Chaos

Meet Yoshi

2011-06-08T17:49:00.002-06:00

Meet Yoshi. Our newest family member. We are still not sure if we will keep him, but for now he is ours. He's not the most exciting animal ever and he's not cuddly, but he is pretty funny to watch running around when he's out of his tank.
Enjoy!

It All Started With This...

2011-05-20T13:03:00.003-06:00

I love dresses. As a little girl I hated them. I would have worn shorts or levis to church every week. I was so glad I was not born "in the old days" because they worn dresses everyday. But now, now I love them. So feminine, so cute, so comfortable, did I mention cute? A few weeks ago I was looking for a new dress. I found the one pictured above. LOVE IT! I was in love. The color, the fit, well what's not to love about it. But alas, it was sold out. I set out on a mission to discover what type of dress this is and if I could find a pattern for it. I have since discovered it is called a shirtwasit dress. These were the common house wife dress from the 40's to the 60's. Finding a pattern was quite the process, but I finally found one I love. Thank you ESTY.
I tried to size up my pattern with a method called pattern grading,
But my experiment dress top was extremly too big. :(
Over the past few days I have been searching and reading and searching and reading and finally I have found a new love. I want to make my own patterns. I have played with the idea of it for the last year or two and finally I think I am ready to make the jump. Wish me luck...I think I'm gonna need it!

My little Princess

2011-02-08T14:54:00.002-07:00

Little Miss Sadie Ann has been to two princess parties in the last few weeks. She was in heaven! I would so love to take her to Disneyland this year. I think we will try to make that happen. She loves all the pretty things in life. Right now she is sitting and stringing beads. She has been doing this for at least the last hour.
The boys are well boys... Mark is working on a science fair project. Tommy is trying to love reading... we just haven't found that book that has clicked for him yet. Spencer is trying to be more patient. They each have thier challenges and I love them each for who they are and am pround of all the amazing things they have done. They all still give lots of hugs, even when I walk them to school. I keep thinking I'm going to loose that, but I don't think Mark will out grow hugs for a long time. The other two boys? Well we'll see.

So... I guess it's been awhile...

2011-01-12T17:22:00.002-07:00

I really have nothing to share. I do all my journaling in my well journal. But since most of the people who will read this will probably never read my journal, here I am! If you'd ever care to read my journal please come over. I'm sure you will find it to be quite humerous.
I love that our kids are just as happy playing with plastic containers as they are with all the expensive toys they are given. Can some one please remind me why we all spend so much money on said toys?
The End.

I want to do only the easy things!

2010-07-20T13:25:00.003-06:00

I was talking to my sister the other day and she told me about her daughter... She has been taking piano lessons for a while and the other day she told her mom she didn't want to do it any more. My sister initially said that's great, no one is going to make you do this. But out of curiousity she asked her daughter why... the response was that piano was hard and she only wanted to do the easy stuff. Well, guess who's still taking piano lessons?

I was thinking about it more and you know... I only want to do the easy stuff too. Sometimes it just seems like that would be the way to go. But where does this take us? My guess is that life would actually turn out to be a lot harder. It's funny how the things that seem so hard when we are doing them are the things that set us free. Life would be so dull and unrewarding if all we ever did was "the easy stuff."

Our Father in Heaven has given us families, jobs, church, friends, homes, and the list goes on and on... and it's all hard work. We have to work everyday to keep up those things. Is it easy? Sometimes yes... and sometimes it's so hard I want to dig myself a hole and hide for a year or two. But most of the time it's fun and it is always worth it!

So enjoy life... learn from it...

Speaking of learning...

We went to NYC last week. What an adventure! I feel like I learned alot about people, our country, myself, art and everything inbetween.

I'll just give you a day it a time...So here is a shot looking up. It looks alot bigger in pictures than when you are really there. Is it big? Yes. In NYC everything is big... including the rats! And yes this is our friend we made the first day... luckily he only stayed just long enough to get a picture.It's not as big as I thought it would be. Everything was kinda spread out. But over all I loved the trip! It was refreshing to spend some time without kids. And it was relaxing.

This is Times Square. Wow! This place was busy everytime we through it (and we walked through it alot! It seems like everyday at some point we would end up here...). So many people and the stores were always open... I have got to find out what their hours are. So that was day number one...

Sing your heart out!

2010-07-02T11:06:00.003-06:00

I made some bread last week... It sang! It was the most amazing thing ever. And it was almost the perfect loaf... I didn't actually make the dough a friend did. And the recipe she uses doesn't have any sweetener... I like my bread with sugar or honey in it. So I made some of my own with sweetener (I used honey) and my bread didn't sing... the crust was almost as crunchy... but it sure tasted good anyway, and it still wasn't the perfect loaf. I guess I'll have to try it her way and see if I can get it right.
Bread makes me feel good. I love to bake bread. There is just something about having bread at some point in the making... it make my house smell good... and just looking at it can be comforting...
So bake some bread this week and just see how good it makes you feel!

What did your kids do today?

2010-05-28T15:51:00.002-06:00

This is pretty much everything in Sadie's room. Spencer and Sadie shut themselves in her room this morning. They were being so nice to each other and I was busy with things around the house so I just let them be. When I went in to make sure they were okay I saw that they had had lots of fun piling EVERYTHING onto her bed! They were not so excited about having to put it all away. But then who can blame them? Most people I know don't like cleaning up either. I would cook and sew all day, everyday if I didn't have to clean up after myself (and if I didn't have kids:).

All the small things...

2010-05-12T10:25:00.002-06:00

All the small things... grandpa helping to teach Mark...

The joy of Tommy swinging out in the warm sun....

Being a mom and even if it's only one day a year (thankfully it's more) of my kids saying thanks mom for being there for us, for loving us, for taking care of us, for giving us hugs and kisses, for making sure we get our homework done, for playing with us, for singing to us and reading to us, and for all the other things you do...

For naps... this little girl rarely takes one, but when she does she sleeps hard...

For preschool where Spencer gets to make cool things... and for brushing our teeth...

I am just thankful for all the small things which add up to our lives and that's a big deal!

April

2010-04-15T14:41:00.004-06:00

What Dave has been up to or will be up to...
1. Roller Hockey... he's been wanting to do it for a while, and a friend asked him to join a team a couple of weeks ago and he was so excited he was like a little kid on Christmas morning!
2. Work... he still has a job and lots of work to do and we are just hoping and praying that the church gives them another job sometime soon.
3. Family... We are lucky to get some of his time as well.

What I have been up to...
1. Sewing... as always I love to sew. I ordered a metal purse frame. I am excited to get it and try it out.
2. Playing... With the kiddos off track we have been going to the park, to play with friends, the skating rink, the aquarium and all that fun stuff
3. YW (Young Women's Secretary is my church calling). Last night we made sushi. All I have to say about that is... YUCK!!!!
4. Family... we just can't get enough of each other!
What Mark has been up to...
1. The Science Fair... he WON! So he gets to go to District. Oh and he made a potato battery.
2. Soccer... It just started up this last saturday and he LOVES it.
3. Everything else... friends, video games, a new bike, putting his foot through the wall... etc
What Tommy has been up to...
1. BB hunting... for some reason there is a fascination with those little round balls. He has quite the collection. A friend of mine told him he could buy them at the store and he about died!
2. Friends... he has quite the little group of friends. They have a lot of fun playing video games, hunting for BBs and who knows what else.
3. Mighty Beans... They are funny little things that look like pills, but they have a marble inside so they roll and jump and you can play games with them and collect the different ones. Fun stuff!
What Spencer has been up to...
1. Learning how to ride a bike. He's getting better. He asked for training wheels and I told him he didn't need them. He hasn't asked again.
2. Moon boots... I'm not sure if he thinks it's still going to snow or what?
3. Reading... Yup that's right our little guy can read. I'm just wondering what they are going to teach him next year in kindergarten. He can read, count to more than 300 BY HIMSELF, he can do some simple addition, he writes his name exactly right (first and last name), infact his writting looks like that of a 1 grader... yeah we are in for trouble folks!
What Sadie has been up to...
1. Breakfast... for those who do not know my daughter, she does not eat breakfast. Well today she had a smoothie and cereal WITH milk in it! We'll see if it lasts...
2. Words... if I could only remember the things she says... never a days goes by that she doesn't make me laugh.
3. Height... I noticed the other day that she has grown. Her pants that were all way too long at the beginning of the winter, are all too short for her now.

And there you have it folks.
In other news... we went to the aquarium today to see the penguins. It was fun. We have a park with a zip line sort of by us and we went there today and it was fun. We went to the rink with the cousins the other day and that was fun. I got out our summer clothes yesterday and that was fun. So I guess we have been having lots of fun!

Nothing really to say...

2010-03-16T17:10:00.005-06:00

Sadie thinks she can climb anything... and well most things she can climb. And she just happens to be small enough to fit into many things... such as this drawer. Who knows why kids do the things they do... all I can do is wonder what goes on in that little head. I'm sure she has some pretty amazing and wonderful thoughts.

And here is Mark following in her foot steps... apparently he thinks he can fit into impossibly small places as well... well as you can plainly see, he does not fit. But he sure is cute trying!

Spencer was playing outside the other day and wanted me to take a picture of him on the climbing domb... that's what he calls it. You know he is one amazing kid. He is learning to read this week. I'm not exactly sure what we are going to do with him... but one thing I am sure of is that he is going to be really bored in Kindergarten. Just look at that smile in his face! He's a cute one, that's for sure!

Tommy has been so silly lately. Just look at his goofy smile! He sure is cute! He just turned 7 last week. I am always amazed at how quickly they grow up! Some day I'll find a shrinking potion to keep them small.

And then there's the fam! Dave sporting his new contacts and me in my gorgeous new glasses. I don't have to wear them all the time, but it is really nice to be able to see... so I pretty much wear them all the time. Enjoy!

Gone!

2010-03-03T16:31:00.003-07:00

Dave is gone. It always sounds so bad coming out of my mouth, like he's going to be gone forever or something... no he will be back tonight. But I tell you it doesn't make it any easier. But I just have to put this out there.... I love my husband! I love him for all that he is. A hard worker, loving, warm (just stand by him and you can feel the heat radiating off him), did I mention a hard worker? He loves what he does... all of it! Ok so maybe not changing diapers, but he loves his work, he loves his calling in church, he loves being a husband and he loves being a dad! And I love him for all of that and more!
Now to what he is doing being gone. He is working on the LDS Atlanta Temple remodel. What better thing to be working on.
I should post a picture of my house. When he leaves nothing works the same. The house is messier and I don't enjoy cooking as much and in general it is just a little (or alot) crazy around here. But on a high note I just had my girl scout cookies delivered. Now I'm really in trouble. Goodbye... I'm off to sample my new friends!

Surprise!

2010-02-22T16:07:00.003-07:00

As promised here is the picture of our little surprise! Doesn't he look handsome? We sure do love Tommy! And we are excited for him to be able to see again! He says it's like magic!

My how time flies!

2010-02-18T08:45:00.003-07:00

I guess it's been a while since my last post... Earlier this month Dave took a business trip to Atlanta. I always hate it when he has to go. The kids seem to be more wound up, I don't sleep and it's just not my favorite thing. So Dave thought it was funny that Sadie and I were blocking the door in an atempt to keep him from leaving. It didn't work by way, he still left. But I keep telling him that one time I'm gonna lock him in the bathroom and I just might actually do it!

For those of you that know Dave... he can sleep any time, any where... which usually is the floor on a Saturdy afternoon. Sadie decided to join him. I just thought it was cute. There was no actual sleeping involved here, much to Dave's dismay.

For those who don't already know... we have a surprise. If you already know don't give it away, but you probably don't know that you know so I guess it's okay. And no it's not what you think... I will give you one hint... it has nothing to do with me. So post a comment and see if you can guess what it is and I'll post here on Monday with a picture. Happy Guessing!

Rolled Flower necklace

2010-01-29T14:08:00.003-07:00

Look what I made this week!!!! Apparently these types of things are all the rage right now... so being the crafty person that I am... I made my own.

Isn't it just the best? Okay so I know some of you (like my husband) are thinking "really... she would wear that?" And I tell you "YES!!! I would wear that!" And I will wear it proudly!

This picture is great... just don't look too closely at my very dry hand.

And again....And I promise this is the last picture. I just love the necklace and I was having fun taking pictures of my handy work. So I was thinking that the rolled flowers would be cute as little hair barrets for Sadie... no?

a wake-up call...

2010-01-29T10:42:00.002-07:00

Okay so I feel right now like I need one of those wake-up calls. You know when life is rolling along great and everything seems to be going your way and you have everything you need and most of the things you want and your family is all healthy and your kids are doing great in school and everyone is happy (i know that was one really long sentence)... and then something happens and you "wake up." Well... I feel like I need one of those. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not asking for disaster or some terrible thing to happen... I guess I just feel bad that I complain sometimes when some trivial little thing doesn't go my way. I have so much to be thankful for... and now I'm awake, I think...
On another note... I was thinking the other day about my little Oompas (my kids, Heidi would appreciate this one). I was thinking about what a scary world we have brought them into... and about how I just wish I could keep them little and under my wing forever... but alas they grow up and they seem to need us less and less in some ways and more and more in others. I am greatful I have such a wonderful family. I am thankful to have a husband who supports and cares for us and would really truely do just about anything for us. Okay I'm done now...

Walt Disney World... and burned potatoes

2010-01-11T15:26:00.006-07:00

So today I decided I wanted to try making potato bread. I have been baking my own bread for over 5 years and in the last two years have developed my own recipe. It is tried and true and loved by all who have tried it. I decided this years I would like to try and branch out from my white and wheat recipes. So today I thought Potato. Why not? Well I successfully burned my first batch of potatoes. They smell awful... I am trying again. Hopefully I will have more success this time around. I'll keep you posted.
On a happier note... we returned home on Saturday from the Happiest Place on Earth! I love Disney. I love everything about it. I love the movies, I love the vacations. And aside from pretty much everyone gettign sick one of the days, we had a great time!

Spencer first Airplane flight.... the boys went to disneyworld 5.5 yr ago. Sadie flew to dallas when she was 2 months old.

You gotta love the hotels there!

This is one of the streets in Hollywood Studios. You should all see Disney decorated for Christmas! It was fabulous!!!

Ok so Sadie LOVE LOVE LOVES the Princesses!!!! So I took her to a breakfast. You can't really tell from the pictures (she refuesed to look and to smile)... but she had a great time!

Ariel is by far her favorite!!!! She got an Ariel Sweater, a purse and a stuffed doll of her. You might say she is obsessed

Our traditional picture just inside the gate of Magic Kingdom!!!! This was the sick day... yes we still went to the park that day. Two of the kids were throwing up all night so we let them sleep til they woke up, but we didn't want to miss a day. So here we are having fun!

The castle lit up at night was amazing!!! The castle in Florida is so much cooler than in California! If you haven't see it you should.

We love Toy Story. The ride is the best!

Another traditional picture

And the castle in the day is really cool too.

This is Sadie's favorite ride. She is still talking about it.

Here are all the wild animals. Amazing that we could get all the cousins in one picture and looking too!

And the last traditional picture. You just can't do Disney without a picture with Mickey and Minnie.

Merry Christmas

2009-12-17T20:36:00.002-07:00

This is our first ever family picture with Santa! Thank you Hinckley Dodge for inviting Santa to your dealership so that we didn't have to wait in line at the mall to give you our Christmas wishes this year! It was the best! Our kids weren't upset by the end, no one was screaming, and they are actually smiling in the picture! The kids were a bit shy and Mark was just sure that this was not the real Santa... but they know that Santa can't be every where, so he has lots of helpers. Thanks again!
MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Funny story

2009-12-03T08:47:00.004-07:00

I went to my parent's house earlier this week. Grandma hadn't left for work yet and she wanted to talk to Spencer. She asked him to come over and the conversation is as follows:
Grandma: "Spencer, what do you want from Santa Claus today?"
Spencer: (imagine a 4 yr old in deep thought here) "Umm... today what I want from Santa is .... Pixos!"
Me: "Spencer, I thought you wanted 10 one hundred dollar bills and all the playdough at Walmart for Christmas..."
Spencer: "Ugh, mom... that's what I want from Santa for CHRISTMAS. TODAY I want Pixos!"

Oh boy! It's a good thing Santa doesn't come everyday! Oh and if anyone has an extra 10 one hundred dollar bills just laying around . . . you could be Spencer's best friend!

Tumble Weed

2009-11-20T13:49:00.002-07:00

Tumble Weed... Also know as Russian Thistle.
I was going to pick up Spencer from preschool. I was topped at a light and going across the road was a tumble weed. My immediate thought everytime I see one is how funny they are. And then I thought it might be nice to be a tumble weed. So carefree and you just go where the wind blows you... and then the thought stopped. I am so glad I have control over where I go. I may not have control over everything that happens in my life and what goes on around me... but I do get to choose what I make of that. So that being said I still think tumble weeds are funny... but I am glad to not be like one.

Designer Beanbags

2009-11-04T17:13:00.003-07:00

Are any of you blog addicts? I know many people who are. We can't help but spy into other people's lives in hope of what? The answer is different for each of us. Some of us hope to find out that someone else has a harder life. Some of us hope to be inspired. Some of us hope to find that we are better/smarter/prettier than others. Well whatever our reason is we do it. I just love to find out what/who is out there. I love to be inspired. So my cousin came over today. I love family and I love that they feel welcome in our home. She ahd been blog hopping and came across some adorable bean bags. They were made from designer fabic and so cute for the little ones. And of coarse as many of tend to think.. she thought I could make those. So we pulled out many scraps of fabic and chose out the ones that inspired us.

We made them all sizes and with different sized beans. The colors and textures were to die for! She was so excited to give them to her baby and I was so excited to have something different to make. I love when I get a new project. It feels so fresh and new. And it's fun to see other people being excited about something hand made. We used ricrac, minky, corduroy and cotton. It was so much fun.

Here is the finished product... not the best picture I know. My favorite ones had all the textures on them. We turned out with about 15 bean bags in about a total of 2-3 hours work... that includes picking out fabric, cutting, sewing filling and sewing some more. Oh and the baby and my two little ones loved them! Then when the older two came home from school they wanted to know where their's were!

A Garden of Art

2009-09-19T08:40:00.003-06:00

My sister and I are participating in A Garden of Art this weekend. It looks to be a good show. We've never done this before though, so we'll see how it goes. This is a picture of our booth. Our Dad made the things we hung our dresses and jackets and things on. Next week we'll put our jackets on our etsy shop http://www.thesistyuglers.etsy.com We'll see how that goes. Wish us luck!

I'm old!!!

2009-09-19T08:33:00.004-06:00

It's official! I'm old! I just turned 30 last week. Dave was out of town, so I don't actually have any pictures of the big event. But it turned out to be a pretty good day. Dave's mom, Lael, took me and Spencer and Sadie out to lunch. Then we wandered arounf Gardner Village. I love Gardner Village. If you've never been there you should go. It's just like an old fashioned little village with fun shops and resturants. Then Lael watched the kids so I could go out to dinner with one of my sisters. We went to The Cheesecake Factory. Yummy! I really love their 30th anniversary chocolate cheesecake. We wandered around the mall for a bit after dinner. I got some winter clothes for the kids and a sweater for me. I got home about 10pm (I wanted to be sure that Dave was there when I got home so I waited until I was sure he would be there). When I got home my honey was there and that made a perfect ending to my birthday. I just love him so much and it is always hard when we are apart.
Thank you to everyone who helped to make it a wonderful day!

Golfing and the family party

2009-08-05T08:50:00.004-06:00

Mark took some friends mini-golfing for his party this year. They ahd a great time. It was probably my favorite party I've ever done. It was really fun and really easy. The kids had a great time. I didn't have to make a cake, we got slurpees after, and there was nothing to clean up when it was done.

Here's the friends. Four crazy boys made for a fun round of golf. We went over to the skating rink afterwards to play video games. They thought that was great.

And here's the cake! I got this crazy idea in my head this year that I wanted to try out fondant. I heard there was a kind you could make that tastes great! Well it didn't taste great, but it was edible, and it looks really cool! I would definatley make it again. The cake turned out really cool and Dave even had fun helping me decorate it. So naturally I thought it was more fun because Dave helped and was excited about it. And with our Dr. Seuss theme it fit really well.

I really liked the wires coming out of the top the best. Well actually I just like the whole thing. I was a lot of fun to make. It took 2 1/2 cake mixes and a huge batch of frosting and then 1 1/2 batches of fondant to decorate.

And here's the family at the party... the kids had fun opening presents. And everyone else looks like they are really enjoying watching them open them. A lively bunch aren't they?

Spencer loved the playdough. I think I must be crazy to have told Grandma Lael to get that... I am not a fan of playdough... but Spencer really likes it alot, more than his brothers do, and ours was all dried out. He has played with it almost every day since he got it. A great present. He also got a bunch of Bakugans (visit http://www.bakugan.com/ to learn more). I'm not sure why, but he loves those little things.

Mark got a cool thing, Eye Clops (http://www.eyeclops.com/) from his Uncle Jonny. He's had fun looking all sorts of things up close. He also got some Legos and books.

We got Spencer a Wiggle car or Plasma car and he thought that was pretty cool. Some of out neighbors have one and they all think they are pretty cool. And so the birthdays are finished for at least a couple of months.

Mark's Birthday

2009-08-05T08:46:00.002-06:00

Mark wearing the birthday hat! They think we are funny to make them wear the hat each year... but we've told them they ahve to wear the hat or they get no presents!

Waiting patiently for presents can be really hard.

Mark loves Legos. And I think he like Bionicles the best. That is what kind he asks for most often anyway. But Lego in general are the best. He has at least 10 sets now and I'm sure that number will grow over the next few years.

Spencer's Birthday... again?

2009-08-05T08:38:00.002-06:00

We didn't have the birthday hat with us in St.George, so we had him put it on on Mark's birthday, just so we could get a picture. It's he cute?!

Spencer had a Wall-e birthday with some of his little friends this week. They had a great time. Here is his cake. Cute, yes... but not my best cake ever. But the kids thought it was cool and so that's what matters most.

Here they are playing one of the games we had planned. They thought it was alot of fun to throw around garbage (just little balls of crumpled paper).

Opening presents. The kids were all so excited to do presents, although some one them were a bit reluctant to give thiers away.

St. George- Home again, home again, jiggety jog

2009-07-27T15:43:00.005-06:00

Sunday Morning we went to church. It was about like our ward here. There were lots of people. The chapel was full. But apparently they get lots of visitors so they don't ask anyone if they are new. This suits me just fine. That way I didn't have to answer any questions.
When I was little and we would visit my grandparents in Kanab, it seems like we did a lot of wandering around. We visited lots of places in Utah many times. One of the thing I remember liking was going to ghost towns. So on the way home we stopped by one. It wasn't as cool as the ones I remember, but it was still fine. It was Silver Reef. This town mined about 25 million dollars of silver ore. Pretty cool that places like this used to exist. They had about 200 people living there at it's height.

And old wagon along the road.

This is the pioneer cemetary at Silver Reef. None of the wood markers have any names on them. There were a few stone ones dating back to about 1880. Most of those ones were either babies or children. It really made me think about how blessed we are to have all our children still with us. I can't even imagine what it would be like to have to bury one of our children. But the pioneers were strong people. They knew what they believed in and they stuck with that. I'm sure they still had struggles and many hard times and I'm sure burying those little one wasn't easy. But we are so blessed to have the gospel in our lives and to know that families are forever. I know with out a doubt that heaven would not be heaven without being surrounded by family. It's wonderful to know that death really isn't goodbye forever. It's just a waiting period until we meet again.

Our nest stop on the way home was Cove Fort. All I can say is, "Amazing!" I couldn't live like they did so long ago. The picture above is on the inside of the fort. They have 12 rooms in the fort. 6 on the north and 6 on the south. The south side was for work and the north was bedrooms.

This is the telegraph room. You can see the telegraph machine they used to transmit messages. They told us they had to have someone every 30 miles to send messages from place to place.

Here is the dining room. It cost 35 cents to eat dinner here. Mrs. Hinckley cooked 10-12 5 lbs loaves of bread everyday. They travelers who stayed over night here got to eat in this room with the Hinckley family. They always said a prayer before eating, even with non-member visitors.

Here is the kitchen. It's amazing to me how good of a kitchen it seems to be. While it is nothing like what we have these days, I look at it a think it would be worth knowing how to cook in this kind of a kitchen. I actually really thought it was amazing.

Here is the washroom. Unlike the kitchen... I would not want to have to do this. Maybe it's because I love to cook and hate to clean. I would not want to have to make my own soap from fat and stuff (the soap is in the yellowish container on the left).

Here is the Hinckley boy's bedroom. They traded with Indians, so each bed had a blanket on it. This room had the entrance to the cellar. I really would have liked to go in it. I also would have liked to try out one of the beds. I'm not sure how I would like sleeping on straw with ropes underneath.

This is the room Brigham Young would sleep in when he traveled south and then back north. It was probably the nicest bedroom of them all. There were two other bedroom for travelers. One for girls and one for boys. To sleep on a bed it cost 12 cents a night for half of the bed. Many travelers would go to bed alone and wake up next to a stranger. They didn't say if it cost to sleep on the floor.

And here we are in the entrance as we were leaving. The wall are 18 ft high. The walls are made from lava rock and limestone mortar. The wall are 6 ft thick at the bottom and 2 ft thick at the bottom. They had holes in the walls to stick out guns if needed, but they were very blessed to never have been attacked. In fact the only one who was ever shot there was on of the Hinckley boys and he was accidentally shot in the knee by his brother.

And that's the end!

St. George Day 3 & 4

2009-07-27T15:16:00.003-06:00

On Friday I guess we didn't take any pictures... we went swimming in the morning. Then after lunch we went to the Fiesta Fun Center. It's like Boondocks... with mini golf, bumper boats, video games, a soft play area, go karts and batting cages. We played lots of the video games to win tickets to get prizes and then the dads took the kids on the bumper boats. They all had a really good time.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SPENCER!!!
For his birthday Spencer wanted to go swimming. So we did that. The after lunch we went to see Night at the Museum Battle at the Smithsonian. It was a pretty good movie. Sadie even got to sit on her own seat and she thought that she was so cool! It was a lot of fun. That night we had a little party with cake, ice cream and presents for Spencer.
Getting ready for the party!!!

Opening presents. Spencer loves Bakugan. We've never seen the show or played the game. I think he just loves that they open up when they get on metal. So that's what we got for him.

Here he is blowing out the candles on his chocolate cake. There is more about this at the bottom. You'll want to see it cause it's pretty funny.

And more presents. He was really happy.

And here is the video... we put candles on his cake and my sister asked if they were they kind that keep relighting and I said "no, that's mean." Well you can see for yourself what happened below. Hopefully you'll get a good laugh.

St. George- Day 1 and 2

2009-07-27T14:43:00.005-06:00

The drive down went well... Sadie only threw up 3 times! Luckily the condo has a washer and dryer, so we could clean up everything when we got there. When we got there we ate hot dogs and homemade salsa.

Here we are on the night we got to the condo. Thanks so much Winterton's for letting us come with you guys. We had a really good time. We'll have to do it again sometime. There aren't any pictures, but we went swimming pretty much everyday... but that's what you do when it 100+ degress outside, right?
On day two we drove to the lovely city of Las Vegas! We went to the aquarium there at one of the hotels. It was alot like the aquarium we have here, but bigger and with a much cooler room with glass walls, floors and ceilings. Very cool! I think these fish are really cool. They look all spikey.

This is a picture of one of the sea turtles. I guess they don't come out much cause everyone was very excited to see them. But then it's not every day that you see a sea turtle, so maybe they were just excited. The picture isn't very good... I tried to get a good one... but with virtually no light and lots of people and thick glass and not knowing how to really work the camera this was the best I could do.

Here we are on the strip... luckily it was pretty clean. The kids wanted to go to M&M World. And of coarse they spent their $ on way too expensive M&M candies... but at least they had fun!

And here is the beautiful landscape between Las Vegas and St. George. The sun was setting and I just love mountains. The kids were pretty good on the 2 hour drive back to the condo. We had Sadie and Michaela and Mark and Maddie in our car. The kids thought I was fun to play musical cars pretty much eveytime we went somewhere. This created some drama, but less then it would have if we made them all ride in their own cars.

Ever wonder how they take those cool pictures of car and city lights where it looks like the lights are moving? Well... it's actually pretty fun. I had alot of fun playing with the camera on the way home. Lights and cameras can be very cool

4th of July fun! Day 1

2009-07-06T11:36:00.004-06:00

We just love Grandma and Grandpa Upton. We are so glad they came to visit. It's too bad we don't get to spend more time with them cause they sure are fun. Sadie was the only one who was a bit wary of them at first. But she warmed up and even let Grandma hold her before we went home. The kids sure had lots of fun on the blow up water slide. Thanks Uncle Michael for getting it and setting it up. Sadie even enjoyed getting plowed over by the boys on the slide.

Zach wasn't too sure about all the water, but he and Grandpa had a great time hanging out in the shade. Grandpa always has a good time watching us all play.

The kids decided that after the slide got put away they weren't quite done yet, so they all hung out in the kiddy pool. But the little girls were done with it by then, so it all worked out.

At the end of the day the kids sang songs and Grandma and Grandpa gave them each a flag and a little wind mill. We tried to get a good picture, but with some many little bodies it's next to impossible. Luckily Uncle Devin took the real picture and I'm sure he'll share.

Rain anyone?

2009-06-10T16:13:00.004-06:00

It rained today at our house. Tommy, Spencer and Sadie enjoyed watching it through the windows... if only it was warm, it would have been so fun to run around in! At one point Spencer came running over to me... "Mommy, Mommy, it's raining white stuff!" "Really?" "Yeah... come see!" I went to look out the window and and sure enough there was lots of hail... and I do mean alot! I guess Spencer has never hail before... well he's seen it now! There was so much, you'd have thought it had snowed.

A few minutes later I looked out again and we had a small river running down our sidewalk. I love the rain!

Announcing The Sisty Uglers!

2009-05-30T21:26:00.001-06:00

My sister and I have decided to open up an Etsy.com site. We are The Sisty Uglers.
So far we have made purses and little girls clothing! It's been alot of fun. Go check it out!

Bikes, Bugs, Babies and Karate?

2009-05-28T20:52:00.008-06:00

We went out for our first family bike ride to the lake this year. It was a bit cold though, at least for mom and dad, so it didn't last as long as we had hoped. But we still had a great time. I pulled the bike trailer up all the hills. All 80 or so lbs of it! We plan to go on many bike rides this summer. Our kids really do love to be outside, and any time I can get them to do something other that TV related stuff I'll take. But I am proud to say that we have only watched about 2 hours total this week of TV! Wahoo!

The other day I heard the kids out the window talking about a prating mantis. Those are one of the few bugs I actually don't mind having around. In fact I'll even hold one. But anyway they were talking about one and I wondered what was going on. So I went outside to our front porch and this is what I found. A nest of praying mantis bugs had literally just hatched and there were at least 100 of these little bugs just under the lip of our porch. Very cool!

Finally, a couple of weeks ago Sadie got a big girl car seat! I was so excited about it because she had been screaming everytime I put her in the car. She was not amused! Well ever since then the baby seat has just been on the garage floor. And everytime she goes by it she has to sit in it! She apparently loves it now that she doesn't have to sit in it.

Oh and I have to share what happened the first day it was in the car. We were going to go to the zoo with Tommy's kindergarten class. I went to put her in the car and she saw her old seat on the floor and her new seat in the car and she was freaking out saying "uh-oh, uh-oh!" But as soon as I put her in the new seat she got the biggest smile ever on her face. But she looks so little in the big girl seat! And then we got to the zoo and she puked all over it!

And I'm not really sure what is going on in this picture... but I thought it was funny. High-yah! Watch out he packs a powerful punch! Or rather kick...

Sometimes don't ya just feel like this?

2009-05-13T16:26:00.002-06:00

I thought this was a good picture for today. It has just been one of those days for all of us. But as one of my favorite childhood books says... we all have days like this even in Australia!
I would like to say this about the picture though... even when she is upset, she's still cute! Earlier today she was quite cuddly infact. The boys don't cuddle much anymore now that they are "big," so I always enjoy a good snuggle from her.
I watered my garden today. The peas are growing! I have something else sprouting too, but I can't remember what I planted where so until it gets a bit bigger, I have no idea what it is! I am hoping to plant my tomatoes soon. They are growing, just not in the ground yet. I think I will make salsa again. I made some last year and it was really good. I made 11 jars and I think we have 3 or 4 left. It's way better than store bought and it costs a lot less too!
Well... here's hoping tomorrow will be a better day!

Soccer

2009-05-04T15:26:00.003-06:00

Here's Spencer playing soccer.... we aren't too sure that he likes it, but at least he's cute!

Tommy on the other hand LOVES it. If you talk to him about it he'll tell you that he's the best soccer player and he's not quite sure why they don't pick him every time to play. He's actually pretty good. He said he scored two goals this last week.

I'm not sure why, but I don't have a picture of Mark playing this time yet. He's pretty good. He likes to be goalie. I never wanted to be goalie, the thought of balls flying at my head and body just isn't a fun one. But he likes it and he's pretty good. I'll make sure we a get a picture of him this Saturday.

Legoland!

2009-04-07T22:45:00.004-06:00

Legos are just about the coolest thing ever. This is a scaled replica of the excaliber hotel in Las Vegas built out of Legos. Mini town USA was the best part of Legoland.

This is part of downtown New York. Again built out of Lego and scaled. The buildings were pretty tall. Taller than me, yes I know I am short, but they were probably two feet or so taller than me.

I can now say I have been to the presidential inauguration (sorry you'll have to bear with my poor spelling). Again I love Legos... they are so cool.

A random picture outside of one of the rides. It's cool only because they built it out of legos.

This was my favorite ride there. You rode in a ship and could squirt water at people. The kids liked it too.

And here we have Dark Vader as my niece calls him. The boys thought it was pretty cool. We'll see him again later on in our trip.

Green food

2009-03-26T08:31:00.002-06:00

It has bocome a tradition at our house to eat green food on St Patricks day. This year we had green apple juice, broccolli, pesto with noodles, pears and green great harvest bread. We finished it off with green shamrock cookies. YUMMY! For the rest of the week our kids told me frequently how much they like eating green food. Micheala was waving to Sadie to come sit on her lap, well Spencer thought she was talking to him so he had a seat. Micheala was really cute and just let him sit there. She's a good cousin.

Grandma Lael love to read stories to the kids. They seem to enjoy it too. When we have have family dinner at Grandma's house she always reads the kids a story before we go home.

Another smart cookie

2009-03-13T16:10:00.002-06:00

Mark had SEP conferences last week. He's a pretty smart little guy. At school he gets to do Maonster Math. It's a group of kids who are advanced in Math and get to do extra work to keep them c hallenged. He's also a great reader. He has been asking most every night if he can have a turn to read the scriptures to the family and today after school he got home and almost immediatley picked up his book that he's been reading because he wanted to finish it. We are very proud of our little guy!

Happy Birthday Tommy!

2009-03-13T16:01:00.002-06:00

Well, Tommy is now 6! It's always amazing to me how quickly time flies! They grow up way too fast. Tommy loves life. He loves to learn. I think he may end up writting someday. He just has a great love for words. He currently is reading on an end of first grade level and they have started giving him spelling tests so that his spelling can keep up with his reading. He's one smart cookie!
He loved his rainbow cake on his birthday. He thought it was so fun that the cake was colored. For those of you who do like food coloring this would not be the cake for you... but it still tasted good!

Our first skater and fun at the park

2009-02-25T13:04:00.006-07:00

Dave was so excited on Saturday when Sadie brought him the skates with an excited look on her face. He put them on her and now she wears them for a bit everyday. She loves them! Dave was excited because none of our boys have ever really been interested in skating. And we all know how much Dave loves to skate! She's pretty cute when she has them on, but when she hits the kitchen floor and it's a bit more slippery she gets pretty frustrated.

Saturday was such a nice day we couldn't resist going to the park. The kids love to be outside and it was just warm enough to really enjoy it.

Wouldn't it be nice to be a kid? Sometimes I think it would be great to be a kid again, but then I couldn't enjoy watching my own kids. They have such a good time and the only cares they have are how high dad can push them on the swing and how many times and how fast they can go down the slide.

Ahhhh to be young.... but then I heard once that we are as young as we think we are. I think I will continue to be almost 30 for the rest of my life.

A car wreck and a new purse

2009-02-20T09:00:00.006-07:00

So here are some pictures of what I did to our car... which by the way they have not fixed yet. I am a bit frustrated by that since it is impossible for us to go anywhere with my whole family in our little car. But sometimes blessings come in unexpected ways... there was another small issue that they will fix that could have potentially cause us problems on our trip next month. So I won't complain too much.

And here is a picture of my latest finished project. I have recently decided that I would like to design and make kids clothes, specifically little girls clothes. Maybe some boy ones too since I know how hard it is to find cute little boy clothes. But the picture above is a purse I saw at this web site http://www.savvyseams.com/bags/flower.php I just fell in love with it and had to have one of my own. I did make a few changes. I did attached the flower differently and sewed around the edges differently and I also made changes to the handles. But over all I am really pleased with how it turned out and I've had lots of compliments on it!

Random Things

2009-02-10T21:15:00.004-07:00

Sadie is into everything... and I mean everything. If she can get her hands on it then it's fair game as far as she's concerned. And she loves to get into little spaces. I can remember being younger and smaller and trying to fit myself into small spaces. Jamie and I were always under the bed or in the closet. In college I once fit onto a shelf and into the dryer... I know the crazy things we do when we are in college, but that's a story for another day.

The kids love to spend time with family. This is a rare occastion when you can get them all to sit still long enough to take a picture. Here they are with thier Papa. We love it when he comes to visit.

Here are three of our kids along with Julie and Devin and Anna. We took this picture cause it was cute and I thought "just imagine Julie and Devin, someday you guys could have this many of your own!"

And here are a couple of Mark's birthday pictures... okay so your probably all wondering... birthday pictures? Yes I realize that his birthday is in the summer... but better late that never right?

2009-02-03T12:48:00.002-07:00

We went to the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point last week. We needed to do something fun bofore the kids went back on track. They had a great time. They enjoyed making their own dino, playing in the sand, making rubbings, looking at games on the computer, and looking at how big all the bones are.

Now the kids are back in school and I had the wonderful experience of teaching Spencer's preschool this morning. With a cranky baby who wanted me to hold her all morning it was quite the feat... but we survived and the kids seemed to have a good time. We painted, read stories, learned about the letter P and penguins, we made a penguin to take home and started on making our valentine holders. Oh and the hit of the day was playing Hulaballo, a fun and crazy Cranium game.

The question of the day is when and where will I get my next hair cut? I need it badly!

2009-01-23T09:56:00.003-07:00

Our pretty little princess! She is just such a girl. It's so fun and so different from the boys. I'm amazed that she loves all the girl things. Braclets, purses, dolls, and such.... not to mention the more boyish type things she likes too... cars, trucks, and just about anything her brothers play with.

And then there's the boys.... They really have fun together. Lately they enjoy getting out all the blankets and spreading them out all over the floor. It makes a huge mess, but they sure have alot of fun and they don't mind having to clean it up everyday.

2008-11-23T13:57:00.000-07:00

Our little princess! It's so much fun to have a girl after 3 boys! I love my boys too, but feel like I enjoy Sadie so much after the 3 boys. She is such a girl too! Much more girlie than I am. I hope I can keep up with her! I'm not sure I can do Barbies and Pet shops and all those other fun little girl toys!

2008-11-23T13:29:00.001-07:00

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
We recently had our family pictures taken. They turned out just about as good as can be expected when you have 4 kids. The kids are looking forward to Thanksgiving this week. They think eating turkey and potatoes and all that is really fun... but really I'm not even sure they eat any of it. Our christmas shopping is almost done! I'm so excited to have it this close to being done and it's not even December yet!

Christmas Cheer

2007-12-19T09:55:00.000-07:00

Ok so don't we all wish we could spend the happiest time of year in the happiest place on earth? Maybe next year we'll do it. Or maybe not... but hey I can always dream right?

How often do we have all of our family together at once? Ok so for some of you it probably happens more often then it doesn for me. But when part of you family lives half way around the world it doesn't happen too often. In fact it's been years since we've all been together at the same time. So fun though. We have tons of good times.