Halloween Madness

Here are a few pics from Halloween. Costumes weren't great but the kids were happy and had a fun time. It's hard to get excited about costumes when the kids are off-track for Halloween. Actually, Madison and Gabe just wanted to wear their costumes from last year so I was pretty happy about that.

Here are the pumpkins we carved this year. I hate carving pumpkins! Can I just get that out there. Honestly, this year my kids fought and fought about who got to dig the guts out and who got to use the spoon....Finally, I just had to kick them out and finish it myself. I was so glad when they were done. And, if I do say so myself, I think they turned out pretty good!

I saw this idea on someones blog, so I stole it. I thought it was really cute so we got Troys drill and attached a hole saw to it. That was fun except my kids tried the drill and they did it so fast that the pumpkin guts went everywhere!

And, last but not least, the fantastic costumes you have been waiting for. Eli was Batman, Madison was a baby and Gabe a skeleton. Gabe looked better with his mask but he hated wearing it.


Hope you all had a great halloween...

Happy Birthday Troy!

I just want to wish Troy a happy birthday. I am so lucky to be married to such a wonderful man and father. I couldn't ask for anything more. I wish I could have him help me write this because he is such a good writer. He always knows what to say, especially lately, to make me feel better.

Things about Troy...

• He is funny
• Not a picky eater (he would have cold cereal for dinner)
• Takes good care of us
• Hard worker
• Very considerate of others and their feelings
• Loves to spend time with me and the kids
• Loves to ride any kind of bike (even has a bikeroom with I don't know how many bikes)
• Honors his priesthood
• Puts up with my crap
• And he looks great in a speedo for an old guy! hehe!

I could go on and on....

Happy Birthday Troy! And, DON'T FORGET!

**This is one of his favorite things to do, wash his bikes. Actually, he is washing my bike. What a nice guy!

U Rock!

Troy and I went out a couple weeks ago and saw this...

I thought this was pretty funny and this is what I have to say to Troy, Jill and all the others that did the Tour de St. George over the weekend. Good job guys!

Happy Birthday Nunn!

I know I did this same post last year but this is our new tradition. Every year on Nunn's birthday we send her hugs and kisses by way of helium. The kids are pretty sure that she gets their messages and so am I. We miss her sooooo much and this is our way of never forgetting.

Happy Birthday Nunny!

The Cutest Thing Ever!

Gabe gave this to me tonight, and I must say it is probably the CUTEST THING EVER! He told me it didn't turn out quite right but I think it is perfect.

Happy Birthday Madisonironi!

I can't believe she is turning 11! I remember the day she was born, it seems just like yesterday. I remember being huge and swollen, the Dr. had just told me that I had toxemia and he put me on bed rest. I went home and laid down for a couple hours and started having these funny feelings. I had no idea what was going on. Troy came home from work and started cooking dinner. Noodle chunt (or noodles with cream of chicken soup and tuna fish)with the tri-colored noodles. I still remember! I didn't eat any of it because by the time it was done I was in full blown labor. My contractions were 2 minutes apart so we ran to the hospital. I was checked in and the Nurse checked to see how far I was dilated. She told me I was between a 9 and a 10. Madison was finally ready to come and she didn't want to wait any longer. At 10:59 pm she was born. She weighed 7 pounds 13 ounces and had a lot of crazy hair. She was the cutest thing I had ever seen!

Eleven years later she is such a wonderful young lady. She is such a good girl, I don't know how we got so lucky to have her in our family. A few things about her:
*She loves to read. She is just like her Nunny!
*She hates the heat. Again, just like Nunny!
*She has beautiful strawberry blonde hair.
*She is very spiritual and loves to go to church. She definitely is an example to us.
*She is friends with everybody.
*She loves American Girl dolls.
*She already knows what car she wants when she turns 16. A Mini Cooper!
*She loves strawberries. Plain strawberries, strawberries dipped in sugar, strawberry ice cream, strawberry suckers. Everything strawberry!
*She wears hearing aids....What? And she just got new earmolds. They are adorable and just as bright as always.

There is so much more I could write about her. I could go on and on. Instead I will just give you some pictures and you can see for yourself what a wonderful girl she is.

We love you Madisonironi! Happy Birthday!!!

YNP '09

We made our annual Yellowstone trip at the end of July. We had such a great time! The weather was great, the company was great and the time together as a family was great. As I said before, we had McKinley with us. It was so nice to have her there to keep Madison company. She balanced us out, two boys and two girls. We did so many fun things. We went to Mammoth hot springs and then up to Gardiner to our favorite restaurant in the whole wide world, Petterino's (I think thats what it is, I get it mixed up with one in Chicago). We eat there every summer. Troy starts craving it about 2 months before our trip. We also eat breakfast by the Madison river every morning. I think Kinney thought we were CRAZY but we have these things that we ALWAYS do. How sad is it that our trip kind of revolves around food. Dinner at Petterino's and breakfast at the river. Thats not it either, everywhere we stopped Troy insisted on icecream, Kinney didn't think that was so crazy!



Other things we did:

• Hikes, Harlequin Lake, Canyon, Tower Falls, etc.etc.


• Swimming in the firehole river


• Skipping rocks in the river


• Old Faithful Young Scientist badge (this took all day, the kids were exhausted after they were done)


• Saw a ton of waterfalls


• Hot pots, dragons mouth is one of their favorites but Eli thinks a dragon really lives in it.


• Saw tons of buffalo and elk, missed a bear by seconds.


• Got eaten by mosquitos


• Stayed in the park at Grant Village right by Yellowstone Lake

I could go on and on. We had so much fun and I am already getting excited to go back next year!

Thanks Kinney for coming with us, we hope we didn't scare you too bad!

Summer '09

I know it is now almost fall and for quite some time I have tried to post about summer. My problem is there is always something else to do. Whether it is mow the lawn, or weed, or go to the aquarium or splash pad or zoo. There is always something else. So here is a quick update of our summer.

Here are my kids being crazy as usual. We have this park in Park City that we call the John Deere park. The kids absolutely love it. We make a few trips there every summer.

Here are the kids at the Riverton Splash pad. We went a few times this summer with cousins and friends. The kids love it because their Dad and Tyson built it! Eli goes around telling everybody that...pretty funny.

Here we are at the Aquarium. We had Madisons friend Brittany and her brother Collin with us. I bet we went 5 times this summer. We bought a family pass and it is only 5 minutes from our house. Cheap entertainment! We love to pet the stingrays!

Here are the kids in Yellowstone. We had our niece, McKinley, with us. I would have traded all of my kids to keep her. She was so fun to have for 9 whole days. (I will put more pictures of Yellowstone later. I took a couple hundred or so...)

We had a wedding this summer too. Troys dad got remarried. Here we are at the wedding. It was fun to all be together. We were missing Aaron and Carter, but I am sure they were there in spirit....right Aaron?

Here are the kids decorating Papas truck and Troy and Lorin drinking beer so they could hang the cans from the bumper. Funny thing, the next week Troy was called to be the Elders Quorum President. Good thing he really wasn't drinking the beer!

Troy did a bike race as part of the Tour of Utah. It is one of the hardest stages in the United States and he finished it. You can see how excited he was to finish! I was so proud of him.

And here are Troy and Jason crossing the finish line together. Troy says there is no way he could have done it without Jason. This is kind of how they are in life. They don't go very long without talking to each other. Jason and Heidi have been great friends forever. Thanks guys!

Thats just a few things we did this summer, I forgot my camera for the others, but we had a lot of fun! And thanks Jill for spending a couple weeks with us and keeping us busy!

Reading makes me tired...

I am not much of a reader. I can read for a few minutes here and there but not for a long time. It makes me too tired! Every night my kids read before they go to bed as their school homework. Well, Eli just started kindergarten so he thinks he needs to read like Madison and Gabe. All I care about is that he stays in bed. Some nights he will be reading his scriptures, or Go Dog Go. Apparently, he takes after me and this is what he was reading last night.....

I went in before I went to bed and this is what I found. He was snoring so loud, probably because he couldn't breathe. I wonder what he was dreaming about...maybe, a boy named Max who wouldn't eat his dinner!

PS, This is for Kinney. Madison keeps bugging me to put a picture of her doll for you so here it is! For those of you who don't know, Madison worked all summer to earn this American Girl Doll. She absolutely loves it!

Back to school...

It has been a busy summer. We did a lot of fun things and took some fun trips. I promise, soon, I will post some pictures of our crazy summer. For now, here are a couple pictures of the kids and their first day of school.

Madison and Gabe started on August 17th and they both have male teachers. This is new to us. In all the teachers we have had, we haven't had any male teachers. So far, 2 weeks into it, the kids love them.

Eli started on Tuesday this week. He absolutely loves it, I THINK. He loves to go but doesn't talk much about it. This is wierd to me because Eli usually doesn't stop talking. Some of you know, Eli rarely shuts up.

Enough, blah.....blah....blah....here are the pictures:

Madison and Gabe right before we left for school, they love posing for these pictures. They always tell me where they want to stand or squat like in this one.

Madison and her friend Katie. They were so excited to see eachother!!!

Gabe was a little nervous but he did OK. He cried, as usual, but his teacher gave him a hug and reassured him it would be fine. After a few days of crying I had to bribe him with a prize. So far that has worked pretty well.

Eli was so excited. He even picked out his outfit. It wasn't my favorite but you can't fight this kid. He is sooooo persistent.

And last but not least, the token picture taken in front of the school. I think they should probably have some feet painted on the sidewalk...saying stand here for school picture. After I took his picture I noticed a whole bunch of other moms taking the same picture.

So, there you go. It's a little late but the school pictures are finally posted.

Lagoon and the Holy Ghost

We went to Lagoon on Wednesday for our stake Lagoon day. It was so fun! We went with just our little family. Just the 5 of us. It was fun to have a day to just hangout with eachother and have fun. The day was perfect, mid-80s weather and shorter than normal lines. Who could ask for more? Eli of course...

At the end of the day we were getting ready to leave. We decided to go on the Terror Ride. It's not too scary and there are no hills. As we stood in line Eli kept hearing screams, you could see he was getting more and more nervous. Finally, it was our turn so I made him get in with me and he immediately put his head in my lap. He wouldn't even look around. I finally talked him into lifting his head up. Right then something scared him, so back down went his head. He didn't like it until it was over.

Once we got off the ride, Eli and I had this conversation:

• Eli: "Mom, it wasn't too scary except for the Holy Ghost."


• Mom: "What do you mean the Holy Ghost."


• Eli: "The Holy Ghost was tickling my legs the whole time."


• Mom: "Oh, really and that was the scary part?"


• Eli: "Yep, that was the scary part."

I have no idea what he felt in that terror ride, but he is pretty sure it was the Holy Ghost.

Eli wanted to dress just like Dad! I had to get a picture, it was pretty cute.

(I just realized I have no pictures of Madison, sorry Madison we will get some next time).

Absent....

Sorry about my absence on the blog lately. I have been a little overwhelmed with everything that I am supposed to be doing. I say "supposed to be" because I should be doing everything and I am not even doing it all. I am doing what I can do, and the blog, obviously, isn't one of them.

I have had:

• Sick kid stuff (Madison missed most of the last week and a half of school)
• Work stuff (Yuck!, I even quit again...)
• House stuff
• Summer stuff
• School stuff (Yes, we are still in school but Thursday is the last day)
• Church stuff
• Friend stuff (I went to dinner with friends I haven't seen for at least 15 years. Fun!)

I have had a lot of STUFF, so please forgive me and I will be back shortly. Maybe I could have the Dr. write me a note while she is writing one for Madisons absences from school.

Rain Rain Go Away!!!

Even the ducks don't need to swim in the creek because there is so much rain


I am so tired of the rain! Anybody else with me here? We watch the news and read the paper everyday and it always says: Monday/Rain, Tuesday/PC and rain, Wednesday/lightning and rain, Thursday/TS and rain, Friday/freaking more rain. I like rain but not when it rains for 15 days straight. A nice afternoon summer thunderstorm is nice but not every single day.



However, my boys have come to like the rain. The new thing they like to do is take their shirts off and run around in the rain. I try to make sure they don't run around when it is thundering and lightning but sometimes I can't stop them.



Boys being crazy in the rain, you can tell they haven't had much sun.

Our creek keeps flooding because there is so much water.

Little Red

For the third time I rode Little Red. A woman's-only bikeride up in Logan. We decided we were going to do the 62 mile ride. A couple of the girls in our group wanted to try for the 100 miles. I knew I wasn't ready but I rode with them anyway. We had a great time until 1.5 miles in. My bike started feeling funny. I was hearing funny noises and feeling every bump. FLAT TIRE! We stopped and thanks to Sunny's friend, my tire was fixed in a jiffy and we were back on the road. Things were great until we got up into Idaho and the wind hit. We battled the wind for about 15 miles (it seemed like forever, but maybe it wasn't that long) until we stopped for lunch at about mile 60.



So, we continued and the next stop was at mile 81. Somewhere in between my knees started hurting and my legs started cramping. I was not in any shape to think I was going to ride 100 miles. Then, at about mile 78 my tire went flat again. At this point, I was done. I called Troy and said come and get me. I have never had my knees hurt like that before. So, thanks to my wonderful husband, Troy, within minutes I was sitting on my nice comfy seat in the car (and not on my bike) drinking Diet Coke and eating a snickers. I am horrible, all I wanted was something sweet!



The rest of my group finished the century. Liz, Sunny and Sally. Good job girls and thanks for dragging me the last few miles!



I was a little bit sad at the finish line, it was a bitter-sweet moment for me. This ride benefits womens cancer research. I wanted to ride across that finish line so bad but I knew I couldn't do it this year. Maybe next year!





Sunny, Liz, Sally and me. At the finish line, I love the banner behind.

Sunny and Sally getting Lei'd. So cool! Sunny just had a baby 7 months ago and Sally's baby is 16. It is so cool that they finished.

Good job girls! Thanks for the ride and we will be riding again soon!

***Oh, and Heidi was there too but she had to leave. Heidi I need the picture Jason took of all of us so we can have you on here too. Just so you all know, Heidi is the driving force behind this group. She is the one that got us all there. Thanks Heidi!

Updates

It has been a while since I wrote. Things have been crazy busy with work and school and play.....Here are some updates:

Madison

• She is growing up so fast. She loves to babysit and earn money. She always begs us to go on a date so she can be in charge.
• She is doing really well at piano even though I can't ever get her to practice.
• She has had testing at school this week and next week so she has really been working hard at school.
• At school she is trying to pass off all the things for the Presidential Fitness award. She is killing herself to get them all done.

Gabe

• He is getting ready to start 2nd grade. I can't believe it.
• On his birthday he moved up in BMX from 6 novice to 7 novice and then the next week he was moved up to 7 intermediate.
• In his 2 races as a 7 intermediate he has made it to the main both times and has placed 3rd. We are so proud of him.
• He is always doing something, whether it's digging in the dirt or eating or legos or riding bikes. He is always doing something.

Eli

• He is learning to not play with knives. Two weeks ago he cut himself and had to get stitches. Yes we are great parents and let our kids play with knives. They will learn sooner or later.
• He is done with pre-school and is so ready to start Kindergarten. Maybe it is me that is ready for him to start.
• He gets to go to play with his cousin, Megan, 4 days a week while I go to work. I think he really likes it (Thanks Lori). He also goes to Grandmas 1 day a week, he loves to go and eat her cookies.
• This kid is like Gabe and is always doing something. However, he is usually doing something a little more mischievious.

Troy and Kelli

• We have been busy at work. Troy has been bidding jobs like crazy and I hope that will end soon.
• Troy has also been racing a little bit of BMX and getting some Mtn. Bike and Road biking in.
• I am riding Little Red tomorrow and I am not ready. Hopefully I will still be able to walk after it is over.

Here is a little video of Gabe's race last night. He has the silver helmet on and is in 4th place most of the time until the last straight before the finish he passes for 3rd.

Poohdles!

Eli and I were driving to work today. Eli was talking my ear off about who knows what! During one of the conversations he started talking about all the dogs he knows. He started naming all of them. Then he started talking about what kinds of dogs they all are. So, here is what he said:

Eli: "Mom, I know why they call them poodles."

Me: "Why?"

Eli: "Because they poop a lot! They are always pooping. You know poooohdles."

No, lie. That is our exact conversation. The kid really believes that is why they are called poooooohdles.

Happy Birthday G-Man

On Mother's Day, May 12th 2002 at 12:35 am, I became a mother for the second time. It was a wonderful Mother's Day present. The best thing was to not be pregnant any longer. I don't think I could have handled it for one more second (for those of you who saw me know how huge I get).

Gabe has been such a good boy. He has always been a momma's boy. When he was about three or four he would come in our room in the middle of the night just to tell me he loves me. Here are a few more things about Gabe:

• He has always loved tractors (you name it and he knows what it is)
• He loves to dig in the dirt
• He is my vanilla kid (blonde hair and vanilla icecream)
• He is a good eater
• He is very loving and kind
• He makes friends easy
• He loves to do anything outside
• This year he has learned to play basketball with his friends (Of course his dad doesn't teach him)
• This year he started BMX and has 14 trophies (I don't know what I am going to do with more)
• He loves school (reading, math, science etc.)
• He is a thinker, he thinks about everything

I love this kid, he is such a good kid. I just want him to know how much I love and appreciate him. He is my little G-Man!

A few pics:

Happy Birthday G-Man!

Nunn's Day

To my sisters, from Vegas to Chicago and back to SLC, it will be a rough Mother's Day. However, I am trying like you to remember the fun times. The memories that she brought us. I learned so much in the short 15 or 16 years that I knew her. I learned a lot from my mom too, but I learned different things from Nunn. Here is how we celebrated Mother's Day last year...

We opened Mother's Day gifts. Of course, the token picture frame that had pictures of all her grandkids (It even made her cry). What else would you give someone that had everything. I think she liked it though, she hung it on the wall and it is still there.

Then we celebrated Gabe's birthday. Of course she had a cake for him and she was right there with a spatula and paper plates ready to dish it up.

Then we went outside to play with some of Gabe's presents.

Then....this is the last thing she saw....

...until Eli came charging at us with the hose. We were all fast enough to dodge the water, except for Nunn. She sat there and got soaking wet. I think she was a little bit mad but she laughed about it too. So this year I am hoping that she had a good Mother's Day last year because I know I will never forget it!