Al and Me plus 3

Oh he makes me laugh!

2011-06-09T14:01:00.000-07:00

Aidan is so full of it I swear. I need to be better about writing down what he says before I forget it, I find myself laughing at him even when he is naughty.

The other day I found him in the pantry climbing to the top for treats...I don't know how they know, but they always know when you are hiding something. I got him down and talked to him about they rules and that he needed to ask if he wanted something. He said, "I know what the rules are, but if I ask you, you say I can't have it". He now comes to me several times a day with, "I know you're just going to say no, but can I have...." The kid would live off of sugar if I would let him.

The other day when we were dropping off carpool (I drive 3 neighbor boys plus mine to a performing arts charter school in Ivins about 30 min away...that right there is a good time) and as we were leaving the school they had a whole bunch of cones set up to direct you the way they want you to go. Aidan says, "What happens if you run over those cones mom?" I tried to explain what they were for and why they were there. He said, "no, I mean what happens to the cones. I think we should run over them. It would be really funny!"
One day Al will tell him this story. It still makes me laugh every time I think about it and I wasn't even there. We were up in Salt Lake and it was the middle of winter. Al and my brother Nick were outside on an office building they were doing electrical on when a car came barreling down the road taking out a whole line of barricades. When the car finally came to a stop they ran out to check on it. It was a young girl with a frozen windshield who couldn't see a thing. She rolled down her window and said, "what did I hit?" Nick said, "a whole row of barricades because you didn't scrape your windshield." she just reached down, got her scrapper and handed it to the boys to take care of for her and then went on her way like nothing ever happened.

Girls Camp.....What?!!!

2011-06-09T13:18:00.000-07:00

So Kelsee just got home from a week at girls camp and loved every minute of it. I was dying when the Young Womens president came to the door and said because she was turning 12 this summer they would love for her to come to camp with them. Of course she was so excited she could hardly stand it.
Girls Camp is way different than when I went that is for sure. Theirs was more of a retreat. They went up to Zions and stayed in a cabin. They did crafts, went swimming and threw in a hike. They had a full kitchen with gourmet meals. Lets contrast that with my girls camp where you pitched a tent, slept on rocks and dug a latrine for a bathroom.
She also has a babysitting job this summer a couple times a week for several hours. She is such a good help and so responsible!
It is so fun to see her get to experience all the things that I did at her age. Here's the only downfall...you know I love a good camp song, but one can only hear the princess pat so many times!!!

I'm watching you

2011-02-17T14:55:00.000-08:00

Aidan is forever cracking me up. He definitely follows in his Dad's footsteps and thinks he is the class clown. So Al was out of town with Olivia and Kelsee was at Dance so Aidan and I went to Cafe Rio to spend a little one on one time. We get the food and had sat down for only about 30 seconds before he announces he needs to go to the bathroom. So I get up to take him and he turns to the little boy at the table next to us and gives him one of these "I'm watching you" gestures. I wasn't sure I seen it right and then I look down to see him turned around giving the poor little boy the same gesture again. So I said, "Hey buddy, what are you doing that to the little boy for?" He said, "I saw him looking at my quesadilla and I wanted to make sure he knew I was watching him and he better not eat my food while I'm gone."

I'm so Old!!!

2011-02-17T14:34:00.001-08:00

Ok, so I was having a really bad attitude about my birthday and being on the downside of 30. For some reason it wasn't as hard to turn 30 as it was to turn 36. Even typing it gives me a little anxiety. My babies are starting kindergarten next year and my oldest is turning 12 this year. Sometimes I look at my life and think, "wow, how did I get here so fast?" And no offense mom, because you are super young and gorgeous, but this is the age I remember her at growing up and I just can't believe that is now me. For some reason I still picture myself as just out of college...Come on, I still listen to top 20 and shop in the junior's department. I'm sure the teenagers are wondering what the old lady with all the kids is doing trying on something they would wear.

So even though I was really grumpy about it and didn't want to celebrate it, my sweet husband planned a surprise party for me. My bestie Cheryl came down with her family to surprise me too and between her and Al I really had no clue. In fact I was at lunch that day saying how he could not keep a secret to save his life ( He already had spoiled the surprise of Cheryl coming). So I had spent the afternoon with her getting our nails shellac'd. It's so great if you have never heard of gel nail polish you should try it! The whole time she is asking what we should do that night and where we should go to dinner so when we walked in I was really so surprised that it took me a few second to catch on to the fact that it was a party for me. Al had done all the food, decorations, noise makers, flowers, cake, and even a babysitter for the kids. He is always so good to me. Thank you to all of my sweet friends for coming to celebrate with me, especially Janalyn who was on the verge of having her baby.

Even though I'm old now I have a new wrinkle every morning, I feel better than ever and I am in better shape than ever. With 2 marathons and a 186 mile relay behind me I am now contemplating a third because I was only 3 minutes away from qualifying for Boston and hopefully learning how to swim this year and taking on a triathalon. I guess if I have to grow old at least I can be an old lady that can kick butt!!!

It's a CARNIVAL!

2011-01-21T17:00:00.000-08:00

This weekend we had a carnival party for Aidan and Liv's birthday. It is so hard to be excited about planning another huge party when you are still trying to find time to take your Christmas tree down, but they really wanted to have a little friend party. And you know how I roll...as hard as I try to scale things down it never happens because my brain goes crazy thinking up all these things I could do and I can't sleep at night because I'm creating it in my head all night long.

Instead of doing a big elaborate cake this year I did cupcakes. We had all the healthy carnival food...corndogs, popcorn, cotton candy, animal crackers and candy. I made a big red and white circus tent in the middle of the room with a lion jumping through a hoop and made little miniature top hats for all the kids.

I had a lady come to entertain the kids. It is slim pickins here in St. George. I was looking for someone to tie balloon animals. One person never called back and this was the other. She did a little I spy game, a magic show (she is breaking an egg in a bottomless cup over Kelsee's head below), and then she tied balloon animals for all the kids and hats for Aidan and Liv. You could tell she didn't have a ton of experience, but the kids still thought she was great.

I also set up a little photo booth and made little mustaches on a stick for the kids to take silly photos. I enlisted the help of my sweet neighbor Kali to take all the pictures. They turned out really cute and I will post them when I download them from her camera...Thanks Kali!

The star of the show was my stage hand (Al) who always works so tirelessly to help me with all these crazy ideas and gets none of the credit. He spent lots of time helping me set up and then spent the rest of the afternoon tearing it all down and cleaning up while I went to a baby shower. He really is the best thing that ever happened to me and I don't know what I would do without him.

I know I've been awful at keeping all of you updated so I am really going to try and do "flashback Friday's" every once and a while to catch you up on all of the happenings of 2010

I'm 5, I'm 5, I'm 5!!!

2011-01-21T16:29:00.000-08:00

That is what I heard as little feet came running down the hall and into my bedroom at the crack of dawn the morning of the big day. You have never met 2 little people so excited to turn 5. They have been talking about it for months. All day long Aidan would say, "Mom, I'm 5. Am I really 5 mom. I mean mom, am I really, really 5?" It was a hard day for me. I hate how quickly they grow and the realization that my babies are no longer babies, but I couldn't stop smiling at their excitement. They still tell every random stranger everywhere we go, " Hey, did you know I'm 5?".

They chose to celebrate by going to "the yummy roll place" (Texas Roadhouse) and because Aidan wanted to sit up on the horse in front of everyone. he asked the waiter as soon as he came over to our table when he was going to bring the horse over for him. Olivia wanted nothing to do with it though. She was just worried about wearing her birthday skirt she picked out and lipstick.

After dinner we came home and opened presents. They both wanted Heely's (thanks Mom and Jamie). Now I just hope they don't break a hip. We plan on taking several trips to Costco where they can hold on to the cart and figure out how to use them.

Aidan got a Nerf laser tag set and as you can see he and Al are already putting it to good use.

Olivia got a play kitchen which I wrote about below.

Thank you to all our friends a family for all the sweet cards, gifts, and phone calls. They loved every one of them!

Who needs Pottery Barn?

2011-01-21T16:07:00.000-08:00

Thank goodness I have a husband who is willing to go along with all of my project ideas because I never could have done this without him...thanks babe!

So I really wanted Olivia to have a play kitchen. The girl loves to pretend! I really loved the pottery barn kitchens, but who really pays $750 for that?

So in the middle of moving and just coming off of Thanksgiving and Christmas, I convinced Al to help me build this for Olivia for her birthday.

We started with a couple of sheets of plywood from the hardware store and several hours later this is what we came up with. I can never let go of something until it is complete so in my sleeplessness (is that a word) I would design and build this.

I grew up around power tools and my dad taught me how to use a band saw by the time I was maybe 11. I love the smell of fresh cut wood and turning the pieces into creations...and just in case you were wondering I took best of show in wood shop class in middle school. I also grew up sitting by my mom at her sewing machine and watching her turn fabric into beautiful dresses. So thanks to both of them I learned how to build and sew.

I have to give most of the credit to Al though, he spent hours and hours on this and I did most of the running to store, ordering parts and pieces off of ebay and the "cosmetics" of it. It was really fun to work on this project with him and Liv loves it!!!

I was this many, now I'm this many!

2010-02-25T21:24:00.000-08:00

This is the phrase I am hearing over and over these days. Aidan and Olivia turned 4 and they love to show me with there fingers how much bigger they are now. Here is a montage of their birthday weekend.
First they got to celebrate their birthday at preschool and take some treats in to share with their friends and teachers. I don't have a picture but they were little brownies that looked like ice cream sundae's complete with sprinkles and a cherry on top.
The next day Jeff and Jamie came down with their kids and with a few other friends we went to Little Chefz for a "cooking party". This was so great! The kids got to measure, stir, decorate, eat, make a mess, and play and I just got to sit back and watch...Best idea ever!

Making the dough

putting on the sauce and toppings

This is the dessert pizza they made with cookie crust and candy topping. Then everybody sang and they got to blow out the candles

The next day the Osborns had us over for dinner and we brought the cake for dessert. This year I tried to simplify by doing one cake but letting them each have their own. This turned out to be one of my favorites I've done. Thanks to my ever patient husband for going along with my creative tangents and making me this great "cake base" even if he couldn't see my vision and didn't understand why I needed it just to set a couple of cakes on. I really couldn't have asked for a better husband!

The last day of this marathon birthday celebration was actually their birthday. As per their request we went to their favorite place for dinner "the fire place" (a hibachi steak house) where they are both completely entertained by the throwing of the food, fire, and the chinese man with an accent talking to them.

Aidan could not have been more excited to get a Darth Vader costume (complete with breathing device). This child would live in dress-ups! And Olivia got a doll house that entertains her for hours, which means it was the best gift ever!

I just want to say a big "THANK YOU" to all of our great family and friends for making this such a great birthday and for making them feel so special. Thank you to Jeff and Jamie who drove down just for a birthday party because Aidan and Olivia wanted their cousins to be there. Thank you for all the pre-birthday celebrations in Salt Lake, thank you for all the packages in the mail, thank you for all the phone calls and birthday songs and thank you for always being there for us and making all of these milestones in our lives so memorable...we love you all so much!!!

Top Ten for 2009

2010-01-24T18:33:00.000-08:00

So, since I am so awful about updating this and I didn't get a christmas card done this year. I will do a run-down of our top ten for the year:

#10...One of the highlights for me was when Cheryl braved the snowy roads of January weather and surprised me with a day in Vegas for my birthday. We spent 3 hours in Sephora alone just trying on make-up with no one tapping their toe and asking how long this would take. It was shopping and food all day. I also got the entire day to talk without being interrupted or having to clean up after anyone...It was heaven!

#9...In March Al walked away from his job because they were trying to force him into signing a non-compete. So we decided to take the plunge and finally start his own company that he had been talking about doing forever. He partnered up with a refrigeration specialist and with the help of a great friend the company grew really quickly and is doing well.

They named the company Jacer as an acronym from the letters of his and his partners names. They have accounts from Nevada to Salt Lake and are so busy (which I keep reminding myself is a huge blessing). Here is a picture with him and Aidan in the boom truck. The kids think this is just as good as Disneyland.

#8...In March Kelsee went to Nationals for her cheer competition in California. They did really well and had a lot of fun. We took the kids to Disneyland for a couple days while we were there. It was so fun to see how excited Aidan and Olivia were to see the characters and go on the rides.

#7... Aidan is a walking accident. The child is fearless and thinks he is indestructible. I promise you he can climb up anything and figure out how to get into things you think are childproof, locked and safe. Because of this we have been to the hospital 4 times this year (with the worst insurance ever!). First to get his tonsils out (not an accident), next when he slammed Olivias poor finger in the hinge of our huge, heavy wood door, then when he slipped and cut his head on the corner of the counter and just in December when he was climbing to the top shelf of the cabinets in my kitchen for gum and fell and hit the edge of the granite putting his bottom teeth all the way through his face. Oh, and lets not forget the time he fell out of the neighbors (stopped) car and fell face first onto the road (this did not require a hospital visit).

#6...Aidan and Liv started preschool in August. It makes me so sad that they are old enough to go, but lets not lie. The 3 hours twice a week to run errands without them has been wonderful! I can go to the grocery store with one cart and don't have anyone crying about being touched by the other one. Also, it has given me the opportunity to go to the temple once a week with some friends and regroup.

#5... Kelsee wanted to learn how to play the electric guitar so for her birthday this year she got one and has started taking lessons. Her playlist includes, Scooby doo where are you and jingle Bells. We are looking forward to adding to that list.

#4...One of the funnest things this year was that Al finally got to go to an NFL game. OK, so it wasn't the Bears and it wasn't Soldier Field, but he was in a stadium full of fans watching the football game live with some of his best friends. Maybe one day he will see the Bears play and maybe on that day they will actually be good.

#3...This year I accomplished something I never dreamed I would be able to do. I ran 26.2 miles in the St. George marathon. I have always been an avid excerciser, but my running always topped out at about 5 miles. This year I trained with 4 of my patient neighbors ( I was the only first timer) and was able to complete it in 3 hours and 56 min. I swore I was one and done, but this ended up being one of the best days of my life. My sweet husband had a huge banner made, my mom, my brother and his family and my best friend cheryl and her family all came down to cheer me on. I also had countless little gifts and notes messages painted on my windows by all my cute neighbors and friends. I think the reason I loved that day is I really felt so loved and felt the support of so many people cheering me on. I also think the other reason I loved it was that I never felt like I was going to die. I really had fun running it. So now I have the bug if anyone wants to come run with me, or if biking is more your speed I'm thinking about a triathalon next!

#2...Another highlight of this year is when Jordan decided to go on a mission. And can you believe of all the places to be called to, he was sent to Zimbabwe, South Africa. I am so proud of him because I know he did it because he wanted to and he gave up a lot to go. I also have such great respect for my mom who is so patient and loving and is willing to do whatever it takes to support him. He just left the beginning of December, but is doing great. I have set up a blog for him where his letters are posted weekly and will link it from here if anyone is interested.

#1...would be spending time with family. We didn't go on any grand vacations or anything, but we had a lot of fun weekends with family and friends who took the time to come down and see us as well as watching our kids grow and make us laugh Here are a few of those moments...Hiking the red rocks. Aidan getting into his usual mischief and coloring Olivia's belly button with marker while she slept. Aidan sporting some of his "running outfits". Crawdad fishing in Veyo with the kids. Going to the sand dunes with cousins on what turned out to be a cold and windy day (doesn't mix well with sand). And Al sporting his winning sweater from the "ugly christmas sweater" party. Here's to another year full of family, fun, and milestones!

Happy Halloween!!!

2009-11-02T13:11:00.000-08:00

So after a month long of sewing....this is the result. The kids couldn't have been more thrilled. Aidan was just excited to have a sword. He has not taken his costume off since halloween by the way. Olivia told everyone we saw that she was a cupcake with a cherry on top and Kelsee told everyone who took a picture of her to make sure they also got the back. I think we need a little more humility around here. So the kids are still running crazy on a sugar high. It was a gorgeous night. We just wore jeans and t shirts and most people sat outside to hand out candy. Al got called into work. As for me, I spent the night chasing two 3 year olds who kept going different directions all night and joining other parties along the way and for some reason thought the street was the best place to be. I was just relieved to have everyone home safe that night.

We sure missed all of you and are looking forward to seeing all of your pictures

Thank you Cheryl for going to the trouble of sending the tights even when the whole fam was sick. They were the perfect addition to Kelsee's costume even though you can't see them in the pictures.

Love you All!!!

Who does this?

2009-09-28T16:11:00.000-07:00

Who gets up at 4:30 a.m. and drives 45 minutes away to run 20 miles....that's right, Ido. I know it is the craziest thing and swore I would never do it, but it finally happened. I live by a bunch of great girls who run the marathon every year and they finally talked me into running it this year. So I have spent the last several months

dragging my tired butt out of bed every morning to run what feels like an endless amount of miles. Luckily the company is great! This is a picture of us (minus Laura...she is the smart one who is sleeping) in the wee hours of the morning at the top of the course before we started my first 20 mile run. We really should have taken an after shot.

So training has not come without it's pains. I have had

major shin splints, a knee injury, massive blisters,

ankle and foot pains and the best one of all....lost 3

toenails. Yep, I'm looking pretty hot right now.

The amazing thing though is I have learned what

sounded so impossible (26.2 miles!) is something that

I can actually do.

This is a picture of what I live in these days...my running

shoes, garmin watch, i-pod and knee strap. Unfortunately

I can also be seen all over town in work-out clothes with a

salty sheen covering me

The marathon is this Saturday and several of my sweet

family and friends are coming down to cheer me on.

Wish me luck!!!

I loved It!!!

2009-05-21T09:29:00.000-07:00

It's a fact...I love American Idol. From beginning to end it totally entertains me. I just have to say that was the best American Idol finale I have ever seen!! Every performance last night just got better and better and the contestants this year were unbelievable, but my favorite part by far last night was "bikini girl". Now I will give it to her, she is a pretty girl and she has a great body, but when Kara stepped out and put that poor girl in her place she had no idea what happened. She was so flustered that she stopped singing but would pipe in every once in a while with an off note. Kara sounded amazing and to top it all off she looked amazing too. Did you happen to notice the end when Ryan was talking about her doing this for her favorite charity and "bikini girl" is not so slyly checking Kara out up and down?

Darth Vader No More

2009-04-15T16:53:00.001-07:00

Most of you know we have affectionately nicknamed Aidan Darth Vader because he sounds so awful when he breathes After a year of his snoring getting worse and worse and him sounding like a pug dog when he is in a resting state like watching TV, it finally hit me that maybe his tonsils had something to do with it. The doctor had never said anything about them being big before, but I decided to take him in and have them checked. Sure enough that was the problem. The ENT said, "oh my gosh, they're huge! The poor kid can barely breathe." I didn't even realize how bad it was until we went to California last month and we shared a room with him. Neither Al or I got any sleep. I don't know how poor Olivia has done it all this time.
So we took him in to get his tonsils and adnoids out the end of March. He is terrified of doctors even if they aren't touching him so you can only imagine how well he handled all of this. He has let me know in no uncertain terms that he never wants to back to the doctors house (the hospital) again!
He had a rough week and was drugged up on loritab non-stop. You know he's not feeling well at all when he puts himself down for a nap, but all the sudden he was back to normal and now I have to get close to him and listen for his breathing when he's sleeping. It's amazing what a night and day difference it made for him. The craziest thing about it all is that his voice sounds so different now. I keep waiting for it to go back, but maybe this is how he sounds without a huge obstruction in his throat. Thank you for all the sweet little gifts and cards and treats you sent to him. He was so excited about all of them. Olivia was jealous enough that she was willing to get her tonsils out. We are so lucky to have the best friends and family. The only issue now is he thinks he can have popsicles and ice cream for all three meals.

Remember When?

2009-01-26T22:13:00.000-08:00

I just had a flashback today. Kelsee has been impatiently waiting her turn to be a lunch worker. That is one of the perks of being a forth grader. She came home from school with a little glow about her, so excited that it was finally her turn to help this week. She then gave me the play by play on how it all went down...she had to put a hair net on (boys got paper hats) and big plastic gloves and then they got to put on plastic aprons which she informed me "we throw away and get a new one the next day". She then told me with some disappointment that she handed out the cartons of milk today and "most everybody asked for chocolate, but every once and a while a first grader would ask for white and I would put down the chocolate and grab them a white one." I could instantly picture myself in grade school in my plastic apron and hair net and how excited I was to be a lunch worker.
She has told absolutely everyone she's seen today about her most important job. She is so hopeful that she will get to use a scoop and serve food tomorrow. We are crossing our fingers for her that it works out and she doesn't end up on dish duty. Who knew it was so cool to hang out with the lunch ladies?

2009-01-22T23:16:00.000-08:00

It's the big 3 (times 2)!

2009-01-22T22:19:00.000-08:00

Well, we rushed out of one holiday and right into the next. Aidan and Olivia turned 3!!! They were so excited for this birthday. They are starting to get what it means and that they get presents and cake. It was all pretty low-key, but they're not old enough to know the difference yet. We just had a few people over for dinner, opened presents, and had cake and ice cream. They were so excited about their cakes, I think it was their favorite part. I did a guitar for Aidan because he is so into them right now. He will even play his "air guitar". And I did a purse for Olivia because she has to carry one with her everywhere we go. I think I need to come up with a cake that works for both of them next year. I love coming up with the ideas and creating them, but this was a little time consuming!
This year was the most challenging and yet the funnest year with them yet. They learned how to tag team in order to create more mischief. I am running morning til night cleaning one disaster after another. They have learned how to blame each other. They have learned to run in different directions so I sometimes have to choose which one to run after. And they have decided they don't require as much sleep as they used to. But they are each others best friend and will take down anyone who tries to mess with the other one. They are talking non-stop and are say the funninest things (appropriate or not). And they make me happy I'm their mom everyday!
We can't wait for what's next....hopefully Aidan being potty-trained. According to him big boys do wear diapers and there is nothing wrong with that.

Rock Bottom baby

2009-01-05T12:45:00.000-08:00

I got the funniest call from Al the other day. It's no secret he has a really crappy job right now and he is doing his best to be happy about having it. He gets to do fun things like scrape slime off produce rack at the grocery store, fix the handicap carts, and any other maintainance work at the stores around town. So he was at Lowes standing over a super smelly trash compactor trying to fix it when he looked down and spotted what he calls "a gold mine". He called me and said, "you know you've hit rock bottom when you jump into a trash compactor to fish out hundreds of little knobs that the hardware store is throwing away." One of the guys he works with walked past, saw him in there and yelled at him to get out, but Al convinced him to help him haul them to his truck for a cut of the profits. Anyway, we now have a huge tub in the garage that he is sure is worth a pretty penny.... All I'm saying is don't be surprised when you see a listing on KSL for cabinet knobs. I love my sweet husband for all his hard work and enduring this crappy job so I can stay home with our little monkeys.

GO RCC!!!

2008-12-17T13:33:00.000-08:00

Kelsee made the competition cheer team at Raglan Coast Cheer this spring. She has the best cheer coaches! It is a husband wife team that are the coaches for the Dixie State cheer team and have now opened up their own gym. There are 3 teams at this gym and each one has about 25 girls on it. Kels is on the youngest team and loving it.

They have had a few performances at Dixie football halftime and a couple of high school games, but this last weekend she had her first competition up in Salt Lake at Alta High School (mine and Al's old stomping ground). I have to say I had no idea how serious this all was. There was a panel of judges, a crew of spotters, and a herd of girls in sparkly costumes and tons of glitter make-up. I couldn't hear anything because the music was so loud, but it was so fun to watch her. There was a huge storm that morning which meant a lot of our family traveling to see her missed it because of the roads, but she did great! And according to her she smiled and looked at the judges the whole time because that is what they get deducted for.

Her team took 2nd place!!! Way to go Kelsee! Next stop...Vegas next month, a couple more up north and onto Disneyland in the Spring.

Mommy I want an i-pod for christmas

2008-12-15T09:59:00.000-08:00

Who' s 2 year old asks for an i-pod for Christmas? Apparently mine does. We were walking through Costco the other day and Olivia looked at me and said, "Mom, I want Santa to bring me an i-pod for Christmas, a pink one." I thought there was no possible way she knew what she was asking for so I said, "What do you do with an i-pod Liv?" She looked at me and rolled her eyes and said, "you put it in your ear an lissen moosic mom". She had been previously asking for Santa to bring her a battery powered car for Christmas and I was hoping she would come up with something else she wanted instead of that, I was just surprised that it was an electronic. I was bucking for a new doll or something. So I said Olivia if Santa brings you an i-pod he will not bring you a car too (thinking that would deter her) she said, "ok mom, I don't want the car. I want an i-pod". At this point I had to flat out tell her that Santa does not bring i-pods to 2 year olds and she asks, "why not?" What is the appropriate response to that?

Kelsee was in a panic when she heard this. She was trying to explain to Olivia that we have already sat on Santa's lap and asked for a car and we mailed him a letter that said you wanted a car and you can't change your mind. So as it turns out we are back to asking for a car (which again I didn't really think she knew what she was asking for, but she said "the kind you push the pedal and drive outside". What happened to the baby doll?

Catch Up

2008-12-10T21:40:00.000-08:00

Ok, I know it's been a long time since I have posted anything and I have heard about it from all of you, so now it is time to play a little catch up of fall events even though it is December. No worries though, I am behind in my Christmas efforts as well. Much to Kelsee's dismay we have no tree, no decorations, no lights, and no gifts. We do however have plenty of choir practice, cheer practice, homework, cleaning, and running errands. I don't think I do much of anything else right now. So I think because it takes me so long to make a post for some reason and because I swore I would not have a blog that was nothing but posting pictures of my kids and telling how cute they were I haven't had much to say. But the fact is that is all I have going on right now so that is what you get. So here is a run down of a few highlights of the season:

Aidan was deathly afraid of masks this year and would scream like a girl if one like this was even in sight. Livy however thinks it's funny to tease him with them. My brother Jeff thought it would be funny to scare him. He was horrified at first, but much to my surprise he not only warmed up to this one but after a while he actually touched it and then even put it on. That did the trick. Suddenly he was a superhero and we couldn't get him to take it off the rest of the afternoon.

Livy loves her Baco (my mom, named by Kelsee when she was one). She is always asking when we can go see her or when she is coming to see us. We took a trip up to Salt Lake for fall break and spent a couple of days. I always have grand expectations of accomplishing so much, but the time flies and we barely have time to get the necessities in like eating at some of our favorite places. It's never a trip home without a Mimi's bran muffin and a stop at Paradise Bakery!

Kelsee spent the afternoon raking leaves into a pile and then doing a running jump into them. I think she realized on her first jump that leaves don't spring back like a trampoline when she landed like a rock on her butt. Don't worry that didn't deter her.

Although Aidan didn't like masks this year, he fell in love with the plastic vampire teeth (I refer to him as my mini Edward). He stood in front of the mirror day after day admiring himself and his new found smile.

They had so much fun creating their mini pumpkins Gram got them with the fun face parts that Baco sent them.

Kelsee was a pirate this year and you would think I would learn my lesson. I thought I was free and clear of sewing costumes this year. Cheryl and I went shopping earlier this fall and found parts and pieces to put together a pirate costume. In the end it didn't look like what I had envisioned in my head so I ended up making the whole thing. I know I can walk into any store and have my choice of 7 pirate costumes that are cheaper and way less time consuming, but for some reason I can't do it

Aidan and Olivia were supposed to be chickens. The costumes were so cute! It was the one Kelsee wore at this age with the big fluffy feather body and yellow rubber gloves for feet. I even had two because I borrowed one from Al's sister Emily since we both made one. We had a ward Halloween party and I tried to get the kids to put them on then. No exaggeration, Aidan cried for an hour and a half about not putting it on. I tried everything (I mean bribed him with everything) to put it on. I think he is more stubborn than me because after sitting in the car with him and missing everything, I took my half naked, red swollen face boy into the party for the last little bit.

The next day we were at Costco and Olivia saw a tinkerbell costume and informed me that is what she was going to be for Halloween. I don't even know how she knew who tinkerbell was. I was still bound and determined to force them in the chicken costumes until my friend Michelle gave me a reality check. She said, "Halloween is for them, let her be tinkerbell if she wants and I even have a little peter pan costume if you want it for Aidan." So as you can see from the picture they went as tinkerbell and peter pan and couldn't have been more excited. Olivia informed everyone she was a princess and Aidan was just happy to have a sword. They had to hand pick every piece of candy from everyones bowl and they gave back their toothbrushes to the dentist in our neighborhood and said, "no thank-you". It was the most gorgeous night. We trick or treated in shorts and t-shirts. The kids were hot in their costumes. Everybody's door was open and a lot of people just sat out on their porch handing out candy. This is one of the many things I have grown to love down here.

Freebie!!!

2008-10-10T13:22:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite things recently has been taking classes from Jessica Sprague and learning all the little tricks I've wanted to know about photoshop and photo editing. She just announced today that she has created a new class about telling the stories in your life. This isn't just a scrapbook thing. It's for anyone who wants to keep a journal or learn a better way to record the things you want to remember. The best part is she is doing this class for free!! You just have to register on October 20th and there is no class limit for this, so if you want in, you're in. She's never done anything like this before. I'll put the link for her website here you can follow it and read more about it, but I recommend trying it while it's free.
http://www.jessicasprague.com/

Was that a stuffed animal?

2008-10-03T12:44:00.001-07:00

Al was out in the garage (in his bare feet) with the kids the other night washing the 4 wheelers and putting them away. It was getting dark and he was trying the hurry and get everybody in. As he was walking toward the door, he kicked something he thought was a stuffed animal. When he looked down he saw what it really was....a Tarantula!!! No worries though. I hear they are super friendly and one of the most harmless bites you can get. So now we have bats, cockroaches and tarantulas. Who wants to come visit me?

My mid-day meltdown

2008-09-25T16:18:00.001-07:00

Ok, I really need some advice. Nap time at our house has turned into a 3 ring circus! We have had the infamous "naked nap" where they both strip down completely before they fall asleep (I chose not to post pictures). The "destructive nap" where they completely tear their beds apart, empty the drawers in the dresser and pull everything they can reach off the walls. And recently there is no nap at all because I spend 2 hours getting Aidan out of Olivia's bed because even if she stays in and falls asleep he climbs in and messes with her and wakes her up. Their beds have turned into jungle gyms and apparatuses to help them climb higher and reach more. It is such a frustration because they are still tired, but I am done with the daily fight. I've tried keeping Aidan up and letting Livy sleep, but he can't stand being without her and always sneaks in and wakes her up. There is such a difference between 1 toddler and 2 because they play off of each other. This is so different than Kelsee. She was in her crib until 3 and a half and never even tried to climb out. She still never gets out of bed. She calls for us if she needs something. She took a nap until she was 4. Do I get rid of the cribs and get big beds? I am just afraid they will get out all night long as well if I do that. Do I give up even trying to do naps as well? I feel like I have no patience these days.
My days are shot if I lose nap time. Aidan is such a climber. He can get into any cupboard at any height. He can get on top of the washer and dryer. He climbs his closet shelves. He has an attraction to knifes and scissors and has cut himself several times. They finger paint with anything they can find (lotion, A&D ointment...my favorite, it doesn't come off, and countless other things).
I love this age. They say the funniest things. They make me laugh all day long. They love to play and try new things and are amazed by everything, but my house is a constant disaster and I truly can't ever leave them alone right now. Nap time was my break. Any suggestions?

This is the result of no nap

Makin' me smile

2008-09-08T11:01:00.000-07:00

Aidan is so into shapes right now. He learned them at right about 2 years old along with his colors, which actually makes things more complicated because he has such an opinion on what he wants and he is able to express it. Friday we were outside and he was standing on the sidewalk that had a wierd corner piece and wouldn't move. I went back to get him and he said "Wow, this is a triangle on the ground." Then yesterday he wore a pair of shoes to church he wasn't happy about, but I talked him into it. When we got home he was limping and saying his foot hurt. I took off his sock and shoe and there was a huge blister on the back of his heel. He looked down at it and said, "Livy, look at my circle owie". It is so cute to see him realize that there are shapes all around us. I took me a while to figure out where he was learning all this, but I have to admit Mickey Mouse Clubhouse is my babysitter in the morning while I run on the treadmill and it finally dawned on me that is where he was learning it. I don't feel so bad about it anymore.

Ready, set, it's back to school again

2008-09-08T10:29:00.000-07:00

It's the start of another school year and I love that Kelsee is still so excited to go. She loves school. I think mostly for the social aspect of it though. She is in 4th grade, loves her teacher, and has so many fun friends. It is still pretty hot here which makes it nice for the kids because they love to ride their bikes to school. I load the babies up in the bike trailer every morning and usually have a couple neighbor kids in tow as well. The afternoon is spent doing homework, going to cheer practice, reading tutor and activity days. I don't know how we will manage when the babies start getting involved in things.

When did I become old enough to have a 9 yr old!

2008-08-22T14:57:00.000-07:00

Happy 9th Birthday Kelsee!!!!
Wow, where does the time go? I get a reality check on my age when my kids have a birthday and not so much when I do. I feel like I'm still a young hip thing and then I catch a glimpse of myself every now and again driving around a SUV full of carseats and 3 kids and think, "oh yeah, this is my life and I am getting old and maybe the guy in the car next to me wasn't checking me out, but instead thinking, "Look at that lady handing something back to her kids while driving and singing along to Radio Disney!"

Here is a flashback picture of when Kelsee was only 4 weeks old. It is our first family photo. This really made me realize how much I've aged. We look like such babies ourselves.

The night before Kelsee's birthday we planted "doughnut seeds". Kelsee is getting to old to go along with my fun ideas anymore. She kept saying, "Mom are you lying that these are doughnut seeds because they sure look like the apple cinnamon cheerios from the pantry."

In the morning they woke up to find that doughnuts had sprouted for breakfast! A rate treat at my house. I usually make them eat Kashi cereal or something packed with fiber. You can see that Aidan can hardly contain his excitement.

That night Kelsee had cheer practice. She is on the competition team this year and has 3 hours of practice a week plus one Saturday of tumbling a month. She is loving though. We'll see how much I love it when we have to start traveling for competitions.

When she finished we went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner. She wanted steak and to be able to sit on the birthday saddle and scream "Yeehaw" she said.

The next day was her friend party that I tried desperately to get out of doing this year. Anybody who knows me knows that I would much rather take the chaos somewhere else instead of having it all plus the mess at my house, but her heart was set on having a "chef party". So we had 12 screaming girls and lots of food.

Here is a picture of all of them in the aprons I made them. They were so excited that they had their initials in glitter on them! We started off with everyone making their own personal pizza and while they baked we went outside and played a couple of games. After they ate their pizzas I had a little 3 tiered cake for each of them to frost and decorate. When everybody's masterpiece was complete we boxed them up and tied a cute ribbon around them for everybody to take home. She opened presents (6 webkins...she was in heaven) we sang happy birthday and had icecream cones. She had such a blast and thanked me many times for doing it for her.

I can promise this would not have been very fun without the help of so many. Thank you Cheryl for running my errands and picking up the boxes in Salt Lake. Al's sister Emily and her family came down and helped us celebrate. Thank you for the ideas and all the help with the kids. And thank you to my sweet neighbor Michelle for volunteering to help and to Al who is always such a good sport when I get my hairbrained ideas and is always right in there playing with the kids and helping with whatever needs to be done.

Happy Birthday Kelsee, We love you!!!!

Disney or bust!

2008-07-21T13:34:00.000-07:00

Ok, I know it has taken forever for me to post. I got a Flip Video Camera that I wanted to learn how to download so you could see some of our trip. It turned out it takes no technical knowledge at all, just a chunk of time to sit and do it.
So, our friends the Allman's (who the babies have affectionately named "Cereal" and "Cake", otherwise known as Cheryl and Kate) were planning a trip to Disney and asked us if we were game. It wasn't top on my list because we had just done a week trip over Halloween with my whole family and I was Disney'd out for a while. But school was out and it was only a couple of days, so we decided to go for it. We drove for the first time and the kids were so great! We all had so much fun. They have been loving Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and recognized all the characters. It was so fun to see the sparkle in their eyes when they saw Mickey Mouse. They were so excited to see everyone, but wanted that safe distance from the giant creatures.
The babies stood in line, waited turns and really were so sweet the whole time. I felt like they did better than the bigger kids. The teacups were the highlight for them, but they rode everything they were big enough to ride (which surprisingly is quite a lot). Kelsee had many favorites, everything that is big and fast (a girl after my own heart)
We only went to the park for 2 days, but we got there when it opened and left when it closed with a bunch of tired monkeys. We ate at Goofy's kitchen which I think was the highlight for the boys who insisted on getting their picture taken with Jasmine, watched the parade, ate plenty of snacks, rode everything we wanted, and walked about 20 miles. Thanks guys we had a blast.

Al and Aidan on the buzz lightyear ride

The babies loved the characters from a distance, but
wanted nothing to do with them up close.

Kelsee on the other hand has no
problem getting up close and personal

They finally figured if they didn't look at
them, maybe they would go away

This is my favorite picture of the whole trip! This is the
family we sat next to during the pixar parade (which the
kids loved) I laughed so hard at this guy asleep in his
baby's stroller holding his giant pickle he had been gnawing
on. Cheryl couldn't believe I actually took a picture of this.
Of course I had to make it look like I was taking pictures of the
kids so his wife didn't think I was some crazy, Maybe I am!

The teacups were the favorite of both Aidan and Olivia.
They cold not get enough. They asked to go again as
soon as the ride stopped. I put a video of their first ride
at the bottom of this.

Very typical to have one crashed and the
other one going strong

Judd was not happy at all. The boys took the bigger kids
and him on the Matterhorn as soon as we walked in the park.
I think it took him most of the day to get over to scary
monster with the red glowing eyes.

Al's birthday dinner at Cheesecake Factory

The Teacups!

2008-06-03T14:39:00.001-07:00

Need another Hobby?

2008-06-03T14:18:00.000-07:00

If anyone is interested in learning digital scrapbooking I just took the best class that I am so excited about. It has taught me everything I have been wanting to learn and maybe now I can get all my pictures off my hard drive and printed to enjoy. The class was through Jessica Sprague. She has a great website and you can get all the goods if want more info at http://www.jessicasprague.com/. I am posting the 4 layouts I did during the course for those of you who have asked me to e-mail them.

"Are they twins?"

2008-05-13T15:53:00.000-07:00

Here is an example of a typical shopping trip for me (yes, I do take them everywhere. It is a rare day when I wait for Al to come home and go at night). For some reason people are very intrigued by twins and have a lot of questions about them (like if they are identical). And lets just be honest, they are pretty cute. So we are at Walmart doing our grocery shopping and down here it is filled with Pligs and the elderly. The pligs won't speak to you and the elderly bless their hearts, have quite a bit to say to you. I have one of those giant shopping carts with the two seats at the back, but the seat belts are broken on both of them. I decide to go for it anyway because there are really no other options. Most places don't even have carts for two which is why Costco is my favorite place to go. Two buckles and samples along the way!! You have no idea how great this is with two toddlers. Anyway so we start going and they figured out right away they could stand up which started swinging from the bar on the cart and jumping up and down singing. I thought I could just hurry before someone started bleeding or crying. At this point we started getting the standard "are they twins?", "oh, look how cute" from people along the way wanting to talk to them. They are not the slightest bit shy and love all the attention they generate. We then were stopped by an elderly couple who wanted to guess what their names were (and wouldn't let me tell them until they had exhausted all their ideas) which was followed by guessing how old they were. Needless to say, they grew impatient of shopping and got out every time I stopped the cart to put something in it which then draws more attention to us as I'm chasing them down the aisle. They start fussing and are done with the whole thing. This then turns in to people stopping me and telling me they are tired and probably need a nap. So after we make it through the eternal Walmart checkout line and they have picked up every stupid piece of candy or toy they put right there at the childs height. They cashier says, "I'm glad it's you and not me".
All I have to say is thank goodness they still take naps and for Diet Coke!

"This will only take 5 minutes"

2008-05-08T20:55:00.000-07:00

This is what I was told by several girlfriends who have been trying to convince me to set up a blog. I have been resistant to the idea, but there are so many reasons why this is a good idea for me. So we finally planned a night to set this up with the reassurance that it is super easy and super fast. The night started at about 9 p.m. with a bowl full of chocolate mint truffles and the Bachelor on the TV, and who can't help but watch that train wreck. I always say at the end of an episode that it is the trashiest show and will never watch it again and then find myself glued to it because you can't turn away from the carnage. So somewhere in the middle of all of this we were trying to set up my blog which for some reason seemed to keep doing things "that never happen". I am so computer illiterate that all I kept saying was, "control what?" Somehow I can manage to create all sorts of things including a monkey's jumping on the bed cake for Aidan and Olivia's second birthday, but I just cannot grasp the concept of cutting and pasting web addresses. In the end I had a background, a title, a player with one song (which I can't seem to log back onto and get more), and a fake post from Janalyn. And all of which only took until 1 a.m. Hopefully I get the hang of this, and I promise to try and post somewhat often so all of you who live so far away from us will still feel like you know what is going on in our lives.

Thankyou Jani, Michelle and Kali for all your help!