Ken and Cami Family

Heart Cake!

2012-02-12T23:03:00.000-08:00

I tried my first fondant cake yesterday! I was pretty happy the way it turned out. Marshmallow fondant was pretty simple... marshmallows, a little water, and powdered sugar, but I did think it was a little tough to get the consistency right. I think I ended up using a little too much powdered sugar because it got a bit crackly looking. (The second picture you can especially see).

I had a fun time making the bow and putting on the pearly beads with tweezers. Boyd helped me roll it out and cut the hearts and all the kids were so excited to watch and "help." Daisy was sure a darling singing "Happy Birthday to ME!" at the top of her lungs (twice because Lucy blew out her candles before she got a chance).

See how Lucy is getting ready to blow out Daisy's candles first! Yep, we had to repeat the whole song and candles so Daisy could do it herself.

2012-02-09T22:20:00.000-08:00

Lucy has been such a weirdo about paper mustaches. She wants to make a new one everyday and share with her friends. She even insisted on wearing one to school- What is wrong with my child?

Ok, they are pretty funny, but maybe it's just getting a little old for me cutting out paper after paper- she needs help on the curly part of the mustache (her favorite kind).

Daisy's face is great in this one. Lucy even tries to talk in an accent (not really sure which one, but it's funny). I got her to say "I mustache you to be my Valentine" and she laughed so hard she could hardly say it.
Wanna see what Ken and I did this week? We got a new water heater because our old one was leaking.

Pretty, huh? The easy part was bringing it down the stairs (I helped). It gave Ken some trouble with the connectors- the old ones were all rusted on, and then the new ones were the wrong size, etc. But my man finally got everything put together and working! Hooray!

We also put in a cute little kitty door to the utility room so we can keep the litter box a little more under wraps. Our cats are a little bit dumb, they haven't quite gotten the hang of walking through it. And Homer nearly doesn't fit in because he's so fat, but I've pushed him through the door a couple of times and put the food there to motivate them in.

Valentine Craft

2012-02-06T12:52:00.000-08:00

Here's my craft of the day! Crepe paper roses on a piece of cardboard and scrapbook paper with ruffle crepe paper on the edges. Cute, huh?
A couple of weeks ago I was working on a felt banner, but my sewing machine was broken :(
But, now it's all fixed- YAY! :) Hopefully I will get around to finishing it soon!

Crazy about Cats

2012-02-04T08:32:00.000-08:00

The kids and I made these cute cat Valentine boxes the other day. Boyd is supposed to make one for his school class and the girls were so jealous, we had to make one for them, too. Boyd has been going crazy about how much he loves his cat things. I hope his cat box makes it in time for Valentine's day, it has definitely been loved!

Boyd wrote some cute things for his questionnaire. I love how he spells "kittins" I haven't the heart to tell him it's not spelled right, I think he would be upset that every single paper he ever wrote has been wrong. Boyd has covered his walls in his room with cat drawings, covered his bed in stuffed cat toys, always plays "cats" with Lucy, and watches "Thunder Cats" everyday. He is one cat loving kid, and our real cats sure love him back! Boyd always makes sure they have food, water, and lots of pets! He is such a sweet heart.

The girls love to baby the cats as well. Ollie was out cold while Daisy and Lucy giggled and wrapped him in the pink blankey, he sure was happy though!

Siff is the sweetest boy ever! He is so snuggly with the other cats and he lets the kids carry him around like a baby and he just purrs constantly.

Lucy's Recital

2012-01-23T19:47:00.000-08:00

Look at this BIG GIRL! Lucy had her dance recital last Saturday and did a great job, of course! She looked just darling in her outfit, but so grown up!

Daisy can't wait to be in a dance class (me neither!) She loves to dance around the house with her sister and they are just so cute!


Ha haaa, Lucy's not sure what to do right here, silly girl!

Daisy was pretty much done with the recital half way through, can you tell? Boyd told Lucy what a good job she did and how pretty she was. We went out to ice cream at Maddie Rocks- such a great place, too!

Last Week!

2012-01-23T19:34:00.000-08:00

So last week Aunt Cheli came to spend some time with us! We went to the Provo Beach Resort (fun center) and spent the whole afternoon goofing around there.

My kids loved the Carousel and the playground areas.

We split up for most of the playground time. The toddler area was much better for Daisy than the big kid one.

Boyd got to go on the ropes course. He was so nervous, but he went on it and did a great job! We could tell how proud he was of himself, that thing is way high in the air!

Ken, Boyd, Owen and Mia all went through the ropes thing and had a fun time!

We played some of the other games like SkeeBall- even little Eli (standing on top) loved being there. I totally recommend that place for a fun family day sometime- they have quite a lot more things to do as well like bowling, croquet, surfing, there's an ice cream shop and food place, giant playground and toddler playground, carousel, arcade games, etc.
Another night, we went to our favorite BBQ place- Five Star BBQ, of course! If you haven't been or never heard of it... GO THERE!! Right now. Seriously. http://fivestarbbq.blogspot.com

We love our Aunt Cheli!!

2012-01-15T12:36:00.000-08:00

Yesterday the Terry Family was sealed in the Provo Temple! For the little party after I had a temple cake made by my good friend Jaycee. I got to spend a few hours helping to make it, too!
Congratulations to Jared, Joni and Eli for their special day!

Me 'n' Daiser

2012-01-15T12:28:00.000-08:00

Just me and Daisy making weird faces in the mirror. She thinks it's so funny! Daisy has grown up so much recently, she's just one of the big kids now. I love it how she's outgrown some of her tantrums and she is so good to play with Lucy. Daisy is a great pal to hang out with when the other kids are at school. I'm so glad to have her!

I love it! And hate it a little bit

2012-01-12T21:49:00.000-08:00

So I've been getting on Family Search and it is amazing! I've loved seeing how much family history is done on my family- it seriously amazes me every time I look at the dates and places and names I just get so excited! It's awesome! On my dad's side, my grandpa has worked on genealogy his whole adult life until recently his health has gone downhill. Many of his family lines go back to the 1600's now, it completely blows my mind to think about each name my grandpa found and was able to piece together. What a great example he has been to our family, and what a huge impact he has made.
On my mother's side, I have a lot of early church members, they did their own temple work and some ancestors in the Endowment House- before any temples were even built. How cool is that? That is why I love Family Search.

So, here's why I kind of hate it: You can only search for dead people and it was kind of a pain to connect my family and Ken's family from our kids' through their grandparents. I understand privacy and all, but why can't they still be there with name and birthday? That information is on other places on the internet, why can't it be on this site, too, instead of having to enter in each person's information related to me who is alive.
The other issue is that any idiot can enter in information about my ancestors, AND THEY ARE OBVIOUSLY WRONG! Like simple math- um this guy can't be born before his children, or his wife can't really be 120 years older, or his mother is also his granddaughter. How can anyone with a brain really be allowed to put this down as a permanent history? Aaaaaaannnndddd, I CAN"T DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT! Can you tell that it bothers me just a little bit? Last night I was just fuming when I found stupid things like that, I would so much rather have no information then wrong information, seriously!

Also, while I am in awe and extreme gratitude for all my family history, I'm also so intimidated by it. For just a little ol' gal like me wanting to get started on genealogy, it doesn't seem even possible that I could do anything to help. Oh yes, let me just google to see who was my ancestor was 500 years ago... uh, right! But, seriously.... remember how I was excited about 1573? Um, yeah, I totally have an ancestor born in 1155 on my mom's side- 857 years ago!!! Holy smokes! I told Ken "I have an ancestor born in 1155!" He said, "Wow, yeah me too..." Haaa haaa, we all have an ancestor born in 1155 somewhere, but not everyone knows who it is. Yes, I'm married to a smart-A. Anyway, I think I better find a class or something to figure out what do I do now? Besides hunt down the jerk who put down wrong family history. :)

This is weird, it is quiet in here

2012-01-08T09:22:00.000-08:00

Last night Ken's parents took all 3 for a sleepover. They were so excited to go! yesterday Boyd and Lucy tried to pack for themselves- mostly their bags full of toys, so I had them re-pack several times before they got all the right clothes and things. Daisy had to help pack her stuff, too. It was so nice to go out on a date with Ken last night! It did end up being a really long date because we missed our movie before dinner, so ended up going to a late movie and getting home just before 2am! I got to sleep in and wander around the quiet house thinking how weird it feels, especially compared to yesterday's bouncing off the walls day.

On Friday Boyd came home from school so excited to tell us he got "Student of the Month!" He was so proud of himself, and told us that he worked so hard at school and he did a great job! I'm so happy that Boyd's teacher realizes what a great kid he is and how far he's come. Boyd just loves her and is happy going to school now.

We went to Red Robin because Boyd got a kid's meal ticket from his school. He wanted to carry his ticket and give it to our waitress and order his own food. He got a corn dog meal and ate the whole thing which was weird- not very long ago he would cry, spit and choke when we would try to get him to take a tiny bite of a hotdog. He's one amazing kid and we are so proud!

Some Family history stuff

2012-01-03T23:23:00.000-08:00

Last week my aunt Marilyn passed away from Lou Gehrig's Disease. She was my mother's sister just older than her. Unfortunately I didn't know her well at all, she lived in Washington and I've seen her only a couple of times in the last 20 years. Even so, I've been thinking about her and her family a lot the past few days and have been a little sad.

This morning I was on the floor doing some situps (go me!) and saw a binder with the Barrus Family History (my mother's side) that my sister put together years ago. For some reason I just picked it up to start reading and I've been looking through it throughout the day today. It was just what I needed to cheer myself up. I was just blown away at the information that this side of my family has. I had looked at this binder before, but never really studied it or read all of the written histories- so cool!
I'm sure it's super boring for everyone else, but I loved looking at the names (Olive Amelia -isn't that cute? and Experience Ormsby- poor thing) and dates (there's one from 1703!!) and places (Utah, Idaho, Massachusetts, England, Norway, Sweden, and Scotland). I had no idea I have roots in early American History (many were born in the New England area in the late 1700's, one George Washington Hastings was named after George Washington, whom his father fought with in the Revolutionary war), and also in the early church history (one of my ancestors was baptized by Wilford Woodruff and he later helped build the Mansion House for Joseph Smith in Nauvoo, another was working at a farm where Joseph Smith was staying for a visit in Pennsylvania in 1833 and joined the church then, I have a ton of pioneers that came to UT, a few polygamists, and some of the first missionaries- one in the first Hawaiian mission with George Q Cannon).

Cool huh?

New Year's Goals

2012-01-01T22:44:00.000-08:00

I usually write down what my new year's goals are, but I'm just having trouble with this one. Not because I don't have goals or don't want to improve myself, it's just not anything new. So I guess I'll just have a repeat of last year's, keep doing the good things I am doing, and try to do better with the things I don't do as well.

Some highlights from 2011:
I started learning to sew and made a bunch of things I am proud of
I read a lot more books and joined a great book club
I made time for some great craft projects and loved every bit of it
I did a pretty good job of exercising regularly and cooking healthier meals

Boyd started regular first grade and has been doing so well especially in reading
Lucy started Kindergarten and she has loved everything about it
Daisy potty trained early in the year so quickly and so well
Ken got a promotion to manager recently
Ken and I got to go on a trip to Mexico
Our family got to go to Disneyland

Some Low-lights:
I don't have a baby anymore
All three kids are growing up too fast
My lovely 4 day hospital stay

I'm totally missing so many more things, but I think it's safe to say we had a wonderful year full of so many blessings. I'm looking forward to 2012, hoping to be a better wife, mother, and friend, and to enjoy everyday life! Happy New Year's!

2012-01-01T14:20:00.001-08:00

2012-01-01T14:17:00.001-08:00

Happy New Year! My kids look very beautiful and handsome for church today in their new clothes!

Dolls and sewing

2011-12-29T12:55:00.000-08:00

I love dolls and these are exceptionally cute! I was so excited for my girls to get these. Lucy got a nice doll bed to go with Snow White and today I made her a simple night gown so it all goes together.

I am having some trouble with my sewing machine and I don't know what to do! It's making a weird noise and it also keeps tangling the thread every time I back stitch or do a zigzag. Is there anyone nearby who knows about sewing machines to come take a look at it for me? Pretty please? Rapunzel is feeling left out without some pj's, too.

Christmas!

2011-12-26T10:36:00.000-08:00

Christmas Eve we spent with Great Grandpa and Grandma Hansen and family. We had an amazing dinner and had lots of fun hanging out. We even had some time at home to sing songs and open up the Christmas jammies. I took about 15 pictures of them and not a one turned out, but they were so cute and excited. We left some cookies and reindeer food out for Santa.

In the morning Lucy and Boyd were squealing up stairs to get us for the presents! They got some good stuff!

Sleeping bags! They gotta try them out, of course!

A princess easel. Daisy was trying to say "Chalkboard" but ended up saying "it's my princess pork chop!" Ha haaa!
Daisy's obsessed with Rapunzel right now, she was so happy to get "punsel" stuff!

Boyd made some presents this year, he was so excited to wrap them and watch everyone open them. He made several books, written and illustrated all by himself. They were SO GOOD! He really spent a lot of time and worked really hard to make them nice and they were a hit! I don't know what is wrong with me, I didn't get them scanned like an idiot. Hopefully I will get them back some time to do so... (hint hint anyone who got one). Boyd made a hulk mask for Lucy, too, and she loved it- they played a game with it called "Grrr Grrr!"

We headed over to Papa and Gramma's house for dinner and presents! We had such a fun time! I was most excited to have everyone open the presents from us. I did a bunch of homemade gifts that all turned out cute!
Next, we went over to the Copiers for more festivities and dessert. My dad always gives stockings to the kids and he asked me to get the stuff and put them together for him this year. There were 21 grandkids there (that's not all of them). That was a big job for me, but I think everyone was happy.

I made these for my nieces. It says "if this isn't your castle then you aren't my prince." It was a free printable picture download and I glued it to some painted blocks with a bow.
Speaking of crafts, here's some more stuff I made:

These took the longest. Mostly because I made 3 of them, starting in October. It is book pages rolled into roses on a wreath, if you can't tell from the picture. I just loved the way they turned out!

Shark scarf!

I made these necklaces from tulle and beads. Also one in black.

Ken got me a new iphone in white with a cute purple case. It's so cute I love it! We got a new camera for Christmas, too! I have been borrowing Jenna's extra one for the past month and now we've got a nice Nikon CoolPix I can't wait to try out! (It's charging at the moment).

We had a great Christmas! It was a bit crazy and had so much going on. I still need to get my house cleaned up and put back in order and spend some time playing our new toys.

PJ's

2011-12-21T09:55:00.000-08:00

One of my homemade projects for Christmas this year! I really wanted to make pajamas and almost gave up until I saw the flannel material half off yesterday. Woohoo! I just hope they fit the kids now :)

I 'm so excited for Christmas so I can start showing everyone my crafts I have been working on the past couple of months.

Lucy the Grinch

2011-12-20T09:03:00.000-08:00

Lucy had a Christmas dance last night and she got to be a grinch! She did a great job!

So Long...

2011-12-14T14:43:00.000-08:00

So long, farewell, al vida zein, goodbye! To my 20's that is. They have been good to me and I certainly will miss them. This is a big year for me, the big 3-0 and Ken and I will be coming up on our 10th anniversary! How weird is that?

I told Boyd that I am turning 30 tomorrow and he said "Then you will be a tiny old!" What does that mean? "Well, Gramma and Papa are medium old and (great-) Grandma and Grandpa Hansen are Super old!" What a funny kid!

Ornament time!

2011-12-12T10:07:00.000-08:00

I love making Christmas ornaments! They turn out so cute and we have so much fun!

Mop 'n Glow Glitter balls

Bead Trees!


Felt Rose Ball!


Mini Felt Wreath!

I could not get this thing in focus, it's way cuter in real life. Sequin Ball!

Oh Christmas tree!

2011-12-09T08:03:00.000-08:00

Lucy decorating the tree. It was my turn to do the lights this year- hate that part!

Daisy just wanted to play with the ornaments, not put them on the tree.

Boyd got to put on the angel.

All done! Except it was the kittens' turn to play in the tree after bed time, of course they "helped."


I made these snowmen cupcakes for my cub scouts. Last year I made them with the tiny marshmallows, that was way cuter. But, still who doesn't love a cute cupcake?

Disneyland!!

2011-12-05T08:21:00.000-08:00

We love the breakfast at the Storyteller's Cafe.


Our best picture from the trip. Daisy didn't want to get too close to Santa.


On the Mickey Ferris Wheel, one of our favorites with the family.

We had Mickey and Minnie at Ken's company luncheon. Minnie kissed Boyd all over his head and he thought it was funny.


Boyd's report on Disneyland. He was so excited to go on the California Screamin' roller coaster (skreemer) about 8 times and loved it (I went once and it was terrifying and awesome).

We had such a fun time! This is our 3rd year going and it just keeps getting better, mostly because our kids are older and because we're getting most of the kinks worked out with what to do and where to go and when. We got to go on every ride that we wanted to (many times for Boyd's favorites) and no major melt downs. It's still very exhausting for the adults, I'm so glad to be home!

Bed Time

2011-11-29T12:42:00.000-08:00

Look at my cute family. I love these guys so much!

Thanksgiving fun

2011-11-26T08:15:00.000-08:00

Daisy was so excited to have some cousins to play with!


Emma was so sweet to play with Lucy!

I made the kids a turkey page to color with a picture of their faces on a turkey! It was super cute!


We had the best dinner at 5 Star! I made the yams and green bean casserole (pretty dang good if I say so myself). But, seriously all the food was amazing! Boyd said we have "good cookers" in our family.

Nice and early Friday morning we went to Jared and Joni's place for Eli's baby blessing. Eli was so good to sit and eat his popsicle for the blessing! After that we headed back to 5 Star BBQ for a great lunch, as usual. Karen, Jenna and I took a bunch of the kids to see "Puss in Boots." It was really fun, I was kind of expecting a terrible movie (based on the last couple Shrek movies), but we liked it! Boyd especially loved it, he is so obsessed with anything cat lately. All the kids were really good to sit for the whole movie. We had a couple of busy, fun days, but now we are happy to chill the rest of the weekend at home! Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-23T12:14:00.000-08:00

“A grateful heart comes through expressing gratitude to our Heavenly Father for His blessings and to those around us for all that they bring into our lives. This requires conscious effort—at least until we have truly learned and cultivated an attitude of gratitude.” Thomas S. Monson

I hope you all have a wonderful thanksgiving!

I am so thankful for my awesome family, friends and neighbors! I am so grateful to have the gospel of Jesus Christ in my life! I'm so blessed to live in a nice home in a beautiful city in America! Life is a wonderful gift, I am one lucky girl and I hope I can remember it everyday!

Minnie bows!

2011-11-19T10:51:00.000-08:00

Look how cute! I was just thinking about Disneyland coming up in 11 days and I decided my girls need some special Minnie Mouse bows. I love the way they turned out!


I just thought Daisy looks sweet holding her little potato head!

Silly hats and a book

2011-11-18T08:09:00.000-08:00

Do you like my hat? For my super cool book club it was our assignment to make/ wear a hat. I got pretty excited to make one for fun.

I made a second one for Joni, mostly because I just really wanted to make a tiny top hat.

It's really hard to see the other hat I put together. I glued a bunch of Thanksgiving decorations onto Karen's straw hat- ribbon, tulle, an artichoke, pumpkin, some corn and a turkey on the top! It was awesome! Terri made hers as well, I think fitting for the time era (early 1900's in the south).

We had coconut cake and lemonade for treats. Mmmm...
Oh yeah... and the book we read: Cold Sassy Tree by Olivia Ann Burns. Loved it! It was such a fun book to read, all the characters were round and interesting, and I just loved the story. I recommend it for sure! One of the main characters was a hat maker, hence the hats :)

Kids and Puke

2011-11-15T20:23:00.000-08:00

The kids looked pretty cute on Sunday. Boyd said "I look like a missionary! I need handsome hair!" His primary teacher told me that Boyd said the prayer for the first time in class. What a sweet kid!

Poor Daisy got the stomach flu last night and it was so sad (and gross) when she puked. She was crying "I'm sorry!" She's too little to run to the toilet, I just kept towels close by and did lots of laundry. She stayed up late waiting for her blankey to get washed and kept nodding off. It was so sad to see her like that, but I did get lots of snuggles. I think she's feeling much better today, she slept in late this morning and had a long nap, and then wanted some dinner.
I'm hoping Boyd and Lucy don't get it now, they almost never get that kind of sick and I am glad to keep it that way. One time ever in 7 years for Boyd and maybe 2 or 3 times for Lucy.

Turkeys everywhere!

2011-11-11T08:34:00.000-08:00

We had some fun art time last night with turkeys. Boyd was having trouble drawing one for his homework and Lucy wanted to help him, sweet girl. She first drew one with 4 legs and I couldn't help laugh. But here is her next one she thought about all herself.

She did a great job especially for not having a picture to follow. She also wrote "Thanksgiving party."

Daisy wanted in on this turkey drawing and look how cute! I think she did great for a 2 year old!

Then Boyd finally made one he liked (he tore up about 8 pages before we got to this one). He loves to draw fat animals the best.
I showed the kids the place mat that Lucy made last year in preschool and the kids were laughing themselves silly.

This is one of my favorite things Lucy made, it's pretty silly. I think we need to make some new ones for everyone this year!

Snow Day!

2011-11-06T16:45:00.000-08:00

We got a bunch of snow the other day and the kids wanted to shovel and play. Boyd and Lucy were actually good helpers clearing the driveway.

Boyd wanted a snow kitty, so I helped him make a little one and he loved it! I need to stock up on gloves (Boyd has 1, and Daisy and I have none!) because snow is really cold on fingers... brrr!

Poor Daisy was really freezing, but she really didn't want to miss out on the fun. She loved to stomp in her big boots and eat the snow, take a break inside, and then come out and do it all over.
And me? I'm so not a snow person, winter is the worst season ever, but how could I say no to those cute faces?

Thankful today

2011-11-04T09:02:00.000-07:00

My dad has a print of this painting hanging up in his house for as long as I can remember. He treasures it and often tells us how much it means to him. He says the man reminds him of his grandfather (I think he died sometime in the 70's) and what a wonderful example he was of gratitude. The old man seems to have a simple life, but you can see the sincerity of his prayer of thanks. On Thanksgiving day when I was a kid my dad would always say the prayer and it was so long! I remember thinking can he just be done already! Then before anyone could eat we had to go around the table to say what we were thankful for. He always talks about his painting and his Opa (grandfather). That part is ingrained in my head now and I go through in my mind what I am thankful for with my dad's voice saying "You've got to say a good one, don't just say 'everything' or dumb things like 'toys'."

This morning I am thankful for the progress that Boyd has made. He woke up happy and got himself dressed, ate his breakfast, and brushed his teeth without getting upset about anything. That is such a big deal to me because I used to think maybe he would never be able to do simple things like getting ready for the day without both of us in tears.
I am thankful that Lucy woke up happy and completely entertained her little sister, played with her and was so excited to be with her and help her with everything. She is such a great sister and I love to see her playing the "mother hen" role, it reminds me of my big sister.
I am thankful for my Daisy this morning she climbed up on my lap and just sat and snuggled with me with her blankey and every once in a while strokes my hair or arm. She's got such a unique personality with a lot of sweetness and a streak of spunk that makes me laugh.

What are you thankful for today?

Gratitude

2011-11-03T19:07:00.000-07:00

I love this song and I love to listen to it around Thanksgiving time. It's a good reminder for me to keep life simple and to be grateful for all I have. So many simple gifts all around, it's almost overwhelming to think about.
I am so grateful for my sweet family, my wonderful husband and my 3 amazing kids. I have a hard time time expressing my gratitude to people because I'm so shy and worry about sounding like an insincere doofus. It's really hard, but I am trying to be better about this.

Sad

2011-11-01T08:28:00.000-07:00

My camera is broken :(
I couldn't take pictures of my cute Trick or Treaters or the cute decorations Boyd and Lucy made.
It is so cold.
The End.

Halloween pictures

2011-10-31T08:13:00.000-07:00

Jenna took these, of course, because they are super awesome. Too bad Boyd wasn't in the mood, but the girls were great posers.


This one is my favorite of Lucy with the light behind her.


He would not smile for anything. It would have been funny to video me making a fool of myself trying to get him to smile, little goober, it never works for him!


Oh I love this Daisy face, she's such a princess!

The beautiful girls

Pumpkins

2011-10-31T07:57:00.000-07:00

Saturday was the perfect day for carving pumpkins outside. Boyd sort of helped carve his, but he was too nervous for using a knife and didn't want pumpkin guts to touch him.


Mia and Owen were very serious about this


Daisy just liked hanging around watching everyone. Lucy drew her picture of what she wanted for me to carve.


Boyd wanted the biggest one with a kitty face.


That was mine. I left the eye guts on purpose!

The one on top of the white one is Daisy's that Ken made for her.

Mia's had braces with a broken knife blade.

Daisy enjoying the nice fall weather last night.

Halloween Party

2011-10-28T22:13:00.000-07:00

Sort of a lame picture, I know, but we got one taken at Ken's boss' Halloween Party tonight. Too bad we didn't get a full body picture of the two of us to show off our awesome costumes... there's always next year I suppose.
I didn't take very many pictures with our camera either.

They have the coolest decorations for this party. There was even a real girl in a mermaid costume swimming in the pool all night. There were security guards at the party tonight, I think for the special guests there.


It's Uncle Rico!

Terrible picture, but it's Flava Flav in the red sweatshirt. He just took off his costume covering his face. We didn't want to crowd around to get a picture taken with him.

Cute Costumes and Crazy hair!

2011-10-26T16:09:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I can't get these pictures to turn the right way. The girls had a little Halloween party today and got to wear their costumes. Lucy threw a fit about wearing a white shirt and so she tried it without and that dress sure is low. So for now I'll have to pin it because I don't know how to tighten it any more than I did already.

Lucy had Crazy hair day at school today and this is what we came up with. She thought it was pretty silly. It reminds me of Cindy Loo Who.
I have been crafting like crazy lately... and too bad I can't show my pictures yet because they might turn into some Christmas presents.

2011-10-24T13:17:00.000-07:00

This is what we are doing today... well, some of us anyway.

Lucy's not feeling well today and so she stayed home from school. She said "I can't go to school with hill eyes and a cough!" Poor Lu, guess she'll just have to lounge around watching shows with the kitties all day.

Boyd's Party

2011-10-22T21:03:00.000-07:00

Boyd's party was a success! We had some kids over and played some knight games.

"Squire, Squire, Knight" (aka Duck Duck Goose). The Zombie bride is Boyd's girlfriend from school.

The kids had to ride the horsey to joust the dragon pinata yelling "Charge!" It was awesome!

Boyd got to be the leader of the dragon slayers

This one of Daisy cracks me up! She looks so fierce in that mask.

This one of Lucy is great, too. She's one determined warrior princess. Charge! (I stole Jenna's pictures for this part- thanks for being there to photograph! Ken was taking video with our camera- the kids were so funny for this thing!)

The fiery dragon is about to be killed and eaten... gross, huh?

Farewell worthy foe! Lucy thought it was so funny to have the head!

Thank you everyone who helped and came to the party! It was just right, and I needlessly worried, as usual. Boyd has grown up so much, I am just in awe of this kid everyday how far he has come. I'm so happy we could give Boyd a great first friend party!

Dragon cake

2011-10-22T07:40:00.000-07:00

Well, here's the dragon cake i made for Boyd's party. He loves it, so I am happy! It took forever and lots of frosting, but it's pretty dang cute and I'm glad I was able to make it for him. Now wish me luck on the party... I've been a total wreck about it all week, hopefully some kids will show up and have a fun time :)

Best kids ever!

2011-10-18T18:29:00.000-07:00

That is a picture of Me, Boyd and our cats

Boyd had such a happy birthday yesterday and I think that happiness spread over to today. After school he said he was going to make a special surprise for me. He was so excited to give me a letter, what a sweetie! One hour later Boyd gave me some fruit snacks for my treat because I was being so good :) I'm so proud of Boyd for how well he is writing and drawing now, not too long ago he refused to do either.

All of the kids lately have been coloring and drawing pretty much non-stop. For a while now Daisy always draws "potties" every page (little weirdo), but just the other day she graduated to something new. She's so darling, she finally drew people!

Daisy's first people drawing of Daddy, Jenna, and Mommy

I love how she did hair for the girls and shoes. At this same age, Lucy used to draw Mickey Mouse for every picture. I wonder if Daisy will be an artist like her sister.
We are definitely going to need more reams of paper and art supplies for Christmas. We go through so much paper and markers. I've got files full of art mostly from Lucy and it's so hard to know what to keep.

Happy Birthday B!

2011-10-17T08:41:00.000-07:00

My baby boy is a BIG SEVEN year old today!! I am such a lucky lady to be the mom to such an AMAZING kid!!


Boyd is my special, sweet teddy bear!

He is quite a silly monkey!


Boyd is a total Rock Star!


He has a sweet, tender heart!


I love him to the moon and back!


Boyd conquers so many worlds!

I love him to infinity and beyond!

Boyd is my brave, chivalrous knight!

Daisy's Halloween dress

2011-10-15T15:55:00.000-07:00

I love it so much!! I worked on it all day and I just have the hem left to do. I shouldn't admit it, but I am kind of a crazy person when I am in project mode, I really neglect everything else and focus to get something done! I gotta have the costumes done by Boyd's party next week. I don't get dressed, eat, take care of the kids (unless they get to super annoying mode), or clean when I am doing a project and Ken told me to quit it at least an hour ago... sorry I had to get to a stopping point, can't have one sleeve hanging you know.
Well, anyway, I just thought I would show off the mostly done dress and now I have to actually do normal house things and pay attention to the kids :)

Boyd, a shield, and a Red barn

2011-10-13T22:31:00.000-07:00

I love it when Boyd brings home cute school work. His writing and drawing makes me smile, I am so proud of him! For the first month or so of school, Boyd would come home with empty papers and always a "Finish at Home" stamp on them because he just wouldn't do his work. Not anymore! He has been doing everything his teacher asks and he really seems to care about doing a good job. I am so glad he is getting it!

I never remember to take "before" pictures of things. Oh well, the shield used to have a yellow lion on it, but I painted over it and drew his dragon and bronzed the edge with paint (it was bright yellow). The sword was a strange baby blue color that I just added silver, bronze and black to match a little better. I don't know what Boyd has against lions this year, but if a little paint will make him happy, it is so worth it! These are made out of a foam material, which I really like much better than the plastic ones.

Today we went over to the Red Barn for a cub scout field trip. I usually love the place, but one annoying thing today was that there was only 1 tractor hay ride instead of 2, so our trip was double longer than expected with a bunch of restless kids and it was actually hot today.

Halloween Dress

2011-10-10T12:33:00.000-07:00

This is what I got finished on Lucy's Renaissance dress so far. I was having some trouble with the top of the zipper and collar and so that part is a little bit lumpy, but since it's on the back I don't want to worry about it too much. I put on the sleeves this morning, and then all I have left is the hem and then hopefully it fits her right! I love the material, the picture doesn't do it justice.

Payson Temple groundbreaking

2011-10-09T15:16:00.000-07:00


So many people at the Payson Temple Groundbreaking!

We had a nice hot breakfast indoors during the groundbreaking. We could almost hear the speakers from out our door, but it was a little too fuzzy.
All day long there were still hoards of people coming over to take pictures at the site. The girls and I decided to do that too.

Lucy was more excited about me letting her take a picture than anything, and Daisy was kind of a grump. (I should really stop standing like that... and I wonder why people ask if I'm pregnant... I'm not, by the way, so don't ask)

Is this spot actually where the temple will go, or will it go somewhere else on the property? Obviously the whole first shovel thing is just a formality, but why not put it on the right place anyway? Does anyone know?

I got Boyd dressed up and told him to pose. This is what he came up with? He's seriously weird, but still a handsome kid!

I started sewing Lucy's Halloween dress... so far, pretty good. I'm just stuck at one confusing part of the pattern I hope to clear up soon. I am now kicking myself for not taking Home Ec in high school! But, I am sure loving this sewing thing now! I just really wish fabric wasn't so expensive or else I would learn to make all of our clothes. If everything goes well I will post pictures soon, wish me luck!

Pumpkins everywhere

2011-10-07T08:01:00.000-07:00

I love cute food so much! I made rice crispy pumpkins for a cub scout treat yesterday and they turned out so cute!

And yummy! They have a tootsie roll stem and frosting vines. The kids (and adults) all loved them. I tried for about an hour to get Boyd to try them and I finally tricked him and covered a small piece with the green frosting and fed it to him. Of course he liked it, but still wasn't convinced to eat a whole treat, silly boy!

This week Lucy was supposed to decorate a paper pumpkin for school and she came up with a princess- cat- bride- pumpkin with ribbon hair, a lace collar, a crown and a veil. She did such a good job by herself, I just helped hot glue the things on so they would stick. I think she's going to be my crafting buddy one of these days, she is just so creative and artistic. Lucy told me at school her teacher loved it so much that she ran it over next door to show the other teachers how cute!

Boyd the Knight

2011-10-05T14:16:00.000-07:00

Look at this cute boy! I mean "Sir Boyd the Dragon Slayer." This brave knight had his mommy make his costume (tee hee!). Thanks Grandma Karen for helping me figure out the pattern! We are just missing the most important part now... the sword and shield.

2011-10-03T16:31:00.000-07:00


Ah it's sideways and I don't know how to turn it, but that is the dragon I drew and cut out for Boyd's costume.

I got the pieces cut out for a knight tunic and I am really excited for the sewing part. The material is kind of a black suede feel and the sleeves and hood are a black shiny mesh that hopefully will look like chain mail. I love it that Boyd is really excited for his "Black Knight" costume. Wish me luck that it turns out cute!

2011-10-01T18:37:00.000-07:00

This afternoon we headed up Payson Canyon for a drive and a picnic. It was so beautiful! All the way up there the colors were amazing and bright. We stopped at one of the Payson Lakes for a short walk around.

We went around a corner and heard some deer scatter- if we weren't so loud we could have seen them a lot closer.

The kids were being really sweet to each other.

On the way back down we stopped for a picnic just in a field and it started getting busy. I'm glad we left when we did.
We met some cows on the drive and there was a good herd in the middle of the road.

My camera ran out of batteries, so I so didn't get any of the beautiful trees. We have to go back and get some family pictures ASAP (hint hint Jenna pretty please!).
Such a beautiful day with conference and the gorgeous weather. Funny story... I was watching conference and I yelled to Ken in the other room "They're building a 2nd temple in Provo!" He said "The Tabernacle?" I said "No, a temple!" "The Tabernacle?" "No, a temple!!" Ha haaa... I'm a little slow. Even during conference I saw the picture released, it's going to look awesome!

I love that old building and I was so relieved to hear it will be restored and it will be a temple! Awesome!

Picture Perfect

2011-09-30T14:24:00.000-07:00

It's picture day and this is (hopefully) an idea of what she will look like in her school pictures. Lucy is such a pretty girl! She woke up at 6am this morning and asked if it was time for school pictures- ugh! "No, remember you have afternoon kindergarten in like 6 hours?"
Poor Boyd is sick this week with a yucky cough and fever, so I was sad he had to miss his picture day :(

Ken already put this funny story on facebook, but I'm repeating:

Boyd: In December there's the man who... is kinda fat... and he knows if you're good or bad...
Lucy: Jesus?
Boyd: No!
Lucy: Owen?
Boyd: NO!!!

We could not stop laughing about it! They are so funny!

Fall time!

2011-09-26T17:45:00.000-07:00

The tree in my backyard has just one little patch of red, isn't it cute? Too bad I can't reach it or else I would save them. I'm loving this weather right now... nice and warm during the day and cool at night with the perfect walking- to- the- park- weather in the evening.

I finally got Boyd to wear the new bow tie I made him. I think he looks adorable!

Soup

2011-09-23T08:41:00.000-07:00

Creamy Broccoli Soup A La Cami

In a pot I put about a Tb of olive oil with minced garlic and onion powder (you can do a real onion if that's what you're into). I added a can of Chicken Stock, 1 cup of milk, 1/2 a bar of cream cheese (low fat works well), and 1 can of cream of chicken, and of course chopped broccoli. Cook on medium for about 15 min, then whisk in 1/2 pint of cream and 2Tbs of flour to thicken. Stir well to make sure there are no chunky bits. Salt and Pepper to taste, and serve with cheddar cheese on top.

Seriously the best soup I ever made! If only I would have made fresh wheat rolls to go with it, it would have been perfecto!

It took about a half hour of coaxing and bribing to get Boyd to take a bite "It looks gross, I might puke! I don't like the green parts and black spots! I don't like white soup! etc." Once he did take a bite he said "Oh I was just kidding, broccoli soup is really my favorite and I love it the most!" He liked to eat it with a cheese sandwich and even asked for more of both. Silly boy! I am still proud of him not throwing a tantrum or crying, and finally opening his mouth for a bite and admitting that he really did like it.

A cute story: After our bedtime routine last night, I sang the last song and Lucy pretended to be asleep. Daisy went over to Lucy, stroked her hair, gave her a big kiss on the cheek and said "Aw, good night, sweet dreams, Princess!" Lucy still pretended to be asleep, but she had the biggest smile on her face. As Daisy and I were going up the stairs Lucy shouted "Love You Daisy!" Isn't that the cutest thing you ever heard? I LOVE when my kids are so sweet to each other!

2011-09-15T22:16:00.000-07:00

Rants, by me.
What else am I going to do when the kids are in bed and the husband is out for a boy's night? I cleaned the house as much as I wanted to, I tried to read but I kept falling asleep because I need a more interesting book, I wanted to work on some crafts but I don't have all the right materials. So, yeah, I'm a little bored am stuck with my own thoughts.

On friends: All growing up I had usually 1 really good, close friend at a time and then just other acquaintance type friends. That was pretty good with me, mostly because there were so few LDS kids and others with good standards- I was shy and didn't really want to hang out with big groups of trouble making kids anyway. I loved having one good friend to do everything with, and we never had any drama or fights and pretty much everything was understood between us. I am so thankful for those couple of girls in my life and I miss them dearly.

When I came out to BYU, I stayed in the Deseret Towers (V Hall, 7th floor 2000-2001) and it was some of the most fun I've ever had. All of these girls on my floor became instant friends and I felt so comfortable and I really came out of my shell. That was the one and only time I've had a group of really close friends and I loved it. That summer I moved out off campus to an apartment with one of the girls (my awesome roommate Beth!) and after that I was on my own, working 2 jobs and going to school full time for the next year. I had no time for friends and was in my own busy world until I met Ken.

I was back to having 1 great friend and some acquaintances from work and school. That was just how we liked to do everything together just the 2 of us. We had one other couple that we hung out with sometimes and we even moved across the street from them, and had our first kids about the same time, and just really got along until they moved away :(

When I had Lucy, I stopped working and stayed home with the kids and that is when I really missed having friends. I realized that I didn't know how to make friends anymore. It is so different having kids and trying to have any hang out friends, I just felt lost. My crazy shyness was not helping me out, either. I made some effort to meet the women in my ward and in my condo building, I actually called people to invite them for play dates or crafts, but things just never worked out and I lost some confidence. I still don't really know how to make friends or keep them. I don't know how I've gotten so terrible with making conversation or being a part of one.

Anyway, that's what I've been thinking about lately. I've got a lot of awesome people in my neighborhood, I hope they all don't think I'm unfriendly and rude because I've forgotten how to talk to people. I'm working on it, for real, I don't want to be a hermit anymore. I think I need some real buddies and hobbies so I don't end up writing stupid blog entries like this one on my history of friends that is probably really boring if you did end up reading it up to this point, sorry about that. I didn't really mean for it to turn into a sob story about how I have no friends and nobody likes me, but I can't seem to find a real point to it either other than I used to be kind of cool once, now I'm incoherently babbling about how loser-y I am. Maybe some day I'll figure it out, right?

2011-09-13T10:09:00.000-07:00

Daisy's hair goes so crazy on the trampoline, it's funny. These kids love playing whenever it is nice weather. I hope we have nice, long fall weather before the super cold comes.

Lucy's such a goof, I love having these 2 girls playing nicely together at least some of the time :)

2011-09-11T11:58:00.000-07:00

This is what the Payson temple will look like! What a view that will be from our backyard! The groundbreaking ceremony will be October 8 at 9am. Hooray!

Getting my crafty on

2011-09-08T10:08:00.000-07:00

Some of our neighbors got together for a fun craft and these little punkins turned out so cute. I think they just need a bow and we're all set.

Speaking of bows... I think that put me back in craft mode and I ended up making these 2 bow ties last night. It had been a while since I got my sewing machine out, I really missed it. These were super easy and I hope they look cute on Boyd. Bow ties are cool, right?

I can't wait to start up some more projects. Hmmm... what to do next?

Lucy's Art

2011-09-07T12:42:00.000-07:00

Lucy draws a ton of pictures everyday, but this is what Lucy drew for me this morning and I thought it was so good! She asked for some help coloring the whole paper blue and I showed her how to go around the edges of her drawings to color around them carefully. She was so meticulous and careful and then talked herself out of flipping out when she messed up a tiny bit... what a good girl! My favorite part is her bird (below the sun) and she was so proud we even had to wake up daddy to show him.
Lucy has such a long time until her afternoon Kindergarten starts. She got all ready this morning, drew pictures, then fell asleep to a cartoon and woke up with a fever so I had to keep her home today, poor thing!

2011-09-04T09:46:00.000-07:00

Up Payson Canyon on a little family hike. We love it there!

Carnival

2011-09-03T12:43:00.000-07:00

We went to the Payson Onion Days carnival last night. The kids were really excited to be there. We were just going to do a couple of rides and then go home, but since it was 1 ticket per ride night we decided to stay late.

We waited in line for the ferris wheel for so long! We thought it might be the only ride of the night since we got there so late.

Ken and Boyd went on the Zippa ride that goes around and upside down. I can't believe Boyd loved that one so much, it might even be too scary for me.

Boyd was so happy to tell me all about it "we went upside down lots of times!"

Of course we had to go on the Carousel

Daisy kept hitting my hand off her "Don't hold me on the horsey!" Well, carnivals aren't too concerned with safety, I had to.

We made it all the way to closing time, I couldn't believe how the kids just kept going on rides and having fun (much longer than mom). There was just one more ride that Boyd didn't get to go on- they waited in line for so long for the roller coaster and closed it right when they were next in line.

Lucy's haircut

2011-09-02T11:48:00.000-07:00

Isn't she a pretty girl? I love her new haircut!

School stuff

2011-08-31T08:11:00.000-07:00

Boyd seems to be liking school a bit more the last few days. He says his teacher Miss Smith is so nice and pretty. Boyd doesn't like to do writing worksheets very much, so we've been working on it at home some more. Hopefully he'll get the hang of it soon. Boyd said his favorite subject in school is music and then reading time because he's a good reader.

Lucy was so excited to have homework. The first thing she did was make a gingerbread girl that looks like her. I think she did a good job and she was proud of it. She's loving every minute of Kindergarten, she's so happy to get ready and ride the bus. It's fantastic!

Lucy's First Day!

2011-08-29T11:50:00.000-07:00

My big girl is in Kindergarten! She has been so excited all last week and especially today. Lucy woke up at 6am asking if it was time for school and then every 5 minutes until we walked out the door. What a long morning it was!

We got to the bus stop nice and early just to make sure we wouldn't miss it.

Lucy is so happy to ride the bus with some of her friends.

There she goes on that big school bus! She was so brave, not even a little bit nervous!

A little late

2011-08-24T17:47:00.000-07:00

Here's my cute boy on his first day of First grade! I was so sad I couldn't be there for him, but his wonderful dad got him all set and ready to go! He got off the bus pretty happy and just said "School was too long!" and "Not fun!" Well, that's not too horrible, no major fits or breakdowns, so I say it was a success. His teacher seems like a really nice, good teacher and all of our neighbors who knew her say the same thing. She told me he did very well the first day. Boyd drew a picture of how he felt the first day of school and he wrote "Nrves" (nervous) and drew an army battle to go with it. It always takes Boyd a little bit longer than most kids to adjust to new things, but I am still very proud of him and we think he will do well this year!
Lucy is going crazy this week that she hasn't started her class yet! She is so ready and excited to go to Kindergarten! Lucy had her kindergarten testing yesterday and she loved it and did really great! Her teacher was just so pleased at how much she knows and is already reading. What a smart girl!

Did ya miss me?

2011-08-23T15:08:00.000-07:00

*This blog post may contain too much information

Well, I am back home from the hospital as of last night and it is so great to be with my family and it was amazing to actually sleep in my own bed! I'm feeling much better- no pain or fever or life-threatening doom, just pretty tired and a little nauseated here and there.

So, everyone's been awesome with all their concerns and all the offers for help. Thank you, friends and neighbors, you are all amazing! (I feel like I'm writing an awards speech now) Thanks Amber for the long day you put in watching my girls! Thanks Jen for taking them today! Thanks to the awesome fam for bending over backwards to take care of our kids all weekend. And, of course, my SUPER AMAZING HUSBAND for everything he did to take care of me and our family and all the horrors he had to endure for me (hospitals, needles and blood are his worst phobia in case you were wondering). I really could go on and on, but you get the idea... I love you Ken!

Do you wanna know how I ended up in the freaking ICU? It's still really weird to me and totally unexpected, I don't really get it myself. Anyway, here's what happened: Last weekend I started getting a regular, dumb cold and just didn't feel good, but I was able to get by. I even went swimming last Wed and went to Cub scouts Pack night, but when I got home I started feeling worse- couldn't eat the dinner I made, headache, fever, horrible body aches. I went to bed and just had a terrible night thrashing, waking up Ken (he's usually the most solid sleeper ever). In the morning I told him I think I better go in to Instacare (and as a side note I thought I might have a bladder infection). We went in and they were all "Yep, bad UTI (urinary tract infection), here's an antibiotic and take some advil for pain." I took all my pills (nothing helped my headache and back pain), and a couple hours later I started vomiting and still felt horrible. I called the Instacare that afternoon to see if I needed to go back and they told me to go into the Emergency room for an IV if I couldn't keep my antibiotics down. I really didn't want to go the ER, super lame, right, so I got worse and worse all night puking, high fever, horrible pain. I couldn't keep down a sip of Sprite, a bite of cracker, or a piece of ice, Dangit!

So, there we went to the ER- I was puking in a bag the whole way there, I was in my stained jammies, my hair was in a rat's nest, and I was just shaking from fever. I was so glad I got in to the ER right away, so they could start poking me with needles and I got an arm IV. They did all sorts of tests and a CAT scan of my kidneys, and I peed in a cup (it looked like apple cider- I know you wanted to know that). After a while of all this my blood pressure dropped to like half of what it should be. I got rushed to somewhere and had to get this IV thing in my neck (it was horrible!). The doctor said I'm going to numb it now and then it felt like he jabbed a pencil into my neck (sorry for the visual). Ken said there was lots of blood squirting and the doctor fished a wire down to my heart and at that point he stumbled backward 4 feet down into a chair and put his head down. "We got a fainter!" someone said. Poor Ken, he scooted over and held my hand again.

I got moved over to ICU because my blood pressure was so low, my kidneys were infected, and I got blood sepsis. I was hooked up to a bunch of monitors all over my body and got a pee-pee catheter and I was pretty much stuck in bed unable to move at all, especially not my neck, cause it hurt! The blood pressure cuff stayed on and measured every 15 minutes around the clock- that was really annoying because I pretty much could only sleep 15 minutes at a time in the night, plus all the beeping monitors, people checking in constantly... it was super. I was in that room Friday, Saturday and then moved to a different floor the last day and got to get rid of most of the stuff on me. On Saturday I got to finally get up to walk around the ICU floor. It was really sad, every patient was all hooked up in tubes and no one even looked conscious, many of the visitors were crying it was awful! There I was walking around talking to the staff and all jolly. I was really, really out of place and everyone said something like "You're about 50 years too young to be here" or "You look too healthy to be here." Yeah, I got it, and it's weird.

Well, anyhow, that's a bit of a long story. I'm getting all better now and I am so thankful for our modern medicine that got me out of that crazy ordeal and back on my feet. That was a really a fast, horrible weekend I hope to never have again.

Payson Hike

2011-08-15T11:13:00.000-07:00

We took a little hike up Payson canyon to the Grotto. We haven't been before and it was beautiful!

It was a pretty fun, short hike (only 0.6 miles round trip) and it had some neat things like logs to walk across and tiny waterfalls.

Daisy kept saying "Wook! It's Wonderful!"

Lucy was a good coach for helping Daisy cross the logs. She's so sweet! "Come on, Daisy! I'll catch ya!"

It was so fun to arrive to the Grotto with a little waterfall and water to play in. What a neat place!

The kids got soaked and muddy! I didn't think to bring them in their suits or sandals because I was expecting more of a hike. Oh well, lesson learned, but we'll go back there again soon with the right gear.

Ken climbed up a steep part to the top of the waterfall. I was so nervous when he was up there! But, of course he was fine and said it was fun. I'm too much of a chicken these days!

We sure love living in Payson! There are a bunch of other places we need to explore up the canyon, I had no idea!

Rantings

2011-08-11T23:13:00.000-07:00

About blogging and facebook.

I like to follow people's blogs and check statuses on fb and sometimes I feel like a weird stalker especially with the people I don't know very well in person (which are most of them because I'm so incredibly shy). I love the honest posts and ones that make me think and relate to my own life and show what kind of people they are and the image they display. Most everyone only seem to say what is positive and fun and cool in their lives, others are boring, others I think "Aaah, too much information!"

One problem is thinking about who is reading what I am writing here. So many times I've gone to write a status update or blog and then delete it thinking "nobody cares what I have to say" or "Some of these friends won't get it or take this the wrong way." Which, unfortunately I have put my foot in my mouth a few times and feel like a jerk still. It kind of sucks sometimes to not be able to connect to the people I want, not being able to share my opinions or feelings, not having the tone of a sentence conveyed over the screen (that's probably a big one), worrying about the amount of positivity, negativity, sincerity, honesty, boring content, repetition, etc.

One person's blog I read recently talked about the pressure she feels from our culture, particularly the Mormon moms who seem to do everything well from cooking, organizing, gardening, crafting, sewing, cleaning, homeschooling, canning, teaching, reading, and are always stylish and gorgeous, patient and loving with a bunch of obedient, happy and perfectly dressed children. Phew! What a list... and there's even more that I can't think of at the moment, but it is incredible and overwhelming. Crazy, I know I feel that pressure sometimes, too, and it's ridiculous really.

It is hard to know how much feelings to put into posts. I love my husband and kids, but I hate to sound too mushy or insincere when I say so.

Alright, I think I'll just end now...

What a Day!

2011-08-06T20:37:00.000-07:00

This morning, bright and early Ken and I got up to put together this...

Woohoo a Trampoline!
We got up so early to have it ready before the kids woke up. Normally they sleep in until 9 or 10 am, but today they were all up before 7! Oh well, it was like Christmas morning and they were so excited!

Boyd said "I love it the same as Age of Mythology!' (his favorite game ever).

Lucy said "I love it as much as I love Mom!"
And Daisy just cried within about the first 10 seconds of getting on it.

We got to have my sister's kids over for most of the day because she was still in the hospital and we also had a little birthday party for Lucy.

She had a Strawberry shortcake theme and wanted a big cake instead of cupcakes (which I would rather have). Almost all of the kids asked "Why did you make an APPLE cake?" Really? Doesn't it look like a strawberry at all? I tried, I swear!

We got to visit with Baby David for a minute when Kelly and Jake were coming home. Lucy was so excited to hold him. We love babies!
Tonight, we went to another birthday party for some friends of ours. I wish I would have brought the camera, she made this rainbow cake with 6 separate layers of frosting in between and there were these cute fruit kabobs- watermelon, oranges, pineapple, kiwi, blueberries and purple grapes- rainbow food! I love cute food!

I got a new nephew!

2011-08-05T16:07:00.000-07:00

I'm so excited! I just got to meet my new little nephew, his name is David William Sigafus! He's such a cute little thing, I'm glad I got to hold him.

My sister did a natural birth and she said it went very quickly and she feels great! What a super mom!

Awww... look at that cute little face! I think he looks a lot like his big brother Daniel. Babies are so amazing! Congrats Jake and Kelly!

Cousin Time

2011-08-04T10:57:00.000-07:00

Lucy thinks her cousin is the coolest person now- she said Tricia's my new BFF!

The kids have been having the best time just hanging out with the cousins in Papa and Gramma's yard. Lucy did lots of summer-saults and swinging and running around.

I love to see them all run! I'm so glad it was a little cooler outside so they could enjoy it.

Boyd literally ran his pants off! He's so funny!

We thought our day was ruined with the rain in the afternoon, but we were so glad to get over to the pool in the evening. There was nobody there and it was awesome!

Lucy is ready for a pose in a split second!

We loved having a nearly empty pool all to ourselves!

Little Miss Ally was not super excited to be there.

I was so proud of Lucy going down the big slides! I knew she would love it if she gave it a try. I told her she could go on the slides with us or stay with Uncle Danny Ha haa!

Boyd just started swimming all on his own and he did great! I had no idea he could. He amazes me all the time!

Happy Birthday Lucy!

2011-08-01T16:44:00.000-07:00

I can't believe my baby girl is a big 5 year old!

Lucy was the most beautiful baby I have ever seen. Strangers would come up to tell me the same thing. She had a full head of dark, curly hair and perfect peachy skin even as a newborn (she was only a few days old in this picture).

She grew into a kid so fast! She was walking by 10 months and talking up a storm!

She was a funny, sassy little thing!

Now, she's a great big sister...

A sweet, happy girl...

And a smart, beautiful Princess! We sure love our Lucy Pearl! Happy Birthday big girl!

The Res

2011-07-28T10:11:00.000-07:00

We went to the Spanish Fork Reservoir yesterday and had a fun time. The kids loved playing in the dirt mostly and ventured out in the cold water a bit, too.

I love Daisy's suit so much! Its about the last year for a 2 piece, but I love her little chubby tummy sticking out. Lucy is always so quick to pose for a picture. She is growing up too fast!

These baby kittens are the sweetest things ever! They are so cuddly with everyone and good to hold, even for the kids.

While we were on our trip, Jenna got this awesome picture of Daisy... its one of my favorites ever.

We have an announcement...

2011-07-24T13:48:00.000-07:00

We just adopted twins! 2 baby boy kittens!

When we got home from our vacation we had to take Homer to the vet for an abscess that developed from a neighborhood cat fight earlier. Poor baby had an IV to get put under while they cleaned out his wound. In the office lobby there were 2 kittens in a cage looking for a home. Our kids and mostly Ken were dying to take them home. They are so adorable and sweet!

This black one is the kids' favorite. He is pretty good to let them hold him.

This one looks like a Siamese cat, a little bigger than the other. He gives cute hugs by leaning over the top of your shoulder and resting his head on you.

I had the hardest time getting a good picture of them, they are so wiggly and active.

Ken finally decided on names for them: Sifl and Olly (like the sock puppets from a tv show from the 90's). We are going to have a full house with 4 cats now! Homer and Bella aren't too excited about them yet, but I'm sure they'll be friends soon.

More Mexico Fun

2011-07-22T14:24:00.000-07:00

Everywhere we went there were people dressed up in Mayan costumes, or holding monkeys, lizards, birds, etc. that charged you for taking a picture of them. This was one of them- a 50 peso picture right here. It was cool seeing these guys swinging from their feet around the pole.

There was lots of shopping places right by our hotel, it was fun to walk down the strip looking at all the junk they had.

Some more laying out on the beach.

We got some good seats for the next show at the hotel.

This show was really neat to watch. I loved the acrobat stuff.

We went on another tour out snorkeling in the ocean.

It was beautiful clear blue water with lots of colorful tropical fish. The boat took a big group out to 2 places along a reef it was so pretty! I got a bit seasick and totally puked all over myself, then I was fine.

We were so happy to see our little monkeys after a good week. We got Boyd a t-shirt and the girls a Mexican dress.

Mexico!

2011-07-22T12:47:00.000-07:00

We just got back from Cancun last night! We had a really great time overall and we are glad to be back home with our kids.
The traveling days were pretty long... next time we go somewhere we will pay the extra money for a direct flight. Anyway, we got there and the resort was really nice and fancy. It rained only the first night, but was perfect weather the rest of the time.

Not a great picture, but the first night at the hotel, they had a neat show with Mayan dancers and cool costumes.

The beach outside our hotel was gorgeous, blue ocean, white sand and very clean. We had a lot of lounging on the beach and by the pools.

We went on a Mayan Adventure Tour one of the days- it was rappelling, Zip Lines and Snorkeling in the Cenote cave.

The other place on the tour was Tulum Mayan ruins. It was very cool to see, but holy hell it was HOT! I don't think I've ever sweat so much ever!

Such a gorgeous place right on the ocean with lots of trees and cute iguanas.

More pictures to come...

An amazing hike

2011-07-07T21:26:00.000-07:00

Today my brother Cody and his family invited us to hike the caves in American Fork Canyon. I had no idea what we were in for. We got there early in the day (for us, anyway) and it was packed! We had to wait about 3 hours before we could start on the hike... so some advice for anyone wanting to go there... get tickets in advance for the time you want. When we came back, we started up the steep trail.

This is still pretty early on in the hike, but wow the view was awesome!

We are not used to this sort of thing, so we were so glad for all the bench stops along the way.

Ken did the best out of all of us, and alternated carrying the bag and the kids.

Still not up to the caves, we were pretty hammered. Daisy was especially exhausted early on.

We kept trucking along uphill with our tired crew.

What were we thinking bringing along these 5 little kids?
About the last 1/4 part of the hike, it started raining! We had to get in those caves as fast as we could and my legs and arms were just shaking, trying to carry Daisy up the steepest part in the rain. But, we finally made it in.

We were geniuses and DIDN'T bring jackets. Poor kids were soaked and freezing inside the caves (its about 45 degrees in there).

I don't know what the kids thought about it, but Ken and I thought the caves were very cool!

There were lots of tight spaces and stalagmite obstacles to weave through. In one spot, the tour guide lady turned off the lights to utter darkness, it was amazing.

When we finally got out, Daisy kept saying "I tan't believe it!" And it was really great that the rain stopped for us.

Can you spot our little friend?

Awesome view, huh? The walk downhill was much better and faster, but still plenty tiring for us all.

In case you were wondering how Daisy felt about the whole adventure. She was so done hours ago!

Ahhhh... home to that beautiful sunset! We needed a bath and dinner like nothin' else. I have a feeling we'll all sleep GOOD tonight!

What a week!

2011-07-07T20:46:00.000-07:00

This has been a busy, crazy week! Yesterday, we had my uncle John's funeral (he was my dad's brother). Funerals are so emotionally draining for me. I did pretty well for most of it not completely losing it, but there were just some really tender moments that got me. Mostly just seeing the faces of Aunt Sheri and the kids, my Oma and Opa, my Dad, and siblings was just heartbreaking. For most of the talks, the speakers tried to keep it light by talking about the fun/ crazy things about Uncle John and there was a lot that I didn't know. My brother had a picture of my siblings taken, I don't know how to copy just the picture from facebook onto here, but there it is anyway.

Last night, I went to Thanksgiving Point Gardens with my fun book club. I hadn't been there before (except for the Children's Garden) and I was blown away at how huge and gorgeous it is. I've got a lot of pictures of it, so sorry if its overload.

I have more, but you get the idea... awesome, huh? The waterfalls were amazing, even though they are man-made.

More July fun

2011-07-05T10:41:00.000-07:00

We got to have some more fun festivities last night with the Copiers.

We had our traditional BBQ and the cousins ran around together. They always love the swing.

Then we headed out to the court to watch the neat fireworks. It was fun to enjoy the whole neighborhood's fancy ones, too.

Aunt Kelly brought glow sticks and sparklers for the kids and they loved it.

My only decent firework picture. I love my camera, but it is not the best for dark. Uncle Chad and Uncle Cody got to be the master lighters.
We had such a fun time, even with a little rain and wind thrown in there. All the kids wore themselves out!

Happy July!

2011-07-03T12:08:00.000-07:00

We've had a fun weekend so far... BBQ on Friday and fireworks on Sat.

I made these awesome stuffed strawberries on Friday (its a cream cheese filling with graham cracker crumbs and chocolate). Soooo gooooood!

We watched the Stadium fireworks from Papa and Gramma's yard last night. We love having that tradition with all the awesome treats and awesome fireworks. Daisy was so tired before we even started. She was quite contrary to everyone's comments all night "No, not pretty fireworks! Not a blue one! Not like one!" Oh well, she is 2 after all!

Lucy was so excited for fireworks, and she has been talking non-stop about them. We even had to get her a special outfit for the occasion. She loved the sparklers more than anyone!

I'm so proud of Boyd actually holding a sparkler! He was pretty nervous at first, then he decided it was ok. He's come a long way from a couple years ago... he even had friends to run around with and had a great time!

My niece and nephew, Violet and Dexter, got to come with us to watch the fireworks.

Here's our week

2011-06-30T09:19:00.000-07:00

It seems like not many people are keeping updates on blogs very well lately, me included. We've been doing stuff, but just not taking many pictures or having much to say about it.

Last week, we spent the day with cousins at my dad's. They live close to the splash park, so we hung out there in the afternoon.

These girls look so much alike, I think. They had so much fun hanging out together.

There were even a couple of boys for Boyd to play with. Both those boys are 2 years older than Boyd, but he did pretty well to keep up with them. Silly me forgot to take more pictures of the day, but Grandpa set up a bike race course for the kids, we had a BBQ, and then a campfire with s'mores. Some of them stayed over night in a tent, but we just went home then with our dirty, sweaty, worn-out kids.

Yesterday, we thought it was a good idea to go swimming. It was really great until the sudden storm hit just when we were about to go on the slide. It was crazy with thunder, lightning, wind and hard rain beating on us as we ran to the car . Oh well, it was an adventure and I do love summer rain once in a while.

I thought it was really nice and beautiful out last night (that's a view from our backyard on the temple lot in case you didn't know). The kids and I wanted to go on a walk, but it kept raining on and off, so they just got to splash a little outside before bed time.

I love Daisy's face here, she's so funny. I'm so proud of her because she is about 90% potty trained, and she will finally go in the big potty with her seat on top (it was getting pretty old to bring her baby potty in the car everywhere). She was my easiest trainee, thank goodness, and we don't have to buy diapers anymore! Hooray!

What I'm listening to lately

2011-06-21T18:37:00.000-07:00

I've been playing on YouTube the last few days and keep finding some fun music to listen to. It started when I was watching So You Think You Can Dance (my favorite show right now!). I saw this Norah Jones on a feature video... love her voice and the country sound.

I like the song, and even better with the dance.

I think Amy Winehouse is one of the ickiest people ever, but I really like the beat and sound of this one. Its been stuck in my head all day.

I heard another song by these guys on SYTYCD and liked this other one, too.

2011-06-20T10:54:00.000-07:00

We had a pretty fun Saturday. Some of my BYU dorm friends got together for a picnic. Silly me forgot to take pictures until most of us had left. But, it was really great to see them again. We decided that was much better than a high school reunion because we actually like each other!

Then we went to Bridal Veil for a short hike. It was a bit crowded, but still beautiful.

Bathing Beauties

2011-06-16T15:10:00.000-07:00

We got to swim again yesterday, hooray! Lucy was much happier this time. Boyd loved the big slides at Veteran's Pool, and even Daisy got to ride on one with me. They loved it!

Daisy had a fun time in the kid section. Don't you love her silly pose?

Gramma watched the kids last night for our anniversary date. She looked so cute when we went to pick them up. I told Daisy to look pretty for the camera, haa haaa... she's so weird!

9 years!

2011-06-15T10:37:00.000-07:00

Happy Anniversary to us! I can't believe it has been 9 whole years since I became Mrs. Kenneth Martin!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXtc-TH0Iv4 Silly guy, got this song in my head this morning (joking, of course, cuz he hates country music), but I appreciate it :) I'm a little bit country...

On our wedding day, my brother picked us up from the temple to drive us over to get our pictures a few blocks away. Just then on the radio, this came on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iywaBOMvYLI. We laughed and said it was our song. My brother was just shocked "I can't believe he got you to listen to this kind of music!"

We made a mix for our reception and this was one of our favorites http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jzx664u5DA we danced to.

Nine years ago, we saw the Lord of the Rings movie 7 or 8 times in the theater and we were obsessed!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOykCYDMKBs Whenever anything LOTRs comes up, I always think of the year we got married.

Love you, Babe! Happy anniversary!

Pool day!

2011-06-11T16:10:00.000-07:00

We were so excited to try out the pool. Boyd has been asking everyday for a month when we can go.

The girls got new suits this year and they look so cute!

Lucy was a bit fussy once we got in. She was too cold and not comfortable wearing arm floaties. I sure hope she gets over that very soon!

Boyd could not have been happier today. He was just tall enough to go down the big slides and he went down both of them a few times all by himself. I bet he wouldn't have noticed if we left him there all day.

Daisy knew she was just dang cute strutting her suit! Besides the iron grip around my neck in the water, she was pretty happy, but mostly just wanted to walk around and soak up the sun. Much better than last year's screaming the entire time!

Daisy said, "Look at me, I'm sleeping on a towel!" What a kid!

Kindergarten Preview

2011-06-06T16:03:00.000-07:00

Lucy got to see what Kindergarten is going to be like today. As soon as we walked in the door she told me "You can go now, Mom!" I think she's all ready right now!

What a poser! I love this girl!

Kids

2011-06-02T12:05:00.000-07:00

Daisy's turning into a big kid! She's been doing better with potty training, but only at home with her pink potty and not the big potty just yet. I'm still really proud of her for trying and I love that Lucy is such a good coach and cheerleader for her.

I'm having trouble keeping this boy busy enough for summer and we've only just started. We are doing some reading and math everyday and getting over to the park when its nice out. Boyd just can't wait until its warm enough for the pool.

Lucy is such a social butterfly, she loves to make friends at the park and wants to visit all her friends around the neighborhood everyday.

Recital

2011-05-25T16:26:00.000-07:00

I took video of her dances. Hope this works
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrRAvKZkj2A
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24rwgTy1_4Y

Lucy's Recital

2011-05-25T09:56:00.001-07:00

We had a little trouble getting ready for her recital because Miss Lucy's costume was "SO ITCHY! AHHHH! I WISH I WAS DEAD! I HATE EVERYBODY!" Yeah, did I tell you she was a little bit dramatic? After a couple of time-outs, lotion, and a t-shirt underneath, we were all set and back to being an angel. One of her dances had a prop- Lucy was so excited to bring her baby to dance with.

(She's second from the right) Lucy was great! She knew all of her moves and smiled the whole time. It was quite a show (almlost 2 1/2 hours)- there were 31 routines and Lucy's class went 2nd and 19th

Boyd's Last Day

2011-05-20T16:59:00.000-07:00

Is it weird that I wasn't sad at all when Boyd started Kindergarten, but now I am on the last day? That boy is growing up so fast, I can't believe the school year is over. His teacher sent him home his notebook and there were some really cute pictures.

These two are my favorite because I've never seen Boyd draw anything else except cats and people. I think he did a great job on both pictures and writing.

This other one says " I love my Ken dad" and "I love my cat." Boyd was laughing because I told him to smile pretty (that's what girls do, ha haa), then smile like a weird boy!
I couldn't be more proud of this kid! Now I have to figure out how to keep him busy and learning this summer- wish me luck!

Lucy's Graduation

2011-05-18T10:02:00.000-07:00

Today Lucy graduated from preschool! They had a great program with singing, review of the year, and slide show. Lucy got nervous at one part and said the wrong line, but she recovered just in time for her next part. The kids did such a great job, and they were totally cute!

Lucy got an award for "Amazing Artist." She's ready for Kindergarten now!

Lucy had such a great teacher this year! She had so much fun with all the activities, art projects, songs, and field trips. Thank you, Mrs Wimmer!

2011-05-10T17:52:00.000-07:00

I just tried out applique today and look at that cute t-shirt! Lucy wanted just a flower.

This one is Daisy's with the cute little bird and flower. It was actually easier than I thought it would be.

Sweet Boy

2011-05-05T10:48:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Boyd lost his second tooth, but literally lost it somewhere in the house. He was completely heart broken and worried he wouldn't get his tooth fairy present. So, he got to write this cute note to butter up the ol' tooth fairy. It worked.

Boyd made a paper flower picture and poem for mother's day at school. I'm a sucker and I love it, especially because he was proud and read it to me. This is the poem that goes with it:
I'm your little flower, Mom
Please help me grow and bloom;
Take the weeds, but leave the roots
And give me lots of room.
Mom, you are my gardener,
My sunshine and my rain.
Too much will make me wither.
With enough I'll bloom again.
I am your little flower, Mom
I'm different from the rest.
Don't pick me, Mom, just help me grow
To be my very best.

Lucy's costume

2011-05-03T15:56:00.000-07:00

Lucy got her costume today and had pictures taken. She was so excited to have her new dance outfit and she looks dang cute!

We were playing around with taking her picture and she really got some air there!

Look at those killer moves! She cracks me up!

Oh, Boyd

2011-04-29T13:25:00.000-07:00

I didn't want to leave out my boy... I made him that cute tie, too! (Yeah I know its crooked, I really needed to make a bigger size so the back piece can tuck in the loop thing.) Boyd is just growing too much!

The other day Boyd was pointing at the cupboard and said "would you get me a fireman?" I had no idea what he meant. "Well I don't know what its called... a fireman that you eat." What the? Ken had to tell me he wants a VITAMIN! Haa haaaa!

Last night Boyd called his dad to ask how many minutes will he be home. Ken told him 5 minutes. Then Lucy called to ask the same thing and he told her 2 minutes. Lucy said "Boyd you were wrong!" Boyd shakes his head and said "See here, Lucy, I called him 3 minutes ago and that makes 5. You should listen to me because I sure know a lot of things!"

Boyd showed me his school calendar and said "school is almost over and then for summer, I can play games all day!" Uh-oh... I'm gonna need to get him a new hobby and some friends. Now I'm totally worried about summer vacation.

Pretty Skirt

2011-04-27T11:12:00.000-07:00

Holy Ruffles! What did I get myself into? I made Daisy's skirt yesterday and now I've got to make Lucy's matching one. Oh boy, its not very easy for a beginning sewer like me, but I sure learned a lot! I think it turned out pretty cute.

And don't tell me it looks like a clogging skirt, or I'll be offended. Funny thing, I clogged one time when I was 5 and I had the ruffle-y pettiskirt slip thing. At my recital, I performed to the song "Do You Love Me? (Now that I Can Dance)." I still remember most of it, but that's not the point... these skirts are really cute, not like the clogging ones.

Easter fun

2011-04-22T21:49:00.000-07:00

Lucy was so excited to find Homer snuggling her pink kitty, so I let her take the picture. She told him, "Oh Homer, you are such a sweet potato!"

We colored some eggs tonight and the kids loved it!

Daisy just kept saying "Its Pink! No, blue!" She learned that from Sleeping Beauty, even though none of her eggs were actually pink or blue, it was still very exciting!

White crayons really are useful one time of year, and they are "magic" for writing your name and hearts on the eggs. Very cool, indeed.

We also made some sugar cookies tonight because I just bought some cute Easter cookie cutters. Daisy mostly finger painted with frosting instead of eating the cookie, but that's ok, whatever keeps her happy!

Daisy has been thinking about going potty recently. She goes peepee in her little pink potty most of the day and is very excited. Let's hope for my sake that she will be an easy potty- trainer (I think I deserve this one, right?), but we'll just have to see how it goes (fingers crossed). One of Daisy's funny words lately is "I boo it" (I do it) for just about everything because she is a big girl.

Earlier today it was so nice out! We loved playing in the yard, Boyd and Lucy like to play "Simon Says" and "Red Light Green Light" with me. Boyd made a chart with sidewalk chalk keeping track of who won the games with the right amount of rows and columns. We also had fun digging in the dirt a little bit, talking about worms and things. Boyd named 2 worms "Bernie and Lemmie." He told me "Mom, you dug up the worms' kitchen" when I pulled up a weed. Lucy said "I think Bernie and Lemmie are married and will name the baby worm Rapunzel." I asked her if the baby worm will have long magic hair and she said "worms don't have any hair, silly." Oh, right, I knew that one.

Our weekend

2011-04-17T21:19:00.000-07:00

I made Lucy's Owl this week. While I was sewing it, Boyd said "Oh I'm so glad! My little owls need sisters!" Isn't that sweet?

We are so happy to play outside in the nice weather! We got to play for while in Grandma's yard after the funeral for Ken's great aunt. I told the kids to make a happy face... look at Boyd's face- what a weirdo! Lucy looks sweet though.

The kids and I had a nice walk and played at the park in the afternoon. It was great, until I LOST BOYD. Yep, I'm a terrible mother and Boyd ran off ahead of me and I couldn't find him anywhere! I asked all the kids and parents around the park and trails if they saw a boy go past and no one did. So scary!! Ken came out to meet us, went back home and Boyd was there. He just decided to go home without telling me and escaped like a ninja.

I am so happy to see the pink trees! They are so pretty! I can't believe I managed to get all 3 kids smiling, especially since Daisy hasn't been feeling well the last few days. We were able to spend some time with Aunt Cheli and Grampy today before they headed back for Texas.

First tooth

2011-04-15T09:24:00.000-07:00

Boyd has been wiggling his loose tooth for weeks now. Yesterday, he bit an apple and it really got loose, but he wouldn't let me help. He was upset last night going to bed because that little tooth wasn't out in time for the tooth fairy. This morning he came running up the stairs "IT'S OUT!"

He is really excited! Can you tell? Yesterday we were at Grandpa's house and he asked Boyd if he will get a nickel from the tooth fairy. Boyd said "5 cents? That's crazy! I think it will be dollars!"

2011-04-13T09:15:00.000-07:00

These kids looked pretty cute for church on Sunday. They held hands all on their own even! Aw cute!

Daisy let me french braid her hair yesterday. She loved all the attention she got from looking pretty!

Cuz she totally is cute! A funny story: Daisy was playing with Barbies and she shouted "I LOVE SHOES!" What a girl!

Ken and Cami Family

Heart Cake!

Valentine Craft

Crazy about Cats

Lucy's Recital

Last Week!

Me 'n' Daiser

I love it! And hate it a little bit

This is weird, it is quiet in here

Some Family history stuff

New Year's Goals

Dolls and sewing

Christmas!

PJ's

Lucy the Grinch

So Long...

Ornament time!

Oh Christmas tree!

Disneyland!!

Bed Time

Thanksgiving fun

Happy Thanksgiving!

“A grateful heart comes through expressing gratitude to our Heavenly Father for His blessings and to those around us for all that they bring into our lives. This requires conscious effort—at least until we have truly learned and cultivated an attitude of gratitude.” Thomas S. Monson

I hope you all have a wonderful thanksgiving!

I am so thankful for my awesome family, friends and neighbors! I am so grateful to have the gospel of Jesus Christ in my life! I'm so blessed to live in a nice home in a beautiful city in America! Life is a wonderful gift, I am one lucky girl and I hope I can remember it everyday!

Minnie bows!

Silly hats and a book

Kids and Puke

Turkeys everywhere!

Snow Day!

Thankful today

Gratitude

Sad

Halloween pictures

Pumpkins

Halloween Party

Cute Costumes and Crazy hair!

Boyd's Party

Dragon cake

Best kids ever!

Happy Birthday B!

Daisy's Halloween dress

Boyd, a shield, and a Red barn

Halloween Dress

Payson Temple groundbreaking

Pumpkins everywhere

Boyd the Knight

Picture Perfect

Boyd: In December there's the man who... is kinda fat... and he knows if you're good or bad...Lucy: Jesus?Boyd: No!Lucy: Owen?Boyd: NO!!!

We could not stop laughing about it! They are so funny!

Fall time!

Soup

Getting my crafty on

Lucy's Art

Carnival

Lucy's haircut

School stuff

Lucy's First Day!

A little late

Did ya miss me?

Payson Hike

Rantings

What a Day!

I got a new nephew!

Cousin Time

Happy Birthday Lucy!

The Res

We have an announcement...

More Mexico Fun

Mexico!

An amazing hike

What a week!

More July fun

Happy July!

Here's our week

What I'm listening to lately

Bathing Beauties

9 years!

Pool day!

Kindergarten Preview

Boyd: In December there's the man who... is kinda fat... and he knows if you're good or bad...
Lucy: Jesus?
Boyd: No!
Lucy: Owen?
Boyd: NO!!!