We The Teeples

A little spy training

2012-01-06T20:03:00.001-08:00

November 12, 2011-

Spy school was on the agenda for Eli this year.

He decided to invite some friends to join him.

Eli dressed in his best secret agent uniform, and delivered the top secret information to all spies-to be.

While waiting for all spies in training to report, we watched a little Spy Kids.

Upon entering training they had their pictures taken, were finger printed, and received their identification badges.

They were able to brush up on their sneaking around skills by dodging lasers.

They did some bomb-detonating.

Their final test was decoding clues to find the hidden stash.

All clues could be found in TOP SECRET envelopes

items that were needed to decode their clues.

All 12 spies passed their tests and were rewarded with goodies, TOP SECRET cupcakes, and “bomb” rice krispie treats.

“Let me Get it!”

2012-01-06T19:10:00.001-08:00

Eli has lost a couple teeth.

Every time it has happened they get so close to coming out, and seem to be barely hanging in there, but Eli WON”T just rip it out!

I would tell him to do it, and he wouldn’t!

I would try and he would wince away.

Finally, Hallie will say, “Let me do it”! And he would let her.

She never did actually get it out, but not for lack of trying!

November 4, 2010

Show me the money

2012-01-06T15:53:00.001-08:00

Nov. 4, 2011

Evie got hold of an envelope of money I had.

She ripped it apart and took the money.

Are you going to school or to a dance?

2011-12-29T12:15:00.001-08:00

Maybe I dress Hallie up a little too much...

On the first day of preschool Hallie wore this:

Sept. 7,2011

The day after her first day, a mom of one of the girls in Hallie’s class told me this story.

The mom said that she asked her daughter who she sat by at school. Her daughter said that she didn’t know any of the girl’s names, but that she sat by three girls. Her daughter went on to describe the girls... One wore clothes that looked like pajamas, one wore clothes that looked like school clothes, and one looked like she was going to a dance.

Well, Hallie was one of the girls that the little girl described. Can you guess which one Hallie was?

Maybe we should tone things down a little.

A couple special dates

2011-10-23T14:23:00.001-07:00

Awhile back Ryan and I decided that our kids were old enough that we wanted to start taking them on individual dates.

I had free tickets to Cars2, so I decided to start with Eli by taking him on a date to see the movie.

July 7, 2011

I went all out and even bought popcorn and a drink.

After the movie he really wanted to get a pizza from Little Caesers for dinner. He didn’t want to take it home, and it was too cold to eat it outside, so we sat in the parking lot in the back of the truck and ate our pizza.

It was so fun spending that one on one time with him. He can be pretty silly.

Well, the summer got crazy and I never had a chance to take Hallie on her date.

We finally did it this week.

I saw that Build a Bear had a really cute owl that would match her room perfectly, and it was on SALE!

So I asked her if she wanted to go get the Owl for our date. Of course she was super excited. She really didn’t care what animal she got, just as long as she could go to Build a Bear.

We then went to lunch at Hot Dog on a Stick.

She was grinning and jittery that whole date.

I love how excited she gets and all the emotion that she shows when she is having a good time.

I loved having my special dates with each of my kids. It is amazing to me how different they are when they get 100% of my attention.

I just love each of their very different personalities.

The (sleeping) adventures of Evie

2011-10-20T13:47:00.001-07:00

Little Evie has been to many places and parties in her short little life. Unfortunately for her, she has slept through most of them.

Great Grandma and Grandpa Teeples’ 60th Anniversary pool party.

June 4, 2011

Luke and Crew’s Pirate Party

June 5, 2011

Hot dog roast and smore’s with Uncle Brian and Cole

June 10, 2011

Lehi Parade

June 25, 2011

Hallie’s Birthday dinner at Pizza Pie Café

July 11, 2011

Pineview Resevoir

July 18, 2011

Huntsville Park

July 21,2011

Rigby Lake

July 23, 2011

First plane ride

August 5, 2011

Waikiki

August 9, 2011

First trolley ride

August 9, 2011

Snorkeling at Sharks Cove

August 12,2011

Bear Lake (just woke up)

August 18, 2011

Minnetonka Cave

August 17, 2001

Tibblefork with Palfreyman’s

September 3, 2011

Her blessing day

September 4, 2011

This sleeping beauty pretty much slept through the first 3 and a half months of her life!

Can’t keep up..

2011-09-20T13:50:00.001-07:00

I don’t know if it is having three kids, or summer, or selling our house, or just life, or the combination of all…but I just can’t keep my head above water.

I feel like for the last 3 and a half months my house is a mess, my kids are a mess, and I am a mess. I feel like I am constantly busy and moving, but nothing gets done.

I’m starting to feel so overwhelmed. Maybe three kids really does break you.

Every week, I think, if I can just get through this week of craziness, I can settle down and focus on tackling the things I let go that week, and then another crazy weeks presents itself and I just get farther behind. Whether it is sickness, a vacation, trying to get the house ready for show for an unexpected showing, school starting, babysitting, parties, and just life, there is always something.

Not to mention, I am just tired ALL THE TIME! Getting up at 7:00 to get Eli to school is killing me.

I obviously, wouldn’t trade all this craziness (aka, my kids) for anything, but I would love to be able to just feel like I have a handle on things again.

Maybe someday. Maybe someday.

Noteworthy

2011-09-08T08:45:00.001-07:00

A few noteworthy things happened in our home the last few days…

Two lost teeth, which equals two dollars for this stud muffin.

We realized again, what wonderful family we have as they supported us in giving a name and a blessing to this little sweetie.

First day of preschool for this little social butterfly. She was on cloud nine ALL day!

We officially listed our house. So a load of stress and lots of decisions for these two crazies!

So if you know of anyone interested in living in a great neighborhood in Lehi, send them our way.

http://lehihomeforsale.ryanteeples.com/

A real Date

2011-07-03T20:39:00.001-07:00

I love live music by this guy:

I love my Country:

I love this hot guy:

I love fireworks:

And I love good babysitters:

So of course I LOVED my date last night at the Stadium of Fire, which combined all of them!!

Thanks, Ry for the date! It was a wonderful surprise!!

Freeze!!

2011-06-29T11:54:00.001-07:00

Oh, how I wish I could freeze time!!!

My kids are just the perfect ages, and I wish I could stop time and just really enjoy it.

Eli is still my little guy. I feel like once he starts 1st grade he will no longer be my little boy. He will be gone all day and I won’t be able to spend as much time with him and have my little helper around. He will probably get a bigger attitude, and bring home more negative behaviors that the world shows him. He will be so big.

So I want to freeze time so school doesn’t start and he can stay my little boy.

Hallie will start preschool in the fall. She can hardly wait. She will be gone 3 days a week, two hours a day. I am pretty sure that once she walks in the door to school she will realize how big the social world is. She will never want to come home and be my little girl anymore.

So I want to freeze time, so she won’t realize all the friends she is missing, and I can still be her best friend.

Little Evie is growing so fast. Before I know it she will be rolling, crawling, wiggling all over the place and exploring her world.

So I want to freeze time so she will stay my little peanut and snuggle me all day.

Time goes too fast. I wish I could freeze time so that I could enjoy their sweet innocence just a little longer.

I just don’t want my dirty house to stay frozen too.

Evie Tia

2011-06-06T15:20:00.001-07:00

Our little Evie is here!!

She was a healthy 7 ponds 11 ounces and 19 inches long!

She is so precious and VERY VERY loved!!!

Especially by her big brother. He cannot get enough of her!

We love having her sweet personality in our home!

Mother’s Day Tea

2011-06-06T15:18:00.001-07:00

May 14-

My mom loves to have little tea parties with the grand kids. But for Mother’s Day she decided she would invite all the mom’s to have a tea party too.

It was so cute. We dressed up and ate little sandwiches, scones, and chocolate covered strawberries, and drank lemonade from tea cups.

Eli told me it was his favorite tea party has ever had.

Shirts to Dye for

2011-06-05T11:25:00.001-07:00

May 13-

Ryan’s cousin, Cheri and I decided it would be fun to make tie-dye shirts with our kids.

Wow!! Talk about a messy project. There was dye everywhere, despite my best efforts to control the situation.

The kids had fun and the shirts turned out pretty cute.

It was a nice warm day, so we turned the sprinkler on under the trampoline and let the kids get all wet.

Sunflower seeds and Full House

2011-06-05T10:58:00.001-07:00

My kid’s have discovered two of the finer things in life.

Sunflower seeds and “Full House”.

Ryan eats sunflower seeds a lot, and in the last week the kids have learned how to crack and eat them. They love them and want to eat them all the time. I have vacuumed up more sunflower seed shells than I care to admit.

Eating their seeds on the way home from St. George

While we were on our trip in St. George there was nothing on t.v. for the kids to watch except Full House. They thought it was hilarious, and now ask to watch it all the time.

Enjoying the classic “Full House”

Best. Mother’s Day. Ever!!!

2011-06-05T10:35:00.001-07:00

May 7-9

(If you have a daughter that loves Tangled as much as my daughter, you know that there is a part where Repunzel runs around and says, “This is the BEST. DAY. EVER!!” Well, Hallie runs around and says this all the time. So, I think of that as I think of my Best. Mother’s Day. EVER!!”).

Ryan decided that a good Mother’s Day present would be to take me and the kid’s to St. George. I know to some the fact that the kid’s came couldn’t have made it that great, but honestly I love traveling with my kids. It is relaxing to go on trips without them, but it is always FUN to go with them because I love watching how much fun THEY have.

We headed down early Saturday morning. We arrived and immediately hit the pool. I was able to sit by the pool and read my book, watching while Ryan and the kids played. The pool was actually pretty cold, so I didn’t get in.

The whole weekend consisted of pool time, relaxing, reading, eating, and shopping. It was a fun little getaway.

And of course, some little Geo caching. Our trips are just not complete anymore without a treasure hunt or two.

Eli was so excited to give me the presents he made me at school.

They were cute and quite entertaining.

One of the papers he gave he had written one reason he loves me. It said, “Because you take me to grandma’s.”

When I later said to him, “Soo, the only thing you like about me is that I take you to Grandma’s?”

He replied, “Well, I was in a hurry and I couldn’t think of anything else.” OUCH!

It doesn’t matter

2011-06-05T10:30:00.001-07:00

May 6-

Tonight Hallie came out of her room to go to the bathroom after being asleep for a couple hours. Ryan and I were on the couch watching t.v. She went to the bathroom and then started running back to her room, acting totally oblivious to us.

As she was running down the hall I yelled out, “Good Night!”

She then stopped, turned around, ran to me, and gave me a big hug and kiss. I said, “aww, thank you. Good night, love you.”

She walked right past Ryan and started running down the hall. Ryan looked at me and raised his arms and mouthed, “what about me?” I yelled down the hall, “What about dad?”

Hallie stops for a second, then says, “It doesn’t matter!,” as she continues on down the hall to her room.

Absolutely hilarious!!!

Ryan and I laughed so hard we were crying. (Well, he said that’s why he was crying. I think it hurt his feelings, and that’s why he was really crying).

I am the favorite!!!

I do sometimes wonder with her. She usually seems to be such a Daddy’s Girl- not tonight!!

Glasses for Eli?

2011-06-05T10:24:00.001-07:00

May 2-

Eli was sick again today. High fever, headache, and stomach ache. He was even too sick to go to school. (And missed school on Tuesday too).

He has been been having headaches off and on for the last couple months.

I got him into the dr. today to see if there was something noticeably wrong. The doctor told me to keep a diary for a few weeks and then come back and we would see if we could figure out the cause.

As we were walking out I asked if the headaches could be caused by bad vision. He says, “It’s possible. An eye exam is part of the follow up appointment, but if you want we can check his eyes now.”

I said, “Yes. Let’s do it now.”

They checked and sure enough his right eye wasn’t seeing so well. The doctor recommended we see an eye doctor.

I wasn’t terribly surprised. I have bad eyes, and got glasses when I was ten. My dad has bad eyes and Ryan’s dad has bad eyes. But I was really hoping that Eli would dodge the bad eye bullet, or at least dodge it until he was a little older.

It’s true. I admit it. I was quite sad. I didn’t want Eli to have glasses at such a young age. But I had to remind myself there are much worse things that could happen.

Update:

I took Eli to the eye dr. Eli’s vision is not perfect, but the dr did not feel that they were bad enough for glasses. The dr said that if it was his child he would hold off on the glasses for a number of reasons. All of which I agreed with. Eli does have a slight astigmatism.

In the end, we decided not to get him glasses yet, and to keep a diary of his headaches to see if there is something else causing them. But if we can’t fix them any other way, then we will try the glasses.

I was relieved.

Does Eli have his mother’ nerves?

2011-05-23T20:38:00.001-07:00

May 1-

Today Eli gave his first talk in Primary. He was so excited and reminded me all week. (He may or may not have done that because a few weeks ago Hallie was supposed to give the talk, and I totally forgot. So she didn’t give hers).

Ryan helped him and he did Awesome!! I was so proud of him (Eli, not Ryan). He read his talk perfectly and spoke loud and clear. He didn’t seem nervous at all.

When he got done, he walked over to me. I was smiling all excited to tell him how good he did, when he looked at me with a look of concern and said, “I don’t feel very good.” I then noticed he looked super pale. I knew he was going to throw up.

I rushed him out of the room and grabbed the closest garbage can as we ran to the bathroom. Sure enough, as soon as we hit the bathroom he threw up.

He had mentioned earlier that morning that he had a little headache, but he didn’t act sick, so I thought he was fine.

I am still not sure if the throwing up was caused more by nerves than actually being sick. Because even though, he was sick for a couple more days he never threw up again.

He came home and rested until we had to go to my parent’s house for our Easter egg hunt and birthday celebration for my brother.

Egg hunt:

He was fine for all the festivities. Until it was about time to leave, then he started to complain he was sick again with a headache.

Our Easter 2011

2011-05-18T22:27:00.001-07:00

April 24-

Easter Egg hunt and baskets left by the Easter Bunny before church.

Lesson on the true meaning of Easter.

Church

After church we dyed eggs.

(I always think Ryan has more fun than the kids).

Ryan’s parent’s were in Idaho visiting his sister for Easter, and my family was going to celebrate next week, so we decided to have Ryan’s other siblings, grandparents, and cousin over for dinner, an egg hunt, and fun.

Cousin Bentley

Cousin Sammy

Cousin Roxy

Cousin Roxy brought her bunny she got for Easter. The kids loved it!

At the end of the night, Ryan’s parents stopped in on their way back home.

1st hunt of the season

2011-05-18T22:24:00.001-07:00

April 23-

We had our annual Neighborhood Easter Egg hunt. It was a little chilly, but not as bad as last year.

The Easter bunny even showed up.

Another reason I love our neighborhood.

The kids had so much fun!

After the hunt we went to Eli’s soccer game. They lost again, but the boys seem to have fun.

Easter crafts

2011-05-18T22:19:00.001-07:00

April 21-

Ryan was out of town again this weekend, so the kids and I made some fun little Easter crafts (and I painted the kitchen, again) to keep ourselves busy.

Painted the kitchen for the THIRD time!! Still not the exact color I had in mind, but decided it was good enough. I am not painting it again!

April 22-

I saw some cute string baskets online and thought they would be fun to make.

The kids had fun making them, but kept saying, “This is messy.” And they were right. It was extremely messy.

I don’t know what I did wrong, but of course they didn’t turn out very well, and looked nothing like the ones online.

But the kid’s liked them and had fun.

After the baskets we made Rice Krispie eggs. Again another messy activity, but they thought it was so fun. We stuffed colored Rice Krispie mixture into plastic egss and then took them out.

They turned out ok, but again not as good as they looked online.

The Farm and Chuck E. Cheeses

2011-05-18T22:16:00.001-07:00

April 18-

I was able to go on a fieldtrip with Eli to The Farm at Thanksgiving point.

It was not very fun!

It was cold, rainey, and windy. But most the kids seemed too enjoy it.

I love being able to be with Eli and love that he loves having me be with him.

After the field trip we headed to Chuck E. Cheeses to play with the Mangone cousins.

Oakley, Mia, Luke, & Eli

Hallie

Crew & Mia

Eli & Cole

Spring Break 2011

2011-05-18T21:28:00.001-07:00

April 11-15

This year was the first year since being a mom that I felt I needed to celebrate Spring Break. Before this year I usually never even knew when Spring Break was. But this year since Eli was in school I felt I had to do something.

Ryan was going to be out of town for the whole week, so I thought I would just plan something fun everyday for the kids. You know make it a fun packed week with outings, crafts, treats, and fun!

MONDAY: (We actually spent the first half of the day cleaning. I had to get it out of the way to be able to enjoy the rest of the week). We went to lunch at Chik-Fil-A. When we walked in we actually ran into Ryan’s grandparents. They had just gotten there, and so we all ordered and were able to have lunch together. It was a fun surprise.

After lunch we all headed over to Jack & Jill’s to go bowling. Eli got some bowling tips from Ryan’s grandpa and he bowled quite well.

After bowling we went home and played with Sculpey. The kids made a snake, ladybug, flower, and spider that we turned into magnets.

When we were all done Eli said, “Well, that wasn’t as exciting as I thought it would be.”

TUESDAY: Went to movie day at the Draper Library to watch Tangled.

After the kids went to bed, I painted the kitchen. And the color is NOT what I want. Looks like I get to paint it again.

WEDNESDAY: Went to lunch with Ryan’s grandparents at Arctic Circle. We then went up to his grandparent’s house where they have a couple neighborhood parks. We picked up my nephew Bentley and all went to the park and played for a few hours.

We came home from the park, had pizza for dinner, and built a fort upstairs. We watched Ramona and Beezus and ate treats in the fort, and then slept in it.

Attempt #2 at painting the kitchen. Still NOT the right color!! Argh!!

THURSDAY: We were going to go to Jungle Jim’s, but Eli said that he wasn’t feeling good and was tired. So we snuggled up on the couch and watched shows. Then went to my parent’s house and played with them. Picked Ryan up from the airport.

FRIDAY: Since Ryan was home he decided he wanted to take the kids to Pirate Island.

At the end of the week someone asked Eli if he had a good Spring Break, and if he did anything fun.

His reply?

“Ummm…Not really.”

I was shocked. Looks like next year we are going to sit around and do nothing!!

Eli’s got Talent

2011-05-18T21:17:00.001-07:00

April 1-

Eli’s class had a talent show.

Eli really wanted to participate, but I was torn.

I didn’t know what he could do for his talent. When I think of talent I think of piano playing, karate, sports, etc. And he doesn’t really do any of those.

Then my mom suggested he show a little hedgehog that he painted and entered in the fair last year,and that he had won some big ribbons on.

We thought that was a good idea.

He did such a great job, showing off his mad painting skilz and talent.

Eli is such a good kid and I hope he continues to develop and improve on lots of talents.

Gnomeo and Juliet

2011-05-18T21:06:00.001-07:00

March 31-

Ryan was out of town, so the kids and I decided to hit the movies.

I am cheap and so we hit the cheap theater, and the only kid show that was playing was “Gnomeo and Juliet.”

Let’s just say, I am glad I only spent a few bucks. Not the best show.

Even the kid’s weren’t that into it.

Oh well. It was a fun outing. Until…

After the show I let the kids pick where to eat. They chose Arby’s They love that place. Pretty sure they would eat there everyday if they could.

While we were there, I don’t know what happened, but they started pulling major attitude and acting like animals. I was so mad, and got really upset with them.

Afterward, I was talking to Ryan and asked him, “If I do something fun with the kids, but then immediately after I yell at them and get mad, are they going to remember the good memories or the mean yelling mom memories?”

I don’t know. But I sure hope they remember the good ones.

The Jimmer show

2011-04-05T20:58:00.001-07:00

Ryan and I had planned to go down to Las Vegas with some friends in March when BYU was playing down in the tournament.

We were soo looking forward to it, but the couple we were supposed to go with kids got really sick and so they decided to cancel the trip.

Ryan and I debated whether we should go by ourselves or cancel our trip too. We talked to our friends and they convinced us to cancel the trip to Vegas, and instead we would all go to Denver and watch the Cougars play there.

We made our last minute arrangements and headed off to Denver on Thursday, March17, and returned on Sunday, March 20 . Ryan and I drove and our friends flew.

We met up with them later at the game. It was so fun!! I am so glad that we decided to go.

BYU’s first game they didn’t play great, but they won!

Their second game was awesome! It was so fun to be in the arena and feel the excitement of the fans!! It was an exciting atmosphere, especially watching the Jimmer Show in person.

It was a fun, busy weekend that didn’t disappoint!

Unfortunately, it wasn’t so fun for my mom and our kids. Both kids were sick the whole time we were gone. Eli even chose the moment I was talking on my phone to my mom to throw up!!

Eli later called me later crying, begging for us to come home. I can’t remember the last time he missed us and wanted us to come home from a trip. He must have really been sick. Luckily, my mom is a trooper and survived the weekend!

Snowboarding class=success

2011-03-08T12:00:00.001-08:00

Ryan and I have always said that we want to give our kids opportunities to try lots of different things. We want them to be able to expand on their talents and to discover the things that interest them. And also help them to be a little more rounded as they grow older.

Ryan found a place that would give a one time snowboarding/skiing lesson for a good deal, and decided that Eli would be old enough to try one of them. He showed Eli some videos on Youtube and asked him if he would rather try snowboarding or skiing.

He chose snowboarding.

I have to admit I was a little apprehensive. Eli is a lot like me-he gets nervous in new situations, doesn’t have the best coordination, and he isn’t a big fan of the cold. I was afraid that it would take him a long time to figure it out, he would be freezing, and then get frustrated and want to quit.

I was soo WRONG!

Eli loved it!! He didn’t want to stop. And asked if he could go again tomorrow.

Ryan went with him and said that he did awesome. He actually picked it up really quick, and was one of the best in his little group. And it was even snowing the whole time they were there.

I am glad he enjoyed it and that he had fun. Maybe he will become our little snowboarding bum.

Rigby, Idaho

2011-03-07T19:32:00.001-08:00

March 3-5

This weekend Ryan had to go to Rexburg, Idaho for work. His sister Randi and her family live close to that in Rigby, so we decided to make a little road trip of it and go visit them.

Randi and Tony were so nice and made us feel so welcome.

The kids love playing with their cousins all day and to have sleepovers.

Randi and I played beauty shop while the guys were at work. She was so kind and spent her day helping me not look so frumpy. She colored, cut and styled my hair, and did my makeup. She totally beautified me.

We also went to the movie Tangled and then to Sammy’s for shakes. Three out of the 5 kids were zonked out by the time we got home from the movie.

(at the movie)

(at Sammy’s)

Eli and I always share chocolate… while Ryan and Hallie always share fruity.

(Carson got a brain freeze. He was quite dramatic about it. I thought it was hilarious!)

It was a fun relaxing weekend and we are so grateful they let us come play for a couple days.

Princess Tea

2011-03-06T20:41:00.001-08:00

Feb. 26

Hallie was able to attend a fun little birthday party for her cute friend, Maddie. It was a Tea party, and they were to wear their best princess dress.

Hallie and I had so much fun getting ready for her Princess Tea Party. We put bling strings in her hair, glitter, curled her hair, painted her nails, and even added a little make up. She loved getting all dressed up, and I had fun dressing her up.

She sure was a pretty little princess!

She then came home and played with her own tea set.

Crazy weather

2011-03-05T22:26:00.001-08:00

In just a few short days we went from playing in this:

(Feb. 25)

to playing this:

(March 2)

My Two Valentines

2011-02-15T10:07:00.001-08:00

Ryan was out of town for Valentine’s this year, and so I was able to celebrate all day with the two cutest little Valentines ever:

We spent the day delivering Valentines, getting heart shaped doughnuts from Krispy Kreme, relaxing, eating pizza and finishing off the night eating popcorn, snuggling and watching a movie.

Probably not the most romantic Valentine’s Day, but a great one nonetheless!

…just get a kitten

2011-02-09T10:53:00.001-08:00

I don’t want me kids to grow up.

And I tell them this all the time.

I always say things like, “Will you stop growing up?” Or “How come you are getting bigger? I told you to stop growing.”

Eli’s response is always, “I can’t. Jesus made me to grow.”

Well the other day, Hallie and I were having a conversation about her growing up:

HALLIE: Mom, I can’t wait to get big. I am getting big all the time.

ME: Yes. You are getting big. It makes mom sad how big you are getting.

HALLIE: Why? I like getting bigger. On my birthday I will be FOUR!!

ME: Yep! You will be four. You are growing too fast. I want you to stay my little girl forever.

HALLIE: I can’t! Then I can’t get big and be a mommy.

ME: When you get big and become a mommy and Eli gets big and becomes a daddy, what am I supposed to do? I will be all alone with no kids to take care of.

HALLIE: (without skipping a beat and with a big smile), You can just get a kitten!!

Apparently, she thinks that her and Eli are easily replaced with kittens.

I just want to keep them this cute and innocent forever. But since I can’t, I guess I will just get a kitten.

Super Girl!!!

2011-02-03T10:30:00.001-08:00

Hallie was invited to a “Super Hero Training” birthday party, where she was supposed to dress up like a Super Hero.

I just happen to have bought her a Super Girl costume after Halloween this year for her dress up box.

It was perfect!

She loved the party (Thanks Lisa), and she looked so cute I had to take some pics.

Fighting the bad guys!!

(Kind of looked more like dance moves than fighting moves).

Trying to fly

Winter Palooza 2011

2011-01-31T20:45:00.001-08:00

Jan. 22-

The Utah Kid’s Club puts on an event called The Winter Palooza. We went last year and it was so much fun. When I saw they were doing it again this year we decided to go again.

It seriously is the best deal. It is $5 a person and entertained my kids for hours. We got there at 10:30 and left after 2:00. We would have stayed longer, but had to be home by 2:30.

They had bounce houses, slides, climbing walls, activities for the kids, characters roaming around,magic shows, animal shows, and a lot of the booths were handing out free candy. My kids had so much fun, and loved all the free goodies.

Getting her nails painted

Riding in Cinderella’s carriage

I even got me a new cute diaper bag. Can’t wait to use it!

I hope The Kid’s Club does it again next year. We will definitely go back!

Monkey Island

2011-01-29T21:35:00.001-08:00

Jan. 21-

There is a new place in town called Monkey Island.

I had heard it was pretty fun, and pretty cheap. So Ryan’s cousin, Cheri and I decided to check the place out. Let our kid’s run off some of their pent up energy. Let’s just say I wasn’t totally impressed. I honestly thought the price was kind of high for what you got. I thought it was only $5 , but actually on Fridays it’s $8.

The kid’s acted bored after about an hour.

It is a warehouse with bounce houses and slides, but there weren’t very many. Maybe only 4 or 5.

Good thing I got a certificate off City Deals to save me some dough.

After Monkey Island Eli was able to go to a basketball party for his friend Edison. It was in Provo and was 3 hours, so Hallie and I killed time by shopping and eating ice cream and soft pretzels for dinner. A real girl’s night.

I am worse than I thought

2011-01-28T16:44:00.001-08:00

Today it was confirmed!

I am a terrible housekeeper.

In Eli’s class at school they can earn yellow slips or blue slips. You get a yellow slip if you are good and a blue slip if you are bad. He then brings the slip home and a parent has to sign it and bring it back.

Eli loves to play school and pass out blue or yellow slips.

Today he was down in his art room playing for awhile. He then comes up and hands me a paper.

It was blue.

I said, “I earned a blue slip? How come?” He says, “Just read it!” I read it and it says: Didint do a good gob kleening the hous. (translation: Didn’t do a good job cleaning the house).

He then told me I had to give it to Ryan and have him sign it, and then return it back to him. I guess he wanted Ryan to also know that I can’t clean the house.

So there you have it. My 6 year old doesn’t think I do a very good job cleaning my house. Guess I will hire a maid, because I don’t want anymore blue slips.

Or maybe I should just make him clean it. Lets see how good of a job he can do!

It’s a…..

2011-01-27T20:29:00.001-08:00

Baby!!

We had our ultra sound on January 13, and NO we did not find out what the sex was. I know that bugs some, but for me it makes it all the more exciting. And believe me, I don’t need an extra 5 months to shop.

Eli really wanted us to find out what it was. Right after we told him we were having a baby he asked me when we can find out if it is a boy or a girl. I told him, “when it is born”. He said, "But I thought you said they have a thing at the Dr.’s where you can look in your belly and they tell you if its a boy or girl.”
I had to tell him, “Yes, they have those, but we choose not to find out”. He was bummed.

All week leading up to the ultrasound he would say things like, “Mom, I REALLY want to know what our baby is.” Or “Mom, if we knew what our baby was we could buy it some cute clothes.” (he knows how I work).

I have to admit, his persistence ALMOST made me change my mind, but I held strong!

It was so fun seeing our little baby. We took the kids with us; Eli loved it and was so intrigued. Hallie got bored pretty quickly.

It was a little different than my other two ultrasounds. With the other two as soon as they started the ultrasound, we would see the baby and it would be moving all over the place. I expected that this time, but it wasn’t so. In fact, at first I worried something was wrong. This baby didn’t move hardly at all. Maybe that is a sign that I will have a calm, snuggly child. Haha.

I love going to the ultra sound and having that extra assurance that it is growing and developing well.

They did a 3-D shot, and as soon as they showed that Eli said, “It’s a boy!” We said, “what? How do you know?” He said, “Because it totally looks like one.” Who knows? Maybe he’s right. He knew Hallie was a girl, so maybe he is right with this one too. We shall see…

More cousin Pictures

2011-01-26T21:39:00.001-08:00

Ryan’s mom gave all the grandgirls pink and black dresses for Christmas. She said she did it because she wanted to get a picture with all of them.

Ryan’s sister-in-law, Bethany, decided since we were all together and Ryan’s aunt Sharon who is a photographer was in town for the holidays, we would secretly get pictures with all the grandkids and give them to Ryan’s mom for her birthday. (Her birthday is in January).

We quickly threw everything together. We made bows for the girls and ties for the boys, and had our little photo shoot. The pictures turned out perfect.

My little Monkeys

The Boys

The Girls

The whole clan

When we gave them to Ryan’s mom for her birthday she loved them! And I don’t blame her. She has some pretty cute grandkids!!

Thanks Sharon and Muffy for helping us make a special gift for Timi.

This is one good kid

2011-01-25T20:59:00.001-08:00

Today it snowed.

First thing Eli did when he came home from school was ask if he could shovel the driveway. I said sure. I was certain he would last about 10 minutes.

I was wrong!

He shoveled the WHOLE driveway. Our driveway is really big. After the driveway, he did the porch and steps. He was out there for almost two hours.

I would go check on him and he would be trying to get every small piece of snow. I would say, “Eli, it’s ok. You don’t have to get every little bit.” He would reply, “But, mom, I want to do a good job.”

He makes me proud!

He is such a good kid, and a hard worker.

He is always willing to help me around the house and is a good little worker.

He will make a great husband someday.

Why do they have beds??

2011-01-24T12:30:00.001-08:00

Sometimes I wonder why I even have beds for my kids. Lately, more often than not, when I go check on my kids at night, this is how I find them…

sleeping on the floor.

And the rare times Eli does decide to sleep on his bed, he chooses to sleep on top of his comforter. He hates making his bed, and so his solution…sleep on top!

Winter Palooza 2011

2011-01-23T15:44:00.000-08:00

Jan. 22-

The Utah Kid’s Club puts on an event called The Winter Palooza. We went last year and it was so much fun. When I saw they were doing it again this year we decided to go again.

It seriously is the best deal. It is $5 a person and entertained my kids for hours. We got there at 10:30 and left after 2:00. We would have stayed longer, but had to be home by 2:30.

Eli on one of the climbing walls

Riding on Cinderella’s carriage

Getting the nails painted

Touching some big lizard

Hallie on the balancing beam. Eli wouldn’t do it. He said it was for girls.

I even got me a new cute diaper bag. Can’t wait to use it!

I hope The Kid’s Club does it again next year. We will definitely go back!

New Years

2011-01-23T14:53:00.001-08:00

I guess I wasn’t totally caught up on 2010. I forgot New Year’s Eve.

We were invited by my aunt and uncle, who live in Boise, to come hang out with them over the New Year’s weekend.

We picked up my cousin Dani and her cute little girl and headed up Thursday afternoon. The roads were clear most the way, but we did hit a little area that was a complete white out. But we made it.

It was a fun weekend of a little shopping, Dispicable Me watching, some Kinect playing, and just doing nothing. It was fun.

Hallie and Little E watching shows

Eli doing what he loves-drawing, coloring, creating

Playing the Kinect

Michelle was a natural

Sandra and Danielle

Kelsi-so serious.

Eli and Kevin getting down

Hallie practicing her moves

Ryan is lucky that I can’t get the video to work of him and his dance skills. Lets just say I think he may be a worse dancer than me, and I am a BAD dancer. And not bad as in awesome, but bad is in horrible. Maybe I will keep trying to load the video. For all of your viewing pleasure. The Kinect definitely provided us with lots of laughs!

Kevin was such a sport, and took the kids and the dog, for a walk in the freezing cold.

Thanks Sandra and Kevin for the fun!

Whew!!!

2011-01-09T22:01:00.001-08:00

I finally did it! I caught up on my blog for 2010! Nothing to exciting, but I am glad it is done for my own records.

Now time to move on to 2011!

Christmas 2010

2011-01-09T21:57:00.001-08:00

Santa gifts:

All the presents under the tree before they were torn into:

Unwrapping at our house:

Unwrapping at Grandma and Grandpa Teeples’:

Unwrapping at grandma and grandpa Mangone’s:

Eli Giving Great Grandma Stevens the picture he made for her

Luke waiting patiently for his turn

Highlights of my Christmas 2010:

*Eli so excited that Santa DID bring him presents even though he was on the “Bad list”. (When he said this to me I could tell he was truly worried that Santa wouldn’t bring him gifts.)

*The excitement on the kids faces when we told them we were having a baby. Hallie jumped up and down.

*Hallie losing the excitement of opening gifts about 2/3 of the way through. When she opened the one gift she really wanted (a pony for her dolls to ride), she hardly said a word.
*Telling our families we were expecting.

*Eli’s favorite toy: art kit.

*Hallie’s favoritte toy: her babies.

*Eli so excited about sprinkling his reindeer food.

*Eli’s plate of goodies he left for Santa.

*Hallie not wanting to wake up on Christmas morning.

Christmas Eve festivities

2011-01-09T21:53:00.001-08:00

Annual family Christmas Eve party at Shawn and Denell’s:

Ate yummy food.

White Elephant exchange:

I think everyone was envious of Justin’s white elephant gift. A big stuffed Santa and Reindeer.

Acting out the Nativity:

Lots of playing with cousins:

Justin giving the girl’s piggy-back rides

And of course, lots of Santa tracking on the computer. The kids get so excited to see where Santa is.

One time after looking at the computer, Eli came running in and told us that we needed to hurry and get home because Santa was going to be at our house in 2 hours! Ryan said jokingly,”yeah, we better hurry because it takes us an hour just to get home!” The look on Eli’s face was priceless. It was a mix of excitement and worry. And then he told us we needed to leave right then.

On the way home Eli was trying so hard to fall asleep. He then remembered that he hadn’t sprinkled the Reindeer food on the lawn that his teacher had given him. He asked Ryan if he would do it, because he thought that he would be asleep by the time we got home. It was so funny how he was so worried about everything.

When we got home, Eli was still awake and so he was able to sprinkle the food himself.

After putting out the reindeer food, he came in to make a plate of goodies for Santa. He said that he wanted to give him more than cookies.

This was the spread he left for Santa:

apples, carrots, cookies, granola bar, candy cane, two gumballs, some milk, and some Pomegranet 7up, a toothpick, a napkin, and some chapstick. He said that Santa could share some of it with the reindeer. He left the chapstick, because he thought that his lips might get chapped from flying in his sleigh so much. What a funny kid, and so thoughtful.

This year was extra fun for me to see Eli get so excited about all the magical things that Christmas brings. He was so giddy. But when it was time for bed, he crashed!

Gingerbread Tree

2011-01-09T21:50:00.001-08:00

Dec.23-

We were a little late this year decorating our Gingerbread house. The kids were so excited to decorate the Gingerbread house. I think Hallie was just more excited to eat endless amounts of candy and lick frosting.

As Eli was taking the premade Gingerbread pieces out of the box, he dropped it and the pieces broke into even more pieces. I was determined to fix it and started “gluing” them together with the frosting. After “gluing” about 3 pieces together I gave up. It was hard.

The kids were disappointed. Then I remembered that last year after Christmas I bought a gingerbread tree kit. We pulled it out and they went to town decorating that. Not quite as exciting as a house, but to them it was still fun.

Sleeping under the tree

2011-01-09T21:49:00.001-08:00

Dec. 22-

This year we decided to do something we had never done before..

Sleep under, or by the Christmas tree. The kids loved it and I had fun too.

We turned off all the lights in the house, and only had the tree lights on. We read Christmas stories, talked, and then fell asleep.

I think we may have started a new tradition.

Christmas Program

2011-01-09T21:48:00.001-08:00

Dec. 16-

Eli had his first Christmas program.

I was a little bummed because he was in the back, and so you couldn’t see him very well. But I was also quite proud, because the few times I could see him he was singing his little heart out. Eli is usually so shy when it comes to performing, but he smiled and sang so good.

He was a little slow on putting up his cookie prop in the song “Six Pink Peppermints.” I think he was more concerned about making sure we were all watching him.

Ryan was able to take some time off work to come and my parents both came all the way down for it. Eli was so excited to have his grandparents there.

Princess Hallie

2011-01-09T21:46:00.001-08:00

Dec. 7- Hallie had her first friend party, and of course it was a princess party.

Hallie had so much fun getting all princessed up. She had to have lip gloss, eye shadow, and glitter. She looked so cute and couldn’t wait to go.

30

2011-01-09T21:45:00.001-08:00

This birthday was a tough one for me. I don’t know why, but I have always dreaded turning 30. 30 just seemed so old.

So I wasn’t too excited for my birthday this year. Ryan knew I wasn’t excited, so he made sure to plan something a little extra special this year.

I woke up and got breakfast in bed: Life cereal and blueberry muffins. I am not a huge fan of hot breakfast foods for breakfast, but I LOVE cold cereal so this was perfect.

Then the kids gave me presents and cards that Ryan had them make for me. They were cute.

When Ryan left for work he handed me an envelope and told me I had to wait until he was gone to open it. In a nutshell, it told me to be ready at 6:30 dressed nice and to pack an overnight bag complete with a swimsuit.

After Ryan left he texted me and said “look outside. I had nothing to do with it.” I went to the window and there was a big sign in the front that said, “Lessley turns 30 today. Happy Birthday!”

Come 6:30, Ryan came home and we were ready to go. First we dropped the kids off at his parents house to sleep for the night and then we headed downtown. We went for dinner, then checked into a hotel in downtown Salt Lake. He gave me more gifts and then we headed down to the hot tub. Unfortunately the hot tub was more of a warm tub, but it was still fun to sit and relax.

The next morning we got up and went to breakfast and then Ryan had to go to work. So I did a little shopping by myself until I had to go pick up the kids.

It was a fun getaway, and kinda made me forget that I was getting old.

Two days later Ryan told me that he was going to take me to dinner again. He told me that he had to go to his soccer game first, but then he would come home and we would go. He called me about 20 minutes before we were supposed to go and said that he was running late, and asked if I would take the kids to his sister’s house who would be babysitting, and that by the time I got home he should be ready to go. This was the final clue of the day that I was pretty sure he was planning a surprise party. All day he had been weird about the house being clean and not letting the kids bring anything out of their rooms, and he did the dishes. So I knew something was up, but I decided to humor him. As I was driving the kids to his sister’s house I noticed a suspicious car parked next to an empty lot. I decided to drive by and see if I knew who it was, I couldn’t see their faces very well, because it was dark. I just kept driving. I turned the corner to go out of our neighborhood and I saw three cars parked on the side of the road, as I drove by I looked, and there were my friends. I smiled and waved.

When I got back from dropping off the kids, sure enough Ryan had some friends over for a surprise party. Hey, at least he tried. Unfortunately for Ryan I am super nosy and snoopy and so it is hard for him to do much behind my back.

It was a fun party and I appreciate all he did.

And so far 30 hasn’t been too bad.

BYU at ESA

2011-01-09T21:42:00.001-08:00

Dec. 4-

BYU was playing at The Energy Solutions Arena, so Ryan thought it would be fun to take the kids.

We rode tracks and met some friends there.

We even spent way too much on over priced cotton candy. But Hallie and I love it, so it was worth it.

BYU won by like 20 or something.

After the game we went to dinner at Chili’s with our friends.

It was a fun day. I love that Ryan likes to take the kids and I on fun little adventures.

Christmas kick-off Party

2011-01-09T21:41:00.001-08:00

Dec. 3-

This year I had a hard time getting in the Christmas spirit. I didn’t want to decorate, but the kids kept bugging me. I finally decided for me to get in the mood we needed to have a Christmas Kick off Party.

We started off the night having the kids favorite dinner-Chicken Broccoli Alfredo.

After dinner we got out all the decorations and the kids went to town decorating the tree, and digging through all the decorations.

The kids put on their new pajamas, watched a Christmas movie and had hot chocolate complete with snowman marshmallows.

And it worked…it helped give me some Christmas spirit. Now I can’t wait for the rest of the fun activities for the rest of the month.

P.S. Eli lost his second tooth today. The bottom front right. There was already a new one growing in behind it, so I am glad it popped out finally.

Star of the week!

2011-01-09T21:38:00.001-08:00

Nov. 29-

Eli was Star of the Week at school. He had to make a poster to take to school and show his class.

At school he talked about his poster and his classmates asked him questions. It was so funny.

Eli talked about his poster in super fast speed. He didn’t hardly take a breath. I couldn’t tell if he did that because he was nervous or just excited.

Explanation of pictures, starting in upper left corner going clockwise :
Likes playing with his cousins, loves to draw, likes to play soccer, golf, and tennis, baby picture, lost his forst tooth, Is a good big brother, broke his foot this summer, loves to go get bubblegum ice cream at the ice ream shoppe, picture of the family, loves to go to the beach, loves swimming, loves going camping with his dad, had fun snorkeling, listens to music almost every night.

Annual Bancroft Thanksgiving

2011-01-09T21:36:00.001-08:00

One of my favorite weekends of the year!

Smashing Sponge Bob

I am thankful for this beautiful girl

And this handsome boy!

Zonked out after a funf illed day!

Pictures with cousins

2011-01-09T21:34:00.001-08:00

Nov. 26-

Every year my mom buys all the grandkids matching outfits, and then gets pictures.

The boys

The Girls and their matching coats

And these two kids are my favorites!

Once there was a snowman…

2011-01-09T21:22:00.001-08:00

Nov.14-

…And an awesome uncle Marc!

We were at Ryan’s parent’s house and it started to snow. The kids were so excited and wanted to build a snowman. We told them no. It was late, and cold, and they didn’t have any snow gear.

Ryan’s brother, Marc and his friend, stepped up and said they would take them out and help them build one. My kids were so excited.

Out they went, and built a cute little snowman.

My kids have such a cool uncle. They talked about it all the next day.

And the party isn’t over yet…

2011-01-09T21:21:00.001-08:00

Nov. 13-

This year I was not in the mood to do a friend birthday for Eli. but I figured it was his birthday, and I still wanted him to have fun. So I decided to give him some options: a small party at our house with a couple friends, or a party at Chuck E. Cheeses with all his cousins. He chose cousins! I was so relieved. Although I knew it would cost a little more, I knew the stress would be way less, because there would be parents there to watch their own kids.

It was a success. And he was able to be there with ALL his cousins, even the ones that live in Montana and Idaho. Eli was elated!

He got tons of presents. A couple of his favorites were his two Zhu zhu pets and some Legos. He also received a bouncy ball making kit, hoodie, water bottle, yo-yo, and some cash.

We played, ate pizza, ate cupcakes, and sang Happy Birthday.

I thought it was a great party and very easy for me.

Nov. 14-

The next day Ryan’s mom had another little party to celebrate him and Ryan’s grandma Teeples’ birthday. He is one spoiled kid.

Six Years-WOW!

2011-01-09T21:17:00.001-08:00

Nov. 11-

Eli turned 6!!

6!! I can’t believe it! He is such a sweetheart and he had a pretty good birthday I think.

He woke up to balloons in his room and his favorite cereal on the counter. Lucky Charms. Next to his cereal was also his first present of the day. Silly Bands. Apparently those are really cool right now. Weird the things that become popular.

Today just happened to be the second Thursday of the month, which is the day I volunteer in Eli’s class. He thought it was so cool that i was going to be in his class on his birthday. (Dreading the day he realizes having mom at school isn’t cool.) They sang to him, gave him his birthday crown, and asked him questions, then he got to pass out his birthday treat to his class. (fruit roll ups. His choice).

After school I picked him up to take him to lunch. He chose Arby’s. We also called Ryan’s grandparent’s to see if they wanted to meet us there, since they love Arby’s and Ryan’s grandma’s birthday was in a couple days. Well, word got out in Ryan’s family that we were going and so more people joined us! It ended up being a real party. Even Ryan surprised Eli, and snuck away from work to come.

All together there were 11 of us. Ryan’s grandparents, Hallie, Ryan, me, Ryan’s mom, his sisters Randi and Tiffany, her baby Sammy, Sister-in-law Bethany and little Roxann.

The people at Arby’s were so nice. When they found out it was Eli’s birthday they brought out little turnovers for everyone! Eli thought that was pretty cool. Free dessert.

After Arby’s we went home and played until Ryan got home from work. Eli wanted to go to Trafalga, so we went there. When we got there they were doing some remodeling, so we decided to go to Thanksgiving Point and get Ice cream instead.

We came home opened more presents-Toy Story 3, Operation, and some Legos. We watched Toy Story 3, then went to dinner. Eli’s choice..Olive Garden!! Kind of funny, but he loves that place.

Next stop-Home to bed.

Eli is such a great kid. He still loves to learn, and loves going to school everyday. When we were in Florida he missed a week of school and was so bummed. I told him next time we will leave him home so he can go to school.

He loves riding the bus, and gets sad when we miss it so I have to drive him.

He has lost one tooth. He grows and grows everyday.

He is getting way to big for me to carry and bring into my bed at night.

He has a sweet heart, but can also get frustrated easily, and his little temper can come out. (Luckily his temper is real little). He plays soccer and wants to start karate.

He loves his little sister and usually plays so nice with her.

He LOVES anything to do with art, drawing, or creating. He wants to play school everyday. He colors, draws, cuts, tapes, staples all day long. His playroom is always a mess with his trimmings and art work.

He has become a good little reader. He can now count way past 30 and can also count by tens to 100.

He can tie his shoes.

He is also into Legos.

He is not into video games(like every other kid his age), making his bed, sleeping past 7:30, naps, or shopping.

He still can drive me crazy like no other. He has learned to say, “that’s not fair!”, he can be very argumentative, isn’t always aware of others personal space, and doesn’t always think that he has to obey the rules.

But oh, how I love this kid! Even with his quirkiness he is still such a sweet boy, and can make me smile everyday!!

October overview

2011-01-09T21:09:00.001-08:00

Oct. 16- UEA weekend we took a quick trip to St. George. The agenda: swim, swim, swim.

Mission accomplished!

And this is a perfect depiction of our kid’s personalities…

Eli zonked out after a long day.

Hallie still wide awake late at night after a long day.

Oct. 22- Gardner Village

We went to Gardner Village for Witches Night Out!

Hallie, me , my mom, my sister-in-law, and my niece and nephew, got all dressed up and headed to Gardner Village for Witches Night Out. Hallie loved it!

Hallie’s favorite part was DANCING. Every time the music came on she would beg to go over by the dancing area. Then she would dance, dance, dance. She loves to sing and dance.

This is her favorite dance move.

Oct. 29-

Eli had his costume parade at school. He was the cutest little Scooby there.

That night we went to my parent’s house where we had a little family Halloween party. It was super fun and I am glad my sister-in-law put it together. Two of my brothers were there, my cousin Dani and her family, my cousin Michelle, and even my grandma came.

I wish I would have got a picture of everyone, but i was kinda lazy with the camera.

My sister-in-law Denell put together a cute little scavenger hunt for the kids.

Hunting…

hunting…

Found it!!! The treasure!

They played some Halloween BINGO.

And we had a doughnut eating contest. Super funny watching the little kids. The big boys were pretty entertaining too.

Hopefully we can do it again next year!

Oct. 30-

During the day we took the kids to a trunk-or-treat at a nearby dealership. We went last year and they got lots of candy and coupons, so we decided to try it again this year.

It wasn’t quite as good, but still pretty good. The kids liked the candy, and I liked all the free kids meal certificates they got from the restaurant vendors that were there.

Hallie wore this cute ladybug costume for the trunk-or-treat

That night Ryan took the kids out Trick-or-Treating around the neighborhood. It was raining and cold, and so I was glad it was Ryan’s year to take them, while I stayed in and passed out candy. There weren’t a whole lot of trick-or-treaters this year.

The gang right before heading out into the cold. Isn’t Hallie the cutest little Daphne ever?

Ryan and the kids didn’t stay out too long, because of the cold. Eli wanted to keep going, but Hallie was not enjoying it.

After they got back from freezing, and getting a little candy we headed over to some neighbors who were having a little party. The kids bobbed for apples, painted pumpkins, and played together. The adults chatted and ate yummy chili.

Then we headed up to Ryan’s parent’s house to visit his family. All in all a good little Halloween.

Shaggy and Scooby-best friends forever.

P.S. We also went to the Pumpkin Patch again this year, and I did take pictures. But apparently they magically erased themselves from my camera. They are gone. Vanished! Really weird actually.

MY Happiest Place on Earth

2011-01-09T21:02:00.001-08:00

Sept. 11-18

I don’t need Mickey ears, wild rides, over priced food, and silly characters.

Give me sun, beaches, sand, pools, and my little family and I have my happy place.

I LOLOLOLOVE Florida!! It is my favorite place to vacation. Since the first time I went there when I was 16 I loved it. Every time I go I have so much fun! Every trip is always better than the last. Whenever Ryan decides it’s time to go on a family vacay, and asks me where we should go my immediate response….Florida.

So when we were planning our trip this year I of course voted for, and convinced the kids to vote for Florida. And Ryan being the pleaser that he is started planning. He always plans such fun vacations.

This year we decided to fly into Panama City and stay three days at Fort Walton beach, then headed back down to Panama City Beach where we spent the remainder of our trip!

About a week before we left I started stressing that maybe this vacation would be a disaster. I kept telling Ryan, I am so afraid that this will be the trip that will ruin Florida for me. Because EVERY trip can’t be the best! He of course rolled his eyes at me. But I really did worry. I mean seriously, I have been there 8 times and every time we have gone it has been the perfect trip and they kept getting better. So eventually there has to be a bad one, and I was afraid this would be it.

So, when we landed and we had picked up two out of our three bags, and then the luggage carousel stopped, and we were still one bag short, I thought..Here we go, the beginning of our terrible trip. Starting with the bag that had ALL of the kids clothes in it, LOST!

Ryan talked to the airline staff. They informed us that it would probably be found by tomorrow and they would deliver it to our hotel.

I was so worried because we had been promising the kids for days that we would go to the beach and swimming the first morning we were there. I knew we wouldn’t have their bag by then that had their swimsuits in. I knew they would be crushed. When I mentioned this to Ryan he says, “So we go to Target in the morning and buy them new suits.” WHAT?? I was not about to go buy two new swimsuits at FULL price when they had four in a lost suitcase, two more at home in drawers and three more each in a bin in my basement in next years sizes. I tried to convince Ryan that we would just change plans a little, make tomorrow a shopping day, then we would have swimsuits and go to the beach everyday for the rest of our trip. Ryan didn’t buy it! He is a sucker when it comes to our kids and he wasn’t about to break the promise we have been promising our kids for a week. I tried and tried to convince him, but guess who won? First thing the next morning we were at Target dropping twenty bucks on two swimsuits.(and they weren’t even that cute). It was hard, but I did it. And honestly, it was sooo worth it!

When we got dressed in our full price swimsuits, we headed down to the beach first. As we walked over the little walkway and saw the beautiful white sandy beach, Hallie stops and said, “It snowed last night!” We all busted up. We then explained it was the sand and quickly ran into it.

The kids loved the beach, playing in the sand, and looking for sea shells. We were actually quite disappointed with this beach because they were experiencing really bad kelp in the water. It was not fun to play in because it was slimy and gross and you couldn’t see much. So the kids didn’t play in the water too much at Fort Walton.

After spending time at the beach the kids wanted to go to the pool. So we went! Ryan and I kind of decided that this trip would be mostly for the kids, so they got to tell us what to do. AND they did! We stayed in a hotel on the beach, which I think is the ONLY way to go when going with kids. We literally spent our days going from the pool to the beach to the pool to the beach to the splash pad to the pool to the beach. It was awesome, and the kids loved it! And so did I.

(In their full priced swimsuits. cringe)

We took the kids on their first kayak ride in the ocean. Once we got out into the ocean a little the kelp wasn’t so bad, and we could see into the water. There were jellyfish EVERYWHERE! It kind of creeped me out. I was so afraid our kayak would tip and we would all die by death of jellyfish stings.

Just as we were getting ready to go back to shore we looked out a little past our kayak and we saw a couple dolphins jumping! It was awesome. They were so close. And that is why this is my happiest place on earth!

Fort Walton highlights:

Searching for sea shells

Splash pad at the hotel

Beach and pool hopping

Eating ice cream and pina coladas on the boardwalk

Seeing dolphins everyday

The fish nibbling on your toes

Feeding the alligators

3 different pools at the hotel to swim in:

Night swimming:

I made sure I got my feet in this picture, so that we could have a family photo. :)

We did take a break one day from our pool playing and beach bumming to do a little shopping at some outlets nearby.

In Panama City Beach we also had tons of fun.

We took the kids on a little snorkeling excursion. I think that was my favorite part. Eli was in heaven. He swam all over the place, pointing out fish and other creatures. He spotted a stingray and followed that thing everywhere. He also held every creature that we found, minus the stingray.

After we had been snorkeling for awhile we noticed that there were only two other people still in the water. Everyone else on the excursion were done and were sitting in the boat. Ryan and I looked at eachother and wondered if they had told us to come in and we just hadn’t heard them. Come to find out they hadn’t-everyone else were just done so they went to rest on the boat. LAME!!

When they did finally tell us to come in Eli said, “Mom, can we have just 5 more minutes?” I thought that was cute. I had to explain to him that we had to follow the rules, and our time was up.

To finish off the excursion they took us to a little inlet where dolphins are. We saw tons of dolphins. They were jumping all around the boat. Of course, I couldn’t get one good photo. They also caught a jelly fish which they let people touch. They were the non-stinging kind, who knew? I thought all jelly fish stung.

Other highlights of Panama City Beach:

Watching the little white crabs burrow in the sand

Pina coladas by the pool

The kids found a lizard in the pool and played with it for awhile. Then while it was sunbathing on the pool deck it was stepped on and squished.

Boogie boarding- Hallie did it once and didn’t want to do it again. We tried and tried to convince her with all kinds of bribes, but she would not do it, not even for a treat. Finally, I remembered that the night before when we were at Target (I know shocking), she saw a backpack that she really wanted. She had begged and begged for the bag, but I didn’t buy it. So I told her that if she boogie boarded again we would go buy the bag. That was the ticket. She agreed and boogie boarded a few more times. As soon as she was done, she said, “let’s go get the backpack.”

Eli on the other hand was a champ. He loved boogie boarding and did it over and over again. He’s a pretty good boarder.

Our plane home didn’t leave until around 1:00, and so we kind of took our time getting to the airport. We went to breakfast and then decided to head toward the airport, a little earlier than we normally would have, but decided we had nothing else to do, good thing.

Ryan typed the name of the airport into his gps and we headed to the airport, or at least we thought we were headed that way. As we got closer we thought it was really weird that they didn’t have any big signs pointing to the airport. When we arrived at the GPS’s destination of the airport. There was no airport. Just an empty terminal. It was actually quite eerie. There was an airport looking building and runways, but no planes, or cars, or people. Weird!

We finally found some people and they explained that this was the old airport. The new airport just opened a couple months ago. (which is why it wasn’t in our gps). They started to explain to us how to get to the new airport. They kept explaining and explaining. Finally, I asked, “How long does it take to get there?” They looked at each other and then at us and say, “oh…45 to 50 minutes.” WHAT??? Our plane was leaving in about 55 minutes. They looked at us and said, “good luck!”

We sped out of there and booked it to the airport. On the way Ryan says, “You aren’t going to like this, but you need to be prepared to plan on flying home by yourself. I may not make the plane.” He had to go return the rental car. I figured that was fine, our kids are good travelers so I wasn’t too worried. And I knew it would be easier for just him to be able to find a plane home, than it would be for all 4 of us.

We pulled up to the curb, and start looking for the Sky Cap. We had about 15 minutes before our plane would leave and had 4 bags to check, two carseats, and 4 carry-ons. The easiest and fastest way to get all that checked would be with a Sky Cap. We looked and looked and guess what? This airport doesn’t have a Sky Cap! AWESOME!! I started running through my head the many bags we had and I did not know how I was going to carry it all by myself. I get out and Ryan just starts piling on the bags.

Luckily the kids carry -ons were rolling backpacks (that we had just purchased as their boogie boarding rewards), so I had Eli pulling his bag and our small rolling suitcase. Hallie had her rolling suitcase and Eli’s small booster seat. I pulled our two big suitcases, my carryon backpack on my back, Hallie’s carseat slung over one shoulder and Ryan’s newly purchased golf bag(without the clubs) over my other shoulder. And we start running to the check out gate. I kept urging the kids to run faster. People were looking at us and laughing(but no one offered to help). I wished I would have taken a picture because I am sure we were a sight to see.

I finally make it to the check out desk, and I tell them, “ I don’t know if we will make our flight”, and I give her our information. She looks up our flight and says, “Yeah, it’s not looking good.” So what does she do?? Takes her sweet freaking time checking us in. I was dying.

We finally get cleared there and we run as fast as we can to the security gate. We are running and I make a quick right to the security line and Eli tries to make a quick stop and totally falls and slides across the floor. Hilarious!! Everyone in the airport was laughing at us.

Again, I talk to the security guy, he just saw us booking it across the airport, sees Eli falls, and I tell him I am afraid we may not make it, and what does he do? Takes his freaking time looking at our tickets too! He starts asking the kids questions and what not. I am thinking; seriously??!! I have a plane to catch!!

We book it through security and run to our gate. We get there just as they are boarding the C passengers. They told us to check in at the gate before we boarded. So I get there and she looks at our tickets and then looks at her computer and says. “Eli, Lessley, Hallie…who’s Ryan?” I explained that he was my husband, but we were running late and he was returning the car, and that he might not make the flight.” She looks at me all sympathetically, and says, “oh, I hope he does, honey.” I just shrugged. At this point things weren’t looking to promising.

The kids and I boarded the plane, of course we were all the way in the back. Third row from the last. I noticed the seat across the aisle wasn’t filled so I stuck my bag on it to save it just in case Ryan made it.

The flight crew went through and were closing up the over head bins, and checking seatbelts and making sure bags were under seats, and everyone was seated on the plane. I was sure Ryan had missed it. Then a stewardess comes by and asks the lady next to my bag if that was her bag. I say, “Oh. That’s mine. I was saving for my husband, he had to return our rental car, and I wasn’t sure if he would catch the plane in time, but I guess he didn’t.” And I grabbed my bag. The stewardess says, “I am so sorry.” All the people around us start whispering, “oh no. Her husband missed the plane.” It was actually kind of funny. Then just as I look up the stewardess says, “Is that your husband?” I look and sure enough Ryan is walking down the aisle. I said, “yep!” And everyone starts clapping!!! It was hilarious! Seriously, a scene from a movie!

It was a relief that he made it. I was especially happy after we landed in Texas, and found out that our 1 hour layover turned into an almost 3 hour layover. And we didn’t arrive home until almost midnight. I was exhausted, Ryan was exhausted, and the kids were out!! And ornery! I carried Hallie, her bag, and my bag, while Ryan carried Eli, Eli’s bag, and his own bag. If I would have been alone, there would be no way I could have got all of us, and our carry-on’s , and our luggage out of the airport.

Ryan took the kids out to the truck where his dad was waiting while I took the luggage out. It was a LONG day!

But it truly was my FAVORITE vacation ever! We were able to relax, and also had so much fun with the kids. They were old enough that we were able to play with them instead of just take care of them. We didn’t have to change diapers, make bottles, worry about strollers or diaper bags. It was awesome!!

I love the beach, I love, the sun, I love my family, and I love Florida.

A week of yuck!

2011-01-08T20:48:00.001-08:00

Nov.16–23-

This week has been one of the worst for our family in a long time. This is what my kids looked like most the time:

Starting Tuesday morning about 4:00 a.m. Eli came in my room and told me he didn’t feel very good. I knew that there was a virus going around that consisted of a high fever. So I felt his head and sure enough he was on fire. I gave him some Tylenol and went and laid with him in his room. As soon as we laid down Hallie came in and told me she didn’t feel well. I felt her head and sure enough she was warm too. I gave her some Tylenol and we all laid down together.

Wednesday: still fever. Hallie’s would go down and come back, but Eli’s never went down very far. I started to get nervous that something was wrong.

Thursday: still lethargic and high fevers. And now they are both congested too, and getting super whiny and grumpy and ornery. Hallie also started complaining of a sore throat, and each had a cough. (Luckily, we never had vomit). I called the Dr. The nurse told me to bring them in because strep is going around.

I drag both kids to the Dr. As soon as the Dr. walks in he says, “They don’t have strep.” I said, “How do you know?” He said, “If they are congested they don’t have strep.” Nice. I wish the nurse would have told me that. I told her they were congested. He said, “I am sure they have this virus that is going around. It consists of congestion, sometimes a cough, and high fevers.” Seriously?? That is exactly what I thought it was. Now I just wasted $30 bucks because his nurse was a moron. I told him I was worried because Eli’s fever wasn’t going down. He said, “oh, yeah. That is one of the symptoms of this virus.” Ugh. He informed us that they would continue to be sick for the next two to three days. Sure enough they were. Eli missed 4 days of school. All because of a fever.

Friday: I woke up feeling terrible! I had started feeling sick the day before, but was really sick Friday. It was miserable.

Saturday: sick!

Sunday:sick!

Monday: sick!

Tuesday: feeling better

Wednesday: Finally felt good!

I cannot remember the last time I was sick for that long. I don’t get sick very often and when I do I am never sick for much longer than a day. It sucked. I don’t know how people live being sick all the time. And I wasn’t puking or anything, just headache, cough, and so weak!

I am glad we are all better now and hopefully we paid our sickness dues for the year.

One down…

2010-11-23T20:00:00.001-08:00

Sept. 3-

Eli is truly growing up.

He lost his first tooth.

About a week ago he was trying to open a plastic package with his teeth. He bit it weird and yanked the tooth loose. He continued to wiggle and play with it. Finally, Ryan just pulled it out one morning.

The first two nights he forgot to put it under his pillow for the Tooth Fairy. I told him he better not forget again, becasue the tooth fairy only gives you 5 days. If after 5 days of losing your tooth you don’t put it under your pillow then she doesn’t come.

The third night he put it under his pillow, but the Tooth Fairy forgot to come. Eli was pretty bummed when he woke up and his tooth was still there. I told him it was a holiday (Labor Day), so she probably took the day off. He was cool with that. But then he said, “Mom, I really hope she comes tonite.” I said, “why?” He said, “because I only have 5 days and tomorrow is day 5.” He always takes everything so seriously and literally.

The tooth fairy did come that night, and left a dollar. He was happy.

But my little guy truly is growing up. sniff. sniff.

Sleepover, candy, cousins,mountains, and fun

2010-11-23T19:42:00.001-08:00

Aug. 30-

My nieces and nephew were able to spend the night with us one night while their parents were out of town.

We decided to make it extra fun.

We started out by going to the Sweet’s Factory up in Salt Lake where we were able to take a tour. All the kid’s had to wear little hats while on the tour. Throughout the tour we got to sample some of the candy.

When we were all done I let them all buy their own box of Taffy. It was a neat little tour.

After the tour we came back to the house and the kids watched a movie and played “theater” with their taffy.

When Ryan got home from work we headed up the canyon. It was kind of chilly, but the kids insisted that they wanted to roast hot dogs and marshmallows.

They were even able to find a little mouse that they would feed. The mouse would come get food and then run back into the bushes, and then come back and get more. The kids thought that was so funny.

The Farm again

2010-11-23T19:17:00.001-08:00

Aug. 27-

Since we have a membership to Thanksgiving Point we tend to go there often. The kids love to feed the animals adn ride the Ponies or go on the Hay ride.

This time we were able to go with Ryan’s cousin, Cheri, and her kids.

Cheri’s kids are so cute, and they are so wild, and fun to be around.

Park time with cousins

2010-11-23T19:01:00.001-08:00

Aug. 25-

We were able to spend some time up in Kaysville at a park playing, eating lunch, and sweating, sweating, sweating with all the cousins on my side of the family.

It was soo hot that we didn’t stay long and play. We decided to hit the McDonald’s were we could get ice cream and play in a nice air conditioned place.

Of course, right before we leave Hallie did decide she needed to leave her mark…she peed in the play place. Disgusting!! Thanks Hallie for totally humiliating your mother!

It is always so fun to be able to play with ALL the cousins.

Tying shoes-conquered!

2010-11-23T18:46:00.001-08:00

Aug 18- Eli learned to tie his own shoes.

He asked Ryan to teach him how, and within 30 minutes Eli was a pro. He is such a smart kid, and catches on to some things so easily. I was super proud of him.

Goodbye boot, hello freedom!

2010-11-07T21:54:00.001-08:00

The boot came off, a whole 10 days after being put on. (Aug. 18)

I am thankful it was only 10 days because any more and me and Eli may have possibly gone crazy. Foot restrictions in the summer are killer! I am also thankful it was only a boot, and not a real cast. That really may have sent us over the edge. Being a boot it was removable and made some situations a little more bearable, which leads me to be thankful that it did actually heal. I may or may not have taken the boot off a few times to let him do things that he wouldn’t have been able to do with his boot. (Swim lessons, the end of the water fight, swimming at grandma’s pool,etc.) Again, I do not claim to ever win the “Mom of the Year” award.

We are happy to say goodbye to the boot.

Water Fight!!

2010-11-07T21:28:00.001-08:00

On Aug. 14, I was watching my nieces, Lexi and Oakley and nephew, Crew all day. We had lots of fun, but the highlight was the big water fight. The kids found some water balloons and asked if I would fill them up. They were just going to throw them at each other, but then I told them they should all gang up on Ryan. Of course, they all thought that was the best idea ever!

We filled a bucket full of balloons and they got their ammo ready. I then went inside and told Ryan to come outside with us for a minute. When he walked out, they ambushed him, or at least attempted. I don’t think one balloon hit him, but it got the party started.

These next few pictures are my favorite..If you notice in the first picture Eli has the hose and is trying to get Ryan…

Notice Ryan, he is pointing behind them, they both turn to see what he is pointing at….

He comes in behind them and steals the hose while they are distracted…

Those suckers!

These two spent most the time just hoarding their balloons.

So Fun!!!

A County Fair champ-Aug. 11

2010-11-07T20:20:00.001-08:00

My mom owns a ceramic shop, and she is always encouraging the grandkids to paint things, and to do their best, so that she can enter their work in to the county and state fairs.

This year Eli picked to paint a little hedgehog, and my mom put it in the fair.

He did awesome on his painting and his hard work paid off.

He won a 1st place blue ribbon, a high blue ribbon, and a big Sweepstakes ribbon. I don’t know exactly what all those mean, but from what I understand his was the best piece entered in his age and category.

He was so excited when we explained that he got three ribbons.

Eli loves to paint, color, draw, or do any type of art project, and he likes to spend a lot of time and add lots of color.

I was so proud of him and his accomplishment. But I especially loved seeing his reserved look of excitement on his face. (He never really shows much emotion).

Good Job Eli! You have lots of talents, and we are proud of you!

Spontaneous camping trip

2010-11-07T19:56:00.001-08:00

On Aug. 6, we decided to take the kids on a little camping trip. The kids love camping, and so we try to go a few times a summer.

We started driving up Provo canyon up around Squaw Peak looking for a little camping spot. We ended up driving for about an hour, but we did find a small little camp spot.

It was a little overcast I was afraid it would rain, so we quickly set up our tent, just in case we needed to take cover quickly.

It had rained the day before so all the wood up the canyon was pretty wet, so it took us a little while to make a fire. Ryan did get it going and we were able to roast hot dogs and mallows.

Hallie loves sugar and sweets, and we learned she has a pretty big mouth to hold all her sweets. She was able to fit 3 large marshmallows in her mouth. It was funny and unbelievable. She cracks me up!

After dinner and marshmallows we climbed in our tent and told “scary” stories and talked. I have to admit that that is one of my favorite parts of camping. The time that our little family lays in our sleeping bags, snuggled up, out in the quiet of the mountains and the dark, talking and telling stories. Those kids come up with the funniest things.

Riding in style

2010-11-04T21:33:00.001-07:00

On Aug. 4, 2010 my brother, Shawn and his Wife, Denell celebrated their 10th wedding Anniversary. My brother rented a limo and they went to dinner downtown.

They asked if I would watch their kids for them while they went out. I said sure. But I said I would watch them up at my parents house in Salt Lake because I was already going to be up in Salt Lake, plus I had to pick Ryan up from the airport that night, and my brother was going to dinner downtown so it all just seemed to make sense.

After my brother and his wife had been gone for a couple hours, and about 30 minutes before I had to pick up Ryan, my brother called and said that they were done for the night and so they would be to my parent’s house shortly to pick up his kids.

He then asked me when I had to pick up Ryan. I told him in about 30 minutes. He said, “Do you want to pick him up in our limo?”

We all thought that would be so funny, so we loaded up his family, me, my kids, and my parents and we headed to the airport in the limo.

The kids thought they were high society! Drinking water out of wine glasses and being able to walk around in the car.

Although, our plan didn’t go exactly as we planned (the limo driver went down the drop off lane instead of the pick up lane, so we couldn’t roll up next to Ryan and surprise him. Instead I had to call him and walk to where he was and walk him back to the limo. A little anti climatic) it was still fun and Ryan was surprised.

It was something a little out of the ordinary and fun for everyone!

The foot saga continues-Aug. 4

2010-11-04T21:21:00.001-07:00

Remember Eli’s injured foot??

Well, unfortunately things didn’t go as planned..

The week we were in Idaho he was limping on it, but didn’t say it hurt that bad, so we decided to wait until we got home to get it checked.

We got home Friday night and went to a neighborhood party where he was running around and hardly limping at all. I thought we were in the clear.

Saturday and Sunday hardly saw him limp and he said it felt fine. The swelling was basically gone.

Monday no limping and he told me it didn’t hurt. Yay! No Dr. visit. Or at least I thought.

Tuesday as he was helping me by standing on some paper for me he started to complain that his foot hurt again. I thought he was just trying to get out of standing around helping me, because as soon as I let him go he jumped on his bike and rode around on it and his scooter for a good hour without once complaining about his foot. I brushed it off.

Wednesday as we were on our way to Herriman Lake he starts complaining that his foot hurt. I was so confused does it hut, doesn’t it? Is it broken, or isn’t it? Is it healed or isn’t it? Do I spend the money and take him to the Insta care or save myself the money and the time and wait it out? These are the times as a mom I wish I just had a crystal ball to tell me EXACTLY what to do.

I decided we would go to the Lake and if he complained I would swing by the Insta Care that is near there and have him checked.

He complained!

To the Insta Care we went.

I check us in and they call us back. The floor at the insta care has darker tiles on the floor randomly placed. As we walk back to the room Eli is jumping from dark tile to dark tile. I am thinking to myself. This is a waste of $35. The kid is jumping around, there is no way his foot is broke. And I think the nurse was thinking the same thing. She would look at him and look at me, and give me a look like, “you just wasted your money. The kid is fine”.

We go back to the room, and talk to the Doctor. He asks me, “When did he injure his foot?” I sheepishly reply, “um…ten days ago.” He says, “Ten days??” Um..yeah. I know steller mom, huh?. I didn’t want to waste my $35.

He says, “Well, there is no major swelling and he doesn’t flinch when I touch him, it’s been ten days, and he doesn’t limp when he walks. I don’t think it is broken.” He says this all like I am dumb, and that he is thinking why did you wait so long and why the heck are you here? He then says, “You really want me to x-ray it?”

Uhh.. yeah that is why I am here, genious!

They take him to be x-rayed, and what does he do when they are finished. He JUMPS of the table and lands right on his foot without even flinching. The nurse looks at me again and this time she says, “That would have really hurt if his foot was broken.” Now I knew she thought I was a crazy mom.

The x-rays come back and both the Doctor and the nurse start laughing and shaking their heads in disbelief!! The doctor says, “His foot has a small break on the side.” And the nurse says, “NO WAY!! He jumped off the table!” I wanted to say, “See I am not so stupid, may be a little slow in getting care, but the x-ray was necessary”.

The doctor showed me the x-ray, and sure enough a little break. But he said it should heal quickly because it was so small. He did say that it needed to be put in a boot. He then looked at me like I was the worst mom and very condonscendingly said, “He probably won’t need it very long since you waited 10 DAYS to bring him in!” Yeah well, you were the dumb doctor that wasn’t even go to xray it. You said yourself that the way he was acting he seemed fine!

As they were putting the boot on Eli started crying. I think he was embarrassed, and kind of scared. But within about 30 minutes he thought it was pretty cool and couldn’t wait to show everyone.

We did have to go to a specialist to make sure it didn’t need a true cast and to see how long he would need to wear the boot.

The results from the specialist…no cast and wear the boot for 10 days. Whew! It could have been so much worse.

This is just another prime example of why I will never earn the “Mom of the year award!”

Swimmers!

2010-11-04T21:18:00.001-07:00

*I know this are really late, but I need it for my records and so I am going to finish up the happenings of our summer. The next few posts will be way old.

My kids are not real brave. Just stating the facts!

They love to go to the pool, but they always have to have their floaties or noodle to float with. They don’t usually jump in the pool and if they do someone has to be right there to catch them. Eli just started putting his face under water last summer.

I finally decided this year that I needed to toughen them up in the water and give myself some piece of mind, and them some confidence in the water, so I put them in swimming lessons.

I heard about this great lady named Pam Young who did private lessons. I looked into it, and decided it would be a good fit for my kids.

I am so glad I did it. I could not believe the difference in their water skills in such a short time. Eli was swimming across the pool and jumping in without any fear or plugging his nose.

Hallie was also jumping in and swimming short distances. Not to mention she looked absolutely adorable in her goggles and swim cap. Loved it!

Every lesson I just sat and grinned, I was so proud of my little swimmers.

Eli now swims like crazy. He can swim longer distances and when he gets tired he knows to flip over to his back and float. I no longer feel like I have to watch him CONSTANTLY or be in the pool right next to him every second he is in the pool.

Hallie still needs some help. But she can swim when she wants to, and she also knows how to flip on her back and float if she needs to.

I am glad I signed them up, and have been impressed with the confidence and skills they have learned.

A little quiz

2010-10-05T15:17:00.001-07:00

What do these people have in common?

They have all told me at some point that I am a terrible singer, in one way or another.

First it was JIll and Megan. Back in college we were best friends and college roommates. One day I am in the front room of our apartment listening to music and singing along. They come around the corner and say, “Please don’t sing anymore.”

The sad thing is I agreed with them. I know they were just protecting me from making a fool of my self, right girls? You said it because you loved me? :)

Next is Ryan…Well he has heard me sing, or try to sing, many times. He just says, “Lessley, some people can sing and some just can’t. It’s ok”.

Again, he also tells me this because he loves me, right?

When Eli first let me know he thought I was a terrible singer he couldn’t even talk. When he was an infant and he was fussy, I would try to sing to him to calm him down. He would fuss more.

If he wasn’t fussy and I was just rocking him and singing to him, because I thought I was being a good mom, he would get fussy.

As he got a little older if I tried to sing to him he would put his hand up by my mouth. Yeah, that is a sure sign that he thinks my singing is terrible.

It wasn’t until he was about 3 that he would let me sing to him.

And my latest little critic, Hallie, has also informed me that I should not sing.

The other day I was doing her hair and singing a little tune. Hallie said, “Mom, how come you sound so bad?”

I said, “What do you mean? How do I sound bad?”

Hallie says, “When you sing.”
Ouch!! I thought it hurt when Eli covered my mouth, but I think that if it she wouldn’t have sounded so cute, that would have hurt me more.

Needless to say, Ryan was laughing his head off!

So there you have it…you will NEVER hear me sing in public, because it has been confirmed: I CAN”T SING!

*But you better believe, when I am in my car alone, I sing at the top of my lungs, and I think I sound AWESOME!

Kindergarten bound

2010-09-02T12:15:00.001-07:00

We interrupt our posts of crazy happenings of the summer, to introduce you to the new, grown up, Kindergarten attending, Eli!

Today was his first day of Kindergarten. Of course, he did fantastic! Me, on the other hand struggled just a little.

Luckily I was able to get most of my tears out over the last couple weeks, so the tears shed today were minimal.

Last week his teacher gave him “ready confetti". It came with a poem telling him to put the confetti under his pillow the night before school. The confetti with help stop the jitters if he gets nervous, and help be able to sleep good, so he will be well rested for the first day of school.

Eli jumped right on this idea. He made sure he put the confetti under his pillow. It obviously worked, he fell asleep quickly and I had a hard time waking him up in the morning.

Today, of course was the first day in weeks that he slept past 7:30. I had to drag him out of bed at 8:10 so that he could be ready to go at 9:00. He kept rolling over and saying he just wanted to sleep.

Once he got up he quickly got ready and couldn’t wait to go. Ryan gave him a blessing and we were off.

When we got to the school, I honestly couldn’t tell if he was nervous or excited or a little of both. He is always so stoned face and never shows much emotion. I do think he was sick of me taking pictures, though.

When the bell rang the kids lined up against the wall. The teacher came out and told all the kids to wave good bye to their parents, and then they walked into thier classroom. Wow! That was weird.Not really how I envisioned it, not that I really know what I envisioned, but I know it wasn’t that. Just watching him walk away. He didn’t even look back. I think he was ready, I cried.

I was anxious the whole 2 hours and 53 minutes he was gone. I thought for sure he would be so excited to see me. Run to me, wrap his arms around me, tell me he missed me and that he loves Kindergarten. Yeah right! He hardly even acknowledged me. When I asked how it was he shrugs his shoulders and says, “fine.” Kind of anti-climatic for me.

As we were walking to the car his friends started saying his name and waving to him from the bus. He then told me he wanted to ride the bus. Ummm…not ready for that.Baby steps, Eli. Baby steps. I was going to let him get used to Kindergarten for a few days before introducing the bus. What to do, what to do?? I wanted him to be with his friends, but I wasn’t ready for the bus yet.

I finally decided now was as good as any, and all his friends were doing it so I quickly put him on, and then quickly started second guessing myself. I never prepared him for the bus. What if he got off at the wrong spot? What if he didn’t know where to sit? What if, what if, what if.. About a million scenarios ran through my head. I sped to the bus stop, just so I could wait, and wait, and wait. The bus didn’t come for 35 minutes! (it was slower than normal because it was the first day). I started to get sick to my stomach. Deep down I knew he was ok, but the fear of something happening to one of my kids and the crazy mind of a first time kindergarten mom got the best of me. Luckily, there were lots of mom’s waiting, and I was able to divert my crazy imagination from thinking up every terrible thing that could happen for a little while.

Of course the bus came, of course he was fine, and of course he gave me no indication whether he liked it or hated it. Oh well. Hopefully tomorrow won’t be so hard…for me!

Boise July25-July 30

2010-08-25T21:59:00.001-07:00

Because I have awesome family, we were able to have enjoyable trip up to Boise and Cascade Idaho. We stayed with my aunt Sandra and uncle Kevin in Boise, and then they took us to stay a few days in a cabin in Cascade.

Monday: We hung out in Boise getting ready to head up to the cabin in Cascade.

Did a little swimming to kill time before the play we were supposed to attend Monday night.

At the pool Eli jumps of the edge, like a flailing dummy, too close to the steps and smacks his foot on the edge of the stair in the pool.

He whines a little and tells me he hurt his foot. I didn’t see his foot hit the step, so I told him to suck it up, and that he would be fine.

We swim another 30 min or so.

In the car heading home. he says, “Look mom. When I hit my foot it pushed out part of my foot.”

Hmm..I look. Sure enough he has a small bulge on the side of his foot. I inform Ryan that I think we may have a problem. Me being the caring mother I am just kept thinking, “Crap! I hope we don’t have to go to the E.R. today. We have to leave in like an hour to make it to the play. And I don’t want to miss it. And we are on vacation!”

In swoops my uncle Kevin to rescue my crazy thoughts (he is a doctor). He looks at it and says, “Uh..I would give it a day or two before going to the Dr. It could just be bruised and swelling.” Sweet! That was all I needed to hear. We gave the kid a little Motrin and we continued with our plans.

We had fun at the outdoor theater. We watched The Scarlet Pimpernell. I thought it wa sgood, the kids got a little restless about 1/2 way through.

The Kartchner’s: Sandra, Kevin, Matt, & Kelsi

Eli continued to limp.

Tuesday & Wednesday: Enjoyed our time at the beautiful cabin. The boys did lots of golfing, the girls did nails, hair,reading, and napping.

WE discovered a new thing that Eli loves. Geo caching. Or as Eli and Hallie call it: treasure hunting. There were four close to, or semi close to the cabin. We were able to find them all. Eli thinks they are pretty cool. One we had to drive to basically the top of the mountain. A little scary. Another we hiked quite a bit looking for it. Eli was a trooper and ~~hiked~~ limped the whole way. No complaints at all.

We also explored a little of Cascade, had ice cream, roasted dogs and mallows, and played games at night.

Wednesday night we headed to some hot pots. They were fun. Kinda pricey, but whatever. We were on vacation making memories right?

Oh yeah, and Eli’s foot. Still a little swolen and kind of tender, but there really wasn’t an E.R. too close to where we were staying and he said it didn’t hurt that bad. So I was sure it wa on the mend, so we continued enjoying our vacation.

Thursday: We cleaned up and headed back to Boise. But before going all the way home we stopped and rafted down a stretch of the river. It was sooo fun! My kids LOVED it and they did so good. It was a few hours and I thought they would get bored, or tired but they didn’t. They had so much fun and were so brave.

Eli rode on the nose of the raft, just holding onto a rope most of the trip. Even through the rapids. Yes, they were class 2 and 3, but still I was impressed.When we were in calm parts of the river and the guide said we could get out of the boat and swim around, Eli was one of the first ones out. Hallie followed right behind. I couldn’t believe it. My kids are usually pretty, whats the word? Oh yeah, WUSSY!! But not on this trip. They were having the time of thier lives, and I loved watching them have so much fun. (I am sad. I have no pictures. I meant to by a waterproof camera and forgot).

I am so glad that my aunt lined up this activity. It was such a fun experience and one I know my kids loved!

And of course, we can’t forget storytime with Uncle Kevin. EVERYTIME my kids are around Kevin always reads to them. The kids love it!!

Friday: We headed home. Eli said his foot was feeling much better and there was hardly a limp. I decided I would give it one more day. If he is still limping on it Saturday I will take him in….

Thanks for the good times Kartchner Family. We always love visiting and love the way you love us like your own!

Herriman Lake

2010-08-24T21:29:00.001-07:00

This year we discovered a new, super fun place…

Herriman Lake!

It is this little man-made lake in Herriman. We have been going with two of my best friends that I have had since high school, MEGAN and Jill. It has been so fun! It is so fun to hang out with them weekly and watch our kids become friends.

We bring a lunch, and sand toys, we throw life jackets on the kids and enjoy some time in the sun, while the kids have fun playing in the sand, water, and with each other.

I still can’t believe the three of us…

Me, Jill, MEG

Are now mom’s to all these precious little kiddies.

24th of July

2010-08-24T20:49:00.001-07:00

We had fun at the 2nd annual neighborhood 24th of July party that our cool neighbors put on.

This year they had a crawfish boil. YUCK! So not my style, but others really enjoyed it! It was neat to have something different than just your typical bbq.

After everyone had their fill of fish, they put on a fantastic firework show.

I love our neighborhood and all the fun things that go on.

Splash Park

2010-08-24T20:41:00.001-07:00

The splash park is always fun, and even more fun when we go with friends.

Will

Eli

Hallie

Brian’s Birthday

2010-08-24T20:36:00.001-07:00

July 18-

Celebrated Brian’s birthday. Although, his birthday isn’t until Aug. 28th, we knew we probably wouldn’t see him around his birthday, so we celebrated it early.

We had chocolate cake with sticky white icing.

The kids had so much fun playing with their cousins. They always love when Cole is around.

They dressed up and were silly.

And I thought this was funny…

As Brain, Brittany, and Cole were getting to leave Cole asked for his blanket. He then took the blanket and would rub it on his ear and on his face. But he can’t just use any part of the blanket, there are special parts of it that can be rubbed on his face. I thought that was so cute.

Cole and me. I love this kid. I wish he lived closer, so we could see him more. He reminds me so much of Eli when he was that age.

We had s’mores and enjoyed some time around the fire in my parent’s backyard.

Wild West fun

2010-08-18T20:17:00.001-07:00

I had so much fun celebrating the birthday’s of Ryan and Hallie this year.

I decided to do a Wild West theme, complete with horse and carriage rides! It turned out fantastic!

Our neighbors, and Hallie’s adoptive grandparents, the Johnson’s, brought their horse and carriage and gave everyone at the party rides around the neighborhood. Hallie loves the Johnson’s and they love her. We love them too!

Hallie LOVED it! She insisted on “driving” the horse every time. She did not want the rides to end.

We ate yummy food that Ryan made. (I know I am mean making him cook on his birthday, but he knows if he wants to eat good food he’s got to do it himself, because I sure can’t do it.)

We ate pulled pork bbq sandwiches, fruit, chips, pretzels, veggies, and rootbeer.

We played games:

Lasso the horse:

Hunt for the candy in the hay!

Burlap bags to hold the loot.

We hung up little “Wanted” posters with all the kid’s pictures on them.

Oat buckets filled with popcorn, pretzels, peanuts, and root beer barrels.

Hallie was spoiled rotten with many gifts. (Ryan did get a few too).

And we finished it off with cupcakes and ice cream.

(her favorite “princess” friend Oakley helped)

Some of the kids got little stamps for prizes. Hallie started stamping all over herself, and then showing all the other little kids how to stamp themselves too. When Hallie was covered in stamps, she lifted up her shirt and started stamping her belly. It was hilarious. They looked like they had little tats all over.

If you look close you can see little yellow stamps on her belly.

Someone gave her a tramp stamp

We are so glad we were able to celebrate Ryan and Hallie with so much family.

The Johnson’s, Chris & Sandra

Shane Johnson. Hallie just loves him. Every time she sees him at church she yells, “Look mom. Shane!”

Thanks again, Sandra, Chris, Shane, and Sadie for sacrificing your Saturday for us!

Camping at Grandma & Grandpa’s

2010-08-18T15:01:00.001-07:00

July 16 was Ryan’s birthday. While we went out my parent’s took the kids overnight. They decided to invite all the other grandkids that could come too and make it a party.

They had pizza, played, and my kid’s favorite; slept out in the backyard in a tent. I hear it was a good time for everyone. :)

Setting up the tent. Of course, Eli is right in the middle “helping out.”

I think it’s funny how in both pictures the little girls look like they are just hanging on Lexi’s every word. I know they look up to her.

I love living so close to my family. My kids get to make great memories with their grandparents and cousins. And I think that is priceless.

Cousin #12

2010-08-18T11:34:00.001-07:00

July 15 Hallie and Eli’s 12th cousin was born, Sammy Rae.

My kids L-O-V-E babies. Both of them do. I think it is soo cute. So they were super excited when I told them Sammy was born. They kept asking me when they could go hold her. Since I also L-O-V-E babies, and couldn’t wait to hold her either, I decided we better make a quick trip to the hospital, and stat.

I told them if they got their rooms cleaned quickly we could stop by the hospital on our way to swim lessons. I threatened them and told them that they had to be Super quiet, sit still, and be VERY good at the hospital if they wanted to hold the baby.

I have never seen my kids clean so fast or be sooo good!! As soon as we got to the hospital and out of the car they both immediately folded their arms and walked so nicely into Tiffany’s room.

Both their eyes lit up as soon as they saw the baby. They both wanted to hold her immediately.

As Eli was snuggling her he looked up at me and said, “Mom, I want one of these.” This is the same kid who told me when Hallie was like 2 weeks old that he wanted another baby. Not a different baby, but another so that he could have two. He is such a sweetheart and would love to have a bunch of siblings.

Hallie just snuggled right up to that little baby and would just look at her and smile. Hallie asked Tiffany why little Sammy’s fingernails and toenails weren’t painted. Can you tell she is a little girlie?

I had to beg and plead with my kids,and pry their little hands off of her to be able to hold her myself. I held her for about 2 minutes when they started begging again to hold her. We were at the hospital about 20 minutes and I literally only got to hold her for about 3. I think my kids are a little baby hungry.