Anderson Happenings

Independence

2012-01-10T14:51:00.001-08:00

Each new stage of development in life takes on its own joys and stresses. We are facing that now with Jeslyn's new found independence. She loves to get dressed, but picking out her clothes means that they all end up on the floor, then putting them one usually gets them on backwards, inside out, or in a tangle that takes surgery to fix. There is the getting her shoes on, the socks go on skeewompus causing her to freak out because it feels funny in her shoes, but I don't have to take the time to getting them on. She has to walk out to the car herself, makes it easier for me because she is getting pretty heavy, but then it takes 3 times as long to get there. Her favorite phrase is "I do it" or "Jessy do it". It's great when she wants to put the puzzle together, but pouring milk on her cereal isn't as good. She is learning that there are things that mom will not let her do yet, and she is coming to accept that a little bit. She gets very excited every time she figures out something new yelling "I did it" as loud as she can until someone acknowledges to her that she did it.

Jeslyn is so cute right now. She loves to play with her friend Dani, and asks to go see her constantly. They are still learning to play good together, but it is so cute watching them play together. Her smile is adorable, a casual smile is normal, but if you ask her to smile she squinches her eyes and bares her teeth. She loves Ferb! It's about the only thing that will calm her down if she is so sure of something that she isn't going to get. Oh yeah and the tantrums are here, FUN! She is usually good natured, but she sure knows when she isn't getting what she thinks she deserves. I love my Jessy!

Time and Teachers

2011-12-16T14:05:00.000-08:00

So I have noticed that at this time of year there is so much more demand on my time. First off, for some reason the math teachers in this area are not getting through to every student, and the parents are finally finding out. I have been called so much this week with new students for me to tutor. I have put in over 8 hours of tutoring this week. The problem is that I only have about 14 hours that can be used for tutoring. It's been great though because I not only is that helping to pay for Christmas, but it has been so fun to see the students get excited about knowing what is going on in their classes. I picked up a Calculus student last night and I was so nervous. Luckily it is still in the easy stuff, so I was able to fake my way through it, but by the time he left, he was excited about knowing it, I was excited I remembered it, and I was just so happy to have helped another person.

Also, I am just so greatful that my kids have such wonderful teachers at school. They are both so kind and good at controlling their classrooms. I am so glad that Dailynn is still excited to go (I was really worried about that), and that Avi has friends and is doing great on her work.

Ok, so I am surprised that time is being given to me. I look back at each day and wonder how I got things done. I have had so many extra things show up in my day to day this last week, and yet my house isn't destroyed (it's not clean), my kids have had some extra mommy time, I have been able to work on our super secret Christmas present after kids go to school, I have done extra tutoring, and I have been able to help a friend with projects to improve her life. I don't know how I am doing this because last year there would have been no way.

I also have to put a plug in for my wonderful husband who has supported me in everything going on, watched the kids for me, and taken up slack where I have faltered. He has helped me get things done and motivated me to do the things I didn't want to. There are others who have helped with the watching the kids and keeping me going, so thank you everyone that is so kind and helpful!

Patience and Healing

2011-12-11T19:26:00.000-08:00

I guess that I have been considering my testimony lately. It hasn't wavered, but I have noticed that when people are sharing theirs, and it seems so profound and they say how strongly they know something, it just makes me wonder what I know and what I just think I believe. I think I was considering that and I think I remember praying for an increased testimony. I have a Loving Heavenly Father that is more than willing to help me out with this, but you know what that means.... The learning process isn't always fun, but when you look back it is always sweet.

So, back to the title. I Heavenly Father is a very patient being, He will sit back and wait for us silly mortals to finally give up on the idea that we can do it all on our own and turn to Him for help. I keep running into that wall, and it is strange how it is so easy to forget. My weakness in this is with illness. I listen to a kid cough for hours before it kicks in that it isn't normal. or if they just have a fever, but are up and playing it doesn't send up red flags. So one night a few months ago Jeslyn was just hysterical. She was screaming and nothing I did would calm her down. I was in the living room with her just rolling around on the flour crying, not wanting me to pick her up, not wanting a drink, just in agony. After a few min of this at 3 in the morning, I was in tears! I finally remembered that there is nothing I can do about it, but there is someone that can help. I started a pleading prayer and instantly she calmed down. She went to a whimper then fell asleep in my arms. At that point I gave a much happier and very gracious prayer again and got her in bed and got to sleep myself. Another instance of this happened this week. It was yet again 3 in the morning and Jeslyn was coughing so much. Coughing doesn't cause me too much alarm, who hasn't had a cough last for months in the winter? The problem is that she was just finishing up with croop, so coughing like that wasn't ok. I tried calming her down, giving her drinks, taking her for a walk in the cold, everything, and finally I decided that it was time for the prayer again. Yet again, as soon as I say my pleading prayer with tears in my eyes, she calms down. We still had coughing, and it kept me up, but she was finally able to rest.

I also had another instance this weekend with my family. I was attending a funeral of an uncle, and of course it was a hard occasion. The funeral was so wonderful though, the words said were so uplifting and peaceful to the soul. The Lord is able to heal in a multitude of ways, and I am grateful for the knowledge that I have of the healing power. I am grateful that I have the gospel in my life to help support me through hard times, and such wonderful people in the gospel to help me understand it. I know my Heavenly Father loves me, and that he is mindful of me and my family.

Joy Fest 2011

2011-12-02T21:53:00.000-08:00

My friend Katie is so wonderful, she is doing a joy fest 2011 and challenged anyone that wanted to join her quest to bring joy to more people during the time of season where we are supposed to have the most joy.
For today all I can say is that I made cookies with friends that we haven't been able to see for way too long because of sickness, and it brought my whole family joy, and it helped her family too. I love the family and enjoy being with them.

Shopping

2011-12-02T14:21:00.000-08:00

So with the girls in school, I do all my shopping with just Jeslyn. It is so nice to have only one child to keep track of. So this week I went shopping, and JJ wanted a cart of her own. So they have these little carts that kids can push around, and I figured why not, it will keep her occupied, so then I won't have her trying to jump out every 2 seconds. So for the first little while it was fun to chase down mommy with the cart. Then we passed the bread section and she stopped for some peanut butter. As we went along she got less interested in following me and more interested in shoving her cart off, filling it with random ingredients, and running away from where I was trying to pull 2 carts too. By the time I got to the register, we had 5 things we didn't want and I was so done with the two cart thing.
That night Nathan wanted to go get something with a gift card, but Avi and Dai didn't want to go. Jeslyn was super excited to go with him though, so the two of them took off. So when they got there the item they were there for was supposedly in the back on the truck that was being unloaded, so they stuck around waiting for it to come off. A half hour later, Nathan was sick of JJ pulling everything off shelves, looking at everything with her hands, and generally not listening to him. Sad thing is that the item wasn't on the truck and they came home empty handed.

Thanksgiving

2011-11-24T17:42:00.000-08:00

We had a great Thanksgiving thanks to my wonderful parents! Mom and Dad showed up this morning and we got to work. Dad and Nathan worked on a doll house for the girls for Christmas (so shh, they don't know). Mom was so wonderful and got me motivated to clean up and organize my wedding business so that I can hopefully sell it sometime soon. We spent about 2 hours on it and although we got a lot done, there is so much more to do. Dinner was so good too, THANKS MOM for your help on that. After dinner, the men finished the house, Mom played with the girls in the leaves, and I ran around making sure the dishes were done and we had the tools for the house. After pie, Mom and Dad took off. It was a simple day, but so GREAT!!! Thank you Mom and Dad for coming over and helping us with projects!!!

Thankful

2011-11-24T17:29:00.000-08:00

So I have been thinking about this post for a while now, and I think this is the perfect time for it. The number one thing I am thankful for is a living Heavenly Father who knows and loves me so much that he puts everything I need in front of me when I need it. I don't have everything I want, but anytime there is a need it is given to me.

I have noticed this before, but since we moved to our house 9 mo. ago, the instances seem to be so much more drastic, maybe because there is so much more in our lives. I had a hard time knowing if we were doing the right thing buying this house, but there is no question we are where we need to be. I have a great ward that I have been getting to know. I have wonderful neighbors, and good friends. I think that I had to move here just to have my friend Heidi so close. We both need each other so much and it is great to be near her.

Ok so the story that prompted this post. In Sept. Heidi got me this great job that lets me work from home as much as I can. First instance of the Lords hand is that the day I found out about the job, Nathan was randomly talking to co-workers and they were talking about a computer that was for sale. The computer was exactly what I needed for this job! Whoa huh! So then I have been doing this job making some money, paying off the computer and helping with the bills. Then I feel like I am really making some good money, well for how little I work, and I start stock piling it to pay a big chunk on a bill, I was so excited to be able to do that. So I ended up needing to go to court as a witness one day, and since Nathan needed to get his car in, he took it off to take it in and watch the kids for me. That afternoon we find out that the car was a much bigger deal than we thought. Needless to say we were worried about the big bill! The only thing I could think of is this stock pile of money I have been saving and how it was almost the exact amount that the car bill was. That is cool enough, but as I think about the timing, it gets even better. If we would have waited for this week like we had planned, we wouldn't have had the money, in fact if we would have waited another 3 days to get it in, I would have sent it to the bill already!

I have seen how the Lord has so much better timing than I do! If you question this, then just refresh yourself on my life over the last year and a half. My timing sucks, the Lords timing is perfect!

October

2011-11-02T13:49:00.000-07:00

October was an interesting month for us. With b-day parties, and Halloween, we have have been kept busy. During fall break we went to see Grandma Norma at her condo and swim with her. Jeslyn has turned into a little fish. She would climb up on the edge of the pool and jump in, then back onto the edge of the pool. Avi and Dai liked the chance to practice their swimming skills too.Our stake had a temple week were activities were to be centered around the temple, so our ward decided to walk to the temple. We walked from our stake center to the Mt. Timpanogos Temple, about 3 miles, one Saturday morning. It was fun and the girls did a good job and didn't complain at all. Maybe it was because we had a friend with us, Kari. The purpose was to instill in us the knowledge that the temple is so close and so easy to get to.
We spent a few evenings up the canyon having hobo dinners and enjoying the fall colored leaves. The first night our friend helped Avi catch a fish. She was so excited. Sorry having issues getting that picture in the right place to put it on here.

Jeslyn's birthday was a little chaotic. I kept trying to organize a party for her, but wasn't able to get myself organized for it. That night we went with a friend to her families Halloween party instead of celebrating with her. Luckily she is only 2, so she didn't care, and still had fun. The next day on Saturday we went to the park by our house and had a picnic. For October it was a nice day, but it was still cold, so we came home for cake and ice cream. Afterwards we played a dance game on the Wii while she slept. We all had fun with her. I have a video of her opening her presents that is SOOOOOOOO cute, but I am having issues with the transfer to the computer, so it will have to come later. She LOVED every gift she got and showed the excitement on her face and in her expressions.On Halloween, we went crazy. I have my big candy bowl that we usually fill when we are done T or T, but this year we went a little more and got enough candy to fill the bowl at least 3 times. We went to a little park T or T then just did it around our ward. I got my workout walking with the kids and carrying JJ for at least half of the night. My arms still hurt. We were so extremely happy that it was so warm all night. The kids didn't wear coats, and I just wore a light jacket.

shadows

2011-10-12T13:24:00.000-07:00

So Jeslyn discovered shadows today. We were walking home from taking the girls to school and JJ found my shadow on the ground in front of her. the shadows are long at 9 am right now. She kept bending over and touching it and getting surprised when it moved. Next she found her shadow. She was trying to touch the head like she had on mine, but it wasn't working. She started chasing it in her attempt to get closer to it. It was just so cute for her to realize that she can't get her shadow, but that she could get moms. I wish I had a camera then, but oh well, it was fun.

other activities

2011-09-11T14:24:00.000-07:00

We went to Green River for a family reunion and Kristl brought some inflatable canoes to float down the river, Brandon thought it would be fun to go down standing up, and dad was just getting used to the ride. I don't have a lot of pictures, I'm not so good at getting them, so here is what we have got. I think Avi took that one in our tent.

Uncle Jason was really great to perform the baptism and confirmation for Avi.

The first day of school didn't come come soon enough for us. The picture I have of Avi is sideways, so I am just putting Dai in. Isn't she cute!!

updating

2011-09-11T14:06:00.000-07:00

So I just spent the last half hour trying to update a little journal I have about the cute things the girls do. I haven't had this journal in my hands in about a year, so it was a little overwhelming, but I thought that since this is kind of my back up journal I would post it here too.

So Avi is in the 3rd grade, she had a WONDERFUL teacher; Mrs. Taylor, who is a sister I visit teach as well as our bishops wife. She substitute taught Nathan when her was little. She has a friend, Sadie, show comes here almost everyday after school and they do their homework together. She was baptized on August 6th, and loves being in Activity Days with the older girls in primary. I am her primary teacher, so she really likes that, and luckily she is still good in class even with me in there.

Dailynn is loving kindergarten. She has a good teacher that has so many fun ideas for the kids. She is learning a lot and fast, and she loves doing homework (except for reading). She has great friends really close which is great for me because she still has a hard time being alone to her own entertainment for more than about 10 min a day.

Jeslyn is just her same wonderful adorable self. She LOVES shoes! Anyone that comes over just dumps their shoes at the door, and runs to play. but within a half hour their shoes aren't there anymore because JJ has run off with them. The problem is that she doesn't like her shoes. She loves to put them on, but keeping them on is not her forte. The instant we get in the car, the shoes are off. She is learning more words daily. She isn't afraid to try to say anything, but she still isn't very good at saying anything the first time. Just today she started saying grandma (guma) and grandpa (papa). I don't think we will ever be able to get drink right, it is still "nee" and that was one of the first words she learned. We do have please and thank you though and they are so cute. I tried to get Blankenagel a few days ago, and it wasn't recognizable but she got the right amount of syllables.

Nathan has had a good summer. We have had projects to work on, and he has repicked up a new hobby. He likes to go play disc golf, and has found a bunch of guys at work who will play with him. He has a standing appointment every Tuesday after work to play for a few hours, and has even gone on his lunch break and a few Saturdays to different courses. Other than that he has been working hard and taking us to 7 peaks once a week.

I have been trying to figure out who people are around me. I got put in primary in the first month of being in the ward, so I get the fun task of meeting people other ways than church. One day after primary I was walking around to round up the kids and ran in to my brother's best friend from high school. I come to find out that a month before they had moved in across the street from me, but since they are in a different stake I had no idea, they had just happened to be in our ward that day. Since then I have become really good friends with his wife Allison. Dailynn's little friend on the other side of the culdisac has a mom who is just someone that everyone should experience once in their life. I could spend hours listening to her just be her fun and crazy self. Over the last few weeks I have had a chance to hang out with her and have really cherished those hours. My stake has a volleyball night each week, and going there has been a great help as well. Although I don't see any of these people during the week, it is nice to be able to see them on VB night and know they are excited to see me, even if I am not that good.

We have had a great time living here, and are excited to see what else we get to experience here.

Some things

2011-08-15T11:25:00.000-07:00

So I have a few pictures on the computer, I think I will try to do a mass "here is us for the last year" post. So let's not go back a year, that is just crazy. Lets start with the house. I haven't gone through the house and gotten pictures, but we have been busy outside, and I have tried to document that a little. So First off, we on a whim decided to remove the two trees on the east of our property that were diseased and dead. Luckily we have some GREAT neighbors that were extremely helpful! So here are Nathan and LaVar getting ready to get ot work. You can see how sad the two trees look.

It's so fun to watch a tree fall.

We had such a huge mess to clean up, but yet again we had wonderful helpers.

I think it looks a little different, and I kinda miss the trees but it is such a relief to not have to worry about them killing all the neighbors trees.

So in June we went on a vacation home with some friends. We have taken some of them to La Sal a few times before, but they hadn't been there in summer, so we were able to show a different side of the ranch.First up, Repelling! Nathan was having fun going commando (face first). I was being the baby watcher so I didn't get to go, but next time we will be a little less crazy and I will go too.

Arches. We were hanging out next to delicate, waiting for our turn for pictures. My friend Janina has a better camera, so she got most of the pictures there.
We got back to the car after delicate and found that our odometer had turned!
Landscape arch

Dead Horse Point. It was so windy we were afraid we were going to be picked up and thrown off the edge.
Let's go fly a kite!A wonderful neighbor let us borrow a horse for a day. Everyone loved it but Jeslyn.Swimming at the reservoir. For all who know what the reservoir is like, that is the spillway. The last time I remember the spillway being full and overflowing was when I was about 10 years old. It was so great to see.What is a vacation without a fashion show?We went over Hell's revenge in the jeep, and at one point Janina and I were to chicken to stay in the jeep, so Nathan and Zachary took the jeep for this fun ride. I was nervous just watching them, so I was glad I didn't stay in.

Helping Dad drive!Hanging out at the park after jeeping. This is such a fun park!
Hook and Ladder
Goblin Valley. No injuries this time Wahoo!
The dinosaur quary.

I don't have any more pictures, so until I get the camera downloaded again, I guess we are done even though that is just the first week of summer.

ugh

2011-07-14T14:50:00.000-07:00

I know, I know, I am totally out of date here. It amazes me how much more there is to do here than there was at the old place. I have a bigger house, that still isn't fully unpacked, a more intensive yard that had way too many flower gardens that need some desperate help. (if anyone likes to do landscape design, I could use some pointers) I also have a very cute and adorable toddler that has kept me on my toes as well as the other girls that are running around everywhere.

So I am asked constantly if I still like the house. My constant answer is that I LOVE IT!!! It's so nice to have a space that is our own, we can do projects to improve it (and there are a bunch we are working on) and we aren't thinking "we will be moving soon, so don't get too comfortable." I don't have pics yet, sorry, I will try to find the camera again and time again to do it. My favorite thing is that while we were painting trying to get ready to move in, I had a niece working on the floor boards while I was doing walls in another room. She got a phone call and stepped away for a few min. When she came back she was shocked to see that Jez had taken the liberty to add her own art to the walls. My niece was so worried and sad that it had happened, but I just laughed and thought it was cute. It's still on the wall, just hidden behind the couch. I do show it to just about everyone that comes in. We have been building shelves, railings, and trying to figure out other stuff that needs to be done and in what order.

One of the best things about this house is the neighbors. In our old house we had two kids next door that were older than my girls, but they played together anyway, and that was about it. Here we have a family next door with 5 kids close to or the same age as all the girls. On the other side 2 houses over we have another GREAT friend for Dai. Within a block from our house there are about 20 kids. There are days that they just play leap frog from one house to the next and I'm not worried about them because they are all good kids. Jez on the other had has kept me worried. With all the kids running from house to house, they hadn't figured out that the doors needed to stay closed to keep babies in. One day I was making dinner and had JJ next to me, and the kids came through like a whirl wind. After the reminder they closed the door and JJ went to go play with them up stairs. Some of the kids wanted to run outside and forgot to close the door. About 20 min later I realized that all the kids were here, the door was open and no one knew where JJ was. I instantly ran outside with her nowhere in our yard. Luckily some ward members had found her about a block away at a 4-way stop and started canvasing the area to find out who she belonged to. They came up to us and I ran straight to her, completely embarrassed and scared. I thanked them and vowed that I would keep an eye on here from
then on. Whoops, she kept sneaking out because the girls weren't keeping the door closed (darn that nice weather). Luckily she has learned her boundaries, and doesn't go past our yard on the east side, and doesn't go past the neighbors yard on the west (they have a really fun play set and the other two are usually there when she starts going that way). Now she just wanders around the back yard where we have all the fun stuff, and Avi and Dai actually keep a really close eye on her when she is out there with them.

This summer is interesting. Avi and Dai think they have to constantly fight. They will even fight that they are agreeing on the same thing. I don't know how to get them to chill out, it is always such stupid stuff they are fighting about and it doesn't make sense to me. I just count myself lucky that there are always so many kids around that they don't fight as much. We have been doing the library reading program that is so awesome. We also have 7-Peaks passes that we have been using like crazy! We go at least once a week. JJ loves the slides and because she does that is one of the best words she says. Dai loves going on the big slides alone, and Avi is still being a little extra cautious about them. Each time we go she tries something new and realizes that she does like it and it isn't scary. JJ just figured out how to have a lot of fun in the water. She likes jumping in and going under the water, she is fearless!

Yesterday was a little milestone for us. Nathan and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary. We are so unromantic and claimed our house as our gift to each other, and just went for ice cream as a family. I can't believe that we are so OLD! I know not as old as many of you, but it is so weird to us that it has been 10 years, and it feels like we just got married.

I will see what I can do about pictures, but if you haven't seen my house yet, you are more than welcome to stop by and say hi. It is rarely presentable, but oh well.

Murphy GO AWAY!!!

2011-02-22T10:26:00.001-08:00

Murphy's law states "Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong". Dave Ramsey says that when you aren't prepared Murphy will com after you. I don't know that we weren't prepared, but Murphy is mad!! On Tuesday Dai started getting sick, I kept her out of school, which actually helped a lot to not have to chase her around to different schools. On Wed we had to get the painting done so that we could get carpet on Thurs. While I was painting Dai came up and asked if she could go to the dr. I don't believe in going to the dr. for a sick stomach, but I had been suspecting bladder infection for a few days (even though she wasn't hurting to go potty) so we went to go check it out.
Shortly after arriving, we find out that she had everything in her urine that you can get, and that the infection may be moving to the kidney. She got an ubber shot of medicine that was supposed to take care of the kidneys, and we were supposed to check back in the next day.
The next day, there was improvement. but not enough, so we had to run to the hospital to get some labs done. Dai doesn't like having her blood drawn. Later that night while I was at work, we got the call from the dr. That we needed to get to the hospital because the kidneys were being infected. So I left work early and ran Dai to the hospital.
I spent most of the day expecting to get out of there. At about 2, I started calling to get some help, there was so much to do to get ready for the move the next day and I was in the hospital with my daughter. Right after I found out that we were staying another night. Can you say stressful. Shortly after that I had to go with Nathan to get the U-Haul so we could move. After picking up a few pieces of furniture we had bought for this house, we went home.
Dinner arrived, then helpers. We had some wonderful ladies that came and helped me clean both houses (the pg house had 2 days of no mom messes there and 1 week of no time to clean mess there too). Once we were done with the new house, I went and relieved Nathan who had gone to sit with Dai.
The next morning I had some WONDERFUL helpers that came to move. We got out of the hospital about 11 am, just in time to come to the house and see the men about to unload the trucks. WE HAVE WAY TOO MUCH STUFF!!! JJ made it back to us from being with my wonderful sister all day, and the rest of the night she was throwing up. All day on Sun she wasn't feeling very good either.
Now the rest of us ( luckily not Nathan) have the bug that JJ had on Sat, so we are having a lazy sick day. I just wish that Murphy would leave us alone so that we can get our house in order. I hope he is leaving all of you guys alone.

Houses

2011-02-11T19:10:00.000-08:00

IT OFFICIAL

We have our house, and are so EXCITED about it. I don't have pictures yet, but will get to that soon. We will be moving in a week, so lots of work to get everything ready to go. Wish us luck!

Weddings

2010-11-05T22:25:00.001-07:00

I have started a wedding business, and I need your help to spread the word. I will be offering decorating, cake, flowers, and others as I build this up. Here are some pictures of the center pieces I have right now, understand that arrangements can be made based on wedding colors.

Short Vase

Tall Vase

Candle Hearts

Umbrella

Garden basket

Straw Heart

Straw Heart with Cowboy Hat

Potted Heart

Dragon fly lantern

Wicker chair before decorations

Wicker chair with decoration

Cornucopia

Christmas Sleigh

Wonderful Day

2010-10-29T11:29:00.000-07:00

(I wrote this on the Oct 29th, sorry it took so long to get it on here.)

So yesterday was such a wonderful day!! Dailynn had been at Nathan's sister for a sleepover, so the house was quiet. After getting Avi headed to school, JJ and I headed to grandma's so she could play while I helped out at the school. A short trip to Wal-mart then the rest of the day was for Jeslyn. She crashed on the way home, so I got a wonderful nap for about an hour and a half. I don't normally take naps but JJ had a pretty bad morning that morning. After my nap I had about another hour where I was able to get some stuff done around the house alone!!! After JJ had some lunch, we headed to wal-mart again to get the rest of the presents (you cant find everything you want in just one wal-mart sometimes) . We came home and make a cake and cupcakes, and started wrapping presents. Jeslyn thought it was a great activity until I was stealing the presents from her to wrap them.

By then Avi was home from school, so we started carving and decorating pumpkins. JJ helped me decorate hers (as much as she could). Avi and I had fun getting hers done too. We had some dinner, then had to go pick up Dailynn. Once we got home, we got a chance to celebrate Jeslyn's first birthday!! She loved opening her presents, it was great to watch it. Then we had her cake. It's fun how every kid does it different. She started by poking it and licking off the frosting until she realized that it was really good and she went to town. Nathan tried to get a taste from her and she wouldn't give him any. Then we got the kids in bed and were able to relax with the cute little girl just playing around me.
It was such a nice day!! Mom's don't get days like that very often, so when I was presented with the chance to enjoy so much I jumped at it.

Picture Time

2010-10-05T07:35:00.000-07:00

The pictures are finally here. It has taken forever to get them up, but here are most of them. I am having a hard time getting the pictures off my cell phone, so when I figure it out, I will be putting those on, but until then, here you go. I suggest you start at the bottom so that you get the story in the right order.

Helping grandpa on the farm. She loved the fact that she was standing on the jeep.

What a fun pinata!!

Decorating cupcakes.

The fun Balloon game Britt came up with.

They found their treasure and are so excited to divi it up.

Dailynn's B-day party.

I loved the elephants!!

They got 7 bikes in there at once. It was scary!!

The tigers were fun to watch.

Our day at the circus. Thanks so much to Kristl and John for the free tickets. It was a great b-day present for Dai, Nathan, and I.

Avi's first day of school at the new charter school. She is so cute in her uniforms.

Jeslyn got so dirty but luckily it was easy to wash up.

We loved the beach at Bear Lake!!

summer is over

2010-09-10T20:37:00.000-07:00

So after spending most of the summer trying to move, (it hasn't happened yet, urg) we decided it was time to stop saying after the move we will... and start saying, lets go, lets have some fun. It started out with the dinosaur park in Ogden, followed by ice cream, the air force museum, dinner with Grammy, and school shopping. That was the first day of this adventure. Next we headed to Bear Lake for 2 days with Nathan's sister. All three girls loved the beach, but JJ didn't like the water. We then got these awesome passes that let us go to Trafalga and Seven Peaks as often as we want. We got the passes late enough that we only got to go to seven peaks once, but we have been to Trafalga for lazer tag more nights than not since we got them. Avi and Dai are awesome at it and JJ loves to just watch for her family as we play.

School, what crazyness. Since we have been so up in the air on where we are moving to, we finally had to decide where to put Avi in school. We finally decided that since things were so up in the air on the house, we were going to keep her at the school where we live now (still). The first day of school, we found out that Avi had been accepted to the new charter school that we had applied for. It wasn't starting for another week though, so I kept her in school at the other school for a week, then we transferred her over to the charter school. She says she likes it, and I hope that it is being good for her. It is so new that the day before school started they were still doing construction on it.

Dailynn is just Dailynn. She is cute, fun, stubborn, crazy, and just Dailynn. I feel bad because I have been so wrapped up in other things that she has been pushed to the side for a little while, but that is changing now.

JJ has decided that walking is awesome. She is the funniest girl though. When she walks, she feels that she has to carry something with her. I can understand that, but why does she pick the absolutely heaviest thing in the house to carry? Avi has a doll that is somewhat heavy, and she loves to walk with it, but if she holds it in front of her it makes her lean forward, so after 2 steps she throws it over her shoulder to get balanced again. The laws of physics aren't understood by 10 mo olds and she falls flat on her bottom as soon as the doll hits her back. Wanting to be walking she stands again with the doll and continues the same process. She has gained so much balance, so she can cruise around the house so fast.

Now for the stuff I have been doing. The basement here has been remodeled and in that remodel I have been assigned the painting. I swear I have been painting for a month. We finally got the contractor out of here, and I have been painting every spare minute that I have had. Last night Nathan and I finished the last of the painting at about 11 pm so that carpet could come in first thing this morning. After a few hours of running errands, and just hanging out, I finally have the basement back!!!!! I think the most excited person is JJ though. She has been so mad at us when we wouldn't let her go down stairs. Today she just ran circles around down there and had a huge smile on her face the whole time.

Pictures will be coming soon, I just don't have them on the comp yet, but I just wanted to get all this down before I forgot it all.

Nursery

2010-08-09T07:47:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I was sitting in RS listening to the announcements or something and I got asked by the primary pres to come help with nursery. This didn't surprise me because I am usually the first on the list called to sub. There were a few kids having a rough time and the class was larger than usual. Nathan is a worker in the older group of kids, so when we were switching rooms I left Jez to play with the toys with daddy. I am glad I did since in needed both knees for kids to sit in. When it came time to switch again, Nathan held J up and told her to walk to me. We have been waiting for a bout a month for her to start walking, she has been so close for that long. I asked if she had yet and he said that it was the cheating walk. I stood her up and stepped away from her and she took 4 steps to get to me. 2 more times during the rest of nursery she walked 4 steps again. Then after sacrament (we have backwards church) she did it again in the foyer.

Last night before we put her in bed she did it a few more times. We can see that she is still nervous about doing it, but her confidence is definitely building with it. There were 8 babies born in our ward from the beginning of Sept to the end of Oct and JJ was the last one. Of those 8 babies, JJ was the first to crawl and to walk. She is so smart and such a joy to have around.

moving

2010-08-01T16:38:00.001-07:00

So we have had a major roller coaster around here!! We are no longer trading houses with my in-laws, but buying a different house also in Cedar Hills. It is such a cute house and we are so excited. We can't wait for all the great things about this house like central air, separate bedrooms for Avi and Dai, the tv where Dai can't watch from her room, a TON of storage space, and a garage. It is going to be so great. It really isn't final yet, but it is a pretty sure deal. We are hoping to be moved in within the next 3 weeks so things can be done before school starts on the 25th. Luckily we have 3/4 of the house packed and moved out, so it will be easy to finish packing up the rest of what we have.

Now I am crazy busy trying to get this house ready for new renters by painting the whole basement and half of the upstairs. Anyone want to help? Wish me luck, I am going to try to survive the next two weeks then hopefully move in to a new house that is our own.

Big News

2010-07-17T06:24:00.000-07:00

We have been looking for a house to buy for a little over a year now, and although we found one in a non conventional way, we are moving in soon. Before we can do that though our house we are in needs a little fixing up. My mom and neices have spent the last week with us helping out more than I thought possible. We primed, painted, packed, and moved so much stuff that I have very little left in my house at the moment. On Tuesday a construction crew will come in to finish the basement, and when it is done we will be moving out. We are excited for the next great adventure and Avi is excited for a new school. Wish us luck as we get things moved and taken care of over the next few weeks.

Start of Summer

2010-06-28T07:59:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone. So summer is approaching the halfway mark so I guess it time to update everyone one what is going on. We spent the first week of summer down in La Sal. Unfortunately our camera battery was dead, so we don't have any pictures, so if you want to see some you will have to check out my siblings blogs. We did have a blast with all the family and all the kids had so much fun together. We did some dutch oven cooking (thanks so much Brandon and Sara), jeeping in Moab (thanks mom and dad for the jeep), shooting, games, and just hanging out. It was fun to have all the babies there too.

We got home and I had to really quickly put together a wedding cake for my friend Janina. I baked the cake that night and scrambled all the next morning frosting and decorating it. Thanks to my wonderful friend Sherie we were able to get it done right on time.
After all of that we had to get our house put back together. We have been having fun at the library, swim lessons, with friends, and hanging out. Last week we had Janina come at take some family pictures for us. Here are our favorites for you to enjoy. Just a month and a half left and school will start again.Dai kept squinting her eyes as she tried to smile bigger and bigger, so occasionally we would have to tell her to open her eyes and this is what we would get.

We all had a lot of fun taking the pictures and a great big THANK YOU to Janina for taking them for us.

Infection

2010-05-20T09:38:00.000-07:00

Dailynn: "Mom I think I have an infection."
Mom: "What kind of infection."
Dailynn: "A cereal infection from eating so much of this cereal."
Mom: "Well tomorrow we will have to keep you from eating that cereal again."
Dailynn: "Why?"
Mom: "So that you don't keep getting your infection."
Dailynn: "ok"

Words for you

2010-05-14T15:32:00.000-07:00

Dailynn can sure make us smile. Yesterday she was trying to get me to do things so she started saying "Mom I have 2 words for you, you need to help me, wait I have 4 words for you, come help me do this, no 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8...." then later that night she comes running in the kitchen while I was working on dinner and loudly states, "Mom I have 2 words for you HELP!!!" Yeah, she doesn't have counting words down yet I guess.

Last night while Jeslyn was winding down for bed she was rolling around the living room playing. She grabbed her blanket and kept rolling until she was completely wrapped and tangeled up in it. After a few seconds she was quite upset about it. I released from the blanket and a few min later she did it again. All that was hanging out this time was her little feet. She was in there pretty tight too. When I got her out, she just smiled at me. Silly girl.

Already 6 mo

2010-05-04T11:05:00.000-07:00

I can't believe that it has been 6 months already. Jeslyn has been such a WONDERFUL baby. She is growing up so fast and is so fun. We are so entertained by her and her discoveries.
The problem, she is developing way to fast. As my dad put it, she just wants to grow up too fast. At the 6 mo check up the Dr. came in asking the usual questions for her age. I set her on the floor and he was surprised by her ability to sit up so well. Then I put her on her stomach and she just rocked back and forth on her knees. First he said that I am in trouble then that she is acting like a 9 mo old with both of those things. Then when he started checking her out, he held one hand and expected the other to just stay still because that is normal for her age. Instead she started pulling at his hands trying to stop his progress. Another 9 mo behavior I guess.

Then on Sunday she started army crawling. She doesn't have it down yet, but when she starts crawling instead of the roll thing she has been doing for the last month she can cruise so fast across the floor. Now I have to baby proof even more. She is just anxious to be able to walk and do things for herself.

She wants to eat our food anytime we are eating, so when I had a fruit smoothie one day she wanted to drink it with me. Dailynn is pretty good at taking pictures sometime.

Nathan was being silly one night and grabbed some fake teeth and slid them into her mouth. It's a little creepy but so cute.

March

2010-03-12T18:52:00.000-08:00

So at work it is the DEAD time, so I am totally bored. I have caught up on a lot of blogs tonight, and I still have an hour of just sitting here. It is driving me nuts because this isn't what I want to be doing. I want to be home soothing my grumpy baby, I want to be tearing apart the bathroom we are remodeling this next week with my wonderful parents, I want to be home with my husband that I have only seen for about 20 min today. I love my job, but could I take the month of March off?

So now you are wondering about my family. Jeslyn is still teething, but what can I do about that. She has also started realizing when mom is not home so dad is having fun each night I am gone. I love my children and it is hard to be away from them, but they need to build their relationship with their dad too, so I think it is ok to spend a few hours a week away so that that relationship can be built.

We are still renting, but our second bathroom is just not very good, and since Nathan's mom wants it changed so much we finally decided it was time to just do it. I am trying to do as much prep work as I can befor Dad gets up here to put me to work. The more prep work I do the more I am horrified with how it was put together. I started by taking shelves out of the closet in there. Each shelf was held up by 2 2x4s and each one had 5 nails at each stud. That was not fun to work out. Then I started taking the panelling off the walls. The closet wasn't to bad, it was just nailed to the studs, so pretty easy to pull out for the most part. Then I started taking it out in the main part. Another nightmare. So the walls had no sheet rock on them. They had one type of pannel nailed on the 2x4s with another type glued to that. Luckily the glue is old enough that when we take a hammer to the walls the glue just breaks away the the first panneling comes off. Next we get to tear apart the other panelling because the nails have been glued over and the panelling is not durrable enough to withstand a hammer pulling on it. Then between the walls is carpet padding. We aren't sure why that is there, we are thinking it is for sound proofing, but who knows. Another fun thing is all structural things were put in after the panneling so we are trying to rip the panneling away from light switche and outlet boxes. We have to take out the toilet before we can get the rest of one wall out and the medicine cabinet had to come out before the paneling too. I am getting pretty handy with a hammer this week and my hand are all scratched up. I didn't get a before picture, but if I take one before we tear out structure you will see it just as beautiful as it was before we started. I am so excited for next week and the chance to get a new bathroom downstairs.

The not seeing Nathan much isn't a new thing, he leaves for work just before I wake up unless Jeslyn thinks I need to be up a little earlier. On the days I work he gets home about 20 min before I have to leave. Those end up being long days, but the chance to save up for a house of our own is so exciting. Just one more month YIPEE!!! Have you done your taxes yet?

Avi's wisdon

2010-02-24T13:28:00.000-08:00

So Dailynn can't be the only one who has tidbits of wisdom. We were driving around a few weeks ago and Avi informed us as to who lives where. So I guess we all take for granted what is taught in primary, I know when I was teaching I didn't think to be more specific whith my lessons. So Avi informed us that God lives in the temple, Christ lives in the church, and the Holy Ghost lives in our bodies. She isn't too far off, so it was kind of fun to hear her take on the Lord's house.

Growing too fast!!

2010-02-24T13:17:00.001-08:00

So Jeslyn has been growing up way too quick for me. She is almost 4 months old and let me just tell you how much trouble we are in. At the beginning of February she started scooting across the floor on her nose. She was able to get her knees up under her and push forward rubbing her nose across the floor. Then a few days later she mastered the sitting on her own. She loves to just sit and watch us. After a min or so she starts falling too far forward, but for how young she is she is doing great!!! Then today she figured out how to roll over. I layed her on her stomach in hopes that she would crawl for Brittney to watch, and then she just rolled over. It was slow, but perfect. So I put her back on her stomach to see if she could repeat it. I went and sat down and looked at her again and she had just rolled the other dirrection. I guess she doesn't get to sleep on our bed during the day anymore.

Here is a pic of her sprawling out on the bed during nap time. We love bath time!!!

I love how cute she is in her towel.

We have a Dr. appointment on friday to see how big she is. I'm excited to see what the Dr. says about her acheivments!!!

Dailynn and Jeslyn

2010-01-07T17:35:00.000-08:00

Lately Dailynn has been saying some interesting things. She has heard us talking about how I need to exercise so that I can lose weight. She wants me to exercise every day now and if I don't, then she gets rather upset with me. On Sunday in her dinner prayer she asked for me to lose my belly when I exercise. Nathan and I could not hold it in at that point. Then today we were driving in the car listening to Dr. Laura on the radio. Dai asks me "Mom when are you going to call Dr. Laura?" I inform her that I don't have a problem to talk to Dr. Laura about. "Well What if your husband is being mean to you?" I inform her that my husband is not being mean to me and that he is realy nice to me and us. "Then you should throw water on him so that he will be mean to you!" Yet again I lost it and had to call Nathan immediatly to let him know what was going on. Kids do say the darndest things.

Now Jeslyn is the baby everyone is jealous of. At just over 2 months, she is healthy, sleeps through the night, and is very well mannered. We have moved into the 3-6 month clothes because the 0-3 just didn't cut it anymore. Now she smiles at anything you say to her and is so close to laughing. We have so much fun with her and the sisters still love her. Dailynn actually likes trying to get her to smile too. Here are some pics from today.

Thanksgiving

2009-11-28T15:09:00.000-08:00

So this week has been extremely hectic. Luckily we had school Mon and Tues so I didn't have to entertain the whole day so that made things a little easier. Tuesday night I got to go with 34 other women to watch New Moon at Jordan Commons. It was fun, but the best part was watching the lady that had watched it 2 times already react like it was her first time. I got home late, and Jeslyn had a night of waking up so I got very little sleep that night.
Wed I went to go see my sister-in-law and spend time with her since she is on bed rest so stuck in the house. Britt and I spent the afternoon feeding her and playing games. Then I went to my grandparents and spent time with my parents for an hour or so.
Thursday we left the house at 9:30 and got home at 10:30 pm from our fun day down in Provo. Of course we had dinner, but we also spent most of the evening playing games and visiting.
Friday Kristl invited us to tag along with them for the day. We hit the Bean museum and art museum at BYU, then picked up Nathan and headed up north. After the Clark Planetarium, we went the the Church History Museum, the Visitors center, and walked around temple square. After a quick visit to Grandma Blankenagel, we went and watched temple square get lit up. Then we headed to the conference center to let the kids see how big it is, and then tried to head home. After a late dinner we got home and while pulling into the driveway remembered that we left Nathan's car at Thanksgiving point. Not wanting anything to happen to it, and with the girls asleep in the back, we went back for it. It was another 12 hour day by the time we got home, and neither kid wanted to be changed for bed.
We had a great time and it has been a fun week, but thank goodness it is over. Pictures will come when the internet is not being so slow.

Perfect Baby

2009-11-02T14:02:00.000-08:00

Just a quick note because I know that I like to know this info when a new baby comes around a friend or family member. Jeslyn is the PERFECT baby. She only wakes me up once a night, going 4 hours between feedings, doesn't cry much, and just sits looking around when she is awake. She still hates baths and having her diaper changed. Avi loves holding her every 2 seconds, and Dailynn loves her but could almost care less about the extra intruder. I am feeling great, and thanks to mom it is so much easier to clean my house when it is mostly clean already. THANKS MOM!!! All is good in our house.

She's Here

2009-10-28T19:01:00.000-07:00

Last night at 10:40 I felt the baby move and then I was soaked. I spent the next 15 min in the bathroom wondering how in the world I was going to get to the hospital without looking like I had wet my pants. Well after going through one pair of pants, I gave up and didn't care anymore. The next hour was getting hooked up to everything in the place and getting the epidural. The next 3 hours were sitting around trying to fall asleep, and not getting much rest. About 3:15 my mom showed up and we were ready to get things done. I was only at a 6 at 3:30 but by 3:50 I was pushing, she was ready to come. The official time was 4:02 when Jeslyn Loris Anderson joined our family at a hefty 8 lbs 7 oz and a long 21 in. We spent the next 2 hours just getting settled in. The rest of the day has been nap, eat, nap feed, nap, make calls, nap, blow bubbles, sneeze, eat, nap, feed, etc. We are so happy she is finally here with us and I can finally BREATH. Enjoy the pictures. Oh yeah and she already sucks her hand.

Just an update

2009-10-12T11:27:00.000-07:00

I am still pregnant, and according to trend I will stay pregnant for at least 2 1/2 - 3 weeks. I went into the Dr. on Friday and was dilated to a 1 so not much going on as expected. I spent the evening on Saturday contracting a bunch, but it was not labor even with them only about 4 min apart. My problem is that I have 3 hours of church that just drive me CRAZY each week. For RS (we have ours backwards) the baby was moving like crazy and making it hard to sit still myself. For SS not only was she still moving but I was starting to contract a little. In Sacrament she wasn't moving nearly as much, but I was starting to contract pretty hard. I got home from church and got lunch taken care of and eaten then ran for the bed because the contractions were hurting pretty bad and getting closer together. Nathan was a little worried because I still have 3 weeks left, but I really don't care too much when she wants to come. While I was laying down they were still coming and hard down to about 4 min apart again. I was out of time though, I had a meeting that I had to go to, so I got up and got ready to go and guess what, within about 10 min they completely stopped. She was just practicing for the real deal to happen. I am sure that those contractions on Sunday were definitely helping with the dilating process, they felt like labor.
Where does that leave us, I am anxious to finish getting ready for the baby. I need to pull out the baby clothes, get a little more cleaning done, and finish all of my sewing projects. My problem with getting too ready is that I have to adorable girls that just love to pull anything and everything out that they haven't seen for a while, so I just don't want the messes that are coming with the getting ready. Nathan wants to set up the crib so bad but I won't let him until the baby is ready to move into it in another 3-4 mo. I know those girls just too well to know that the instant it goes up they are going to think it is play time in it. I also have to wait just one more week at least before she can come. I have everything set up to where if she waits for the due date we are set, but between my mom and all my commitments, she isn't allowed until next Tuesday. I can survive right!?!?
Well wish me luck and I will do what I can to post pictures as quick as I can.

Baby Picture

2009-10-02T09:54:00.001-07:00

I had to go in for an ultrasound last Friday because she was measuring big, and the tech got me a 3D picture of our cute little girl. It is amazing how much more realistic it all is now that I have seen her. If you are having a hard time seeing the picture, the two hands are right next to each other and to the left of her nose. It is a profile shot, you can see her eye, nose, and mouth. I absolutely love this picture. The tech said she has a lot of hair, and there is no doubt that it is a girl. She is a little big, but nothing new for my kids, so I will just deliver a big baby. Who knows when she will come but I keep thinking it will be Nov 1st or 2nd. I am hoping sooner, but whatever right.

still here

2009-09-22T13:03:00.000-07:00

Has it really been over a month since I have gotten on? Wow how time flies. So we got Avi back in school and can I tell you how much better 1st grade is to kindergarten. I don't have to stress about trying to be back down there 3 hours later then figure out lunch and entertain for the rest of the day. This really came in handy when I got a cold about 2 hours before Avi got home from her first day of school. I know how weird huh. So I spent about the first 2 weeks walking Avi most of the way to school (I can watch from the top of the hill to make sure she survives the last block), coming home and having my morning nap for 1-2 hours while Dailynn watched TV. I was so wiped out from the 5 blocks of walking (one of them up a steep hill, and another 1 1/2 still uphill) and the cold.
Once I finally got my body most of the way back I was finally able to stop taking naps which made my days much more productive. I was able to do dishes, clean up, and even attack some projects I have been storing up for colder days. I also started attacking potty training again. If anyone has any idea I may not have tried on this stubborn little kid, please let me know because I have exhausted everything anyone has told me to do. This attempt is going a little better, but once I start talking that way Dailynn just decides that she wants to revert back again and I am cleaning up messes every 2 hours, so I am trying to keep my mouth shut. I even worked hard all summer to get a preschool going for her with my neighbor, and now she can't go.
So we had Dailynn's b-day on Saturday. She didn't get a big tadah because of what we are trying, but since we couldn't make up our mind as to how little we should do, we ended up taking her to wal-mart and letting her pick out her present. Whoops dropped the ball on that one. Now we get to deal with the fishing game that makes noises and has peices that break to easily. Oh well.
The pregnancy is going a little different from usual. I have the standard to the book pregnancies usually, but that isn't the case with this one. I went to my 28 week appointment and measured 31. I then went to my 32 week appointment and measure 36. I have measured exactly on at every other appointment, so this is strange to me. I have another one this week and they are going to do an ultrasound to see if there is anything that we need to worry about. Hopefully it is just that there is a lot of fluid in there and that I am not going to have a 13 lb baby, but with the way she kicks my ribs at the same time as run into my hips I don't think that is the case. Ugh!! Hopefully I will get some good answers on friday and be able to update on it then.
So Avi has this program at school where there is a reading contest. They get their name in a drawing each time they read a certain amount of min, and at the end of the year they give away 4 bikes. Avi wants to win the bike, so she tries everyday (I am not prompting more than the 20 min she is required) to read 100 min. She actually got it one day and has gotten about 65-85 most days. I know, how in the world does she just sit and read for that long at her age and with so little time in the day to do it, but she just does. She is already reading about half a grade level higher than the rest of her class and doesn't shy away from the BoM or Encyclopedia Brown if she is sick of just reading Disney or Dr. Suess. She also gets her homework on Tuesdays for the whole week, and I have a hard time trying to convince her that she should try to save some of it for another night other than just Tuesday night. I guess I shouldn't complain, at least she isn't procrastinating yet.
Dailynn is getting a little restless, so I need to take off. I hope everyone is still well.

Pictures finally!

2009-08-13T11:11:00.001-07:00

Here are the much anticipated pictures of our trip to Disney Land and the rest of the summer. If you want to see more, I can put them on but this has taken me 2 hours to do, so this is it for now. I hope you enjoy it.
Easter in the hotel room.

Playing at the beach.

One of the rides I couldn't enjoy in Disney Land.

Yes we were in Disney Land.

Pixie Hollow

I figured it would be good to prove that I was on this trip too.

Someone was so tired. A short nap after lunch.

Avi in the A

Waiting for the parade at Disney Land.

Sea World

The big 6.

Avi's dance festival at school.Avi's Graduation from Kindergarten.Nathan playing with a great big gun.The great big gun.Doing a bake sale at the dynamite shoot in La Sal.Swim lessons. I love Dailynn sporting the goggles.

Dailynn at Itty Bitty Ball. This realy made me realize that she is going to be a sporty girl.

Playing on the zip line. Dailynn wouldn't let us stop sending her. I did it the first time with her but it was hard with the growing stomach and extra kid for me.

Assembly a block tower. The adult boys thought this was a lot of fun.Drop the bottle down the shaft.Trying to get the bottle out.Shooting the ducks off the logs.Nathan playing for the singing group. Trying to play Kiss the Girl from Little Mermaid.

Playing ball with her best friend Livi. They were called the girls instead of being called by their names the whole season. It was a lot of fun for both of them."Are we there yet? I can see it, can we turn back now?""That's where we are going. Are you ready?"Avi with her other pea in the pod Abigail right next to Delicate.

Heading into Sand Dune Arch.Floating the San Miguel river. We never got all together, so we don't have an everyone picture.

Hanging out with the goblins, oh and our friends. (Goblin Valley where Nathan sprained his ankle, luckily we got the pictures before we started playing.)A little water balloon fight with friends.Playing on the slip-n-slide with some friends.

Vacation

2009-07-09T14:49:00.000-07:00

So this last week we went on vacation with another family down to La Sal. Yet again we taught a family another side of life that can exist. So one of Nathan's friends from work was talking about how he and his family had never been to arches and such and that they wanted to go down there. Nathan being the social person he is set up a trip down to La Sal for the locals experience. We left Sunday night after church, packing, and napping and arrived in La Sal at 10 pm. Mom and Maren were anxiously awaiting our arrival. Monday was a day in arches for those that needed the experience. I Stayed at the ranch with Dailynn and let the other troopers enjoy the heat and climbing. I got a blanket finished played games and enjoyed the break from fighting girls. Can I tell you how wonderful both of the girls are when they aren't together.
All the hikers made it back home eventually after having lettuce wraps for lunch since I forgot to send the bread for their sandwiches. Whoops!! After dinner we played some games and headed to bed when we were just too tired to function anymore.
Tuesday was a day on the ranch. The boys and teenage daughter took over the jeep and didn't show up until lunch time having taken care of the prairy dog problem a little bit. After lunch we ran up to the San Miguel river for a trip down. Only 3 of the 10 people that went made it all the way down, but it was still well worth the trip. Dai and Avi didn't get to go because it was just moving a little too fast for comfort. A few jumped out real quick and 2 more jumped about half way down.
Dinner was a little hectic in coming but great once it came! Mom hosted a PC party for me kicking the dutch ovens back outside to finish cooking dinner. Another night of games while the boys went to go shoot rabbits in the field. Finally they made it home about 10 saying they spent a while unwrapping a bunch of barbed wire off the axle of the jeep.
Wednesday was the trip home. On the way we stopped off at Goblin Valley to play. After eating lunch we went to play with the goblins.
About 10 min in Nathan jumped off a rock and sprained his ankle. We all helped him climb out the best we could and the two of us took off for the hospital to find out if it was broken. We stopped in Price just to get back in the car and head home just to not have to deal with that hospital. We made it to the insta care in Orem about 6 and got out just after 7 with a brace and some crutches. After grabbing dinner Nathan hunkered down in his recliner to get comfortable. Once our friends showed up with our girls we got the cars unloaded and cleaned up.
Last night the girls slept well with Avi getting just under 12 hours and Dailynn getting over 13. Too bad I wasn't able to get that much sleep, oh well.
Hopefully in the next week I will be able to get some pictures on the computer and up here for all of you to see.

half way there

2009-06-15T18:38:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to update you all on our current situation. We woke the girls up and tried to rush them getting ready last Tuesday with the thought that they were going to go see the baby. Dailynn's response was "is the doctor going to take out the baby today too?" Oh I wish. So the news is that we are having another girl. I know I know, we finally have boy names picked out so we were finally destined to have a boy, but no such luck. We are sticking with Nathan's family tradition of having all the same sex rather than my family trend of 2 girls then 2 boys. Oh well, you can't make everyone happy.
Now we do have this little issue of having no names at all to choose from, so I would love some suggestions. Remember that we like our names original if possible (at least not very hear of) so that our girls are stuck at college setting themselves apart by a ss# like I had to when I got married. Just leave a note with your suggestions, and I understand if you are saving the name for yourself.
Now it's time for shopping, I have started doing the rubber band trick to keep my pants up. That's tomorrows adventure. Hopefully someday my life will slow down a touch and I will be able to get the ultrasound pictures up for all to see.

Morning Hug

2009-05-10T14:48:00.000-07:00

I went to go wake Dailynn up this last week (I hate doing this because she is grumpy if she doesn't wake up on her own). Usually I go lay by her and just tickle her or something until she is awake enough to get out of bed. I laid down by her and she rolled over wrapped her arms around my neck and said "Good morning Mom." It was so cute. Too bad that the rest of the wake up wasn't as cute.

End of the trip

2009-04-22T14:16:00.000-07:00

Now that we are home and somewhat recooperated, I will tell a few things we missed. First off the second night of DL Dailynn fell pretty hard and skinned her knee and elbow. The first thing that she cried was "Now how am I going to play soccer?" We started laughing then the next thing to come out was "Now how am I going to walk?" We were reassuring her that she would be able to walk, that it wasn't the bone hurt, just her skin. This was followed by a hysterical "BUT I LOVE MY SKIN!!!" It was a long 10 min drive back to the hotel listening to her scream and cry about how her skin was lost and that it was bleeding and she was so sad. Luckily she fell asleep after a few min. Once we made it back to the hotel she started back in as if she hadn't even fallen asleep. I started cleaning it and she was screaming bloody murder. I was sure we woke up a few other people in the hotel because of it. If I tried to change the bandaids at anytime the rest of the week, it was another round of screaming about me taking her bandaids.

So on Friday we hit Sea World, and were quite surprised to sit in the splash zone at almost every show and we didn't get a drop of water on us. BUMMER!!! We were all so tired from the whole week that it was not as exciting as it should have been. I will say though that the best show was the Sea Lions Live. Well let me rephrase that, the preshow for SLL was the best. They just had this guy out there acting like he was cleaning things up. He started by squirting people with his bottle pretending to be cleaning, sneaking up behind people squirting them and stuff. Then he started pulling people out of the crowd and getting them to do stuff. Janina had her camera out so he pulled her up and had her pose. Then they pulled another guy up to put his arm around her to pose. The guys wife wasn't too happy, then they pulled up an African American girl up to be their daughter. Then he was "watching tv" with theme songs coming on and either acting them out our letting the audience sing them then turning it off so we kept singing. It was really a lot funnier than it sounds.

So we spent Friday night and Saturday driving home, and it was so nice to finally get here. The problem, we were going to Ephraim the next morning. We were going for one of the mission farewells that are going to the same mission. It was fun being with all the neices and nephews for an afternoon. I miss all of them, they are a lot of fun.

That's the end of the vacation, now where is my vacation?

Small World

2009-04-16T21:13:00.001-07:00

So we were in DL last night when we found out that Nathan's niece is going to the same mission as his brother 1 month later than him. The funny thing is that their older brothers both went to Brazil at the same time as well. What a crazy coincidence. Also, my brother's wife had her second baby yesturday. I am hoping to be able to stop by on our way home to say hi. Well Janina told me that she had a cousin get his mission call and another cousin have a baby yesturday as well. What are the odds.

Spring Break 2

2009-04-16T20:32:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I left out a few great stories that happened not at DL, so here we go. We are traveling with one of my sister wives, Janina, her fiance, Zackary, and daughter Cassie. On our way from Las Vegas to CA we kinda got ahead of them. Not a big deal, but Cassie had potty issues (we will leave it at that), so they had to keep stopping. Well about a min outside of a major town (Bakersfield I think) Cassie says she needs to potty. Well, there was nothing around, so they saw a bunch of green roofs, so they figured there would be a gas station or something like that. They get there and it is a juvanile detention center on full lockdown. Janina and Cassie have to be buzzed through 3 doors, and have 2 gaurds sit outside the bathroom for them to even get through it.

We were trying to find dinner the second night of DL. We were so tired that we figured we would pick up some fast food on the way home from the park. We asked Avi what she wanted since Dai was out for the count. She said Del Taco and neither of us wanted anything to do with it. We rely on the GPS to fine one for us and get us there. We get their tacos and plug in an In-N-Out burger for us. We see that it is on the same street that we are on but start blindly following the GPS to get there. It starts taking us to the freeway to get on. We shoot that down and get on the street that we are on and tell it to recalculate route. It was about 3 blocks from where Del Taco was. After getting our burgers, we had to stop for some groceries so we could have lunch the next day. We Go to Albertson's because we know where it is. On our way back we pas a Del Taco that was closer that the other one, and is on the same street as Albertson's In-N-Out and our Hotel. If we would have only taken the time to go to the store first we could have saved ourselves a huge headache. California roads suck!!!!

So now we are outside of San Diego. We were going to go to Sea World this afternoon, but by the time we got here and situated we were all so exhausted that we just wanted to veg. We went down to the beach which is litterallly about 2 blocks from our hotel. We are EXTREMELY glad that we weren't planning on having the whole beach experience today because it was realy windy and this beach was not a play beach, it is more like the beaches you see people running on in movies and such. It had beautiful cliffs on the side and we just walked along the shore letting the water wash up to us.

Tomorrow, Sea World and the long trip to Vegas again. Wish us luck.

Disneyland 1 (probably)

2009-04-13T22:19:00.000-07:00

So we have just spent a WONDERFUL day at Disneyland. The girls were awesome, we got into 6 rides within our first hour and a half there. We go to most of the park, and are so glad we have 2 more days there. Tomorrow is finishing up the park and hitting California Adventure.

I know, who cares about all of this, I am just setting up for this story. So we were all starving and looking for dinner. We were within a block of the McDonalds (trying to go cheap, but it is across the street so nothing is cheap) when we get stopped by this person standing outside the Quizno's. She talks us into listening to a timeshare presentation because they are going to feed us for free, give us $100 Disney Dollars, and a ride in a Limo. We are so tired and hungry that free food and sitting for an hour and a half sounds WONDERFUL to all of us. Dailynn is completely zonked out in the stroller so she just doesn't care. We get in the limo with another family making 11 people in a 8 person limo, and starty the crazy forever drive to get the three blocks we were told we were going. My friend Janina who is with us on the awesome trip is just so excited to be in the most comfortable seat in her life and doesn't even care about the fact that we are in a limo at all, the seat was just perfect.

So we get to the hotel, go to check in and what we find out is that they are booked and so we aren't getting the presentation, or dinner. It is now 8 pm and we are all fading fast. We did get the consolation that we got $150 Disney bucks. While we were waiting for our disney cash, we are just people watching because that is all you can do when you are that tired. So first these two girls come push the elevator button and start making out or something. While doing what ever they were doing the elevator beeps, and they go closer to the door they are standing by. Meanwhile, the one next to it opens, waits for them, then closes. It's another 2 min before they realize that it is taking entire too long for it to get to them. The other girl pushes the button and complains to the first that she didn't push it, while the first insists that she has. They finally make it on and are gone. Not even 2 min later this guy comes up to push the button and for some reason he just can't find it. He is just pushing the wall not even a centimeter above the button about 10 times before he looks down and finally gets it. He makes it safely away from his hystericaly laughing audience. Then again not even 2 min later this old couple come to call the elevator again. Well it was waiting for them, so the door opens immediatly. They are just standing there laudy dahing until they realize thier elevator is closing and walk right up to it as it finishes closing. Then they didn't know how to get it back since it was gone. It was another second before they figured they could call it again, and the same doors opened up. Oh we were unable to contain ourselves by this point.

We have to wait for the limo to come get us, then the driver seams to be having a hard time getting us back to where we started but we finally made it. Finally we just walk into this buffet that seams reasonably priced. After getting our fill on the slim pickins, we go for the icecream. Avi wanted chocolate as always and Dai wanted twist. I got Avi's choc and then went for Dai's twist and all that came out was Choc. So then I try the vanilla and nothing comes out so I tell Dai there is nothing I can do and we go sit down. Zachary sits down just a few seconds after us with a bowl of twist icecream. He was in line immediatly after us so I am so confused. He said he did the twist and all was good. So now I don't know how to run an icecream machine.

We stuck around for just a few more min after dinner to watch the fireworks. Once we finally make it back to the car, we start driving away. We have this wonderful GPS that is being our saving grace for the trip because CA roads are so confusing. So we know we have to get on the freeway, and see a sign that says freeway entrance. Nathan jumps on it and when it is too late we realize we are going South when we are supposed to be going North. Luckily it was a quick turn around and we made it safely back to our room where we are crashing right now.

Happy Dance

2009-03-26T19:11:00.000-07:00

I am doing the happy dance!!! Dailynn is now sleeping in panties!!!! Yipee. It has been such a battle potty training this monster, so I am so happy that we are to this point. She just needs a few simple reminders, but she went potty on her own at a friends house today. Super happy dance. Sorry I am just so excited after the battle we have had.

The future

2009-03-16T13:44:00.000-07:00

Ok, so there are a few changes going on in our home, so this is a warning to all. First off if this is the first you are hearing about this, sorry, there are just so many people I can call in my off time (what is that by the way). I am pregnant with our 3rd child expencting the parasite at the end of October. (I say parasite because that is a good definition, and some people get offended if you call the fetis an it until you know what it is.)

I announced that because I will not be blogging much for the next while. We are making changes at home and one of them is the internet, so I will only have it at family members houses and work. So if you are looking daily for a post from me you are seriously wasting your time.

Now Nathan is having fun with work situations. All of them good, but they are changing things so much for us. First off his schedule changed this month, so we are now 8-5ers. This makes it so we have weekends available now. YIPEE!! This means I want to hear from all of you how you would love to hang out and come to my house to play (we will go to your house if you want, but the invite to come to our house is ALWAYS open).
Also he has started working with a company called Primerica. This company specializes in debt elimination and future financial planning. If you find yourself in a situation where you want to improve your financial status, or just need a little advice, he would love to come talk to you. He has already been able to help a few friends and we want the chance to help you if we can. Just give us a buzz, or you may just hear from us because we want to try to help you.

I will be working at H&R Block through the summer. I am excited to learn a lot this summer. I will be answering letters from the IRS, amending returns, filing later returns and all the other yucky stuff we do here during the summer. It is going to be great.

I hope all of you are great, and sorry about the lack of updating that has happened, life is so crazy that I haven't even had time to go grocery shopping for a while. It makes it kinda hard to make dinner when you are out of EVERYTHING!!! It will be nice when the season is over and I have time to be myself again.

Letter

2009-03-03T10:30:00.000-08:00

Avi wrote a letter to her cousin with the help of her grandma. It was so cute I had to post it.

Dear Jaxson,

I have not seen you for a long time and I am forgetting what you look like. When are you going to come and play at my house again.

Do you like school? I like school most of the time. A long time ago at school I learned about drugs. I learned to never touch them or to step on them or to never have them and that my teacher's dad had a little taste, I think, and it was hard to quit.

Bye for now. Be sure and come and play some day.

Avrilee

Strong

2009-02-05T16:22:00.001-08:00

Avi: "I need to work out more so that I can be stronger than Jaxson" (she doesn't work out at all, but hey it is the new year and that is what is on all our minds)
Mommy: "Why do you want to be stronger than Jaxson?"
Avi: "Because he pulls me all around their house and I can't go anywhere."
Mommy: "Well you have 2 things against you on that. First he is older than you, and he is a boy so he will be stronger than you."
Avi: "But some girls are stronger than boys."
Mommy: "Yes some girls are stronger than boys."
Avi: "Mommy is stronger than boys."
Dai: "And Daddy is too."
Avi: "But Daddy isn't a girl Dailynn."
Dai: "And he chases cats too."
Daddy: "That doesn't make me a girl."

It kept going from there, but we were laughing so hard that I can't remember where it went. It is fun to follow your own train of thought, but when you try to follow a kids thought train it is hillarious. What cute kids.

Another reason my husband ROCKS!!!

2009-01-23T21:20:00.000-08:00

Tonight at work my 2 bosses, were both very sleep deprived and have spent way to much time together, were telling stories about other people in the company and all the CRAZY!! adventures they had had trying to get all the offices ready to go for the season. They were laughing so hard they were almost rolling on the floor and us others who know the people they were talking about were laughing hard but not that hard, and the poor new girl who doesn't know any of these people just got bored with it and went and did other things. I didn't get this until she said that it is only so funny when you don't know the people they are talking about.

I have been thinking about that for the last half hour and realized that Nathan is so awesome because he humors me when I am telling him all my work stories. He only knows Linda (my direct boss) so when I am telling him about the other 4-10 people involved in the stories he just listens not knowing any of them. He is so great to laugh at the right times and listen to me when I am telling all of these stories. What a GREAT guy he is.

What have you done?

2009-01-14T12:39:00.000-08:00

Just copy and paste it into your own blog, then bold the things you have done! And add your own at the bottom!

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo (it doesn't say it had to sound good)
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run.
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy (too many fires, it didn't work)
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt (many times)
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone.
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating (I didn't do the actual killing but I brought the animal to the ax)
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Made amends with someone who offended you
101. Flew in a small Cessna plan with just you and the pilot
102. Ran out of gas
103. Eaten fried okra
104. Swam in the Caribbean Sea
105. Peed in a swimming pool
106. Rented a beach house
107. Hosted an exchange student
108. Been a Secret Santa to a family in need
109. Worked on a political campaign
110. Coached a sports team
111. Gone kayaking in the ocean
112. Certified as an elementary teacher
113. Been the mother to twins!
114. Eaten sushi
115. Swam with sting rays
116. Laughed so hard you wet your pants.
Now it's your turn...

Good Relationship

2009-01-10T08:21:00.000-08:00

I was asked by someone this week if there was something wrong between Nathan and I. I was surprised so I confidently convince them that we were doing great with no worries. The reason is seamed that we weren't on balance was because I had spent the last few days completely sick and nasty feeling. That afternoon I got home from work to find the dishes done (Nathan's most hated house chore), the kitchen clean, the house looking great, and a new toilet installed. (our toilet would only flush 1 in 5 times attempted.) Then he took me out to dinner and got the kids ready for bed for me. He was so awesome and it was such a relief to come home to all of that. I had spent the week sick, working, and trying to survive while he spent the week taking care of the kids, taking care of me, and making sure the house was still standing. This is my wonderful husband that I LOVE so much!!! Thank you Nathan!!!

Teeth

2009-01-05T07:53:00.000-08:00

Dailynn: "Mom I need new teeth."
Mom: "Why do you need new teeth?"
Dailynn: "So that I don't bite my tongue any more."
Mom: "Well in a few years you will get new teeth."
Dailynn: "I hope that they are monster teeth."

Answered Prayer

2008-12-12T11:24:00.000-08:00

Ok, so with my Pampered Chef business, we always have deadlines on the last day of the month. Well for November it happened to fall on a Sunday. I don't like those months so much. I had worked hard to get a show closed on Saturday to meet a goal that I had. Well I ran out of time. I was bummed and thought that one phone call on Sunday surely wouldn't hurt. I even figured out the person to call to finish it all up. I thought about it at church and for the afternoon and figured that the $12 difference it was going to make wasn't worth breaking the sabath. I said a prayer saying to the Lord that since I was not working on Sunday that I needed help to close this show even though it wasn't going to make it on the deadline.

So Monday morning I checked my e-mail and got a great surprise. There was a letter from corporate saying that there were computer gliches on Sunday and that we had one more day to submit shows for it to count on November. I was extatic. I got on my e-mail and on the phone to let everyone know that I could think of. Then that afternoon we went car looking and met a sales man that said he wanted to order. I knew it was because I had stuck to my guns and asked for help. It is not worth $12 to break a commandment. The gospel is so easy, you just have to commit to doing it.

Still here

2008-12-04T16:52:00.000-08:00

Sorry everyone for my absence. I have been doing projects like crazy. I hope to have them all done soon, and I can put up pictures. I almost finished redecorating the girls room, making quilts for the girls for Christmas, and now we are fall cleaning because we just got a massive weight bench. I am almost done with the quilts, and just have a few small touches on the girls room left, and a lot of cleaning. I think the cleaning won't get done until after Christmas. The room we need to get to the most is the presents hiding room, so we can't just go in there for a few hours cleaning and expect to have the girls leave us alone.

So this weight bench, my MIL called me up one day saying her neighbor had a bench and was just giving it away because she didn't want to hassle with selling it. She then asked if we wanted it . I said sure thinking it was just a small thing and we could play around with it. The first load showed up and I was getting excited. There was only one thing there saying this is much more than just a simple bench. We went up a few days later and packed the rest of it up. This thing is massive!! I has a 2 inch clearance from the ceiling and has a pulley system to it. We are so excited!!! I will post a pic when I get pics of the other stuff.

I hope everyone is having a great holliday season. We got some lights up outside and are trying to figure out if we are going to spring for a real tree or not this year. The girls want to decorate the tree so bad that they don't want to wait. We did hit the Black Friday sales this year. The first time that either of us has ever done it. We had so much fun!!! We will have to see if we can do it again next year.

Have a great December in case I don't make it back before then!!

Talent Show

2008-11-13T20:50:00.000-08:00

Avi had a talent show today. She and her friend, Livi, have been practicing all week to do this dance. It should be done a bit slower, so they did a good job of improvising at the end. Sherie and I were amazed that our girls actually got up there and did it because they are both so shy. I guess they like to preform

crazy crazy crazy

2008-10-25T16:16:00.001-07:00

So I have so much to talk about. First, for Dailynn's birthday in Sept we went bowling with a bunch of friends, then had cake and ice cream the next day. Her cake was a barbie cake, if you want instructions for it, let me know.Then Nathan and I had a party with a bunch of friends. This has only been our second successful b-day party we have had. Usually we invite 30 people and end up with 2-4 people even though we buy food for all of them. Well the first successful one was in Logan and we ended up with about 30 people (kids included) in our small apartment with our 2 week old baby. This time we had about 20 people in our medium house, it was a lot less crazy, and we were able to do more than just chat like the last one. Thanks everyone that came. We had an inside bbq, then played some games and hung out. Most everyone didn't know each other, but it was fun to mix all our aspects of our lives together.

Next, we have been busy with a recovery and keeping everyone healthy. I spent all day on Thursday sanding, washing, priming, and painting the girls room. I started the project in January, and I finally got it going again. I still need to do the ceiling, and accenting. The walls are done, so we are looking better. Nathan's favorite part is that the dresser is no longer in the hall, but in the room. YIPEE!!!!

Now for the fun, we had a Halloween party last night at our church. We invited some friends to join us, and this year we went all out. Nathan and I don't usually dress up, but we decided to. Thanks Austin and Sherie for convincing us to do it. Dailynn was an adorable cheerleader. She looked so good, and I promise, the colors were all they had, not my allegeice to any school. Her makeup ended up being fixed a few times. Avi got to be a cute angel. Nathan was a Japanese Samaria Warior. It's a repeat from before, but it still looks good. I decided to be gothic. I have been working on it for about 2 weeks to figure it out. It was fun once I finally figured it all out. I got the shirt and boots at DI, and the rest was borrowing from Sherie, or walmart. I pulled a stupid though because I put the fake nails on before anything else. As you all know I am a nail biter, so putting on fake nails, I didn't know how to use them. Luckily my friend showed up to help me put on make up, do my hair, pait the nails, and take care of my kids the rest of the way. I did get them all done before I started myself, but as stated before Dailynn needed a redo on the makeup. Some how I survied the ordeal, and I was creepy. You judge for yourself. Avi was cute at least.So at the party we got a few good coments. I had a few people not know who we were. I loved when people would say they had been looking at me for a while trying to figure out who it was. I also got a few saying I looked terrible and hoped that I had never looked this way before.

So now I have these fake nails on, not sue how to use them, and taking twice as long as it should to type this post. I have lost them all on the right hand while trying to clean grapes, but the left hand is still in tact, we will see what happens.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

TAX TIP

2008-10-16T07:52:00.000-07:00

ok, so since I have been taking my tax classes to get ready for the next season, I have been finding out things about audits. So I got a little spooked about one of the highly audited things and wanted to inform all you who use it even though I don't yet.

So the Ogden IRS office used to be the place that decided the majority of the audit reasons, but for some reason, the home office decided to take over that responsibility. Why does this matter? Well the Ogden people understood the dynamic of the LDS church and how members will give 10% of their income in tithing. I was told that in New York if you give more than $500 in charitable contributions it is an automatic audit. So where I am going is that the IRS is auditing Utahns for their charitable contributions.

Now you are thinking "I keep the church statement they give me every year with all my tax stuff", or at least I hope you do that at least. Well I was informed that the IRS is not accepting that as a form of proof. What the IRS wants is the yellow tithing slips and copies of your cancled checks from the bank. You will want to go as far back as you can right now if you have been using your tithing as an itemized deduction. Our tax office is getting hit this summer with 2006 returns, so don't just think you are in the clear because you haven't heard anything.

Now that I have scared you I want to calm you down a little, they won't audit you for just tithing, they usually will find something more before they will do that. So for the future, you will want to keep your yellow slips, and print off your cancled checks when you get them. It's a hassle, but if you have them, they will not contest you on that at all.

Hamburgers

2008-10-10T15:05:00.000-07:00

ok, so I didn't realize that they way I make my hamburgers is actually a unique way until I had a bunch of friends over. I was making hamburgers, and we ran out so I had to put another batch together so that I could eat as well. So I started putting them together and realized that all the women were in there watching me with awed expressions. (we had like 13 adults there or something like that) So here is my recipe for great hamburgers.

so take your standard ground hamburger what ever % fat you want because I just go for the cheapest in the store at the time. Add a bit of Worcestershire sauce, I just kinda dump. Probably about a tablespoon per pound, but I couldn't tell you sorry. Then the real trick is to add finely shredded cheese. I think that mozzarella is the best, but cheddar or montery or anything you have is just as good. The amount, who knows again. probably about a half cup per pound, but that may be a bit much. Now get those hands disgusting by mixxing this up. Next just cook them up. I just found that the cheese makes it more moist and fall apart so nice while you eat it, but not while you cook it. I do put a peice of sliced cheese on top just before it is done so that it will melt on top.

Hopefully this works for you, and if it doesn't work out the first time, tweek as it needs to be. Let me know if you have any other things you like to do to improve your hamburgers.

tagged

2008-09-24T09:48:00.000-07:00

So I have been tagged a few times now, so I guess I will do it

20 Years Ago
I was almost 6, so I don't remember much. I guess I was going into kindergarten and taking tests to see if I could skip to 1st grade to be with all of my friends.

10 Years Ago
I was almost 16, I had just gotten home from a month trip to Japan, just figured out e-mail and was on it constantly with all my Japan friends and just starting my sophmore year.

5 Years Ago
I was attending USU with a 4 month baby (Avrilee). I was doing 12 credits online and 3 on campus. My favorite class was the one I had to go to campus for because I was so happy to get out of the house. That semester was the hardest I ever had, even harder than the one I was engaged for.

3 Years Ago
I was stuck in the house with a newborn. When I went in the hospital to have Dailynn it was warm outside. When I got home it was cold outside, I didn't like that fall much.

1 Year Ago
UM.... Nothing significant. Avi was in Preschool and making friends for her and her mom. I paid off our student loans and became debt free for the last time in my life I hope.

This Year So Far
I have started walking with a friend, Avi is in Kindergarten, and I have loved learning how to can. I worked at HR Block and loved it.

Today
Dropped Avi at school, helped at the school, and watching a friends kids so she can help in the classroom. Hopefully we will can some plum jam and make some fruit lether.

Tomorrow
Dailynn has a Dr appointment for turning 3, laundry, cleaning, and packing for a trip to La Sal on Friday.

Next Year
I will never know, if we had it our way we would be moved to Ephraim with an awesome job, building a house on the lot down there and growing a HUGE garden. To tell you the truth, we will never know what happens 3 months down the road let alone a full year. Maybe we will have a move this year though, who knows.

I tag anyone who wants to do it.

Turkey

2008-09-23T19:57:00.000-07:00

Dailynn is so adorable when she wants to be. She started to be grumpy when we had to leave the cute little baby friend that wanted to come with us home from dropping Avi off at school, so I put her on my shoulders for a little ride. I can't do the whole trip like that. She loves to be on my shoulders so that she can grab leaves off the trees while we walk past. So she grabbed a few limbs off our friends tree and loved that she was holding so many of them. After a few minutes she wanted down, and a few min later she didn't want to carry the branches any more. Dailynn can't stand the thought of wasting a good branch so she stuck all 3 branches in my back pocket. Then she noticed that I was a turkey and laughed about it the rest of the way home. It was so fun to walk with her so happy and imaginative.

Commitment

2008-09-16T19:42:00.000-07:00

My friend Katie said that she wanted to run with her family in the Peach Days race next year and challenged us all to join her. She did that and I jumped at the chance. If you have known me for 10 years or so, you will know that I was on the Cross Country team in High School. No I wasn't good, but I had fun. So the last 2 years I have been aching to do a 5K run for a while, so this will just be so much fun for me.

I am so proud of Katie because she has never been a runner, so it is great that she wants to. She is probably starting out the right way too because I wouldn't ease into it that way. I would just run a half mile or so then walk a bit instead of the equal amounts of time like she researched to find out. I am hoping that when the time comes that I can do it, and keep up with her and her cute family.

If anyone else would like to join in on this, lets go for it!! Running is so good! For me it is a stress reliever. Last week on one of my walks, my friend and I were crossing a busy street so we ran and then ran the length of the cemetery because it felt so good to run. Watch out, I am going to start running you off the road.

Still here

2008-09-12T15:38:00.001-07:00

Hello everyone,

Sorry it has been a while. Avi is doing good in school, but we are already battling the I don't want to go to school bit. The first time she said this, it was followed by "they won't teach me anything". She is ready so good, and I think she is surviving socially. We will just have to see how things are going throughout the year. I got to go into the class and help out one day and she was doing good and didn't need to come hang on me, so that was good.

For me the tax season has begun. I know, doesn't it start in January? Well, no. I have classes that I am required to take in order to be rehired next year. So the classes have started so I am submerged in taxes right now, how fun. I am learning a lot.

We have just 2 more soccer games left, so then we will be free again on Saturdays. She is doing ok with it, but we will see how this saturday goes.

I have started turtoring again. It is a lot of fun and I love working with the kids that I have right now. maybe someday I will become a teacher, but who knows.

Dailynn is loving the chance to have free reign of the house for small parts of the day. She is so cute and loves reading and learning. WE are working on the terrible two's, soon be threes. She has some temper problems that we are trying to help her calm down.

I spent the day yesturday tearing appart some lilac bushes. They haven't been trimmed in 20 years, so they are being mutilated a bit right now. I don't have pictures now, but maybe some time. IT is a huge mess, but maybe next year I can have a garden a little better with it not being so shaded.

Some Wedding Pics

2008-08-28T13:39:00.001-07:00

So here are a few pictures, and video of them cutting the cake. So, they were really popular with the kids. I love the picture with them kissing and all the kids are watching it so closely. There was also a classic birth control picture with our niece Madi. So awesome. There was cardboard under the cake and they were trying to pick up the cake under the cardboard. That is why there is the break in the video.

Wedding Cake

2008-08-28T13:02:00.001-07:00

Ok, so I was asked to put together Brittney's wedding cake for the luncheon. So I had a hard time trying to figure out how to make it half fake to try to save money. I know, styrofoam is the right thing to use right, no it was going to cost quite a bit to do that, so I had to come up with something else. Finally my wonderful friend Anna told me to use rice crispy treats. It was such a wonderful idea!! So I made the bottom and middle tiers out of the rice crispy treat and decorated them with regular frosting.

I was trying to figure out how to decorate it, and another wonderful friend of mine, Sherrie, was helping me brainstorm ideas. We came up with making the middle tier white while making the other 2 brown. We just couldn't bring our selves to make a green cake. (Brown and green were her colors) So then Sherrie suggested writing their names on the white tier. She wanted to do White frosting, but I suggested a realy light green, and I think it turned out ok with it being green. We worked on the white teir a week before because Sherrie was going out of town for the whole week before the wedding. Luckily she was so nice to let me freeze it in her big empty freezer, rather than having it subjected to the rath of my children.
The next week I worked on the bottom teir, making 4 batches of rice crispy treats just to make the structure. Another great suggestion from Sherrie was to make a ribbon rather than make my verry shakey hands do piping all over it. I found a nice thick white ribbon and a small green ribbon. I hot glued the green one in 2 strips all down the white one. Then I fashioned a flat bow to go over the seam of ribbon. It was nice that the "cake" was solid enough to just use straight pins to hold the ribbon on it.
Yeah, that worked GREAT!! Then on Thursday before the big day I baked the cake, chocolate of course. That is basicly all I did that whole day. Friday was decorating day. It's amazing how much time it takes to get the frosting smooth and even over a small (and harder over a large) cake. Finally I was happy enough with the smoothness, but had to wait until it set enough to do the border. Then sit even more before I could put the ribbon on. Yes this was an ALL day thing, and somehow the girls didn't hurt it. MIRACLE!!!!
Then Saturday was the big day. I didn't realize that I had gotten the wrong size of box for the base, so it was sitting open the whole morning. I asked my grandparents to transport me because I trusted them in their driving and lack of items that could hurt the cake for the morning.
After pictures, my grandparents and I hurried back to the hotel where the luncheon was at and put the cake together. There was a slight causulty with the hearts next to the names, but I don't think anyone noticed. I quickly put it together, scaring the spectators a time or two with the placements and holding the cakes, but nothing big happened. Once it was done I was so happy to be free of it.

After the cake cutting I shoved it all back into boxes, looking less deliciouse than before and got it home. Everyone liked it, and it worked out great, even though the pictures show all of it's flaws. Oh well, it was dark enough in the that I didn't mind too much.

First Day of School

2008-08-26T16:06:00.000-07:00

Monday Aug 25th was the first day of kindergarten in our home. What a change. We woke up early to make sure we were ready early enough to get over whatever frustration we were going to go through in getting ready. Luckily Avi was so excited to go to school that we didn't have those frustrations and we were ready and hour before it started. We only live 3 blocks from school, so we are planning on walking to school each day, but we will see how cold it gets this winter. The 4 of us walked down and met Avi's friend Livi to walk with across the street to school.After going to the classroom and waiting for a while for other students to show, we finally figured out that they all meet outside then walk into the classroom together. Whoops. Avi went to class great, and was so excited when she was done. This is going GREAT!! I have been so worried about the changes and new situations, so to see her having such an easy time with it is such a relief. She also has a guy teacher, how fun.When we were walking home from dropping her off, Dailynn was having a hard time being away from Avi. She couldn't believe that she was having to spend time away from her. It's going better now. Well enjoy the pictures, we had fun. Oh yeah and no tears!!!

Ummm

2008-08-18T08:54:00.000-07:00

So Dailynn is being an interesting character. Sometimes she will punish herself for things that we aren't too worried about. While in La Sal, she was goofing off during the dinner prayer. She insisted that she was bad during the prayer, so she wasn't allowed to have dinner because of it. Well yesterday while I was making lunch she was singing "It's all my fault" over and over again. Nathan said "she is going to be a depressed child, disciplining her self and saying it is all her fault. I am going to need a psychology degree just to take care of her." She really is a pretty happy kid, just has to figure out what she can and can't do then she will be happy all the time. I do think it is kinda funny when she starts yelling "I'm Freakin Mad". Not sure where that all came from, but it sure does make me giggle when she says it.

Why so long

2008-08-13T09:25:00.000-07:00

So you may have noticed that it has taken me a while to post, and sorry about that. Life has been fun and crazy. After the family reunion, I got the pleasure of throwing Brittney a bridal shower, so between that and getting into the Twilight series, I haven't had much time to do anything other than keep my family alive. Luckily I have a lighter week where I get to figure out how to make a fake wedding cake for Britt. Ideas are flying through my head, I hope that I will remember to document how I am making it and that can be my next food tip or something. This whole wedding thing is so fun, but it will be nice when it is over.

We found out that Avi gets to have the male teacher this year. She is excited for school, and hopefully we can go meet him tomorrow. It will be good to have her go to school so that I can maybe work on projects a little better.

My friend Sherrie and I have started walking at nights, and it is really to walk 2-5 miles with her and get to know her so much more. We found out last night that we were in Japan at the same time. It was so fun to talk about our experiences and both got Japan hungry all over again.

Nathan and I am also so excited about the Olympics. It is so hard to peal ourselves away from it sometimes. It was fun to watch the Guys and Girls gymnastics, and also the swimming.

We are just enjoying the last little bit of the summer before school starts and things get crazy again. Have a great summer everyone.

Family Reunion

2008-08-13T08:52:00.000-07:00

Ok, so it isn't that good of an idea for the Blankenagel family to get together. We all went to La Sal for a week for a reunion and vacation. The first day we laid a new sidewalk/front patio with Mom, Dad, Uncles John and Bill. The next day I got to mow the lawn with the tractor. Mom is just cleaning up my messes with the girls. After the lawn was done Mom let the girls drive the tractor. They had the biggest smiles in the world!!
We spent much of the rest of the week shooting prairy dogs, Jeeping, and four wheeling. Nathan had a great time just going out with the 22 and went through a box and a half of bullets in the week. He was happy.
On Wed we started having everyone else arrive. We had fun going up on the mountain to see the scenery for the next few days. I will say again that it isn't safe for all of us to get together, especially in the 7th year.
So on Thursday we went up to Cash and Copper to take pictures for Brittney's announcements. Dad and Jeff went to go follow the road a ways on the 4-wheelers to see where it went. On the way back Dad was trying something he shouldn't have been doing. The 4-wheeler rolled over him breaking his wrist, bruising some ribs and most of his back. For the rest of the week he needed help getting up and down from his chair and bed.This was our eating arrangements and Uncle John helped the kids put up this cute little tent to play in.
On Friday we went to go meet the rest of the family that had decided to camp out on the mountain to go play with them. Most of them were gone so we decided to go for a drive ourselves. We didn't realize how long of a drive we were going on and how bumpy the road was. We went up to a lake and found a new way back that wasn't going to kill the kids in the back of the truck. Kristl was driving the jeep in front of Kenzie driving her truck. We were going down the mountain road a little fast, and coming to a blind corner, and all of a sudden another vehicle was there. Both Kristl and the other vehicle slammed on the brakes and moved to their side of the road. All would have been fine but the other vehicle had a trailer that started jackknifing towards Kristl so she moved even further over. The problem was that there wasn't any more road or shoulder to move over onto, so she drove up the side of the hill rolling the jeep. It did a 3/4 rotation ending on the passenger side.Nathan, Kenzie and I Jumped out of the truck at the same time yelling at the kids to not get out of the truck and ran to help. By the time we got there Sheena and Ben (passengers in the back of the jeep) were running away from it so we weren't worried about them. We started yelling for Kristl and John to answer us, and once they did we knew that everyone was alive. None of them were wearing seat belts, so that added to our worries. We made it over there and John was yelling that he had broken his arm. After getting the top off the jeep they were finally able to climb out. We tipped the jeep back up and got it out of the road so that the other 4 vehicles that were waiting behind it could go by, and got John braced together with a camera bag. The jeep made it off the mountain and didn't move the rest of the weekend.
They ran to Monticello and once there the Doctors decided they needed a little more help with this so they life flighted him to Grand Junction to go through surgery. He spent the next few days in the hospital watching the injury.
We spent saturday a little calmly. After a while of just the playing around the ranch thing we went swimming at the reservoir. Avi and Dailynn got to show off they swimming skills, and we all got to cool off. While there we got called by our cousins that had left that morning saying they were stranded on a jeep trail in Moab. They needed help getting the truck fixed. All the lug nuts on one wheel had broken so they need to get a ride back to the truck to fix it. Oh what fun. Luckily no one got hurt on that one.
On Sunday we left after church and dinner and headed to Ephraim. We stopped at Nathan's sister Sharalee's house and played with them for a few hours and then came home. It was so nice to be in our own beds!!!!
All in all we did survive and it could have been a lot worse. I know that prayers are answered and that there were quite a few angels floating a little closer to our family that week!!!

Summer activities pictures

2008-08-13T08:19:00.001-07:00

I had never been to the Timpanogos Caves, so Nathan, Avi, I, Jaxson (her cousin) and Jana (Nathan's sister) went up to see them. This was within the first 1/3 of the hike, so I am not too flushed by this time. It wasn't that bad of a hike, but I am so out of shape that I was just huffing and puffing by the time I got up there. After the hike we went back to camp, and Nathan cooked dinner for everyone.During Pleasant Grove's Strawberry Days, there was a fun parade. Since it starts just 2 blocks from our house we had floats and horsed going by to go line up. We left to walk to the parade and we found that outside our house we had a horse trailer and they were unloading the horses. I asked if I could put the girls up on them and get some pictures. The people were so nice to let them up there. The girls wanted to camp out, so we set up the tent in the back yard for two nights. We combined the tents with the tarp so that it would be easier for them to feel comfortable.We signed Avi up for T-ball this year. It took a little while but she finally got into the game a little better. She can hit the ball pretty good if she concentrates enough. By the end she understood what was going on. It helped her so much to get out of her little shell a little more.While Avi was playing her game Dailynn was bored and wanted to do something herself. She climbed the hill behind us and rolled down it the whole hour. Every once in a while she would have a boy treat her like a china doll worried she would break or something and just keep a very close eye on her so that she didn't get hurt. It was cute.On the 4th of July we got invited to a BBQ where they decided to get a blowup water slide. It was so cool!! Dailynn loved riding it and the older girls loved taking her on it. The squirt guns were fun on it too. Both of the guns are controlled by my girls in this picture. That was their favorite part of it.I signed both girls up for swim lessons this year. It took a little more effort to get Dailynn in than Avi which is so not normal. Once Dailynn got used to the idea she loved it. Every once in a while the girls teachers would play games with each other so they saw each other once in a while in the pool. On the last day the teachers took the kids on the water slides. Avi got to go once while Dailynn got to go like 4 times. They had so much fun with the lessons and I am so excited to put them in again next summer.

Apripops

2008-08-13T07:56:00.000-07:00

Ok, I know it has been a long time, but while my pictures copy over to my computer I might as well put in a food tip.

I got this from a great friend of mine that is just loving to do all this fruit and veggie preserving that I am enjoying right now. We are both teaching each other a lot. So we are both over run with Apricots, so to finish up some puree that we both had, so put it in her Popsicle container and froze it like popsicles. Add enough sugar to your puree to make it sweet enough to enjoy. They come out great, and are a healthy alternative. It also uses up some of the excess puree. Also fresh home made apricot jam is delicious. I have also made some fruit leather, and am hoping to maybe bottle some today, but I am not sure how to yet. Good luck and happy cooking.

AAAAAHHHHHH

2008-07-18T13:19:00.000-07:00

ok so some of you may have heard, but my sister is engaged. This happened last week, and the fun part is that the wedding is August 23rd. Kenzie and I had so much fun dress shopping with her and planning everything we can for her. The fun part is that we also have a huge family reunion in the middle of that, so between the bridal shower, the wedding and trying to prepare for that, I feel like a chicken with it's head cut off. That's ok because that is how I work the best. I just need to get off the computer games and actually clean once in a while. That is sometime pointless though since the girls are so good at destroying the house faster than I can clean it. That's life. OOH I just heard something not so good. Bye

Memories

2008-07-18T13:00:00.000-07:00

I am excited about this, and hope to hear from all of you.

So here's how it works...
1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you know me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. If you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, I'll leave my memory of you in my comments.

So there you have it! Post away! Oh,and if you don't "know" me well enough to have a memory, feel free to use anything you've read here. A favorite post you've read, etc. that way everyone can play!

PB Cups

2008-07-11T13:35:00.001-07:00

So I know this isn't much of a tip, just a favorite recipe. I have loved making these PB Cups for years, and many of you have tried them so you know why.

PB Cups

1/2 cup Butter (softened)
1/2 cup Peanut Butter
1/2 pkg Gram Crackers (the plastic pkgs in the boxes)
2-3 cups (I think, I don't measure this part) powdered sugar.

Mix all of those together until you get about a cookie dough consistency. Don't get it too dry or it will be hard to work with.

Next take 1/3 pkg chocolate chips and melt them in the microwave about 1 min. Stir until melted. Pour the chocolate in a zip-seal baggy, close the top, and snip the corner off to pipe chocolate into the Silicone Floral Cup Cake Pan (yes that is a PC product). After putting a thin layer down, either use your finger to spread it around, or tap the side of the pan to help smooth it out. Place the pan in the fridge for a half hour or more to set the chocolate.
Take a small scoop and put one scoop of peanut butter mixture in each chocolate base. Use the Mini-tart shaper to press down peanut butter to make it even in the cups. Melt the rest of the bag of chocolate chips in microwave as before. Using the same baggy, drizzle more chocolate over the peanut butter mixture. Tap down the side and cover trouble spots as needed. Place in the fridge again to set the chocolate again.
When the chocolate is all set, pop out the individual cups and serve. One suggestion is to have some milk handy because you are going to need it.

If you don't have the cupcake pan and you are just needing the sugar rush, you can just push the mixture flat in a cake pan or small cookie sheet and spread the melted chocolate on top, but that isn't and pretty.

It's been so long

2008-07-11T13:20:00.001-07:00

Sorry if it looks like I have dropped off the face of the earth, it's just summer. I know, what should summer have to do with it when my kids haven't been to school yet? I think summer is summer no matter how old you are, and we have been having a ton of fun. I don't have the pictures or videos downloaded, but soon I hope. (I will keep telling myself that) Avi had been in T-Ball, Story Time, and Swim Lessons. Soon we will start Soccer, but not for another few weeks. Then on August 18th she will start Kindergarten. I can't wait, it will be so fun for her. I have been worried about her because she has a hard time with new activities sometimes, but with everything new I have put her in this summer she is doing great at adjusting to the new situations with no one there that she knows. Then when she goes to kindergarten with a few of the 25 kids that are going this year from our ward she won't be as terrified. For some reason everyone that had kids in 2002 had them after Sept, and everyone that had them in 2003 from our ward had them before Sept, so there are a lot of them going this year. I need to go switch the laundry now, so I think I better quit goofing off.

Fancy Food

2008-06-27T08:10:00.000-07:00

So last night I was trying to figure out dinner as is the usual afternoon activity. So I had some boneless pork ribs in the fridge that need to be used, so I threw them in the oven with some citrus and basil rub for a few hours. Then the problem is what do you make with them? I thought that rice would be nice, but not just plain rice would do. I decided to jazz it up with some garlic and basil. That turned out great and felt so fancy. I had gotten some artisan bread from Macey's for free so I cut a few slices of that with some honey butter, and corn on the cob. If felt like such a fancy restraunty dinner but really I was just using up stuff in my fridge that was about to go bad. I was just excited that I could make something like that so quick and easy, it has always been a dream of mine to get trained in culinary arts. I think that I just watch too much food network too.

So because of that dinner I made last night I thought that I would try to do cooking tips on my blog since that is something I love to do. Hopefully they will turn out good, and if you try one of my tips, please let me know how they turn out. I will be suggesting Pampered Chef products with all of the tips since I sell them and have them in my home. I will also state if I have tried this tip before or if I just think it might work. If you try one of my I think it might work, please let me know how it went.

So for the first one, the rice is a good way to start. If you don't want bland rice, try adding some flavors during the cooking. For a simple solution add chicken/vegetable stock instead of water. You could add your favorite herbs like I did last night. I also thought it might be fun to try adding some carrots, squash (one of the harder varieties), or sweet potatoes to it and see what I got out of it. I use the Rice Cooker Plus to cook my rice because it take the same amount of time as a rice cooker, but it is so much easier to clean and leaves the counter clear for other food prep.

Good luck.

Father's Day

2008-06-20T07:54:00.000-07:00

I know, it is a little past fathers day, but as you see from the post before this one it took 3 days to finish.
So the Saturday was great because Nathan's sister came and got the kids and took them camping with her and the grandparents, so we had a night alone. We went and got Pizza Hut (a rare luxury) and rented "Jumper". That is a fun movie. Well after the movie I had such a sick stomach that I just went to bed. I got about an hour of sleep then tossed and turned with a sick aching stomach. Finally I got the release that makes you feel better and was finally able to sleep again. I got up the next morning (being able to sleep in a little because I didn't have the get the kids ready for church), took my shower, ate breakfast and was so week that anytime I stood up to walk I would get so dizzy and feel like my head would explode. So I gave up on getting ready and sent Nathan to church alone. How sad is that.
When he got home from church we slept for a little while, and he went up to get the girls and hang out. I had the house to my self for 7 hours. I got a little more sleep and watched a lot of tv. Biography channel is so cool. I finally had enough energy when they all got home to get them bathed (caked on dirt an inch thick) and into bed, then I was wiped out again. I laid down with Dailynn before she fell asleep and she told me the cutes thing. She said "Mom I will use my powers to make you feel better, but my powers are all gone." After questioning her on how she would make me feel better without powers she said "I will get some more, I will get some at the store." I loved her ideas and fun.
Monday we went back up to the camping group and hiked to the Timpanogos Caves. I was feeling so much better by then, but I am incredibly out of shape. It was only a mile and a half up hill and it killed me. I was dizzy in the caves and had to keep holding the hand rails. On the way down the hill the two kids (Avi and her cousin Jaxson) kept counting the numbers. There are little copper coins in the paved trails saying how far from the entrance you are, so every 100 feet there was another one. It was great because it kept the kids within 100 feet and on the inside of the trail the whole time. They also didn't complain about anything because they were so excited to find the next number.
After the caves we went back to camp and made dinner. Nathan and I were in charge, and I think we were a hit. After dinner we packed up the trailer and everything and all came home. After another bath because of the dirt again the girls went to bed and so did we. I put 17000 steps on my pedometer so I was pretty exhausted.
I will post pictures of Monday later hopefully

Singing Time

2008-06-18T10:15:00.000-07:00

I got out the camera so that the girls could sing for me. Avi felt like she needed to give an introduction, so here goes

So after she introduced herself, they took turns singing. I don't think you want to see all of them, but if you do, let me know and I will add them.

Then the girls started to get a little silly. They have too much fun in front of a camera.

Horton potty trains

2008-05-27T12:57:00.000-07:00

I know that sounds so crazy, but we went to go watch Horton Hears A Who yesterday and during the movie Dailynn to me potty 4 times. The great thing is that she wanted to do it by herself 2 of those times, so she is starting to believe she can do it herself too. Throughout the day, she went potty 9 times without an accident which is so amazing for her. We are almost free!!!! She is doing great, and is starting to forget about what diapers are even though she hasn't had them for about a month now. YIPEE!!

Morning fun

2008-05-27T12:52:00.000-07:00

So to water our lawn we do it by irrigation meaning that we flood our lawn every 10 days during the warm months. Today was one of those days. Sometime I will post pictures of it when I have some kids around to play in it. I only gets about 5 inches deep in the deepest part, so it is fun for the kids to run in. While I was finishing up Dailynn discovered that if she stepped in the water, then on the dry sidewalk, she made foot prints. After doing it a few times mom had to do it too. She would walk me to the water, then drag me all over the sidewalk until we didn't make any more foot prints. Then we had to do it all over again.

Then when we were done doing the water we got to go to Avi's preschool graduation. It was cute, they sang some songs then did their cute little walk and got their certificate. The kids were so cute. If I get the pictures off my phone then I will post them later. I can't believe she is starting kindergarten this year, she will do so good in it. She already can read and recognize words, knows how to do simple addition and subtraction, and likes to try to tell time and count money. Such a fun girl.

Penelope

2008-05-23T10:15:00.000-07:00

So I got called from a friend in our ward and told that we were having a girls night out. There were 9 kinda 11 of us that went to watch "Penelope" at the dollar theater. It was a kinda strange movie but so cute and great for any pre-teen or teenage girl to watch. It's about a girl with a pig nose that has to find someone to love her despite her looks. It has a great ending that just makes you feel so good!! If you have a chance to watch it I recommend it. Oh yeah, I said 9 kinda 11, 9 of us drove there together, and when the movie was over we saw that there were 2 other ladies from the ward that just kinda met us there but we didn't know it until we were headed home. I hope this does become a monthly thing like they said, it was so fun!

Casualty

2008-05-23T09:58:00.000-07:00

ok, so these aren't very good pictures, but maybe you get the picture. Dailynn was jumping on my bed yesterday, first whoops. We have their mirror in our room because we are trying to paint their room. It was standing against the wall in our room, second whoops. Well Dai fell off the bed and landed in the mirror. It shattered and cut her back up a little bit. As I was cleaning up I saw that the gash was quite wide, and having never had to deal with stitches myself, I had no idea if they were needed.

We called the doctor and asked if we could squeeze in (luckily it was only 4 when this happened). We got in avoiding the emergency room costs luckily. When we got there the doctor cleaned it up, said it wasn't very deep and glued it together.

Dailynn was such a trooper. She only cried for the few seconds it took for me to get her in the bathroom and find the damage. Then she stopped and just kinda whined "Mommy I won't do that again, Daddy I won't do that again." The whole rest of the day she just sat solemnly and talked about how the mirror had dropped on her. She really was in good spirits. At the Dr. office, she didn't cry, wince, or complain one bit the entire time. The Dr. was so amazed at how good she was, she just kept saying the whole time "Mommy I love you" while we were there. Then she was excited that she got a special paper that got her an ice cream cone and a kids meal as well as some stickers. Then when we got home she just wanted her medicine the whole night long.

What I learned from this is that I can not get into a medical field. I was calm through the whole ordeal, the blood didn't bother me, but to see the skin so deformed from the cut just about made me sick. The whole time the Dr. was cleaning her up I just had to watch Dailynn's face because it gave me the creeps to watch him take care of it. What a fun ordeal huh.

Birthday Party

2008-05-15T09:10:00.001-07:00

Avi had a birthday party with one of her friends, Embrie, that has her birthday just a week later. They went to the local beauty school to get their hair done and their fingernails painted. There were 5 little girls, the last one showed up a little late so you can see her getting her hair done while the others were done. Embrie and her little sister gave the gifts of the cute crown, sash, earings, and wand.
After getting their hair done we went back to our house to have cake and ice cream. Others friends showed up then to join us for a strawberry shortcake cake. We ended up with about 14 kids there by the end. They had a lot of fun running around and just being together.

Monkey, Dancing, and Singing

2008-05-09T09:26:00.001-07:00

One night we were trying to get Dailynn to go to sleep. Suddenly she just jumped up said she was a monkey and started swinging on the bars on Avi's bed above her.

So Dailynn is a great singer, She also likes to dance. One night we got her to do a little show for us. Isn't she so cute.

Way past due

2008-05-09T08:54:00.000-07:00

So I finally got all the pictures on the computer so I am putting them all on here for you to see. I will try to caption them all.

Some friends came over to play with my girls. They found the croquet set and decided to play. After a little while they thought it would be fun to start using them as crutches.

They love to do hair. It is so fun for them to do Grandma's hair, and here are a few of Dailynn in some crazy hair days.

Sleep again. Dailynn is good and sleeping in weird places.

Here is our Freak April Snow Storm!!!

Happy B-Day Avi

2008-05-09T08:24:00.000-07:00

On Wed we had a birthday for my now 5 year old. AAAHHHH!!! I can't have a 5 year old that is so crazy. So we didn't do much that day, Avi did decide to be a little obnoxious, but I am starting to think that is just a birthday thing for her. Every year she just starts acting weird a week before her birthday then after it she is fine again. I don't get it.

For her birthday dinner we went to Los Hermanos with Grandma Howdy (Wilkinson, that is just her nickname). She of course got sung to by the staff and a special fried icecream for it being her birthday, and let us all share it a little bit at least.

We then came home and opened presents. Every present she opened she said "Just what I wanted" The funny thing is that the present she liked the most was the one that only cost us a stamp. It was a Barbie radio that we got from a cereal box. She hasn't stopped listening to it since she got it pretty much.

It is fun to watch how excited Dailynn is to have Avi open her presents. They had a lot of fun with it and yes both my mom and I bought her the same math work book. Great minds think alike right. We will take on back and find another fun book for her. OH yeah and their hair is so curly because they had wanted to have curlers in their hair that day, Dailynn's just goes wild when we do that, but it is so cute too. I like how Avi's turned out, it looks so grown up.

loving sister

2008-04-25T17:01:00.001-07:00

So this whole last week every day Avi and Dai have been in each other's faces WAY to much. They just keep egging each other on and making things just wonderful and happy around here. (I hope you read the sarcasm in that statement) So today Dailynn was just being a little pill and trying to ruin my computer, so I removed her from the situation. She did not like that so she went running to her room and bed to cry it out. Avi heard her crying and decided to take care of her for me. She went in and started reading her a book (looking at the pictures and telling some kind of story). After a few minuets I heard her say "are you happy now, do you want to go out again?" She just wanted to take care of her sister and make her feel better. The rest of the day she has been good and not getting in Dailynn's face which makes things much more peaceful around here.

I've been tagged

2008-04-17T21:11:00.000-07:00

So I don't do these on e-mail because they take so long, but this one isn't so bad, and seems kinda fun. I have been reading Katie's, Kristene's, and Rachele's and loved them.

1. Best meal: I guess it would have to be the pressure cooker dinner. I loved it growing up and still make it a lot for my family. It is just some stake cut up and cooked with some cream of _____ soup in the pressure cooker and served over mashed potatoes. YUM!!!

2. Best Car: OOH that has to be the little sports car I killed in High School technically I didn't kill it until I had already graduated from high school though. My parents got it as the kids car after I got my license and after Brandon moved out, so it was mine. I found out just days after I killed it that mom and dad were going to let me take it to college. Whoops, that is what happens when the gauges don't work and the engine runs out of oil.

3. Best Hobbies: I LOVE sewing and cooking. My mom has always been there teaching me to cook and encouraging me to try a new recipe. Basically if I wanted some treat, she would say go make it. I learned to read recipes, and also just toss from both of my parents. Sewing has come from so many places for me. It started with watching my mom, aunts, and grandmas quilting at different times. Then it was the 4-H club Kristl started for us girls in La Sal, and the sewing class at school, the quilting club Ellie got going at school, the quilting class at Snow, and then wanting to make clothes for my first baby. I love figuring out a pattern then figuring out how to adjust it so that it is what I like. I also love quilting so much. Just ask some of the other blogger friends I have, they have some of the quilts I have made for them or their children. I'm not crafty, so I don't do scrap booking and stuff like that but I do have some friends that are trying to get me to.

4. Best Vacation: I have to say the month I got to spend in Japan is the best vacation I have ever gone on. It was so amazing and wonderful and it helped me to meet my husband. If you want more details let me know, that is a whole other world of blogging.

5. Best vacation without kids: Well we haven't gone anywhere without the kids, so I guess it would have to be our second honeymoon that we took 2 weeks after the first one. Nathan's sister invited us to go to Yellowstone with her family right after we moved in to our first apartment. We had nothing better to do so we went with them. It was so fun to be traveling with Nathan and they treated us like gold giving us our own room when ever they could and treating us to fun activities. It was such a blast!!!

6. Best Job I ever Had: Oh man you are all going to laugh, but I think the best ones that I have had were the 2 tax seasons I did. Yeah I am a weirdo, but I love working with other people and having a chance to get to know them and joke around a lot. I love so many of my other jobs, but they were mostly loner ones. This last tax season I had the most awesome manager, and the funnest co-workers on the planet. I can't wait for the next 8 months to pass so that I can work with them again.

7. Best thing to buy if money wasn't the issue: I month tour of Japan with my husband!!! We have tried so many times to go there since we got married that I have lost track. Since he served his mission there, and I have had so many ties to it, we would just love a chance to go and not have to worry about time or money and just see everything. Japan is such a wonderful country and we will go there someday.

8. Best age growing up: Well I had a great childhood with AWESOME parents, great brothers and sisters, and an wonderful town to explore. I will say that I loved college years. It is so fun to be out on your own making friends, and learning more about yourself. In those college years I also met my wonderful husband and got married. We had a lot of fun with our crazy shake loving friends at Snow and all the others we have gotten to know over the years. I almost miss it, but not quite yet.

9. Best Toy when I was a Kid: What is funny is the Christmas present I remember the most was actually a bunch of Jiffy muffin mixes. I remember my pet guinea pig and loved him too, but those mixes were so much fun for me, I guess that explains why I love cooking so much.

10. Best date before I was married: I am going to name two, and I am going chronological order on these. The first was my junior prom date. I don't know how much you can call it a date because I asked my second cousin who had just gotten home from his mission and was getting engaged the next week to take me. We went Bowling with a group of 10 I think. We played as couples with the girls bowling the first ball. How ever many pins they knocked down the guy had to do that many push-ups. If she striked, they had to do 20. If they guttered, the girl had to do as many as the boy knocked down including the spare double. We were so hyper and had so much fun doing it. Then we went to Denny's for dinner and crammed into a corner booth. No one but the end people had elbow room, and after dinner we left the biggest tip I have ever seen in the pitcher with the orange juice add in it. Then of course it was prom and you can surmise the rest.
The other was not really a date either I guess. I had just spent 2 weeks home sick from College and when I came back this nice guy in my Japanese class offered to help me get caught up. He told me that he was often bored so I wouldn't be bothering him at all. Well I thought if he was going to be bored that I would do my Japanese homework last on the weekend and let him hang out after helping me. Stupid me still hocked up on Lortab did all of my Calculus and Accounting first so by the time I got to the Japanese I was fried. I called him up and said come hang out with me and my friends and he said sure. We started by going to the elementary school and playing on the playground, then went to get pizza. It was still early so we said hey lets watch a movie (there was 3 girls and 2 boys by the way, that is why it wasn't a date). My roomie and I only had about a 10 inch screen in our apartment, so he suggested we go to his house and watch a movie on a bit bigger screen. So we all headed over there and while trying to decide on a movie we challenged each other to a fuse ball tournament. I have never played fuse ball before and after watching the other games said there was no way I would even win. Well the guy said he would play with his feet instead. So he played with his feet and knees and no hands, and still beat me. Then we watched "A Bug's Life". After the movie we all had a huge pillow tickling fight. If you haven't guessed it yet, that was the first "Date" with my hubby, and the rest is history after that.

I think the only people to tag are Janina, Amy, and Nathan, so good luck.

New Calling

2008-04-14T09:24:00.000-07:00

It's official, I am not in primary any more. YIPEE!!! Yeah Primary is a lot of fun but I finally get to go to Releif Societ again. I have known for 2 weeks that I was to become the new secretary for the RS and finally it was announced and everything so I don't have to keep it a secret anymore. I had a wonderful blessing with the wetting apart and got to jump right in. Wow it is a lot more to do than I thought, but it will be fun. I will enjoy the ladies I am working with, and I get to go to RS. YIPEE!!! What is funny is that the last 2 sisters that were in this position have been my friends (I only have a few realy friends in the ward now).

Snarls

2008-04-13T15:20:00.000-07:00

This morning while combing Avi's hair I asked her where the snarls came from. After asking if her friend that was over last night or her pillow had given them to her she said no. The jumped in her hair from the ground because they wanted somewhere fuzzy to live at. Oh the cute imaginations these 2 girls have.

Sleeping Beauty

2008-04-10T20:55:00.000-07:00

So Nathan went to go check on the girls before he went to bed and found Dailynn asleep with a book open laying on her chest. The book was "Sleeping Beauty", the time when she is most beautiful.

The countdown

2008-04-04T19:21:00.000-07:00

I only work 5 more days. YIPEE!!!! It has been a great job and a lot of fun, but I am counting down the days, who knew? I was hoping for more of a rush at the end, and maybe it is coming, but I don't think I will make my goal. On the plus side I am getting an extra bonuse in May so that will be nice. We also found out about Nathan's bonus and it will be nice so we are working hard at getting a down payment for a house. One of these days we will be able to afford it, maybe in anothe 30 years. Aren't houses rediculous around here? Well we will keep plugging away and try to reach our goals.

Walnuts

2008-03-27T10:22:00.000-07:00

While playing at Grandma Howdy's house yesterday, she pulled out the walnuts and hammer for Avi to have some fun. The first one they tried to crack open went flying and a stray dog that had been playing in their yard took off with it, so they tried again. They decided to move to a better location away from the dog so that they could get somewhere. Avi started getting pretty good at it, but still sent a few nuts flying. We finally convinced her to use the flat end of the hammer rather than the rounded one and had fewer casualties. We got enough nuts to make our zucchini bread and had to wrestle the hammer away from both girls. Some of them got a bit mutilated, but other than that she got the hang of it.

Easter Weekend

2008-03-24T16:10:00.000-07:00

We had a very eventful weekend, so if you don't have a lot of time this moment, come back later.

On Saturday we were invited to go to Grma and Grpa house for a easter luncheon and hunt. After lunch they hid the eggs for the little kids (both of mine were in the category) and they got mostly pennies and quaters. Then they went up by age groups. My girls had fun finding the eggs, helping the smaller ones find theirs, then hiding eggs for the bigger kids.

Once we were done there we ran over to Chuck E Cheeses for a brithday party with a friend. The girls had a blast playing all the games and were excited to get their little toys at the end. Us adults had fun playing with the kids, watching them climb all over the big play toy, and playing a few games ourselves. On one of the games I got the jackpot and got 380 tickets from it. That was my exciting moment for sure.

I then had some errands that I had to run and got home just before daddy so that we could go find some dinner. We got home from dinner late and then watched a movie together. That put us to bed late and it all became a viscous cycle from there.

I expected the girls to sleep a little late on Sunday because of the long and late day before, but no Dailynn decided it was too fun to wake up in the morning. So the Easter bunny came while we were in church. We got home and there was a treasure hunt for the girls, but they were more excited about finding the eggs first. One they were safe in the fridge again we hunted the basket. After naps our neighbor invited the girls to come and hunt with her grandkids so they got another hunt. They got more candy and Dai even got a $5 bill. Then Avi wanted to play easter bunny by hiding eggs herself. She took a turn, then Dai took one. We had dinner (as much as they could eat after eating candy for 4 hours) and sent them to bed.

Coloring Eggs

2008-03-21T20:24:00.000-07:00

So Easter has just snuck up on me this year. I realized on Wed that we had just a few days to get ready, so we did our shopping that day and I had to go get eggs last night late because it was the only time for me to go. I got to the first store and they were sold out. Today we had some friends come over to color them with us, and my kids LOVED it so much. Dailynn was the fun one to keep up with. I would hand her a color, help her put an egg in, turn to check on Avi then when I looked back she had 2-4 eggs already done. She liked dropping them in, then pulling them right out, and reaching for another one. Luckily most of the colors stuck with that short of time in the dye.

Once we got them all colored since Dailynn did more than a dozen to Avi's 4-6 eggs, they had the fun of putting stickers on them. That was another fun adventure because Dailynn wanted to be in charge of the stickers and mommy couldn't help. We finally get them all done and Dailynn has one half pealed before I can get them put away. So I got her dozen put away and trying to get the other away from Avi and Dailynn goes and grabs one out of our friends carton and has it pealed before I knew what was going on. Her pealing method was interesting this time. The only part she got was the yolk, so I would have to go find the rest of the egg, rinse it off, then get her to eat that part too. She is quite the character.

Reading

2008-03-11T12:30:00.000-07:00

So when I was in elementary school (maybe Jr High), I remember hearing my teacher say that english is the hardest language to learn, I didn't realy get it then. I get it now. We are trying to teach Avi to read and we take for granted the knowledge we have because the english language is hard to get when you are 4 and trying to figure it out. I need a good brush up on the rules just so that I don't mess Avi up as we are teaching her.

Avi is doing so good at reading. We have some basic words flash cards that she sits and reads once in a while. Once she gets the word she makes a sentence that has that word so that she understands the word. We have gotten a few doozies. One of my favorite was the word "long" she said "I hope the vine is long enough so mom can swing on it." Yeah, we have had some other fun ones, some I am a little embarrased to put on here.

Avi also reads just about anything she encounters, including cereal boxes and any peice of paper in the house. She has also started spelling out things through the sounds. Our hope is to have her reading whole books (yes little ones) by the time we get to summer.

Bathrooms

2008-03-05T13:34:00.000-08:00

While in the bathroom in DI last night Avi informed me that she knew why there were bathrooms for boys and bathrooms for girls. It is because the girls are sick of putting the seat down, so they get their own bathroom so that they don't have to put it down all the time. I told Nathan this and he laughed so hard because Avi doesn't have to put the seat down at home.

Prayers

2008-02-26T07:07:00.000-08:00

It's so cute when your kids start saying prayers by them selves, and we have had some very interesting ones. Avi had a phase where she was blessing Jesus a lot. Around Christmas Santa Clause received a lot of blessings, and many innadament (sp) objects got blessings. Last night Dailynn was super hyper when we were going to bed and she was really excited to say the prayer. She jumped down on her bed (she had been climbing all over mommy) and said "Father, church, amen." Two year olds don't say all the stuff between the key things they are thanking for or asking to bless. After a little laugh from that we told her to kneel down, where she then climbed on my back and knelt on it. It took a little more work to get her settled down enough to say a prayer with some persuasion from mom.

Work Out

2008-02-23T16:05:00.000-08:00

So I have learned that family get-togethers are very great exercise. Last night we had a party at a church near my grandparents house. (The whole family is here for their 50th anniversary.) We started by playing a few games of dodge ball. I didn't do too great in it, but what ever. The most exhausting is the balloon on your leg game where you are trying to pop everyone else's balloons while trying to save yours from being popped. I didn't have any balloons, but I was trying to salvage Dailynn's, so I would run with her to the other kids, pick her up and try to drop her on the balloons. This is hard enough, but when the kids are running around so much that I had to pick her up 2-5 times for each balloon we saw. We got done with the game, Dailynn was laughing hard and I was exhausted.

Today we went rollerskating at the local rink. Dailynn got the whole idea down great, and after a hard time trying to get Avi to figure it out we just got her one of the little skooters. Rollerskating can be a pretty good work out as it is, but then when you are trying to balance while helping a small child balance between your legs and move around all while just learning how to use roller blades, that gets exhausting. Luckily we had a lot of family there, (about 50 people) so I was able to focus on one kid, then switch off so that both got to have a lot of fun. Not only am I going to be sore from all the work out, but I wiped out pretty bad once so have a sensative bum and hip tonight. I don't want to know how I will feel tomorrow.

Smart Kids

2008-02-21T15:50:00.000-08:00

I don't want to brag, but my kids are smart. Avi said to me this morning while I was making breakfast "Mom, 3 plus 3 plus 1 is 7 huh." Well, that makes me pleased that she is going to be a math wiz because at 4 she is already adding 3 numbers together. She loves to add when we are in the car or just hanging out at home.

Dailynn on the other had has the smarts that you worry about. Yesterday we put a lock on our fridge because she loves to get in it way to often. Well the first time she encountered it she opened it right up without any trouble. Doh!!! She also knows that reaching the top of the dresser is as easy as opening the bottom drawer.

Sleeping

2008-02-21T15:42:00.000-08:00

Dailynn went through a phase of not wanting to sleep in her bed. I have found her in a few interesting places lately. One night I was trying to get her to stay in bed and she told me that she didn't like her bed because it was too big. We went through the conversation that the floor was much larger than her bed and that Avi was in a big bed too. From there the conversation went some strange directions. Here are a few pictures of Dailynn deciding to sleep in other places than her bed.

She feel asleep on the bottom of the stairs while we were watching a movie in the next room.
The curtains were down in her room because of repainting and such, so she climbed on the toy box in her closet after closing the door so it would be dark.