QUICK POLL

So I know that I could throw this on my side bar but I want you all to know that I mean business. I need you're opinions on something. We have our 10 year reunion coming up and our Sr. Class Pres. roped some of us in to helping. So here's the first assignment. In your opinion as far as the reunion goes should we do A) One night, alumni only; B) One night with spouses; C) Two nights, one of each; or D) a full day, morning at the park with whole families and evening with alumni only. At our friends Christmas party we all had opinions of our own and everybody had a legitimate reason for each. So let me know you're opinion, especially those of you who have had your reunions. The reunion is not until next summer so let me know whenever but the sooner the better (because I'm anal and want Swift to make a decision:) THANKS!!!

JUST A LITTLE SOMETHIN'

So lately there have been lots of fun things to write about so I just may be updating a little more frequently. Recently we bought a new laptop and with it came a whole new freedom of blogging/computer-use-all-together. It's been really good times. With it also came the need of a new wireless modem, so I searched good old KSL and then came across my new friend Russ. Let me just tell you this now, this man is a computer genius and he was over today and gave both the laptop and the desktop a good once over. He's affordable, he's honest, and both of my computers are now working much faster than before. So if anyone out there is in need let me know and I'll drop his info. PS He also does house calls and is totally trustworthy.
Anywho on with the lastest, so my next door neighbor got a new camera and photoshop for her birthday so we decided she could practice on my beautiful children for our Christmas cards and maybe a good old fashioned update of the pictures on the wall. Here's a few goodies


The last one is the one we picked for the Christmas card. What I need right now is help with a decision on which picture of Abby to use for our living room wall. I love them both so give me your input. Thanks!
PS Shelby was so not cooperative this day so none of her individuals turned out. However if you will refer to my previous post you will see that a dear friend of mine captured some fantastic shots of her so we'll use one of those for the wall. Thanks again Veronica and Alicia!!!

What happens when you have a professional photographer babysit?

Well let me tell you all a little story. So this Christmas season I've planned very well on what I want to get everybody for Christmas. I had my list all written up and knew exactly what I needed. The key was getting to the store without any "helpers". So this morning I decided to call upon my friend Veronica (as in Veronica Reeve Photography, which you can link to through her name on my Bloggin sistas to the right ;) and ask her to take the two young ones while I go to the store for a couple of hours and smack this thing out. Well two bits of good news to share. One, I am 99% done with Christmas shopping, only needing six more things and I know exactly what and where they are. And two, I came back to Veronica's to find little Shelby's hair curled. I said, "Oh Shelby did you get your hair done?" and Veronica said, "Yeah, sorry, we had a little photo shoot." Might I recommend that if you need a baby sitter, find a photographer who is going through withdrawls of not taking pictures for a while. Here's the outcome
And that is my Christmas joy.

The Spirit of the Season

So I just got an e-mail from my mom and decided it was worthy of my blog. This is just a little reminder of what we should be doing this Christmas season. Before you read further, get out a BOX of kleenex. MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Pa never had such compassion for the lazy or those who squandered their means and then never had enough for the necessities. But for those who were genuinely in need, his heart was as big as all outdoors. It was from him that I learned the greatest joy in life comes from giving, not from receiving.It was Christmas Eve 1881. I was fifteen years old and feeling like the world had caved in on me because there just hadn't been enough money to buy me the rifle that I'd wanted for Christmas. We did the chores early that night for some reason. I just figured Pa wanted a little extra time so we could read in the Bible.After supper was over I took my boots off and stretched out in front of the fireplace and waited for Pa to get down the old Bible. I was still feeling sorry for myself and, to be honest, I wasn't in much of a mood to read Scriptures. But Pa didn't get the Bible, instead he bundled up again and went outside. I couldn't figure it out because we had already done all the chores. I didn't worry about it long though, I was too busy wallowing in self-pity. Soon Pa came back in. It was a cold clear night out and there was ice in his beard. "Come on, Matt," he said. "Bundle up good, it's cold out tonight." I was really upset then. Not only wasn't I getting the rifle for Christmas, now Pa was dragging me out in the cold, and for no earthly reason that I could see. We'd already done all the chores, and I couldn't think of anything else that needed doing, especially not on a night like this But I knew Pa was not very patient at one dragging one's feet when he'd told them to do something, so I got up and put my boots back on and got my cap, coat, and mittens. Ma gave me a mysterious smile as I opened the door to leave the house. Something was up, but I didn't know what.Outside, I became even more dismayed. There in front of the house was the work team, already hitched to the big sled. Whatever it was we were going to do wasn't going to be a short, quick, little job. I could tell. We never hitched up this sled unless we were going to haul a big load.Pa was already up on the seat, reins in hand. I reluctantly climbed up beside him. The cold was already biting at me. I wasn't happy. When I was on, Pa pulled the sled around the house and stopped in front of the woodshed. He got off and I followed. "I think we'll put on the high sideboards," he said. "Here, help me." The high sideboards! It had been a bigger job than I wanted to do with just the low sideboards on, but whatever it was we were going to do would be a lot bigger with the high sideboards on.After we had exchanged the sideboards, Pa went into the woodshed and came out with an armload of wood- --the wood I'd spent all summer hauling down from the mountain, and then all Fall sawing into blocks and splitting.What was he doing? Finally I said something. "Pa," I asked, "what are you doing?" You been by the Widow Jensen's lately?" he asked. The Widow Jensen lived about two miles down the road. Her husband had died a year or so before and left her with three children, the oldest being eight. Sure, I'd been by, but so what? "Yeah," I said, "Why?" "I rode by just today,"Pa said. "Little Jakey was out digging around in the woodpile trying to find a few chips. They're out of wood, Matt."That was all he said and then he turned and went back into the woodshed for another armload of wood. I followed him. We loaded the sled so high that I began to wonder if the horses would be able to pull it.Finally, Pa called a halt to our loading, then we went to the smoke house and Pa took down a big ham and a side of bacon. He handed them to me and told me to put them in the sled and wait.When he returned he was carrying a sack of flour over his right shoulder and a smaller sack of something in his left hand. "What's in the little sack?" I asked. "Shoes. They're out of shoes. Little Jakey just had gunny sacks wrapped around his feet when he was out in the woodpile this morning.I got the children a little candy too. It just wouldn't be Christmas without a little candy."We rode the two miles to Widow Jensen's pretty much in silence. I tried to think through what Pa was doing. We didn't have much by worldly standards. Of course, we did have a big woodpile, though most of what was left now was still in the form of logs that I would have to saw into blocks and split before we could use it. We also had meat and flour, so we could spare that, but I knew we didn't have any money, so why was Pa buying them shoes and candy?Really, why was he doing any of this? Widow Jensen had closer neighbors than us; it shouldn't have been our concern. We came in from the blind side of the Jensen house and unloaded the wood as quietly as possible, then we took the meat and flour and shoes to the door. We knocked. The door opened a crack and a timid voice said, "Who is it?" "Lucas Miles, Ma'am, and my son, Matt. Could we come in for a bit?"Widow Jensen opened the door and let us in. She had a blanket wrapped around her shoulders. The children were wrapped in another and were sitting in front of the fireplace by a very small fire that hardly gave off any heat at all. Widow Jensen fumbled with a match and finally lit the lamp."We brought you a few things, Ma'am," Pa said and set down the sack of flour. I put the meat on the table. Then Pa handed her the sack that had the shoes in it.She opened it hesitantly and took the shoes out one pair at a time.There was a pair for her and one for each of the children--sturdy shoes, the best, shoes that would last. I watched her carefully. She bit her lower lip to keep it from trembling and then tears filled her eyes and started running down her cheeks. She looked up at Pa like she wanted to say something, but it wouldn't come out."We brought a load of wood too, Ma'am," Pa said. He turned to me and said, "Matt, go bring in enough to last awhile. Let's get that fire up to size and heat this place up." I wasn't the same person when I went back out to bring in the wood. I had a big lump in my throat and as much as I hate to admit it, there were tears in my eyes too.In my mind I kept seeing those three kids huddled around the fireplace and their mother standing there with tears running down her cheeks with so much gratitude in her heart that she couldn't speak. My heart swelled within me and a joy that I'd never known before, filled my soul. I had given at Christmas many times before, but never when it had made so much difference. I could see we were literally saving the lives of these people.I soon had the fire blazing and everyone's spirits soared. The kids started giggling when Pa handed them each a piece of candy and Widow Jensen looked on with a smile that probably hadn't crossed her face for a long time. She finally turned to us. "God bless you," she said. "I know the Lord has sent you. The children and I have been praying that he would send one of his angels to spare us.In spite of myself, the lump returned to my throat and the tears welled up in my eyes again. I'd never thought of Pa in those exact terms before, but after Widow Jensen mentioned it I could see that it was probably true.I was sure that a better man than Pa had never walked the earth. I started remembering all the times he had gone out of his way for Ma and me, and many others. The list seemed endless as I thought on it.Pa insisted that everyone try on the shoes before we left. I was amazed when they all fit and I wondered how he had known what sizes to get.Then I guessed that if he was on an errand for the Lord that the Lord would make sure he got the right sizes.Tears were running down Widow Jensen's face again when we stood up to leave. Pa took each of the kids in his big arms and gave them a hug.They clung to him and didn't want us to go. I could see that they missed their Pa, and I was glad that I still had mine.At the door Pa turned to Widow Jensen and said, "The Mrs. wanted me to invite you and the children over for Christmas dinner tomorrow. The turkey will be more than the three of us can eat, and a man can get cantankerous if he has to eat turkey for too many meals. We'll be by to get you about eleven. It'll be nice to have some little ones around again.. Matt, here, hasn't been little for quite a spell." I was the youngest. My two brothers and two sisters had all married and had moved away. Widow Jensen nodded and said, "Thank you, Brother Miles. I don't have to say, "'May the Lord bless you,' I know for certain that He will."Out on the sled I felt a warmth that came from deep within and I didn't even notice the cold. When we had gone a ways, Pa turned to me and said, "Matt, I want you to know something. Your ma and me have been tucking a little money away here and there all year so we could buy that rifle for you, but we didn't have quite enough.Then yesterday a man who owed me a little money from years back cam by to make things square. Your ma and me were real excited, thinking that now we could get you that rifle, and I started into town this morning to do just that. But on the way I saw little Jakey out scratching in the woodpile with his feet wrapped in those gunny sacks and I knew what I had to do.Son, I spent the money for shoes and a little candy for those children. I hope you understand."I understood, and my eyes became wet with tears again. I understood very well, and I was so glad Pa had done it. Now the rifle seemed very low on my list of priorities. Pa had given me a lot more. He had given me the look on Widow Jensen's face and the radiant smiles of her three children. For the rest of my life, Whenever I saw any of the Jensen’s, or split a block of wood, I remembered, and remembering brought back that same joy I felt riding home beside Pa that night. Pa had given me much more than a rifle that night, he had given me the best Christmas of my life.

We've been busy

This could take a while, get comfortable. Well, where should I begin. Most of you have been not very happy with me for my trip to Hawaii, so we'll start there just to poor some salt on the wound:) We got there on Friday the 14th and met up with our friends Russ and Whitney (coincidentally the name of the child I'm baking in my oven) and basically just went back to the hotel, checked in, to the wrong room the first time, that was embarrassing, got some dinner and went to the store since we had a kitchen in the condo. For the record, VIVA milk is seriously $8.89 a gallon on the island, so shopping for food was very interesting. Luckily that had a no name brand on sale for 2/$10. Who would have thought I'd be happy about $5 a gallon for milk. Anywho, we were there for a full week, so I'll just give you the highlights: snorkling (multiple times), Rob body boarding (I lost him in the waves a couple of times, they were huge), eating, a catamaran ride, a luau, eating, shopping, church (always fun in Hawaii), and of course more eating (for those of you who went to Seattle with me, I finally got my King Crab, not what I remembered, and not worth what I paid). We went to Kauai which is the "Garden Island" and we were luckily there for the beginning of rainy season. Wow, it can really rain. That island is the rainiest place in the country receiving 400-600 INCHES of rain a year. Yeah, that's a lot of rain. We did have a couple of sunny days though. The last Friday, the 21st, we flew in early to Honolulu and spent the day just the two of us on that island. Lucky for us we have a GPS so we didn't get too lost. We went to Pearl Harbor for a few hours (INCREDIBLE!!!), went up to the temple (BEAUTIFUL), walked on some rocky beaches, saw some surfers, and ate some more yummy food. We caught the red-eye that night and got home at 7:30 am Saturday morning. Might I suggest if you ever need to leave you kids home, leave them with my mom and mother-in-law, at YOUR house. It will be spotless, including the stove and pantry floor (I don't remember the last time I mopped in there). They were champs. Missy and Tammy took there turn too, each taking a night. Here are couple of pics to highlight.

There's one hot peice of man.

Given I'm prego, I couldn't body board, so I caught up on my magazines and read a book while Rob took a beating. That dog next to me we named Champ. He was at this beach both times we went and Whitney said he is always there we she goes (her dad has a condo on this island so she gets to go every couple of years)

Here is just one picture of the rain on one of the mountains. It really did look pretty cool. I couldn't believe all of the waterfalls that would form after the rain. It was incredible.

Here are the four of us. Rob and Russ are good friends from growing up and Whitney and I are just as loud and obnoxious as they are. They are hilarious. We all love to play and eat so it was a good fit for everyone.

A quick shoutout to Skinner (the rest of you can skip to the next paragraph if you don't care)-I drank a couple of Lava Flows (even though we couldn't charge it to Brenda this time), saw some wild roosters, seriously they were all over the island, did NOT sneak into any closed pools (I would only dare with you) and saw another sea turtle, though this time I did not touch it (I remembered the rule we learned last time). Brought back memories.

Well I'll let that be enough about Hawaii, though I have many more pictures and stories, I'll not bore you with the details. So like I said we got home Saturday morning and the kids were so pumped to see us, and we were to see them. It was so much fun. Shelby couldn't hardly figure out what to do with herself. She just kept running back and forth between us. We just relaxed with the kids most of the day and then had Rob's brother and his wife and kids over for the Utah/BYU game. (GO UTES!!!:) Just before half time their son Camerun came in and told me that Cooper had just jumped off of the playhouse and was crying. I wasn't too worried, considering he does jumps off that all the time, but thought I'd better go lecture him, yet again, about jumping off of stuff. When I got out there I could hear him screaming and, you guessed it, we were of to the ER with another broken leg. If you're wondering it was just April when he broke it the first time. The doctor said that we don't need to worry about bone density tests or anything like that yet seems how both times he broke it were lagitimate traumatic jumps. So here we are with, I think, cast number 5 for the year.

It's "Ute red" by the way. Either that or he'll tell you it's red then say "Go Utes". Yeah, we brain wash our kids.

Well after that we had a pretty normal week. Abby only had school Monday and Tuesday. She had a friend over on Wednesday (who can remember the name of there first best friend in kindergarten, someone who was not in their home ward or living on their street?). This little girl"s name is Ivy and she and Abby are two peas in a pod. They both totally think they are 16. They're hilarious.

On Thursday we went down to SLC to Rob's parents. It was their year this year for Thanksgiving which turned out nicely cause on Friday Rob's little (I use that term loosely) brother came home from his mission. It was so good to see him again. Coop had to go to the bathroom right when Bri was coming down the stairs so he and I didn't get to see him and scream with the rest of the family, but it was still pretty exciting when we got back.

Here is a picture of him with most of the grandkids. There have been 5 new additions since he left, with two still yet to come, bringing the grand total on that side to 19 next April. He's pretty much a hotty so any ladies that want a date give me a call, we are taking applications. Just kidding, we are setting him up with some cute girls though. This one won't last long.

And that's it. Now can you understand why I haven't updated. I haven't hardly been home. But it's been fun. I'll try to do better in the next couple of weeks. By the way did anyone notice this post acutally has pictures on it. Yeah, the new camera works like a champ. Hopefully I'll get the rest of the pics off the old one. Wish me luck.

IT'S A....

Well some of you, not all, but some have been wondering the gender of this wee little one I'm baking in the oven. Rob and I made the trip to Hartman's today to have a visit with his lovely ultrasound tech, and she took a look at things. Before I tell you the result I just want to all to know that the baby is perfectly healthy, measuring just right, and my due date is still April 8. Seriously I wanted to draw this out as much as possible so you would really have to read for a while before you found out because that as what his tech does to me every time. Kind of funny after the fact, but during the ultrasound my heart is just pounding until I find out. Anywho, I really don't have much else to say so I guess I'd better just get right down to it, huh?






IT'S A GIRL!!!
YAY! We are really excited. The pure convenience of it first of all is handy. Like I said she is totally healthy so that is blessing. Abby really wanted another sister, so she's happy. Coop said to me, and I quote "Huh, why?!" Needless to say he has some accepting to do before April. And of course Shelby already knew, so she is just glad we are all in on the secret now. Well that's all for now. Rob and I leave for Hawaii on Friday with some friends so when I get back hopefully I'll have some fun pics for ya now that I got a new camera. Yes, finally, I got a new camera that works again. I'll have some fun pics then.

I have a confession

So I know this time of year drives some of you nuts, specifically Nov. 1 because that is the day that some of the radio stations find it acceptable to start playing Christmas music.Well I'm just here to tell you right now that I completely agree and look forward to Nov 1 starting mid Augustish. I'm sorry but I just love Christmas music and the time of year that hearing it entails. So here is the confession. Every year I vow to Rob to at least wait until Nov. 1 ( he has sooo given up on me waiting until after Thanksgiving, that would just be an empty promise) and I believe I have yet to make it until then. Mind you I just listen to one or two songs ot get my fix and then I usually make it until after Halloween. However this year I think I did a pretty good job...until last week. So last Thursday night we went to good old BHS football game and got home and the kids wanted some hot chocolate. Who am I to argue with their brilliance? So we sat down to a steamin cup and I decided to bust out good old Polar Express soundtrack purely for the song Hot Chocolate and we sang and danced and drank (that sounds like a bad biblical passage). Well anywho after Hot Chocolate I turned the CD off and called it good. Well Saturday morning Rob was at work, the sun wasn't up quite yet, and it totally reminded me a of a cold winter morning. We were all in our snuggly jammies, I was making breakfast, kids were watching cartoons and I couldn't help myself. I pushed play and we listened to the whole soundtrack that morning. Let me give you a hint. If you have any desire to keep secrets from your husband, try not to commit your crime in front of your 3 year old. We had a grand old time listening to the music but then yesterday Coop asked if we could listed to the Polar Express music again. Rob gave me that "you're pathetic" look and asked Coop what music he meant while I was laughing guiltily. Coop spilled the beans. Love that little guy. Rob knows there is no hope for me, but this year I really did come close. On that note I want to point out the new poll I am taking and ask you to kindly cast your vote.
On an inspirational note I want to show you this blog http://www.trentduval.blogspot.com/ and tell you what I can figure out about this little guy. I linked onto it from a friends and have been checking in on him periodically. He is 8 or 9 years old and I think he has leaukemia. When I first started reading had just come home from the hospital a couple of weeks ago. I have read back pretty far on this blog but if you don't want to go too far at least go to Oct. 11. It is incredible! This little man amazes me with his faith and attitude. Just link on and you understand. Have some kleenex handy.
Anywho, I hope you all have a safe and happy Halloween. I'll be posting my pics of my fairy, turtle, and monster hopefully sometime next week.

FIRST SNOW?!!

Yeah, that's right folks. For those of you not living in this great state of Utah this beautiful Sabbath morning-we've got snow. Mind you it's supposed to back up into the 70's by next weekend. But with the amount we have right now it may take that long to melt it all. Of course with a 3 and 5 year old the first thing they want to do is go and play in it. We got home from church had lunch and then they went outside and played in the snow for about 2 hours while I did what? Sat here at this computer and blogged. Rob is such a good dad he went out after about a 1/2 hour. If you'll remember the leaning tower of piza (sp?) that the built last year, he was not to be out done. So the kids talked him into a tower in the back and then he designed something in the front that every plumber should have in their front yard. You guessed it, a toilet. Yep, folks he made a snow toilet in our front yard complete with handle. When you're a plumber you have extra toilet handles lying around. We are all so proud. Now for my vent session. I would love to post some pictures, however my..."naughty word" camera refuses to cooperate. Therefore, that's it! I'm done! I'm buying a new camera this week, after I take my memory card and download it onto a CD, bring it home, and post those wonderful pics. Stay tuned. If you want to see the toilet first hand feel free to stop by and get you picture taken with it. :)

Just Updating

We really things have been so busy around here lately but not too much to blog about. One thing that definitely happened worth blogging about was my trip to Seattle. It was definitely a trip to remember. For those of you who don't keep up on my day to day business, some friends from high school and I went to go visit a long lost comrade from up there. Stac was a fantastic tour guide and we laughed until it hurt. I came home exhausted purely from just staying busy. We saw so many different things and did so much. It was a blast! Check Libby and Kelly's blogs for pics and maybe remind them to e-mail them to me, seems how I did not take my camera.
In other news Abby and Coop are loving school. Abby has made some new friends and even has a boy that has a huge crush on her (ie he tries to pick on her in any way possible EVERY day, I get to hear all about it), he's pretty cute too. She has the most dramatic,"exciting" stories at the end of each day. It is hilarious. I'm amazed at the things that are so important to her.
They are both doing tumbling and both love that too. Abby almost has her back hand spring down which amazes me considering I am so limber myself.
Good old Jolley Plumbing is staying crazy busy, which we are grateful for, however, it can be frustrating with him working such long hours. However I'd rather him be too busy than to not busy enough. Someones got to pay the bills around here. He has quite a few houses going right now and that is the main thing keeping him busy which he loves cause that is the work that he likes most. It's nice too to see all the different plans when we bid them cause I get new ideas for when it's our turn (hopefully, someday:)
As for me I'm settling into a fun new routine. Abby goes to school all day every day, with tumbling on Wed. Coop has tumbling on Tues. and school on Wed. And we have story time and play group on the other days. Things stay pretty busy just entertaining the troops but it's still so fun.
Sorry this one is so boring, I'll leave you with some of Coopers songs for a good laugh. He loves to sing and Rob has taught them to put whatever words they want in to make their own songs. We all do that right? Well how about this-Old McDonald had a farm...and on his farm he had a fridge...with food in it and drinks in it, and ice cream in it E-I-E-I-O.
Or how about this one, my favorite so far-Old McDonald....and on his farm he had a potty...with poop in it and poop in it...(you get the idea) E-I-E-I-O.
What a musician I am raising.

IT'S THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR!

OK so the second most wonderful time, I am a Christmas freak. However you've gotta love the day you drop your BUSY 5 year old off at school for 5 hours. Now those are good times. Then I even got to take Coop to a birthday party for an hour and a half. So me and Shelb hung out just the two of us (go ahead a sing the Will Smith song now) for a while. That was on Tuesday. On Wed Coop had his first day of preschool. Mind you he is young for his grade (he just turned 3 on Aug 8) but has been wanting to go to school like Abby for about a year now and I found a school that would just do one day a week. He loves it so much however, we may bump him up to 2 days a week. Anywho heres the pics.

You can't tell in this picture but these pants have kind of a pin stripe. They are so cute. Gotta love Target!Shelby just wasnt' feeling the love with all the hustle and bustle so Abby was nice enough to take a picture with her. All bundled up in her jacket and backpack ready for the trek to school. We only live about 300 yards from her school so we just walk every morning. It's kind of fun. So I drop her off and she's like, "Bye, mom." No tears, no worries. Who cares that I started to get a little emotional. She didn't. I really was OK, until someone would ask how I was doing, then I got a little tearied. But by the time I was walking home I was singing songs of joy and happiness. When I went to pick her up she was actually sad to see me. She thought our little neighbor girl was going to pick her up. I had to explain that Ashley was not out of school yet because the kindergarteners had a short day the first day, so she would have to walk home with me. Yeah, she does love me in the long run. I talked to her teacher and she said she was "very attentive". My kid, are you serious? One of those things where the kid is one way with you and totally different with other people. I was pretty proud of her though.

For the record I tried to get him in a cuter shirt but we were running late and it wasn't worth the battle. He does love his "cool new kicks" though. When I dropped this little guy off, he didn't look back either. When we entered the door there was a train off to our left and other boys already playing with it. He was done at that point. I actually had to pry him away so he could go pick out a cubby for his bag and jacket. When I picked him up his teacher said he even did better than some of the 4 and 5 year olds. What a champ!

He was plumb tuckered by the end of his day. Don't worry he is actually breathing in this picture. He stayed in this position for quite a while. He must have been tired.

By Wednesday afternoon things were going so well, until I went to pick Abby up. She was really sniffing and sneezing and by the time we got home she was in tears from exhaustion. She had a nasty cold and was coughing and sneezing like crazy. So day 3 of kindergarted Abby got to stay home and rest. She was really so worn out. You all know what happens when one person gets sick, we all get sick. Abby and Shelby are at the tail end right now, I'm not much further behind them, and Coop is having his yucky day today. Which is why we're all home from church relaxing.

We had to take Rob to the airport this morning at 6:30. Good times waking up all the kids, 2 of whick are usually awake by that time except for the day that you want them to be. Rob and his brother Mark are on their way to Oakland for the Broncos/Raiders Monday Night Football game. He is so pumped he could hardly wind down last night enough to come to bed. I was out cold by the time he made it in.

And last but not least I'm on the countdown to Thursday which is when me and some of my good friends from high school are going up to Seattle to see another friend. It is going to be one crazy weekend filled with eating, site seeing, and (I gotta be honest with ya Lib, Linds, Kel, and Stac) I so hope some sleeping. I rarely get to sleep through the night, let alone sleep in. I'm so looking forward to this!

FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO DON'T ALREADY KNOW...

Well I suppose if you haven't already heard the time has come to spill the beans. Number 4 is on the way. Holy crap, who decided to have 4 kids?! Yeah, well we had a game plan and stuck to it and here we are. Things are actually going really well. We told Abby a couple of weeks ago and she has been pumped. I don't know if she has been more excited about the baby or about keeping a secret from Coop. She has been really good about keeping the secret though. She only told a couple of people, who already knew luckily, so it has been kind of fun having that secret with her. She would get ideas for names (Spiderman if it's a boy, Sneaky if it's a girl) and she would get so excited and come up and whisper in my ear so "nobody else could hear". Yeah, we still need to work on whispering. I told Cooper this morning after my Dr appointment and he is pretty excited too. He wants a little brother but thinks that it's a girl. I don't think he realizes he only gets one or the other. Shelby of course has no clue, although she has been acting kind of odd lately and I can't help but wonder if the veil is still thin enough that she knows more than all of us. Rob and I are actually really excited. You might all think we are crazy, but we have been very blessed to have babies when we want them, and we are grateful for that. I got to see the heartbeat today and that is alway reassuring after knowing that you are pregnant for a couple weeks. My due date is April 8, just one month after Shelby's 2nd birthday. We are all really excited and will keep you posted with anything else new that comes up.

PS I am on the countdown for my cute little 5 year old to go to kindergarten next Tues and Coop starts preschool on Wednesday. Things are crazy but who could ask for more.

I Know You're Shocked

OK, so I know it hasn't even been a week yet and already a new post. Please don't get too excited. Recently I've read some posts (Nicole and Debbi, here's to you) and it asks you to leave a memory that you have of me as a comment. I totally started thinking of hilarious memories that I have of all of you and want to see what you come up with. Then I get onto your blog and will leave a memory of you. So there ya go. If you think this is too cheesy well then you're way too cool for me and see ya next time.

PS Abby just walked in wearing BRIGHT pink lipstick that her friend helped her put on. Talk about coloring outside the lines. I told her she wasn't old enough for make-up and she informed me that it was lipstick, not make-up. How many of you fools tried to pull that one of on your mom's. HONESTLY!

PSS With the new book coming out I would like to make a prediction. I think that Jacob is going to find the girl that has his imprint, or whatever you call it (I haven't finish Book 3 the second time around yet so I forget) and Bella is going to end up with Edward. Any thoughts? Caroline, you are way too cool for this book, no worries.

WOW, time flies

Again, sorry girls for slackin'. Things get crazy in the summer. Rob turned 29 on the 7th. We went out to dinner with our next door neighbors and then to the Bee's game. It's always fun to get away from the kids for a hot date. Last weekend we went on the annual McDougal family vacation which brings me to my story that I hope will redeem myself for slackin so much this summer. So we were all going up to Downata Hot Springs ( I know, funky name, but seriously Google it, it's a fun place). Well my family wasn't leaving until 4 pm Thursday but we had to leave Friday afternoon so we could go up to Echo for Rob's family reunion. So we decided we would leave early to get more swimming and playing, then the kids wouldn't feel bad when we left before everybody else. Well early turned into 2 pm on Thurs, still respectable. However, we got all the way up to Plymoth, UT, not to be confused with Plymoth Rock, and the transmission went out in the old MV (minivan to those of you not down with the slang). So we camped out at Plymoth until about 5 when Missy was able to get us our truck. My friends, Plymoth is a happenin town. There was this cool girl at the gas station though who was resting next to her bike. I asked her where she was headed and she said, "Oh, Canada"...No, no that wasn't a typo, she was going from SLC to Canada, she told me where but I didn't really pay attention, I was still in shock from "Canada". Anywho, on with the trip. So we make it to Downata with the rest of the family and set up camp and have a fun first night although Rob realized he left his wallet and cell phone charger in the MV. The next morning I wake up at 4:30 with horrible stomack pains. Folks, now we're gonna get personal, these are the types of pains that you just know that diarrhea is just around the corner. So I spent the whole day Friday in my tent with a horrible stomach, luckily enough the was an outhouse, that's right I said outhouse, right behind our tent. So that was convenient. The good news is I only threw up once. This may be a little TMI but I would take diarrhea over throw up any day of the week. Well that's enough of that. The kids went with Rob and the rest of my family up swimming and just played all day. The next day I was feeling much better and we packed up and came home. We didn't even go up to the family reunion. However we did find out on the way home that Cooper gets car sick, huh, that's fun. The van is back now, turns out we just needed a good trasmission fluid flush and things are up and running. The one good thing that came out of the weekend was I was able to read a good chunk of New Moon, which leads me to my poll. I personally am a Wolf girl, lover of Jacob if you will. However most of the people I talk to want Edward. So take two seconds and take the poll.
PS Nicole, don't hate me, but Coop is potty trained!!! Yeah, pretty exciting, and that leads me to the quote of the day. He had a little diarrhea Sunday (it's been a good weekend) and he called me in and said "Look mom, my bum made mud" Gotta love him

Back by popular request

Sorry about that. Got some what busy around here. Lets take it from the top. The first weekend in June my friends from high school and I got together for a good old fashoned slumber party...at the Ogden Marriott. That's right, we do things in style. Thanks again Linds for the hook-up. We stayed up until five in the morning talking, laughing, eating, you know the routine

This one's a beauty I know. Lindsey's office is down at the Union Station so we went there for dinner, this is a little snapshot of a incognito, confidential mission that we took.We decided that seven of us could easily sleep in one room. Bree ended up on the floor and the rest of us shoved the beds together and slept sideways. You can see the love shared between Kelly and Jenni. It was very romantic. We had a blast and it took me a while to recover.

Then next week Cooper got his cast off.

This is Juan, he helped us every other week get the old cast off. Coop loved him.And this is Dr Sorenson. He is the man who's children I will be putting through college after I get the bill. Eight weeks and four casts later we're all healed up.

One weekend we had Terrace Days. We entered Shelby in the baby contest and she won Angel Face. I know that in these things they feel like they need to at times make up awards so that everybody gets one, however I think this award is still dead on because, hey, she does have an angel face. We were in the parade on Sat. morning too. Jolley Plumbing that is. I think Veronica got some pics of this one. Check one of her sites for it possibly? We threw out rolls of toilet paper wrapped with a business card with packing tape. We were a hit. Look for us in the Riverdale 4th of July parade this Friday.

Then came Cedar City, we went down there for Rob to play basketball. It was a lot of fun, however we left on Wed. and didn't come home until Sunday. Yeah, that's much too long a vacation with kids this age. The hotel had a pool so that was entertaining. We went to the park, Rob's games, swam, ate, and slept. Our rooms had a DVD player so we watched a new movie together every night. That was fun too. My new favorite Disney is Surf's Up. Totally cute. Coop got swimmer's ear while we were there so last week at this time we were at Kid's Care to see good old Dr Hom and get some anti-fungal drops to clear it up. We're good to go now.

Then last week I worked all week. Sister Iris went out of town so I was in the pre-op clinic all day, every day. This little adventure was a good learning experience. I had been toying with the idea of working more and now I know that being a working mom is so not what I want to do. It's amazing how different things are. There is such a different level of exhaustion. Being at home with kids all day is so emotionally draining that by the end of the day the exhaustion is definately there. However, when you go to work all day and then come home and try to be a happy mom, and play with the kids, but also get the stuff done around the house that needs to get done, well by the end of the night you're asleep before you hit the pillow. Needless to say, I won't be going back to work any time soon.

That brings us to today. I'm sure along the way there were funny stories that happened like yesterday morning when it was Rob's turn to get up with the kids and Shelby took off her poopy diaper for him. That got kind of messy. Or the time a few weeks ago in church when Rob took Coop to the potty and then came back into sacrement meeting and Coop announced to the congregation, "MOM, I PEED....HEY, HEY MOM, I PEED!!" The ward is so proud.

Well hopefully that catches you all up on what's been goin down around here. I'll try to do better from here on out.

My little Graduate

Well we're all so proud of our little preschool grad. She is the tallest, cutest, and smartest in her class. Well on those last two I might be just a bit bias, however I think the evidence is clear. Here are a few of the highlights.
Exibit A:clearly she knows how to pick the most handsome little devil in the crowd. She proudly picked her little brother to come up with her and sing a song. He was pretty pumped. Neither one of them sang or did any actions whatsoever. I'm raising performers here I tell ya.



Exibit B: The bald kid next to her is the next tallest in the class. She is a full head taller than the girl in yellow. Yeah, she has Jolley blood alright. Notice everybody is doing the same action. She is above doing actions to songs, no matter who tells her. She is a leader, not a follower.



Exibit C: Most of the other kids were wearing their graduation caps. Yeah, not my kid, she is trying to start a new fashion trend. Abby McD. if you are reading this, I may have a little employee for you here in about 15 years. (for those of you who don't know her, Abby McD is a big fashion queen in NYC)


Exhibit D: clearly she knows that she isn't wearing subblock and being to close to the sun is bad for your skin. Even if all the other kids have their sunshine faces on and singing Oh Mister Sun, Sun, Mister Golden Sun doesn't make it any safer to be that close to UV rays without protection.



And here we are post-graduation party. We like to participate in "dry" parties, alcohol free if you will, in our family. Nothin like a trip to good ole Mickey-Dee's for some happy meals to bring a smile to our faces.

Mmmm, chicken nuggets, healthy... and look at happiness it brings as well.

DON'T YOU LOSE SLEEP OVER ME

Well I know most of you read through my posts the minute I post them and then check back every day for a new post. I'm sorry that I can't entertain you on a regular basis with more updates in my life, and the stories that I do leave you with keep you up at night worrying about me and my crazy life. However, this time I would just like to update you with the comings and goings in this household.
Abby-Well she graduates from preschool next Thursday. WOW! I'm almost the mother of a kindergartner. Where does the time go? I'm on the countdown to August I tell ya. All day kindergartner in these parts. Who could ask for more. She is hilarious. She thinks she is the mom. On a side note, Bree, she too wants to wear a bra. I want to say to her, slow down kid, if you're anything like your mom you'll be needing one in no time. She turned 5 on Tuesday. Rob took a half day and we went out to breakfast. Barb was up and came with us. It was pretty uneventful, unless you count Cooper's coughing attack towards the end when he coughed so hard he threw up all over the table. Good times. Abby got a new big girl princess bike from us and thinks she is pretty hot stuff. The girls is so tall she is too big for her old bike already. She is so active and curious and silly and fun. She is so different from me in so many ways. However I'm so glad she's mine.
Cooper-Well we still have the blasted cast. We've gone from black to bronco orange to jazz blue and now to yellow. At our appointment on Tues the Dr looked at the x-rays and asked how wild he would be if we took the cast off. I though to myself, the kid broke it jumping off his dresser dude, what do you think? I informed him that he was a pretty wild kid and he decided we'd better go two more weeks just to be safe. YAY, this is fun. I have however figured out how to keep it dry. Potty training is very up and down. Here's a story. On Monday Ellen and I took Coop and Abs to see the new Narnia movie. They both love the first one. Well half way through Coop decided he needed to go potty. Really he was just bored, or was he? Well we got to the potty and I took off his diaper (I didn't bring an extra, I'm a little slow) set it on the ground in front of him and set him on the toilet. He told me to leave, so I reminded him to point his little wiener down and stepped out and held the door shut. After a minute I went back in and he said, "Look Mommy." I looked down to where I was standing into a puddle of pee. He hadn't followed my advise. Pee all over his pants, his diaper, and the floor. Well I can handle this. I cleaned up the floor (I thought it only appropriate) threw the diaper away and let him go commando through the rest of the movie. He was fine, he fell asleep on my lap about 10 minutes later. Oh that's not the end of my story. So on our way home we had to stop at Lowe's for some light bulbs for some new ceiling fans that Rob installed while we were at the show. As I'm checking out Coop goes around the corner. I think nothing of it, he likes to look around. Well after a minute Abby goes around the corner to and Coop yells out, "Don't step in my pee Abby." Yeah, he peed straight out the bottom of his shorts. Usually the pee gets absorbed by his underwear and shorts, but with nothing there it just shoots straight out the bottom. Oh, this is fun. Needless to say, we are still working on the potty training thing. I keep telling myself, "he is only 2."
Shelby-Well this girl is still adorable. He hair is still stick straight except for a curly little mullet in back (I really need to give it a trim). She refuses to get teeth unless it is multiple of 2 or more, 6 is her record. She is finally sleeping through the night again after this last round. She wants to be anywhere the other two are, no matter where that is. She loves to snuggle. I've never had a snuggler, and I really like it. She is SOOO bow legged that it is so cute just to watch her walk. She loves to throw food from her high chair and thinks it's hilarious. She just learned how to give kisses and gives them to everybody.
Our house- Since the flood we've sure had some fun. The insurance adjuster last wednesday and we're all set. The demo crew came through and tore out the sheet rock down stairs to about knee high. When you go potty down there, there is basically no privacy. They pulled our toilet and sink upstairs, along with all the tile so we have to go downstairs for everyting. The sink and toilet are in our tub so we've been going up to Ellen's or next door to Alicia's. That's been fun for the kids though. The sheetrocker came in today and got everything hung. Hopefully they will be able to let reset our toilet here soon (there was mold already growing around it when it got pulled, so it had to be treated) so we don't have to go down in the middle of the night. All in all we hope to be back to normal here in the next couple of weeks. We'll see.
Well if you've made it this far I want to shout out a recommendation for reading. Link to Veronica and scroll down to the post about milking a dog. It's hilarious!

PMS and kids don't mix

Well, I have to be honest with ya, this whole PMS thing just ain't all it's cracked up to be. I haven't gone through it since Oct. of '04 (I didn't "restart" in between Coop and Shelbs, and have had an IUD in since I had Shelbs) and it's no fun starting up again. Plus I've never had it with this many kids around. My goodness, I am one grumpy mom! So allow me to vent for just a bid. Stop me if I've already mentioned this vent before. My little Abby just wants to play with kids. This is very difficult when school is in and one of her best friends is in kindergarten. Well this said friend just lives around the corner so when she gets home it's very exciting and they get to play. The question is, where do they always end up playing...MY HOUSE! You know I'm one to take my turn, but for the love of Pete (yes, Lib, your Pete) other mom's need to take there turn too. It really isn't that bad having her here because they usually just disappear downstairs or outside. However, I'm trying to teach Abby that you need to take turns and she has figured out that it is definitely this little girls turn to have Abby over to her house. The problem is this little girls parents both work so by the time they get home they are so busy to even think about letting their little girl play so I always end up calling and am not the type to just say, "Hi, your kid has been up here 3 times this week, can my kid finally come down to you house before the world as we know it comes to an end?" I know that when you get home from work you have a million things going on, but who is that oblivious to the fact that you keep sending your kid to someone else's house and never have that friend down to play. HONESTLY!!!
OK, that is friend #1, now onto friend #2. This little girl is adorable. She lives with her mom and grandma across the street. Her mom is 8 1/2 months pregnant (literally, she is due June 2) so you know she is worn out. Now friend #1 I will leave anonymous however this little girl's name is Cherish, and there is a funny story that goes along with her name, so I just had to share. Anywho this little girl will show up at my house to play and just say, "My mom said that I could play over here". Does anybody else see how cool my house is. Well yes again Abby doesn't want to play here all the time, but this little girl doesn't want to play at her own house either. However, this mom is about to pop so I don't mind so much. Now the story with her name. Whenever I hear Cherish's name I always start singing Cherish the Night. Well the other day Abby came in and asked if she and "Cherish the Night" could have a popsicle. Luckily Cherish the Night didn't hear.
Well thanks for the vent session. While I've been typing the kids have been coloring, here's the report: Shelby ate one purple crayon (yummy), they have some nutritional value right? Cooper got into the markers and colored on his arms, then came and showed me his art work. He has now decided he needs to go and apologize to the markers. So polite. Abby actually hasn't caused too much trouble except that she freaked out when I ruined the purse she was making by stapling it in the wrong place. As I look over at Shelby right now she has on of those magic color markers that only write on certain paper and is trying to clean out her ears I beleive. Never a dull moment, my friends, never a dull moment.

GET COMFORTABLE, THIS COULD TAKE A WHILE

Well I've decided it is time to update. A few fun things to report as well. Last Saturday we had our Women's Conference for our stake and it was incredible! Sister Neilson came to speak (as in Elder Neilson's wife from the quorum of the 12) and she brought along with her a nice lady by the name of Sherry Dew, you may have heard of her. Yeah, I'm totally serious, it was awesome. Cute little Ellen came with me and we were mesmerized by these two women for almost 2 hours. They talked about the importance of going to the temple just being a woman and mother in gereral. I have a renewed spirit on doing my best to have the spirit in my home as I try to raise these cute little kids, though only 4 days later it is already proving to be difficult. It's always nice to go to these meetings and be reminded that I'm not the only one going through this stage in life.
After I got home from that meeting we went to Lagoon! A friend of mine (Brittany Stephens actually, she is in my ward) had extra free adult passes and 1/2 priced kid passes so we tagged along with her family. I am amazed at how time flies at that park. I'm also amazed at the fact that I don't even need a ride pass anymore because it's all about the kids. I never understood when I was growing up how my mom could just hang out with me at the kiddie land and never go off with the older kids and leave me with my dad. Now, however I totally see it. It is so much fun just watching them have fun.
Then of course we had Mother's Day on Sunday which is always fun. Rob took the hint that I gave him when I highlighted what I wanted on an advertisement and left it on his pillow. He got me a "4 Handed Royal Massage" from Beyond Spa. Basically it's a massage with a therapist on each side. Oh, I'm looking forward to that alright.
All good things must come to an end however, so here's the story. Yesterday I went to work at about 3:55 (yes, the exact time is pertinent) and Rob estimates he got home at about 4:30. Well sometime in between there Coop pooped in the potty (YAY, I know) however, it must have been somewhat large and in charge, and who knows how much TP went down with it and it clogged. Well he also held the handle down for to long so the flapper got stuck (yes, that is actual plumbing terminology thank you very much) so that toilet ran and ran. Well when a toilet is clogged but still running there is nowhere to go but up over the rim. So it started pouring out and our cute little babysitter didn't know what to do so she just built a dam around the edge of the bathroom with whatever towels she could find (she's 12 for crying out loud, you've go to give her credit for that). Meanwhile Rob finally gets home and shuts the water off to the toilet (here's my teaching moment. If you toilet starts to overflow like this there is a direct shut off to you toilet under the tank to the left, you can actually see it when you look at the toilet directly. There is a little nob that you just turn a quarter of a turn and that will shut the water off completely to your toilet. Now I want all of you to go make sure you know what I'm talking about and try it so you know. You never know what kids will flush these days) and he cleaned up the mess as best he could. Well it had gone through the tile down into the basement into our toy room. Luckily, that really is the only room that got ruined. The bathroom just below it didn't get it to bad, and then the laundry got some but it is unfinished and a cement floor so it just made it to the drain. So he pulled up the carpet that did get wet in the toy room, gathered all the "live sewage toys" and called our home owners insurance guy. The disaster releif people made it about 10:00 and we now have 7 big commercial fans that have been on all night and now all day. The inspector comes today at 4 to check things out and take measurements and I think make some recommendations. So there it is, my exciting few days. Never a dull moment I tell ya, never a dull moment.

IS THIS TOO MUCH BLUE?

Well, I'm sorry but I just couldn't handle the pink stripes anymore. Abby was done with it to. It's summer and so I thought I'd get in the spirit of the season with some flowers, plus I love the color blue. So there ya go. Is the blue a little too over powering? Please share your thoughts.
Is anybody else just loving this weather? I actually got hot today when I was outside! How fun is that? Yeah, call me in two months and it won't be so cool, but right now I'm loving it! The kids are always wanting to go outside and I just leave my doors and windows open. It's great. So I'm reading a new book that I wanted to share with you, I'm sure some of you have read it, however I'm really liking it so humor me. I just started The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. Yeah, I think this writer is hilarious, and it totally brings back memories for good old BHS. I'm only two chapters into it, but I'm loving it. Anywho, this post is a little lame, sorry about that, but I wanted to explain the change in scenery. HAVE A GOOD DAY!

PS I totally forgot, the Jazz game was FANTASTIC. We had such a good time. We walked down in the tunnel at half time and I actually ran into Yao Ming! This man is ginormous! 7' 6". I seriously was looking at his belly button. It was pretty cool. Plus, we won and that made the night even better. Next comes the Lakers, this might get ugly:( Have a little faith my friends, you never know.

Bronco orange it is

Well this week we got to go in and get Coop's cast changed. He went from black to Bronco orange. No, no my friends, not just any orange, but Bronco orange. Yeah, we don't brain wash our kids. It was actually a toss up between Bronco orange and Jazz blue. We went with the Broncos. Hopefully it two more weeks it will still be worth our while to get Jazz blue. On that note Rob and I aquired tickets to tomarrow nights game, YAY! We are so excited. Hopefully we can finish the series and move on. Anywho, I'll have to report on that one next time.

Lastly, I have decided to send a shout out to those of you who give me hilarious stories on your blogs. So in order to do this I will occassionally recommend my viewers to the links to my bloggin sistas and say specific posts that I recommend, if that makes sense. This first one was a tie, both stories had me laughing so hard I was crying, partly because I can totally relate, and partly because I love how these two girls word things. They crack me up! First is Bree's story Totally embarrassed and a bit of a scare... HILARIOUS. Secondly is Veronica's Paper or Plastic...I'm glad I'm not the only one who enjoys going to the store with kids in tow.

So there ya go, now you will all be working to make my shout out page. Good luck!

IT'S ELECTION TIME

OK, girls, here's the latest test. It's election time, no I'm not talking about McCain vs ...whoever, I'm talking about the important stuff, Sunset Jr 8th grade office. That's right, ladies, this is the big time. Baylee is running for office and she needs some ideas for posters. The meeting is Tuesday and then she can put posters up maybe sometime this week. I know we've all used our creative juices on our own posters, but dip in one more time and come up with some fun stuff for her. She will be checking the blog for your ideas and I've really talked you up so don't let me down!

I'm new at this

Well, I know I'm a nurse and maybe should be better at this whole cast thing, but hey, I'm just not. Really, it's only the bathing thing I struggle with. Coop just lays around all day so he doesn't need to many baths, so we've only given him 3. First bath: covered the cast in a bread bag (how cute is it that his whole leg fit in the bag?) wrapped it real good at the top. Stood him in tub, gave him a good wash, rinsed, got him out took the bag off, cast got a little damp at the top. Let it air dry, we should be fine. Second bath: bread bag again, this time wrapped a towel around the top, same routine, take the bag off, oh, crap, bag has a whole, cast is pretty wet, get out the blow dryer. Third bath (tonight): new garbage bag and duct tape, same routine. This time as he is standing there I can tell there is a good seal at the top, I'm so proud of myself, I even let him play with the finger paints on the wall for a little bit as he stands there. Get him out, and as I look down I see that the bottom of the bag is literally filled with water a good 3 inches up. How Cooper gets around during the day is by crawling with his arms and good leg and he drags the bad one (my friend Emily and I call him tiny Tim). Well this has kind of filed down the front corner of his cast by his big toe so it is kind of sharp. Well this little corner cut a little whole in the bag, and his foot, and cast, got a good soak tonight. I wripped the bag, let his cast DRAIN, and then got out the trusty blow dryer again. Do I struggle or what?! Maybe I should go back to plan 1 where his cast just got a little damp.
On a side not as I sit here a single mom (Rob is out of town) I find joy in reading your blogs but have nothing to leave with you. In my predicament I'll leave you with a question that only some of you may be able to answer, and I hope it will bring a smile to your face if you know the answer. Today I was listening to good ole FM 100 and heard the song Fields of Gold, who does this remind me of (two people), initials only, to protect the innocent, and for a bonus point what were they doing in her memory? That's all for tonight folks, good night.

How 'bout them Jazz

Sorry gals, I know most of you don't care, but to keep you in the know, Jazz just took a 2-0 lead on the Rockets, and that's on the road! That's huge! We are coming home now and hopefully will sweep it in four. Here's to hopin'.

This too shall pass

Well thanks for letting me vent yesterday, as I read through it I'm a little embarrassed, but hey, it was a rough day. Today however, things are doing a little better. We had a rough time getting him to sleep last night, but nothing a little benedryl couldn't fix. Today has been pretty good. I had some kids over to play and he liked the company but it wore him out pretty good and he had a good nap. Tylenol and Motrin seem to be taking care of the pain, so that's good. I took some fun pictures on my phone at the doctors yesterday, however I'm not quite sure how to transfer them. One was of his Insta care dr, Dr Child, who was fantastic. He was really good to just talk to him and reassure him. He also asked him if he liked Cars because he had some really cool underware on (Cooper not the doctor). So they talked about Mater while he was putting his temporary cast on. The other pic was of Marylynn who again was fun to see. You may all just miss out on those until I can figure out how to get them on. But here are some pics that I took here at home.

You can tell he's thrilled to be getting his picture taken.

How sad is this face? He is totally asleep too. He would be completely asleep and then just start whimpering. It was pretty sad.

Well that's all for now. He's being a trooper. Abby's been awesome too. She brings him in toys and sits and plays with him. They are having to get pretty creative, but they're having fun. I'll keep you posted.

PS I'm adding a timer to count when he gets his cast off (I think I know how:)

What is a spiral fracture?

Well here is the definition out of the medical dictionary:
spiral fracture: n. A fracture in which the bone has been twisted apart and the line of break is helical.
Does that mean anything to ya? Well basically if you took a branch off a tree and twisted it until it broke, that is what happens to your bone. And that my friends is what happened to Coop today. If you are wondering, he can't actually fly, though I'm not sure that is what he was attempting when he jumped off his dresser today. But regardless, his leg still is broken. The upside was that I got to see Marilynn Hurt today at insta care, so that was fun. The down side, well I'll just name a couple for now if you don't mind me venting... 1) I'm worried that if we go to the park that he will get wood chips down it, so the park is out for now, who knows how long that will last, 2) We are talking 6-8 weeks here, but the pool will be open in about 5, how hard will that be for him to go hang out at my parents while everybody else swims. Hopefully it will only be 6 weeks and that won't be too much of a problem. Basically I'm planning on hanging out here until he's ready to start moving around a little more which the Dr. thinks will be a couple days, and then we will start to get creative with some field trips. If you have any ideas please let me know. Abby is being pretty good about it, but she is bored already so hopefully we'll figure stuff out with her too. Anyway wish me luck!

PS I'll post picture later, he won't let me take any yet, I'll have to wait until he falls asleep:)
PSS What little boy chooses black for his cast color, am I raising a gothic?

It's time for a new camera

Well gals, I come to you all in need of your vast knowledge as I hunt for a new camera. I've had mine for a few years now and really want to upgrade. My LCD screen is about 4 cm big, it goes through batteries like it's nobody's business, and well, sometimes I'm just spoiled and want to upgrade. That should be reason enough right? Wrong, I'm too big of a tight wad (yes, I freely admit that) to spend my money frivilously. So I want your opinions on a nice camera that won't make me faint when I pull out the ole debit card. I want a decent size LCD. If you have the camera you are recommending, how often do you go through batteries? What is your opinion on megapixels? I've heard various things. All I need this for is taking pics of the kiddos doing whatever. Give me your opinions PLEASE!

Have you missed me?

Yes, I know, I have been neglecting my duties again. However, things got a little crazy there for a minute and I just never got back into the swing of things. I worked a couple of days for a lady at work, got sick twice, and have been trying to get things around here back ot normal. The two sicknesses actually prompted me to take a pregnancy test, which was a little scary, but it came back negatory, good buddy, no worries. Easter here was great. We went to a couple of hunts and the kiddos had some fun. A funny story to share. I've been wanting a red wall in my front room for a while now and finally got my wish. When you paint a wall red they tell you it makes things easier if you tint the primer. Well a red wall primer is pink. So Saturday night before Easter Rob painted the wall pink.

When the kids woke up Rob told them the Easter Bunny did it. They thought that was the craziest darn thing they'd ever heard. They went around church all day and told anybody that would listen that the Easter Bunny painted there wall pink.

Here they are in their beautiful attire.The E.B. brought Abby the movie Enchanted which I love, and brought Coop a baseball mitt, which he loves. How long until he breaks something with that ball, we'll see.

It actually turned out pretty nice because it only takes Rob about 45 minutes to put on a coat of paint so he put the first coat of paint up on monday night.

That, however, is as far as we've gotten. Hopefully that second coat will get put up this week some time. After that we are going to tear out the carpet in front of that wall and put in some pergo wood floor so I can have a dining area that we can all fit in.Then we will be moving on to the kitchen which is going to be tan (Thanks Brandi!) and then we will two tone both areas.Wish me luck!

My free day

Do you ever have fantasies that some day the husband will take your kids and you could have the whole day to yourselves and take care of all those little things you never get to take care of? Well that's me today, except for the taking care of things that I never get to take care of. I actually didn't do anything. Andra's little girl had her 3rd birthday party today and they went to the zoo. We wouldn't send anybody to the zoo alone with my kids, but I had a primary activity this morning, so Rob went. They left at about 9:30, I was at my activity until 11:30, and Shelbs and I have been playing since. Actually we got home, had some lunch and took a nap together. It was fantastic. Then we tidied up a bit and went to good ole Sam's. Usually this a pretty crazy trip, but this time, one kid, it was a breeze! After we got home I've been doing what we all do in our spare time, blogging. What a fun little afternoon. But to make this blog worth while, I have a challenge for you all. We were talking the other day at our play date about always eating the same thing for dinner. So I am going to share a few if my easiest (I do require easy) recipes.

1. Chicken enchiladas. 2 grilled chicken breasts, 2 cans cream of chicken soup, 1 16 oz tub of sour cream, tortillas (you can do anywhere from 6-10 depending on how far you want to stretch it), and some grated cheese probably about 2-3 cups. Mix the soup and sour cream and cover the bottom of a 9X13 pan with it. Take each tortilla and put some chicken, soup/sr cream mix, and cheese in the middle, roll it up and put it in the pan. When the pan is full cover the filled tortillas with the rest of the soup/sr cream. I like to make it kind of goupy so that the is plenty for dipping chips into. Anyway cook at 350 for 15 minutes. Sprinkle some more cheese on top and cook for 5 more minutes.
2. Italian chicken: 4-6 chicken breasts, italian dressing, bread crumbs. Spray 9X13 pan, pour dressing over the top (it's kind of yummy to marinate it for a while too), then cover with bread crumbs and bake 45 min-1 hour depending on thickness of chicken.
3. Crockpot Ranch chicken: 4-6 chicken breasts (depending on the size of your crockpot, if you can fit more than 4 I'm totally jealous!) 1 16 oz tub of sr cream, 1 can cream of chicken, 1 package of Ranch dressing (the powder). Throw it all into the crockpot and (I hope you will all appreciate this) "Set it and forget it"

Well that's about all I can do, except for you know spagetti, lasagna (that I buy at the store already in the box, I just have to cook it), and hamburger helper. I'm now passing the apron (sorry that was a little cheesy) to you all to share with me you recipes. For the love of my family please don't let me down:)

My little 1 year old

I can't believe how fast this last year has gone by. Already having another first birthday party. Saturday (March 8th) we celebrated the day by going out to dinner at Red Robin. Yes, we are daring. The older two did great. The birthday girl, not so hot on the 30 minute wait and then being trapped in a high chair. Oh, well, we only get to do birthday dinner every so often right. We have to start our traditions now. Our first two babies were born in the summer months when we can take advantage of Bob and Ellens backyard for fun birthday parties. Well Shelb's is a March birthday so we thought, "What the hey, we can fit 40 people in our house." That 40 is not exagerating by the way, our families have gotten huge! Over 20 cousins, plus more that couldn't make it. Luckily most of the kids went outside to play. Real famliy doesn't mind sitting on the floor. Cheryl you're a champ!There's the birthday girl in her birthday dress. Those used to be pigtails by the way. You get our hair done once a day in this house.

And of course Rob couldn't pass up an opportunity to play fuse ball with the big boys.

All in all it was a fun and crazy day. Thanks to everyone for coming over. HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHELBS!

WE LOVE ST GEORGE!!!

So every year at this time Rob gets invited to go down to St George to play softball. This year we were going to hire a nanny and make it a little weekend getaway, however we decided against that in the end. We (meaning I) thought that we (again I) had deserted them enought this winter and they probably needed a good mini vacation too. Here's the pics.

Oh yes, I did take a "nanny" down with me. But she isn't really my nanny, its my neice Baylee. She's fun to be around and the kids love her. Plus who doesn't want to go to sunny St George with some $$ in their pocket?

Shelby was not so hot on the ride down, but was really happy when we got there.

Cooper let Shelby inheret his cool pink and blue bike. They had so much fun riding these around the hotel and ball park.

Who's that cool cat in the Lightning McQueen sunglasses ready go to the pool with dad? Just look at that physique!

POSE! Yeah, this is what she came up with. Where does she get this stuff? Never a dull moment.

Not only a nanny but a lifegaurd as well. I sure got my money's worth.

Yeah, Coop got a good 5 feet in the air with these throws. He loved it!

When Rob got to the pool he did a flip into it. Well Abby saw and decided she needed to do a flip too. How many 4 year olds can do a flip off the side into the pool. She almost made it all the way around too.

Well, I hope that was enough pics for ya. By the way, Rob did play softball, but I didn't get any pictures there. Isn't that funny how that works out?