One Day at a Time

Odds and Ends

2011-02-22T13:01:00.000-08:00

I don't feel like I have much to post about to be honest with ya. I guess since the last post we did have Christmas, which was awesome, and my birthday, which was so fun as well. Nothing really out of the ordinary to say though. However since this is somewhat of a family journal for me, humor me while I throw some pics up to record the memories.
Every year I think about it but never do it. This year we did it. We finally made homemade ginger bread houses. Did any really turn out as houses? No. But the kids sure had fun making their own creations.
We had the Jolley family Christmas party at our house this year. Complete with Santa and presents. Really had a fun night!
Some of you asked how we got onto the ESA court for our family pics this year. Well Rob and I are season ticket holders with 3 other families and every year this is one of the perks. We spent about 10 minutes on the court messing around and taking pics. It was really a fun night!
This night was in between snows. We had a bunch of wood and garbage to burn so we had a BIG bonfire. I was standing up on our deck and I could still feel the heat. The kids, and Rob of course, had so much fun with this one.
I wish this guy could go fishing more often. He and his brother went up for the day and brought home some tasty morsels. I love that my kids love trout too.
And lastly, this is something else I've wanted to do for a long time. Abby is 7 and has never been to Temple Square before. Yes, I'm a horrible parent. But this year we fixed that and took them all down. They loved it!
So that's it. Sorry it's a boring one. Life is just, well, life right now. We are loving our new house, but it takes most of our free time. We are hoping to get a yard in this spring. I would also like to get shelves built in out storage rooms so I can actually put them to use. Plus Rob bought a new trailer and has been spending all his extra time building up the inside of that. Anybody else feel like you wake up in the morning, blink, and the day is over, then do it all over the next day? Then you wake up one day and have 4 kids, a mortgage, and a retirement plan. Seriously, things are crazy right now. But, on the good side, I'm loving every minute!

Is it too late to update?

2010-12-05T15:46:00.000-08:00

So I'm a little embarrassed that I'm actually updating this after so long. The last update was seriously in May, and since then things have been busy, but not so busy that I can't take five minutes to write on here. My whole purpose in having this was to somewhat keep a weekly journal about our family happenings, and this past year I have failed miserably. However, reading May's post has revitalized me and I'm going to try and update more often, even if I have no readers left:)
First the kiddos: Abby is loving 2nd grade out here and has made some new friends. We have a big ward with a huge primary (100+ kids). So there are lots of kids to chose from. Plus we have new family moving in just 2 doors down with girls my girls' ages, so that will be handy. She is so getting into the preteen age, though I think she was born into that age. She is my best shopping buddy and loves to go to the mall. Coops is still stuck in his world of yucky girls in this house. He definitely has a love/hate relationship with his sisters. He loves to play with them, but sure gets tired of their kind of imagination games. Luckily there are a TON of boys in this neighborhood, so he has lots of options of kids to play with. Shelby is still very much 3 years old! In my opinion, there is no such thing as terrible twos. The twos are for pansies. 3's on the other hand are ridiculous! She is very strong willed and opinionated and even as we speak, taking a nap up in the bonus room (her idea) after refusing to eat dinner. She hates most meats and veggies, but will eat most any fruit or yogurt on the planet. She has also made lots of new friends out here. Whit is still so funny. She is getting so big. She started nursery not too long ago, which is one of my favorite milestones in their young lives:) She wants to do everything she can to keep up with the other 3. Just yesterday she decided she needed to go sledding with them. So as I was helping get them all bundled, she went and grabbed her coat and was trying to put it on. She has no snow pants or boots, but with did our best with what we had and she went out with the big kids and loved it. She only made one trip down the hill and was done, but still she had so much fun with them.
As for the house we are finally in. YAY! We moved in on Aug 14, which happened to be our 9 year anniversary. What a way to celebrate. Things went really smooth and we got everything out here in a couple trips. Now we are for the most part settled in, though there are still some boxes in Rob's office, and downstairs is a DISASTER. But what would without Saturday projects right? Now if we can get the motivation to do those projects, that is the question. We are loving our new neighbors. Everybody out here has either 4-wheelers or horses. It is crazy, but we love it. Such good people. Hopefully some day we will join in on the 4-wheeler club. Those are just fun!
Well that is about it for now. I will try to get back on track with updates from here on out:)

I'm still here

2010-05-25T21:23:00.000-07:00

Yep, that's right, it hasn't been too long and already I'm updating. I have just taken some alone time and read up on some of your blogs and wanted to give you all a shout out of how much I love doing that. I didn't realize how much I've missed it until I just started reading and realized how much reading about all of your craziness makes me realized that my life is totally normal:) Whether it be surprise pregnancies (there are a few of you out there),to pregnancies with a first boy or first girl (baby penises aren't all that scary) to kids graduating from preschool and kindergarten, to fun vacations that I will some day look forward to. Thank you for making me feel normal and sane again.
So for the quick update. I have officially lost my camera. Yeah, really not sure where it is. I've looked everywhere I can think, so if any of you have it, I would love to get it back. It is for this reason that I have updated pictures to give of my kids, or the house. However both are doing wonderfully.
Abby is so pumped for summer. Her birthday is on Thursday and she for some reason thinks that half of her class are bringing her presents. Yeah, that will be a kick in the teeth when she doesn't get any, but she just doesn't believe me that she is only getting presents from us. What do ya do? She thinks she is Whitney's mom and tries to take over when she gets home from school, which some days is welcomed. She loves to help me cook dinner and I love that she is tall enough to see everything so we don't need to bring a stool in. Ellen gave her a pedicure for her birthday, which she was so excited for, so we are looking forward to going to get those done.
Coops is finishing up his second year of preschool, and since I am holding him back a year, he gets to start another in the fall. There are a lot of buddies out in the new neighborhood though that he will get to go to kindergarten with, so he is pumped for that. We signed him up for soccer in the fall so he is already on the countdown to that. Totally bummed I didn't have him play baseball this spring but I thought he was too young to sign him up, however there were some kids even younger than him. Now I know.
Shelby thinks she is some hot stuff. She is SO 3. She is totally into princesses, babies, and playing house. She loves to do homework with the other 2, though I really am running out of things to give her to do cause she really doesn't do anything but color. Oh, well, we'll keep working on that one. She is pretty pumped to start preschool in the fall too.
Then there is Whit. She is so funny! She is soooo much happier now that she doesn't have ear infections every other week. She is all over the place and hates it when the other kids get to go outside and she has to stay in with me. She sits out at the window and just yells at them until I let her go out and play for a bit. Still, we love her and she makes us laugh every day.
As for the house, sheet rock starts tomorrow, the stucco gets painted this week, and soon I will lose my husband again and become a single mom while he goes out to put on the trim and do the wood floor. Things are going awesome still, and thanks to Ellen, we picked out our wood floor today, along with our molding and door casing. I have really enjoyed the whole process so far, though the waiting game isn't all that much fun. Soon enough we'll be moved in and it will all be a happy memory I'm sure. I'll try to get pics on here for next time, until then...

UPDATE OF MY LIFE

2010-05-03T15:52:00.000-07:00

Well, a few things have been going on around here other than building. Whitney turned 1 last month. She got tubes in her ears today for a nice belated present. I so hate ear infections! Happy to finally have the tubes. We had her on yet another antibiotic last week-Monday-Wednesday- and when he went to do the tubes today she was already working on more fluid and definite infection brewing. Poor kid. So we are happy to have that done.
We are so happy that it is finally spring and I can kick the kids outside to play. This rental is getting smaller and smaller. But the warm weather definitely makes it bearable.
Other than those things we are pushing hard at the house. We are hoping for a 4-way this week, (that is the BIG halfway inspection) though we have been saying that for a couple of weeks, this time a just may happen. Rob is out there almost every night. What a champ! I think it makes it a little easier knowing it is our house. We got the stucco on last week and after we get the soffit and fascia on they will come back and paint it. The rock should go on some time this week as well. Anyway, I thought I'd throw some more pics on so you all can see it. So here ya go:

Yes, this last one is from inside my car. Was I too lazy to walk around back for a pic? Yes, I was. It was cold out my friend, give me a break. Unfortunately, that is all I have for you all this time. We don't have a whole lot else going on.
Want to give a shout out to my friend Veronica Reeve (yes, the famous photographer:), I only say that knowing it will embarrass her) she gets to finally close on her house tomorrow and hopefully move in soon. You made it! WOW, could I be more jealous? I think not.
And another shout out to Libby and little Miss Blair, welcome to the world little one. And ps, that is the cutest yawning picture I have ever seen!

Here's the latest

2010-03-22T20:56:00.000-07:00

Well that was a busy month. Shelby turned 3, so we hit up the local Chuck-n-cheese (that's is what we call it around these parts-Chuck-E-Cheese in layman's terms), got a roof, some shingles, plumbing, and front steps on the house while playing in the mud, played outside in the beautiful spring weather, enjoyed the ward pinewood derby, and am trying to survive yet another ear infection and possible RSV with Whitney (calling the ENT in the morning for tubes-hallelujah). So here I am, just finished doing some bids for Rob, who BTW is a trooper going on very little sleep lately, and I am just happy to be sane. I love life! Here are some pics (and as I'm putting them on I realize that I haven't taken any lately, but this will some-what do. I'll try to take some more this week. These are from a couple of weeks ago)Front entrance. there are stairs here now, and just today the framers changed the timbers on top to an arched entrance to be covered in rock.
Our fun bonus room. Rob has decided it will be a theater room in the future.
Our garages AGAIN. Yes, I know I keep you up to date on the garages a bit, but I'm just really excited to have one:)
Here is the main floor with now walls. Like I said, we have all of the walls now and a fire place. WOW, I'm a slacker!
The view to the back doors that will go back onto the deck.
And here are the bathing children. Yup, totally covered in mud!
At least they had fun though right?Those orange pants that were her Dora costume for Halloween-very...much...stained. Hopefully a little oxy clean will do the trick.
Look at those dirty toes!
And here is my heaven-sent-new-neighbor's tub. By the time I realized the kids were playing in the mud I knew there was no way they would be able to get in my car. Luckily Angie has boys and knows mud well, so she didn't mind. This picture was her tub after the rinsing. There is a wash clothe in there too for the record-not more mud.And here is the birthday girl. Can you believe she is already 3? It took us a few days to convince her:)
There is Mr. Cheese himself.
OK, last picture. Do you think she liked it?
Well, that's about it for now. See ya next month:)

This is what I've been doing

2010-02-13T13:26:00.000-08:00

So I realize it has been 2 months since I have last been on, but I really have been busy. On the last one I mentioned how we were really working hard on being able to start the house. Well it finally happened and that has kept me pretty busy. Especially these last two weeks. We finally dug on Feb 1st and we will hopefully start framing on Tues. We are now waiting for a garage floor. We were supposed to get pored on Thursday but that random surprise snow storm showed up. Now I know we need the moisture here in Utah, but really! Just one more day! Oh, well, we'll survive. We are still on schedule (only two weeks in I know) so this shouldn't be too much of a set back.
The kids are doing great. Abby is missing so many teeth she has a hard time eating, but she looks adorable. Coop's preschool flooded over the Christmas Holidays and got the whole month of January off. He's back now and I'm so happy cause he was getting so bored. Shelby is potty training and totally has the peeing down, it's just the pooping. That may be TMI, but honestly, what is it with kids and pooping in the potty. I'll be honest with ya, I just throw the panties away. I tried to wash one of them out and honestly started gagging. It's not worth it. Little Miss Whitney is growing like crazy. I think she will be walking in no time. She totally cruises on everything. She really has the personality of the other three. I love it.
Rob and I are about the same. He is crazy with work and building us a house. Business is good right now and thanks to all of you who continue to call us and refer us. LOVE YA! And I'm doing the same old thing: staying home with 4 kids, being Rob's secretary, generalling the house, working one afternoon a week, and hanging out with the YW one night a week. I actually switched from Tuesdays to Wednesdays so now I go to work at 1 until 6 and then go straight to YW. It has been nice so far cause now I'm only gone for one night during the week. Rob still gets his daddy night, which the I love. It's nice to come home and have dinner cleaned up and the kids in bed.
Hopefully that is enough excuse for you all to get off my back on not updating my blog. I do enjoy sitting down and reading your blogs once in a while and I thank you for making me laugh when it's needed:) I will try to throw pictures on here every once in a while to keep you updated. Here's where we're at right now
Here is the first day of digging. These two loved it! Our excavator let them both in the cab of the back hoe and let them dig with him for a while. Abby was in school but she got a ride the other day when they were out back filling. They were so nice.
Here's the 3 when we went out to watch the pumper trucks fill the foundation forms. They got plenty muddy and loved every minute of it:)
Here is the front of the house with just the foundation. This is basically where we are. This last week of storms have set us back bit, but hopefully we will get a basement floor tomorrow.
Here is the view of mine and Rob's garages. I only put this on here because I'm SO EXCITED to actually have a garage. YAY!
And here is another angle of my garage. Did I mention we need to bring in A LOT of dirt. Yeah, this is a small mountain of sand that was fill into the garage floors. We have both always wanted a flat driveway for a basketball court so we're still excited that it worked out that we can have one.
And lastly, here is the picture of our basement. This one is my bragging rights. So when Rob was out doing the radiant heat (which we are only having in the basement BTW), that's all the black pipe, he called and said he could use a hand if I wanted to come out. So I pawned the kiddos off (this first time of many I'm sure) and headed out. Can I just say that he gets a taste of my job every Wednesday and I am very much appreciated. However I have never gone to work with him. I only worked with him for a couple of hours and my butt was kicked! What a manly man I am married too. The pathetic thing is that this wasn't even a hard job. It's not like we were carrying tubs or water heaters. I was tying tube with wires. Yeah, I'm a pansy and my husband has got some serious muscles:) Any who, that's about it. Wish me luck on having a dry week!

PLEASE FORGIVE ME!

2009-12-06T20:28:00.000-08:00

So I send out my sincere apologise to those of you who actually check this thing every now and again to see if I have posted. Things have been CRAZY here I tell ya! I know I vented once before about how much we have going on so let me just update you and bring you some understanding. Last time I posted we had just started school. Well since then we have sold our house, moved into a home half that size and are waiting to build. I sure do wish people would pay there bills so we could get going on this. Allow me to vent-Our original plan was this: Sell house number one in July, move into the rental, start building some time in August while we finish the other house and of course sell it immediately. Meanwhile our home gets built in the 7 months we planned and we are in by March, MAYBE April. Would you like to now hear how things actually went? Good, cause you are about to. We finally sold and closed on our house last month and moved into this snug-as-a-bug rental just down the street. It is about the same size as the old on, just no basement. So no place to send the kids when they are buggin. Rough. We actually did sell the house next door in 3 days (oh, you read that right-3 days) however, we of course were not expecting that so we have been scrambling to try and finish. We should close this week-again, YAY. However, Rob has been CRAZY busy at work so we have had to hire quite a bit out. Oh, well, I promise I will get over that. When we sold our house we sold for quite a bit less than the original plan, but we thought, "That's OK, we have some big checks coming in from the business with all the extra work, we'll just use that". Well that is the point we are at. Some of these big checks were due 5 months ago, so are just due this coming week. We just have to keep bugging these people to pay the bill so we can build. Honestly, should I have to do that I ask ya? No! If you want to build something or remodel something, please have the means prepared to pay for it! OK, I'll hop off the soap box now and get on to some fun pics
This is the kiddos at the Newgate Mall. We had a fun trip there and walked around for a while and on our way out we stopped and let the kids ride on the train. Abby actually rode on the swings and Whit stayed out with us but they had lots of fun.
Here is the picture of our stuff ram-rodded into our new place. No, it does not look like this anymore, though it took some time to get things organized.
Have you ever met a cuter duck? Whitney is getting so big! She is really trying to figure out the crawling thing. Any day now, though I have been saying that for a while. She may just bypass crawling and go to walking. She loves to stand and pull herself up on anything. She's a cutie!
Here are the kids at the Halloween party at Barb's (such a fun tradition every year). I was home sick, but Rob still braved it with the 4. Whit didn't quite make it into her costume, but other than that they had a blast. Shelby was Dora, Coop-Buzz Lightyear, and Abby was Hannah Montana. Good times.I just think this one is so cut cause they are all looking at the camera (which is rare). Abby is giving out the peace sign too, so there ya go.
Well, that is about all the updating I have for now. Wish there was more for ya, but I'm afraid I couldn't handle too much more on my plate right now. I hope you all have a Merry Christmas (let's be honest, I likely won't update again before then) and a Happy New Year.

August came and went

2009-09-06T07:15:00.000-07:00

So my plan to try and post at least every month totally bombed. However, we are still not too deep into Sep, so I'll try and stay on top of it from here on out. Winding down summer and getting ready for school is always crazy, but I love how much fun it is getting with the kids getting older. We have a ton of hand me down clothes from my sister and sister in law so school shopping really isn't too difficult. Abby always gets to pick out one new out fit but other than that is completely clothed by other peoples stuff-yeah, I know, I'm totally lucky there. Usually this is the case for Coop too but since Missy moved to Seattle (tear, tear) getting the hand me downs from her has gotten tricky and I've actually had to buy him more than one or two things. Yeah, never had to do that before.
The first day of school came and went without too much drama. Abby was totally pumped to be in first grade and the following week when the "little kindergarteners" started she thought she was pretty hot stuff.She really is pretty cute in her SHOPPING IS MY LIFE shirt. Which by the way, is pretty true.
How about this little guy on his first day of school. He insisted on wearing his Jolley Plumbing shirt that day. Who am I to argue? He is so handsome in it.
Whitney and Shelby are going to going to school before I know it. Whit is already getting so big. We are currently working on sitting up and rolling over. Shelby wishes she could keep up with Abs and Coop and most days, by the end of the day, is pure exhausted from trying.Shelby loves to hold Whit. It doesn't last long but she still does it every day.
Here is my little man on his 4th birthday. We had to open presents before Rob went to work so here he is in his jammies still. Look at that physique!

Here is Abby with her two front teeth missing. She lost the second one yesterday. The tooth fairy did come on time this time where as last time she was a day late and I actually had to go down the morning after and put the dollar under Coop's pillow and tell her the tooth fairy must have made a mistake. I'm a rookie, I know.Here is my handsome man all rugged and ready for the trek. He went in July with our stake. He was an uncle in one of the families. He had so much fun. I'm sure all the ladies fell in love. How hot is he with that beard?!

And here he is clean shaven. Some of the people that were on the trek wore their clothes the next day to church. Who was the high councilman on the stand in trek clothes? Oh, that's right, it was Rob. What a trooper.

I have some time on my hands

2009-07-12T10:15:00.000-07:00

So this sunday morning I find myself home with my three girls while Coop is at church with Rob. It feels like I'm in the middle of winter again with half of my family sick. The girls just have runny noses and are coughing, but still, who wants to be the mom to take that church. So we're all home in our jammies watching Enchanted, which by the way cracks me up. Let me just give you a brief over view of the last couple of weeks. Two weeks ago Shelby kept complaining that her throat hurt, I took a look and her tonsils were bright red, she had a fever the night before too. That only lasted about a day and then two days later Coop had the same symptoms, wonderful. Naturally I started feeling sick, but didn't pay too much attention to it because hey, I'm the mom right? I don't get to get sick. Well that started on Friday, by Sunday I felt like I had been hit by a truck and finally paid attention to my body and stayed in bed all day. It actually worked! I got better by Monday morning I was feeling great, but had a little cough still. No big deal. Well Tuesday morning (Rob's birthday BTW) the little cough got so bad that I couldn't talk or walk around to much without coughing up a lung. The fever started to come back and I made my own diagnosis of pneumonia. Well I had to work that night so I called in sick but still went up and saw one of the anestesia docs to confirm my diagnosis...yep, I was right. So after another day of antibiotics I was again on the up swing, plus had healthy kids...ahhh, that was nice to get that over with because we had McDougal family reunion coming up. We were all healthy for it. YAY! We went up to THIS IS THE PLACE MONUMENT for family day. It was really fun. We looked around, rode the train, did some crafts, played some games, rode horses, and of course ate some treats. Here are some pics

We really had a fun day up there and afterward headed over to my brother's house for a bbq, outdoor movie and sleepover. Here's some more pics

Here's the kiddos getting ready for the movie. Shelby is clearly excited to be getting her picture taken.
What a handsome little manSorry, but how cute is she? And eating a roasted marshmallows, mmmmm.
Yes, she was happy for most of the night. Who wouldn't be happy with a root beer float?

Anyway, so that was the long weekend and this morning both girls woke up with coughs and runny noses, so here I am able to update.
In other news, the house is finally for sale and the house next door is still getting finished. The sheet rock should be getting started this week. Hopefully we'll find someone to buy this place soon and we can start building the new one. Time will tell.

Monthly updates

2009-06-21T14:23:00.000-07:00

Well, here I am again and another month has passed. I'm going to quit apologizing for myself because clearly this might be how it is for the next little while. Right now we are in the middle of finishing little odds and ends around our house to sell it, we bought the house next door and are fixing it up to flip it, and we are preparing to build our new home out in West Haven (YAY). So needless to say things around here are crazy...oh yeah, need I remind you that I also have 4 children. So I'll do my best to get on here every once in a while and give a shout out. These are all in kind of a random order so just try and keep up.

Right now things are actually feeling pretty sane because we just got back into town yesterday afternoon from Cedar City for the summer games. Rob played basketball with a team that we went down there with last year. It was totally fun and the team did OK too. We kind of counted this as our summer family vacation. We stayed at the Abbey Inn (Cooper decided that next time we go down there that we should stay in the Cooper Inn) and it was lots of fun with an indoor pool and yummy breakfast. We took the camera but it stayed safely in its case the most of the trip. Here is a picture of the kids in there sleeping arrangements. Whitney actually slept in her car seat, but the other three shared a bed, for most of the night at least. At about 2 am Coop fell out of be and that woke Shelby up. He, however, slept right through it. Then she came into bed with us.We took Rob's brother down with us so we had two rooms. The first night Rob, Abby, and Coop slept in with him but the next two nights we all stayed in our room together and let Brian have some space. He was a champ being with the kids the whole time. They love him so much. You'd think that I would have got a picture with them all together, however you are mistaken:(

Last weekend we went camping with some friends from the ward, the Bees and Aardemas (we so love our ward and are having a very hard time thinking about leaving). This basically the only picture we have of Whitney. That's my friend Sharon holding her. Yes, it was raining and Sharon is innovative and through the burp clothe on her head to keep her dry.

Here is Abby on her cool princess bike. She was the oldest one up there and was SO in charge. She is always trying to be helpful in one way or another. She really kept some of the kids taken care of.
Here's Coop and Shelb. Aardema's were geniouses in suggesting that we take up the kids bikes. They were all on them most of the time. We had the little 4-wheeler up there too and they loved it with the open space.
Here is Ms Whitney on her blessing day. I only took a few pictures but Barb is a champ and always takes her grandkids and does a big photoshoot with them with her own camera. Whitney, of course, was adorable and Rob gave a beautiful blessing. I'm so greatful to have a husband who takes his priesthood authority seriously and is worthy to take care of his responsibilities.
And here is Whitney today. She is loving her siblings so much. I was straight in front of her and could get her to smile but the minute I called Abby in she turned into a cheeseball. You can tell that Abby was sitting to the side. She looks so cute when she smiles. She's getting pretty chubby too. I love those cheeks!

And lastly, every summer we have shaved Coop's head. Last year we though it would be funny to shave his head into a mohawk, but he looked so cute that we let him keep it for a few days. This year he kept asking when he gets his mohawk again and finally, the day after Whitney's blessing I gave him one. I did it on a Monday morning so he could have it all week before we cut it for church.Well, that's about it for now. A few milestones on kids (because remember I count this as my journal)...Abby is loving being home for summer vacation, though she gets bored often and I'm on the countdown to school already. She is really a good reader, but isn't really thrilled about having to do it. She needs things to be her idea.
Coop got a big boy bike a couple of weeks ago and loves riding it where ever he can. Hopefully we'll have the training wheels off by the end of summer.
Shelby's new favorite word is "NO", and that is in capital letters for a reason, and "MY SELF". She is sooooo 2 years old. We still love her, but I'm really looking forward to her growing out of this phase.
And of course Ms. Whitney is doing the adorable baby thing. She just started sitting in the bumbo and is kind of a fan. Hopefully we'll start working on rolling over soon.
Rob is crazy busy with work (which is such a blessing in this economy) and I am trying to juggle 18 things at once.

What a crazy, wonderful life!

Things are crazy here!

2009-05-10T20:05:00.000-07:00

So when I get on the computer to blog I really get bothered when people haven't updated in a while. Well now that I am one of those people, I apologize. Can you give me some credit though? I just had baby number 4 a month ago. I can't believe she is already a month old! She is doing wonderfully. We had the jaundice issues for a few weeks, then she decided she didn't want to gain weight. But we're back on track again and Ms. Whitney is a champ. She is so good in not minding that she occasionally gets climbed on when she's eating or getting passed back and forth. She is sleeping really well, usually only waking up once in the night, so really, I can't complain. The other kids are adjusting pretty well too. Abby is by far the greatest to have around cause she can hold hold her if she wants to be held while I get other stuff done. Shelby is my delivery girl and is so excited to run and get me a diaper, blanket, burp clothe, whatever. And of course Coop has always been good to entertain himself while I take care of whatever else needs me. Plus my friends in the ward have been so awesome. I've even called one and told her I needed a nap and she came over, picked my kids up and kept them for a few hours so I could sleep. Of course Rob is the best husband in the world and helps out with whatever I need. He hasn't slept in on a Saturday in I don't know how long, but I sure have:) Needless to say we are surviving and getting back into a routine.
Some fun little news about me that I thought you guys might enjoy (by enjoy I mean you're going to laugh, then feel sorry for me, and then laugh some more). I didn't think it was all that fun when it started cause I didn't know how I would pull it off, but things are working out OK, so I will share happily rather than bitterly. Here's the story, on Sunday morning conference weekend my bishop called and asked if the bishopric could come over and visit the family in between sessions. Of course I said yes, not thinking anything of it. When I told Rob, he laughed at me and told me to brace myself for a new calling. I said, "No, they wouldn't come over on conference weekend to extend a calling. They're just doing family visits" (Deep down I think I knew I was being delusional). So when the bishopric got here I wasn't too sure, but had a pretty good idea-either Primary President (our president is getting married next month) or Young Women's President (ours has been in for a while now). Well, I was right, they called be to be the new YW President. Did I about die? Yes! Did I consider going inactive cause I didn't think I could pull it off? Absolutely! This was Sunday, mind you, and I was due to have my fourth child, under 6, that Wednesday, plus had a husband who had just been called to High Council so I hardly see him on Sundays. Yes, all these things went through my mind. Now though, a month later, I am still alive and well. This is just one more thing that we are adjusting to with everything else. I have awesome councilors who make my job pretty easy actually. So overall I'm enjoying it.
Anywho just thought I'd try to make an excuse for my absentness (I just made that word up) in the blogging world this last month, and sincerely ask for your forgiveness:)

PS Happy Mother's Day to you all, I love ya!

My Talented Friend

2009-04-20T21:34:00.001-07:00

So for those of you that know me know that I am extremely creative, artistic, crafty, ect. ect. I'm not one to brag, but let's be honest, I'm a regular Martha Stewart. Most of you are laughing right now know that I am full of crap and not any of those things. This is where my good friends come into play. Most of you know Veronica and already are regulars on her blog but for those of you who haven't heard me brag about her yet, she is phinominal! She took Whitney's pictures today, and though Whit wasn't too excited about staying asleep, as soon as I fed her again she was out cold and quite cooperative. However, Veronica did most of the work (although I did get pooped on. It's OK I was in Rob's shorts:)) So anyway go to her photography blog- veronicareeve.blogspot.com and check little Whit out. The first picture is my absolute favorite, but they are all really cute and I may need to do a whole photo collage of just Whitney. Thanks again Veronica for a fun afternoon!:)

She's here

2009-04-16T12:26:00.000-07:00

OK so yes I realize that Whitney is a week old and there are no pictures on here yet, but I tell ya this past week has flown by. So finally, here ya go.

I took this one last night when she was chillin with me. Her head looks kind of weird shaped in the one (I promise it isn't) but the double chin is fantastic.
That is one handsome man with two cutie patuties. Shelby only likes to hold her for about 30 seconds, then gets bored. Still she is so proud and loves to play with Whitney's swing and bouncer. Her babies sure are having a good time.
The best brother in the world. Coop isn't quite sure what to do with the new baby. He isn't near as interested as the girls but still loves to kiss her on the head and says, "I love you Whitney". It really is pretty cute. He did it when she is was in my tummy too.

And of course there's my Abby. The one who started it all. She is a wonderful helper and willing to do ALMOST anything (she refused to take out a poopy diaper today. It really was a pretty gross one). But she loves to hold her the most though.
Its been tough because when we got home she was jaundice so she has had what they call a biliblanket, which looks like a small heating pad. The next day her bilirubin was even higher so they deliver a bilibed. So it is kind of hard to let the kids hold her because she needs to be in it as much as possible. Her levels have come down now so I'm going a little easier on it and let her out when she is awake. She makes the funniest faces. I love the faces newborns make.
Funny story: So the other night Rob had gone down to his mom's to get the kids (they went down on Sunday and came home on Tues...it was wonderful) so it was just me and Whit. Well we were just chillin on the couch and I was getting ready to feed her. I was changing her poopy diaper (this kid is a pooper I tell ya) and had just gotten done wiping her bum, her legs in the air, bum exposed and what happens? She shoots poop all over me. Now in the past when my kids have pooped while I've changed their bums it usually just kind of flows if you will. However this kids literally projectile pooped, if you will, all over me. I was laughing to hard to be grossed out. It really was hilarious.
Sorry if that one was a little TMI, but had to spice things up for you guys a bit.

LITTLE WHITNEY

2009-04-02T19:24:00.000-07:00

So I went and saw the good Dr today and here's the plan: if I haven't gone before, I will get started next Thursday, April 9th. Hopefully, I will go sooner than that. In fact Hartman said he would be surprised if I did make it to next Thursday. He has not checked me in two weeks because I refuse to let him tell me I not dialating and 0% effaced. This way I don't know what I really am so I can believe anything I want. I could be at a 4 and 80% effaced for all I know. With the other 3 I didn't dialate until I was actually in labor, however it was pretty smooth sailin after that. Anyway, some of you have called or facebooked me wonderin what's going on, so that's the latest. Thanks to all of you for you curiousity and keep checking back and I'll post as soon as something happens.

Did I get boring?

2009-03-15T20:23:00.000-07:00

Is it me, or did this blog used to be really funny and lately it's just...blah. So the other day I was wanting to make this recipe that Brandi put on here for me (shout out to Brandi, it was seriously tasty! The kids hated it but Rob and I wolfed it don't like it was our last meal). So I couldn't remember which post it was so I had to just read through a lot until I got there. I was seriously laughing out loud. I can be a pretty funny gal. The thing is I remember typing some of those and was so not writing them to be funny, but really just to fill you all in on the excitement of my life. Well as I read through these last few posts I'm so bored I'm embarrassed for myself. I promise to try and do better from here on out, and expect you all to let me know if you begin to read and just skip onto the next blog because you don't even care what I have to say anymore. Deal? Deal!
Actually though, this post isn't going to be very funny at all, just another one of my proud moments.
So the other day Bree sent me an e-mail linking me to a blog that she thought I might want to take a look at. Shout out to Bree because, yes, I do know this girl, she is in fact my cousin (well second cousin, once removed, something or other, you know how that works), her mom and my mom are cousins. However all growing up both of my parents sibling all lived far away except for my mom's one brother. So until I was like a teenager I honestly thought that Jami and I were normal cousins. Anyway long story short a couple of years ago I remember going to Jami's wedding and then not too much later finding out that she was divorced. We all felt terrible, and wasn't quite sure what had happened, but at this point we had all kind of lost touch with each other and I didn't want to just call and get the scoop, a little inappropriate I thought. Anyway, I had heard that she was having some issues with prescription pain pills but didn't know too many details. Little did I know, there is definatly more to the story, though I have no idea what. Well recently I we found each other on facebook, so that was fun to hear from her again, though I haven't really talked with her yet. Anyway (that was really boring sorry about that, just wanted to fill you in on my relationship with Jami) so when Bree sent me this link it was great to read. I am so proud of her for taking this step and the help that she is giving to others. She is doing it for herself, she mentions that many times. She doesn't care what people think at this point, she just wants to get this out there, to open this door for people, and WOW, it's incredible! When you link onto it read it with the comments too because some of them are amazing and you will know what I mean. She is awesome and an incredibly strong woman with a story that is all too familiar to a lot of people, though it is really not talked about. So here's the link http://thoughtsofanldsaddict.blogspot.com/ . Keep an open mind when reading it. And for those of you who don't know much about addiction, please believe her with what she is trying to teach. It is very real whether we want to open our eyes to it or not. I remember going to an NA meeting when I was in nursing school and the people there didn't realize I was just there to see what it was like. I took my mom with me and when we walked in people came up to us and were giving us hugs like we were old friends. Picture yourself going back to your home ward, where you grew up, and going to relief society with your mom. That is the kind of welcome I recieved while I was there. They are amazing people at these meetings who are really trying to get through this challenge. Addiction is very real, and it's not just the poor, the homeless, the "white trash" society that it affects. It's everybody. She is so good at pointing this out in a couple of the posts too. So go to the link and see what you think (that was so not meant to be a rhyme). Hope you all have a good day and again I will try to back to my funny self soon enough:)

IT'S BEEN A WHILE

2009-03-01T21:08:00.000-08:00

So I know that it has been a while since I have been on here but truly, I don't think that there is anything worth posting. We have been doing the same old thing-school, tumbling, preschool, tumbling, ect, ect, ect. Trying to get ready for the baby, yet I still have like 5 weeks to go and if I get too much out then the girls think that they can use it for their babies, then they get lost. I am getting to the point in this pregnancy where you get really uncomfortable. You know-can't sit for long periods of time, hard time getting comfortable to fall asleep (though once I'm asleep, I'm OUT). When standing from a sitting position for too long the old Braxton Hicks give you a visit. Reflux is always fun, TUMS are my best friend, can't leave home without them. Nothing fits that doesn't look like a tent when it isn't on you. Doing the dishes is exhausting. Have to take random breaks throughout the day so that I don't collapse. Random aches and pains that occassionally might actually bring you to your knees, though if that happens you're not sure if you'll be able to get up. You guys know the like. I'm really just worn out and don't remember being this tired with the other ones, though it might be one of those memories that you don't keep.
The kids are so excited for Whitney to be here. Coop loves to come and hug my tummy and says, "Baby Whitney, I love you" then will just walk away. Sorry but that is pretty cute. Abby will talk to her through my tummy cause I told her that she can hear her. Shelby thinks that the baby is inside my boobs, that is where she points when you ask her where baby Whitney is. She is pretty excited though and the baby stuff that is out she will point at and say Whitney. She is talking more and more to, which is always a fun stage. They come up with words for stuff that doesn't really sound at all like the word they are trying to say-example: Pants="Mops", yeah, you figure that one out.
But we are all really good. I finished painting the wall in the kitchen. Now I'm just waiting for the energy to do the baseboards or for Rob to actually have the time. Things are still going good for us with the business, so we are greatful for that with more and more people getting layed off. It is getting kind of ugly out there.
I'm totally getting spring fever too, if my new background is any indication. Anybody else got that going on? Seriously, its rediculous. My daisies in my flower bed are starting to come up and that gets me every year. I know there are usually a few more random snow storms before summer, but we really are on the home stretch, right? I love this weather! It just gets me and the kids excited. I also love being able to send them outside to play. YAY!
Well, I told ya I had nothing exciting to share. I'll keep ya posted on anything new.

Random Notes

2009-02-07T15:32:00.000-08:00

So these last few months I have been getting more and more tired of my long hair and for those of you that know me know that I occassionally CHOP my hair off every two years or so. Well my two years is up and there goes the hair. It was all the way down to my lower back, I would guess, so good old Jodi took care of that for me. Eleven inches later I'm a new woman
Notice the blue around Abby's lips, she found a blue candy cane from Christmas time and was munching it today. Anywho, so there's my hair.
The house remodeling is going well. We are kind of at a stand still right now because we are waiting for the sheetrocker to come and fix a few things before we paint. He is actually downstairs now. Then on to painting we come. I bought the baseboards on Thursday and am real excited about them. I'll put some more pictures up after more is done.
Rob went ice fishing today and brought home thisClearly Abby isn't phased at all about holding a fish. However, Coop gave it a try for about 2 seconds, not even long enough for me to snap a pic. But...
Shelby thought it was pretty cool too, and also wanted to show you the roll that she was eating. Rob is thinking Abby and Coop might start going up with him next year. I say more power to ya.
Our ward has a fun activity coming up-The WT 4th Ward Pinewood Derby. That's right folks, scout or not, we are all making cars for the big race in a couple of weeks. Rob and the kids started making our cars a couple of days ago.All Abby wanted to do was decorate, not design, it. Finally we got her to make a design. Coop didn't get to crazy with his, however it is very aerodynamic. Now we get to paint them and put on some really cool stickers (don't you love talking stuff like this up)Rob is going to build one for himself to, but its design is top secret still. I'll post a picture of the finished product later.
Are you guys bored yet, well this is my blog so get over it. So a couple of weeks ago Abby got to dance and WSU basketball halftime. Our next door neighbor is an cheerleader up there and always tells Abby when they have clinics. She danced during football season, when I was in Seattle, so this time I got to see her. She really does a good job of learning the dances with the short amount of time that they give her. Here's some of the pics

She just as cute as a button! That's all the boring details for now. Until next time

Who needs a general contractor?

2009-01-30T15:40:00.001-08:00

So who needs a general contractor when you have 3 motivated women with power tools? Not me I say. Last Thursday two of my best friends from the good old Washington Terrace 4th ward came over to help me take out some carpet and replace it with laminet flooring. When Rob left for work the plan was just to have a demo day...but things turned out a little differently. Demo took about an hour and a half and we planned the whole day so we moved on. We got the flooring layed completely and Rob was shocked when he came home. Who's the coolest wife in the world? Yeah, I am. Here's the pics to capture the days activities.
The pink is the carpet pad and the kids are walking on the roll of carpet. I did this part myself by the way. Really I feel this was most of my contribution. That and I bought lunch.

Here is my friend Emily. She was the master-putter-inner with the tongue and groove laminet.

Here is Sharon. She was the master mind behind the whole project cause we just did her house last month so she knew all the advised from the Home Depot guy.
Here's me cutting out the heat vent. (Side note: I ran into the side of the vent and can't get the cover to fit all the way. So this job is actually being delegated to Rob. However I did get most of the wood cut out).
And here is the near finished product. It looks so good and I love it. It took all day but we had a good time. NEXT UP: painting walls and painting and installing baseboards. I'll keep you posted.

PS Coop won out on the new template. Sorry Colie, this one's totally cheesy I know.

IS ROB REALLY THAT OLD?

2009-01-21T19:58:00.001-08:00

Yeah, well so it seams. This post is mostly just to make you all feel sorry for me, so if you do then my work here is done. Let me share a little story. About two weeks ago Rob got a phone call from the Stake President's Executive Secretary. Should that have worried us? Yes. Did it? Yes. So we worried until Saturday when Rob called his Dad and asked him what callings only the Stake President could give. Well it just so happens that there are only a small handful of callings that the Stake President will give and High Counsel is one of them. So if you're wondering if I'm going to be a single mom with four kids under the age of 6 sitting through sacrament meeting
I can answer that in the affirmative. Yes, that's right folks, Big Rob is now a High Counselman and I will be sitting alone with my children on Sundays. I guess I'm kind of exagerating in that area because people in the ward have offered to help (the wife of the counselor who extended Rob the calling being one). Any offers to take my children to church with them on Sundays from here on out will gladly be accepted. Offer your condolenses (like everybody in my ward did after congratulating Rob and telling him what a wonderful job he will do) in the comments.
PS I really am excited for Rob and know he will do a good job. Just keeping you posted on our lives:)

MY BRAGGING RIGHTS

2009-01-04T15:27:00.000-08:00

So occasionally I have days where I think "I'm the luckiest mom in the world". Yesterday was one of those days. Blessing #1:Rob had to work in the morning (nothing new) but he actually got off at a decent time and took Abby with him to run some errands while I took a nap with the other two. Blessing #2: We went to a friend's wedding last night and when we got home 6 of my friends were parked in front of my house to take me out to Chili's for my birthday. Who doesn't love their chocolate molten cake?! We chatted, laughed and vented until about 10:45, good times. I love you guys! Blessing #3: upon arriving home at about 11:00 (after getting Emily's minivan unstuck from in front of Michelle's house...hilarious) I walked in to find all of the kids asleep, downstairs, with Rob, in the tent. How hot is my husband?! He is such a fun dad (sorry I hate it when people say stuff like that on their blog, but sometimes it really needs to be said). So I got to sleep in my own bed (all alone was sad, but I got over it) and didn't have to worry about anybody coming in in the night to announce they had to go potty, just to have me tell them to go ahead and go. I love announcements like that. Or worry about Shelby waking up so that I can go back in and cover her up and say goodnight again. Love her. Anywho, just thought I'd brag a bit about how lucky I am. Now for some pics...And the stockings were hung by the (window) with care. Go ahead and take a closer look...
Yeah, that's right, this is the new addition to our Christmas decorations this year. My very talented friend Heidi made these for us. She is a champ at the old sewing machine so I hired her out. We love 'em.
I love that Rob's mom made these guys do this picture again. So every year from when these guys moved into this house (30+ years) they have had this picture taken. When someone leaves they aren't in the picture anymore. So Brian has been in there alone for a few years since Cheryl got married. Bri, the one in red for you single ladies, just got home from his mission this year so all seven are back together again and good old Barb made them hop in there places once again. Love her. (PS, if you didn't know these are all Rob's siblings) Thanks for the extra pose Christy!Every year Santa comes around on the fire engine and the firemen give out candy canes. You can't tell in this picture but it was terrible weather this year, a blizzard I dare say, but we still braved it and got our candy canes.Here is a picture from Rob's parents house at the Christmas gathering. It is total pandemonium, but my favorite party of the year with his family. You can only see 13 grandkids, but the total is 17 with one more due at the end of this month and ours due in April. PANDEMONIUM I TELL YA!And here is a picture of our Christmas morning. I love this! Wrapping paper everywhere, toys everywhere, chocolate being eaten at 7:00 in the morning. This is great. We read Luke 2 the night before with the manger scene in the lower left hand corner and let the kids put the characters in when we read about them. Is it a problem that we already lost Baby Jesus? Is he vital in this story? Riiiiight. So we pulled another Baby Jesus out of my nice porcelain one and he worked just fine. I love my Little People Nativity scene though cause the kids can play with it and it's not a big deal (of course until they lose Baby Jesus:)Here is the first day of the new year in primary and since I have a new Sunbeam I decided to take pictures of everybody cause they all looked cute. Here's Abby, the poser.
Here's my new little sunbeam. Doesn't he look handsome. The tie even stayed on all day.
And, of course, don't forget Shelby. Yeah, she looks like she got into a brawl before this picture. We're just happy she's smiling.

I think that about covers the bragging for now. Sorry I tend to go on but I like to go into detail for posterity purposes. Until next time...

QUICK POLL

2008-12-26T15:26:00.000-08:00

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'

2008-12-17T20:29:00.001-08:00

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?

2008-12-12T17:56:00.001-08:00

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

2008-12-04T12:17:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-29T15:50:00.000-08:00

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....

2008-11-12T11:39:00.000-08:00

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

2008-10-27T12:08:00.000-07:00

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?!!

2008-10-12T13:48:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-28T14:30:00.001-07:00

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!

2008-09-07T09:28:00.000-07:00

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...

2008-08-25T19:32:00.000-07:00

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

2008-07-28T14:59:00.000-07:00

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

2008-07-23T13:14:00.001-07:00

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

2008-06-29T12:17:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-05T11:59:00.000-07:00

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

2008-05-29T20:39:00.001-07:00

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

2008-05-23T15:45:00.000-07:00

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

2008-05-14T13:07:00.001-07:00

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?

2008-05-06T14:18:00.001-07:00

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

2008-05-01T12:31:00.001-07:00

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

2008-04-27T19:07:00.000-07:00

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

2008-04-24T20:08:00.001-07:00

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

2008-04-21T21:09:00.000-07:00

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

2008-04-17T14:50:00.001-07:00

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?

2008-04-16T15:39:00.000-07:00

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

2008-04-01T13:28:00.000-07:00

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?

2008-03-30T15:07:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-15T14:19:00.000-07:00

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.

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.
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.
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

2008-03-12T20:40:00.000-07:00

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!!!

2008-03-03T13:54:00.000-08:00

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?

My New Layout

2008-02-27T12:43:00.000-08:00

Well I decided I was overdue for a new layout, so thanks to Veronica this is the one we chose. When I say we, I mean me and Abby. It took a while to decide on one, but here it is. She want the gay pride one a little more but I put my foot down and settled for pink. Just thought I'd explain. I have to go through now and put all my pics back on. We'll see how motivated I get today:)

My Cute Man

2008-02-23T15:31:00.000-08:00

Well Kelly set out a challenge and my competative spirit isn't one to not step up to it. Any reason to brag about my man I'll take advantage of. So Kel, here ya go.

What is his full name? Robert Glen Jolley (I always forget if there are 1 n's or 2)
How long have we been married? 6 years, 6 months
How long did we date? 7 weeks until we were engaged and got married 5 months after that
How old is he? He will be 29 in July
Who eats more? Holy crap he does. He can really put the food away when he wants to. However, he can go the longest without food.
Who said I love you first? He did, over the phone. That's a cute story in itself.
Who sings better? We are both terrible, but I will sing (however, much he wants me to keep quiet) especially here in the house. He is not a big fan of that.
Who is smarter? Book smarts wise, that would be me. Mechanical wise, him by far. He can fix anything and build anything. Very convenient to have your own built in handyman.
Whose temper is worse? Mine by far, I snap pretty quick. When he does finally snap it can get pretty ugly, but I can't help but laugh because it happens so infrequently. This usually doesn't help matters much.
Who does the laundry? I do
Who does the dishes? We both do, we usually fight over who gets to because whoever isn't doing the dishes is having to entertain the kids. At the end of a long day dishes are a wonderful escape. (When I just typed that word I thought of Dory on Finding Nemo when she read escape on that ship and says it "escawpay", it made me giggle)
Who mows the lawn? He usually does, but I really like to.
Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? He does
Who pays the bills? I do
Who cooks dinner? We both do. He cooks a lot better than I do. I can't count how many times I've been in the middle of burning dinner and he has come home and saved it.
Who is taller? He's got about 6 inches on me
Who drives when together? He usually does, though like Kelly, I tend to get pretty involved
Who is more stubborn? Me by far. The kids, unfortunately, are inhereting that one
Who's parents to do you see most? Mine, his are in SLC, but hopefully moving up here soon (hint, hint, Barb!)
Who kissed who first? He kissed me at my parents house on our 3rd date. I still remember I had a cold sore and didn't think he would kiss me that night. He still did and now he gets more cold sores than I do.
Who proposed? He did at Rhomer park.
Who has more friends? I guess I do because we've lost touch with most of his from SLC.
Who has more siblings? He does. He has 2 brothers and 4 sisters
Who wears the pants? I would say I do, but only because he is so layed back that he doesn't care to make too many decisions. I on the other hand am a smidgen OCD and feel the need to be in control. He, however, will put his foot down when he does have an opinion. I get really excited when this happens too. It drives him nuts.

Well that's all for this one. I hope you don't mind when I pass these along. I think they're fun and like to read all of yours as well. So, if you're reading this, consider yourself "tagged".

Good news all around

2008-02-19T12:16:00.000-08:00

Where do I begin. Approximately 2 weeks ago Coop got a little cold, you know runny nose, coughing, whatnot. Well it's that time of year so I saw it coming. Didn't worry me too much. Fast forward to last Tuesday, Rob and Shelby both start to get a runny nose, coughing, you see the pattern. Well they both got yuckier and yuckier, meanwhile Coop gets better and better, that was convenient. Abby and I also stayed healthy. Well Thursday rolls around and Rob actually cancelled most of his appointments and for Friday too. This is rediculous. He is never this sick I tell ya. He gets so bored that he pushes himself, even when its at its worst and breaks through and eventually gets better, though not as fast as it would happen if he would just stop for two seconds. Anywho, enough venting. So he is down for the count. Shelby, also getting worse and worse, is plain miserable, she stops sleeping through the night probably on Wednesday, getting up 3-4 times just needing to snuggle. By Sunday I'm fed up with it and starting to wonder, hoping a little even, that she has an ear infection. You see and ear infection I can fix, a cold I have to wait out. Rob is staying home from church, so Shelby will be with him. Coop finds out dad is staying home and decides that he needs to stay home too. Well I'm a smidgen sleep deprived and not taking requests at this point. I get Coop and Abby dressed and ready for church and as I'm tying Coopy's shoes he looks at me with big tears in his eyes and says "Mommy, my eaw hewts." (Yeah, he doesn't quite say his r's yet, it's pretty cute). Sure enough I look in his ear and there is a scab there from him picking at in the night. Yeah, kid two-ear infection, kid three-ear infection. Well luckily for me Rob is now on the up and up and is just worn out from being in bed for 3 days, but no longer achy or congested. Well guess what buddy, we're all worn out-you're coming to the Dr with me. So I send Abby to church with a neighbor and wait for the Kid's Care to open. Abby's home from church in time to come to the appointment with us, so it's a family trip to Kid's Care. You're all jealous I know. To make a long story somewhat shorter, Coop's diagnosis-horrible ear infections, antibiotics ought to take care of business. Shelby's diagnosis-RSV, no ear infection and just wait it out. Yeah, yeah, don't we all love viruses. That night at home Abby's starts to act a little strange, "Mommy, my head hurts." YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!!! "OK buddy, does anything else hurt?" "No" OK Abby is at the point in here "career" where it is OK to lie straight to my face, so we need to test this one out. She is kind of fishy in that she will play just fine when we're all having fun, but when things quiet down she complains that her head hurts. Yesterday she was a little up and down, Abby's diagnosis-a little cold, no big deal. So now for the good news, yes, there is some-finally. Rob is fine now, went to work yesterday and today. Abby, still trying for some sympathy, but is fine. Coop, on day 3 of antibiotics, and back to normal. Shelby, this is my favorite part, SLEPT THROUGHT THE NIGHT. Sure, I still woke up wondering when someone would come and bug me for one reason or another, but it didn't happen. Abby even went potty and back to bed without coming in to say hello and make me walk her back to bed. It was fantastic! So, this is my application for mother of the week. I hope I have convinced you all. I would like to dedicate this award to 1)single moms, you all amaze me and deserve so much more that you get, and 2)people who don't live near family. The worst of this experience happened over a holiday weekend when most of my family was out of town, so I had nobody to pawn the healthy kids off on. I now realize how lucky I am in having a good hard working husband who does more than his fair share, and also a fantastic family who steps in to help out during a crisis. LOVE YA!

PS Even more good news. I was trying to find out when Harry Potter the Half Blood Prince comes out in theaters and came across a good trailer. They've got many on youtube, but this is the best I could find http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBcWtMgKMYE&feature=related. I hope you're all as excited as I am!

Here's my torch

2008-02-17T08:38:00.000-08:00

OK, I'm sorry if these annoy you but I love them and my friend Bree made a challenge and I am accepting.

Are you wearing socks right now? Actually no, but I do have on my slippers. A few years ago Rob started giving me slippers for Christmas, and I love them and wear them daily-with or without socks.
What is on your list to do today? Do you really think you will get it done? Well seems how it is Sunday, not a whole lot. Go to church even got chucked when I decided I need to take Coop and Shelby to the Dr. I'm pretty sure we are looking at ear infections with both of them. Abby got to go with a neighbor though. Rob is sick in bed to. Stay tuned for my Mother of the Year post coming soon. (don't be surprised when I nominate myself)
What is my worst habit? Well I like Bree have a problem with picking at my thumbs as well. In fact as we speak I've got a big crack going from all my picking. But I would have to say that my worst habit is my @$#*%& potty mouth. It is a definate weakness.
What is your favorite snack? Just about anything really. Cookies are a classic, ice cream, brownies, whatever ya got.
What is the worst fashon mistake you ever made? Oh, gosh, we could write a book here. First things first I was a tomboy when I was younger and really had a hard time letting go of that. So the transition from dressing like a boy in 6th grade to dressing somewhat feminine was some time in high school. I forget, I'm sure some of you reading could have a hay day with this one, so feel free (Lib, Kel- I know you're both dying to share you take on this, please, don't hold back)
What is you favorite and least favorite household chore? Favorite- I love to do the dishes, I know call me crazy but I like to see progress when I clean. Going from a sink full of dishes with anything from milk, syrup, ice cream, ect on the table to clean sink, counters, and table is very rewarding to me. Least favorite- I HATE to mop the floors. Seriously, I spot clean for as long as I can because I dread that day when I have to clean it all at once. I know, it sounds rediculous.
When was the last time you slept past 8 AM? Well probably some time this past week. Rob had some late start days so I'm sure I took advantage of it once or twice. The question is how long since I last slept through the night with no interuptions from one of the kids, and the answer is probably a few months.
Whats one song you know all the lyrics to? Gosh I miss the days when my kids didn't think they had a say in what we listened to on the radio. Lately we've been singing Five little spotted frogs sitting on a spotted log, ABC's, or Twinkle, twinkle little star. However back in the day I could usually sing along with most Tim McGraw songs. He is probably still my favorite to sing along with.
Who was your first date when you were 16? I don't remember when I was 16, because I was a rebel and went out with Josh Porter the summer before my sophmore year. We went to Park City with Bree and Joey and Cortney and Chad. Funny how things turned out isn't it?
Do you prefer to bake of cook? And lastly, whats for dinner tonight? For sure I like to bake more. That is not saying I do it more, but I do enjoy it more. A for dinner tonight we will probably have the classic sunday roast, taters, carrots, salad, ect. We aren't going anywhere for dinner tonight so I get to choose. That's always fun.

Now I pass the torch to Brinkley Freeman and associates (hint, hint), Libby, and Veronica. Have fun!

BEST FRIENDS

2008-02-13T19:43:00.001-08:00

This Valentines Day I would like to pay tribute to best friends. You'll see the picture to the left is of my sister Missy who, other than my husband, is my best friend. Yeah, cheesy I know, but there it is. I know I can call her any time for a good laugh, to vent about wanting to kill my kids, or just to have another adult to talk to. She's a champ, and I love her!

Next comes my munchkins who are best friends to each other. Coop plays dress up with the best of them when Abby wants him to. They are constantly playing, fighting, playing, and fighting some more. Last night was a difficult night getting everybody to sleep. We recently put Shelby in with Abby and Coop alone in his own room. He has actually quite well. Sometimes however, he just needs a snuggle. So when he finally quieted down last night I went in to check on him, but he wasn't there. Of course, he was snoozing in bed with Abby. Of course I took a picture, but it conveniently got erased with all the crap pictures that Abby took when she got a hold of my camera last night. I'm sure it won't be the last opportunity for that pic.

Here is a classic bathtime shot. This is really the only playtime that Shelby can actually keep up. She is usually found following the other two from room to room, but can't quite keep up. So bathtime she thinks she is pretty hot stuff, playing with the big kids.

This is a shot titled "Naked Tag". Yep, that's right, it's a hit right now. When they get out of the tub they run around the house for a while playing tag in the nude. They have so much fun, and entertain each other for a good 1/2 hour, so I let them play, usually until somebody gets hurt, sometimes longer if the injury doesn't draw blood.

An last, but not least, is my best friend. Unfortunately as I looked through our pics I don't have any pics of just him and me so I used my favorite of my two boys. After 7 years of being together he still makes me laugh every day, can still give me butterflies, and I love him more now than the day we got married. He works so hard every day to make it possible for me to stay home with the kiddos, and is completely simpathetic to the stress of being a stay at home mom, having to fill in from time to time. He is a good man and I am so proud to be his wife!
That enough cheese for ya!
HAPPY VALENTINES!

Funny story

2008-02-11T20:41:00.000-08:00

OK, so as I read all of your blogs, you've got such funny stories, and I've go nothing. Sure funny things happen here daily, but I never think to write them down. I will start paying closer attention. I've got a few little tid bits to share though

I was just folding laundry and was flipping through the channels and came across "Saved By the Bell". Of course I flipped it on and it was classic. "Zack and Kelly's Prom". Kel, a shout out to you for actually marrying someone named Zac. That's fantastic.
The other day I was getting my haircut and came home to find Coop in a different outfit than I left him in. "what happened?" I asked. "Coop dumped his pants, then shoved his hand down, pulled it out and showed me." Yeah, I was pretty excited I was off duty for that one.
This one isn't mine but still a classic. My brother's little girls are hilarious. Olivia (Liv) is almost 3 and Audrey just turned 6. Liv thinks she is pretty hot stuff whenever she gets money, as we all do. But pennies alone will make her happy. So a while ago she went up to Tammy and showed her a penny and said "See that mommy, that's Jesus." Tammy of course didn't argue, and Liv went on playing. Well Audrey heard this and rolled her eyes at Liv and said to her mom, "Mom, that's not Jesus...it's Joseph Smith."

Good stuff huh.

PS Bree had a good idea to share whenever we see people from the past. I personally am totally jealous of Brinkley Freemans spotting of Mr Hiatt at the temple. It is my goal to top that one some time.

Sorry that I'm so boring!

2008-02-10T13:59:00.000-08:00

Well I'm assuming that I do still have some readers out there so I will continue on my quest to blog regularly. My subject today is more of a plea for help. Most of you have inspired me to make my own playlist, and I have. But the question is how do I get the darn thing on my blog now. I've gone to where I get the code, and I've copied it, but where in the blazes do I paste it? And on a totally unrelated topic, Linds- is that bread still bakin' or do we get to meet Bee yet? Anybody have info on that? That's all for now.

I'm sorry but I love this snow!

2008-02-03T13:11:00.000-08:00

Yeah, I know, pain in the butt to drive in, shovel, just be in all around. But I love seeing it out my window, and usually, knowing that I am safe and snug inside. Yesterday we finally got our snowblower fixed so Rob has been out playing all afternoon. These

pics by the way are in fact my swing set, and yes, the swings are covered and it is almost up to the bottom of the swing.

The kids of course are in heaven too. They went to Rhomer yesterday to go tubing. No pics on that one, however a funny story to share. Apparently they all fit on one tube but halfway down the hill Coop fell off and got run over by Rob and Abby. Luckily it was total powder so he just go burried a little. Good times baby.

On a side note I would like to make sure you all know that I know that my memory was real and a little hurt that you all just disregard our good times. If you would like to prove to me that you aren't all void of any high school/college memories, please share some with me.

HAVE YOU NO MEMORIES

2008-01-29T13:53:00.001-08:00

OK, you all disappoint me. This challenge was directed to those of you who were with me during Wacky Women's Week, senior year. I took Austin Strong, I have no idea what we did except for going to H Guy Child's parking lot and circling our cars and playing "The Dance" by Garth Brooks and dancing in the middle. Please tell me I'm not the only one remembering this?

THE CHALLENGE PART 1

2008-01-26T21:25:00.000-08:00

So this is my challenge to you all-I was just on my way home from dropping off my babysitter and I heard the song "The Dance" by Garth Brooks. For those of you who were there, name where we were and what we did that made us so cool.

Annoying moms

2008-01-22T13:08:00.000-08:00

So tell if I'm wrong but shouldn't sick kids be home? Here's the story. Yesterday I had to go into work and conveniently enough Rob was able to arrange his schedule so that he could be home. Well Monday is tumbling and I kind of giggled when I got to tell Rob that he had to take Abby with the other two in tow. This, mind you, is a weekly adventure. Anywho, last night when I was getting the daily report Abby told me that a boy in class was sick. I'm thinking runny nose and whatnot. No, no, she tells me that he threw up in line and then again on the tramp. Well Abby has been one to exagerate so I ask Rob what happen and he confirmed her story but include the last little bit where his mom says, "Yeah, he's been sick, but we have an appointment today at 2:30". The teacher totally let him stay in class too. Maybe she didn't hear what the mom had to say and figured he had done one to many sommersalts (sp?). Honestly, though, I know it's that time of year, and I have totally taken my kids places when they have had runny noses, but throwing up?! I think this woman should be shot! Am I being too harsh?

YAY FOR POOP IN THE POTTY

2008-01-18T14:39:00.000-08:00

So on my list of things I least like about being a mom, potty training is definately at the top. With Abby at first I though, "hey, I don't know what all these mom's are crying about. This will be a peice of cake." Yeah, why didn't you just kick me in the face right then and there. It was a horrible experience, one I wasn't going to repeat with Cooper. When I started with Abby I was a little too gung-ho, and she wasn't quite ready. Though she was showing some signs, I jumped on it a little too fast. So Coop has been showing some signs for a while now, but I have had no motivation due to my first experience. Well after "boy's club" ( a little play group that I have with two of Coop's buddies and there mom's) last week I found out that they were both potty training. One boy is a little older and one a little younger, both moms are first timers. You know me though, my competative side jumped out of me and Coop was put in underware that afternoon, with me giving him the ole pee pee in the potty talk. This was purely for the intent of waiting for his first accident, then I talk to him again about going potty in the potty. This was 8 days ago. I'm letting him decide if he wants to wear underwear or his diaper. Thomas the train makes for fantastic underwear so you can imagine his dilema. Well today my work paid off. No he didn't just pee in the potty, no, no, not my boy. He obviously has his mothers competativeness and went straight for the Big Cahuna, he pooped! Yes, we are yet to have pee in our potty, but pooping is such a huge milestone in itself that I'm proud of my boy! We called Rob at w0rk and shared the news even. Now if we can just get him to actually pee in the potty we will be a "one kid in diapers" house. A girl can only dream!

PS I was going to take a picture to share with you all but decided you would just to prefer to take my word for it

Random pictures and thoughts

2008-01-15T11:20:00.000-08:00

Well I still don't have anything interesting to blog about so I decided to just throw in some pictures and some updates. You all got to throw in pictures of snow at your house so I thought I'd do the same. Yes, that is a wagon completely covered, along with a lawn mower (Coop's mind you) and Abby's scooter.

This is our swing set. The snow comes up completely to the bottom of the swing.

This picture is just what I'd like to label as a sign of the times. This is Abby, my 4 year old, teaching Coop, my 2 year old, how to use the computer. She really knows how to. She has her own favorites folder and she knows the signs that go with each website. Rob called me at work once and said that Abby wanted to play on the computer and asked which websites should he go to for her. I told him to just give her permission to play and she would do the rest. He walked in to the living room from the kitchen and said, "oh, she's already signing online". This generation is so technologically inclined it amazes me. I was talking to Missy about this today and she says that Kati, who is now 8, totally types with her fingers in the right place and everything. They have much to teach us yet.

This is my little walking Shelbs. Does 2 steps count as walking, I thought so. That is her record so far. She really wants to do more and gets mad at you if you try to hold her hands to help her. Why do my kids think they have to be so independant?

This one I threw in just cause it was cute. I love little pigtails. I thought I was such hot stuff when I was little and my mom would braid my piggies. Libby, bust out the old preschool pic, I'm pretty sure that's what I have in, in addition to my cabbage patch kids shirt of course.

I wanted to throw this one in just to show my kids fun imagination. Those are happy meal boxes on their heads. They though they were the coolest ever.

Lastly, I would like to share that today is the first day to register for EFY. Yeah, I was talking to Missy about sending Baylee and we started reminiscing. One thing I was reminded of was that I was at practice when Stac, Lib, and Veronica registered for us and they registered me as Kristen Gaye McDougal. They thought they were hilarious. It was on all of my paperwork, plus for a few years after whenever I'd get stuff from the church it would come to Kristen Gaye McDougal. Oh, the laughs we had about that one.

This is Kristen Gaye signing off.

What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas

2008-01-09T12:12:00.000-08:00

Well that was a fun couple of weeks. Christmas with 3 kids is always a joy. The fact that the "Santa doesn't bring presents to naughty kids" worked over and over and over again, it really made things nice there for a bit. We all had a good Christmas weekend with both families. The following weekend we proved that we are a two lazy bums who really know how to party. We had a couple of places that we could have gone to celebrate the new year but decided that we were tired of onry kids and put them to bed ontime and sat up watching TV, just the two of us. We ended up in bed by 11:30 after watching some stupid show on ESPN about some guy who was going to jump a football field on his motorcycle. It was so dumb! I had a hard time staying awake, you know me. I did however make it to midnight, kissed my cute husband, and was asleep by no later that 12:05. Yeah, we're nerds! The following weekend, as you all, know is my birthday weekend. I of course got my annual birthday card from Lib, hilarious as always. We headed for the lovely Las Vegas for a free stay that comes when you go see one of those timeshare places. 4 days 3 nights, well worth it. The main highlight was when we in Ceasars Palace watching the tables when we met some really nice people, who were also either very wealthy, or more drunk than they appeared. We were watching them play Roulette and he asked me what number I like, I of course said 20, which lost, but he also be on black and even to go with the 20. Those both won and he tipped me $50. Yeah, what's a girl to do. So Rob and I played Roulette for over an hour with this man's money. Now you may say to yourself, wow, you're really good to play Roulette for an hour with just $50. No, no, we lost that $50 the first hand. He just kept giving us money because he kept winning while we were at the table. About $150 for me later I actually won a hand. Shortly, there after Rob did too, and shortly after that we had lost it all. But still this man kept winning on my advise. It was fantastic. At one point I said the number 14 and that number hit dead on, yeah, he won almost $900. I got another $50 for that one. When all was said and done I think we went through a grundle of money and lost it all. Rob won big too, and of course lost it as well. The moral of the story is this: I will never gamble again unless it is with someone elses money. I would have been sick if that money was mine. I probably went through $300-400 of this man's money. His philosophy was, keep betting big and then when you win it doesn't look like your losing any. Yeah, great advise.

2007-12-21T14:51:00.000-08:00

Well I just went through my blog list and got mad at "some people" who haven't posted in a few weeks, then realized I am one of those people. There really isn't a whole lot to brag about lately, but I've always got interesting stories don't I? I'll share a few about each of us.

ROB- you know that handsome guy that I am married to is a champ. He puts up with a whole lot from me, and mind you it doesn't go unappreciated. Well recently a friend of mine had a big screen TV GIVEN to them. Yeah, the picture was pretty shaky and her husband can fix just about anything so they took it. Well her husband is crazy busy right now, and the TV was in her kitchen so she asked if we wanted it. Um, yeah, let me think about that. So we took it off their hands, took it to the TV repair shop, and $65 later we are the proud owners of a 50" big screen. We are very excited, and just in time for bowl season too!
KRISTEN: One of the things that Rob puts up with is my beautiful voice. You know you sound pretty good when the radio is up real loud, but in the privacy of your own home you can really belt it and it doesn't matter how you sound. Mind you, I am one who loves the holidays, so lately it has been Christmas music filling our home. Sometimes from the radio, but usually from my own set of pipes. Two nights ago Rob informed me that he thought I should quit my career and join the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Did I catch some sarcasm in his voice? I think so. You know it's bad when Coop comes up to me and says in his cute little boy voice, "No, no, Mommy. No singin'." If I don't stop he actually starts to cry.
ABBY: Well as much as I love this little girl, she might actually be the death of me. I haven't played the role of Cassey lately (or Casey, as some of you refer to me as). Although her new idea is wanting to move downstairs. We'll just see about that.
COOPER: This little guy thinks he is hilarious, and to be honest so do I. However, this is one for the books. I am one that loves velcro on diapers, but I think Coopy is sometimes a little to active for his own good. A couple of weeks ago, one morning when I had Andra's kids as a matter of fact, Cooper came into the kitchen and I could "smell him" if you will. Mind you I change poopy diapers multiple times a day so, as much as it isn't the highlight, it isn't to big a deal. This time however, as I was following him back to his room I saw that there was poop all over his jammies and his right leg looked extra thick. That's right folks, his diaper had fallen off just in time for him to poop in his jammies. That was a fun one to clean up. Put that my list of things that will make me literally dry heave. The funniest part about this story is that I innocently asked Rob to get Coop dressed and ready for the day this morning, and the same thing happened again. It's a lot funnier when it doesn't happen to you.
SHELBY: This little girl, I'm sorry, but is the cutest thing you've ever seen. If she is hungry or tired she gets cranky (a little like myself), other than that she's such a trooper. Abby sometimes thinks that she is a little more durable that she really is. In fact as I type this I have had to stop multiple times to get Abby to ease up. She likes to pull Shelby's legs out from under her while she crawls. Yeah, she's likes to test me to my limits.

Well those are all I have for now, hopefully these will make up for my lack of keeping up with my regular postings. MERRY CHRISTMAS!

2007-12-10T16:04:00.000-08:00

Well we finally made it. This past fall Missy and I were talking about how Ellen turns 60 this year. Yes, I know, she will always be a spring chick to all of us, but sure enough, she is there. So Missy and I thought, we are the greatest daughters in the world. How better to show our mother that than to take her on a weekend getaway to Vegas, maybe hit a few strip clubs, you know the routine. Well we decided to go and see Mama Mia. It worked out really well too. Ellen, Missy, Tammy, Christy, and I all made the trip. We were so sad that Nat couldn't come, but it was to expensive to fly in from No. Cali. Anywho it was a very fun trip filled with shopping, eating, reading, and of course the show.

Here is a pic of us at our own private booth at PF Chang's. It was pretty yummy, as I'm sure you all know.

A few highlights of the trip include the MASSIVE storm that we had to leave early friday morning to escape, dinner the cheesecake factory, shopping at some new (at least new to me) outlets down there, dinner at PF Changs, some young buck at Ballagio trying to strip for us, and Spice Girls concert being at the same hotel and on the same night as our show. Very exciting, I know. Well overall it was a fun trip, and the show is fantastic!

Cute kids

2007-12-04T13:41:00.000-08:00

So I watched Andra's kids today. I've watched them a couple of times while she goes to school. It's a peice of cake really, they're easy going kids and they just play with my kids the whole time, plus Abby thinks she is the babysitter. Anywho, most of you haven't seen Andra's kids for a while, if ever with Truman, so I though I'd share these pics with you. Abby was at preschool so she didn't get in the pics.

Cooper and Sole really just play and hang out most of the time. Truman just follows them around doing random things. It's pretty cute

You might be thinking, or maybe not, why isn't Shelby in the picture with Truman? Well each time I tried to get that he would attack her. In a cute way though. He just really wanted to hug her, or lay on top of her, or swap binkis with her, whatever. Who cares if it's RSV season right?

Any who, just thought I'd share the friendly moment:D

12' snowman

2007-12-01T14:04:00.000-08:00

Thank heavens for husbands who are like, or are, little boys in a man's body. Today with all the snow the kids were ecstatic to build a snowman with Rob. He needed to work this morning so when he got home the kids were jumping off the walls. They had already gone out for the usual 10 minutes of playtime that they do every morning after it snows. It takes 15 minutes to get all there gear on, they last 10 outside, then they get sent to the bathroom to "derobe" and throw there wet stuff in the tub. Needless to say, when he got home at noon he was right back outside, almost immediately. Heres the play-by-play.

Yeah, the ball on bottom is huge and the second ball that he made was just as big, luckily he didn't throw his back out or get a hernia trying to lift it. So he chopped it in half and went peice by peice.

...yeah that didn't work, so he then proceded to make it into what he likes to call a rameumptom (check you local Topical Guide for that one), the kids thought it was great.

After that they just started packing snow on and I kept taking picture after picture until finally he told me to put the camera away because it wasn't even close to being done. At this point it was over 6' tall.

Shelby and I played on the floor for a while, but she sure liked to watch them play, she wanted to be out with them!

At one point I looked out the window and saw this...

and this...

Finally this!!!

Oh, no,but then this.

And now this is in my front yard. They love it anyway!

What have you cleaned up in the last 13 days?

2007-11-26T20:16:00.001-08:00

Well you know I'm a bit of a competitive nut, so here's the challenge: if you can top this list of things I've recently cleaned up then you are my all time hero of heroes.

Nov. 14 12:30 am-Disneyland hotel, Cooper throws up all over his bed. Change that out. Sleeps through the night
Nov. 14 numerous times throughout the day, Coop continues to lose it.
Nov 16 5:30 pm-SLC international airport, we thought Coop was just dehydrated in California and was still recovering, he loses it again while we wait for my brother right by baggage claim. Luckily we were hidden enough that we were able to take care of business without a scene.
Nov 16 7:00 pm-We arrive home from our fun filled trip to find that before we had left Abby apparently found the switch in the fridge and turned the whole thing off. Did you know that if the fridge gets turned off then the freezer will be turned off too? Yeah, me neither, but now we both know, don't we. Three full garbage bags full of food including a full bag of chicken (literally we had used one peace out of it) from Sam's Club, a full bag of corn and green beans, both from Sam's. Along with multiple little things like Mayo, left overs, bananas in the freezer for a future batch of banana bread (which actually melted, it you can beleive that) sauces (although ketchup interestingly enough does not have to be refrigerated, lucky us), you know the little things in your fridge-all gone. I'd been meaning to clean out the fridge here soon, no time like the present. This could be looked at as a blessing right?
Now there is a bit of a break here that I don't know the specifics of what I have cleaned up but being the mom of 3, I'm sure that could make an interesting list in and of itself.
Nov 25 Shelby throws up at church. I don't mean spit up, I mean she lost most of the six oz bottle she just drank all of the floor. Luckily she was playing on the floor at the time, plus we were on the back row so we didn't have to be too incogneto.
Between yesterday and today she has thrown up a few more times plus had a few lovely blowouts, one giving me the opportunity to take apart her car seat and wash that pad, been needed to do that one too. What a blessing!
Tonight Abby starts complaining about her tummy hurting and we were like, blah, blah, blah...hey, she's 4, she thinks TUMS taste good and is regularly trying to get her hands on some. We blow it off. I go in and lay down with her and she says she has to go potty, about 30 seconds later I hear some splashing on the tile floor, if you will, and I'll leave it at that. Just know this, my experience in the last 2 weeks has taught me that the older they get, the grosser it is to clean up after them. A small tip: if you breathe into you sleave during the process, it lessens the smell considerable. Also having your cute husband spraying Febreeze above you during the process is a big help.

In conclusion, thanks heavens for:

cleaning ladies who, although don't speak english, do come through with supplies when needed
Febreeze
Clorox and Lysol disinfecting wipes
And last but not least, washing machines

Top that list and I'll buy you lunch, I could use a break!

We lived to tell the tale

2007-11-20T14:02:00.000-08:00

Well I know you've all been dying to see my Disneyland pics, but first I'll fill you in on some of the more exciting points. Good ole Bob takes us to the airport, we get to the terminal unload our gear and I turn to Rob with a panic look on my face and ask, "where's the Dora backpack?"...the Dora backpack, mind you, had all of our Itinerary, maps, ID for the kids, etc. PLUS coloring books, picture books, all kinds of entertainment for the kids on the plane...Rob looks back at me with fear in his eyes and replies, "I didn't get it". This was the beginning of mommy's potty mouth. There were a few more occasions that it happened as well, I'll try not to include those moments. We got on the plane OK and still had our DVD player to keep the kids quiet. First night we went to the beach and the peir. There was a seal there barking at the people fishing and they would throw him fish. It was really fun. Day 2 was Disneyland. I can't describe the excitement from Abby all day. Coop had fun too. We did all the usual Disneyland stuff. Abby and I got to wait in line for an hour to meet some princesses, then we got to go dance with them. She was in heaven. The show there at night right now is called Fantasmic, it was awesome. That night, about midnight Coop wakes up and throws up all over his bed. Yeah, this could be interesting. Abby sleeps through the whole thing, we toss her onto our bed, change there sheets and pray it was just something he ate. He sleeps through the rest of the night, but first thing the next morning it's throw up city. Abby and Daddy go to California adventure while Coop and I snuggle in bed, watch TV, and luckily for me, play Bejeweled on Rob's palm pilot. By noon I'm out of blankets, sheets, pillowcases, everything. The cleaning ladies didn't speak any english but once I got it communicated that Coop was sick, they were very helpful with more supplies. Rob came back to switch me about 2:00 at which point Coop was holding some cheerios and water down. I then took Abby back to California Adventure for some fun. Rob calls about 4:30 and Coop was bouncing off the walls. We think he was just dehydrated. How bad of a mom/nurse am I? DUH? So we finished the night strong. Thursday was our last day of play and here is my advise, squeeze in a day of rest, if you will, during a park hopper trip. The kids were so tired and worn out by this point, things were a little difficult. Luckily there were some places at Disneyland we hadn't yet seen, so distraction still worked. Plus dancing with the stars was there that night, so that was fun. Then Friday we came home, and for those of you interested Tommy Lee was on our flight and I stood right next to him in line for about 15 second, I know, I'll be signing autographs for those who want them. Overall it was an awesome trip, I'm glad I took Coop, and although I really missed Shelbs, I'm glad she stay home. Abby got to meet all of the princesses except Snow White, and we met all the characters including 3 different Mickeys. I took about 80 pictures so I'll only give you a few classics.

Being dead isn't all that bad

2007-11-09T14:41:00.000-08:00

Nothing too exciting has happened lately, so I haven't really had anything to write about. I will however share a bit from my life just so that you know I haven't forgotted about my blog. So Abby and I have an ongoing pretend game that happens almost everyday. Basically it's playing house. Abby is the mom, Coop and Shelbs are her kids and I am the babysitter. So she'll come in when I doing random things-working on the computer, doing the dishes, cleaning up, whatever- and she will have her purse on her shoulder, sometimes with sunglasses on, maybe her cell phone out. She will procede to give me babysitting instructions (ie when to feed Shelby next, or change her next, or her nap schedule. She also of course fills me in on Coop's daily routine). Then she tells me where she is going...work, the store, a meeting, on a date with her boyfriend/husband, depending on the day, Josh Williams, who conveniently enough is her cousin (hey, she's 4, she doesn't quite know that some things are against the law for a reason). Anywho, she usually doesn't refer to me by any specific name, and I haven't thought anything about it. Well the other day she refered to me as Casey. I said, "Oh, is that my name? Where's your mom?""Oh, she died", she replies casually. Yeah, apparently I don't mean a whole lot to my 4 year old, and she just kills me off whenever she feels like it. Should this worry me?
Anywho we're off to Disneyland on Monday until Friday so be excited for fun pictures next time. Have a fun week.

Happy Halloween

2007-11-01T10:28:00.001-07:00

So this is a classic way to be able to brag about how cute my kids were last night, and I'm gonna take advantage of it. If she isn't the cutest darn elephant out there, who is? Thanks to Andra in letting me borrow the costume.

My little Elmo was going to be a green monster but I couldn't talk him into it after he saw this costume that was Abby's two years ago. Elmo is adorable though, so I can't complain.

Abby had her heart set on a witch all year so luckily when we went to our favorite halloween store (AKA Missy's house) they had a cute one. She put it on at 8:00 am and didn't take it of until bedtime, plus she got to wear it again today to school. Lucky her.

This one is of Rob on Monday "carving" pumkins (look closely and you can see his drill). The kids wanted Mickey Mouse pumkins this year, so Rob busted out one of his drill bits that he uses to drill big holes through your framing to put pipe through and gave the kids Mickey Mouse in about two minutes.

I don't know if you can tell from the picture, but they turned out really cute.

Unfortunately Rob was in bed all afternoon and night with a bad cold so I was on my own for trick or treating. Thank heavens for sisters who don't live in neighborhoods as scary as mine:D Hope you all had fun last night too!

I can't help but love these

2007-10-20T14:28:00.000-07:00

So Veronica put a "tag" blog up and I love these things. I'm sure that some of you are so bored with them but I have fun answering the questions, and have fun reading all of your answers. You all must join in the fun

Three biggest fears? My first is for sure the dark. Yes, total pansy when it comes to the dark. I can sleep in the dark now but, get a little spooked going down into my dark basement. You just never know what serial killer is hiding in the dark.(On a side note I would like to add in that Libby's little sister, Missy, just stopped by on a scavenger hunt for Deer Hunt. She is so Libby it's rediculous. She was even cheating, Lib, you'd be proud) Second scary movies. Now you might say, "That doesn't count, we are all scared of them". No, no, you don't understand, I am terrified of them. I have a photographic memory when it comes to them and I can terrify myself at will without even wanting to. Third, I'm not a big fan of people who don't pay attention when they drive. Some of you can testify to the anger that I will exibit during these moments. This is all due to the rollover incident.
When was the last time you danced? Today when Abby and I got our Polar Express CD in the mail. We popped it in and Abby, Cooper, and I danced to "Hot Chocolate".
Do you creep on stranger's blogs? Let's put it this way, Dawn, on my bloggin buddies, I don't even know her last name, let alone know her or talked to her. She is just hilarious and I want to share her humor.
If you could go back to any age for a day what age would it be? I really loved high school. We had so much fun doing such random things.
Are you a good liar? Sometimes, depends on the pressure.
Do you judge someone when you can tell they've had elective cosmetic surgery? Sometimes people take it to the extreme, and that's just rediculous. But maybe some day I will have a nip or a tuck... let's be honest, we all know my boobs have been way too big for way too long. Three kids later...it ain't pretty:D
If you have children, what's one thing that you always told yourself you'd never do when you had kids? If you don't have kids, whats one thing you say you'll never do? This is a good question. I don't think I left too much out. I now understand why I see kids at the store with crazy hair. Sometimes Abby gets to do her hair when we don't have much to do and then we'll decide to go out and I sometimes don't have the heart to change it. She is just so proud of the job she has done. Don't judge parents with young girls with crazy hair!
What's something that totally grosses you out? I'm a nurse for crying out loud, it takes a lot. Pass
Do you delete forwards without reading them? Depending on how big it is. I usually only read the readables. Sometime I look at the pictures, depending on who it is from.
Do you ever lie to get out of obligations? Not necessarily lie, but I do use the kids as excuses when needed.
Consider your body weight and your yearly income at their present states. Would you rather be 200 pounds heavier and $200,000 richer or stay at your present state? For sure present state. I'm happy, healthy, and poor (will not really poor, but more money will be nice someday)
When was the last time you bought a pair of shoes and what were they? Flip flops this past summer. I wear mine out every year and always need a new pair the next.
The Olympics, take 'em or leave 'em? Totally take 'em. Even though some/most of the athletes are probably on roids, they are still incredible to watch. I can't imagine being an athlete for a living! It gets me excited just talking about it. I love to watch the swimming stuff, skiing stuff, of course the gymnasts are amazing. I could go on and on!
What's your favorite accent? I love a man with an Australian accent. It doesn't get much better than that.
What's your favorite scent? Rob still has the same cologne that he wore when we first started dating. He, obviously, rarely wears it, but when he does, ooohhweee. I also love the smell of rain.
Gum or breath mints? You know I really like both but I always have gum on hand, it just lasts longer.
If you could look like any celebrity, who would it be? Probably Julia Roberts or Jennifer Garner. Rob likes big smiles (have you seen my smile?)
If you had the chance of looking like said celebrity in exchange for your thumbs would you do it? No, I like my thumbs
Do you religiously wear sunscrean? No, do I put it on my kids? No, are we gonna get skin cancer? Hope not!
Do you generally trust people/their motives or doubt people/their motives? Trust, usually to a fault. I can be very naive sometimes.
Would you describe yourself as a complicated person or is what you see is what you get? Totally the latter, again sometimes to a fault. I will usually say it how it is.
Do you watch what you eat? Not really. I usually eat what sounds good, PB&J or PB&H...decisions, decisions
Do you watch what other people eat? Absolutely, and if I want it I ask for it, unless my kids beat me to the punch then I share theirs.
Do you judge other people on how they raise their kids? I try not to cause I know that there are all different kinds of circumstances, but come on, pay attention, don't let your kids bug other people. That's a peave of mine.
Do you judge people who dress poorly? Again, I try not to. Plus sometimes I feel like that is me.
Do you judge people who are homely? No
Do you judge people who are overweight? It has been my experience that people who are over weight are usually hilarious and fun to be around. So I try not to no.
Your interest in politics: high, medium, low, obsolete? I want to say medium, this whole Referendum 1 has gotten me a little riled up.
Favorite song of all time? Lots, right now I'm really liking the Keri Underwood, "I'll Stand By You".
Acoustic or electric? Acoustic for sure
If you were a hermit would you shave? Absolutely not, I rarely do now:)
If you could shave your head without you sig. other throwing a fit would you? Probably not, still tempting though isn't it?
What was you least favorite age? Elementary was kind of tough, I wanted to be a boy for crying out loud. Some definate learning experiences there.
How many times do you check you e-mail? I try to at least once a day, it doesn't always happen though
Are you in a tiff with anyone right now? I hope not

OK that's it, I know it was a long one. Now you're up to answer and post!

CLARIFICATION

2007-10-16T13:38:00.000-07:00

I now realize that you probably all think that I am crazy putting my 2 year old on the top bunk. For the record Coop is on bottom, Abby is on top. Coop does like to climb up and play on Abby's bed and he has now mastered climbing down the ladder. Please don't think I'm crazy enough to trust little Coopy up top

BUNK BEDS

2007-10-15T14:26:00.001-07:00

So last week Cooper called Rob and I in to his room to show us a new trick. When we got there he was riding the rail to his crib. Very talented. Needless to say that was his last night in his crib like a horse. The next day I got on trusty ol' KSL.com and found some bunk beds and they experienced their first night in bunks. Of course the pictures won't download to my computer so we'll have to look at those later. But I'll just let you know how things are going. Night 1: Coop can't quite figure out how to get down off the top bunk. We have to go in there multiple times to get him down before bedtime has even arrived. It takes the kids until 10:00 to wind down and fall asleep. Night 2: Rob has a b-ball game and my neighbor comes over to hang out while they "sleep". Well shortly after we leave the kids come out and get sent back to bed, but end up snuggling in Coop's bed together. Night 3:Amazingly uneventful. Night 4: I hear a thud and Coop crying at about 12:30. I put him back to bed and we're good from there. Last night I get up to go to perform my ritual with Shelby where she spits out her binki at 2:00 and I get to go put it back in. I check on the kids and Cooper is asleep in a pile of books over by the bookshelf. Needless to say, he hasn't quite gotten the hang of things yet. We'll see what happens

I'm a loser

2007-10-09T11:37:00.000-07:00

So I was looking at some blogs yesterday and saw that some of you have listed some of your favorite sites that you go to. I decided that would be a fun little addition to my site so I started creating a list...um yeah I look at blogs, look a houses, or shop online for fun. KSL.com is also a little addiction of mine. However I'm too ashamed to publish this all out in the open for all to see so I'm admitting it just between us and then I'll be done with it. I would like to say that I have some inspirational place to link you to that would make you think, "Wow, that Kristen Jolley is one gal that really has it together." (I really encourage any of you to use the word gal, by the way). Unfortunatly I don't but I will tell you some of the fun things I do when I'm at these sites. I like to go to utahrealestate.com. This is a link to Utah's MLS (real estate's main site for agents). I sometimes will type in a rediculous price for a house, and look through the tours just to get ideas on decor and layout. Now do I do anything with these ideas? No, but the ideas are there none-the-less. That's all for now.

Cousin Stacy

2007-10-06T15:50:00.001-07:00

Well I know I have mentioned her before, but I'm really bragging this time. My cousin Stacy, the founding editor for a big fancy scrapbook magazine, had an interview with a Parenting type magazine. I have readded her link to my page and want you all to check it out. The link will take you to her blog and there is a link on there to take you to the interview. She is fantastic and hilarious. She is an absolutely incredible mother, and person for that matter. And she is one of those people who is so down to earth and near perfect, but also so blessed and gifted that you might want to hate her, but there is no way that you could even come close. Anyway check out her blog and her stories.

Can anyone say Kelly Kapowski

2007-10-03T12:32:00.001-07:00

So in the medical profession we have the HIPPA law that makes it so I can't talk about my patients and my mom also has some rule that makes it so that she can't talk about her students. But plumbers have no such laws, so, I would just like to share with you all that Rob did a job for Kelly Kapowski's (Tiffany Theissan) mother-in-law. For those of you Saved By the Bell buffs out there like myself, you can understand I'm sure how cool that is for me to spill. I guess she married some trauma surgeon in California who is a Morgan native whose mom now lives in Layton. Isn't it a small world.

PS I wanted to find picture of her from her SBTB days but I was too lazy to look very hard, I'm sure you can picture the big bangs and everthing if you try hard enough.

4 year olds and scissors

2007-10-01T14:09:00.000-07:00

No, don't worry Abby didn't cut her hair. However not 10 days ago we (she and I went shopping together) bought her a but little, yellow velor outfit from Mervyn's. It was one of those comfy outfits to just lounge in. She wore it the first day that we bought it and again yesterday after church and today to tumbling. After we put Coop down for a nap we were coloring and cutting out projects. I got on the computer to work for a little bit and lo and behold, somehow her scissors found the bum of her pants. She did a good job of hiding it for a while but soon enough she felt too guilty and told me what happened. Of course the scissors got thrown away (OK I just hid them from her) and the pants too (again just hidden in my dresser, hopefully grandma can be a seemstress miracle worker). She has been crying on and off for about an hour now, whenever she thinks of those poor pants. "But mom, they were old" she says. Yeah, a woppin' 9 days old, I need a mommy timeout.

First tooth...again

2007-09-28T15:16:00.000-07:00

You know after I'd been through it twice already, plus even thinking a couple of weeks ago that Shelby was almost 6 months old and her first tooth would come soon, you'd think that I would have realized immediately that Shelby acting the way she has been acting, that I would have known what to look for. For those of you first timers, here are a couple of key signs...no longer sleeping through the night (that she did only about a handful of times anyway), runny nose, extra fussy, drooly, and chewy. Sometimes they get fevers, but mine never did. Now Shelby did not go through the last three, she's always, chewy and drooly, but not too fussy. I would just like this post to admit that I feel like an idiot that I have to relearn this every time. Maybe next time I will get it right.

Thank you Dude

2007-09-27T20:23:00.000-07:00

So we are teaching Cooper how to say prayers and, you know how it goes, you say something, he repeats it and so forth. Coop will repeat most of the words but usually leaves some out. Well today we were blessing the food and we opened the prayer and I said, "Thank you for this food" and Coop said, "Thank you Dude". Now of course he doesn't say his f's so dude really is food, but it was still really cute. You know that one made heavenly father laugh, hope it made you laugh, too.

NOW & THEN

2007-09-21T14:35:00.000-07:00

This was on TV yesterday morning and Abby thought it was fantastic. What is really funny is that I haven't seen it in years but the people that we portrayed back then, some of us still portray now. Take for instance me and my character, Roberta, the Christina Ricci/Rosie O'Donell character...hated her boobs, could beat up boys, though also liked kissing them on the sly, liked playing sports, and she becomes an OB where I of course became an RN. Plus she still lives in her hometown, where I couldn't live closer to my parents unless I lived in there basement. This movie is totally a classic and I love that Abby liked it too.

My Fantasy

2007-09-14T14:17:00.000-07:00

You know as I go through each day it can seem like a repeat of the previous day with small variations throughout. Cooper is usually the first to awake between 6:30 and 7:30 (I love it when he makes is that long) followed shortly by his sisters because, let's face it, he's two and isn't exactly familiar with stealth mode yet. I have turned into one of those moms who adores morning cartoons so that I can actually have time to wake up. When everyone is awake we go through the daily argument about what will be for breakfast. If the kids had it their way we would have cereal 3 meals a day 7 days a week. Yes, they did inherit that trait from their mother. But I try to make them something healthy while letting them "snack" on some cereal in a cup. Our daily activities range from the library, park, Abby's preschool, tumbling, play group, Treehouse museum, ect. We usually are home for lunch and Cooper goes down for a nap aroung 1ish. Some days even, like today for instance, Abby is a BEAR and takes a nap too. THIS IS MY SANITY! Don't get me wrong I love my children, but I do love my breaks as well. This is when the house is quiet (except for me clicking the mouse or folding clothes or cleaning up...whatever) and I get time to myself. At these moments I sometimes drift off into this fantasy of sleeping in late (isn't it funny how late used to be 11 or 12 and now it has turned in 9ish) waking up, just because my body decided it was time to wake up. I look over and Rob is missing. I can hear him in the kitchen (mind you this kitchen is a fabulous kitchen that I dream about in my dream home. Let's just say is has room for more that one person to move around unlike the kitchen I have now) and he is making a wonderful meal. I tend to lean toward the time of year being winter so that when I finish my meal prepared by my own personal chef I go into the great room with a cup of hot cocoa, with marshmallows, and sit in a big schmumfy chair and read the newspaper, front to back without interruption. At this point I am able to go shower, ALONE, without having to sneak off so the kids won't hear. The funny part is that is as far as I have made it in this fantasy of mine because I'm usually interupted at this point. For those of you who may think that this fantasy is rediculous, call me in about 2 years and recheck that, and for those of you who have fantasies of your own, I would love to hear them, and remember, this is a family show.

Number 19

2007-09-08T14:22:00.001-07:00

Well it's official, I'm a soccer mom. We have been going to the cousins games and I asked her if she wanted to play and amazingly enough she actually said yes. I was quite surprised, I thought tumbling would be all she would ever want to do. Anyway, so Abby had her first "game" today. I use that term very loosely because it was crazy and chaotic and so much fun. It's not all that easy coralling 4 year old girls into playing the simple game of soccer. Here's the days diary entry:

12:30-arrive at Friendship park with much enthusiasm and family in tow. They said to be there at 12:30 to get our uniforms and then meet on the field. We of course are right on time (I know I was pretty shocked too) and get our unies ("purple, but mom I thought you said we would be pink";"I know I said that honey, I thought you would be pink but purple is such a cool color too"; "oh, yeah, that's right"). "Do you want a ball too, they're only $10?" (I think to myself, crap I should have got a stupid ball at Walmart for $5 when we were the getting guards and cleats, that ended up being to big.) "yeah, we'll take a ball, Rob where's your wallet?"

12:35-Into our trusty minivan while Rob has Coop and Shelb at the park and change into our uni. These socks are HUGE, they would fit me. I totally fold them over twice. Lace up them cleats, she's as cute as a button. Let's take a picture, crap where's the camera, at home on the table along with the water bottle.

12:40-Well we're ready for gametime. Only 20 minutes to go. "Abs, let's go kick the new ball"; "no I want to go play at the park with Cooper"; "whatever".

12:45-"Rob run home and get the camera and the water bottle"

1:00-OK it's finally game time. 50 4 year old girls stretching out trying not to draw too much attention to themselves, and parents watching with pride.

1:30-After a 1/2 hour of basic drills that were kind of a joke, it's game time. "No Abby you're purple you need to kick the ball to that goal"; "I'm thirsty"; "We'll drink later, go get the ball" she sneaks around me as I'm trying to coach the other girls and gets her water bottle, next time I see her she is running down the field with her water bottle in tow. I steal it from her and give it back to Rob.

2:00-Times up, time to go. Some girl on the other team scored like 6 goals, she's a natural. Meanwhile Abby along with 4 or 5 other girls could have cared less what just happened. Nobody cared if they won or lossed. Abby was extatic to be out there and as long as she's happy, I'm happy.

New Buddies

2007-08-29T20:44:00.000-07:00

I'd just like to point out that I added some new buddies to my list and also deleted my cousin Stacy because her link wouldn't work although for you scrapbook junkies, she is the scrapbook queen. She is the editor for some big fancy magazine and goes all over the world speaking at conventions and such. She is awesome. One that I added I really don't know this lady but was e-mailed her link to a Ebay auction that she had. I was laughing so hard I had to stop reading and calm myself down before I could continue. Please read her blog regularly, she's HILARIOUS! That's all for tonight

Motherhood

2007-08-27T14:06:00.000-07:00

I have a good friend who had previously decided that she was not going to have kids and then found out that she was pregnant. To this friend I wanted to share some of the pros and cons of motherhood and if any of you have more to list please feel free to do so

Pro-the first time you get to hold you little baby

Con-when sleep deprivation kicks in and you lose you mind

Pro-seeing your big tough husband become a daddy

Con-2,3,4,5,6 am feedings. Get a lazy boy in that baby's room and get comfortable.

Pro-Their first smile (even if it is just gas)

Con-teething

Pro-when they finally say momma even though they have been saying dada for weeks

Con-Anytime they get sick. It's horrible to know that there is nothing that you can do but snuggle them.

Pro-When they learn to say "I wuv you!"

Con-When they learn the word "NO!"

Pro-first steps

Con-first skinned knees

Pro-finally not having to buy diapers

Con-potty training

Pro-when they become a big brother or sister

Con-protecting the new baby from their curious siblings

Pro-first day of school:D

Con-first day of school :(
I could go on and on, but I won't, just know Linds, that in the end the pros will always out weigh the cons.

Our Family Pictures

2007-08-23T14:22:00.000-07:00

Well I finally have cute updated pictures of all of my kids. I always said that I wouldn't be one of those moms that let there babies go too long without getting there pictures taken. I did really well with Abby. Birth, 3, 6, 9, 12, and 18 months, 2, and 3 years. Cooper I didn't do so well. I think I had 2 months,6 months, and 1 year. Now Shelby, yeah, well I blinked and she turned 5 months old. I have tons of snap shots of all of them, just not professional. Well now I do. Thanks to my good friend Veronica, who by the way is "in the business" now, I have a plethera of pictures of my cute family. If you want to see more click here http://picasaweb.google.com/ReeveGirls/JolleyFamilyPhotos?authkey=tLUxh5zkDxs .

Mattell

2007-08-22T14:47:00.000-07:00

When I started this blogging thing I wanted to try do a post every couple of days. I always think of things I could put in here, but just never get around to it. Well today the nurse in me is making me make this post today. When I was at the pediatrician last week we were told to go to Mattell.com and see if we had any toys on the list of recalls. Apparently they had been using a type of paint with too much lead in it. So I'm making all of you (who have kids old enough to care) go to Mattell.com and check the list because if you have any then you need to call your MD and see if they want blood drawn. Of course if you want my opinion, here's what I did. I checked the list, found that I did actually have a toy on there, threw the toy away, and called it good. I decided that I hadn't seen the kids play with it enough lately and if there was a problem that they would have shown symptoms by now. Call me a bad mom. But that was my philosophy.

Ode to Coop

2007-08-16T20:03:00.000-07:00

Well my little boy had his second birthday and I've had so much fun with him so far. He is my little comedian. He is a boy through and through. He loves Cars and we watch it daily, sometimes multiple times. He loves trucks and trains and tractors and bikes and dirt and balls and on and on and on. Oh, yeah, and occassionally you might find him in a Cinderella dress that he likes to wear when Abby plays dress up. He loves to walk around the house with his train saying, "chugga, chugga, chugga", he never throws in a "choo, choo", but it is darn cute. He will sometimes bring one of his smaller trucks to the breakfast table and he will "load" a peice of waffle or egg or whatever onto the bed and take it for a ride around the table to see the scenery before he eats it. This can make for long meals but it makes eating fun and he eats every last bite. He loves his sisters so much. He follows Abby around like a puppy. He will play just about anything she wants him to and just loves being included. He loves to play with Shelby though sometimes isn't all that good at it. He can get pretty rough. But her face lights up when he is trying (until she gets injured).

I love my little boy so much. He brings adventure to everyday.

Milestones

2007-08-07T12:49:00.001-07:00

Well we have been reaching a few milestone around here lately. Shelby rolled over a few weeks ago, which Abby and Cooper didn't know why I was cheering for Shelb but thought it must be something good and joined in the excitement.

And I'm not sure for how long but she is also sitting up on the her own. This picture of it is kind of funny because her dress covers her legs and it looks like she doesn't have any.

As for the other two, tonight Abby is going to her first big girl slumber party. It is at her Grandma Bobbi's (Rob's mom) and she is pumped. She gets to go down with the other older girl cousins and I think they are going to have some sort of a princess night. Barb goes all out for these things and they have a blast. So I'm excited for her.

Then there's my little Coop doggy dog. He turns 2 tomarrow. He is my little man. He won't sit still for the camera too long so I had to put in this other pic from Bear Lake with his big boy cousins because he's a big boy now.

I'm one of those moms that gets so excited for the milestones and doesn't look back. On the other hand when I fold up Shelby's little clothes that she grows out of, it's crazy to think that I may not have another little girl that small again. But then things happen like Abby's sleepover and it helps the nostalgia fade and I'm OK with it. We'll see what happens though when it's my last baby and last set of milestones.

Family Reunions

2007-08-02T08:31:00.000-07:00

This past month we had a reunion month. Rob's family, his mom's side, got together at Cherry Hill, which I have never been. Rob didn't think that it was worth the money that we paid, but the kids had a blast, and after I left and took Shelby to Missy's house, I had fun too. I have to admit that Abby is already pretty daring. I don't think that I would have done some of those slides when I was only 4.

Cooper had fun in the lazy river but hit the wall before it was time to go.

And of course we had the family pic, but Coop was sleeping and Shelby was gone so you get 3 out of 5.

The other family reunion was for my family. It wasn't really a family reunion so much as a family vacation. We went up to Bear Lake for the first time since we were all little and had a blast.

...can you say Bone Thugs in Harmony...

...who needs an ATV when you have a cool pink and blue bike...

Shelby was not so hot on sleeping in a tent, but she sure looked cute all bundled up!

Abby and I got some bug while we were there, which brings me to the moral of this post...always keep Pepto in your camping gear. Thank heavens for sisters who aren't afrain to spen $4 on a small bottle of Pepto. She had a blast at the beach and on the boat.

Overall it was a good trip, other than not sleeping because of Shelby and our "bug" issues. Anyone remember the trip we took to Jenni's condo up there? Getting fried and hiding from Nicole on the deck is all I can remember. That was a fun trip, too. My next post won't be so long, I promise.

It's about time

2007-07-28T11:33:00.000-07:00

Well I've finally followed through with the blog that I created months ago but never posted anything. In fact it took a while for me to remember my blog address. So here we are finally. Rob totally makes fun of me for doing this but I want somewhere to show off my cute kids too. I think he just doesn't like the work blog to be honest. So I'm sure everyone is interested in stories from the mother of three so I'll share one now. Please feel free to close me out if you are not interested. So on Thursday night we had a softball game and we usually just take a babysitter with us. Well when we got there we found out we played until we lost, how unfortunate for our babysitter, but she said that she could stay as long as we needed her. For the record we did not win a whole lot of games this season so we did not think it we be a long night. After we won game 1 we sent the kids home with Megan (the babysitter of the year) and stayed thinking we'd lose the second game. After we won game 3, talking with Megan regularly throughout, we started game 4 when I got a phone call, Cooper had just thrown up everywhere. Mind you we are out at Weber County Fair grounds with no car, my mom is out of town, and my sister's child just had 4 teeth pulled, I had nowhere to turn. I apologized about a million times and basically told here to do what she needed to do to survive and I would be home as soon as I could. Luckily we lost that game (the championship game, mind you) and we got home about 10:30. I gave Megan $30 and few more apologies, dumped so corn starch on the throw up, threw in a load of laundry while Rob moved both kids into our bed where he slept with them, and was in Sofa City by 11:15. (anyone catch that reference?)
Cooper's fine now, apparently he got it out of his system, but now Abby's down and out. The moral of the story, Corn Starch makes throw-up vacuumable after an overnight soak, use the tube though so the the throw up doesn't get ground into the carpet. I'll try not to make all of my motherly advise so graphic.