Mini reunion

Chris' family all got together in utah a couple weeks ago. All of Chris' siblings and their families were here except David (he was in Hawaii working) , and Tony and his wife (because he is selling/managing in Baltimore). We called it a "mini reunion". We went to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple open house in West Jordan, UT. It was beautiful of course.

We had dinner at David and Kira's afterward.The next day we spent the day at our house and the clubhouse. The kids swam, we had lunch, and watched a movie (Bolt) in the theater.The cousins had a lot of fun together. Chuck and Carol brought some old jewlery from their parents and we got to split it up. I got some super cute brooches. Anna in her last month of pregnancy, and Becca in her 5th...?

bonfire in the canyon

One night after we put the kids in bed and a neighbor watched them, Greg, Cassidy, Chris, and I went up in the canyon for a fire. We went to a place that wasnt a camp ground or park. It was fun to be in the forest. Greg bought an axe and was so excited about it. Most of the time we were there he was chopping away. My camera flash works really well in the dark! Greg and Cassidy Merrill live 2 doors down from us. The day we met last summer we figured out that his dad grew up in the Columbia Basin Ward (my home ward) and I know some of his family that still lives there. His dad and my dad were/are friends. His uncle baptised Chris' dad and was my sunday school teacher when I was 14. His cousin is my parents bishop now. His Grandma Elaine is so sweet and one of my good "elderly" friends. And Greg's our neighbor now. Funny huh?

Its always fun to get away from the kids (no offense Addysin and Caiden).

need freezer jam recipe

Please help me asap. I bought 8 things of strawberries for $8 total at Macy's! What a steal. They are usually like $2.50 each. You have to buy the whole box though to get the deal (meaning you cant buy one for $1, or three for $3). Well, now I have a bunch of strawberries and I need a delicious freezer jam recipe ASAP so I can make it Saturday or Sunday. I like recipes that are lower sugar, or at least dont taste too sugary. Call me, or post it in the comments. Thanks!

Halloween in June

Addysin HATED putting on her Minnie costume last Halloween. I was suprised because it is her favorite show, but then again she wasn't even two yet. I had to wrestle her to get it on. No, I'm not joking. She was screaming, and I couldn't get her big head through the little neck hole. Well, I put in in storage for sure since I couldn't think of any reason to torture her again with it... even though I would have liked to so we could get our money out of it. Well one day (June 5), Chris and her were looking at pictures on the computer and she sees herself on Halloween. OOOOh boy, she starts crying for Minnie and looking for the costume in her closet. I went down to the basement to retrieve it (super happily because nothing is cuter than a little girl all dressed up because she demanded it). She put on the whole getup, even the shoes that were burried in the "outgrown pile" in her closet. She remembered those shoes had to be worn with the costume, and no others. Her feet barely fit, but she through a fit when I tried to take them off. We were on our way out to dinner at the time and I didn't care if she wore it, but Chris couldn't believe I was going to let her go in to Pizza Factory like that. He said I had to carry her in. Let me tell you, people loved it. I'm sure it made someones day, other than mine.

A day at the park

Our branch (yes, we are in a branch. It used to be small when our development was brand new, but now is definitly big enought to be a ward) elders quaroms had a softball game June 6th so I walked to the park with the kids in the stroller. It might have been 2 miles at most, side walks the whole way. When I arrived, the guys were shocked I had walked there. I felt like a marathon runner for a second... untill I realized it was was like a mile and a half. Growing up, my sisters and I would walk down Elm Rd. out in the country- for fun- to Uncle Phil and Aunt Megs to see our cousins on sunday afternoons. It was 4 miles. Addysin's favorite thing about summer is anything outside. She LOVES parks and the pool.
Addysin flying. Caiden holding on for dear life.


I wasn't joking.

He was honestly shaking at times. He never cried though so I just let him get used to it. It was hilarious.

One of many Sunday drives

Chris and I are loving Utah right now. It is soooo incredibly beautiful. Our new favorite thing to do is drive around sight seeing and finding new things in the City we live in. There are so many cool houses and beautiful mountains. One sunday we drove out to Utah Lake. It was only 10 minutes from our house, but completely in the country. We took Orem Center St. westward to this area where there will be a huge housing developement someday, but so far there are just a bunch of nice roads, fancy street lamps, stone walls, and open land. For all you out-of-staters. Utah Lake is huge, shallow, and pretty disgusting to swim in . The deepest point is 34 feet. It is said to have a part that you can walk all the way across on. Is that true? I dont know. But I do know that when we went boating on it, the depth reader was usually around 5-10 feet! Crazy. It covers 150 square miles and is 23 miles long. It goes to the Great Salt Lake by the Jordan River.

We live in such a beautiful world

Sister Melanie

Melanie and her family drove up from Arizona at the end of May. It was so fun to see her and her kids. We dont see them very often. Both of our kids were sick during their vacation here so we didn't do a whole lot, and Addysin was a grouchy pants, but I still loved it. We went to the canyon with them one afternoon for dinner, they came swimming one day at our pool, and we went to her in-laws for dinner once. Caiden and Ammelia are 5 weeks apart. Caiden's older, but of course Ammelia is crawling and getting around and Caiden's not. Our kids like to take it slow and easy.

Swimming

The best floatie ever made for infants. I got it at Target last year for $15. It is as safe as one could be. It wont tip over because its so wide, its made well, and it has a sun shade that we use everytime... except this time. Addysin's not the only one that loves pulling Caiden around in the kid pull. Any random child will do it. This floatie makes everyone happy!

lee Picnic

Towards the end of May Chris' parents were here. They have been coming here a lot the past few months (four times) because Chuck is going to start a new job in St. George, UT this fall so they are moving in July! Its so crazy that our parents will not be in the same city anymore. No more vacations where we see both families in one trip. So while they were here we went to Provo Canyon for a picnic. Utah is sooooo BEAUTIFUL. We are always gone May-August so we have never got to see how green it gets here. We go to the canyon any chance we get, its only 10-20 minutes away, depending on the park we go to.
Me, Alise, Kira. Alise is one of my best friends from high school. Our families are intertwined so we stay in touch. Kira is her sister, and my sister-in-law (Chris' brother's wife). Their dad is the "handy-man" at my parents. He's either fixing or remodeling their house almost every month.

Our picnic.

David, Melanie, Chuck, Chris.

precious precious sleep

All of you mothers who have bad sleepers know how LITERALLY EXHAUSTING motherhood is... or maybe I'm the only one that wakes up 4-6 times in my seven hours of sleep to tend to my crazy children while my deaf husband sleeps through it all. I dreaded mornings and seriously counted down the hours until bedtime. My life was revolving around sleep, which I never got. I reached the very very end of my rope and figured Caiden out. There is no making sense of Addysin though. So I have to say.......HOORAY! Caiden has slept through the night (meaning 12 hours) two days in a row. We're going on three right now.... oh please work! I feel like this really cant be happening to me. Addysin, who turned 2 1/2 yesterday- Happy 1/2 Birthday!- still wakes up at least once, sometimes two or three times! She is so terrible at night. Its our fault though, we didn't discipline her like we have Caiden. I have been kinda working on Caiden since three months old and now he's almost 10 months. Not too bad though. By the third or fourth child I will have it all figured out.

HUGS! KISSES!

My cousin Chris' daughter Hattie and Addysin. I couldn't get a good picture because they were so hyper and running all over. My cousin-in-law Susan, her two kids, Amy, me, and my kids went to Paradise bakery for lunch while Amy was in town. Her and Jessica helped so much with my kids while Chris was in Oklahoma and Texas.

Addysin's new thing is yelling "hugs! kisses!" when people (mostly family) leave. Amy was leaving to go back to Washington and we said our goodbyes. As Amy was driving away Addysin started yelling "hugs! kisses!" as if Amy forgot to say goodbye. Then she started crying and throwing a huge fit. I called her to tell her and she turned around to come say goodbye again. can you see how distraught she was?
Addysin never liked affection or cuddling, even when asleep, as a baby and now she cant get enough... especially from her daddy.

wash wash wash

Imagine this going on super fast paced and over and over again.

Shampoo/condition, THROW on the ground, scrub, scrub, pick em up, repeat.What's she doing to me, mom?

She is so motherly... dont want any dirty bear ears in this house.

Chris holding down the fort

This is what Chris did one day while staying home with the kids while I recovered from surgery...

Addysin loved the door that was perfectly her size

Yes, it is built off the tv. "Its so you can watch tv from the inside. Trust me its cool... we used to do this when we were kids." ~Chris

Even Caiden loved it

Twilight Series

Yes, I finally gave in and I'm currently reading the third book "Eclipse". Ask anyone, I dont like to read. Well I didn't. I just need to get into the book and I LOVE READING! I cant believe I just admitted that. I hate the time it takes to get through a book, but when a book is good who cares? I thought I didn't have time and somehow time is magically being made for me. Actually I am just neglecting everything else. After years of every girl I've ever met raving about "Twilight", I watched the movie (of course because thats the quick and lazy way to read) and I just had to know what happened next. I have to say that the movie does no justice for the book. How could they skip so much detail? The movie should have been at least three hours for the first book alone. I'm VERY disappointed in the movie now that I read the book. OK OK, I cant lie! I listened to the first two books on CD! I'm such a loser. But I am READING the third :) I listened to them on my long drive to and from Washington and I have been reading during my recovery from the nose job. If I ever get to leave the house when my headaches finally subside and I come in contact with you, DONT TALK TO ME ABOUT TWILIGHT UNTIL IM FINISHED! I have lasted this long without knowing the ending, and if someone ruins it for me, consider that the end of our friendship. Ok, just kidding... kinda.

Also, I read "Hunger Games" and I thought it was super good. So for a picky reader, I recommend it. Chris listened to it his drive down to Oklahoma and he liked it too. We have that on our computer if anyone wants it for a long drive. Its 11 hours.

My surgery and the nose bra

I had a surgery done on my sinuses last Thursday. I had it done because I was always sick with an un-curable sinus infection and I had headaches constatnly from all the pressure. It was really hard to get out of bed in the morning and I was always exhausted. A Dr. brought it to my attention shortly after I had Caiden and I took 4 different anti-biotics since then but nothing worked. I'm pretty sure I have had sinus infections for longer than the past 9 months, i just didn't realize it. I was just used to the pain and the exhaustion. So, I got it done and I thought the recovery would be a lot quicker, but 8 days later and I feel like junk still. The first 4 days were definitly a lot worse but Chris took care of the kids so it worked out. But now I have full responsibility since Chris had to go to Texas for work. So what do I feel like? Pounding headaches, swollen sinuses, dizzy like you wouldn't believe, and NO patience for whiney children. Life isn't too fun right now. I'm perfectly happy, just in pain and waiting for the next month to pass so i can feel like a new woman. It was such a blessing though that my sister Amy came for a friends wedding the day after Chris Left so she has been a huge help. Also, Jessica is moving back to Utah to Life gaurd at seven peaks again this summer so she will be here soon to help out as well. Its hard not having our parents nearby when things like this happen, but I am sooooo thankful for my sisters. I went to a check up today and the Dr. said that the way I am feeling is totally normal and it will just take about 3 more weeks to feel great, or at least good.

On a happier note... this is the "nose bra" I had to wear for a couple of days after the surgery. It held the gauze that caught the blood from my nose. Addysin has no idea how dorky that thing actually is. She is the one that came up with the idea to put it on, not me! Kids love to do what the grown ups are doing, even if its strange.

Washington pictures

Although we didn't have a whole lot of fun on our trip up to Washington, it was still enjoyable when my kids weren't driving me nuts. (If you're are confused then read a couple of posts down) Caiden got better about a week and a half after we got back to Utah and I'm not sure if Addysin was sick the whole time or just an ultra grouchy 2 year old. We only got out of the house a few times in the 8 days we were there, but I'm glad we got to see my grandparents and Chris' family. After getting most of my family sick, and both of my nephews we watched all week, I was relieved we got to see my grandparents without giving them our sickness.

Emily and Caiden

Addysin, Ashley, and Nova

Addysin was talking up a storm to this dead calf that she didn't realize was dead. Then it clicked and she started saying "oh dang it!"

Being a farm girl

Caiden loved it too.

We went to the park one day after Ashley's tennis match.

Austin and Sara

Scott McGary and my mom refinished my parents indoor pool ceiling the week I was there. The white is the old falling ceiling and the new cedar looks great! My mom was really busy with that.

We went to spend some time with Chris' parents and sister's family. It was Matthews 9th birthday.

As we were about to leave Melissa's house I heard Addysin crying in the basement so I ran down. She was laying on the bean bag, after jumping off the couch onto it, and had blood on her forehead. The other two kids down there were just staring at her like "uh oh". She had jumped straight into the corner of an end table. We took her to a Dr. in Connell (a city of 3,500) and she recommended I take her to the emergency room in Tri-cities, which is a 50 minute drive to the hospital. Addysin hardly cryed though so it wasn't a big deal. My mom picked up Caiden. We didn't have to wait at all so that was nice, but the whole ordeal took up our entire Saturday evening.

This was a few minutes after it happened. It didn't bleed as much as I though it would for how deep it was.

This was before she got it glued shut. Happy as ever and loving her pink bracelet!

Gluing is the way to go!

On the drive back we stayed with my friend Terrica in Boise, which is half way, so it worked out perfect since I had no help in the car with Addysin and Caiden. Here is her cute daughter thats 11 months younger than Addysin.

We made it back and I took caiden straight to the doctor that day. He just got over the sickness a couple days ago thanks to amoxicillin. He was sick for about a month.