Bag O Cheetos

Sassy's turn for safety town

2011-08-14T19:55:00.002-04:00

These pics were taken at Sassy's "graduation" from safety town. This is a wonderful program for kids ages 5 & 6. I feel terrible I didn't know about it when C was that age. K loved it and now Sassy has too! This picture of A2 is such a classic A2 face. I had to add it to the post.

She can dress herself so cute! That's our Sassy!

2nd belt test

2011-08-01T09:48:00.002-04:00

she is definitely K's sister!

2011-07-31T10:15:00.002-04:00

One day K decided he was going to help mommy and clean out the hall closet. He wanted "rocks" so he could have more wii time! So intentions weren't necessarily to help mommy but for his own benefit. :) hey, I'll take it! In the process, A2 found lots of fun accessories. It was ReALLY hot that day. I went outside to see what the kids were up to and this is what I found. Silly girl! She was so happy in her Sassy's winter hat, K's flip flops and her gloves. I didn't get a picture of the gloves on. She was quite the looker!

She was also running around the yard "picking flowers". :)

two silly girls

2011-07-31T09:21:00.004-04:00

I was doing a newborn photo shoot at Amy's. The girls were with me and had been very good girls. But eventually they wanted in on the fun. Amy had a straw hat lying around and the girls thought they were cute in it. I was more than willing to catch their silliness on camera!
I LOVE MY LITTLE GIRLS!!!

Nothin but smiles!

Funny Kid Quote of the Day

C graduates from Elementary

2011-07-31T09:13:00.003-04:00

I still can't believe we have a middle schooler in our house. Mom, is a bit scared for him. Lockers, class schedules, sports, more rude kids, HOMEWORK! Ok, mom is scared for herself too! C is a very introverted child. He hates standing in front of a crowd and having to face them. It makes him very nervous and uncomfortable. I was so proud of C! He did a great job getting up in front of 175 of his classmates families, perform a song and walk across the stage to get his certificate/diploma thingy. You can tell in the picture above he wasn't thrilled about it.......

..... until he had that baby in his hand. He immediately sat down and flashed mom a big C smile! I LOVE HIM!

Now don't get me wrong, I am very proud of him and his accomplishments. He finished the year with straight A's! I'm beyond proud and believe they deserve to be recognized but I think the full on elementary graduation is ridiculous.

MOM! How much does glass cost?

2011-07-31T08:55:00.003-04:00

Yes.... this is the question I get from K at 6:50am while waiting for the school bus. I knew this wasn't good! I walked outside and discover K was trying to prove to C that he could throw rocks further. We now know that maybe not farther but definitely harder.
as you can see, ( i couldn't tell until later in the morning) the rocks he threw went right threw the window. Found the rocks on the inside.

We also now know that safety glass does what it's suppose to. it shattered into thousands of tiny pieces but i held in place nicely. Unfortunately, this was the first of May and of course, it thunderstorms almost every afternoon. When I called the window replacement company, the gentleman advised me to call my insurance but DO NOT tell them that my 8 year old did this; to just say I woke up and found my van this way. Well, our insurance agent is a member of our ward and a good friend. I talked to him and he couldn't believe that K actually did this. But he said we had comprehensive coverage with no deductable. PHEW... K's butt was saved. Our prayers were answered. I didn't have to come up with a $300 that day but i still wasn't happy with K.

First BROTHERS Pack Meeting

2011-06-27T14:34:00.004-04:00

These two LOVE scouts! K has been WAITING ever so long to join his brother! They only have a few months together in Cubs and then C is moving up. C was awesome welcoming him.
I must say it's an odd feeling having all my boys leave us on Youth night at church.
C his first day of cub scouts. My how he has grown up! He was just as excited as K was!

Sleeping Beauty

2011-06-15T16:08:00.002-04:00

Sleeping Beauty!
No matter how many times I try to tell her glasses fit so much better when you have them on right, she insists on putting them on upside down. :) Isn't she adorable sleeping?

Out like a light!

K's 8 year pics

2011-06-15T15:59:00.003-04:00

Amy is still "training" me to work under her. Here are some pics I took of K for his baptism program and such. I was so pleased with how they turned out. LOVED the location! And it makes it easy when you have a kid that really doesn't mind having his picture taken and can give you that "right" smile almost every time! He is quite the photogenic child!

A little too posed for my taste but he was so silly and really getting into it by the end. HA HA!

It's Great to be 8!

2011-06-15T15:41:00.004-04:00

WOW! What a weekend! K will have quite the 8th birthday to remember! His birthday and baptism fell on Easter Sunday. How many of us can say our baptism day is our birthday and Easter? He was pretty excited about how it all came together.

It is such a blessing to have an 8 year old in the family again. It's such a gift to me as a parent to sit and listen to our child KNOW what it means to be baptized and WANT it for himself as much as I want it for him. G'ma C gave the talk on baptism. She was asking K a lot of questions, and I sat back amazed about how much he knows the doctrine and history of the church.
I'm so blessed to be married to a honorable man that holds the priesthood. It's moments like these that remind myself of why we are here on earth, to redirect what's important and to take the time really remember them. It's also these moments that I feel like I'm doing my job as a parent. That I am doing some good in my child's lives. We are so proud of K and HIS decision to become a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints!

K has been counting down the days until he got his own scriptures and new bag. No joke! He was so looking forward to this moment almost as much as the actual baptism.

It feels great to have so many people love your children! Thank you all for making K's weekend such a memorable one!

K turns 8!

2011-06-15T15:16:00.003-04:00

K requested a rising sun for his birthday cake. He wanted it because it was on his karate uniform. Something he really enjoys right now.

So a little background as to why K likes the Minnesota Vikings. The year K was born Cheeto bought me some Steelers silk capri pajama pants for Christmas. I LOVED them and hinted I would like another pair. So for mother's day he got a couple new ones. The only problem was he couldn't find them for the Carolina Panthers or Steelers then. So he bought me Texans, because my little sister was serving a mission in Texas at the time and I do like the color (red, white and blue). The other pair he got me was the Vikings because I do love the color purple. K took it that mom like the Vikings so he sided with me and just decided to start liking the Vikings too. And it has stuck. Even though Cheeto is NOT much of a Vikings fans, he does allow his children to chose who the like and allows such things in our home. :)

Nothing better than a iTunes card.

The friend I work with that is a photographer has great kids and our kids love them around. She came to the party and was more than willing to take pics. This was awesome because just like most mom's out there, we are the ones behind the camera and never in the pictures. That just explains why I'm in the some of these. I was working on cutting and serving the cake. Cheeto was being cute and posed for Amy, re-enacting a "cutting of the cake" moment.

And this time he took advantage of the fact I wasn't dressed in a white wedding dress and did what he probably really wanted to do almost 13 years ago. :) It was funny and love him for it!

My little Princess'

2011-05-09T13:38:00.002-04:00

Our girls LOVE to play dress-up. This was A2 playing dress up while potty-training. Isn't it adorable.... princess on the pot?!?!? LOL! This will be a classic that will show up in her wedding video one day or maybe use it for blackmail. Who knows! She is completely potty trained and does a great job telling ANYONE when she needs to go. :) and I do mean ANYONE! Can I just say what a relief it is not having to budget in the $40 box of diapers at costco each month? Cheeto and I have officially started the next stage of kids. We no longer have to carry the diaper bags, bottles, sippy cups, wipes, etc. It's bittersweet... but so exciting too!

I added this picture because these are my little helpers in crime each day. A1 has started going to pre-school a couple mornings a week. And I have to say, it kinda makes me sad! She will start kindergarten in the fall and there goes another one out the door and out of the protective walls of home all day! K swears he will be a good big brother for her at school. I thank Heavenly Father every day for giving me the best of both boys and girls. But I am so grateful the girls came at the end. We have so much fun together shopping, baking, cleaning, movie watching, painting toes, the list goes on and on. Mom, Dad, and Lettie offer to keep them so I can run errands but I very often like to decline unless it's a dr appt or something. I just so love spending that time with them!

Pinewood Derby 2011

2011-05-05T14:46:00.006-04:00

sigh... Oh the glorious pinewood derby. Don't get me wrong it's a good activity for the boys but every years it's something. This year Cheeto was so busy it was hard to get him and C to work on it together. C looked at a bunch of different styles online and chose to make one that looked like a military hum-V. So I helped him trace it on the block of wood to be cut for scout night. Then the next scout activity was to paint it. Well, Cheeto and C had yet to do weigh it or drill holes, etc. Cheeto said we did it all backwards, but what was I suppose to do- not let him paint it because he hadn't done anything else to it. Then everyone (C included) got on ME for cutting it out wrong and that it wasn't going to be very aerodynamic. I simple said, "I didn't choose the design. I did as I was asked. That's it."

So C procrastinated and it was the night of and they were still trying to weight it down and weigh it to that precise 5 oz. UGH! C was all upset saying it's a crappy car, he wasn't going to a THING, that next year he didn't want mom or dad's help, and didn't even want to participate. I gave him the speech that it's all in fun and please be a good sport regardless of what happens. With a frown on his face and frustrated we started the race....

There was some major issues with the track. Cars would literally jump off the track at the same point each time. Here is Cheeto inspecting the track... not that he had a say in how to fix it. But still a curious Cheeto. :)

OVER EXCITED C!

Some intense competition....

but good sportsmanship goes a long way...

Earlier in the evening we had to take C aside once to get his behavior in check. He as upset about losing then overly excited about winning. (SIGH) This is his in between excitement. :)

First place.... VICTORY!

GOOD R

Ya... he said sorry to mom and dad pretty quick afterwards.

First Belt test

2011-05-03T14:53:00.005-04:00

The boys had noticed a karate place opening up really close to us. Every time we drove by they would ask if we could check it out. So when we got information in the mail for a discovery class we let them try it. They LOVED it! It was so funny to watch them. They could NOT wipe the smile of their little faces. I was so impressed with the discipline that Master Mattevi expects from his students and his teaching manner that we had to find the money to allow the boys to study under him. It's expensive but SO worth it. It has help C on so many levels. That would a post all of it's own. I cannot say enough how much we have benefited from taking the boys there and how much the boys LOVE it! I would recommend Master Mattevi to anyone!

In March the boys were able to test for their yellow belt. C has always been one that got really nervous in front of a crowd or knowing he was being "tested". Even with a room full of parents watching he did AWESOME! They both did. I was just more worried about C.

Performing their first form for testing

C sweating like crazy! ;) He worked so hard!

K sparing

Master Mattevi presenting the boys with their yellow belts.

Happy St Patty's Day

2011-05-03T14:27:00.003-04:00

Sassy made this hat in preschool! She reminded me all day to make sure I got a picture of her and her hat. She even shared with little sister! (below)

I'm not a huge St. Patty's day fan but it's fun to make dinner silly for the kids. We have kids to bring out the kids in ourselves. Our pot of gold. aka as gold jell-0 jigglers. C had never eaten jell-o before. We got him to try and... "Mikey... HE LIKED IT! He actually liked it!" Of course I let them dip their gold in cool whip. :)

Spinach noodles Fettuccine and green salad.
I can't hack the traditional Irish eats. We make it festive in color! :)

Desserts.... Rainbow cake and Shamrock cookies. YUM!

Girls Night In

2011-03-29T15:20:00.003-04:00

Haley writing Marcos the March Madness brackets. :)

Can you believe she sat here just like this for almost 30 minutes!?!?!?

just random funniness!

2011-03-21T14:51:00.002-04:00

This was just funny! A few months ago I got the boys a FREE 2 year subscription to Lego magazine. C and K get the mail every day as they get off the bus. This day they discovered the magazines. They were so excited that they couldn't wait to walk the 15 more feet to the house. The literally knelt down in the driveway to read them. LOL!
Funny Kid Quote of the Day

Oh the things I need to be grateful for....

2011-03-21T14:02:00.005-04:00

For the past 3 months I have been going back and forth about going forth with a surgery that COULD be great if it worked, maybe it wouldnt' do anything, or possibly make things worse and have to live with those side effects as well. It has been a struggle I have been fighting with and praying like crazy about. Every time I knelt down I always left with the same feeling - Faith and doubt can't dwell together. Then when I would study my scriptures I would read Press forth with faith, how can one dwell in fear and still call themselves faithful.
4 weeks ago I went forth and prayed that all would turn out for the good. After two weeks, I had two days of the "same old" pain. Man! He was really testing my faith now! My recovery time is a full 6 weeks of lifting practically nothing, absolutely no exercise and pretty much taking it easy. I have been able to get up and help with the kids more and drive them to the varies places but it has been a struggle to behave and "take it easy". I have lots of time to pray for faith and count my blessings. I had a few days where I didn't want to do anything and could care less what the house looked like or if the girls and I were still in our pj's at 3 o'clock in the afternoon. We all have those day's right? I knew those days had to be few! So I started counting my blessings. And I'm so grateful that the list is long! I am so very grateful for 4 healthy children. I am so thankful for all their patience, love, and help with everything I can't do for them right now. K was so cute this morning. He woke me up with a hug after Cheeto left the bed to get in the shower. Then K says, "Mom, do you feel like you can get us ready for school today? i have really missed you in the morning. I haven't said anything, but you make my lunch better." I said, "oh yeah, why? I thought daddy did a great job." K says, "Mom, he makes us make our lunches every morning. At least you help us with our sandwiches which helps us get it done faster." LOL! Funny boy!
I'm grateful for an incredible husband that has kept our house and family going. He has been my rock, especially when I felt like this was all for nothing. For 2 weeks straight he gave me pain killers every six hours on the dot- night and day. (I tease him that he should have signed a medical prenup. If only he knew what an expensive pain in the butt i was going to be 12 years down the road :) ) I'm extremely grateful for his job and that his employment offers such great insurance.
I'm also eternally grateful for our Savior and the comfort I get just knowing Him and feeling His love. Without that and the church the past few months would have been so much harder than they are already. I know that. Even when I'm having a crappy day and being tested... I know that we will get through this. And whether it helps or not, what is meant to be is meant to be. All things happen for a reason. I will just have to be more patient and take one day at a time.

I was also very grateful that my parents worked it out that my mom could come help for a week. It was so nice having her hear. I was able to rest at home and still be around the kids. It's easy to rest knowing she had everything under control. :) She cleaned and cleaned my house. She didn't have to ask the girls to help her. They were so excited to just be next to her. It didn't matter if she was cleaning, cooking, doing homework, playing games or just telling stories. I seriously slept the afternoon away everyday she was here.

On Sunday morning, Mom had them playing beauty parlor. She washed their hair in the sink- using the hose (that just made the girls giggle more) and then she told them the shampoo was dying their hair pink. So now when I wash their hair they say, "Yay for pink hair!"

Beautiful girls

Mrytle Beach Marathon 2011

2011-03-20T21:47:00.007-04:00

All his fun gear- laid out and ready to go for the early morning run

Mile 16 and the only thing he asked for was- CHAPSTICK. :)

mile 20.2
He just dumped a glass of water over his head...
this the funky sweat (i mean water) spot on his right shoulder.

the home stretch. 200 feet to go.......

Gun time 4:15

that would be a full hour faster than his first marathon last fall!
Split times:
Split 1- first 6.55 miles/9.02 min mile pace (warm up)
Split 2- second 6.55 miles/8:08 min mile pace (hitting his stride)
Split 3- third 6.55 miles/7:02 min mile pace (getting greedy and acting foolish) - "his words"
Final Split- 15:04 min mile.
He hit a wall and his legs were cramping like crazy.
They didn't have fuel stations as frequent as he is use to. I offered to try to get to him more he said he should be fine. Lesson learned- LISTEN TO SHENA! lol!!! oh yeah- and FUEL better!

Cheeto you are amazing! I am so proud of you!

a little spent....
I loved the medals! FLIP-FLOPS!

I'm such a fan! :)

.... AND let the record show that I'm hugging Cheeto all nasty and sweaty. He thinks I NEVER do this! I will admit it is NOT one of my favorite things but I was so so proud of him!

I thought the water was so cold but Cheeto liked it on his "oh so sore beat up" feet.

Victory Cheer!
It took everything Cheeto and Leesa had to jump but in my opinion (not that it was my sore muscles paying the price lol) it was so worth it for this great shot!
I LOVE THIS PICTURE!

I had this idea to write 26.2 in the sand and then going up to our room on the 12th floor to take a picture. It felt so huge writing it but from the 12th floor it needed to be MUCH bigger!

Happy 32 to me!

2011-03-20T20:38:00.007-04:00

My man knows how to treat a girl right!
I had a dr. appt the morning of my birthday. It really wasn't a great morning to start "my" day. But when I came home there was a "surprise" from Cheeto. He was so sweet!

He also came home early from work to cook everyone dinner.
And he said this year, he was going to be good and actually take pictures of my party.
He took it to the extreme almost. I would feel bad leaving out his work of art.

As you can tell, there is a theme. Cheeto went around waiting to take pictures of people until they had a mouth full of spaghetti. LOL!

I hope Dad and Lettie don't kill me for posting these. :)

He was a little nicer to me. However, I look so TIRED!

K made me a fabulous an almost from scratch cinnamon-streusel cake. It was to DIE for!

Lots of excited helpers!
Birthday's are so fun with kids!
Thanks honey, for the fabulous day.

Ya, she watches me a lot. Above she is demonstrating her downward dog. And below she is doing what I do in p90x- leg raise and sweep it through to runner's pose. :)

Monkey see. Monkey do.

C and K bought themselves nanos last fall. Their nanos have video cameras on them. It's funny to see them video taping everything we do. They almost act like the paparazzi. LOL!

Poor baby!

2011-02-13T12:11:00.001-05:00

A2 got a sinus infection in her eyes 3 weeks ago. We started the normal amoxicillin and on day 9 of her dosage she broke out with just a few spots on her tummy. Then within days she severely reacted to it. It was so hot to touch. But not once did she complain. She is a tough little girl!
When we went to the doctor she walked in the waiting room, raised her shirt and said, "Look at my chicken pox!" Everyone dispersed away from us immediately. I assured them were NOT chicken pox, but it didn't matter. They weren't coming near us. :)
It's been almost 2 weeks since her reaction and she still has some spots. Doctor's assure us that since it took 10 days for her to react to it that it's going to take awhile to get it out of her system.

Even covered in spots, she is still pretty darn adorable!
(but I'm her mother... what else am I suppose to think)
I think I got over imperfections when C was born with a huge birthmark that cover his hand up to his elbow. The boys keep asking when she will look like A2 again. I just told them she is still our baby girl no matter what she looks like. They were a little embarrassed to take her out in public the first few days.

What have I been up to?

2011-01-27T11:26:00.001-05:00

hmmmmmm...... A LOT! Isn't everyone!?!?!?!? :)

Well, I posted awhile back that I had started working for a friend that is a professional photographer. Can I just say.... her work is amazing!! I have learned so much from her and I have so much more to squeeze out of her! :) I have done a 6-7 weddings, newborns, and maternity shoots so far and I think it's SO MUCH FUN! I'm so grateful for Cheeto allowing me the time to go with Amy and for Mom and Lettie for always being so willing to help with the kids when Cheeto isn't around. The weddings have been lots of fun. Wow... very different from the Mormon weddings I'm accustom to. LOL! Check out this LINK to see some of the pictures I have taken and then head on over to SIMPLE MOMENTS PHOTOGRAPHY to see some of Amy's phenomenal talent!

A memorable Birthday for Cheeto

2011-01-27T10:50:00.003-05:00

Wow... did Cheeto's birthday start off crazy! I had been sick for 3 days. I went to the doctor the day before and got some cough medicine. That night I was so excited to take the stuff to finally get some relief from coughing and finally sleep! I took the stuff and was feeling great, until 2 hours later. I woke up with crazy pain in my upper abdomen. I wake up with this pain about 3 nights a week but usually after standing up for a bit and drinking something it will go away. NOPE! Not that night! After 2 hours of this pain, Cheeto called Sissy to watch the kids and he took me to the ER. A couple hours later, we find out that my liver enzymes were 220 (normal is 50). Not sure why my liver does this or if it really was the cough medicine that caused it but for now, no tylenol or any medicine that has alcohol in it. The doctor at the ER really doubted me when I told her that I had NEVER drank even a drop of alcohol. Then because I had laryngitis I couldn't talk well and it hurt to talk, when the nurse asked me a few questions, Cheeto answered a couple of them. She then said, "Oh, does she not speak English?" Hilarious! Do I not look American English speaking? We got home just before 5am. Got up at 6 to get the kids out the door and Cheeto left for work. I felt so bad for Cheeto all day. Mom kept the girls in the afternoon so I could take a nap. But for the rest of the week I had to get through coughing and such without meds. Not many OTC medicines don't have alcohol as the #1 ingredient. Thanks to family and friends for helping with kids and lots of suggestions to make me feel better.
OK... back to Cheeto's birthday.

I know this picture is dark, of course, I didn't feel good still and I just turned on the camera without adjusting the settings yet. :) But I still had to post it. This is classic Cheeto and Marcos together. And it was one of the few that Cheeto didn't look dead tired in. :(

It doesn't look like anyone was even paying attention to Cheeto opening his presents.

Check out Sassy.

Is this little girl related to her father?

Our kids were a little disappointed that cheeto didn't want a traditional birthday cake. He requested banana pudding. C asked, "who doesn't ask for CAKE on their birthday?" My response..... YOUR FATHER! :) LOL!

Marcos is quite the leader singing Happy Birthday to the birthday boy/girl!
Our boys are always more than to join in.
Cheeto's face says it all in the above picture. :)

Happy 5th Sassy Girl!

2011-01-16T11:21:00.009-05:00

Wow... time is flying by. Sweet Sassy turned 5 last week.
5 things We love about our sassy girl...
#1. Your giggle!
#2. Your Hugs!
#3. Always letting me do your hair- even when you don't care. :)
#4. For being mommy's right hand almost everyday.
#5. For being a great sister to your brothers and sister.

One of the kid's favorite shows is Cake Boss on TLC. He made a castle princess cake for his daughter in Disney World. Sassy saw that episode and was hooked. She wanted that EXACT cake. For a week she kept asking me if I would call "Buddy" and have him make her a cake and bring it to her. Because she also saw an episode where he came and built a nascar in Charlotte. So "he knows how to get to North Carolina!" :) Well, I told her I would do my best to make her a cute "Princess" cake. As I made her cake she got impressed. She said, "Wow... mom, you do know how to make a princess cake like Buddy and it's even tie-dye!" Ok, I make fair cakes in my opinion but my kids opinions are the only that count for me. If they are happy... I'm happy! Thank you Martha for making the cake possible and about $30 cheaper!

This is a classic Sassy picture!

Two princesses for a evening.

I got this little hair dresser set years ago just waiting for A1 to get big enough to play with it. I had pretty much forgotten about it. I stumbled upon it while looking for wrapping paper to wrap her presents. :) Little did I know that it was the gift she was most excited about.

She literally fell over with excitement! Crazy girl!

Thank you G'ma and Papa C!

JACKPOT!

I thought it was funny she was thrilled when I told her we would go open her a savings account the next day. She never complained when she handed her money over to the bank.

Thank you cousins!

SO cute! They all did each others hair for days following.

Christmas Ornaments

2011-01-12T10:18:00.006-05:00

2006 Thanksgiving we spent in a chalet in Asheville, NC. As an activity to keep the kiddo busy I packed a ornament for the kids to make. Growing up my Grandma Bullock liked my mom to have a craft to do on Thanksgiving. I loved that tradition. I carried it another generation but I have specifically made it an ornament that we make each year. Some the kids have needed no help from the adults and others have really needed our help. This year I decided to take pictures of all our ornament ideas. I get the ideas from various places and then my "Shena" flare. :) I have to make them "ours" somehow. We have lots of fun making them and our kids are going to have some fun memories to share with kids someday.
2006 - Painted Snowflakes
(Can you tell whose ornament the above picture belongs to?)

2007 - Paper Roll Ornament Balls
These were super easy and the boys loved making their own.

2008- Wish List Scrolls
These are fun to unroll every year and see what it was that we wanted and to see some of those items are still on our wish lists and some we wonder why we ever wanted it.

2009 - Snowgirls, Santa Claus, and Reindeer Bells

2010 - Photo Cubes
And seriously my all time favorite!

More Snow Fun

2011-01-12T09:55:00.004-05:00

The Day after Christmas
A2 was in awe just looking out the window most of the morning.
Shocking... but church was canceled. :)

But we had our "Idaho" dinner anyway.
Snow doesn't scare real Idahoans. :)

Our kids were very good keeping the sabbath day holy and waiting until Monday to play in the snow. But you better believe they were knocking down Papa's door EARLY trying to get him to get out there and play with them. Papa A builds the best snow forts!

Cold Snow angels!

I'm so happy outside in the snow...

Until I fall down and face plant it!

Christmas 2010

2011-01-07T16:01:00.004-05:00

Oh... the anticipation!

SO EXCITED!

C's face is priceless!

He's asking why we enter as youngest to oldest. :)

yay... for harry potter wands!

Such handsome young men

I made all the kids these cinch bags with their names on them. They work great for holding their PJ's and such for G'ma sleepovers.

G'ma and Papa C got the girls this awesome Dora Dollhouse, completely decked out with LOTS of dolls. We were having a hard time keeping A2 from just ripping through all her presents at once. So I suggested the girls open the dollhouse, even though the rest of us were still looking through Santa stuff, just to get A2 distracted from her presents. WOW! That worked great! We literally had to talk her into opening the rest of her presents after that. She was in HEAVEN! What's even more hilarious is that ALL the kids played with this dollhouse the rest of the morning. :)

A2 got a Dora stable and car to go with the dollhouse. She opened the box and didn't even take the time to remove the stuff before playing with it. She was almost in the box head first trying to play with it all.

Boys got some really fun walkie talkies. They are real "grown-up" ones. They have been talking lots of taking them camping and hiking. It just needs to warm up so we can go.

Cheeto is awesome! He got me some really soft, cozy, nice, WARM sheets. I suppose he benefits from them too. ;) I have been freezing all night. He had them in the washer before I could even really see what brand or what the fabric was. I love them.

I made the boys "invisibility cloaks" from Harry Potter. It's shiny on one side so you can't see through it, yet from the other side you can see through it great. K opened his first and saw the fabric and said, "Awesome, a shiny tuxedo!" LOL!

All excited to watch Daddy open the kids present.

This year a friend of mine shared a little saying they stick to at Christmas to help them from over doing it.

Something you want, something you need

Something to wear, something to read.
Nola did awesome with the something to READ. All the kids LOVED their books.
A2, shockingly, got a Dora book and Papa is trying to read it to her (in Spanish of course!)

C got big into Harry Potter this year!
Fancy Nancy was Sassy's favorite series this year.

Not quite as thrilled with the baby doll after she got a paper cut opening the box.

Still asking for the HESS trucks after all these years.

Our sweet K is so creative and thoughtful.

He made Lettie this ring out of paper and tape and wrapped it up all by himself for her.

A friend of Lettie's was giving away a UNC coat earlier this fall. We had Marcos and Haley for Christmas. I decided to keep the coat and wrap it up as a gag gift for Marcos. I had made them a scrapbook of their wedding for their real gift and gave it to them earlier in the week since Haley was going to spend Christmas with her family.
Marcos unwrapped and saw the color of the coat through the crack in the box.
He said, "I'm not liking the color of this!"

He is always such a good sport. It seems like every year someone always gives him a gag gift.

I was surprised he even put it on to model it. :) LOL!
It made for a good laugh for everyone.

About 4pm A2 seriously could not go on. Her battery DIED!

No matter how many times I tried moving her to get her to stay awake she wouldn't.

Still no budging.
That's when I decided to take a quick family picture in front of the tree all decked out in our PJs.
Then... go 'outside' in the snow. I figured the snow would really wake her up.
(I did not want her taking a nap so late in the day!)

Family Picture take 1
Family picture take 2

It snowed here on Christmas for the first time since the 1960's. It truly made for a magical Christmas. :) I had to take pictures of us out in it.

Boys are so silly!

Running with joy that mom didn't make her put a coat on! We fight every time we ask her to put a jacket on. She was thrilled to run through the snow jacket-free. But it wasn't surprising that she even argued about not wearing a jacket. "MOM! I'm going to freeze!"
UGH... I can never win!

Ok... I'll stand in the snow mom.

Ah.... IT TOLD!!!!
:)
I had one more gift for Cheeto.
Can you tell he's excited!?!?!

I have a friend that is an amazing craftsmen. He built this box for me from scratch.
It's gorgeous! Cheeto and I have "Why I love you" books we write in. I thought this box would be a good place to keep them. Up until now they get lost in the stack of books on my nightstand, kicked around Cheeto's car, or looked at by the kids. This will be our place to keep them. :)

Chugga Chugga Choo... Choo

2011-01-07T08:26:00.003-05:00

A friend of ours has an amazing train display setup in his basement. We went there a few years ago when the boys were little. Nola arranged for us to take them again now they are older.

Can you see by K's expression how they liked it?

The Carnival.

The work that he put into the details was incredible. What a fun hobby for him!

I think there was about 4-5 different train tracks with trains running all different directions. This was the little town.

There was a camera mounted to the front of this train. The image was on a tv across the room so they all took turns having their faces almost ran over by the train.

And you can see by Cheeto's face that even the "big" boys liked it too!

Christmas Eve

2010-12-26T16:54:00.016-05:00

Last year we started some of our own Christmas Eve traditions. We found that doing activities with everyone in the family that came to town for the holidays that we, Cheeto and I, didn't spend much time with our kids. So last year we broke off a bit and did our own thing. It was really nice for our young family. The boys even voiced how much they liked us doing this. So this year we planned to do the same and even add our own time for Christmas day. We have Christmas Eve dinner with mom and dad Arellano. Then we spend the later afternoon and evening at our house making gingerbread cookies for Santa, opening Christmas pj's from G'ma and Papa Arellano, having a mini Christmas FHE lesson and watching "The Nativity Story" until bedtime. Of course it added the spirit to Christmas. It's really fun when your kids get old enough to really talk and spend time with them and feel like we got something out of it too.

Too many cooks in the kitchen. C did great instructing them all what to do. They tasted great!

My favorite part of baking anymore is bringing out the brown sugar. It reminds of me of my Grandma C. She lived next to us pretty much my entire childhood, well, until I got married actually. Whenever she baked she would give us a little bowl of brown sugar just to eat. Of course, as a mother now myself, I can't imagine that my own mother was thrilled with the idea of her children eating straight sugar. But to this day, I give my kids a "taste" with a smile just so I remember my Grandma just to warm my heart. She was an amazing woman and I miss her!
I like to think she is smiling back at me.

A2 thinks she should get multiple tastes. :)

The kids love to roll dough. It doesn't matter what kind it is. Sugar cookies, bread, pizza crust... whatever, as long as they get a chance to use my rolling pin.

Mommy... what's in here?

I'll just help myself, thanks!

This is the last time I saw my nice marble rolling pin in one piece. :(

A2 dropped it off the table splitting the handles. (long sigh)

Ok... I'll try decorating one.

One of my kid's favorite shows is "Cake Boss". You should see the 3D creations that K makes out of paper. Their imaginations amaze me! K was REALLY into decorating each cookie differently. He had a blast.

back to taste testing..... again.....

So seriously concentrating.

SO MUCH FUN!

Santa visits

2010-12-26T16:53:00.010-05:00

Cheeto's company had a HUGE family Christmas party. The kids absolutely love going to Cheeto's office. Well, they can't go physically to his office during business hours but the building. Just about everytime the boys are out of school we take Cheeto lunch. For the Christmas party they had a spread of snacks for the kids. They told us the 4th floor was for the kids because Santa was there. We didn't know that it was completely more kid friendly!

They had made the training/seminar room a movie theatre for kids featuring Christmas cartoons, complete with fresh popcorn.

Any 2 year old is happy and content with chocolate!

C said he would only participate for the group picture but didn't need to talk to Santa again.
I thought it was neat they included Mrs. Claus.

K started rambling off all the electronic stuff he wanted for Christmas. When he finished, Santa asked K what did he do at the North Pole. K answered, "You and your elves make toys." Santa said, "What?" K said, "You make toys." Santa said," Yes! TOYS! I make fun TOYS. Not electronics. But I will bring you something great!" I thought that was amazing for him to say. That got C and K to completely quit asking for the expensive electronics that I wasn't going to allow them to have anyway. :) K's face says it all!

She is just stinking CUTE!

.......her too!

Lots of Santa visits this year!
I have never taken our kids to the mall to see Santa but we had a friend this year that wanted us to go with them. The kids had fun. We went right after school on a weekday. SMART! We had to wait for 2 kids in front of us.

Such a big girl.... see last years picture.

Sassy was a chatter-box. He was a very patient polite Santa.

C was very official and said he was too old to sit on his lap.

K remembered to bring is page long letter to Santa.

A2 last year.... i thought we caught her cry on camera... guess we didn't.
Picture for yourselves... A BIG SCREAM AFTER THIS!!!!
A1 two years ago. She wouldn't even sit on his lap. :)

First December Weekend

2010-12-26T16:52:00.012-05:00

Decorating the tree was very enjoyable this year. Our kids, personally, own quite a few ornaments. I put on the ones I wanted and then made piles of the kids ornaments. They then went through and hung each of their own. It was fun listening to the "OH I remember this one" , "This one is my favorite!" or "where did I get this one" or the "How come I don't have that one too?" Kids make Christmas magical. I love them to pieces!

So excited for the parade!

This weekend was so crazy! Well, don't they all seem to be!?!?!? I have been working for a professional photographer for a few months now. It has been LOTS of fun! She gave me her camera to take and play around with to get more comfortable with. Can I just say... I'm in love!!! What a difference a great camera can make! And having some great photographer friends is amazing! K was being my little model. He's a handsome poser!
This particular weekend the kids had a "Nativity" play rehearsal at 9am and the bishopric was babysitting the older kids from 9-12pm. So we dropped kids off and Cheeto and I ran a Costco errand. We then picked up kids, dropped off Costco groceries and headed to the GSO Christmas Parade. I could only stay an hour and then I had a wedding to shoot with Amy. The wedding was at the Carolina Inn in Chapel Hill. It snowed the entire day and through the evening.

A2 was very content with the snacks she found in her stroller. The

The constant head wear for the season!
And me still playing with the camera

Candy Canes were a good distraction from the freezing temperatures. I worried about the kids being cold but it was appropriate Christmas Parade weather. We have been to this parade before in jeans and a t-shirt. It just doesn't have the same feel when you're sweating. It was great even having it start to snow during the parade.

No one had any problems cuddling with this little doll to keep her warm.

While I was at the wedding, the rest of the family went to the ward party. A1 and K were in the primary production of the Nativity. They do it every year. You have to be in primary to be in it so this was Sassy's first year. She was a beautiful in the angel choir. However, Cheeto said she didn't sing much. K was an awesome shepard.

( C doesn't like being on stage for anything. So he played photographer.)

Thanksgiving

2010-12-26T16:48:00.005-05:00

A Papa's girl.. through and through!

It was such a COLD DAY, but that didn't damper her little spirit.
Cheeto played football, just following tradition (lol), at the boy's school. The kids were in heaven playing on their playground outside of school hours. :)

Isn't this picture priceless?

Traditions, traditions. For years, I have been coming up with ideas for Christmas ornaments to make on Thanksgiving. This year we made photo blocks.
I have to admit they are my all time favorite! I will take pics of them all later and post.

No make-up and no sleep make for a tired looking Mama!

ksl.com - Provo firefighters still fighting tabernacle fire (Gallery Viewer)

2010-12-19T10:59:00.001-05:00

ksl.com - Provo firefighters still fighting tabernacle fire (Gallery Viewer)

Video Courtesy of KSL.com

Mormon or NOT... This is an amazing testimony builder. Jesus Christ lives and He continues to bless us with miracles, even in the world we live in today, to show us He LIVES!

Simple Moments MINI Photoshoot

2010-11-15T06:33:00.005-05:00

Simple Moments Photography did a mini-shoot for us Halloween weekend. We got all these fabulous pictures taken in less than 40 minutes. I was so impressed how well she captured our kids' personalities and we didn't have to fight with them to do it. Amy is fabulous! If you are interested check out her blog/website for contact info!

C is growing so fast! Look more like a little man every day!
He is also to the age that he can smile for most pictures and get a good one!
That is just AWESOME!

Not sure what it is but this kid just has a twinkle in his eye and Amy caught it.

Sweet Sassy! I LOVE THIS GIRL!

Can't believe our baby is 2 TOMORROW! Where does the time go?

Such an A2 face!

The man I LOVE! He is such a good sport putting up with me and all the pictures.

"Llano's" 2010

Miss Kristi can only cut my hair!

2010-11-12T11:42:00.002-05:00

Sassy has been asking for months if Miss Kristi could cut her hair short. I have been fighting it and fighting it. I like doing the braids and fun stuff in her hair. And she has FABULOUS hair! Well, little miss thing finally won. Cheeto said it would grow back and I would do braids again. So off to see Kristi we went.

Ta da!

She looked in every place that would give her a reflection for the next 24 hours. Then the next day she said... "Mommy, I want my long hair back." I told her there was no magic button that made her hair grow back other than just wait.

A2 even got a trim. her hair has so many different lengths. She was so good to sit still while Kristi trimmed her hair. She refused to smile for me though.

Cedarock Park, Alamance County Field Trip

2010-11-12T08:05:00.006-05:00

The boy's field trips at school are starting. I know I say it every time but I'm appreciative for Cheeto's parents to help so much so I have these opportunities to spend time with the boys. I love going on field trips with them! This trip took us to Cedarock Park, Alamance County, North Carolina. It's a little restored homestead of John and Polly Garrett from the 1830's.
It's a neat place that I keep forgetting to take my parents to when they come for a visit. It's a farmstead with lots of neat "old" stuff.

K took this. I gave him the camera for a little bit. He was one happy little guy!

Mr. Tony was telling the kids what kind of chores they would be given back in the day. One thing was that the children would collect corn cobs and clean them up and put them in burlap sacks. Can anyone guess what they would use them for? The kids just found out what they did with them in the picture above. It was hilarious to see them all say, " EW..... that's disgusting!"

Yep.... corn cobs would soak in water in the outhouse.

That was... what shall we call it.... their "toilet paper".

There was a donkey that was there when I went with Cade 3 years ago. She was really old then and they said she just passed away a couple weeks ago. "Bonnie" and "Clyde" the new barn residents were young and very skiddish with all the kids. K was very brave to go pet her. Mr. Tony said the day before he took Clyde out for a walk and Bonnie got so jealous that she jumped that stall. Yes that stall that reaches Mr. Tony's chest. She started getting jumpy and I started getting nervous. I could have done without knowing that they could jump the stalls. I am SO not an animal person!

Not sure why he jumped at the last second but it turned out to be a funny picture.

Garrett House Well

The "expensive" house

K insisted on taking pictures of me.
This one didn't turn out too bad. So I will allow it to be posted. ;)
I look so old and tired sometimes!

Field trips are just so much fun!

questioning my job....

2010-11-02T19:43:00.003-04:00

So we were out with some friends on Saturday night and had a mini discussion that has really got me thinking. I have been working/helping a friend that is a photographer. Since Cheeto has been without a job I have been working weddings, shooting preschools, engagement and romantic shoots with her. I have also been gone processing and proofing pictures. I feel like I have been gone a lot and I have really missed the kids. Cheeto has been fabulous wearing the "mommy" shoes. This discussion got started because even though Cheeto has been doing a great job there were things around the house that I would have normally gotten done but he didn't, little things- nothing major. Our friend feels like being a stay-home-mom is a cushy job in some ways. But if you ask any stay-at-home mom they would definitely beg to differ! Then the question he asked that has REALLY got me thing was this.... How would you feel or do things differently if you knew that you would be getting reviewed on your workday? Where should I even start? Would I speak to my kids differently knowing I would be reviewed on my behavior? Would I make sure the house was always REALLY clean? Would I leave the bed unmade? Would I clean first or interact with the kids first? Would I make sure there was always a well-balanced cooked meal every evening? Would I make their lunches with a little less attitude? Would I leave the laundry unfolded for a week sitting in baskets in my bedroom? Would I test the babies diaper to see how much it could really hold? :) Would I do my girl's hair EVERY day instead of trying to do it a specific way so i could get 2 days out it? Would I not give up and call it a day as soon as the kids are in bed? Would I put the endless movies on for the kids just so I could craft without being bothered? Would I still make my workout time MY time, asking the kids to really leave me a alone for that one hour a day? Is it ok to ignore them for that long?
I'm not sure what is right or wrong. Is it too much to ask for a sample of the review sheet to see what types of things are acceptable or not? Or ask who would be doing the review? I am proud to admit I'm a stay-at-home mom. I do know one thing for sure, that unlike the workplace, there is no instruction give or someone to guide you. There are no set hours. We are on the job 24/7. No paid vacation, no holiday! Even on vacation we really aren't on vacation. No pay raises. Not much thanks either. Not many other adults to interact with. Never do get to feel quite like your own self. Always having to wear clothes knowing that someone is going to wipe their nose, sticky hands, and spill something all over you. However, the benefits are superb! Well, most days. :) I wouldn't trade Cheeto places for anything! I love my family! I know there is A LOT of room for improvement. I felt like I accomplished a lot today even if the house and kids don't show it. I really had that question stirring in my mind and I think it has really changed the way I look at what I do day in and day out.

Halloween Fun 2010

2010-10-31T08:47:00.004-04:00

Meet Agent "K", Gryfindor "student" (because he refused to paint a lightening bolt on his forehead and wear the glasses because he felt goofy wearing such things!), and the cutest Carolina Panthers and NCSU cheerleaders you will ever see!

We went to a very well-organized Ward "Hoe-Down" to celebrate. Cheeto and I decided that we didn't want to allow the trick or treating on Sunday this year. So we did the ward party and then with Lettie on Saturday night. The kids didn't seem to mind. At the ward party they did a father/daughter dance. A1 was out trick-or-treating around the church with the primary kids and youth so A2 got to dance with daddy! Precious!

Sissy and Dad also danced the father/daughter dance.

Another of the activities was musical chairs. I was one of the winners and received this duck. A2 now thinks it's hers, which of course is fine with me. She ended up playing with it most of the night. Cheeto will probably want to add his own two bits about how I won. :)

Typical.

"K" said he looked like 'Jenkees'.

G'ma C sent some fun things for the kids to celebrate Halloween.

They especially loved their silly bands! Thank you G'ma C!!!

Tia Lettie took the kids to another ward Halloween party with friend. We weren't going to oppose since it meant Cheeto and I got a date night! How could we pass that one up! :) Thanks Sissy! The kids had lots of fun get their faces painted and trunk-n-treating!

C earned his WOLF

2010-10-31T08:32:00.002-04:00

C loves scouts. He usually only does what is asked instead of going the extra mile and completing as much as possible and I usually have to keep on him to get it done. But even at that, we are so proud of him! He is a great kid and are so proud of his accomplishments and example for his brother and sisters!

Frustration

2010-10-21T19:49:00.002-04:00

I took this picture of my new running shoes because I knew after one run on the trails they would never look so pretty again. :) Cheeto got a gift card to Off 'N Running the first part of the summer. He had got him so running gear and such but one day he was in there they were having a shoe sale. He found these Nike running shoes for me. He called me and asked if I could leave the kids with Adam and come try them on. I kept telling him he didn't need to spend his gift card on me. But they were a killer sale. They were over $120 shoes on sale for less than $30. My running shoes were thrashed so I was in need of another pair. After trying them I graciously accepted them. Cheeto has had a running group training with him for his marathon. I knew I wasn't going to be able to keep up with them so I put them in the closet for awhile in hopes one day I would be able to pull them out and use them.
A friend let us borrow her P90X program during the summer. I love it! I have seen some fabulous results and the workouts are so different everyday that I don't get tired of it. I knew I was getting stronger by the day. Well, Cheeto and I have been going through some rough times the past little while. I wanted to spend some more time with him so I thought I should try running again so maybe it could be something we could together. I knew I would never be able to keep up with him, and that would be fine. I knew he would always wait for me to catch up here and there. And then a close friend seems to think she could get me to run a half- marathon with them someday. I invited myself to run with Cheeto on his short and easy run a couple of days before his marathon. We ran Palmetto to Nat Green trails. It was just shy of 3 miles. When we finished I felt so good. I wasn't even winded or tired. And I didn't even get sore then next day. I thought, HEY... maybe I can start running more and that p90x has been GOOD to me. I was in way better shape than I thought! Well, last Friday Leesa and Cheeto got me to run the Piedmont trail. It was a total of 5.5 miles. I felt really good for the first 2.5 miles but my knees started to really hurt on the way back. About mile 4.75 I went through moments of wanting to give up and walk it then to fighting back the tears. I was so proud of myself that I talked myself out of doing both. I finished the 5.5 tearless and ran the whole thing! But I paid dearly that night. We had gone camping and I did cry that night. My knees wouldn't function at all, on both legs. :( But by morning I was feeling almost back to normal.
So Monday night I talked Cheeto into running 3 miles with me. About 1 mile in my knees were screaming at me. I told Cheeto to lead. He of course was gone in a flash. It wasn't half a mile later that I twisted my ankle pretty good and another mile later that I fell and hurt my shoulder and both knees again. GRRRRR... those darn tree roots! I didn't have enough ice packs to ice all my injuries!
So now... here I am looking at my "killer deal" running shoes and wondering will I ever get the chance to break them in. Or will they just simply get dirty collecting dust in my closet? I get so frustrated that my body gives me so many limitations. I know there are others out there with the same frustrations. It's only my knees, my STUPID KNEES! Even after 5.5 miles I wasn't even sore the next day. I so wanted to be able to do this with Cheeto. To fight for something that I never thought I would have in me to complete. To have something that wouldn't cost us much to do together. We met golfing and have that in common but it's so expensive and takes so much more time away from the kids to do. I suppose my time isn't now. Patience is a virtue! I don't feel very virtuous! LOL!

Tree Monkeys

2010-10-21T16:14:00.002-04:00

An afternoon last week Cheeto asked me to come out and find K.
Of course, this was a trick. Can you find him?

yep... way Way WAY up in C's tree!

Someone wanted to be like her older brother

Lundrigan/Arellano Hanging Rock Camp Out

2010-10-21T09:15:00.014-04:00

Cheeto and I usually are experts at getting the impossible packed We felt so unorganized and unprepared. It's not like we decided the day of to go on this trip either. This trip had been on the calendar for weeks. (sigh)
A month or so ago, we were talking with our Lundrigan friends and decided we should try a camping trip together. Neither one of us had ever tried camping with another family. We felt like it was worth a try. We weren't sure how their older kids were mix with our younger ones. Turns out they have fabulous teenagers that enjoy playing with kids of all ages and are more than willing to help with whatever you ask them to do. It was a really cold weekend. Our kids have never camped in weather cooler than 75 degrees. It was nice to actually want to be around a campfire. It was an interestingly cold eventful night. A2 wouldn't hold still, she was like a cat sleeping on our heads, our feet, crawling in our sleeping bags for 10 minutes then to the outside, then our air mattress deflated, making it a really uncomfortable place to sleep, while our kids had nice foam pads to sleep on. Oh well... it was one night. All the other fun made up for it.

Thanks Lundrigans for a fun weekend camping!

Even C wasn't impressed with our packing skills this time.

Sassy either!

and then of course, A2 has the most room in the van. She was happy and comfortable!

Half the canopy had to sit in the front seat between me and Cheeto.

Grrr.... I hate when our packing job doesn't go as planned.

"I don't want to go to bed. I want to see what everyone else is doing."

Cold morning and he is running around without a jacket... crazy kid!

...while our other son is all snuggled up in his own little "tent"

Walking to the Hanging Rock trail

Lundrigans

Arellano's

First break of the hike.
I loved how all the kids young and old played and helped each other.
It was an awesome weekend trip.

It's really nice when older kids aren't too cool to play with little kids.

I look terrible in this picture but it's about the only one I have to document that I was on this trip. :) Oh well, we were camping right? I was grateful to make it to the top and very grateful I made it to the bottom. The day before, Leesa, Cheeto and I ran 5.5 miles on the trails. I have bad knees. I made the run. But about 2 miles in my knees really started to hurt and were REALLY hurting at the end. I could barely walk by Friday night. I really wondered if I would be able to make the hike with the family in the morning. It was a rough couple of hours but I did it and held back the tears pretty well. So frustrating!

We had left some camping gear at a friends house and stopped on our way out of town to pick it up. On a last thought, I asked if she had a backpack carrier for a baby. She said she did and allowed us to borrow it. Man, that was a lifesaver. There was no way A2 was going on that hike with us if we hadn't of had it. Thanks Susan! A2 pretty much slept the entire way.

Gordon taking in the scenery.

Lundrigan's sitting on the edge of Hanging Rock with Dad.

Mom sitting well away from the kids with her back to them saying a prayer.

I love that A2 is peeking inside this picture. What a view from the top!

Hang on girl!

They made it... those kids hiked a steep mountain.
I love Lundrigan #6's face!

A2 was very content digging in the dirt with Lundrigan #7's bucket and shovel.

(Lundrigan #2 and Sassy)
Yay... I'm afraid Sassy is a bit like her mother.

I was always one to choose sitting with the boys rather than the girls. Not sure how I feel about that one now that's it's my little girl. I suppose I turned out all right. ;)

Lundrigan #7 chillin' after the hike with his cup of Doritos Munchies.

.... and A2 still diggin in the dirt.

October 9, 2010 - Triple Lakes Marathon

2010-10-21T07:59:00.009-04:00

Someone with good advise told Cheeto to lay out all his gear the night before. He was getting pretty pumped up for the race the night before. We had a "Carb Load" dinner night with his marathon running buddies and their spouses. They watched "The Spirit of the Marathon." I can't say it was my choice of movie but it was appropriate for Cheeto and the running friends.

Cheeto, we both know I had a bad day the day of your marathon. I don't think I have said it to you and definitely didn't show it that day, how proud I am of you and this accomplishment. Not everyone can say they have accomplished such a feat. You have rocked those trails. You have an amazing gift for running those long miles. Thank you for leaving those boxes of Hostess and large glass a milk in your past. :) I've enjoyed watching you cross over to the fitness world. I love you always and forever! Congratulations on completing your first 26.2!
Can't wait to cheer you on in Myrtle Beach! LOVES!

Stop #2 - end of Piedmont

C being the photographer. "In the Zone" Cheeto
You can see the sweat dripping off his temple. What a hottie! I'll hug him after his shower. LOL!

Stop #4 - end of Laural Bluff

Waving to his fans.

Stop #6 waiting for Daddy again.

It was getting warmer and she WOULD NOT take off her Dora jacket.
She's still pretty darn cute.

The ones behind the scenes.

A2 entertaining herself while waiting at the end of Palmetto trails.

goofy Cheeto running by in a blur...

Sweet "K" patiently waiting for his daddy to come so he could run to the finish line with him.

Looks like they are ready to be done!

There they are... take off "K"! He loves to run with his daddy!

and.... K takes first. LOL!
Just kidding... Leesa's really competitive. LOL! :)

The Cheeto cheering section

Sometimes it's just having your man being nicknamed "Cheeto!"

Art work by Sassy

Art work by K and A2

Art work by K Coloring by Sassy

More pics of him running to come....

Winston-Salem Air Show

2010-10-15T07:37:00.004-04:00

Cheeto here. Shena asked me to post captions for these pictures from an airshow that the boys and grandpa A and I went to a while back. It was cool. We had fun. Well worth the money (boys were free) and we will do it again.

Just as we were walking in the gates a couple of F-15's did two or three fly by's. Pretty cool. I didn't get a picture.

Some airplanes. They flew. They weren't flying, though, when I took the picture. It's a good picture.

K standing next to an old airplane with an almost flat tire. I would think flat tires would be bad for an airplane, but maybe not...since airplanes fly. K looks like a tourist with the bag around his neck.

These planes were going to fly too. They also were not flying when I took the picture (I know this because there is a car right next to the plane on the left - can you see it? - ...and I don't remember any flying cars in the show).

A C-5. The picture doesn't do it justice. Sucker was HUGE and looked like it was going about 15 mph as it flew by. Really, it was BIG. Trust me.

There were a couple of Harrier's that were in town for the show, too. They couldn't land the cool way because the Winston-Salem airport doesn't have a concrete runway and they said the engines would tear the asphalt up. That means they are cool planes.

Most of the pictures of planes in action are some "kit" planes that were built by the pilots. That's gutsy. They said some of the planes were being flown by pilots who did NOT build their own plane but someone else did...that's REALLY gutsy. Impressive flying, none-the-less.

Kit built. Can't you tell? See the duct tape holding the wheels on?

The Army 101st jumpers who opened the show and brought down the flag for the national anthem. We were sitting by the VIP tent where all the performers came after they were done for free food and to watch the rest of the show. K was brave enough to ask for a picture as they walked passed. Then he yelled "Marine Corps!" and ran away.

I forgot what these guys were flying. But they had performed earlier. K asked to get a picture with them, too.

This is a jet powered semi. It did not fly. It did not tow a trailer. It did go really, really fast for about 5 seconds, and then hit the brakes and released a parachute to stop. It also shot flames everywhere. Overall, pretty cool. Very redneck.

Kit planes doing tricks.

Kit planes doing more tricks (no the one out of formation is NOT crashing).

Kit planes. Check out the new guy. He must have built his smoke maker himself, too.

Geico has some planes that go to air shows. I don't know why having planes go to airshows saves you money, but they claim it does. I don't believe them.

I have no idea. C hates loud noises (except the sound of his own voice screaming at his little sisters), but it doesn't appear there is a plane going over head. I mean, nobody else seems to be looking up or paying attention to anything. Wait, maybe he could hear the sound of the BYU football team sucking. Funny kid.

A2 Idaho Randomness

2010-10-15T07:16:00.003-04:00

These few pics are just a few random ones that didn't require an entire post. :) I took this because it's funny that A1 did the exact same thing, in the exact room, at exactly the same age. Ok... not down to the second for you literal people. Our two lil' girls are so much alike at times.

This was funny... Erin had all the girls for about 30 minutes before the kids parade. We needed to feed them a snack. Ryan's table wasn't big enough so she gave them a handful of crackers but made them sit criscross applesauce until everyone was finished to make sure they didn't run wild and make a disaster. So many cute little girls we have.
There were a few missing from this picture.

The first night at Erin's I put A2 down to bed and walked upstairs to chat with the adults for a bit. I turned around and jumped because A2 was standing right behind me. I had to think for a sec... I really just put her in bed, right? I knew I had, of course. I tried again. And again, she got out. This I had to see! Neither of our boys ever scaled the crib. And both of our daughters did. When we got back home, she did the same thing but of course, fell a lot further to the ground. Needless to say she is now in a bed with A1.

First Day of School 2010-2011

2010-10-08T07:24:00.002-04:00

First day and all smiles!

YEP... can you believe it? A smile on C's face and he knows he is starting school.
THAT, right there, is a first!

K was real excited, just as he always is. He lucked out and had the opportunity to loop up with the same teacher he had last year. It was a comfort for him.

DAY 24 - C's birthday

2010-10-03T09:58:00.006-04:00

The start to his day was stuck in the back of the van by himself. He was quite content sitting back there alone. A couple of years ago we were traveling back from the Outer Banks on his birthday and had his party a day later. He was so upset about me doing that to him. So this year I asked what he wanted. We were going to celebrate his birthday on Monday so I would have time to get things put back together and make him a cake. For weeks, he said he was fine with that. However, he changed his mind somewhere in the middle of Illinois Saturday afternoon! I called Damma and we scrambled to get a cake and the dinner he wanted put together. This is the first ever cake that was store bought. I was sad not to make the cake designed by the birthday-boy. But it made him happy to have his birthday ON his birthday!

This is how A2 self entertained herself. Hey, at this stage in the trip I was grasping at straws to keep her happy. The others kids did great but being strapped in a 5-point harness isn't much fun for 12-14 hours a day. She was quite pleased with her Dora display!

We finally were close! Only about an hour and a half left.
We got home about 15 minutes before our church started. We passed about half the ward headed to church as we were heading the opposite direction- HOME! We ran our suitcases in the house, retrieved our Sunday attire and loaded back in the "still-packed" van to go to church. I felt terrible. Later I found out that I had tonsillitis and a sinus infection, but I made it through church and C's party. I really don't like missing church. It makes for a very long week!
The short notice birthday cake!
We now know that Bruster's can make decent ice cream cakes.

All the birthday goodies!

I made him the apron. It's reversible. I made it big so he wouldn't out grow it in 6 months. He's growing like a weed!

LOVE THAT KID!!!

C got his very own set of Damma hot pads. He put them away in my kitchen drawer. One day about a week after his birthday he saw me using them. He said, "Mom! Are you using MY hot pads?!?!" I simply told him if they were in MY kitchen drawer then YES I was going to use them! :) I gave him the option of storing them elsewhere. He said it was ok for me to use them.

Any guesses who these were from?

Day 23 - Carthage Jail

2010-10-03T09:11:00.003-04:00

There is such a spirit that still dwells in these church history sites after all the years. A spirit so strong that reverence most as they walk the same paths the Joseph Smith and those brave saints did over 100 years ago. I'm so grateful for those strong saints and the path the led for us to follow. For the prophet Joseph Smith giving his life to restore the gospel to the earth in the latter days. Once you feel such a spirit there is no denying the spirit of God and the love he has for each and every one of his children. I don't regret the time we spent showing the kids these places and allowing the spirit that dwells there to touch their hearts. We have spent almost a year teaching them about Joseph Smith in FHE. I was amazed how much they have absorbed and remembered as they got to see the actual sites.

Outside the front of the jail.

The top window where Joseph fell down to the well below.

The window Joseph Smith fell out of after he was shot and killed.

The room were the mob charged and started shooting the

prophet Joseph Smith, John Taylor, and Hyrum Smith.

The bullet hole through the door that shot Hryum Smith in the face.

After the jail tour we ate a quick peanut butter sandwich in the parking lot. I thought it was funny seeing all the kids lined up on the curb as Cheeto stood, arms crossed, watching them and for cars. HURRY UP! NO TALKING! JUST EAT! :)

Day 22/23 - Journey to & thru Nauvoo

2010-10-01T07:31:00.017-04:00

Our journey to Nauvoo, I believe, will be an unforgettable/memorable one. Our first night we got to North Platte, Nebraska. The only place open was a Days Inn. It was probably in the top 5 scariest motels I have ever stayed in! I didn't even turn on the lights much because I didn't want to find what was lying under the shadows of the night! When we walked down the hall to our room just about 5 feet past our door they had the hall blocked off with plastic with a warning for asbestos. Seriously! Not a good sign!The next morning all was revealed when the shadows were swallowed by the light of the morning. Ya... I could have down with seeing all the stains and bugs on the floors, beds, and walls. Not so many bugs but still more than 5. UGH!

It was another day of rain. Driving east into and with the storms is NOT FUN! Again, I felt so grateful Cheeto was driving! About half way through Iowa we hit some nasty nasty thunderstorms. There wasn't much shoulder to the roads and we didn't feel like it was safe to pull over. The rain had flooded most of the fields on the roadside and we couldn't see what was road and what wasn't. Cheeto was right not to just pull off to the side like so many did. We came across a REALLY bad motorcycle meets truck and trailer accident. I was glad a movie was holding the kids attention! I saw the motorcyclist and it was nasty. Plenty of good samaritans and just curious people had stopped and were trying to shield his body from the rain with jackets and blankets. We drove about 3 more miles, which seemed like an eternity, and found an exit. There isn't much in the backwoods of Iowa! We found a vacant parking lot to wait it out some. We called Lettie and she sent us a picture of the storm. It was entirely red! NOT GOOD! Cheeto felt like we just needed to keep pushing forward because if we stopped too long we would drive back through it very quickly. So after a quick snack from the cooler, we pushed onward. We didn't even go a mile when we found that the road the GPS was taking us was flooded big time. Cars were backed up and one idiot had tried going through it and got until the water was up past his windows. (some people!) This is when I was incredibly grateful for the GPS. We drove on some crazy back streets but eventually found our way through this small town. What should have taken us about 45 minutes to drive took us 2+ hours. We had a non-fundable reservation waiting for us in Nauvoo, so we had no choice but to keep going. By the time we got to Fort Madison, which is just before you cross the river into Illinois, we were starving and exhausted. The first place we saw to eat was Pizza Hut. We were desperate enough to eat there. It was a good thing to! Cheeto took the boys to the bathroom. While I was waiting for them and to be seated, a family with some couple missionaries walked in behind me. I figured they had to be serving in Nauvoo. So I asked them some information that could help us get a start in the morning. They then informed me that Nauvoo was entirely without power and had been for hours. This was the first place they saw that had power to eat. That explained why it was packed. We got there just in time. I went through all the emotions and stresses over what we were going to do if our "inn" in Nauvoo was without power where we were going to stay. The bakery across the street runs the reservations for the inn. But once they close you are on your own to get checked-in and such. I called but no one answered. It was non-refundable so we had to stay there with/without power. It wasn't like we have never been without power. It's been very rare occasion for the kids but I grew up with the power going out frequently. It wasn't a big deal. Well, after many silent prayers that had been answered throughout the day, I decided one more was in order. One more little blessing... PLEASE! I felt loved that day. Our Heavenly Father held Cheeto's hands for many hours driving through that awful rain, hugged me when Cheeto couldn't, kept our children and ME calm and happy through those many hours of stressful driving, and again when we drove across the river and found the power had returned!

Our night of "residence." There are only a couple of hotels in Nauvoo unless you stay across the river. I found this house that was converted into an inn. I thought it would be fun for the kids to stay somewhere that wasn't a hotel for one night. You are basically on your own to clean up after yourselves but cook and do whatever you want. When we got there another family had dinner cooking in crockpots and sitting down to dinner, LATE- I might add. The powerless evening had caused delayed crockpot cooking. :) We visited for awhile. They asked if we were the owners of the van with Carolina plates. They were from Greenville, South Carolina. They had church the same time as we did so they were touring the next day just like us and were going to drive straight through in order to get to church the next day. The wife had served in the same mission as Kyle and was there the same time as well. They were BYU fans, which made C smile. :) AND they stayed in the North Platte dives the night before just as we did. Crazy small world we live in sometimes!

It was a neat place to take the kids! We will definitely go back and stay there again our next time driving through as we go west again!

So nice seeing daddy in the pictures again!

We found 3 out of 4 kids sleeping crazy the next morning. Not sure how this is even comfortable! I swear I took a picture of A1 but not sure what happened to it. She was sleeping with her head off the other end of this hide-a-bed.

Not sure what happen that made K resort to the floor for sleep. He was sleeping in a nice big queen sized bed with C. C might have kicked him.
Who knows!

C was the only kid that was in the same place as we left him the night before. IN BED!

Breakfast!

I have been reading Harry Potter to the boys all summer. C was so excited to show us there was closet under the stairs. It had a lock on it too, just like Harry's. :) C was bugged that everyone jumped in the picture with him.
They charge for a couple and then add $8 per additional occupant. I didn't want the pay for the room with 4 beds. We didn't need 4 beds. The lady said that this room just wouldn't fit a family of six. I know she wasn't thrilled about doing it but she gave us this room anyway. It was just as big as a regular hotel room. It was perfect! Cheeto was doing the last walk-through checking for left behind items when I wanted to take a quick pic.
Not sure what he was doing when I took the picture.

Last temple visit of the trip.

Prairie Rings!

We had John Taylor on sonar. Everything they could take a picture by they did. :)

A2 wouldn't leave this monument until we took her picture too.

Our personal family Nauvoo brick from the brickyard.

Having a arithmetic lesson in the Nauvoo school house.
C, the back row type of student... just like his father! :)

The rocking horse. I'm sure many know the story but for posterity sake I'll summarize again. John Taylor carved this rocking horse for his son. His son adored this rocking horse. When they had to leave Nauvoo the horse was left behind. After miles of traveling, President Taylor noticed how sad his son was. His son finally told him that he was sad to leave his rocking horse behind. It takes the right kind of father to do what President Taylor did. He left his family and walked back to their home in Nauvoo to sneak in their house to get the horse. It was a very dangerous act of love. K loves that story and had waited a long time to see the actual horse.

John Taylor's son's bedroom

At the end of the tour, the missionaries asked if we would like to sign the family ancestry book. We said, "OF COURSE!" C and K signed for themselves.
I helped Sassy and signed my name as well as A2's.

These sisters were a blessing to us that day. When we had gotten to the John Taylor home there was a sign on the door that said it wouldn't be opening until noon. We decided to walk around and see a few other places and see what time it was when we finished. Of course, with little kids it didn't even take and hour to see the other sites. These sister missionaries were in the printing press next door. I explained that we were traveling from SLC to North Carolina and didn't have much time to spare. The graciously said they would close the printing press and open the Taylor home to us for a personal guided tour. K had been talking the entire trip about getting to see the home. I would have felt awful if we couldn't have seen it.

Day 20/21 - Starting our journey home

2010-09-30T17:50:00.003-04:00

Yep... Daddy is with us again. We picked up in SLC and immediately headed east. As we were driving west toward the airport these massive black clouds crept over the mountains. They were as black as I had ever seen for the west. I told C that we needed to hurry and get dad and get ahead of that storm. Of course, he was a little bit late and the buckets had started to fall before he even got in the car. We had a VERY short reunion and started driving. It was a pretty scary drive through the canyon. The water from the other side of the highway were flowing over the barriers into our lanes and causing visibility to be zero some of the time. Then idiot truck drivers would speed past us and of course, Utah drivers aren't known to be great even on good weather days. Let's just say I was a nervous wreck. We live in bad rain country where we drive in it somewhat on a regular basis and this even gave Cheeto's nerves a scary at times. It rained until almost the Wyoming border, which seemed like forever! After talking to my mom, she said that SLC had broken records for rainfall. They received 1.5" in less that 30 minutes. CRAZY! I prayed for safety of course, but also prayed and thanked my Heavenly Father that Cheeto was with us. He is an incredible driver. I had gotten really sick the day before we left and still didn't feel great so I felt very blessed to have him with us. I know how he drives and don't have to stress much because most times I know what he's going to do before he does it. Ya know how it is after being married to someone for almost 12 years.

I loved watching the windmills. I would love to have one that I could watch from my house. It's a calm wonder to watch. These are all over the west and mid-west to generate power. When we drove out the kids were amazed that the wind alone was what made them move.

When we stopped at a rest stop for lunch we saw these semi's leaving loaded with combines. I have never seen one being transported. What a massive thing to haul on a trailer!

The kids couldn't get enough of their daddy. He had been up at 3am EST to get to his flight in Raleigh. Then with having to drive through stressful rain he was pretty tired. He knew I didn't feel well so he drove the entire way home.

Silliness along the way!

Funny Kid Quote of the Day

Day 19 - Riding with Papa

2010-09-30T07:13:00.006-04:00

Being silly girls waiting for Papa to come pick us up.

My dad thinks its really odd that it's moments like these that I miss the most. I suppose it's because I loved sitting in the combine with him. It didn't matter what age I was. I remember sitting with him for hours as a little girl, sometimes even napping on that little seat lying on his shoulder. In high school I would take my homework and sit with him until dark and mom would call me in. And now as a mom, he allows me to haul all my kids to ride with him. I say it's them that really want to ride, but I'm pretty sure he knows that it's me that really wants the ride. My dad has the best job in the world. It is considered to be the 4th most dangerous job in America. And next to truck drivers, more farmers/ranchers are killed every year. But in my eyes, it's still the best. If I wanted to be with my dad, I simply had to jump in the truck with him. How many kids get to spend that amount of time with their father?

I was a lucky girl and still am! (Love you Daddy!)

As soon as that combine started to get close they seriously hung on to each other! They were both pretty scared. It was adorable to see them cling to each other rather than running to me.

A2 loved hanging out with Papa. She would ask all day, "Wa Papa? Wa Papa?" She was excited to see the man driving the scary big yellow machine had her Papa in it.
A2 wearing Papa's hat!

Sassy said we needed to take a picture of how the combine worked so she could show her brothers. Of course, they already knew from previous combine riding experiences but I'm sure there are a lot of people out there that still have no idea. So here is the ogger picking up the wheat.

A1 was amazed watching the combine unload "all that wheat" into the truck.

Being silly talking on the radio. I think she was trying to get G'ma to answer at the house
but she wasn't home.

After about 20 minutes, A2 was out! Such a good way to give your kid a nap!

Boys turn. However, dad was at the end of the field so they got Max to pick them up in the tracker pulling the grain cart. They were cool with that because they got to ride in more cool big farm machinery.

At the end of the day, our final good bye to the cousins. It was sad. We had such a great time!

One last ride in the rhino!

Day 19 - C's Idaho Birthday Party

2010-09-29T09:07:00.006-04:00

Yay for a cousin birthday party. C has had lots of birthday's in Idaho. August is a popular month to visit. We enjoy going to the fair, cooler weather, and of course combines and four wheelers! And all the cousins have an easier time getting together.

I love this picture! These two were almost inseparable from the day we got there. I rarely saw C when we were on the farm. He and "T" were always together. They usually even took turns sleeping at G'ma's or Becky's. As you can see, C is even wearing "T's" clothes. Oh, I wish they could see more of each other. Skype is a beautiful thing!

Look at K pout even though he knows that he will be the one C chooses to play the game with.

NO PEEKING!

Seriously! NO PEEKING!

Check out "T's" face at the beginning! He wouldn't be just as excited would he?

Thank you G'ma and Papa! I have been told by young and old that the clubs have made a big difference. I suppose having the right size does help! :)

Day 18 - Bear Lake take 2

2010-09-28T08:51:00.005-04:00

Oh... I live for these moments, when C is still allowing me to hug him! He was such a little man for me on this trip. I had lots of help from family to help with the kids but I still missed Cheeto. Cheeto just knows what help I need without having to ask. C was a pretty darn good substitute! He sure is growing up fast!

Ok... this is so "can" style! LOL! We had taken the canopy on our first trip to Bear Lake. Dad had asked that I fold up the actual canopy part (I have had LOTS of experience getting it just right so it will fit nicely back in the bag). So I folded it up and left it in the office. Mom thought it was a tent and put it in the basement, I didn't know that. Well, neither did she until we got to the lake and only had a frame for shade. :) So we used towels and blankets from the van to make-shift a little shade for the little girls. Embarrassing? YES! Oh well! Who cares?
Cheeto got a good laugh out of the story.

We miss Daddy in all these family pictures!

K just chillin... literally! It was cold water!

Bear Lake sand is NOTHING like North Carolina's outter banks! UGH... this stuff was black and stuck to everything! We will have Bear Lake sand in our bathing suits forever. :) But they had so much fun playing in it.

Sweet "J"!

"T"

Can you tell she is quite content with the day's activities!?!?!?!

Boys LOVE to dig! Dig what? Who knows... but they literally did it the entire day.
No! That's not what you think it is! Because of her playing in the sand, it had worked it's way inside her diaper. We couldn't get it off without using the water. It is honestly just sand! We had to do it to all the girls... under the age of 5 anyway. :)

Day 16 - Ice Sliding

2010-09-28T07:53:00.008-04:00

View of the Valley where I grew up.

This screams HOME to me! I remember coming home from college, which was pretty often. at this point in the drive, I felt like I was home! Now, 12 years later and having lived away this long, I still get that same feeling. I had to stop and take a picture to take back to Carolina with me. I know some may look at these and think what is so special about it? Well, beauty is all in the eyes of the beholder! My valley is beautiful and fills my heart with the love of my family and reminds me I will always be a country farm girl from the fabulous state of Idaho!

I so wished A2 had been in this picture! LOVE IT!

My mom is the YW President. She wanted us to test "ice sliding" before she had the yw and ym activity Tuesday. Let's just say she had some very willing volunteers.

How many golf courses can you let your 18 month old wander shoeless? A2 loved walking barefoot in the grass. The west has some awesome Kentucky Bluegrass which is so soft and cool to the touch. Nothing like the crusty weed-like stuff we call grass in Carolina. It's so hard and expensive to have a nice lawn in Carolina.

A2 got stuck in a pivot track. :)

Ah.... they are such little divas! "J" is such a little "model" poser. I love these little girls!

Yep, the boys were driving golf carts and thought they were hot shots. Look at how careful C is driving and that Sassy is "talking" on her play phone because that's what you do in a car, or so she says. :)

Kyle prepping "K".

He definitely got a workout walking that brick of ice up the hill.

It wasn't easy for those little kids.

Of course, the heavy you are the faster you go, so needless to say the kids didn't go too fast on their own. We started doubling up with them. "J" took a dive off my lap. And check out "K". After my "K" took his shirt off, so did she. Kyle said she would be naked all of the time if they would allow it. :)
Yes... that is A2 taking a turn. Let's just say because she barely weighs 20 lbs that she didn't go very far. :)

She ended up just pushing the ice down the hill. :)

Kyle wouldn't try it for a long time. We kept trying to get him to. Finally his little girls wore him down. "J" had to give him a little push.

He looks real enthused doesn't he?

Now... look at him. It was much more fun that he thought it would be!

Yep... even grandma and grandpa took their turn. Grandma couldn't get enough. My kids thought she was the coolest grandma ever for playing with them all evening like this!

"T" showing off his skills. He just got his football uniform and was trying out how well the padding worked.

Sisters!CRASH!

K really started getting the hang of it as the evening worn on. It really was a fun memorable evening on the golf course! It was a gorgeous fall evening in Idaho!

Day 16 - Cupcakes

2010-09-21T06:49:00.005-04:00

Not the best picture of C but he was so excited to find a BYU bike. Don't think we will find him one of those at our Wal-Mart for Christmas. LOL!

YAY for DoRA! Wal-mart was celebrating Dora's 10th birthday by giving out free cupcakes and such. We thought, "Hey, something free to take the girls to." Man, it was a mess! But A2 was more than happy. So I suppose it was worth it.
Erin wouldn't allow me to keep the first picture I took of her. Let's just say she was showing so much happinesabout the mess that was being made with the cupcakes.

Enough said....

Day 16 - Visit with Erin

2010-08-16T10:12:00.004-04:00

We were walking through Forever 21 when Andrea showed us these hair "accessories" that she saw someone actually wearing. Erin said we needed to model them. OH my! Does someone actually think these are attractive?

Being little models while Andrea was trying on shirts.

We just had so much fun hangin with the Judds!

Day 15 - Logan Temple

2010-08-15T20:49:00.006-04:00

The Logan Temple will always be "my" temple. I asked the kids which one of the ones we have seen was their favorites. All of them said the Logan one for sure. A1 said, "Because that's where daddy said he loves you forever!" :)

Day 14 - Jolley visit

2010-08-15T13:39:00.003-04:00

Of course I couldn't drive through Pocatello and not stop for a visit to the Jolley's.

Thanks Tia for a fun afternoon and dinner. I sure miss ya!

They were tired and hungry!

Day 14 - Idaho Falls Zoo

2010-08-12T21:28:00.013-04:00

A day at the zoo in Idaho Falls

My camera was of course dead again. I have had a hard time keeping it charged. I have taken an insane amount of pictures. Becky and Alyssa had theirs so thanks to them, I can still document the day. Thanks T for the awesome pictures. He takes pictures very well for a 10 year old. He did a great job getting everything on camera.

A2 "reading" the park map.

The little girls

The big girls- minus Sassy because of her major ATTITUDE!!!

Ugh, not a good picture of me. But T had to get one of all the moms.

Day 14 - Idaho Falls Temple

2010-08-12T21:10:00.011-04:00

Can you tell I'm having fun taking pictures of the temples we visit?

I think a nice camera is #1 on my wish list now.

It was interesting watching these ducks walk on the very edge of the falls.

Cute little girls.