The Monteath Family

Morrison

2012-01-22T15:23:00.000-08:00

So Friday morning I was talking to the 'rents. They told me they were on their way to St. George, A.K.A. Paradise, A.KA. Heaven, A.K.A. my favorite place ever. We have a lot of good memories there, plus it's warm. Win win. So after I got off the phone with them, my longing to get out of the house and do something grew exponentially. Unfortunately going to St. George was out of the question as it's about 10 hours away, so I started thinking of places I've wanted to go, things I've wanted to do. Well there's a little town called Morrison that we drive through all the time, and I've always wanted to go walk the downtown, and there's a river that you can walk next to...super cute. So as soon as Kai got home from school we got the kids ready, grabbed some lunch and off we went!

It was getting a little chilly, so we bundled up Kennedi with her blanket and she was good to go

We walked across the bridge and Cameron read about the bell that used to be on the school, but when they built a new school house it somehow got moved to like Ohio or something and then there was this committee to get it back to Morrison...not sure. But it was hilarious because the kids and I had kept walking, and Cameron came to catch up with us after reading the story and he was telling me about it, but couldn't understand why they would have the plaque there when there was no bell. This was hilarious because this was the bell he didn't see....

It was above him the whole time. The plaque is to the right of the kids on the side of the bridge. Hilarious. And there's the kiddo's posing for me and having fun.

It started to get pretty windy and cold, so we headed back...passing by an old antique/junk shop. Kai wanted a picture by the handcart.

By the time we got in the car it was super cold and windy. Then we turned around to go get gas, and realized that this is what we barely beat by the time we got in the car.

We were pretty bummed out. It had started out so sunny and warm. It certainly did not help with my St. George fix! But it was fun and we enjoyed our time together and our time away from the house and packing! But we do have big plans to go back and go here:

The Blue Cow Eatery. We'll let you know how it is.

And I still want to go to St. George. Mom and Dad, we'll be visiting soon! Preferably when they are having record highs.

Christmas Pictures

2012-01-21T09:07:00.000-08:00

So the kids weren't too anxious to take pictures after church on Christmas...but I insisted. And actually, Kennedi was completely willing, it was Kai being the picture snob. But here's what I was able to get.

Someday I will actually get and learn and use photoshop...until then, it's all straight out of the camera for me. Sure love my kiddos!

Christmas Eve

2012-01-21T08:53:00.000-08:00

I just downloaded some pictures of our Christmas Eve dinner we had....we were too big to fit in Sue's house, so we set up in the RS room of the church and had a little program. I was "in charge"...I use the term loosely :) It all worked out in the end.

I was in charge of the hot chocolate bar...it was really fun. I made a white chocolate and a hot chocolate. We had 4 different kinds of 'mallows, peppermint, vanilla, gingerbread and regular. Here are some spoons I made..dipped in white chocolate and then sprinkled with peppermint or toffee chips. Yummy. I also did it in chocolate, but somehow didn't get those pics.

After dinner we had the kids act out the Nativity. We had gotten some old sheets from the goodwill and fashioned some costumes. The two oldest grandkids narrated and then the rest acted it out. It turned out so cute and fun...

Joseph was not so thrilled to be Joseph

Apparently Blake was excited to be a shepherd though, while Kai was concentrating very hard...

Can you spot my little angel visiting the shepherds?!

The shepherds visiting baby Jesus

The Wise Men visiting baby Jesus

The final bow. The kids loved it, and the parents laughed the whole time, it was great. I was behind the scenes, helping the kids go out on time and come back on time, they were so anxious and excited and loved it.

Ch-ch-ch-changes

2011-12-22T09:44:00.000-08:00

So this past Tuesday, right around lunch time, the door to my house opens. I figure it's one of the neighbor kids, who sometimes knock, sometimes not, and whom I have issues with! I go to look, and it's my husband. Clearly much earlier than he's expected. He had just been fired. Really long story short, his "boss" was taking some heat, he was afraid for his job, so in order to "appease the Gods" he fired Cameron. Hoping that would take enough heat off of him....show that "things had been handled." It was in no way an appropriate action for the issue at hand, and I can assure you Cameron was not at fault. Nonetheless, four days before Christmas, we find him without a job. Things will be fine, we hope! and we have started the job search and going through all the fun unemployment stuff that we hope will be sufficient to keep us in our house and not moving back in with Cameron's mom. But even if it's not, we recognize that we are very blessed with alternatives and supportive family. I figured you all would find out anyway, so might as well rip the band aid off all at once! Thankfully we have Christmas all done and taken care of already so that's not a stress, and now we just have extra time to spend with Cameron! We are very blessed for all that we have and we recognize that the timing is good...if there can ever be good timing in these things.

So with that, if you hear of any jobs we'd be appreciative! Hope you all have a Merry Christmas, and I will be back after with some pictures of the festivities!! Love to all!

One for the folks

2011-12-16T08:03:00.000-08:00

So it may come as a shock to you that my folks don't really do Christmas anymore. I know, right?! Me who has the tree up before Thanksgiving has parents who don't even put a tree up. (shakes head in disbelief). Mostly we just give them a hard time and don't really care :)

One day I came across this picture from pottery barn, because Dena had seen them in the store and said they were amazing so I went and looked for it online...and once I saw them, I knew I had to do them for the 'rents. (that's slang for parents. because I'm going on little sleep and lots of crazy right now).

(Did you go see the link? Ok good.)

So here is Dena and I's version.

Ok, so they're not perfect. But they were fun, and someday when I have a house and a bookshelf (actually it'll be a wall of bookshelves) I'm going to make some for me too! We took framing squares and wood from Home Depot, cut it down, sanded and stained it. The squares were too shiny so we "distressed" them with some black paint. Then glued the wood together and then bought really weird glue to glue the squares to the wood. They turned out pretty fun! My parents are big on books...as in they have hundreds, and my dad has done construction his whole life, so I was hoping it would be cool and personal. They liked them :)

Happy Kwanza mom and dad! (remember, they don't do Christmas.)

One more

2011-12-15T15:00:00.000-08:00

for today. Although I could have spaced them all out...but no time like the present! ooh! Presents!!! :) Can't wait for Christmas.

Here's one of Kennedi yesterday at Kai's class. She cracks me up. Apparently she's concerned about the picture being taken.

It's Official.

2011-12-15T14:55:00.000-08:00

We have an author in the family :) Kai's class all wrote books, and yesterday they were spotlighted with an Author's Chair. It was so cute, they had the classroom dark with a chair set up on a desk and christmas lights and a spotlight over it. They were completely spotlighted, and they all did great! I tried to get my video on here, but it's not working, so pictures will have to suffice.

(PS, I didn't use my flash on purpose, I wanted to help create the feel that was in the class, it was so fun!)

Making a face at Kennedi...

He is actually turning into a really great reader. We'll go to the library and he'll pick books and read them entirely on his own. I'm so proud of him!!!

Here are a couple pictures of his book.

We're so proud of our kindergartner!

Tis the season

2011-12-15T14:42:00.000-08:00

And apparently it's been a while since I've been on here! We've had a few things going on....trying to get ready for Christmas!

Kennedi is getting a mostly handmade Christmas. She is in love with babies of all kinds (real and not so real), so I'm making her a baby bed (it's half way done!) and I made her a little quilt to go on top of it.

She saw it a few weeks ago and was like "OH!! MINE!!" She was pretty excited for it. But it's been hidden away since then.

We also started a new tradition that I really like and the kids are LOVING it! I wrapped up a bunch of Christmas books and we have been picking one every night and reading it next to the tree. There are some silly ones and serious ones, long and short, and it's been really fun!

The only problem was the first night we did it Kennedi thought we could open all the presents under the tree! Poor girl was a bit confused and upset. But she's on board now and loving it! This is my favorite one so far, it's totally vintage, in great shape, and the illustrations are amazing!

In other news, we have more decorations up! Stockings have been hung and Kai wrote his letter to Santa. I didn't even get to read it. He put it in his stocking, with instructions to Santa that he can keep the letter :) So cute. I'm sure Santa will be pleased.

Our nativity is out, to help remind us the reason for the season.

Kai came home with the perfect decoration for our walls. He made him in class!

His name is Elfie the Elf. Or Buddy the Elf. Depends on the day. And time. And general feeling of the household.

And a true sign it's Christmas around here, we finally got our annual treat basket from the owners of Cameron's company. They are amazing (the owners. Well, the treats are too) and it's always a reminder of how blessed we are for Cameron to have such a good job!

Happy Holidays! I'm hoping to blog a couple more times before Christmas, but that would require finishing a few projects...so we'll see! Wish me luck!

Silly me.

2011-12-02T11:13:00.000-08:00

I thought we had already hit the terrible two's months ago. Who would have guessed that that was just a warm up?

Heaven help me.

On the plus side I have some fun Christmas projects to share, as soon as I get off my lazy duff to take pictures of them. But then again, I think I deserve a moment or two to myself.

Did I mention that we've hit the terrible two's?

I can't believe I just did that

2011-11-18T07:40:00.000-08:00

So I'm going on 3 hours of sleep today.

Because I just HAD to do it.

You know what I'm talking about.

Breaking Dawn, baby.

Midnight movie showing.

6 girlfriends.

Pie.

Exhaustion.

The End.

And yes, it was totally worth it.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

2011-11-14T08:30:00.000-08:00

My post today is sure to arouse some emotions in some of you. Some of you who read this beat me to the punch already, and others probably think I should be shot for even considering putting up Christmas decor before Thanksgiving. It's so funny how people have such strong opinions about this :) But nonetheless, you can't see it from your house, and we love it. There's something about Christmas, and the decorations and the music and the weather, it's just all a bit magical...and we want to have it around as long as we can. So this weekend we put up our Christmas stuff! To see the excitement in my kiddo's eyes...they just make everything so fun. Kennedi was so enthralled with the tree and loved helping put the ornaments and candy canes on! Kai was fun, remembering ornaments from last year and his tradition of putting on the star. So around here....it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas :)

P.S. Did you know Santa is a Broncos fan? Totally is.

Family pics

2011-11-13T10:55:00.000-08:00

So I took some family pictures for some friends of ours for their Christmas cards. They turned out pretty fun! I promised to show my mom a few, so here you go mom! :)

This is the one they'll probably use for the card....cute! They were all so great with smiling and having fun!

Then after we got the business of family pics taken care of, we had some fun!

Then we got a few of each of the kids....but this was my most favorite one. He's so cute!

It was so fun! Thanks D family for letting me take your pictures!

Happy Halloween!

2011-11-01T08:59:00.000-07:00

We had a great Halloween. Earlier this year I saw a picture floating around on pinterest...

As soon as I saw it, I knew I had to do something like that for Kennedi! So with a little help from Dena, and a little help from my hubby, and a lot of patience on my part, I came up with this!

Ok, that's a really bad washed out picture!! I promise it's cute!! My favorite part is the "hat" as Kennedi kept calling it...

I just used a bunch of scraps and fabrics and buttons I had laying around. It was a super fun project, and as soon as I saw it on her, it made all the effort worth it!!

The first debut was at Kai's Kindergarten Parade/Party. The whole school lines up and marches around the school to show off their costumes. So funny. So of course, Kennedi needed to dress up too, and all the kids loved her! They had just learned about owls a few weeks before, so it was very fitting!

Here's Kai, marching around as Optimus Prime. He went through about 12 costume ideas before he settled on a transformer. This is the same costume as two years ago...thank goodness we bought it big so we didn't have to pay for the same costume twice!

A few more pics of the afternoon....

Then we came home for a dinner of too spicy chili :( and yummy cornbread and then headed to the church trunk or treat. Kennedi was HILARIOUS. We were setting up our trunk and the treat bowl was on the ground...she started taking the treats from the bowl and putting it in her bucket, it was hilarious! So we started around to the other cars and she would hold up her bucket for the candy, check to make sure it got in there and then move on to the next car. It was so funny. So a few pictures of the trunk or treat....

Cameron and I like to dress in themes together....so since Kennedi was an owl, I was a bird watcher, and Cameron thought it would be hilarious to be a bird hunter. I was less than amused.

After the trunk or treat we headed to our favorite neighborhood for some trick or treating, then over to Dena's for a post-trick or treating party! She made the coolest dip ever, it's a spinach/artichoke dip...but just look at it!!

All in all it was a great night! It was so fun to see Kennedi with her first real halloween experience, and of course, Kai loved it all, it's always fun to do stuff like that with him. Well, I'm off to go raid the stash!!!

So, remember

2011-10-24T08:19:00.000-07:00

when I told you about 5 years ago that I had more pictures of Kennedi?! Yeah. I am a slacker and just haven't bothered getting a USB to transfer the pics to my laptop to do a post. Well, I still haven't done it, but I'm now on the desktop where the pictures are at, and I happen to find myself with an extra few minutes, and I'm bored. And I think my daughter is cute. So here's more pictures :)

But this is still my favorite :)

later to come this week....Halloween costumes!! We're pretty excited around here :)

Finishing out the week

2011-10-16T18:13:00.000-07:00

So for the rest of our anniversary week, it turned out pretty anti-climactic! Unfortunately life just gets in the way, you know? Wednesday was Movie Night, I got Beetlejuice...Cameron loves it and it's a fun Halloween movie. But we got home late from helping his mom with hanging up light fixtures, so not so great. Then Thursday was his and her massages, then Friday was family picture day! Probably not so much exciting for Cameron but fun for me! Saturday was the end of the end, because I thought I was going in for a wisdom teeth removal consultation....turns out more just yank them out. So here I am, typing this while on Vicodin(sp?). Fun stuff. I'm swollen, can't feel my bottom lip down to my chin, and was told this morning that it could take up to 6 weeks to get feeling back. Yay. It's freaking me out. Also to make the weekend as good as it could be, Kennedi woke up Saturday as sick as she has ever been. Poor girl has croup pretty bad. But on the plus side I just looked through our family pics and found a few keepers!! Thanks to Dena for taking them for us!

Day Two and other things

2011-10-12T07:44:00.000-07:00

So my friend gave me a great idea on what we should do for Day Two of our Anniversary week. She read on a date your spouse blog that you can make/decorate boxes, and then inside of them put little slips of paper that tell little things your spouse can do for you that would be something nice. So if I wanted to do something nice for Cameron and wanted to know what he'd like, I go to the box, pull out a slip of paper and read "Cook me steak woman". I gave that as an example to him... apparently he liked the idea and actually put it in the box. (Note to self, don't make a stupid joke as an example.) Our boxes are fun, mine is a wooden box that looks like a book, and the spine is a pull out drawer. Cameron's is a square that has really cool hardware on all the corners. Maybe I'll get a picture of them tonight, and maybe not. Oooh the suspense :)

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(this would be the "other things" part of the blog) Last night I stayed up until almost midnight because just as I'd start to fall asleep Kennedi would start crying for her daddy. Well since daddy was snoring next to me I figured I was the next best thing, so I'd go in, and she'd reach up for me, I'd hold her and snuggle her for a minute and she'd fall asleep on me. She did this like 4 times. What was hilarious though, is the first time I went in there she was crying "daddy, daddy.....bite.....bite". I'm pretty sure she was dreaming about begging food off of dad. Which is hilarious. The girl is a bottomless pit, and her new thing is to come up to us, tap us and say bite! bite! So the fact that she was dreaming it totally cracked me up.

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In more other things news, school works!! Last night Cameron, Kai, and I were watching Castle and Cameron and I were working on our boxes. Well earlier in the day I had had a conversation with a couple friends about (shhhh, like I'm whispering it...sex), and I was telling Cameron that we had talked about it. For some reason he thinks it weird/hilarious that we talk about things like that sometimes. Well I didn't want to say the word in front of Kai, so I spelled it out and went on talking (not about our sex conversation, other things). The next thing I know he goes SEX! Does that spell SEX mom?! Uh.....sure does kiddo. Sure does.

haha. No more spelling in front of Kai!!! We just had to laugh and congratulate him on how good he was doing with sounding things out!! It was too funny.

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Today I go to the dentist and get 3 cavities filled. The best part? They are on BOTH sides of my face. Yes. My entire face will be numb. This will be hilarious for all but me. But due to my intense and insane fear of the dentist, I felt it best that he get it all done at once, otherwise I wouldn't be sure that I would come back. (Although I REALLY like our new dentist). Thank you and goodnight.

That's all. Bet you can't wait to find out what tonight's Day Three of Anniversary is!!!

Dining Al Fresco

2011-10-10T18:19:00.000-07:00

Sunday marks Cameron and I's 7 year anniversary! Can't believe he's put up with me that long! Can't believe I've put up with him that long!! It's been a good, tough, challenging, growing year and I'm excited to get started on number 8! I decided that to properly celebrate our 7 years together, we would do "Seven Days of Anniversary". Get it? Like 12 days of Christmas? Clever, right? Yeah. I'm awesome. So it started today!

Day One. Cameron got a note with his stuff in the morning telling him Happy Anniversary Week and to come home hungry for Al Fresco. I figured he wouldn't know what it meant. He didn't. But he looked it up and figured out it meant to "eat outside". He still didn't know what I had up my sleeve. Wanna see what I had planned?

This is our "backyard" aka common space behind our row of buildings. I love it and have always wanted to eat outside here!

So out came the card table, folding chairs, tablecloth and just about anything I could scrounge around my house! I used pillowcases for the "chair covers"....pretty ghetto, but I was working with what I had! Cut me some slack :) I grabbed a vase, mason jar, pumpkin, a candle and some scrap fabric and came up with this for a centerpiece.

Thanks to mother nature turning our leaves I had the perfect thing to fill my vase! Here's some close-ups, I thought it was so pretty!

I also hung a few mason jars from the tree with some tea lights, it was fun.

Cameron got home, dinner was ready, so we went out back to have some fun! It was a well received surprise and we had a great time eating outside! Something all you people with yards take for granted!!! Enjoy your space!!

Nothing like mom with a camera while you're eating :)

Kai snapped a picture of us. It IS our anniversary after all!

Kai and Kennedi.

She wouldn't smile, so he tried...something. I'll be honest, this is one of those "I was there but have no idea what was going on moments"...

When all else fails, there's always brute force.

And after a big dinner of baked ziti, what else is there to do but run it off?!

We had a great night on Anniversary Week Day 1! More to come :)

Fully Charged

2011-09-30T12:16:00.000-07:00

Grandma bought us tickets to go to the circus last night!! Thanks Grandma! It was so fun. I was worried about how Kennedi would handle it. Needless worry, she LOVED it!!! It was so fun!! Just in case you don't get to go, here's the highlight :)

(love my sweet, beautiful girl!)

Kai was super excited too!

This guy is an ex-marine...the FIRST in circus history :) He was fun.

She looks a little down now, but this was just before the cotton candy. After that she perked up and enjoyed the whole evening! She got on a sugar high at one point and was jumping up and down on our laps dancing and having fun, then she crashed on the way home!

We all loved the elephants.

This was Kai's favorite part, he loved these guys!

(Those guys were amazing too)

So this was the last big act. Out came this giant arrow...see the guy all in black near the bottom of the arrow?

Then they lit him on fire.

Then shot him across the arena.

It was awesome.

We went to the circus a couple years ago and we weren't thrilled with it. This year was super awesome, and we loved it! We recommend the Fully Charged circus, it was so fun!

I had a dream

2011-09-29T13:08:00.000-07:00

A dream where my world would be free of an awful, lackluster, boring entertainment center.

Don't get me wrong. It works for some people. It did not work for me. It apparently didn't work for my children either, as my son broke the doors shortly after we got it. Yay. Back to the dream.

In this dream, I saw beauty. A unique individual who would fulfill my entertainment center dreams in a way nothing else could. And I waited.

And then I met it. ( I was going to say her, but then that would be even weirder than this already is, and I don't want to lose the 3 people that read this blog, by being too weird. Even though I think of it as a her.) It's time you met her too.

Wow, right? (And please pardon all the angled pictures. My house is narrow not wide and I just can't get a straight on picture hardly ever). I knew she had to be mine, but I couldn't justify the $30 on her. CRAZY, right? Or was it? She was at Salvation Army and it was 50% off (the 30 is the half off price). I told Cameron about this beauty after I came home and he thought I was foolish for not bringing her home. PS, gotta love a hubster who encourages dreams :) So I figured if she was still there the next day it was fate and meant to be and I would bring her home. Obviously I think we know this part of the story.

Here's a few more pictures of her and why I fell in love.

I mean look at the details!! I had never seen anything like it. So it came home with me.

Immediately I was picturing white with a fun colored handle to make it pop. I'm currently loving the white/gray/ neutral colors combos stuff. And it's only paint, so I can change it up if I need too!

After weeks of work (mostly on waiting for Cameron to help with a couple parts...mind you patience is not one of my virtues).....it's done. FINISHED! And I love it. You wanna see?!

Ignore the toys please :)

I Love this!! It's so fun!! So I took the three middle drawers out and made shelves. This required two trips to home depot because I cheaped out on wood the first time and you could tell, so I went back and had them cut me some better wood. Worked. Our next hiccup was drilling the holes in the back of the dresser. Turns out you need a sharp drill bit thingy to do that. Who knew. So back to Home Depot to get one. We drilled the holes, then I attached the back to the dresser. THEN we had this problem.

See the problem? Yeah. Yucky wood showing and a seam, where we attached the "shelf" to the dresser. So I got some sweet molding that I thought matched perfect (it did) and Cameron painted it for me (thanks hunny!). I glued it on today, using painters tape to hold it together till the glue dried!

And now it looks seamless!! See?

Another picture or two...

A dream come true :)

Sorry Mom

2011-09-21T08:39:00.000-07:00

So I got an email the other day from my madre.....calling me out for being such a slacker on the blog!! Sorry mom!! So here's what's been going on lately....

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I've been working on a secret project!! It's going to be AMAZING....if I could ever get it finished! It actually should be finished tonight...crossing my fingers and toes!! Wanna peek?

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Kai is LOVING school. He just had school pictures yesterday. I still can't believe he's in school and that we're getting school pictures! He loves his teacher...he has learned funny things from classmates (nothing bad yet, thank goodness!). We're still working on being able to get ready in less than an HOUR in the mornings....he is impossibly slow and distracted in the morning, and usually results in at least one argument between us. So we're working on it.

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I took some family pictures for a cute family in our ward. They have a new baby girl and it was fun to get to do that for them! Here's a few of my favorites :)

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We are starting the house hunt again! Slowly, we're looking at short sales right now, and if that doesn't pan out in about a month we'll start looking at regular homes! We're excited to move outta this place!!

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Kennedi is hitting her terrible two's WAY too early!! She is the most opinionated, sassy, high-spirited, spit fire girl....and I couldn't love her more. Some days she sends me to bed early because I can't handle it any more, but most days I look at her and can't believe she's mine.

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We're doing great! I have a few more pictures/posts I want to put up, we'll see when that happens!!

Love ya mom and dad!!

Party Time!!

2011-09-17T21:22:00.000-07:00

So my BFF Dena moved here to Denver a few weeks ago and her daughter Brook just had a birthday this week! Brook and Kai are destined for each other....at least that's what Brook says! Both of us moms are crossing our fingers for it too! So she had a princess/super hero party on Thursday, and Kai was the resident super hero! It was such a fun party, Dena did so great, the kids loved it! I was official photographer for the day...here are a few of my favorites!

The castle backdrop that Deen made....AMAZING!! The kids loved it, and it set the scene so perfectly! (I did help with the wavy flags, which were super fun!)

I may or may not have hung out near the dessert bar all day.....

See??? They're meant to be!! (BTW, this is a PURELY candid moment...the adoration you see there is real people :)

These BFF's are total goofballs...LOVE to pose together, it's hilarious!

I don't even want to KNOW what's going on in their minds right now...whatever it is, it CAN'T be good :)

Kennedi is still working on learning how to be a princess. I also realized we need some major princess clothes around here!!

Kai break dancing during musical statues...hilarious. Yeah.

The beautiful princess! She was hamming it up during these and it was awesome!

Birthday girl making a wish!! Hope you had a wonderful day Brook! We love you!

1st Day of Kindergarten

2011-08-24T15:30:00.000-07:00

Wow. I can't believe it's here. And yet I can! It's seemed like forever getting here, and yet like yesterday that I was bringing him home. I wasn't sure how I'd handle today. Jump for joy or cry with nostalgia? Turns out, neither really. He did excellent, was so excited, and ran into the classroom after enduring a few pictures for me. Then he came back out, gave me a big hug and went back in. That's when the tears almost came :)

So what does a first day of school look like? First it starts off with a big breakfast of waffles....that he was too nervous to finish :)

Then comes the LONG walk to school, with our neighbors and friends. (long meaning 12 minutes!)

Can't forget the backpack

Waiting on the bench till we can go into the classroom...and realizing your mom wrote your name on your backpack

It's time!! Dads are super helpful to have around on the first days...helps keep the jitters away

(This is where he ventured off, then came back and gave me a hug!)

After school we got a picture with who's sure to be the most favorite Kindergarten teacher ever!!
Mrs. Sexton is the best!

He survived and enjoyed it, but has HATED how much people keep asking him about school. It's hilarious. "Why does everyone keep asking me that?!?"

We sure love our kindergartner and we're so excited for what his future holds, and ours too!!

Quote of the Day

2011-08-21T18:30:00.000-07:00

Kai was playing at the outlet mall in Breckenridge and a girl comes up and starts playing. He's jumping across on the rocks and she says "Cool! Can I do that?"

Kai says "If you're awesome."

Tomorrows FHE lesson? Humility.

New lens, new nephew

2011-08-09T22:07:00.000-07:00

So I finally got my new lens tonight, and this little guy was the push I needed to get it now rather than later!

Our newest nephew, Tristan Thomas. He's perfect and cute and so loved already! Here's a few of my favorite pics we took tonight. (I only had a few minutes, we'll get more later!)

Grandma and the grandkids (that live here anyway). Tristan makes number 12 for her!

Me goofing around with the new toy/lens :) Love my little girl

We are excited for our new nephew, I'm excited for my new lens (Canon 50 mm f/1.4)! And I have a few more pictures of Kennedi I hope to get up tomorrow...but may need to re shoot with my new lens ;)

Sneak Peek

2011-07-28T17:25:00.000-07:00

sometimes the stars WILL align....and you can get something like this.

more to come.

Double date

2011-07-26T17:40:00.000-07:00

So Monday night we went on a date with my brother and his wife. We went to 16th street mall! It was so fun! It was fun to get dressed up and have a night out and not worry about the kiddos :) We ate at Rock Bottom Brewery....SO good. I highly recommend the mac' n chicken with a cesar salad! It was DELISH.

bubba and his wife (I'm the only one that can call him that. probably because he knows I'd do it anyway:)

me and my hubster

me and Rach

My favorite part were all the pianos sitting around for anyone to play (including shirtless hippies...male shirtless hippies, that is). I pretended to rock out on it

then Rachel had to show me up and show me how it was done for reals

We had such a great night hanging out with them, and can't wait for them to get their hineys here so we can play more together! Love ya guys!

Idaho Springs

2011-07-25T14:47:00.001-07:00

So the hubster surprised us Friday night with a trip up to Idaho Springs to go to a fun restaurant and walk downtown! It was ADORABLE, and I loved it! One of the best nights ever. If you're ever passing through and need to stop, it's worth your time!

We went to BeauJo's for dinner....yummy pizza and then you eat the crust with honey!

While we waited the kids sat on the ski lift chair and perused the menu....

The salad bar(s) were in BATHTUBS!!! It was the coolest thing I've ever seen at a restaurant. Yes, I'm easily impressed :)

Drinks were served in mason jars...the only real way to serve drinks

Then we had to walk all that pizza off and walked around the little town. Came across this cute place..

then Kai had to throw pennies in and make a few wishes.

Then we went down a side street and found this old train. It's the only one left in existence like this! (the model that is). It was pretty sweet and Kai loved it, of course.

Kai took his turn taking a picture....Kennedi was obviously less than pleased that she wasn't up there with us....

the passenger car. Can you imagine how hot and dusty it was?!?! Those poor women in those fabulous clothes :)

We walked on down a path, under the freeway and next to a raging rither of death (name that movie) and we were able to see the water wheel and waterfall that I ALWAYS want to get a picture of, but never do, when we're coming back from UT.

A MOMENT TO TEACH OUR CHILDREN A LESSON: The plaque telling us about the water wheel. I'd like to point out one sentence in particular....

"Tayler, who attributed his good health to the fact that he never kissed women or took baths, ..." Yes children. Let us remember.

After Kennedi bashed her mouth into a fence post at the waterfall (sorry, no pics) we decided to head back to the car. But of course I had to take about 27 more pictures on the way back. It's just so cute!

Cameron's favorite sign...

at this cute restaurant.

I almost got this sign for my dad.

MY favorite sign.

The sign Kai laughed HYSTERICALLY at.

Like, rolling on the ground laughing at the picture, before we even told him what it said.

A shop I wish I could have gone into.

Kai pretending to eat food at a table.

It was a great night, we had so much fun!! I'd recommend both the restaurant and the town!! Thanks hubby for a great family night!

here fishie fishie and other things

2011-07-22T08:33:00.000-07:00

we went to the pool with my SIL Rachel yesterday. It was so fun! I don't have many pictures, because I was in the pool, and cameras and water don't mix. But here's a couple token shots!

(sweet pool!)

she's so adorable. And I love Kai too, but he was in the bathroom and I was packing up and snapping a couple pictures. Plus, let's face it, he's just not as cute as Kennedi in swim suits and hats

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

I was featured today!! Head on over to Rachel's blog to hear me ramble :)

**********************************************
Kai was drawing pictures on Sunday in church and he was writing out his Christmas list (heaven help me...Santa better be rich, because I'm sure not). Anyway, the point of all this is that he wrote it out BY HIMSELF!! Just sounding out the words!! My favorite two were

KAIT (=kite, but in his defense his name sounds just like it with a T on the end!)
BIK (=bike, how was he supposed to know there's an e on the end? You don't hear it)

I'm so proud of my almost kindergartner! Although he just found out he doesn't get to stay for lunch, and that has taken a lot of excitement out of school...

Civic Green

2011-07-19T16:45:00.000-07:00

So I feel like we've missed out for most of this summer and can't believe it's half over :( So a few of us moms in the ward decided on weekly playdates at different parks to get us out at least a few times! We went this week to Civic Green park, in Highlands ranch, and I love this park!! it has a great stream the kids can play in a couple splash pads that are so fun. Here's a few pics of the day!

Kai's in the yellow and blue hawaiian shorts :)

I spy with my little eye....my sister in law! She was able to meet us at the park and it was so fun to get to hang out with her and my niece. She's in NM, so we don't get to see each other as often as I'd like!

There's no pictures of Kennedi in the water, because she refused to get in the water. So that was fun. And hot. And sweaty. And what's the point of water if you don't go play in it!??! Oh well.

Oh and all those pictures of Kai in the water were taken just before he slipped and scraped up his back. All up and down his spine, poor kiddo.

And one more shot of my little doll.

love that hat :)

Jungle Love

2011-07-11T15:57:00.000-07:00

My sister in law is having a baby in a few weeks and Saturday was her baby shower. Well because I'm a total slacker and only had 8 months prior to try and make something, I was scrambling Wednesday night to get fabric together to make her a cute blanket! Well, I hoped it'd be cute. It was a style I hadn't done before. So I left the kiddos with the hubster, went to the store and came back totally excited and inspired! After some tears late Friday night** and a quick last minute washing Saturday morning, I had a blanket to give her!

She wants her nursery to be "jungle" and "sports". I'll give you two guesses as to why the sports with the jungle, and one of them is her husband is my husband's brother. 'nuff said. But I didn't like the sports idea, so I vetoed it. The privileges of the SIL.

The back is a soft green checkered flannel, super cuddly!

She loved it, which is all that matters. But I loved it too!

**and thanks to the aforementioned hubster, who talked me through the tears and made me finish :) I owe him one.

**PS if you're wondering why my pictures are fuzzy, I do actually know how to focus, the problem is my lens doesn't. Has something to do with juice from a sippy cup meeting said lens and not getting along. Boo.

he makes me melt like a popsicle...

2011-07-05T14:55:00.000-07:00

on the fourf of july. (name that movie)

Despite injuries previously mentioned (cough,cough), we had a fantastic 4th of July weekend! Monday morning we woke up, got on our patriotic garb and went to our wards annual pancake breakfast. They had pancakes. It was good. Then the kids went on a bike parade...and a very large uncle Sam showed up!! We have the best ward members!! They're awesome!

There's Kai! (in the blue shirt with the back turned. The one concentrating VERY hard on not getting run over, while not being last, who later informed us he WAS last and had to peddle super fast and good thing his legs are super awesome.)

After the exhausting breakfast we all came home for a nap (except yours truly...no naps for the wicked) and then went to grandma's for bbq. Then off to the country club for fireworks! I tried to get some pictures of Kennedi....yeah. We'll move past that subject. I'm still a little bitter.

It's just that I dressed her up SO cute, she was adorable in her little dress and headband with the flower, and she wouldn't even let me take ONE picture. Not one decent, one tiny, one itty bitty picture. Gosh.

You probably don't even believe me. Most people think she's a doll. You need proof, you say?

She-devil Exhibit A:

She-devil Exhibit B:

She-devil Exhibit C:

She-devil Exhibit D:

She-devil Exhibit E: notice she's not even looking at me now? She's mastered the art of ignoring. Heaven help me.

I could go on....but there's some saying about beating a dead horse..? Anyway. Before we went to the fireworks I did manage to get this picture of her in the car. My womanly and motherly intuition told me it might be my only chance.

It'll have to do.

Regardless of devil-children, the fireworks were fun.

(I know that's not the best/most high quality picture...and in fact, technically sucks (industry term, I believe) but I love that there are people in it, and it just sets the scene for me. So I like it :)

We had a great 4th!!! Hope you did to :)

Irony

2011-07-05T14:45:00.001-07:00

oh how I love thee. It's ironic that the week preceding our nation's birthday, celebrating our independence, remembering the rights and freedoms we enjoy....I get called to jury duty. It actually was very enlightening, and I enjoyed my time....as much as you can enjoy determining whether someone should be sentenced for a possible crime or not. But....it was kid free! Adult time! Only a stay at home mom would enjoy jury duty for those reasons....

We also had one other visit from irony. Again on the weekend we are celebrating our independence....my husband suddenly became much LESS independent. Let's consult the pictures.

Saturday morning after playing basketball.....before we went to urgent care.

Monday afternoon....swelling has somehow gone down and increased at the same time...and we have a lovely shade of bruising going on.

What you can't see pictured here is the severe case of elephantitis we have going on. I'm not gonna lie people...it ain't pretty. Thank goodness I never loved him for his feet.

Turns out it most likely is NOT broken, just severely rolled/twisted/janked. He's been on crutches since Sat morning and we've gone through more ice than some small countries use in a year. Poor guy. What am I saying. Poor ME! I now have three children to take care of. But I don't mind. I'm sure this counts as extra blessings and will tip me over the edge into heaven. Right? Right?????

Historic Cove Fort

2011-06-20T12:56:00.000-07:00

So in Southern Utah, at the junction of I70 and I15 is Cove Fort. A church history site that's pretty cool! My uncle and aunt are currently serving a mission there, and it's right on the way to my parents house! So when we went to visit last week, we stopped by and said hello, and got a tour!

The ginormous doors of the fort. They're so big and heavy they had to turn them upside down to distribute weight better...or something like that...

See the letters upside down?! I told you they hung them upside down!

A flag at their "post office"...it only has 37 stars on it..pretty cool!

A drawing of the Nauvoo Temple...awesome

A drawing of the Salt Lake Temple. I thought it was an actual picture, it was so realistic. But the Temple hadn't been completed yet when Cove Fort was built. It was pretty neat to see that the Temple turned out exactly how they envisioned it.

Us on top of the fort.

A carriage in the barn, it was so pretty!

Kai learning to play the hoop game.

It was so fun, and we're excited to go back!

Heritage Square

2011-06-16T11:31:00.000-07:00

Last weekend Cameron's work treated their employees and families to a Summer Fitness Activity at Heritage Square Amusement Park! We had so much fun, and Kai rode every single ride! He was a champ and for SURE ready for Disneyland! A few of my favorite pics of the day

It was such a fun day, we can't wait to go back and have more fun!

We'd like to interrupt the regularly scheduled travelogue

2011-06-08T13:17:00.000-07:00

to bring you a quick project. My sister in law Rachel asked me to make her a sign for her kitchen. I was able to do whatever the heck I wanted, and it was so fun! So this is what we ended up with. Hopefully she likes it! (She said she did...but you know how those sister in laws are. They'll tell you anything! jk)

Close ups...

And I have to thank my trusty and handy assistant. Cameron helped. No no. Not with the cutting, sanding or painting. He drew out the shape for me :) That's right baby, jigsaw, sander, everything, all me! But I will say I can't draw worth a darn, and his math comes in handy :) Thanks hunny!

We'll now return you to the regularly scheduled travels of last weekend. Thank you for your patience.

St. George

2011-06-03T09:37:00.000-07:00

When we go visit my parents it's pretty much a MUST do, to go visit St. George. We used to live there, we have fond memories....and really. It's God's gift to earth. No joke. So naturally we went, and played on the red rocks and shopped! I didn't get any pictures of the shopping (though what I got was certainly picture worthy), but we got plenty of pics on the rocks!

The narrow slit up the rocks that I'm always too afraid to attempt, Cameron's ba-donk-a-donk is too big to fit...and until recently Kai was too little to do. Not this time! Here he is contemplating...

And here he is at the top!! I was SO proud, he and his cousin Jordyn (she's almost 3 and completely fearless) did it all by themselves!!! AMAZING!!

Here we all are, chilling on some rocks. You know.

My darling Kennedi

And hands down, my new favorite picture of Kai. I honestly love it so much, and it makes me realize how fast he's growing up. sniff

And I had to get in a little yoga..... you know, since I do it all the time
anyway..

(please note that I do not take myself seriously in any photos and do not in fact, think I'm a yoga master. Thank you and good night.)

Family Pics

2011-06-02T09:21:00.000-07:00

So for months my siblings and I have been planning a surprise birthday weekend for my mom. I won't tell you how old she turned (but it started with a five and ended with a zero). So we all went to UT last weekend and surprised her after work! We had a fun filled weekend, but first up was family pictures!

Thankfully we had a self-timer, so I set everyone up, focused it, hit the button and ran!

Uh.....take two.

Better! Then we took individual family pictures. Our families change so much so quickly, I just love to have a million pictures!

My brother Jonathan, his wife Rachel and adorable Kara, who is 13 days younger than Kennedi!

My sister Kaylynn, her hubby Tim and two girls Jordyn and Adalyn (Adalyn is 6 months younger than Kara and Kennedi)

Another pic of their cute girls!

My mom and dad!

Our new family picture at the top of the blog is a favorite, and here's another one of us

More weekend pics to come!

Graduation Day

2011-05-31T12:55:00.001-07:00

I knew it would come. Someday, it had to come. And it did. My little boy graduated from preschool! Ok, so probably not the most important graduation in history, but it was so fun. And I was so proud with how well he did this year in school. We can't wait for kindergarten!

Since it was a mom's group preschool, we decided to meet up for a BBQ graduation. We all brought food, and of course there was a special dessert for the graduatees.

We had fun, then we had about 2 minutes before the rain came for a three legged race!

Then we had our talent show. Each graduatee (do you like my new made up word?) got to show off a little talent. We had a singer, two boys showed us how fast they were. Kai was going to breakdance, but got shy, so decided to draw a picture instead. It was a rainbow.

Then they got their caps and diplomas. So cute :)

The "class"

And I'd like to apologize for my pictures. I had my camera in my purse on the way to the bbq, and someone who won't be named had her sippy cup in my purse. The juice spilled all over my lens and it was sticking and wouldn't focus. It wasn't the best time or place for that to happen, but I did the best I could. That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.

All in all, it was so fun, we're so proud of our quickly growing boy....and one down!

You win some, you lose some

2011-05-22T17:27:00.000-07:00

Thankfully, the BYU Lacrosse team WON A LOT of them, and didn't lose any!!! They were here in Denver this past week for the National Lacrosse Tournament. They played 4 rounds, and triumphed over all! Last night was the Finals against ASU. It was a tight game, played well on both sides. I'm convinced it was our cheering that made the difference! Voted the best fans (by the fans)! This was Cameron's brother's (Tyler) last season, and what a way to end it!

We got ourselves decked out for the game....and we look pretty good if I do say so myself! (and I do)

Chelcie (Tyler's wife)

The gang!

The sweet victory!

Sweet celebration!

What a great night!

Good game fellas

Unholy

2011-05-20T09:26:00.000-07:00

So I was up at the unholy hour of 5:45 (not really an hour, but you get it) this morning, to take the hubster to work so I could have a car. I didn't even know the world like, existed, that early in the morning...but apparently it does. This morning though, the fog was thick, and it was a pretty impressive sight. I couldn't help but grab my camera out of the house and snap a few pics! So maybe SOME things are worth getting up early!

This Is Not A Drill

2011-05-19T08:42:00.000-07:00

One of the many thoughts running through my head, as I calmly but briskly walked with my children to the nearest shelter. I couldn't believe half an hour ago, my biggest concern was that we were going to get rained on during the BYU Lacrosse game. When we had arrived at the field, we were relieved to find out there was a weather delay on the game...hopefully it would improve before we had to sit out in the rainy, windy, crazy weather! After using the restroom and checking in with team, we all settled into the car to wait it out.

Just as we start speculating how long it would last, we were startled out of our seats with a warning siren. A LOUD warning siren. It could only mean one thing, but we were all in shock that it could actually be that. There's no way there could be a tornado right here, right now. Everyone in the surrounding cars, step out, and we all start looking at each other. Is that right? Is it what we think it is? Could it be? Then the announcer comes on. "Advertencia: hay un tornado en su área. por favor vaya al refugio más cercano." HUH? Again. "Advertencia: hay un tornado en su área. por favor vaya al refugio más cercano." Are you KIDDING ME?? There was no English on the tornado warning system. I guess I forgot I wasn't in AMERICA. A girl in the car next to us happened to be in AP Spanish and translated for us. Yes, it was a tornado, and yes, it was in our area. I couldn't believe I might have to go through this with my kids right there. What had I brought them into?

We head to the nearest bathroom facility, fervently checking the skies. Sure enough, swirls were happening and they were starting to funnel down. We made it to the bathrooms by the field, and then we were told to go across to the stadium, where the bathrooms were bigger and more likely to be protective. I grab my son's hand, grip my baby on my hip and we start to make our way. I glance down at Kai, and with tears in his eyes he looks up at me and asks what's going on. "It's a tornado warning, son. We have to go get to safety, in case there's a tornado." Meanwhile, my husband was 10 minutes away, heading right for us (and the tornado). Would he get here in time? Would anything happen?

We make it to the shelter, into the bathrooms. Thankfully they were clean and big! We keep glancing out at the clouds, along with hearing the reports that there is a tornado, but it hasn't touched down yet. Cameron calls me, he's here! He makes his way to us, even though they were trying to turn him away saying the shelters were full. And we waited. And waited. And waited some more. After about 30 minutes, the warning was over. We were safe! We could leave!

*****
It was my first time in a tornado warning, and there was something somewhat exciting about it. But knowing my children were there, that they could be in serious danger, seeing the tears in my sons eyes as we rush for safety....knowing my husband is trying to get to us, but can't yet...it was scary. All I could do was pray that we would be taken care of. And even though no real danger was present (so it turned out) it took it's toll on us. Kai slept in our room last night because there was wind and rain, and he was scared a tornado was coming. I have a word or two to say with the people who created the warning, strictly in Spanish. And all Cameron could think was what if something happened and he wasn't there with us? We all had gratitude in our hearts yesterday, and a little more appreciation for all we have.

*****
And yes, later BYU played, and won 14-7! They continue on in the semi-finals Friday. Go BYU!

Compromises

2011-05-11T08:58:00.000-07:00

You know, I'm coming to realize life is full of compromises. If you want certain things, you have to sacrifice others. These all work out for our benefit...if we're smart about it.

Kai is learning there are compromises too. In fact, we made a compromise last night. He was told that he'd have to shower today. Well, he informed us that he didn't ever want to shower again. I made him a deal. He didn't ever have to shower again, but as soon as he started smelling bad, he couldn't live in my house any more. He thought it a tad unfair, but I was firm. We shook hands on the deal.

He'll be showering today. And if he doesn't, I know a 5 year old that will be looking for a place to stay for a while....

G.J., B.Y.U. and M.D.

2011-05-10T09:35:00.000-07:00

So last weekend we went to Grand Junction for the BYU Lacrosse Regionals. It was beautiful weather, a LONG weekend, full of non-naps for babies which made for very rough days! But it was fun and we enjoyed seeing two of the last few games my bro in law will play for BYU. (his last ones will be next week's nationals, held here in Denver!). Here's a few pics of the weekend...

This was about how pleasant she was all weekend. Fun for us, huh?!

Go BYU! We won the first game, lost the championship :(

She was "sweet" at times....what you can't see here, is as soon as she was moved or dad moved, she screamed at us.

Kai needed in on the action too...

Then before we checked out of the hotel, we had to go swimming. By we, I mean them. It was the first time in Kennedi's new suit, and she was SO CUTE! But, hated the water, which is no surprise given her joyful attitude the whole weekend. But she was adorable, and the pool "towels" (using the term very loosely) barely covered her up (let alone an adult) and just the cutest I have ever seen on her.

Ain't she a doll?

Yep, a real peach.

But she is adorable, if I do say so myself!

Isn't this the cutest ever!? I can't get over her little hands holding the towel...just so cute. Even if she is a demon sent here to torment me.

Making sure she didn't want to get back in.

After she was out, Cameron kept asking if she wanted to get back in....well you've heard the expression "if looks could kill"? I'd be a widow right now about six times over. Yes, our little darling is quite the master of expressions. It's no wonder she doesn't talk, her little face says it all, all the time.

At least Kai had fun!

We had a great weekend...oh, and the MD in the title of the post. We traveled home on mother's day (MD), but I got a card, and after decoding the puzzle in the card I found out I get the cookbook I've been asking for! Whoo hooo! I can't wait!

My new favorite....

2011-05-09T14:33:00.001-07:00

So I got a book from the library on the recommendation of someone off of some comment off of some blog! I wasn't thrilled about it based on the cover. I KNOW! Never judge a book by it's cover....even if it has CHEESY cover art. It was the best book I've read in SO long. It's an adult fiction, CLEAN, hilarious, made my heart go pitter patter in some parts. I can't wait to read the rest of the books with the main heroine (there's like 10). Sound like something you want to read? GO GET THIS BOOK!!! I promise promise promise you, you won't be disappointed!

(ps this was not the cover art of my book)

This will now be on my must buy this book for future reads!

Foxy....

2011-05-05T08:57:00.000-07:00

no, I'm not vain enough to talk about myself......today anyway. The other day I was fixing dinner (mini meatloaf, which was very fun and tasty btw) and I looked out the window and what did I see? Popcor....wait. Wrong song.

Nope, it was a fox.

Right there, in broad daylight at like 5:30 in the afternoon. Or do you consider that evening? Either way, lots of light, he had crossed the street in front of our house (Kai saw him but I didn't believe him, one of those "oh, yeah? That's nice" kind of moments) and gone behind our house. So I watched him for a few minutes (after I called to Kai and told him he was right) and watched as he suddenly lept through the fence

and came out with some poor unfortunate creature

And he ate it, right there. After licking his chops, he headed off...I can only assume to find some other poor defenseless creature for whom he was jonesin'.

It's been a while

2011-05-03T14:02:00.000-07:00

and I still don't have much to say. I just haven't had much to blog about. But after scouring my brain, here's what's been going on.

Our easter egg decorating. I'm not gonna lie, I wasn't very into it. Then I'm looking back and thinking, I'm such a bad mom. My kids aren't going to have fun memories about stuff like this because I was lazy and didn't want to do it? That's pretty lame. And not the kind of person I want to be.

(covering up my makeup-less face)

The Easter Bunny DID manage to come, miraculously, and they loved it. Well, Kennedi had no idea what was going on, but once she figured out the eggs had starburst jellybeans in them...oh boy. Her new favorite holiday for sure. Until Halloween.

Easter clothes. Welp, Easter dinner was at our house, and I cooked all the food. Which means that I was cooking from 8:45 until 12:30, then a shower, then church, then home cooking some more. Which means that I didn't get cute pics of the kids...and in fact just snapped these in between timers. Oh well. At least the food was good. (yes, I'm patting my own back!)

************ In Other News*************

We sold our truck after it being on the market for approximately a day and a half. It was a super quick sale and we are very blessed that it sold that quickly, and for what we wanted out of it. Commence Operation: GET OUT OF DEBT AND GET ME A HOUSE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. We've got our best people on it.

*********** In more other news **************

I tore my thumbnail below the skin...you know, where it's so sensitive? Now my thumb hurts.

***** In other news just as equally not interesting *****

Now that I have no vehicle and am a car-less harpie (i've always wanted to use that word, but have no idea if I used it correctly) my goal in life is to organize my house, so that when operation ***(see above) is successful, I have less crap to take to a new house. This organizing would ideally include things like the following:

Grab and Go snacks

(image via pinterest.com)

****** In the latest news ******

I've been working on a secret project.

****And finally, to wrap up the longest blog post in history of blog posts******

She's still cute.

And all this time I thought I had nothing to say. Huh.

New family pics

2011-04-19T09:35:00.000-07:00

Here's a few family pics we got in St. George....

Ohh, love this girl! (click to make it bigger to see her hilarious face)

Dad and Kennedi laughing!

Some park fun

2011-04-18T11:37:00.000-07:00

This was Kennedi's first real time playing at a park. She's been in swings before, but never super interested. She didn't love it at first, but got into it!! Then didn't like it again and had to be held. She's a weirdo.

Some fun pics!

wasn't too sure of the slide..

but loved the tunnel!

We had such a fun day at the park!

UT stuff

2011-04-16T15:30:00.000-07:00

So besides my Ski-Day-O-Fun, we did a few other things in UT. We went to St. George...because it's the best and tradition, and it's the best. Did a little shopping, played on the red rocks. The weather Gods were against me however and I didn't get the oasis I had hoped for :( Oh well. It was still fun.

Oh, love the brother sister relationship!

These are Kai's pictures he took.

He apologized to dad after he took this picture. "Oh sorry Dad. I wanted to get your head but I couldn't...."

Then he took this. Atta boy.

We love papa! (and Oma, just no picture! :)

I made him spell letters with his body, so he made me do a letter?!

Next up, park pics!

I did it.....and LIVED!!

2011-04-04T16:30:00.001-07:00

So after living in Alaska, Utah and Colorado all but about 3 years of my life....I've never been skiing. Worse than that, my dad is a ski instructor at a resort....and I've never been skiing. Welp, that changed today! We went up to Brian Head this morning, after the ink dried on my last will and testament....No need for the will though! I rocked it!! It was so fun, and after lunch I was "paralleling"...ok. Not perfect, but for a first day I was pleased!! And here's the proof :) I realized after I went up the big hill to take pictures...I had to get down somehow!!

And I would be remiss if I didn't mention the ONLY spill of the day...unfortunately I took out a small child while doing so. The father was not pleased but the kid did get up and finish going down the hill. And technically he ran into me.....which was hard to avoid seeing as how I severely cut him off.

I had a great day, can't wait to go again (after I retrieve my legs...pretty sure I left them on the mountain somewhere)..and I'm so pleased my children still have a mother! Thanks dad, for a great day, getting me home safe and more importantly, having fun with something I was scared to do!

What I've been up to...

2011-04-02T08:24:00.000-07:00

So we were going to buy a house...even had one under contract, it was a great house...but not right for us. So we decided to reconfigure finances, finish paying off a few things, then start looking again. We're very happy with our decision...but our townhouse is still lacking! So I decided to rearrange, to make these last few months a bit more bearable!! I did all of this in two days...one of them when Cameron was at work, and the other when he was in UT at his bro's lacrosse game.

Living Room BEFORE:

DURING:

The main reason for the rearranging of this room is the ginormous play tent I made for Kai for his birthday (see the corner in before pics). There just wasn't a lot of room and it was kind of awkward, but I wanted it up for them all the time. So here's the after....

AFTER

(you should know that it was clean at one point...but hey. I've got kids...just keepin' it real :)

Then I changed up the dining room and office area...but that's going to have to wait till next week...I have to get going, we're off to UT today!! Wish me luck when I learn how to ski on Monday...my children need their mother.

So

2011-03-30T10:44:00.000-07:00

Should I consider myself an UNsuccessful mother because I caught my daughter about to lick the dustpan?

(at least I pray it was about to, and not after)

So

2011-03-29T12:48:00.001-07:00

Can I consider myself a successful mom if my son just asked me for a SALAD for a snack?

(and yes, I made it for him.)

Niece

2011-03-21T12:57:00.000-07:00

So I got to see my SIL and Niece this weekend! They came to Cameron's football game...SO thrilling for them, I'm sure! But I had to work, kids were sick, and we were lucky to get it in!! I'm so glad they were willing to come out to us :) We wanted to take a few 1 year pics of Kara (she's 2 weeks younger than Kennedi), but she was having stranger danger, so we only got a few!! But she's such a cutie, and I can't wait to see her again!

LOVE the cheekies!! So cute!

Mom and Kara!! Too cute

We got a couple of smiles :)

Here's my cue that we're done!! I can take a hint!

But I couldn't resist one more.

It was so good to see you guys!! Love ya!

Shayna

2011-03-11T14:08:00.000-08:00

She's too beautiful not to post, hope you're not mad Susan!! I took this pic of Shayna when I was babysitting her last week. Can't wait till I get proper equipment...she'll be my go to model! Except she hates pictures....

Can't wait to figure out a better computer situation to get photoshop and start playing around with editing! But it's not too shabby just like this!

1826 Days

2011-03-08T15:12:00.000-08:00

That just doesn't seem nearly as long as 5 years does!!! Yep, my baby boy turned FIVE yesterday!!!! I can't believe he's that old. It feels like forever, but when I think about the number it just seems too old! He's old enough for Kindergarten!! Crazy. Here's some things about my not so baby, boy.

He used to be my curly hair baby boy (and was apparently a gangster)...

And now he's a boy, who expresses himself more often than I'd like :)

He loves Iron Man, Transformers, Hulk, any adult superhero. And owns the complete costume set of Iron Man!

He loves the camera, being in front of and behind. While opening his presents last night, I was taking pictures, and he would come over and make sure they were ok before going on to the next present!

He is SO smart. The other day he drew a 3 dimensional cube...from his imagination.

He is such a good big brother...although he gets annoyed at Kennedi occasionally for playing a little "too" much with him.

He loves sports and loves BYU!

He's a great ring bearer (has done it twice now!)

He will always let me take a picture of him

He loves the snow more than any human should. (Why yes, that is him sitting in the bed of our truck eating snow. What do you mean that isn't normal?)

He is so affectionate and gives us hugs all the time

He writes us "notes"...they consist of Kai {heart} Mom (or Dad, whoever)and then it goes in an envelope with a heart on it

He is the best boy I could ever ask for, and I am so grateful for him, every day!!

Photo Challenge Day 6

2011-03-02T16:37:00.001-08:00

Day 6: A picture of who you would like to trade places with for a day.

I'd have to choose Heidi Klum for the following reasons:

1. She's blonde. I've always wanted to know how it feels to be blonde.
2. She's married to Seal. I'd have him sing to me all day.
3. Preferably the day I got would be a day like the Oscars or something, dress up and be fancy and rub shoulders with some fun people.
4. Well, look at her!

Yeah, I could be her! For a day.

#1

2011-03-01T11:57:00.000-08:00

No, that number does not signify a winner. It does not signify any great feat. It doesn't even signify how I feel about anything.

It's the number we had to shave Kai's head at to match it to his bald spots.

It was all I could do to keep from crying.

His thoughts on it? He thinks it's funny. And plans to do it again.
(at least I'm forewarned)

Photo Challenge Day 2 and 5

2011-03-01T10:00:00.000-08:00

I'm still missing day 4, but it's coming! You'll have it tomorrow and hopefully I'll be caught up! Man, busy lives get in the way of blogging :)

Day 2: A picture of you and the person you have been closest to the longest.

Well the person I am closest to now is not the same as the closest I've been to the longest. So here's a picture of the person I've been closest to the longest....

My mom and me
And I have to include who's taking the picture, my dad!

Day 5: A picture of your favorite memory.

Well I have a lot, but there was a vacation we took, it was a family reunion that I still would have to say has been my favorite. We were in Southern UT and went hiking, biking, jet skiing and lots of eating. It was so fun, and here's my favorite picture from that trip!

I love this picture of Cameron and I and I love the memories that come from it.

Photo Challenge Day 3

2011-02-28T14:29:00.000-08:00

Yes, I know today is day 4 and I missed 2. But I will catch up. This is the one I could do quickly :)

Day 3: A picture of your favorite tv show.

I have a lot of shows I like...but this is my favorite!! I LOVE Castle. If you haven't watched it yet, start at the beginning and plan to be hooked!

Sunday Dress Take 3

2011-02-27T09:40:00.000-08:00

We got this dress from friends of ours in our ward. It's one of my favorites! This is one of the last times she'll be able to wear it though, as you can see it's getting a little short!

1st one was the best one, but my white balance was off :(

Cutie patootie.

I'm comin' for ya mom!

30 Day Photo Challenge

2011-02-25T09:08:00.000-08:00

I saw this on my sister in laws blog and thought it looked fun. You can go to facebook and look up the 30 day challenge. It gives a different assignment for everyday. Lets see if I can do it!

Day 1: A picture of yourself with 10 facts. Oh boy!

Here's a pic Kai just snapped of me.

Yes, I barely have makeup on and I didn't shower...I'm sick, as are my two children. Get over it. You can't smell me from there.

Fact 1: I have moved almost as many times as I am old. I'll be 28 soon. And I lost track after 21, although that was after college, so it's probably like 24 times now.

Fact 2: Soon to be 25, because we get to buy a house soon!!!

Fact 3: I had only visited Colorado twice before we moved here, but it's the only place I'll ever want to live, besides St. George UT.

Fact 4: Southern UT is my favorite place to visit because of all the hikes and beautiful country, although if I had a chance to go to Italy or the Maldives, it might trump UT.

Fact 5: I'm going back to school...as soon as I decide what to go into. Ideas anyone?

Fact 6: I make some wicked awesome scrambled eggs. Just ask my hubby.

Fact 7: I'm often afraid of starting anything (project wise), because I feel like it has to be perfect, and if it won't be perfect, why the heck start it?

Fact 8: Tuesday nights are my favorite weeknight, because I get to go play volleyball. Someday I hope to be on a league team.

Fact 9: I read A LOT. And sometimes slightly neglect my children when doing so, so I try to start books I can read during nap time. Which is surprisingly a lot. I'm a fast reader.

Fact 10: We had a pet moose when we lived in Alaska. His name was Moocher. True story.

A little story for you

2011-02-25T09:00:00.000-08:00

So last night we put Kennedi to bed, like normal. Kai stays up a little longer, we have to wait until sister is asleep before he goes to bed, otherwise neither of them sleep since they share a room. So Kai is in the bathroom, brushing his teeth, going to the bathroom, and generally amusing himself in there, as he does most nights. (side note. This kid loves bathrooms. He can amuse himself in there for hours, making swimming pools in the sink) So about 10 minutes into it, Cameron and I look at each other, realizing we've been hearing a weird sound.

Dad:Kai? Come out here bug.
Kai: I'm almost done cutting my hair, hold on.

More furtive glances between mom and dad. THEN. snipping sounds.

We rush in. Sure enough. He'd been cutting his hair. Just like he sees dad do all the time. The damage? See for yourself.

Notice the three bald spots in the middle of his hair? Notice the middle of his "bangs" are about an inch shorter than the rest? Yeah. I was laughing, only to keep from crying. He's getting buzzed today.

Kai

2011-02-21T19:36:00.000-08:00

This is what Kai's up to these days....

Yeah. Think I'll stick with Kennedi pictures. jk ;)

Hilarious

2011-02-21T10:36:00.000-08:00

So we were in the kitchen getting dinner ready. Kennedi was standing at the fridge playing with the ABC thingy that sings. Well I was watching her because she was dancing and being cute...then all of a sudden, this happened.

It was pretty much the funniest thing I've ever seen. Her diaper just dropped to the floor by itself! So random.

And I know I've posted all about Kennedi...Kai is just as fun and we love him just as much! We're planning his 5th birthday party, so he'll be coming up soon!!

Sunday Dress part deux

2011-02-20T18:25:00.000-08:00

Here's today's dress! My BFF made it for Kennedi's birthday, and it's so cute! It's a great dancing dress, as Kennedi has found out all day. She loves shaking her hips in it! And I wasn't a good girl and forgot to take them when there was light, so I had to use the flash.

Thanks aunt Deen!!! We love it!

Hidey Hole

2011-02-18T10:51:00.000-08:00

This is where the dastardly deeds are done. She'll take something crawl over to her hidey hole and stare at us while she does something. This time it was a red pen. Next time? Most likely the wipes.

She's Walking!!!

2011-02-15T15:48:00.000-08:00

So my baby is off and walking!!! About dang time!! She took her first two steps by herself on Christmas Eve...it's been a while in coming! This afternoon (considerately she did it after dad got home) she just stood up and walked to the ottoman, about 4 steps. Then she got so much praise for it she started walking all over! Here's a few pictures Kai and Cameron captured.

Such a big girl!! Love ya sweetie!

Sunday Dress

2011-02-14T15:28:00.000-08:00

So it's a day late, but I'm going to do a new installment on my blog called Sunday Dress. Kennedi has so many cute Sunday dresses, and she grows so fast and can only wear them so many times before they're too small, so I have to document it! (till the next girl gets them!) Here's her "birthday" dress...the one that was supposed to wait till her birthday, but I couldn't. Love Target Clearance!

Such a cute deep color purple.

LOVE the pleating on the sleeves (it's what won me over in the store!)

Trying to get her to hold still...balloons work!

Love my sweet girl!

The cake

2011-02-05T08:06:00.000-08:00

So this is the cake I made for her. It was supposed to look like THIS cake from I Am Baker....but not so much. Nevertheless, for my first buttercream recipe, and my first attempt at decorating, and considering I used a sandwich bag, I think it turned out ok!

Not sure about the candle...she kept wanting to touch it.

Trying to get her to WALK to her cake. Not so much.

Enjoying the cake...

And for a little walk down memory lane....MY first birthday!

More gifts!

2011-02-04T18:58:00.000-08:00

So we just had Kennedi's party (and yes, I'm lame for being on my computer, but it's wind down time, I downloaded the pics, so deal with it). She had fun and got some cute gifts!

Kai drew her a picture (it was of her in space...yeah, he's "creative"). She stared intently at it and pointed at it, it was cute!

Gavin and Lacey got her a cute monkey that FREAKED her out...it was hilarious! But she now loves it :)

Gift from Oma and Papa (my parents), she LOVES books

Gift from Grandma (Cameron's mom)...some cute outfits are always needed

She loved my blankie I made her and promptly laid down on it!

Later.. the cake pics!

Gift

2011-02-04T11:46:00.000-08:00

So I had bought Kennedi this CUTEST purple dress for her birthday.....but I got too anxious and she wore it two weeks ago. This left me without a gift for her. (you may think I'm stingy with only one gift....but she's one. I'm not going to break the bank). So what to do? Well I've been wanting to try my hand at sewing quilts. So I started the top of this quilt months ago, then when I tried to machine quilt it, it jacked up. Bad. So, I put it aside for oh 6 months. Then I decided it'd make a great gift for my baby girl. Plus it's in the style of how I want to make her bedding (note: style, not color) so I thought I'd give it another shot. Did some research, figured out what went wrong the first time, bought the right foot, and voila!! It worked!! Now, it's FAR from perfect, but I love it, and it's given me the courage to try again, and to do it better this time!! So here it is!

happy birthday Kennedi!

I wanted something bright and happy and would hopefully photograph well with her :) I think I got it!

365 days

2011-02-03T08:48:00.000-08:00

This has been the fastest 365 days of my life! Kennedi turns ONE today!!! I can't believe it! She still feels like a little 9 or 10 month baby...not a ONE YEAR OLD. sniff. sniff.

Here's what my baby's like at 1 year old: (mixed in with a few pics over the past year...more sniffing...)

She's not walking yet. She can...she just refuses too.

She folds her arms all by herself when we get ready to pray.

She loves to make us laugh, and often "glares" at us until we do.

She loves to EAT and will eat anything and everything until every last crumb is gone.

She is so strong.

She has the bluest of blue eyes that everyone (random strangers in stores included) comments on all the time.

She makes the funnies faces...girl of 1000 expressions for sure

She loves music and loves to dance.

She waves goodbye to us when it's naptime.

She's a momma's girl AND a daddy's girl.

She adores her big brother and follows him around everywhere.

She annoys her big brother and follows him around everywhere.

Can't wear normal shoes because her feet are too fat.

Has quite the temper on her when she doesn't get her way, but is sweet as pie the second it's over.

LOVES her clothes and will hold them to her face and snuggle with them before she gets dressed.

Hates the headbands that I love so much

She hides in her "hidey hole" (aka next to the chair in the living room) and stares at us while doing something she's not supposed to...like pull every wipe out of the container)

She loves to head butt us and will randomly do so, coming up to us and bonk heads and leave.

She pokes her head through the railings to see who's at the door

She cuddles up with me after her early morning bottle and sleeps until daddy puts her back to bed

She tries to jump up and scare us from behind the ottoman, chair, bed, etc.

She lights up our lives and we love her more than we could ever express

Happy Birthday sister bear!!! We love you so much!!!!

Project 52: Week 3

2011-01-17T12:48:00.000-08:00

This weeks theme is "Shades of Gray". There have been some really awesome pics posted on flickr for the theme. Here's my take on it...

These are a couple of pictures I printed in B&W for a different project I have in the works (which I am SO excited about). Took the picture in a window/blind spot on my couch. It was a fun take, and I was excited about not having to turn a picture B&W for the theme!
ISO/100; 1/125 shutter speed; 4.5f-stop

A little somethin'

2011-01-14T09:52:00.001-08:00

So yesterday I was feeling the need to be crafty and make something (aka put off doing the laundry). But it had to be quick and easy, hopefully cute. I wanted to sew something, because that's another goal this year, is to get better and more comfortable with my machine. So I looked up my bookmarked tutorials and found a bandanna dress tutorial I had the stuff for. So I whipped it up real quick. It's not the best, but it was fun and served it's purpose.

Here's my little model

(and the laundry DID get done...)

Project 52: Week 2

2011-01-10T13:52:00.000-08:00

MCP Actions
Week's Theme: Illustrate a Song

Song: Babes in Toyland

Technical
ISO 800, 1/80 shutter speed, 4.5 f-stop

Editing
Edited in picnik, dropped exposure, upped contrast, sharpened.

My lens is not a good quality lens, therefore doesn't let the light in as well, so my ISO had to be up, shutter speed way down from what I would like it (would normally try to shoot 200 range with kids), and f-stop as low as the lens would allow for the picture.

Most of you are probably not interested, but if you were, I could put before and afters of the editing. That's another goal of mine is to learn photoshop. Until then, I'll use the free programs online like picnik :) AND, feel free to join in on the fun, even if you don't want to do it formally through flicker. Just leave me a comment and I'd love to see it!

Goals and such

2011-01-10T10:18:00.000-08:00

So with the new year always comes the thoughts of resolutions and goals. I know some people aren't a fan of this, and that's ok. I enjoy it because it lets me reflect on last year, and what I'd like to do different this year. Where and how I want to grow (growing in talents, not waist size). So through the next week or so I'll be putting up some goals I've got, to keep myself accountable. Today's goal is about photography. I have learned so much this past year, but still have so much to learn. So I joined up with MCP actions to do the Project 52. They give us a theme and we post a pic for that (similar to my Themed Thursdays). I'm pretty excited about it. This week's theme is "Illustrate a Song". I have a pretty fun idea for it, just have to wait for Kennedi to wake up! I can't wait to learn more, and stretch my creativity with it this year!

Not a picture for this theme, but one that I enjoy from last fall. Can't wait to learn more!!

Fashion Tip #2

2011-01-08T09:59:00.000-08:00

Pants always beats no pants.

(she thought she was so clever running away after a diaper change. And I couldn't show the real pic due to censoring issues, but don't worry. It's going in the archives for future boyfriends)

Fashion Tip #1

2011-01-07T15:09:00.000-08:00

When in doubt, ALWAYS go for the oversized orange glasses.

This riveting series will be continuous through the year. You're welcome.

Now I've done it.

2011-01-06T18:54:00.000-08:00

I've found the most AMAZING blonde brownie recipe. It's UH-mazing. It's called a Maple Coconut Brownie, but you could certainly leave out the coconut if that's not your thing and it would still be awesome. It's the perfect amount of chewy, moist, just delish. Next time I will add in a few white chocolate chips and a Maple Butter Sauce, and it will be heaven on earth. Literally. No seriously. Check it.

Anyone want the recipe? It's too good not to share.

Maple Coconut Blondies
1/2 cup butter, melted and cooled
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup maple syrup
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 cup all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup shredded coconut
Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease an 8-inch square baking dish.
In a large bowl, combine butter, sugar, maple syrup, vanilla and the egg and whisk until smooth. Add in flour and salt and stir just until no streaks of flour remain. Add in coconut and stir to distribute evenly. Pour into prepared baking dish.
Bake for 30-35 minutes, until blondies are set and lightly browned.
Cool in pan on a wire rack.

Good luck, diet.

Only in Parowan

2011-01-05T15:46:00.001-08:00

will you have cattle driven down the street in front of your house over Christmas break.

Snow Day!

2011-01-04T13:43:00.000-08:00

So when we were in UT we got the first REAL snow of the season! Turns out Denver got a little too. Kai is in love with the snow and was out there as often as we would let him. Occasionally the snow pants had to dry though! Thankfully he had his cousin Jordyn to go out with him...apparently I have no snow gear. How I just realized this after 4 years of living in CO, I have no idea.

Snow Angels

Snowball "fights"

A pause in the merriment for mom to take pictures...
(my niece Jordyn)

And of COURSE snowmen! We did this about 5 minutes before lunch, and Kai quickly grew tired of trying to roll a snowball big enough, so he settled for a miniature. This is quite possibly the MOST disturbing snowman in snow history.

And last but certainly not least...the tasting of the snow.

Yep, just as delicious as last year!

Christmas!

2010-12-29T20:36:00.000-08:00

We had a fun Christmas, here are a few pictures! We're in UT now, many more pictures to come from that!! Hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season!

Kai coming around the corner and seeing that Santa DID come!!

Kai got Kennedi a baby doll and she LOVED it!! Her favorite toy by far, she is so cute with it :)

My grandparents got Kennedi a little stuffed animal from Kohl's, which she also LOVED!

And here is Kai in his Iron Man Helmet, from Santa! Good thing Santa knows him so well ;)

The RESULTS are in!

2010-12-28T11:14:00.000-08:00

Thank you to all those who voted via FB, Blog and in person for the GBHD 2010!! We had a lot of fun doing it, and it turned out closer than I expected! Without further ado....

THE RESULTS

In third place with 2 votes, we have LEMON FRUITCAKE. The creator of this house (and name BTW) was my genius son, Kai! He did a great job and had fun with it!

One more time...Lemon Fruitcake

In second place with 5 votes....(drum roll please) CHRISTMAS AT THE BARNYARD. This one was mine folks, and I have to admit as soon as I saw my husbands, (the winner) I knew I was toast. I did enjoy a few creative things, the shingles, etc. And I was pleased as punch to get as many votes as I did!! Thank you!

One more time, Christmas at the Barnyard!

The WINNER with 7 votes. Tim Burton Meets Candyland!! Yes folks, my husband is a rock star! At least a gingerbread house making rock star!! His is genius, simple and beautiful. My personal favorite.

One more time, the winner :)

However. I feel I need to end with this. When asking my parents to vote, this is the response I got:

Having purchased and lived in more than my share of residences and properties I find myself to be somewhat of an expert, albeit self proclaimed, but an expert none the less. Therefore I find myself in an interesting position of being asked to judge a competition on the best house. Having studied said residences I have come to the conclusion that it is impossible to judge said residences in the manner that has been requested. My reasoning being as follows; Upon close inspection and observation I submit that said houses are together a complete unit, a cohesive, intermingled, collection of buildings that together form a perfect, ideal living environment. For example; We have the main house, the Tim Burton like residence that would house a family comfortably and securely, as well as fashionably and creatively. Secondly, we have the Barn, which looks to be not a barn in the sense of housing beloved animals, but more a refuge for creativity, Perchance a Photography studio? With perhaps a guest room in the loft? And lastly but not in any sense of the imagination least, The Play House. What beloved family property would be complete without a place for the imagination to grow and soar to heights yet unimaginable?
Therefore you see the impossibility of judging in the manner that has been requested. To do so would in my never to be humble opinion be a travesty to an obviously well put together, Heavenly Father sanctified, family that is an outstanding example of working together to build a life rich in love, creativity, and necessities, where all are valued for their intellect and input.
I hereby respectfully, and with a sense of awe and wonder choose the unit as a whole.

The Great Gingerbread House Debate (GBHD)

2010-12-23T10:00:00.000-08:00

Last night we stayed up WAY too late decorating gingerbread houses. And it was awesome and SO fun, I can't wait for next years! This is going to be a great tradition. The only problem? Whose is better? (actually I know, but I won't say). So YOUR vote is needed. Please leave a comment and tell us which one you like better. We promise no feelings will be hurt! Tell us why, too. It'll help for future competitions :)

Without further ado, I give you GBHD 2010.

Welcome our first competitor: "Lemon Fruitcake".

With a peppermint roof and peachy-o wreaths, this quaint chalet home is a welcome reprieve for any weary holiday go-er. Living by the motto "More is Better", this home will not disappoint.

Next up we have "Tim Burton Meets Candyland".

A true sweet treat, this cottage has all you could desire and more. With stunning architecture and a whimsical setting this home will have you dreaming of sugar plums all night long.

Unlike the Lemon Fruitcake, this dazzling cottage lives by simple means...and does it beautifully.

Finally we have our third entry: "Christmas at the Barnyard".

If city living isn't your thing, come visit the barnyard for a Country Christmas. With shingle roofing, a fenced in yard and a chimney for Santa Clause, you're sure to have a very Merry Christmas with time to get back to your roots. Follow the brick path to enter a magical wonderland.

Thank you for reviewing our entries for GBHD 2010. Please take the time to vote.

Santa

2010-12-23T09:47:00.000-08:00

Our first letter to Santa (tear). Dad helped write Kai's letter to Santa, then took it to work to be mailed. Thankfully dad had the address at work. Not sure that's going to fly next year!

Can't wait to see what Santa brings us in 2 days!!

Coming up next, Gingerbread houses!! Your Vote is needed!

Bloopers Reel

2010-12-21T09:02:00.000-08:00

As promised, the bloopers reel of the great "Christmas Card Picture Attempt". I will preface this by saying usually my kids are great at pictures. Kai especially. So I didn't think it would be a big deal to take a few pictures. That being said, here's how the day went down. (And I didn't edit most of these pics, because, well they're going to get tossed. Sorry some of them are so bright)

Mom: Let's take some pictures!!! You guys look so great! Yay! Smile!

Mom: KAI. Stop yelling, take your hands down and SMILE

Not smiling. More screaming. So he goes inside to have a "talk" with dad.

Mom: Ok Kennedi! Smile!!

Mom now playing peek-a-boo behind the camera in hopes of a smile...

Kennedi: Is this a smile?

How about this?

Getting warmer?

Mom you're hilarious.

And now we're giving up. When the baby starts to cheese it, it's time to stop.

Kai comes back out after his "talk". Mom: Ok Kai, are we ready?! That's a nice try son, let's try again.

I know it's bright, just close your eyes till I say three

Kai: Mom I want to do my own pose now.

And we're done.

Mom: Let's try the kids together! (Oh Yes. I am still hoping for something at this point...call me optimistic. Or crazy.)

Mom: Forget it. That's a wrap.

Holy Hannah

2010-12-20T07:59:00.001-08:00

So, you know all those posts about Shutterfly? Don't worry about it. They have lots of great products, but their promotion was lame. They didn't give me the promotion until it was too late to send it out for Christmas, and so I was going to go for a new year's card, but they weren't going to send it until the week after Christmas, and I'm going to be gone. And I'm not going to send a holiday card AFTER the new year. That's lame. Plus their promo code was lame. So I was so bummed last night, I had SO wanted to do a Christmas card. So I went to Costco's website and picked one out there, but then their photo stuff wasn't uploading. Even more sadness. So then I went to trusty old Walmart, and my cards are ready to pick up this morning :) So not at all what I had hoped for, but I am halfway there to sending out cards! This is a major lesson to myself, just do it early and forget about it.

I couldn't very well forget about it last night...I had put my family through 45 minutes of taking pictures :) Outtakes reel to come...but in the mean time here are two pictures I'm sad didn't make the card (although they would have on the Shutterfly one... )

And yes. We are ghetto and took them on our front porch, and our family one we did with a self-timer. I just had to do something other than I originally planned, we aren't getting any snow! Oh well. At least I have cards AND cute pics of my kids. It's worth it to me!

(PS I only say it was ghetto on our front porch because our front porch IS ghetto. There are plenty of cute front porches in which I think pictures are lovely. Just not mine)

Gettin' my craft on

2010-12-17T14:37:00.000-08:00

My Christmas craft that is. Here's a few things I've done, it's been fun!

My Visiting Teaching gifts, we were able to go today, love to do that! And totally "borrowed" the idea and the printout from here

Made a banner that came from here. It's so fun and I love it! It was so easy, even if I can't cut straight! (And look at those super cute stockings my sister in law made us! I still haven't finished mine yet, but I may not need too now!)

love the font especially!

Made Kennedi a clip to go on her headband for her Christmas dress, I can't wait, I think it will be so cute! For sure pictures to come on Sunday, all dressed up!

Tonight are the gingerbread houses, I'm pretty excited! We're going to be having a contest on who's is the best....we'll need your help with votes!!

Hangin' out

2010-12-16T12:21:00.000-08:00

You know, just hanging' out.

Christmas Program #1

2010-12-16T10:16:00.000-08:00

The first of hundreds more, I'm sure. At least tens more. Kai had his first preschool program last night. We do a co-op, so some of the moms put it together, and it turned out so cute. They sang some Christmas songs, then recited Twas the Night Before Christmas, then a few more Christmas songs. Then we had treats and crafts. So fun and cute. A good induction to what will be our lives :)

I was bummed because the pictures turned out awful, I had the hardest time figuring out the white balance between the florescents and flash, I couldn't find a happy medium. Oh well.

Before the program...had to get all the nervous energy out.

One of the songs. He knew them all, but would only mouth every 6th word or so. Punk.

His part of the poem. Again, he knew the words, but refused to say them until he was prompted every line by the teacher. Double Punk. A performer this kid is not. At least, not on a formal stage. At least he looks good doing it!

Some song with actions...he actually did this one!

The gift exchange was a big hit as well, of course! He LOVES his gift and hasn't put it down since he woke up this morning (it's a drawing thing of transformers)

A fun night with friends, and he loved it, so that's what counts!

Christmas Cards

2010-12-13T16:23:00.000-08:00

Don't look now, but I THINK I might actually send out Christmas cards this year! So like I've posted before, Shutterfly is giving bloggers 50 free holiday cards! One of the stipulations is to write up a post about them, which gave me time to look more at their site and the things they offer! I've already posted about their awesome holiday cards, which are so fantastic! This is the one I think we're going to go with...

But every time I go I find more I love! They have bright colors, beautiful backgrounds..the models are adorable which helps! Of course if I'm too late for Christmas I could always do a New Year's card....this one is particularly adorable!

Another thing I'm looking forward to are the birthday invitations. I have big ideas about Kai's next birthday party (although it will probably have to wait until we get into a house with more space, )and they have some cute ones.
This one would have been perfect for last year's super hero party!

And this would be perfect for Kennedi!

Anyway, I'm super excited about Shutterfly and the things they offer! Can't wait to send you all a Christmas card to end a great year! Thanks Shutterfly for a great offer :)

I can breathe again

2010-12-12T18:47:00.000-08:00

And it feels so good! I was one of the main people in charge of our Christmas activity this year for the ward, and man was it a doozy!! But, it's over and I really feel that I can get in the Christmas spirit now!! There are so many things I want to do, and probably not enough time, but here's a list of my goals for the next two weeks.

-Make a gingerbread house(s) with my son. We have never made one of these with him! And this year I'll cheat and use graham crackers, but that's ok :)

-Finish our stockings...I'd show a picture of what I want them to look like...but when they don't turn out that way I don't want to be embarrassed. So instead I'll show you a finished picture, and just let you be impressed ;)

-Take family pictures, even if I don't get cards out!

-Finish making a couple Christmas gifts (again with the pictures, but I promise after Christmas I'll show and tell)

-Watch the Grinch who stole Christmas a couple more times with Kai

-Do some sort of fun craft! (maybe a library bag, or headbands for Kennedi?)

-Try new recipes from the cookbooks I borrowed from the library!

-Find a camera lens rental place and try out some new lenses in preparation of what I will hopefully soon purchase, and practice during the holidays!

For the un-fun stuff, but that will make me feel OH SO GOOD
Organize kids clothes and closet. I may not make it back once I go in.
Pretty much declutter my whole house.
Take another load of lovely junk to the goodwill. It's the best feeling!

Thanks for sticking with me during a non-fun post, but I wanted to get this in writing and hold myself accountable!

I have a confession...

2010-12-09T08:51:00.000-08:00

I've never sent out a holiday card. (GASP!) I've always wanted too, and every year I think about it. I even browse sites and pick one that I would use...then never do it. But this year I came across a deal that was too good to pass up! You may have heard of it already...but Shutterfly is giving away 50 free cards to bloggers! So, per my usual tradition, I have a few favorites picked out...check them out!

This one is so pretty and Christmas-y....love it!

Love the colors of this one!

Love the message of this one...so simple but beautiful...

But this one. This is the one that encompasses my whole life right now...with one word. I love it.

And I even know exactly how I want our family picture to look....that is if will ever SNOW here!! In Colorado you'd think that wouldn't be much to ask for. SO, Shutterfly...please help me send out my first Christmas Cards EVER!!