm the best Mom in the world.

Brain power

2011-09-20T21:24:00.000-07:00

I think as we get older our brains don't work as well as they once did. I used to be able to remember everything and now I have to make myself a master list to follow and make sure everyone gets where they need to be, among many other things. Here are a few examples:

Last Tuesday night Richard got home late after bishopric meeting and spent a few minutes channel surfing. I came in and asked what he was watching. He seemed a little perplexed and said, "well, I was trying to find Monday night football, but I guess it's not on tonight!" I told him, "that's because it's Tuesday!"

Today my cute friend brought her daughter over for lessons at 2:30 because she genuinely thought it was 4:30, which is her daughters actual lesson time. That same friend came over later to drop something off and knocked on my door moments later because she couldn't find her keys anywhere and wondered if she'd dropped them in my house. They were in her pocket.

One of my piano students came today at her assigned time (this was the first week in a new time slot) and I had no idea why she was at my house! I had double booked lessons today and messed everything up!

After my lesson left and I was trying to figure out how to work the next hour out after I had messed it up so much, I grabbed my hair and said to Kate, "I don't know what's wrong with me today....I think I lost my brain!" She said, "I'll look for your brain, Mom." She still hasn't found it, and neither have I. Maybe tomorrow will be better.

Happy Birthday

2011-09-15T13:10:00.000-07:00

My Mom would have been 56 today. I miss her sunshine in my life. I miss the happiness she brought where ever she went. I will never understand why she had to leave us. It will always be hard to see women my age out shopping with their mothers. I will always think whenever I have a question to "call Mom" and then immediately dismiss the thought in a matter of milliseconds. I will always tell my kids stories about my Mom. I will always look for her sunshine shining through in new ways. Like through Kate's personality. Kate and I went to the cemetary today and ate cake pops and sang Happy Birthday. Happy Birthday is not fun to sing through tears. I told Kate some stories about Grandma Judy and Kate said, "....and she died" after everything I said. But she also said, "Grandma can still see me though." I love how all the flowers that people brought are yellow. She truly was sunshine to all of us! Happy Birthday to the most amazing, wonderful woman I will ever know.

Let's just get caught up.

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

I think I don't want to blog because I am so behind and also because Richard brought home a new monitor that makes everyone look fat. It's too wide and I really can't stand it. Oh well. Here goes a major picture overload and much randomness with no theme other than to simply get caught up to the present!

The last of the Fish Lake pictures. Landon was being a real "playa" going around kissing all the girls!

Grandpa and the girls. I love how Emma is the only brunette.

The kids loved these! I love blowing up this picture to look at each kids face...they are all so funny!

My wonderful Dad who made the whole trip possible for us and who is always so loving, generous and fun. WE LOVE YOU!

Landon and Daniel's birthday is on the same day and this year we had a friend party. 16 boys! We had a bbq dinner in our backyard and did target shooting competitions and minute to win it games. We also did smores around a campfire and they all had a lot of fun! It was a lot of work but ended up being a great success!

This is the cake that Emma wanted to make for the boys. They were gone on their Grandpa date with my Dad, so we had to eat a little of the cake before they got home. I told Emma we would have to eat some so we would just take a picture.

They were happy with their presents. I'm sure glad legos never get old!

Good ole summer pack meetings. I really don't care for pack meetings. But this one was important. They both advanced to the next group and Landon earned his Arrow of Light. I could barely stand to watch the presentation from an old, creepy white guy dressed as an indian chief, but despite that, I was proud of Landon. And there were actual, real Apache indians there.....sure do love how we "honor" their culture. If you've been to one of these ceremonies you know what I'm talking about.

I had to show off my tan little baby. She loves to pose and she cracks me up. I am thoroughly enjoying my time with her while the other kids are at school. Besides the fact that she makes it nearly impossible to get anything done, I love to have her all to myself. She's my little buddy! I want to keep her at this age forever. Although I do need her to get potty trained and lose the binky. I win the bad mom award for not taking pictures of the kids on the first day of school, but they are all happy with their teachers and enjoying school!

Good 'nuf.

More Fish Lake pictures- part 1

2011-08-28T20:25:00.000-07:00

I wanted to post our Fish Lake pictures from my camera and this is as far as I got. My camera died while I was trying to download pictures, so here is the first bunch of pics. More to come as I try to catch up on the last few weeks.

Richard and Daniel

Love the intensity on his face as he tries to reel one in!

Success!

Connor, Dave, Daniel and Carter

Landon and Daniel hoping for a good one

Emma trolling

Another success

Emma, Grandpa and Kate

We all painted our nails and I thought it was funny to be putting a worm on a hook with pink sparkly nails. Kate, Mom and Emma's hands.

Heather and Jenny at Minute to Win it

I love this picture of Daniel

Sweet little baby Jude chillin' in Aunt Michelle's arms

Sitting by the campfire

I love this picture of my Dad and the kids love him to pieces!

Jon, Emma, Grandpa, Kate

Daniel, Richard and Landon

Landon and Jon

Me and my girls

My kiddos and the cool t-shirts we made!

Rewind a bit

2011-08-25T20:29:00.000-07:00

I have gotten so behind on so many things that I need to back up just a bit. The first week of August was spent at the McAllister reunion. We all had a great time being together for a few days and spent a fun day at Palisades Park. Most of the pictures I took are of that day. Thanks to Kathryn and Jason for all their planning. BTW Kathryn, Kate wears her backpack that she made every single day. She cannot be without it. She has a phone, a cup, a baseball, money, candy, binkies, garbage, and a Book of Mormon in it. It is pretty heavy, but she insists on wearing it.

Cousins in the canoe

Cousins in the paddleboat

Petting one of the many frogs the kids found by the lake

Looking at the frogs...they all dropped the frogs so many times on the ground, I'm sure they all died!

Katelyn deciding to march into the water without a swimsuit or life jacket

McKenna, Riley, Landon, Ethan, Chante

Darling Emma

Daniel pouting with a life jacket over his head because he didn't get to ride the canoe when he wanted to. Tough life!

Kjerstin, Emma and Lori

Daniel much happier after chillin' in this raft

Funny Katers

The kids working on their bags

The group that was brave enough to play in the very cold water. Riley, McKenna, Caden, Troy, Chante, Landon and Kjerstin. Jason got in too, he's just not pictured (hey, I had to give you credit!) :)

I did actually take kids around a lot on the paddle boat, but I was perfectly content sitting on the dock and relaxing!

Daniel, Richard and Lori

Addi, Emma and Grace- such sweet little girls!

I always love doing face painting for the kids!

We always do a pinata to celebrate Landon, Daniel and Cadens birthday. This year we had 2 - the robot and one made from paper grocery bags and duct tape. This is really the only picture I got!

I just liked this picture of the girls and Richard!

My little fishies

2011-08-20T18:45:00.000-07:00

We always have so much fun at the pool and it totally makes our whole summer. I love that we live a block away from it and that my kids are old enough to go by themselves. Since the pool is in our neighborhood we always find friends there. I love watching them play and sitting on the edge to work on my tan. Kate taught herself to swim this summer and people have asked me about what kind of swimming lessons she had. None! We just go to the pool almost every day!

Daniel jumping off the high dive

Landons high dive jump

Landoni

They are making improvements to the pool...this year we got these cool aqua climbing walls and the kids love them. Next year will be a new waterslide and an additional leisure pool.

Emma and her best friend Shiloh

Here is the video of my little fishy Kate! I love it!

Fish Lake at it's best

2011-08-17T11:05:00.000-07:00

Although I took some pictures at Fish Lake and will post them soon, I just had to share these. My brother Jon is a fabulous photographer and I think he should go into this more. Wouldn't you love one of his prints on your wall?(See landscapes below) The pictures I took don't seem to capture what I feel about Fish Lake, but his sure do! I thought I would just post a few, but as I went through them, I just love them all, so here they are!

Daniel

Jon and Jude

Connor and Dave

Grandpa bought wax lips and mustaches for the kids

Jon and Jake....crazy!

Claire and Jon

Grandpa and Parker

Heather and Brent

Claire and Jake

Traci, Jake and baby Jude

The West Family

McAllister family minus Richard

The Dave Hague family

Guns

Grandpa and Livi

Connor

Livi at Minute to Win it

Dave

Kate at Minute to Win it

Heather with vaseline on her nose

Richard and Kate

Dave

Michelle and Livi

Parker

Landon

Daniel

The dock

Love, love, love this. Look at the stars! Jon and Landon

Nickels

2011-08-16T14:21:00.000-07:00

I'm so behind on blogging. I have 2 family reunions to post about and today is Landon and Daniels birthday. I'll get around to catching up sometime! I just had to share this little funny of the day. This morning I had just gotten out of the shower and was putting on lotion, so of course I was nekked. Kate came strolling in the bathroom and here is our conversation:

Kate: What are those?

Me: Nipples. (It seemed like a better answer than boobies or breasts because at least she's seen the boys and Richard and that's all she has right now)

Kate: Nickels?

Me: No, nipples.

Kate: I want to have some.

Me: You do have some!

Kate: I want to see.

Me: Okay, hop up! (Lifting her up to the mirror and lifting up her shirt)

Kate: (a pause while she looked at them and an obviously disappointed sigh) They're so small!

Me: (laughing) They'll get bigger when you get older.

Kate: (pointing back to me) I want those ones!

Oh, honey. There is very little hope for you. She has no idea that the odds are against her! Then again, it wouldn't be saying much for her to have ones bigger than me. They've served me well, but they are sure nothing to get excited about!

Pioneer Day

2011-07-25T20:36:00.000-07:00

Well, I did not get my chairs and table painted black last week like I wanted to. I primed 3 of the 6, but that's as far as I got. I haven't even had a chance to go to the store to buy more paint! Oh well....maybe this week! On Friday we spent the day in Fairview at the Sundwall family reunion. There were about 130 people there and some that had traveled from all over the country. A lot of work went into it and it was well done. Richard and I were supposed to come up with a family "song" based on the ancestors that we all shared. We were literally working on it on the way down to the reunion and didn't even do it with the piano until we got up on the stage. We pulled it off, but just barely! It was a fun day and unfortunately I forgot my camera. On Saturday we had a little pool party with my brothers family and did sparklers (that was the extent of our fireworks) and helped their kids be less afraid of dogs. Again, no pictures. What is wrong with me? Today was a fun day with the kids. We started the day with a dance party before chores, then we hiked up to Stewart Falls up above Sundance. It is about a 4 mile round trip and I think Kate walked a total of 50 yards. We held her the rest of the time...okay, mostly Richard. The other kids did great and even though we were very sweaty and very dirty it was a great trip and a beautiful waterfall! We stopped on the way home for snow cones and came home and cleaned up a bit. We had to clean up, as Kate had spilled her snow cone in her car seat. Brother Findlay took the kids on a horse and buggy ride around the block and then we went to Jim's for dinner. We all had a fun time and we love our fun little family!

At the beginning of the trail head....before we really knew what we were in for!

Kate sitting on a bouncy tree.

So happy that we made it....it was so nice and cool by the waterfall!

Check out Kate's super light hair and super dark legs!

If you blow this picture up, you can see Richard and Landon and Daniel right at the base of the waterfall.

More summer happenings

2011-07-18T11:58:00.000-07:00

There are plenty of things that make summer a little crazy, but overall I truly love summer. I love going to the pool, I love flip flops (and cutting down on my sock load of laundry), I love snow cones, watermelon, corn on the cob, more laid back schedules, all that stuff. I love spending time with my kids and doing fun things with them. I love that Kate can jump into the pool 50 times in a row and never get sick of it. I love that my 3 oldest can go to the pool by themselves. I love riding my bike to Maceys with Kate in the great bike trailer that our generous neighbors gave us. I love that Landon can babysit Kate so I can run errands...and he wants to because I pay him a little and it is so worth it! Here are a few random summer pictures.

On the way home from a family reunion the boys found a roll of duct tape in the car and kept themselves occupied!

I know this is silly to post, but I love this picture because the flash caught my earring and I think it looks really cool!

WE ARE GOING TO SEE HARRY POTTER TOMORROW AND I CAN HARDLY STAND IT I'M SO EXCITED! Kate isn't coming, but doesn't she look cute?

I had a great birthday and that evening we celebrated with three other people in our ward who all share the same birthday. I am the youngest, and I still think my birthday is the best because of the year! 7-7-77! Our friends were so nice to have a fun BBQ for all of us!

Travis, Jenny, Julia and Eric

Last weekend Voice Male sang at Abravanel Hall with the American Heritage Chorus and Orchestra. It was a great, patriotic program and very neat to be a part of! This is our family with Phil, another Lehi-ite who sang in the chorus!

On the list for this week:

Painting my kitchen table and chairs, singing with my band, Kate getting tubes, having a family pool party/BBQ, attending another family reunion, seeing Harry Potter and lots of swimming!

Happy Fourth!

2011-07-06T13:45:00.000-07:00

We had a fun fourth of July and spent it with the McAllisters this year. Richard dropped the kids off in Mt. Pleasant to spend the night with their cousins on Sunday and to be able to go to the city breakfast in the morning. Richard, Kate and I made it down a little later in time for the parade. (I did not want to sleep over because Kate has had ear infections and I'd rather deal with her in my own home!) My pictures are chronologically backwards, but here goes!

The kids had way more fun with 100 glow sticks than they did with fireworks!

After breakfast, the parades and a few other festivites we headed up to the cabin for a BBQ. The weather was perfect and it smelled so good up in the mountains. We had a fun time!

Kate and Amelia...I gotta get me some of those boots!

Jenny and Richard

Landon and Daniel

My Patriotic children

Trying to make Kate smile, but really just being silly!

Landon and Riley

Daniel and Grandpa McAllister

Cute sisters!

Aunt Lori did all the girls hair so cute and they loved it!

The parade is under way! Bring on the squirt guns and the sticky taffy!

The boys were soaked!

Kathryn, Amelia, Emily and Jenny watching the parade

Last week we went to Seven Peaks (formerly known as Raging Waters) in Salt Lake with our friends, the Huffs. The boys mostly took care of themselves and went on almost all the slides. Layne and I and our little girls spent a good part of the time in the Lazy River, which was fine by me! Days like that are so much better when you can share them with friends!

John brought us pizza dinner and slurpees from 7-11. He bought 10 slurpees for all of us!

We sure had a fun day!

My cute kiddos! Landon did not like this pose idea but he was a good sport anyway!

Last week we....

2011-06-27T14:19:00.000-07:00

We had a fun and busy week last week. It was Lehi Round-Up Days and we had a lot of fun activities to be a part of. We went to a late night movie in the park (that got over at 11:00 and took another 30 minutes to get out of the parking lot!), spent a day at the Discovery Gateway museum with our friends the Shepherd's, went to the family BBQ in the park, attended the Horse Parade, rode in the Miniature Float Parade and the Lehi City Parade on Friday night and Saturday morning and went to the outdoor pool (a block from our house and I don't know what we would do without it!) as much as we could! Here are the pictures from this fun past week.

These are just some cute pics we took in our backyard.

This is such a "Daniel" face!

Super cool..and sweaty Landon

Sweet Emma on her scooter. I love Richard in this picture because that hat is so small for his head!

Kate and her buddy, Roy "Grandpa" Littleford. She loved sitting on the float by him and she was so cute waving to all the people!

This is our ward float The theme was "Memories of....." and our ward did "Grandpa's Farm...Udderly delightful!" I helped a little with the float and it all turned out so cute!

I love this picture of Kate enjoying the horse parade with the flag a blowin' and her cute little maxi dress!

Here we are enjoying the horse parade. Part of our ward lives Main Street so we usually have a great spot to sit on a neighbors lawn!

Kate at the children's museum

I loved watching Emma help Kate with her groceries and checking out

There was a new exhibit called "Play It" with larger than life game pieces like these giant foosball men. When you put your head inside it had a voice changer that the kids thought was really fun.

Kate especially got a kick out of it!

There were other things like human dominoes that the kids enjoyed and these ridiculous pool balls!

What a day!

2011-06-15T14:41:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was awesome. And when I say awesome, I mean it sucked. Landon started the ball rolling in the middle of the night with much throwing up. I started about an hour later. In the morning Kate joined in on the fun. Then Emma. Then Daniel. 5 of the 6 of us were throwing up ALL. DAY. LONG. I don't think that has ever happened! Richard had to go to work, so the rest of us watched a lot of TV, moaned and groaned and ran to the toilet about every hour. I was lucky enough to be feeling better (not throwing up, but still pretty miserable) enough to comfort each child as they took care of business. I rubbed a lot of backs yesterday, held hair out of faces, wiped down toilets, rinsed out bowls...it was pretty intense! I think the best moment was when Daniel was running to the bathroom with cheeks full of barf and couldn't help but spray it as he ran. When he got to the toilet Emma had not flushed the toilet and she hadn't quite made it to the toilet either. Moments later Kate barfed on my bed! We all had chocolate frostys for dinner because that's the only thing that sounded good. Today we are all still a little weak, but feeling much better and trying to eat- mostly toast and soup. All three of my brothers, one nephew and my Dad ended up with the same thing. I promise we were not kissing, and I don't think it was food poisoning because we all ate together on Sunday and it hit us 2 days later. Weird. Here's to better days!

A great weekend in St. George

2011-06-07T21:13:00.000-07:00

This weekend was my nephew Carter's baptism in St. George. Although we wanted to go down as a family, we just couldn't make it work, but Richard suggested that I go with my Dad. I decided to take him up on the offer and we had a wonderful time. Thank you so much, Richard for letting me go and for keeping the kids all safe and sound and alive! We listened to Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone on CD's and loved it. My Dad hasn't read any of the Harry Potter books and that made it extra fun! We stopped at lots of gas stations and drank lots of Coke! We had dinner with the Wests on Friday night at Outback Steakhouse and my Dad stayed at the Ramada Inn right next to the outlets. I got to stay at Heathers, which was so fun because we got to stay up late and just talk! We haven't done that for years! It was so great- I love my sister! On Saturday, Heather and Brent were busy getting ready for the baptism and their Lake Powell trip that they were leaving for on Sunday. So my Dad and I went shopping at the Outlets and he bought me a dress! We had a great lunch and then he wanted to rest a bit before the baptism. While he rested I got to shop by myself. I didn't really even buy anything, but just wandering and being able to look at everything and take my time was a real treat! Then I got to lay out by the pool and read a magazine for about an hour. Heaven! I can't remember the last time I did that! The baptism was that evening and was so nice. We had a great dinner at Wests afterwards and another fun "sleepover"! After 9:00 Sacrament meeting the next day we headed back home. It was a short trip, but so nice and I loved being with my Dad and sister!

Here we are at Heather's house after the baptism

Heather, Carter and Brent

I did have one little panic moment on the trip. Richard called me while I was busy shopping and said, "I don't want you to worry, Jenny, everyones okay. Don't panic- everybody's fine, but all the kids are in an ambulance right now." A thousand thoughts raced through my head all in a matter of a second, until he said "yeah, there's a Health and Safety Fair over at the park and.....blah, blah, blah." I yelled into the phone right in the middle of the store, "You JERK!" The kids were indeed loaded into an ambulance and having a great day! Love you, honey!

Docking 2011

2011-06-01T21:02:00.000-07:00

I'm pretty much going to let the pictures speak for themselves. If you don't know what docking is, see if you can figure it out from the pictures. If you think my boys look stinky....seriously, you should've smelled them in real life! Holy cow! I mean sheep.

You better believe they are proud of every speck of blood!

I can still smell it on them even after their showers.

The whole crew. And yes, that is all blood, not paint.

Daniel and Crosby (Dave in the background) and some of the tails of the day. They did over 900 lambs!

Just in case you didn't see this in the last picture. If you don't know what these are....you probably don't want to know what these are.

That's Landon and Daniel at the top there

They just happened upon this lovely snake on the way home.....yuck! But I still think Richard looks cute- blood and all.

And they loved every minute of it!

The last week of May

2011-05-31T20:06:00.000-07:00

I really didn't take as many pictures as I would have liked to last week, but here is what I did end up with. (Every time I pull out the camera Kate always ends up with it and I forget to take it back and take pitures!)

This is Emma's Kindergarten celebration (graduation) night. I know she has on her fancy "high" sandals, but look how tall she is!

I love that smug little smile. I should have taken a close up to show the top front tooth she lost and the other one that's hanging by a thread. She always waits until the teeth fall out on their own- that's exactly how I was too!

Landon right after the choir assembly. Landon had a solo this year and did a great job. He sang "Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better" with a girl in our ward and they were so cute! I love watching him perform and he loves to sing!

Mrs. Johnson and Landon. She is the principal and also the choir director. She does a super job and I really hope she sticks around for a few more years because I want all my kids to be in her wonderful choir!

Daniel at the Dance Festival. Each grade does a dance and this year they all painted their Tshirts. Daniels grade danced to "Bicycle" and he was so cute to watch! We loved his shimmy best!

This was his super cool ending pose!

Landos was so cool and smooth with his dancing. The 5th grade danced to Surfin' USA and we loved his moves!

Saturday morning the boys had an air soft war in the back yard. Richard learned first hand how bad it hurts to get shot after he shot Landon and Landon quickly retaliated and shot him back. Notice the duct tape on Daniel's crotch. He was doing his best to protect himself.

Richard is such a good Dad and a good sport! Later on in the day the boys had another friend join them and Richard let them stand on one end of the yard and shoot at him while he ran around the swingset. I was watching from an upstairs window and laughing while he was being hit and screaming and running. He came in the house with some pretty sweet welts on his chest!

Our plans were to head to Mt. Pleasant on Monday but the weather changed our plans and we ended up going bowling with my family. My Dad whooped on all of us and had the highest score. I was 2nd place and had probably the best game of my life. But that's only because I was bowling on the same lane as Dave and Jon. They are SUPER competitive and athletic and they both did terrible and I BEAT THEM! Aw yeah!

Sure love this little cutie pie!

Dave and Jon- the losers.

I have a disorder.....this is pathetic

2011-05-24T13:38:00.000-07:00

Seriously. It's called contestenteritis. Every once in a while I hear about a contest and I enter it because I just know I'm going to win. I know there are others who have this same disorder, or even worse cases of it, but my problem is that I obsess about it and let it consume my thoughts. I'm not going to share all the things (there's not that many) I've entered (and lost, mind you) but here's one. Better Homes and Gardens $25,000 home remodel make over. I've already planned what I'll do with the money- an addition on our home. I could totally win, right? The last thing I entered was the Dove Close-up challenge. The winner received a week long trip for 2 to Hollywood, a week of dance lessons from a DWTS personality and a commercial spot to be aired on the DWTS finale to debut the dance they learned. Plus, the winner received a $5,000 check. I was sure I would win. I mean, why wouldn't I? There were probably only thousands of other girls just like me that entered. I submitted my 60 second video and obsessed about it for a few weeks. I had my trip planned out right down to what I was going to wear on the airplane, the celebrities I might bump into and the way the California morning sun would stream into my hotel window. Of course, I didn't win. Last night I saw the commercial spot. The winner was average looking, I don't know what set her apart from the others, but hurray for her. At the end of the commercial she said, "This has been the best week of my life!" Yeah. I bet it was.

Enough of the rain already!

2011-05-23T12:23:00.000-07:00

I know all this water is good in a way, but I am so tired of it. I'm ready to wear flip flops and capris instead of boots and jackets every day. The only thing I appreciate about the rain is that all our baseball games were cancelled last week. And it looks like tonights game might be cancelled too. Maybe Heavenly Father knew I couldn't cope with the stress of all the games and having Richard gone, and trying to help Landon campaign for Student Council so he sent the rain to give me a little break. But I'm ready for the sun and the warmth! Landon made Student Council. His campaign was an Alvin (the chipmunk) theme. For his assembly skit he sang like Alvin about how he would do his best (John Huff recorded the song in his authentic Alvin voice) and the students loved it! There are only 5 boys and 5 girls on the council for next year and he is really excited about it! Way to go Landon! This weekend I sang at a wedding in Alpine that must have cost an insane amount of money. It was at a home that was almost in the mountains and when I pulled up in my car I was greeted by a golf cart to shuttle me to the home. Amazing decorations, a ridiculously huge and beautiful home, fabulous food, pretty good music...of course- I was singing! (John too!) and it wasn't raining. I love singing at weddings like that! This week brings more fun with the choir concert, the dance festival and field day. I must remember to take pictures!

My little sunshine

2011-05-17T13:38:00.000-07:00

This girl really is my sunshine. She makes me so happy. And frustrated at the same time. But mostly happy. She is so much fun to have around and is always making us laugh and just feel good. She can be a handful when she doesn't get a nap, and when her potty training turns into major failure, but other than that, she truly is a JOY! Here are some things I love about Kate.

* She loves to wear dress-ups and pretty things.

* She loves to spin and twirl and dance and bow.

* She gives the best hugs and kisses.

* She loves to be naked and I love to squeeze her little nakie bum.

* She says "balicious" when she really likes her food.

* She asks Richard to make her "a biiiiig omelet" every morning.

* She says, "I obeyed!" when she does the right thing.

* When she is having a hard time and needs to cry, she will cry in her room until she's done and then come out and say in a happy voice, "I'm done crying Mom!"

* When I hold her really close she notices little things and tells that my hair, or my eyes, or my earrings are beautiful.

* She loves nursery and the gym day care and goes so happily every week!

* I am amazed at how beautiful she is.

* I love that little girl to pieces and I can't get enough of her. (But it's always a big relief when she goes down for her nap and bedtime!)

Kate and Willa being silly

Kate and Willa watched Tangled about 10 times this weekend and had to wear their purple Rapunzel dresses!

Oh baby!

2011-05-12T12:23:00.000-07:00

My brother, Jake, and his wife, Traci, had their baby yesterday. This was a total surprise, as she was not due until the last week of June! She had their sweet baby 6 weeks early and so far, everything is going well. He is in the NICU at IMC and will be there anywhere from 1 to 6 weeks. He weighs 4 lbs. 8 oz. and has a head full of black hair. I've only seen a picture, but he looks just like Jake. He is precious and we are all praying and hoping for the best! They named him Jude Ryan. Don't you love that? Jude for Judy...I love it! Welcome, sweet baby Jude!

Recap of the last few days

2011-05-09T12:08:00.000-07:00

Starting with yesterday and going backwards, we have had a busy and fun past few days. Mothers Day was nice, even though I longed for my Mom. (Pretty much like I do every day) However, church was so busy that I didn't have too much time to get emotional and the Relief Society lesson was on missionary work, so I just sort of tuned it all out and escaped to my own mind. I visited my Mom's grave on Thursday and brought some flowers. Shopping for her has become very limited. Richard didn't have bishopric meeting yesterday so I got to sleep in until 9 am and woke up to lots of wonderful home made cards from the kids. I also got Harry Potter 7 from the kids (just kidding, I bought it for myself and threw it in a gift bag!) and the Tangled piano book. The kids abandoned their breakfasts to join me at the piano while I played and they sang all the songs at the top of their lungs. I loved it! We were able to go to Mt. Pleasant last night for dinner so Richard could see his Mother. On Saturday my family ran in the Race for the Cure. It was a great way to honor my Mom and then we went to the Little America brunch afterwards. This is a great tradition that we started last year and only the adults participate. We had a wonderful time and were able to get together again that evening for a BBQ and so the cousins could all play together.

All the grandkids enjoying dinner

Dad and the girls. Michelle is pregnant (due Sept. 15th- my Mom's birthday) and Traci is due the last week of June! I'm sure my Mom is loving getting those little boys ready to come down!

Jenny, Jake, Dad, Dave and Jon. Sorry, Dave and Jon, guess you forgot to smile.

I love how Jon personalized his shirt.

Jenny and Richard

Dave and Michelle

Traci and Jake

Michelle is awesome to walk around and gather as much of the free stuff that she can hold!

FRIDAY night we went to my cousins wedding and had another cousin sleep over so she could watch our kids while we were at the race. No pics of Friday!

THURSDAY was Emma's dance recital. I thought she was the best dancer in her class. She acts so shy about dancing, but when that music came on she rocked it! She was so cute and was dancing like a pro! I loved watching her!

She's wearing socks over her dance shoes to protect them...the socks were NOT part of the outfit!

Emma, Kate and Ariel

I had to do make-up on her for the recital and I've never put mascara on her. I couldn't believe how long they are! I just had to take a picture! Jealous? I know I am!

WEDNESDAY we went to Landon's Hope of America program. It was wonderfully done and we were so happy he was able to participate in such a neat event! Thanks for letting me steal your picture, Jessica!

It was a busy yet wonderful week!

How do you stay sane?

2011-05-04T15:16:00.000-07:00

Okay, I'm not saying every day is like this, but lots of days are. Today is particularly crazy (and yet I found 5 minutes to blog!) and I know lots of you wonderful mothers out there have days just like this too. I'm wondering what keeps you going? What keeps you from not going crazy? How do you stay sane? I want to know!

8:00 Wake-up (I know, I'm lazy...my kids don't start school until 9:15!)

get ready, eat breakfast, sign papers for kids to take back to school, etc.

9:00 Take kids to school

9:15 Drop off Kate at gym day care

9:30 Go to step aerobics

10:45 Get back home, do some laundry, clean up a bit, etc.

12:08 Pick up Emma from Kindergarten

12:30 Feed girls lunch

1:00 Take a shower!

1:30 Put Kate down for a nap

2:15 Pick up Landon from school (5th graders had a different schedule today)

2:45 Teach 2 piano lessons (today is my light day...only 2 lessons!)

4:00 Pick up Daniel and Sophie who had to wait 1/2 hour and started walking...I didn't know they didn't have choir today!

4:05 Send Landon off to Scouts

4:30 Take Daniel to baseball game and hope he makes it to his friends afterwards

5:00 Do hair and make-up for Emma's dance rehearsal and pictures

5:30 Feed everyone something

6:00 Drop off Emma for dance and pictures and hope that she makes it to her friends afterwards

6:05 Drive to BYU for Landon's Hope of America program

6:45 Drop off Landon and go meet Richard somewhere for a quick bite to eat

8:30 Head on back to Lehi and pick up Daniel and Emma

9:00 Begin the bed time routine/process

10:00 Kids in bed and asleep........aaaaaah!

11:30 We're in bed and asleep!

So here's what helps me stay sane.

* Diet Coke

* Zumba

* Food in general (okay, mostly chocolate)

* A special visit to Starbucks for a treat and/or drink for me!

* Going to the mall (not necessarily buying anything)

* Shopping (other than grocery)

* Day dreaming

* Playing the piano and singing (sometimes at the same time)

* Reading blogs

* Watching mindless TV at the end of the day after the kids are in bed

* Laughing with Richard

* Hugs and kisses from my kids

How about you? Do tell!

Big room switches- and little projects

2011-04-28T12:45:00.000-07:00

After Kate was born I thought the girls could share a room, but it just worked out better that they didn't. Emma ended up sleeping on the boys floor for about a year. Last summer I finally moved Landon to our small room (and crammed all the "stuff" in it into any other place I could find!) downstairs and made his room an "older" boy room. That put Emma in the top bunk of the boys room and Daniel on the bottom. All of Emma's stuff still remained in the "girls" room though. I think Daniel was ready for his own room and to not have a "girly" bed on top of his. So we moved the girls into the boys room and moved Daniel into Kate's room. Of course, this involved taking apart all the beds and putting them back together again. Major pain. Oh, and remember how I told you the dresser simply didn't fit? Our rooms are a little on the smaller side and there's really only one way to make furniture fit. Although the room switch still needs to remove one dresser and a play kitchen, we are almost there. Whew! So much work, but I love the process and the change. So here is what we have at this point and a few of the little projects I did along the way. I'm bad at doing "before" pictures, but I hope you enjoy the overall ideas!

Landon's room

On to Daniel's new room. This shelf is the same one that was in the girls room. It was white with flowers and butterflies handpainted on it. I sprayed it black and did the stripes with tape. I really like how it turned out!

We had these planets in a box that we had never successfully hung and I had this styrofoam ball in my craft stuff. Daniel painted it to be the sun! Pretty cool, and it ties in the little splashes of orange that he wanted.

His pillow pet is orange, hence the splashes of color. The polka dot and striped pillows are made from towels I found at Walmart. The striped towel became the inspiration for the shelf!

On to the girls room. I wish I had a before of this beauty. I was a rusty, red color and had the word "COWBOY" in a rustic, western font across it. It was in the boys room to hang hats and ties on. I repainted it, stamped it and added jewels and ribbon. It is the perfect necklace hanger and I love the way it turned out!

I covered a lampshade for the girls. This used to be purple gingham with a purple flower pull. I also spray painted the flower pot. It used to be pink with little butterflies all over it.

Here is the "before" dresser. I'm glad we just had this hanging out in the shed! I painted it and went to replace handles and learned that antiques have different size handles and they don't make them that size anymore. What do you think I should do?

I decided to distress it a little and I really like how it turned out!

Here are the original handles. One sprayed black and one sprayed silver. If I go with one of these I don't have to fill holes and re-paint drawers and drill new holes. But......

Look how pretty this looks! More money and more work, but so adorable!

This is the "after". The wall color is the same one I just painted my bathroom and I love it. Eventually, after we get bunkbeds, I will get yellow bedspreads and accent with red and black. I'm still needing to do curtains in this room. For now, the decor is mostly the same from their previous room.

The bed Emma is in now is one of the "boy" bunks. White will be so much prettier.

This is the "before" of the room at its worst. I can't believe I'm even sharing this picture!

Okay, now for my next bunch of projects!

* spray paint icky brass on our bedroom ceiling fan

* spray paint icky brass on outside light fixtures

* recover lampshades in family room- still searching for that "perfect" fabric

* paint kitchen table and chairs black

* beadboard kitchen backsplash and bar surround

* chalk board cabinet in kitchen

* paint vanities black (in 2 bathroom) and add handles

* paint cabinets in laundry room white

* re-do hope chest

* paint kitchen cabinets white (that's a major one that may never happen!)

I'll take more before pictures for these ones! It will amaze me if I get any of these things done before the end of summer!

A little catch up

2011-04-26T13:40:00.000-07:00

Goodness! So much is going on and it's only going to get crazier until the end of the school year. Baseball games every night (in this freezing cold!). Choir. Band. Scouts. Dance. Piano. Homework. Laundry. Dinner is Del Taco tonight- no time! No wonder I haven't sat down to blog! But like I said to my kids, "Wouldn't you rather be busy than bored?" Yes, but sometimes I'd like things to just slow down a bit! I'm really looking forward to summer, not only for the more relaxed days, but for the warmer days! I'm tired of being cold! Anyhoo, here is what we have been up to this past week.

My pictures are all out of order! Sorry! Here are the Huff and McAllister kids all ready for the big egg hunt at the Huff "farm".

Landon went to Clear Creek for 2 days and a night with his 5th grade class. Richard was able to go with him and took many, many pictures. Instead of posting them all, I will just say that Landon had fun and he was so glad that Richard could go along- such a great Dad!

I love this picture of Daniel. Richard took the boys out of school one day last week to go to Spring City to shear sheep.

The boys were all tuckered out after a long day of shearing and this is one of the only times in their lives you will see them all cozy together like this!

The last day of spring break the 3 older kids got to go to Mt. Pleasant and have a sleepover with their cousins at Grandma and Grandpa McAllister's. They all had fun, and Richard and I enjoyed the break from the kids for a night. Our house was so quiet. Richard even forgot that we had kids at all and walked right into Kate's room while she was sleeping to get something and turned the light on. I stared incredulously at his and said, "What are you doing!?" And he turned the light off and quickly left the room and said, "I forgot we had kids!" We laughed really hard about that little moment!

Here are the kids and their cousins having some good ole fun making a rope swing to swing across the ditch.

Lunch at the park.

A fun Easter egg hunt at Grandma and Grandpas

All the cousins ready to go!

Dyeing our Easter eggs on a Halloween tablecloth....so festive!

Visiting at the Huff's and seeing all their animal life- Kate loved the goats!

Here she is hugging one of the new little babies...so cute!

The McAllister's are heavier than the Huff's!

We all had fun at our little egg hunt and the kids (okay the parents too) ate a whole lot of candy!

Hope your Easter was lovely! And I hope the weather warms up for tonights ball game!

Spring Break Day 3 & 4

2011-04-14T21:45:00.000-07:00

Day 3 of Spring Break mostly happened because I started the painting project on day 2. I actually allowed all my children to help me prime the room. Chaos! After realizing this was a mistake and feeling frustrated about getting the project done without going crazy, my wonderful husband took all the kids (and the dog!) on a day trip to Mt. Pleasant so that I could paint in peace. What a guy! They had fun doing a little hiking, a little shooting of guns and playing at their Grandma and Grandpas house. I was able to paint the whole room! Without a single interruption! I love silence sometimes. I even got to play the piano for a while. Without a single interruption! Thank you, Richard, for being wonderful and caring enough to take the kids for a day. I know, you just wanted to help keep me sane! The room is a story for another post, but I will say this. We took apart the crib and the bunkbeds and did a major room switcheroo to realize that we had misjudged the space and the dresser will. not. fit. Fortunately, we have an old, extra dresser out in our shed. It's not "ideal", but it will do once I paint it and throw some new handles on it. That's why the room re-do will have to be a work in progress.

The kids and Rocky all loaded up ready to spend the day with Dad and get out of my hair! I love you, kids. :)

Today was day 4 and we had free tickets to the Discovery Gateway Museum. We were really looking forward to going and our friends, the Shepherd's joined us. Guess what? It was CLOSED! It's like the only day the whole year they close down to get ready for their annual fundraiser. We were so disappointed. But having friends with us helped the kids have fun anyway. We went to the Planetarium instead (it was free), which was way overcrowded because there were lots of field trip kids. But I think the kids all still had fun there. Then we walked over to the fountain and the kids had to get a little wet. It was there that we realized Erin's 5 year old was not with us. Long story short- we couldn't find him and had to call security and he was still in the Planetarium crying in a corner. Hey, don't judge us! We had 9 kids and he was with us when we were leaving the Planetarium, he just didn't make it out the door. We ended the adventure at Ben & Jerry's eating balicious (that's a Kate word) ice cream.

Jake, Daniel, Emma, Landon, Kalin, Kate, Nate, Ryan and Reagan

Me and my sweet friend Erin.

Spring Break Day 1 & 2

2011-04-12T14:07:00.000-07:00

Ahhhh, glorious Spring Break. Still feels like winter to me and I'm sick of it! I was never ready for the cold in the first place this year and it is lingering WAY too long. Despite the cooler weather, I have tried to plan a fun activity for each day this week. Of course each day must begin with a chore or two and piano practicing. But I am enjoying a break from teaching piano this week. I really need it!

Yesterday we went to Monkey Island- a fun, jumphouse, slide place. The kids had fun and played and sweat hard. Kate mostly had fun but by the end was lying on the floor crying over the dumbest things. Then last night our good friends, the Huff's, surprised us with a visit and the kids loved playing with them. Of course we did too!

I'm not sure why all these pictures are a little blurry, but here are all the kids in the "Princess" bounce house, where Kate threw a fit when any other children tried to enter. Apparently it was OUR house!

Today the boys got a haircut and then we went to a movie with Grandpa Kevin. We saw the movie "HOP" and had a fun time!

Somehow I think that during this week I am going to find time to paint a bedroom and switch kids rooms around. Wish me luck on that one! More to come later.....if I get around to it!

Messes

2011-04-01T13:35:00.000-07:00

Having children (and a dog) is messy. It just is. Sometimes I am amazed at the amount I can sweep off the kitchen floor in a day.l Sometimes I am baffled at the stains on their clothes. Sometimes I am repulsed by the smells they give off. This is all my children, not just my 2 year old. But she is in a very messy stage right now. These pants are from yesterday's putty adventure. We went to a family night at the school and there was a putty making station. Good idea.....in theory. But not reality. Kate was playing nicely with hers while I was making dinner and the next thing I know, well....you see the picture. Richard got it out with really hot water and dish soap, but it was not an easy task. I made all the other kids throw their putty away immediately.

This week Kate has also dumped half a box of baking soda on the floor. (That stuff is so fine, I could taste it in the air!) She also pulled off a poopy diaper (fortunately it was dry nuggets) which was flung all over the family room and exclaimed, "Look what came out of my body!" I found a few stray nuggets late that night that I had missed. I wondered why it still smelled downstairs. Today while I was teaching piano she found a permanent marker and colored all over our nice TV. I was freaking out. PERMANENT! Guess what? Windex and a paper towel and some gentle rubbing. Worked like a charm. You'll thank me someday.

That little girl is the best part of my day! My next post will be about all the reasons I love her. These are not those.

Pinewood Derby 2011

2011-03-28T11:14:00.000-07:00

This year both Landon and Daniel participated in the Pinewood Derby. The past 2 years when Landon has done it (with a little help from Richard and me) he has pretty much come in dead last. Hey, we're not derby experts! This year Richard asked our super cool neighbor (who IS a derby expert) if he could use his "shop" to help our boys. That turned into a major project, which the boys loved, and he really helped them. Their cars were super awesome and Landon finished in 3rd place overall and Daniel in 5th. Each race (of about 5 cars) had them winning 1st or 2nd and they were so happy and proud. Our super cool neighbors son was the one that won 1st place. This guy really knows his Pinewood Derby stuff! I had no idea you could spend so much time on the cars or that it would make such a difference. Needless to say, the boys had a great experience and we were so thankful for a little (okay, a LOT) extra help!

This is the man that made it all possible- Dave!

It's hard to tell in this picture, but Landon even had tail lights that lit up!

Watching the races!

Landon's is the orange one, named Firebolt and Daniel named his Spee-ider. I guess that's from Megamind (?)

Easter Decor- Part 2

2011-03-23T11:36:00.000-07:00

This is something I kind of forgot about. I had this old, metal lantern. I spray painted it white (which took forever because I had to tape off every. single. window. because the glass doesn't come out) and filled it with plastic eggs, threw a bow on top, and there ya go!

After I already started my project I remembered I wanted to do a bit of a "how to". So here are the things you'll need to make this Easter topiary.

A great pot (if it has a drain hole in the bottom, be sure to plug it up with putty)

A 12 inch dowel (painted green)

A 6 inch styrofoam ball

Tuelle

Round (make sure you don't get flat- they won't work) toothpicks

About 4 bags of Hersheys chocolate eggs. (This will be the most expensive part)

Plaster of Paris

Easter grass

Mix up your Plaster of Paris (we added a little extra powder to make it thick and it set up really fast!) Put your dowel in and push the ball onto it- about half way through the ball) We hot glued our ball in place. Cover ball with tuelle and tie at the bottom.
Start putting chocolates on toothpicks and cover the ball! I am sad that they now only make these eggs in 3 colors. They used to have gold and purple.
The finished product!
It is a decoration until Easter and then we snack on it afterwards! Just save the base and do it again next year. When you take the toothpicks out, you'll need to use pliers. They don't come out very easy. I love this craft, and I hope you do too! :)

Easter Decor- Part 1

2011-03-21T12:26:00.000-07:00

Time to decorate for Easter. In keeping with my holiday sharing theme, here are some of my favorites!

I made this years ago and it is so easy. The bottom is a clay saucer and the face is a clay pot. (Super cheap at Roberts!) Just paint and add a felt nose. The ears are also felt and I did put floral wire inside the ears to make them stand or bend. Those Cadbury Eggs don't last very long...they're my favorite!

These frames were ones I had and spray painted. Scrapbook paper on the back and I found these silhouette shapes on Martha Stewart (Easter templates) and just traced them straight off the computer screen!

I didn't make these eggs, but I found them at Tai Pan a few years ago. I love them because they work with my red wall.

I didn't make this either, but so cute!

Little touches of Spring!

I will post Part 2 later this week after I finish making my other craft. It is something I do every year, but my "base" broke and I am having to re-do the whole thing. Stay tuned.....

New shirt!

2011-03-07T11:41:00.000-08:00

I'm not trying to share a picture of my chest here, but rather the shirt. I wanted to buy a new shirt, but had no time or money, so I got creative! I made these rosettes with some muslin* I already had and simply safety pinned them to a tank top that was just hanging out in my closet. It was relatively easy and I think it turned out so cute! And since I used safety pins, not glue or sewing, I can easily reposition them or put them on another top. Fun, huh?

*Funny side story about muslin. (Hope you don't mind Heather!) My sister, Heather, went to the fabric store one day and called my Mom saying, "Mom, the lady doesn't know what I'm talking about. I'm trying to find that one fabric, you know, buddhim." My Mom laughed and laughed and said, "Heather....it's MUSLIN!" Wrong religion I guess. I love you Heath! :)

Another craft!

2011-03-01T12:47:00.000-08:00

I shared my favorite Christmas decorations in December. Then I showed you my Valentines craft and here is yet another craft. I think I will post my favorite holiday decorations this whole year because I always love seeing other peoples ideas and copying them! Here are my St. Patrick's Day decorations. I've never had any decorations for this holiday, so it was kind of fun to make these!

First, you must be a Harry Potter fan to appreciate this, but for the "Lucky"holiday, I thought some Felix Felicis was appropriate. It is "Liquid Luck" and I found this cute little bottle at JoAnns for $1.

This is basically the same craft as I did for Valentines, just with shamrocks and fun green paper! I love the touch of the gold bow. I used white beans for my filler, but you could also use split peas! That would be cute....maybe a little overkill on the green!

I had this cute little silver frame and I spray painted it white. I actually did have a valentine thing in it last month, but this was so easy to make. I think I will keep using it for each holiday as a little accent. Plus, there is so much cute scrapbook paper, this is a fun way to use it!

We're not really Irish, but you can kiss me anyway!

Look down!

2011-02-22T13:35:00.001-08:00

I don't know what my problem is. I uploaded a photo a few days ago for a blog and finally got around to posting it the other day. But somehow it posted UNDER my Valentine post. See below. I don't know how to move it up to the top, so don't miss this fun and cute idea. BAPTISM BINGO!

Valentines

2011-02-16T12:45:00.001-08:00

This is Daniel's cute valentine box that we made. He was really excited about it and won 2nd place and "most unique" in his class! It turned out so cute!

These are the little valentines we make each year. It started when Landon was in preschool and there were only 15 kids. Big deal. Now I have 3 kids in big classes and we had to make 90 of these little babies! That's 180 ears, 180 googly eyes, 90 noses and 90 faces! And I don't have a Cricut!!! Yes, we did it all by hand. I found out one day too late that my good friend has a Cricut. Next year, I guess. They are cute though, and they are a fun tradition to make together.
My Dad joined us for Valentines dinner, cookie decorating and Family Home Evening. I didn't get any other pictures on Valentines day, but we had fun at FHE taking turns telling each person what we love about them. And February is more than half way over......thank goodness! I can't wait for Spring!

Baptism Bingo

2011-02-16T12:44:00.001-08:00

I've been wanting to post this for a while now. Sorry it isn't the best picture, but you should be able to zoom in and see the detail pretty well. I made it for primary a few years ago for a sharing time I did, but I have used it many times since. It has been a great Family Home Evening tool and a wonderful way to talk about baptism before the boys were baptized. Emma likes to play it with me sometimes just for fun! I used 2 poster boards and laminated everything. I just did blue cardstock for the "markers" and put masking tape on the back of them. That way I can store it all in a baggy and it's ready to go the next time! The white papers simply say what each square is in one or two words. We usually just play it as a group and each time a bingo is complete we all shout (we whispered it in primary) "BINGO"! We discuss each picture in a little more detail....for example, if the word is "white" I ask why white is important. If it is the picture of Jesus being baptized, we talk about who baptized him and so on. Each orange square is a song and when we land on a song we sing that song. Promises #1, #2 and #3 are the promises we make at baptism. They have to share one promise for each of those three squares. In no particular order they are:

We promise to take His name upon us.

We promise to obey the commandments.

We promise to always remember Him.

We play until the whole poster is filled up. It is a great way for the kids to understand a little bit more about being baptized! I hope some of you can use this with your own kids. I wish I had a pdf or something you could print, but I don't because it's so huge. I found most of the stuff online with clipart and it was fairly easy to make. The trickiest part was measuring the grid so it was all even and took up both posters. Hope you like it!

Snow Weekend

2011-02-16T12:30:00.000-08:00

This past weekend we spent up at the Howells cabin. Thanks to Layne and Sara who have been so great to invite us every year! We always have such a fun time and this weekend was beautiful! We pack all our gear, food and kids on the snowmobiles and make the trek in for the fun weekend! It's quite an adventure and we all had a great time!

Here is Kate on our bed where she spent a lot of time watching a movie (shhhh...don't tell that we brought a portable DVD player on our "roughin' it" trip!)

Richard and Emma- Emma spent the whole day on the snowmobile with Richard. She loved being with him and feeling extra special!

Beautiful, warm, sunny Saturday morning heading over to the sledding hill.

Here is a great view from the top of the sledding hill. You can see the cabin at the bottom of the hill and the beautiful mountain behind that. It really was a gorgeous day!

Landon and Jessica

Jake, Emily and Daniel

Landon and Daniel

Chillin' on the sleds. Notice Kate is picking her nose. Nice.

Remember when you were a kid and had to walk up the sledding hill to make another run? Our kids have never known that life. Richard goes down after every run and pulls them back up! Lazies! Actually, it is the way to go!

Our little bug ready to head out!

Is it too much to ask?

2011-02-10T12:17:00.000-08:00

Can't I just go to the bathroom without a child yelling my name over and over?

Can't I just have a full nights sleep without bottles or binkies or diapers or an extra body in my bed?

Can't I just enjoy a nice meal that I didn't have to throw together with "stuff" I found in the closet? Oh, and that I didn't have to cook!

Can't I just eat dessert 3 times a day and not gain weight?

Can't I just get ready for the day without a 2 year old dumping out all my makeup in the sink?

Cant the counter/floor/basement/bedrooms, etc. stay clean for more than 10 minutes?

Can't the boys have better "aim"?

Can't I just relax on a warm, sandy beach and read a magazine and drink a pina colada and get a tan?

If you are about to say you don't agree and don't want to come with me to my tropical island, you're lying!

Sleep deprived and toothless

2011-02-05T14:06:00.000-08:00

Landon's science fair project did really well and is advancing to the district level! He got a cool medal and was very happy about it. Way to go, bud!

Yesterday I took him to the dentist because a filling had come out. The dentist said it would just be easier to extract the tooth instead of refill the cavity, especially since he'd be losing that tooth sometime soon anyway. I was so nervous for him, but as the Mom I had to tell him it would be okay. It really was okay and he did awesome. I got a little weak in the knees while I was holding his hand. Look at the size of that thing! Crazy!

A few of this weeks happenings

2011-02-04T12:18:00.001-08:00

Richard did this painting the night after the horse painting (see below). Kate put the little black splotch on the face. This is a picture he did of Rocky, and although I consider myself a good artist, my stuff usually ends up looking cartoonish. He did a really good, realistic job, don't ya think?

I had some paints lying around the other night and Richard started messing around. He came up with this picture and I think he did a really good job. He isn't really an "artsy" guy, but I was highly impressed with what he did! He is a man of many talents!

Good ole Rocky got neutered last week. He spent the whole day lying on the floor whimpering and groaning. He's fine now and didn't have to wear the cone for very long because he broke it.
Landon and his friend Kyler did an experiment for their "Science Fair Project". They were testing the affects of sleep deprivation. I could have told you the results before they even began. Grumpy, tired, irritable, etc. They tried to stay up all night and didn't make it, but tested their brain function with a series of tests taken at 8 pm, 2 am and 7 am. Why did I ever tell him that would be a good project? Couldn't we have tested something else? Oh well. Live and learn!

Tonight is the Stake Sweethearts Dance and of course Richard and I are going. We never miss it! It's the only time we ever get to dance anymore, and Richard is a wonderful dancer. See? Man of many talents! He was so cute and gave me a bouquet of balloons yesterday with a message inside asking me to the dance! I love that man!

Peter Potter and Harry Pan

2011-02-01T21:17:00.000-08:00

We are kind of Harry Potter nerds and I didn't really think Kate knew much about it, but she loves to say "Harry Potter". The other day she and I were doing a puzzle of a train- an old, steam engine train, and when it was finished she exclaimed, "It's like a Harry Potter train!" I guess she has seen some parts of the movies. Then the other day we were reading a book that had a picture of a snake in it and she said, "Harry Potter likes snakes. Harry Potter kills a snake!" Wow! She is super observant! Today she watched Peter Pan for the first time and she kept saying, "It's Harry Pan!" I understand the confusion. Peter and Potter do sound a lot alike. She's so funny!

Two years apart

2011-01-19T13:35:00.000-08:00

On the way to school today I instructed the boys to hurry out after choir because I had to drop them both off at scouts at two different places. Landon said, "Daniel and I will never be in the same scout group, will we?.....Well, until Young Mens." I told him that even then, they would always be in different quorums. Since they share a birthday and are exactly 2 years apart, they won't even overlap. I said, "When you are a teacher, Daniel will be a deacon and when you're a priest, Daniel will be a teacher. And if your missions overlap at all you guys could go like four years without seeing each other!"

There were a few seconds of silence and Daniel piped up, "I could live with that."

Kate, Cake and Hearts

2011-01-18T13:28:00.000-08:00

This is a bit of a copy from Heidi's blog, but I loved her heart bouquet idea so I had to make one of my own. Instead of floral foam, I just used red hots in an old vase I already had. I had so much fun with the cute paper that I ended up making these little blocks also. I just modpodged all the paper on some wood blocks that I got at Robert's for $1. I usually don't like Valentines decorations, but this one makes me happy!

One of the kids friends told them about "Cake Boss" and we've all had a bit of an obsession with it. We have the first 2 seasons on Netflix and the kids love it. Seriously, I didn't even know what fondant was until I picked out my wedding cake and my kids are all like, buttercream, fondant, modeling chocolate fools. Emma and I experimented with Marshmallow fondant the other night and this is what we came up with. We made a HUGE mess and learned lots along the way about what works and what doesn't. It turned out pretty good and it tasted excellent! Please remember that a six year old did most of the design and cut-out and placement of everything. My cake would have looked much better. Not really.
Just had to throw in this little picture of my Katers. She is so cute! It's hard to tell, but she was holding 3 pink purses and had to take them to the store. She has been sick this week and up ALL. NIGHT. LONG. She sure is a joy, in spite of the sleepless nights she provides us with.

Way to go, Grace

2011-01-04T20:53:00.000-08:00

Today was one of those crazy, and I mean crazy, run around days. Kids going in all directions! And Kate refused (trust me, we tried!) to take a nap! I was picking Landon up from his first band practice at the school and was sure that he would'nt be able to tell which white mini van was ours in the darkening night. So I hopped out of my car and walked as quick as I could ( it was freezing and I didn't have my coat on) to the entrance. I came to the gutter where all the other vehicles were lined up waiting for kids and saw that it was full of a lot of slush, so I decided to jump over it. It was more of a leap, really. The minute my foot hit the other side, I realized I had jumped right onto a patch of ice and both feet went flying out from under me. I did a beautiful opera kind of singing scream and landed hard on my elbow and tushy! It was pretty awesome. If it didn't hurt so bad I for sure would have laughed right then and there, but the fact is, there were like 50 other parents and students that probably saw me fall. I did feel stupid. But it is pretty funny. I just took some ibuprofen and think I'll go soak in a nice, hot bath.

My most undocumented December yet

2011-01-02T12:22:00.001-08:00

December is always oh so busy and we seem to have many things that we are running to and from. I usually try to capture most things on camera, but this year I think I must have just been lazy about it. I did snap a few shots here and there, but I didn't even have my camera on Christmas because it was hiding somewhere. So here are the few pictures I did manage to take this month. And here we go into January (blah!) and so begins dance and choir and band and basketball and piano and scouts and whew! and I'm already looking forward to warmer weather! Here are some other highlights that were not captured by the camera.

- Kate escaping from me during the final song of a Voice Male concert. I was searching the back of the concert hall for her when I heard Richard say in his microphone, during the song, "She's up here, Jenny." And Kate was running across the front row right by the stage. "That's my daughter, and here comes my wife." I had to really run to catch that little stinker. It made for a fun ending to Lion Sleeps Tonight because the words became, "she got away, she got away.......we de de de de de de de de, my daughter got away." Yeah, totally planned.

- The Hague family Christmas party where the kids got crazy amounts of balloon creatures thanks to Uncle Joe and Richard showed off his skills as a balloon wrangler. If you ever need to get helium balloons down from the ceiling of a church gym, he's your man!

- The awesome dance party we had at our house after putting on our Christmas Eve jammies and before watching a movie. We had to get our wiggles out and we all had so much fun! I love watching my kids dance!

- The Huffs boys and McAllister boys having a great time at Laser Tag and Landon whooping on all of them- even Richard and John. Boy, I bet thats tough for a grown man to handle!

- All the amazing food that has tasted so amazing and has made me feel like crap. For this reason, I welcome January and eating normal again!

- Driving to Sandy on the night of the terrible snow storm. It took me 2 hours to get from Lehi to Sandy!

- Singing with the band at a wedding that the piano player couldn't make it to because of the storm. I was able to fill in on the piano when I wasn't singing. This was a first for me, as I don't read charts and I don't improvise. I can to anything if I have music in front of me, but I managed to get the hang of it and was proud of myself for doing a decent job!

- Christmas parties with both of our families and enjoying spending time with them all.

- Kate waking up on Christmas morning and looking at all the presents and saying, "Santa Claus came to town!!!"

- Christmas Eve brunch at Dave's and going with everyone to see Tangled....loved it!

- Landon, Daniel and Emma snowshoeing into the cabin. It's not a sissy trail and even Emma did amazing and didn't whine or complain!

- New Years Eve at Lori and Troy's and driving back in -16 degrees! That's right, negative 16!!

We celebrated East coast at 10:00 but didn't leave until 11:30. All the kids eventually fell asleep in the car and Kate was the last one still up at 12:45!!!

Kate on Santa's lap- she loved Santa this year!

Sweet Emma

This is where Daniel informed me that he told Santa he wanted a red Nerf sword. This was the first time I'd heard about it and with only a few days before Christmas I found one after searching 2 Walmarts and 2 Targets. Thank you, Toys R Us!

The kids were totally into collecting rubber duckies after Voice Male concerts this year. They had 162 at one point. Most of them have been donated to other homes now.

Look at the crazy amount of snow in Fairview!

These are a few of my favorite things!

2010-12-01T12:27:00.000-08:00

Every year when I decorate for Christmas I get all nostalgic and think about how each of my favorite decorations came about. I love decorating and so I thought it would be fun to share a few of my most favorite decorations that are now decking my halls.

This is the candelabra that I haven't bought candles for yet. When I was growing up we always had dinner by candelight in December. My parents gave us these a few years ago and we love having candelight dinners for the month! The kids also love taking turns lighting them and blowing them out!

This isn't really a decoration because I have to hide it under my bed to keep it from Kate and Rocky. But it is special because it is an important tradition. My Grandma Strebel started it when I was little and then my Mom did it when I started having kids. After she died my Dad decided he would carry on the tradition himself. There is a bag for each day of December with a little goody or treat inside and the kids just love it! My Dad has totally outdone himself with the treats and he bought these cute new boxes this year.

This is my luminary for Phil. He made the picture in the middle and I wanted to make it more of a focus point this year so I added the candles on either side.

I love my tree that is full of ornaments from my girlfriends. I love taking them out each year knowing that my friends have the same ornaments on their trees. However, my favorite ornament is the one of my Mom and I also love my star that I made 11 years ago out of cardstock and twine. It has held up great and people always ask me where I got it!

I just love this spot. The stocking are the first ones that Richard and I had when we first got married.

This little quilting project is in my entry way and it is special to me because my Mom helped me make it at a Relief Society Super Saturday. I didn't know what I was doing and she helped me step by step and I think it is so darling!

I love my stockings (I got the pattern from Julianne, so I'm sure she has the same ones!) that I cross stitched. I love to do needlework and I worked on them each time I was pregnant.

I had to do a close up so you could see the details a little better.

These are all my nativity sets. I never tried to collect them, but these have all been given to me over the years and I love setting them up on the piano and having it be the true meaning of Christmas spot in our house.

This is the Nativity Set that Landon made when he was like 5 years old. He made it one night with a babysitter after I had given them some supplies- isn't it fun?

This is my favorite craft project. I have done ones for Halloween and Thanksgiving as well and they turn out super cute! It is just scrapbook paper mod podged onto a metal star! So fun and cute!

This is the advent calendar my Mom made. I can't even fathom the amount of work that went into it. But I love it because she made it and the kids love putting another ornament on the tree each day.

This is the house that Layne Huff made me years ago. She made it out of cardstock and it is a little replica of our house. I love it and I always think of when they used to live by us and we would get together and eat good food and sing Gift of Love and Alfred Burt Carols with Richard and John. Then Layne and I would play Ruloph, Sleigh Ride and Petersburger Schlittenfahrt duets on the piano.

Thanksgiving weekend

2010-11-29T12:37:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I love it when the kids are out of school. I love having no schedule, not having to teach piano, being lazy in the mornings (oh wait, I'm always lazy in the morning!) and just hanging out. We started off the week with my piano recital. I teach my 3 oldest kids and they all did a super job- I was very proud of them! We checked the kids out early on Tuesday to avoid the BIG STORM! that never came as we went to visit friends in Payson. So we took them to Sizzler for dinner that night and pretended there was a blizzard. Wednesday the kids and I went to Harry Potter (Richard and I went first on Saturday so I got to see it twice!) and we all loved it and can hardly wait for the next movie! Thursday we went to my Dads for dinner and we had a great time! My Dad makes everything so special still! Friday we went to Cabela's and bowling and had another fun day together. Saturday was spent in Mt. Pleasant with Richards family where we shot guns, had dinner and attended the lighting of Main Street event- freezing cold! Landon and Daniel were awesome shooters- they were hitting moving targets from a thrower and they were spot on! We were really proud of them and they loved it. Here are some picture highlights - I forgot my camera on Thanksgiving Day. :(

Landon, Emma and Daniel before the recital. I should have taken one with their teacher!

The fish tanks at Cabelas

Sometimes these kids act just like these wild animals!

Kate stayed in the car during shooting watching Tinkerbell and staying nice and warm!

Daniel and Riley

Emma and Addi

Grandpa giving Landon some pointers

Landon and Richard

The very cold hay ride- it got much colder after the sun went down!

My funny girls

2010-11-15T21:07:00.001-08:00

Last night I was giving Kate a bath and I started washing her body. I said, "let's wash your privates so we can be all clean."

Kate: "Pivates....cary."

Mom: "No, no...privates aren't scary!"

Kate: obviously trying to get her point across, "pivates...cary! Cary pivates!.....Aaaargh!"

And then she made a PIRATE face, like the one you see here! I was laughing so hard. Yeah, don't really want to get those confused.

Emma has been spending much of her time making these flyers. Hundreds of them. She cut them all out individually and is writing each one individually. I'm not sure anyone will hire her (except me) and I told her we don't even know as many people as she has flyers, but she persists. Oh well, it keeps her busy. Anyone need a cheap babysitter?

Happy Fall

2010-11-08T12:08:00.000-08:00

Wasn't the weather last week wonderful? Usually I am ready for the cold, wet weather, but this year I would be happy to stay at 60 degrees for a lot longer!

Look how big Rocky is getting! Now that it's cold I feel all bad for him and we will probably let him sleep in the laundry room.

Love these kids!

This was at the Reflections Award Night. Kate has loved this darling Abby Cadabby costume that Aunt Emily made for her. She had to wear it to the school!

We were proud of Daniel for getting a trophy this year. He was SO excited because Landon has won trophies before, but this was Daniel's special award! He wood burned his picture for the Reflections contest!

On a totally different note, I cannot begin to tell you how bad it hurts to drop a can of soup on your bare foot from counter height. And yet......I just did.

Halloween 2010

2010-11-04T11:50:00.000-07:00

We had a good Halloween, despite the cold, rainy weather. I always like it so much better when its warm and dry. The kids had parades and parties on Friday and we went to our ward Trunk or Treat on Saturday. Most wards do it a few days before, but not ours (I don't like this). We went late so we wouldn't eat dinner because we wanted to eat at Grandpas, we had to leave before the actual Trunk or Treating began. We had to make a decision- stay at the church or head up to Grandpas. The kids chose Grandpas. My Dad made chili (from scratch!) that was most excellent and witches brew and had the tables all set cute and decorated. He's so great! We had fun Trick or Treating around his neighborhood with cousins. Daniel held up his bag after about 15 houses and said, "Look how much candy I've got! This is awesome!" I'm so glad that my kids felt like they got a lot of candy, because they really didn't, and they were happy with it! Landon and Daniel bet Richard they could go for a full week with no candy, treats or sweets. They have both done it and will be paid on Sunday if they can keep it up! Emma chose not to participate- shocker!

Kate was a beautiful Snow White- this is a re-staging (hence the purple plaid) because the real Halloween day picture was unable to join the blog.

Daniel was a spooky skeleton

Our lovely pumpkin carvings

Aloha!

Cousins ready for Trick or Treating at Grandpas

Emma was Jasmine, even though she insists that she doesn't like Princesses anymore.

This costume was a big hit. It was not easy to make, but I think it turned out great!

Jake and Traci were the perfect Barbie and Ken!

Katelyn turns 2!

2010-11-02T13:22:00.001-07:00

Kate turned 2 on Wednesday, October 27th. She loved her presents (especially ripping off the paper!) and her special dinner of hot dog mummies and mac n' cheese and her fancy cake (brownies). The highlight of her day was her haircut. I took her to Cookie Cutters and she thought it was great! I know I could never have gotten her to hold still for me! She has really grown up in the last little while and she brings so much joy to our family. Here are some of the things we love about Kate:

*She gives awesome hugs and kisses. Sometimes her kisses are so long it makes us a bit uncomfortable!

*She is starting to talk in sentences and it is so fun to hear the things she says.

*She is funny- she makes silly faces and noises all the time. She makes us laugh on a daily basis.

*She finally is a great sleeper! Yahoo!

*She is a real princess and she knows it. She changes (brings me dress ups to change her into) her dress a few times a day and walks around dancing and saying, "I princess!"

*She is always so excited to see Daddy and loves it when he comes home.

*She definately adds spice to our family and we love her to pieces!

We let her blow out the candles 5 or 6 times because she loved it so much!

Isn't her hair cute? It was getting so long and stringy, I love how it looks now!

In the morning (pre haircut) riding her new Princess bike and wearing her new boots!

She is my princess baby! We love you Katers!

California

2010-10-26T20:45:00.000-07:00

We got back from our wonderful vacation on Sunday. Before my Mom died she told my Dad she wanted to give each of her kids some of the life insurance money. We decided to spend ours making family memories. I felt like it was something she would have loved us to do and the memories I made with my parents and siblings on family vacations are some of my most treasured. So I really felt like this trip was a "gift" from my Mom. We stayed the first night in St. George and did 4 days at Disneyland with a beach day in the middle. We also went to Medieval Times on our beach day. Its a dinner show with horses, knights, jousting, fighting, etc. and the kids loved it! It was overcast, cool and rainy most of the time, but that didn't stop us from having a great time! We drove the whole way home on Saturday- holy cow! I didn't think we could do the drive all in one day, but we did and we all survived! We had a great time and loved being together. Here are picture highlights of our trip, even though many moments were not captured in pictures- like the ferris wheel at California Adventure where Daniel was in tears, convinced we were going to die, Emma was also crying and Landon was nervous (scared) laughing. All I could do was laugh so hard- it was seriously hilarious! And now we are back to real life! Not nearly as much fun!

Disneyland is so cute at Halloween time!

The boys on Pirates

The girls on Pirates

Kate loves princesses and since Tiana's line was short we decided to take the photo opportunity!

The happiest place on earth!

Kate was holding on to Richard very tight, and I love Richards face- what a great Daddy!

Teacups- the kids loved to spin. The parents, not so much.

I love Richards face in this!

.......and this!

No spinning for me! Blugh!

Our cold, but still fun, day at the beach. It was only like 62 degrees!

Kate thought it was great!

Precious!

Funny Dan man!

Feed the birds, tuppence a bag

The birds were literally eating out of our hands

Medieval Times- the kids loved it!

Getting ready for the yummy dinner and show

Dumbo!

Why buy a hat when you can just try one on and take a picture!

Kate loved all the characters!

I love Disneyland ice cream! My favorite is the chocolate covered bananas, and the Tiki Room Dole pineapple soft serve! Num!

California adventure- I love that Landon is on the phone trying to find Richard.

Toy Story was a great new ride and we loved it!

Richard likes to call this picture Mickey Mouth

"L" for Landon

"L" is for Danie"l"

"A" is for Emm"a"

The last time I took a picture here was with my Mom

Happy Disney Halloween

Yes, we're Harry Potter nerds and proud of it!

2010-10-15T13:19:00.000-07:00

Do you realize that the 1st part of the 7th movie is out in a month??!! I am so dang excited! We have been watching all of the first 6 movies over the past month- so fun! Last night we were watching "Order of the Phoenix" (#5) and Daniel said, "Isn't sending owls exactly like texting?" He's so funny!

Huff's, we hope you are having fun in Florida at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter- how awesome!

We are leaving tomorrow for our Disneyland vacation! Yipee!!!

A riddle

2010-10-13T13:31:00.000-07:00

Daniel's class worked on riddles yesterday. He had to make one up himself, and here it is:

This comes in a bottle.

You buy it.

You can find it in Albertson's.

Kids want it, but they can't have it.

Parents have it all the time.

A red label.

Yeah, I'm a good Mom. I do drink (diet) Coke all the time, but I never let my kids have it!

Anniversary

2010-10-10T15:01:00.001-07:00

This week marked the passing of my beautiful Mother. She passed away on October 7th last year. It's hard to believe that it's been a year. I spent the day Thursday reliving every moment and detail of the day last year. Time is such a strange thing- it seems like she's been gone for such a long time, and yet, as we all went to the cemetary yesterday we all said it felt like we were just there for her funeral. My family (minus Richard, who had a show in Arizona) went to her grave yesterday and had a family prayer. We went back to my Dad's and had a dinner in honor of Mom- cold cereal. That was her favorite thing to eat! I made sweet rolls, which she loved to make in the fall and we also had bananas and oranges- another favorite of Mom's. Then we watched clips from the autobiography video she made a few years ago. We listened to her tell funny stories and heard her wonderful laugh. Then we watched the DVD of pictures and music that I had made for the funeral. It is a great DVD, but you just can't watch it without crying. We were all crying and Kate looked up at everyone crying and looked very confused, like, "I guess I should be crying too." She got a tissue and patted her eyes and cried the funniest fake cry ever. So cute! It was wonderful to be together and think about Mom. I'm so glad that families are forever, and even though it is so hard for me to understand and accept, I do know that we will see her again and it will seem as though we were never apart.

All the kids just rushed into Grandpas arms after the prayer. They all love him so much and he is so wonderful.

My Dad always takes such care to pick out things for Mom. She would have loved this fall wreath.

The five granddaughters

The five grandsons

One year ago

The Kevin and Judy Hague family

Little Miss Emma turns 6

2010-10-04T11:26:00.000-07:00

We celebrated Emma's happy birthday on Friday, October 1. She is such a joy to have in our family. She is always so obedient and because of that, she and I got to have a special date last week to go see "Ramona and Beezus", which she loved! She seems like she is so much older than 6 and is so mature and knows exactly what she wants. She is a great help with whatever we ask her to do and is a wonderful older sister to Kate. She loves to play the piano and is doing amazing! (I don't think I could play as well as her at age 6!) We love her so much and are so happy that she could have such a special day!

Modeling her new outfit and her Littlest Pet Shop house- she could play with them for hours. Fortunately, so can Daniel, and they play LPS so great together!

Part of Emma's party was spent painting faces and nails. Here are Hailey, Hallie, Sydney (she's 10- not freakishly tall!) and Madeline.

Emma was so happy that her cousins who live far away were able to come- thanks, Emily for driving the girls down! Emma and cousin Gracie.

The girls decorating cupcakes. The weather was so nice and it was so great to have the party outside!

She was okay with a cupcake to blow out instead of an actual cake. (Truthfully, I forgot about a cake!)

She loved dinner at Chili's and felt extra special when she got this free frosty chocolate shake and got sung to. She MADE me tell the waitress it was her birthday!

And, of course, Grandpa Kevin! He came for the last part of her party to "participate", which Emma loved! Then he joined us for dinner and took Emma birthday shopping after. She had a great time with him, and her birthday wouldn't have been complete without him! Thanks Dad!

Interior design trend

2010-09-27T12:54:00.000-07:00

I'm trying to improve my room and bathroom a little by painting and adding some curtains, and a few simple decorations. I got a few swatches of fabric the other day and asked Richard what he thought of this for curtains. His response was, "Well, I think they're a little small." LOL! He's just funny that way, like the other day when someone called to talk to me and they said, "Is your wife around?" He said, "No, actually, she's tall and thin." I love being married to a man who makes me laugh. Love you, Richard!

I love Grandpa, yes I do! I love Grandpa, how about you?

2010-09-24T14:13:00.000-07:00

Emma's birthday is next Friday and we are busy planning her little party. She has wanted to invite Grandpa Kevin for months now and I think it is the cutest thing ever. She knows that it will be a bunch of little girls doing girly things, but she wants him to come and help and serve cake and ice cream. I think it means more to her than any of her other friends. She even wants a cake that says "I Love Grandpa Kevin"...none of that "Happy Birthday Emma" stuff. She also told me we could put streamers and signs all over the house that say "I Love Grandpa Kevin". He will be at the party because he is awesome that way, but I think we'll just do regular decorations and cupcakes with sprinkles. If we did it all the way Emma has in mind he may be having to sign autographs by the end of the party! I just think it is so special and what makes it extra special is that it is genuine and it is her biggest birthday wish!

September happenings

2010-09-22T12:46:00.001-07:00

The kids school decided to have a 5k instead of the traditional fundraisers this year. I thought the idea was brilliant because I really hate fundraisers! I think they had a decent turnout, but hopefully next year will be better. We had a good time and Landon toasted all of us. He won 2nd place in his age division and some cool prizes! Emma ran the 1k with her friend, Allie. Daniel was a good trooper, Kate was in the stroller and Richard and I are not good runners, but we did okay! Maybe next year we can improve!

Emma and her cute friend Allie (who is in 7th grade) who takes such good care of Emma and plays with her all the time- she is the best!

I took this picture going up the road while Landon was already on his way back down the route- I told you, he really toasted us!

Daniel and his friend, Crosby, at the turnaround halfway point

Two weeks ago my sister-in-law Michelle and I made chili sauce. This is a specialty that my Mom used to make. It is a fall ritual we just had to continue! I helped my Mom many times before, but I had never done the entire process completely on my own! It was a learning experience for us, but I think we did okay and I hope it turned out like it is supposed to! It was a full day process and we had a lot of fun, despite all the little mishaps along the way. Michelle burned her arm so bad with boiling water- she sacrificed her arm so the bottles wouldn't break as we tried to lower them into the hot water bath. We were both screaming and laughing and we know that Mom would have been laughing right along with us. This will definately become a tradition. If you have never tried this chili sauce, you simply must! I don't know how anyone can have roast or meatloaf without it. Don't buy it at the store- it's nothing like what we make!

The main ingredients- LOTS of tomatoes, green peppers and onions

The stuff that makes it delicious!- Vinegar, sugar, nutmeg, allspice, cinnamon, ginger and cloves! It is so good, and it makes the house smell amazing while it is cooking!

This is right after it happened, but it looked way worse the next day and she was in a lot of pain! So sorry, Michelle!