My birthday!

My sweet friend Emily takes me out to dinner for my birthday every year. We always have a blast and it's always so fun to do. We went to Olive Garden - yum yum. I said I was going to Boycott that restraunt since they have gotten rid of my favorite meal: Manacotti. But I have found another meal that is 'okay' :)

My friends Rosie, Michelle, and Janie came as well. We then did our traditional walk around Target afterwards.

I love these girls - they are such good examples to me and are truely great friends. Lara didn't get to make it because she was on bedrest for 2 more days to have her baby.

I was spoiled for my birthday this year and I'll admit, I loved it :)

My friends got me: lots of mt. dew :), a willow tree figurine (which i collect, and love), jewlery and jewlery tree, cute craft stuff, hours of cleaning at my home :), pistachios, sonic card, twilight woods body spray :). My wonderful YW girls brought me cookies and more Mt. dew - it was wonderful. My friend Rosie made me lunch on my actual birthday and had some friends over - that was fun. She is a wonderful friend.

Mike spoiled me - he got me slippers, a blanket, and let me go shopping for clothes. I LOVE it :)!!

My family also spoiled me with jewlery, money, and a wonderful photo book of memories! Thanks everyone for making my special day very special!!

I will enjoy this last year being in my 20's - it's gonna be weird to hit 30 next year!

Need to DE-junk!!!!!, but....

Alright so I'm having a dilema - one I think that has been going on for the past 6 yrs!
I'm tired of being over ran in my own home with JUNK! My house is constantly cluttered with stuff everywhere until I can't handle it anymore and I make everyone clean....lasting about a day. Seriously where did all this CRAP come from? it's like it multiples at night when it's dark.
I can't handle my shoe situtation anymore - I just cleaned it up and went thru it (of course throwing nothing away). I did however box up flipflops and sandles for summer and only kept out what we'd wear.
But I can't throw anything out because...because...well because: I just may need them one day, I may have another baby girl, I may need those one boots the kids never wear, what if they need to wear that pair at least ONCE this year, and the excuses go on and on.

I have this same dilema with clothes - we have way TOO MANY and I need to get rid of 1/2....(because they don't wear 1/2) but again what happens one day when I just happen to need everyone in a certain color, or whatever and they will finally wear that specific shirt? it's pathetic, I know - but I can't bring myself to throw things out. HELP!! what do I do?
(The bad part is, I need to throw them out b/c their stained, wrote on, or worn out - so it should be simple)

This is happening with furniture, toys, blankets, and more. I don't know how I ever got from ALL my belongings growing up down to the ONE rubbermaid that is sitting in my garage. But I need to do this for each of my girls and my house.

We have entirely too many toys, so many infact that they've all been locked up in the closet, and yet they are still finding toys to play with - I don't even think they miss them. But how do I toss their 1st baby doll, their first____, every toy seems to have sentimental value to me that I just need to get over!

(just to let you know I have 2 huge diaper boxes and a regular size box of shoes just put away for winter...That doesn't count what is still out, or what is too small for the girls and packed up) yikes! sad thing is...we don't really wear them :(

any tips??!!

Baby Shower Time!!

My friend Lara is having her FOURTH baby!! YAY:) She should be having her little boy here in a couple of weeks and I'm so excited. Lara is so awesome and a great friend - I wanted to do something special for her and this new little bundle of joy she'll be having. I got some friends together and took her out to dinner, we had a special night filled with food, gifts, laughs, and sharing how much we love Lara.

Unfortunetly I only got these few photos - bummer we didn't get one of all of us together.

Here are some more photos from Thanksgiving. The girls played in the snow, we made cookies, cuddled watching movies, and did lots of 'DRAGON' rides! The story behind DRAGON rides: the girls wanted Mike to DRAG them on the blanket across the floor so they would yell DRAGGING ride - but it comes out DRAGON ride. HAHA so it is now infamously known as DRAGON ride :)

Thanksgiving Break

*So much has happened in the last week. Mike, Kirk, and Brian were suppose to go to Lake Powell for a sailboat trip during the week of Thanksgiving - they were excited and prepped for it until we found out there was a winter storm coming across the west that would bring freezing temperatures. So plans got changed and Mike and I were going to go to Preston to do Thanksgiving with my family. I was excited Mike was coming so I wouldn't have to drive alone with three kids - aahh! But on Monday the storm hit and things became icy and yucky, so we went back and forth numerous times on whether to drive across the state or not. We finally decided to stay home and just go again in a couple of weeks when we can take Christmas gifts, see baby London's blessing, and go to SLC with the girls to see the lights.

*Tuesday I went to Lexi's school for her Thanksgiving Feast, it was alot of fun! Then we went to the store and stocked up on some goodies and food. Wednesday we cleaned the house so we could enjoy the rest of our break and veg.
We ended up going to Grandview for Thanksgiving since we were around. Some others didn't risk the roads either. We had a lot of fun with everyone. We were able to be up at the new house - the kitchen was Fabulous!! We had plenty of room to cook, clean, serve, eat, everything...it was great. Lori made her yummy rolls and Shelby sat by her and helped.

*Mike and I LOVE LOVE these caramel apples from Rocky Mountain at the outlet mall, so Mike thought we should try making them ourselves. They were a hit and just as yummy as the stores: we got about 11 apples for their price of 1!!! We dipped them in homemade caramel, then dipped in white chocolate, then sprinkled cinnamon on them.

*We also shot some guns while we were there. Lexi was all excited to do it, but she was soo cold and I think a bit scared, so she backed out. I try a few shots, I sucked...didn't hit any clay discs. I don't do so well at moving objects. The windchill was ridiculous...I can honestly say I've never had my hands be so cold - they were burning :(

*The rest of our break was fun too. We did some Black Friday shopping, ate out, made cookies, watched movies, and watched our BSU team loose (bummer deal). Ashley and I braved Walmart at midnight for Friday - it was Ashley's first time ever doing Black Friday. It was a rush - and I've never seen so many rude people in all my experience's with BF. We managed to get all we'd wanted - but Ashley said never again. I'm gonna have to get her to another store next year :)
Mike was up at 5am for me again - we wanted a recliner, turns out the sale was the day before - bummer deal! We also missed out on a computer we'd wanted.

*We had a good vacation lounging around. Lexi was back at school today, Mike was back to work. Now I need to get back to reality and clean house among other things on my list of to-do's!!! Hope everyone had a good holiday - we're looking forward to ChRisTmAs!!!!

Fun with Dad

I got Lexi this Hello Kitty shirt and she is now in LOVE with Hello Kitty! She came home from school and painted her very own face this way...just from looking off the picture on her shirt! I was real impressed at her skills!!! So I when I went to YW later that night, the family broke out the face paint and did everyone's faces...lots of fun :)

Kamree just turned FOUR this month!!! She was soo excited to have a FAIRY birthday party. She invited four friends and we provided fairty dust, fairy wings, wands, and crowns for all the girls! They all had a really good time and Kamree of course enjoyed the attention of the day :)
My dad came into town for Kam's birthday - so he took us to lunch at Olive Garden, we went swimming at his hotel pool, and we had more cake with candles and more presents! It was a fun weekend. For the following week AFTER the birthday, Kam kept asking for things at the store"can I get this for my birthday?" I had to explain that it was over :(

Kam is growing up so fast, we love her!! Here are some things about Kamree:
*she loves movies
*she still luggs around her soft blanky
*she loves to play with her friends - she talks non-stop about Addie and Liv
*she gets in trouble with scissors...just got caught cutting her hair AGAIN for the 2nd time and cutting the toe off her tights.
*loves her booster seat
*she is a good big sister to Shelby
*loves to go to preschool. She does so much better for her teachers than me
*I love Sundays because all thru sacrament she'll sit on my lap and cuddle
*she rocks at puzzles
*loves to play with her dolls, stuffed animals, and blankets. she will put them to bed and set them up to read book/movies
*her favorite thing is to help cook in the kitchen
*always likes to wear her hair down, I have to really persuade her to pull it up sometimes
*really looks up to her big sister Lexi
*helps her self to food and drinks - this is good and bad :)
*loves loves loves candy - I'm beginning to get worried about her teeth - ahh!

Quilt

I first saw quilt like this about 2 yrs ago when my friend Lani had made one. I immediately fell in love with it. I've been wanting to make one for a while now, but I know how time consuming quilts can be. I finally found the perfect excuse to get one done.

One of my wonderful friends, Lara, is having her fourth baby and it's a BOY!!!! I thought it would be the perfect gift for her. Luckily Lani helped me out with how to get it done. I'll be honest, it was alot more work than I thought it would be. (I'm estimating about 8-9hrs total). But I know what I'm doing now and can speed a few of those areas up :) Also my machine is crappy and unthreads CONSTANTLY - it might also help to have enough thread on hand so I don't have to stop and run to the store for more in the middle of it :) haha

It turned out way cute and I love it!!

Love being a mom

The other night Mike had to work late so the girls and I ate dinner without him. Shelby and I were still sitting at the table while Lexi and Kam were playing in the living room. I had one of those moments were time just froze and I was taking in just how special our children are.

*I love listening to them compromise while playing

*Watching how grown up Lexi talks and how she stands

*Listening to Kam try to get Lexi to do what she wants

*How they love to sit and read books FOREVER

*How innocent they are

*How helpful they are and how hard they try to do what's right

I know how hard this stage in my life is with little children, but I was just taking it all in and wishing they could just stay this age, this way. I don't want them to grow up and change and move out to their own lives. I wish I could just always hold them - how hard it will be when they grow up.

And just then as all this emotion is sweeping over me and the tears start to come - Lexi comes over to the table to drink and spill RED KOOLAID all over the table, her white shirt, and the floor......instantly snapping me out of my dream and back to reality. Ah, they joys of little children :) haha

Me and Shelby

On Sunday I put my feet up to read my book and I look over and I have a little buddy sitting next to me, her feet up with a book just like me. Awe this little girly is soooo sweet - I just love her!!!

Anniversary

Mike and I met 9 years ago at ISU through our great friend Heather. We remonised this weekend about our story and between Mike, Heather, and I it's funny how details fade with the years - haha. I guess the important key points are there :) And here we are years later with 3 beautiful, sweet little girls, a wonderful home, and happy in life.

We celebrated by getting a babysitter, going out for dinner, and buying ourselves new shoes! I know Mike does not like shopping as much as myself and he doesn't get the same high from it that I do...but thanks for coming with me babe! We had a great time and only wish it could have lasted a bit longer! Here is to many more years of fun and happiness.

Seeing our friends the Pincocks!!

We LOVE seeing our wonderful friends, the Pincocks! Heather and I hung out all day shopping and the girls crashed driving home. We love Makenna and Hadley - they are so cute and funny. Hadley is hillarious and talks/acts like such a big girl - you would never know her and Shelby are 4 months apart. Makenna is so little and cute - she loved playing with Kam and Lexi.

This week was appropriate to see Heather because it was Mike and I's anniversary. NINE years ago Heather was my college roomate at ISU and she hooked us up. So we are so grateful for her in our life. I'm so glad we are still great friends to this day and that our children are now part of eachother's lives.

Love you Pincocks!

Halloween 2010

This year we started Halloween out on Friday with our Trunk-Or-Treat. It was a bit crazy - I went to the store to get some last minute stuff and ingredients for food to bring for the dinner. Lexi got home and I started the ball rolling for costumes, forgetting I had a big pot of Taco Soup brewing on the stove for about 40min :( Needless to say the bottom burned and I tried to save what I could. Kam decided before leaving she didn't want to be the cute cowgirl costume we'd planned so she decided on a ballerina and threw a huge fit cuz I pulled her hair in a cute bun. Shelby refused to put on and actual costume - so we dressed her in black and sprayed her hair and called her a witch. She didn't really love wearing the hat or any of the costume, but she's so darn cute anyway that it didn't matter :) All this happend with just me because Mike had to work late that night. So the rest of the night went fine - and Mike was able to make it for the last 15 minutes of so of the trunk - or- treat to see the girls. Of course I STILL don't have a camara so I have no pictures of the girls - my friend took some so I will try to get those from her this week.

Saturday we attempted Trick-or-treating with some friends. There was no one out so we piled in the van and drove over to a near by sub and hit some doors. It wasn't the most unsuccessful Halloween event we've had...but the girls came home having some candy and the experience and it was enough for me :) We were able to persuade Shelbs to dress in a costume so she could be warm (yes its her same one from last year, haha) I told her she could be sparkly and wear a sparkly coat - :) And Kam refused to let me do her hair this night, so that explains her hair in the above photos. (we borrowed the camara from work so we get get some snapshots the 2nd night).

Sunday night we handed out some candy - but not nearly as many knockers as we usually have. We shut down at 830 so we could get the kids down for bed.

I have decided that Trunk-or-treating is the best way to go and the rest is just exhausting. Maybe next year we'll just hit a bunch of trunk-or-treats and call it good :) I'm learning I don't love halloween as much as other holidays - haha

my new little niece LoNdOn!!

Jeremy and Blair had their little baby girl on 10-13-10. They named her London and she's beautiful. We get to see her on Thanksgiving and can't wait to hold her. The girls are excited to have a little girl on this side of the family - they have just had Mckoy and Crew. My girls aren't too use to boys still! haha

Jer and Blair are going to have their hands full with Crew and London being 13 months apart - but they are cute little babes and I'm sure will manage somehow :) Her is a beautiful picture of London that I stole from their photographers blog :)

blogs without pictures = no fun

Well its been almost a whole month since our camara went KaPoOt :( I'm seriously going insane without one. We're looking around, but I want to make a good purchase - so I'm hesitant. Plus it takes alot of work to look up reviews, etc.

So this is what we've been up to (minus some pictures - sad):

Conference weekend we laid around enjoying the first session. Afterwards we knocked out the wall to open up under our stairs and Mike put a door in. We now have lots of storage room and will move our food storage to there. The girls had a blast helping their dad knock holes into the wall. We also let the girls color all over it with crayons before knocking it down. This was a mistake for Shelby - she color ALL over, including walls not to be colored on. So we had to put the kybosh on that! The girls are enjoying playing in the new room and have watched movies in there. I love it because Mike bought a cute door for it, finished it, and cleaned it all up. It was a fast project, and much overdue. Then I rearranged my living room during the 2nd session - only to end up with it all in the same place. There is not alot of options.
Then Sunday we went to Mike's parents and hung out. The house is coming along real well and it's almost complete. We are so excited to have them move in and can't wait til it's done. Already we've had two meals in the new kitchen and it's been fabulous!!

This last weekend Lexi had thur and friday off of school so me and the girls took off home to my mom's to see the family.
We stopped in Poky and had lunch with Heather and Travis. It was soo good to see them and catch up. Their girls are so cute - it is fun to see our little girls as friends :)
We were so excited to get to Preston to see Mckoy and Crew! We just don't get to see them enough - and the girls loved to play with them again. Amber and I rearranged and cleaned her front room. Mom helped us too, then took the kids so we could get more done. It is always fun to do other people's houses. We moved in a table and moved around some darn heavey furniture .
They finally hung their flatscreen after 10 months - Jer and Kelly did it later that day. Amber and I did some local shopping - including a stop at the cute fabric store! I also had my hair cut (of course, a must when I'm in town). Mom was helpful to keep the kids for us during all this fun time - made it more enjoyable to run around - haha.
I was able to go over to Jer's to see the cute new nursery for my little niece London that will be born TODAY!! It was fun to spend time with their little family in their adorable home.

We also went to a drive-by haunted house that was fun and ate good food. We also had some good talks - I was able to learn a lot more about my childhood that I didn't know.
Kelsie had Keni's birthday party while we were there. That little girl is the cutest thing ever. She's a good baby and we love to see her, so sad they moved away :(
We had alot of fun hanging out and playing with cousins. We even enjoyed some icecream! The only down side of the trip was me driving by myself with the girls - it makes for a long drive with a 2yr old yelling the whole time "mama! mama! MAMA!!" but we survived! :)

Cascade Trip

In September we went to Cascade and rented a home near the lake. We had a blast! Some of the Dean's joined us: Kirk's family, Mom and Dad, and Kim's family. We took the sailboat and enjoyed the lake. Mike and Kirk set up a Treasure Hunt for the kids, they really enjoyed it!! The home we stayed in was beautiful and so here are some pictures of it for those of you who wanted to see. One day I will build this home, it was wonderful. We had 4 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms. The dining table was cute, so I'm asking Mike to make it for me :) It was a wonderful vacation...peaceful and good weather. Can't wait to go again!!!
(also thanks to Lisa for teaching me how to do these cute collages...so much easier then uploading a 'boat-load' of photos)

Trip to ELKO!

cute little Tayven didn't want his picture taken :(

We haven't been back to Elko in a year and a half - so it was a well needed visit. We stayed at my Dad's and went to the good 'ol fair and horse races. I haven't done that since I was back in school. Grandpa let Lexi and Kam pick the horses to bet on. They didn't win any :( Lexi actually thought she was GETTING a horse, so I told her if she wanted to buy one she was going to need to talk to grandpa about that :)

Then we went and stayed at Lisa's house. We had sooo much fun there. The kids love eachother and we hardly saw them while we were there. Lisa and Chet are the best hosts! We had yummy food, a pina coloda, a fresh fruit shake, and all the mtdew you could want. It is always fun hanging out with them. We just wish we could do it more often!

Thanks for the good time guys - we love you!

*******

sidenote - funny story:

We let the kids stay up too late at Lisa's, they were beyond exhausted. So about midnight we hear the girls screaming and crying. We go upstairs and Kamree and Taylee are up - Kamree had woken Taylee up with her screaming. I'm not sure if it was night terrors or if she needed to go to the bathroom. anyway we couldn't get her to stop screaming/crying, we tried everything. so after what seemed like forever, Mike took her outside again. He then brought her to me downstairs and we finally got her to go potty and she calmed down. So the boys went back to video games and me and lisa talked sitting on the couch and I just held kam on my chest while she fell back to sleep. around 1am there is a knock on the door - its a cop. someone called in saying they heard a baby crying and then a thump. yeah, that was just our screaming 3 yr old and then mike coming inside with the door closing. oh well - at least they follow thru and check on those calls. the cop came down to the basement to check kamree and make sure she was ok. so I hope lisa and chets neighbors dont think it was them beating their child! haha

Kamree's going to Pre-school

Kamree started pre-school and is loving it. She even wrote her name the first day. This is something she will NEVER do for me. She is growing up so much in the last month. I can see major changes with her in behavior and confidence. I think with Lexi gone iy has made a difference in Kam's attitude. She feels like such a big girl going to school and having her own backpack with her crayons and scissors. I love this little girl, she's a sweetie. She loves being Shelby's big sister and is very helpful. If I tell her to do a chore, she's usually mad. But if I ask her to be my helper and do something...she's all about it with excitement (mike figured this one out). She also is into telling jokes lately. her favorite:

"knock knock"

"who's there?"

"popcorn"

popcorn who?"

"popcorn!"