Catch up time

So this is our past month in reverse. We will start with Christmas Eve. Our family tradition is to open one present on Christmas Eve. Of course it is not just any present. It is pajamas. The kids have to wear the new pajamas on Christmas Day when we open presents. The kids like they get to open one present and I like that the pictures of Christmas morning look decent. We start with the youngest and work to the oldest. Kayla went first. i could not find any cute pajamas that were warm, so she got a bib and a "my first Christmas" doll. She loved to chew on the paper and did not really care about the rest until she could put it in her mouth. Cayden got these cool rock star pajamas. they are super "warm and cozy" he said.

Jared got just pajama pants. He and Josh are too cool for pajama sets now so they get pants and can pick a t-shirt to wear with them.

My camera ran out of batteries for mine and Josh's pajamas but josh got fleece camo pants and I got a hot pink shirt with plaid pants.

This is me shoveling snow. I have done this only 2 times in my life. This is number two. I did it once last year while I was pregnant with Kayla and kept contracting the entire time. It was much easier when you are not pregnant! Now I am hoping that I will not have to shovel snow again. Blaine got a snow blower for Christmas!

This year when we decided to decorate the tree, I thought that it would be really great to have a formal tree and a kid tree. I wanted a tree that was nice and matched. The boys were sad that I did not want them to put up all of the ornaments they had made. So.. we came to a compromise. Two trees. One in the living room that was very nice and matched, and one in the family room with all of the ornaments the kids have gotten and made over the years. Here is the kid tree. I do not think they look very happy.

There are some smiling faces. Josh took the picture so maybe he did not tell them to smiley first. Who knows.

This is a picture of the cute sign I bought while I was in St. George right before Thanksgiving. I have it sitting right above the kitchen sink. Just a nice reminder to believe. Note the super clean kitchen sink and counter? I did spent the night before cleaning so I could take pictures.

My formal tree. It sits right in the center of the living room window. I can not say how excited I feel when I look at my beautiful tree that matches in the formal living room. Note the area is partially clean. The picture I took during the day did not turn out as well as this one. Oops!

Kayla had her six month appointment at the doctor and her shots. She actually did pretty good after the shots. She was just tired all day. The doctor told us we could start advancing her diet, as long as she did not have any milk or soy in the foods we gave her. Well, I was thrilled that she could have rice cereal. I had picked some up the week before just in case we could start feeding her. I could not wait for her first foods pictures. Well I went home and looked at the box to read the ingredients. Guess what...yep..it had soybean oil in it. Dang it! Well, I decided that I could make my own rice cereal. Really, how hard could it be, cook the rice and blend it with some formula, and there you have it, right? Wrong, I ended up with a gooey mess that she did not like at all.

Look at this face! She hated it!

She just make funny faces and would not eat it. She did spit out more then she swallowed. Fortunately, there are brands of rice cereal that do not have and soy in them and we were able to return that cereal that she was allergic to and get some that she was fine with. Thank you Beechnut! (they are the ones without soy.)

Thanksgiving was fun even though both Blaine and I had to work. we bough most of our dinner from the Schwans man so it just need to be reheated. It was super yummy! Tammy and Lynn came over for dinner and we had a great time just chatting and watching football. I got home from work at 4 and Blaine had to leave at 8. I was just enough time to cook and eat and clean with a few moments to spare for enjoying the Holiday together.

No turkey for Kayla yet, she just had fun sitting in the highchair and talking to us.

Cayden picked out all of the black olives from the relish tray when he thought no one was looking.

Blaine made most of the dinner before I got home. He was stirring the gravy and thought he was funny when he made this face. I thought it was funny too.

Jared was helping to take care of Kayla and Cayden while dinner was cooking.

Josh helped out so much with the dinner. He has really stepped up lately and asks what he can do to help. He usually does not wait to be asked before he asks. I am so thankful for this wonderful family of mine. I am not sure what I would do without them!

Christmas is in the air

Well, I was looking at my blog and noticed that I have not posted for 5 weeks! I can not believe that I have gone that long. I did try to post the other day but my Internet was down. Apparently, we had an old switch and it was one that gets stuck when it gets too cold. Well, that made on sense to me since I live in the freezing cold. Anyway after 2 days without phone and Internet service we were up and running again. Unfortunately, I was running again too and did not have time to sort through my pics and post the cute ones. I just wanted to let everyone know that we are still here and I do have some really cute pictures to post.

The other day I went to the mall to get a gift for my dad. Cayden did not want to go so I told him we were going to see Santa. He got so excited he beat me to the car. I did not even have to count to 3 to get him to turn the TV off and get his shoes on. That was saying something. When we got to the mall, Santa was right inside the store where we found a parking spot. Cayden was so excited he could hardly stand it to wait in line. When we got closer to Santa, he leaned over to me and said, "Mom, I want Santa to bring me a monster truck." I know he did not realize that Santa already had his gift bought and wrapped and hidden in my closet. He keeps changing his mind on what he wants depending on what he sees on TV so I was not worried about it. Well for the next 3 days he has continued to say that Santa is bringing him a monster truck. Well, it is a good thing that Santa can still make some toys and a monster truck was made and wrapped and hidden in my closet.

I will post more and some cute pictures this week for sure!

Tagged Again

So I got tagged a few weeks ago by my sister and just responded today. I was so excited cuz I had never been tagged before then. Then as I was reading my sister in laws lastest post, she tagged me for something too. I am so excited to be popular this week!
Rules:
State 6 random things about yourself and then tag 6 people to do the same.

1. I love to clean. I love having a clean house and I love cleaning it. It stresses me out when people are coming over and my house is not spotless. I mean blinds and baseboards dusted spotless. I am so compulsive about being clean. My family thinks I am weird and crazy.

2. I love doing laundry. I love the smell of my house after laundry is done. I love smelling the clean laundry. I love folding everything but underware and just smelling it all. I know crazy huh!

3. I have been on 4 cruises and have never left the American continant. The farthest south I have been is in Central America. I have never been north of Yellowstone, and had never been east of Texas until 2 years ago when Blaine's work paid for us to go to Florida and Atlanta. I have never gotten a passport.

4. I hate large groups of people. I love to shop as long as it is not on Black Friday or the weekend. I do not like the large amounts of people in a small space. I do not large family gatherings that are in a small space. There must be lots of empty space or I am freaked out by the amount of people crammed in.

5. I love my job. I have the best job in the world. I get to play with cute new babies and new moms. It is pretty mucha happy job and I love it. I have been a nurse for 13 1/2 years and I can honestly say that I have never loved any of my other jobs. I liked them but I love this job!

6. I have the best kids and husband in the world. My kids are very affectionate and thoughtful. My husband is always willing to bend over backward to make everyone else's life just a little easier. I could not have asked for a better family that the one I was given!

I tag...
Stephanie
Joy
Tiffany
Heather
Michelle
Alisalee

Have fun!!

Tag

RULES
1) Post rules on your blog
2) Answer the six "8" items
3) Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving them a comment

8 Favorite TV shows:
1. CSI
2. Law and Order
3. Law and Order SVU
4. CSI Miami
5. Heros
6. that is all I watch besides Nick Jr.
7.
8.

8 Things I did yesterday:

1. gave 2 kids baths
2. did 8 loads of laundry
3. folded and put away 8 loads of laundry
4. went to church and got to stay for all of it!
5. read one Ensign article
6. read one chapter of my new book
7. dishes
8. cleaned the kitchen

8 Things I look forward to:
1. no snow
2. moving to a warm area
3. Christmas morning
4. seeing my sister
5. a bigger house
6. every child having their own room
7. no fighting
8. being out of debt

8 Favorite Restaurants:
1. Cafe Rio
2. Olive Garden
3. Red Lobster
4. Cheescacke Factory
5. Johnny Carinos
6. Macaroni Grill
7. La Fontana
8.

8 Things on my Wish list:
1. a bigger house
2. a new van/suv
3. a canon rebel sxi
4. lasic surgery for my husband
5. my sister to live closer
6. my kids to be healthy, no asthma
7. to be a stay at home mom
8. to be out of debt

I am not tagging any one unless you want to do it. I think I have read this tag on everyone already.

Thankful

I was having such a crazy day on Thanksgiving that I did not even get a chance to write down everything I am thankful for. I know that being crazy is just part of my life so that is not really a very good excuse.
I am so thankful for my Heavenly Father. He is the one who has allowed me to have this crazy life that I love. He has given me everything. Without him I would not be here or have anything at all. I am also thankful for Jesus Christ. If it were not for him I would be in huge trouble. I have so much to repent for on a daily basis that I could not imagine my eternity without the atonement.
I am thankful for my wonderful husband. He will and does everything he can to make my life easier. He is working full time and working a second job so that I can be home with the kids. He works nights so that I can work days. He is the best husband and father. I could not have asked for a better guy to be that father of my children. He took on being a father to my older boys without batting an eye. He has never treated them any different then he treats his own children. He even looks so similar to them most people do not realize that he is not their birth father.
I am grateful for my wonderful parents. They did such a good job of raising me to be a good person. I do not think I would have turned out well at all if they had not been so involved in my life when I was a teenager.
I am thankful for my four beautiful children. They are such a joy to me. I am so blessed to have them in my life. They make me laugh and cry and want to strangle them all at the same time. I never had any idea what my mom went through until I had them. She had even more children in less years. I can not imagine. I think life is crazy now, but 6 kids in 7 years, that is insane!

I just wanted to mainly write down my feelings for me. I needed to express what I am thankful for just as a goal I made for myself. If you did not want to read this, no worries!

Home

Since both Blaine and I have to work over Thanksgiving, I thought it would be fun to go to St. George this weekend to see our families. Blaine was not able to get off of work so, I took all of the kids and headed down myself. It was not nearly as crazy as I had imagined. The older boys helped with the younger two and it all worked out very nicely. Friday we spent the day in St. George with Blaine's family. I hung out with my mother-in-law all day and we went shopping and on a picnic for lunch with the kids. In the evening, we went out to dinner at Olive Garden with all of his family that lives in St. George. I was so excited because we got to Kelly. We had not seen her since April and she had never met Kayla. She works at Olive Garden so we got to spend a little time with her while she was working. She was pretty excited to see Kayla and was enjoying showing her off to all of her work friends. I was glad that we got to see her even if it was just for a short time.
Saturday we spent the day in Parowan with my parents and niece. We decided to go up the Brianhead, even though it was not open, just so the kids could play in the snow. The snow was really ice but, the kids had a blast anyway. Cayden and Lexie found ice balls and were kicking them around. Cayden found a friend and they tried to build a snowman, it was kinda difficult with ice and after several failed attempts the decided to slid down the hill on their bottoms. Jared was not really happy for me to get his picture, note the bright smiling face. He was sad that the tubing hill was not open and that there was not enough snow to go tubing.

Josh was bored most of the time. Mainly because he could not throw snowballs at his brothers. the ice balls were too hard and it would hurt anybody who got hit with them.

Kayla was just happy to be. She hung out in her carseat. Note the very cute blanket she got from my parents. My sister-in-law made it. I love how soft it is and she loves to chew on it.

Here is my angel sleeping. We were cleaning the cabin on Sunday so we could head home. She thought we took too long so, she fell asleep on the floor waiting for us to finish. She was sleeping in her new cute blanket! I did try to get pictures of the boys but my batteries in the camera were dead and so were the replacements. I was kinda bummed but, they were glad that I could not take pictures of them slacking off when they were supposed to be cleaning!

I was quite sad that I could not spend any time with my sister. We used to go out to lunch or breakfast once or twice a week when I lived there. Now I see her maybe 3-4 times a year. Her whole family was so sick. They had croup, pinkeye, sinus infections, and anything else you can imagine that would make a kid or adult miserable. I was so excited to go and see her! I guess she will have to plan a trip up here next. Maybe at Christmas time!

Six Months

It is not quite Kayla's six month birthday, but I went to get her six month pictures taken. We went to Kiddis Kandids and they did a great job. I am not really thrilled with the background but she looks so cute. She was not in a great mood because I had to wake her up from a nap to get there on time for our appointment, but we did manage some really cute not smiling faces of her.

This is the only semi smiling face that we were able to get. I can not believe how big she is getting.

Going Private!

So after watching the thing on the news where people are stealing pictures off blogs and then posting them edited as their own, Blaine and I decided that it would be best to make our blog private. Especially since we have pictures of our kids on here. So, email me your email address and I will invite you to our blog. I will be going private next Monday so hopefully that gives everyone who wants to read it time to respond.

5 Months

Well, Kayla is now 5 months old. She is getting cuter and cuter each day. She is such an easy going baby! I wonder where she gets that? She found her feet today. While I was changing her this morning and getting her dressed, she just started to stare at her toes and was so amazed with what she saw. She just talked to them for a few minutes before she started to look around and wonder what was going on and why I was taking pictures.

Here is her five month photo in her car seat. I have been playing with my photo editing software and found some cool things that make my pictures look so much better. It has been so fun to edit them and see what a difference editing makes in the final product.

Crazy Week!

Well, I have still not figured out how to get my pictures to load on the page in the order that I want them so I am going to talk about our week backwards since that is how the pictures appear to you. I am also not a patient person so I do not really want to delete and start over either. Friday night was Halloween. The kids were all dressed up and ready for the trunk or treat at the park across from our house. I made them get a cute picture before any left. Jared was a space ranger. Josh did not want to dress up. He thought he was too old until all of his friends were dressing up. He decided Thursday night he wanted me to go and find him a costume. Needless to say, he dressing black and did not get a costume. I did have a black cape that he could have worn but he really just wanted to scare kids that were trick or treating. He only needed enough candy to keep going through the night.

Kayla was a Denver Bronco cheerleader. I found 2 costumes in her size. This one and a ladybug. When I asked Blaine what she should be he responded with, "Do you even have to ask?" She was a cheerleader. The weather was even really nice for this costume.

Here are my kiddos just before heading out. Cayden, Kayla and I headed to the park for the trunk or treat. Jared headed to his friend's house to go trick or treating with him. Josh also headed out to find his friends and make plans for the evening. I thought they looked so cute. This was the first year the Josh and JD have been able to go out with their friends for Halloween. I am probably the most over protective mother but I am just so afraid that something is going to happen so I usually make them stay with either me or Blaine. I finally got talked into letting them grow up a bit this year and they went out with friends.

Cayden was a SWAT officer. He had so many compliments on his costume. He said,"Everyone really likes me mom!"

Thursday night Cayden had a program for preschool. It was his first little program. They sang fall and Halloween songs and each child had a part. Cayden was the only boy that memorized his part and did not need help. I was so glad that I remembered to charge the video camera for the event. All of the kids were dressed up in costumes and did such a good job. The program was just long enough, 15 minutes. Not even Kayla got bored. We went out for ice cream after the program and had some fun family time just the 6 of us.

Thursday morning, Cayden went on the monthly field trip to Arlington Hill Rehab Center. They went trick or treating to all of the residents' rooms. The kids and the residents had such a good time. It was so cute to see all of the kids going around and it was great to see the smiles on the residents faces as the kids came by.


Wednesday night was the first court of honor of the scouts since we have been in Salt Lake. JD got his tenderfoot award and Josh got a merit badge for woodworking. After all of the awards, the boys made paper airplanes and had a flying contest. Even Cayden was included. it was fun to see all of the different airplanes and how serious the boys were while making them.

Cayden had to be with Dad the entire court of honor. I think he was feeling left out. So when we were asked to go up with JD while he got his award, Cayden had to come up too.

Wednesday morning was filled with Cayden's program practice, me getting 4 cavities filled(ouch!), and then lunch with a friend. i do not think I could have packed anything else into Wednesday now that I think about it.

Tuesday morning was play group at my house. My calling for church is the enrichment committee and I am in charge of playgroup. Fun. I totally forgot that I was suppose to have everyone over until someone showed up. Fortunately, I already had the paints and brushes and everyone brought their own pumpkins. We had the most kids show up for this play group. It was so much fun. Even the tiny ones were painting pumpkins for decorations. While all of the pumpkins were drying, the kids and moms headed out to play at the park and enjoy one of the few nice days that are left of the year.

That was our crazy week in a nutshell. I am sorry these posts are so long. I really hate to post without pictures and I do not always have my camera with me when I do have time to post. My sister kindly tole me today that if I posted more then every other week I might not have such long posts. Maybe she has the right idea. I will work on that!

Cayen and his tiny sister. he says he does not have a little sister, he has a tiny sister.

Scarcrows, pumpkins, and Cowgirl Boots

Last Friday Cayden, Kayla, Tammy and I went to the Scarecrow Festival at Thanksgiving Point. We had a blast. Kayla found time to nap though. Cayden spent most of his time being very silly. He is such a ham. Will will make funny faces and then say "Mom take my picture". He will then take the camera and say "OK mom, your turn to do this and I take your picture."

They had the cutest scarecrows all over. These were at the entrance so everyone was sure that they were in the right place. I had a but and adult ticket and get a child admission free. This was so cool because the kid tickets were $10 and the adult tickets were $5. They had so much for Cayden to do he did not want to leave. They had a petting zoo, tons of bounce houses, a train ride, peddle race cars, and games that were all included with the entrance price. I was so great! I am sure that I will go again next year.

I was out shopping for new shoes for Kayla because it is getting cold and her little feet do not stay very warm. I found these super cute cowgirl boots. I had to get them because Cayden loves boots so much and is always wearing his now they can match!

Isn't she such a doll!!!

While we were having so much fun this week, Blaine and the older boys went hunting. Blaine had a deer tag so he took both Josh and JD this year. The boys were so excited to be able to go with him. Well, unfortunately they did get a deer. I was not really excited about that but at least Blaine found someone to process it and make jerky out of it so it will not stink up my house this time. The boys were so excited to have been there when the deer was shot. They have been talking about it since they got home yesterday!

Snow in October??

So this was what I woke up to when I went to go to work on Sunday morning. It had snowed most of Saturday but it had all melted before bedtime. I can honsetly say that I am not ready for winter to begin! I love summer and I am ok with fall weather. I like that it is a bit cooler, but snow! I sure wish that it did not snow so much! Oh, my car looked like this on Monday when I went to work also. It snowed all weekend!

Hair Cuts

Last Saturday, both Josh and JD came to me and said that they wanted to get hair cuts! I was so shocked! They have been growing their hair out for at least 6 months and it has gotten so long that I can hardly stand it. I decided that I need to pick my battles and hair would not be one of them. Jared picked out a hair cut that has to be styled, he never does it, but it looks really nice when he does do his hair. Josh just had them cut most of it off. He said he was tired of his hair being in his face all the time. I was so excited to see my handsome boys with nice hair again!Jared was not really thrilled for me to take his picture. Note the fake smile!
Josh didn't care. He is much more laid back about pictures as long as he has a shirt on!

Diet Update

so...I have been on my diet now for 14 days. Iam so happy to report that I have lost 14 pounds. I can not wait to see the final result! I will keep you updated!

Surgery, Shots, Virus

Well, to say this week has been busy is definitely and understatement. It started on Tuesday when Blaine had oral surgery and Kayla had her 4 month shots. Blaine went in for a root canal and ended up with a tooth being pulled and bone grafting for his jaw. HUGE ouch! Kayla had 4 shots for her 4 month check-up. She is also having a sensitivity to the kinda expensive formula so we had to switch her to the super expensive formula ($45.50 for 14 oz) Another HUGE ouch! She was feeling better on Friday so I thought I would take her to get her ears pierced. Huge ouch for her. The earring got stuck on the back of the piercing gun and it took a minute to get it out. I must say I would not take her if I had a do over. It was horrible to just listen to her scream while they were trying to get the earring unstuck and then we still had the other ear to do! She did calm down really quickly once they stopped messing with her ear. By Saturday morning she was fine and I could touch them and clean them and they were not puffy.
I was a little late taking her monthly picture in her car seat. It is so fun to see how much she has grown in just 4 months. She is now 10 lbs. 10 oz. and 21 inches long. She is meeting all of her developmental milestones she is just tiny for her age.
She even reaches for her toys and tries to put them in her mouth. She is also rolling over from front to back. The only problem with this is that she sleeps on her tummy. So, in the middle of the night, she will roll over and wake herself up. She goes right back to sleep with her binkie and me flipping her over. I finally found a sleep positioner that keeps her on her tummy and also keeps the blankets on her. Awesome find since it is getting very cold a night!
Well, while I was taking Kayla to get her ears done, Blaine was back at the endodontist for more bone grafting on his jaw and new stitches (they had fallen out too early). Needless to say he has not had a very good week. He does not like pain pills and tries to suffer through the pain, I try to tell him how to control the pain better but he does not listen to me. Typical guy thing I think. He has not been very happy this weekend. I stayed home from work on Saturday to help him but it is very hard to help a grumpy guy out!
Lastly, our computer got a virus from a game that the boys had downloaded to play with their friends online. I had to reboot and reinstall everything and it is still having some glitches. I bought a virus detector and that did get rid of 3 viruses that we did not even know we had. Hopefully the computer will recover soon. If not the Geek Squad will have to be brought in for help in fixing the problem!
Well, have a great week and I will post more later this week. I just have to get pictures of the things I want to post!

Diet

Well, thank you to everyone who said that I still looked really good for just having a baby. I am still thinking that I look fat. I decided that I would do something about it instead of just complaining. So I started a new diet yesterday and we will see how I look in one month. If it is major progress I will tell you about it. Wish me luck!

14 already!

Joshua turned 14 this weekend if you can believe it. I surely can not! I can not believe that my little boy is turning into a man. He has long hair, is taller than me, weighs more than I do, and shaves his face. Not to mention he told me that he is growing hair in other places too! He had such a big week. He went to his first boy/girl party (well supervised), and he got his first girlfriend. He has been on the phone more the past 2 weeks then in his whole lifetime. This is the cake that Cayden and I made. I thought it turned out pretty good. I t was a little dry because I was giving Cayden a hair cut and did not hear the timer go off. Still can you really go wrong with chocolate?
He blew out all but one candle on the first try. Maybe next year his wish will come true.
He wanted about $600 worth of presents. Instead he got the third book of the Eragon series, a collectable Mustang Shelby, and a 22 (for those not into guns, it is a gun). He was so excited to get everything. He even woke up early on Sunday to open his presents. When they were all opened, he went back to bed. We were fasting and church is not until 1 pm so he figured sleeping was a good option to eating. After sacrament, Blaine ordained him to a teacher. He is such an example to his brothers and sister. We are so thankful to have a son like him. He may have long hair and not turn in his homework regularly but he is a good kid.
Cayden and I had some Mommy and Me time and we took some silly pictures of ourselves. Cayden loves to take pictures and this is what he wanted to do. We had fun just being at home and being silly. Then we read a book and Kayla woke up.
This is Blaine being what he thinks is cool. I think it is scary. Kayla is starting to hold her head up better so Blaine likes to balance her on his hand. I think it is a guy thing. She does not seem to mind it so I gently remind Blaine that our baby is not a balancing toy.