Marchant Mayhem

Just life!

2011-06-05T17:09:00.000-07:00

As kids get older things get easier but also busier. I didn't think it could get busier than having a bunch of little kids but it does. I love it though. Morgan was in Volleyball, and Austin was in Basketball. Luckily they were at the same place at the same time. That was very helpful. Morgan did a good job. They were learning to serve and Morgan couldn't get the ball over the net. I told her to pretend it was Aden's Head and really give it a wack. I was thinking that that would be a good motivator considering they fight all the time. All she said was, "That wouldn't be very kind mom." And then continued to barely hit the ball. I don't know where she came from she is a lot more delicate than I am. Austin loves basketball. He is very aggressive and really good if you don't take into account double dribbles and traveling (which they let them do other wise they would never play). He would steal the ball from whoever had it and block it. Then he would yell at his teammates waving frantically pass it to me. He is a pretty good shot as well. Of course Ashdon thought that every time we went to Basketball that it was for him.

I have been playing basketball every Wednesday night. It is one of my favorite things. I am not the greatest player but I have a great time. The ladies I play with are wonderful and very funny.

Aden is going into 6th grade. He had a tour of the school and filled out his electives. I thought it was funny because he said he didn't pick one elective because it had a fee. He chose band instead. Little does he know that I will have to buy an instrument for that class which is probably more expensive then that lab fee. Apparently there was a parents night where you could tour the school with your child. Aden was adamant that he didn't want to go. I was thinking I should go and help him to feel comfortable with the school. He said, "Mom, I don't want to go. I already know where everything is and I'm fine. I don't want to go." I said, "Are you sure? You feel ok about going there?" "Yeah Mom, I feel fine about going." So there ya go. I am sending him to a school that I know nothing about, because of course I didn't go. I had plenty of other things to do that night.

For Memorial Weekend we went to Cedar. It was so lovely. It was a bit cold though and I don't like cold. But I just love family and trees and grass. We had a great time. We took family pictures and like always that was very interesting.

Well it's about time!

2011-02-27T20:49:00.001-08:00

I know I know. I just can't seem to find the time to blog but I want this for memories so I am going to try to start again. Today was stake conference and it was good. I always feel like I've been in a wrestling match when all is said and done. I really feel as though I need to wear a comfy outfit to church it would be much easier. I left today with bits and pieces of each talk and I'm hoping the things that I remember are the things that I needed to hear the most. As mom's isn't that what every Sunday is like. I always hope I walk away with one thing to improve on. I think that is one reason why I love adult religion class so much (aka Institute). I love getting into the scriptures and really applying them to my life. I am hoping that I learn how to do that on my own. You would think at my age that wouldn't be an issue but it is. The missionaries came over today and for me it is always a bit awkward trying to talk with them. I don't know why but I run out of things to ask. Anyways, they had sat down and talked for a little while, I realized I didn't ask if they needed a drink or anything. So I say, "Do you guys need something?". I'm thinking water, food, etc. But I could tell by the shifting of positions and his stammering that he thought something totally different. I might as well have said, Why on earth are you here and make it snappy so you can get out of here. I had to quickly try to save it. I felt so retarded. Meanwhile the whole time they are here Austin is throwing a paper airplane, the kids are making noises and there is just a general ruckus going on. Then Maryn takes a nerf gun and shoots Aden in the eye. And then as they are leaving Austin has this balloon that he has blown up way to big and it just pops. It was so loud. I was 2 feet away and my ears were ringing. Austin was holding the balloon so it popped right by his ear. He starts to cry and says my ear is ringing. The look on his face suggested that he thought he did some permanent damage to his ear. And being the loving mother that I am I start cracking up. Then I explain to him that it will go away. It had to be the weirdest day. But good news is a friend of mine has scheduled an appointment to talk to the missionaries and they want to know if they can do it here. I am so excited. We have some good missionaries.
So I have started doing crossing guard. It has been good so far. I work my corner pretty good. Just kidding. It's pretty scary though. Ironically the people who are irritated with us are usually other parents dropping their kids off or picking up.

Surgery!

2010-10-17T13:33:00.000-07:00

There is not much to write this week. We have been stuck in the house and I am not sure if that is harder for Austin, Maryn, Ash or Me. Friday I was going stir crazy. I wanted to sit outside under a tree on some grass, but I live in vegas and my choice was sitting under a trampoline on some sharp rocks. Hmmmm. I didn't do it.

Austins surgery (for tonsils & adenoids) went well. The recovery I have decided is actually the hard part. He hasn't been eating very much because his cheeks hurt? I don't get it and he can't open his mouth wide enough for me to peek inside to take a look either. So I hate it because he looks sick, pale and has little energy. That's what happens when you don't eat. But hopefully he will get better, soon.

Morgan is our graceful one. We were at the springs preserve and she managed to fall off a two foot high brick wall, bruise her thumb and hand, and scrape the side of her leg. We like to call her grace!

Canning Extravaganza! oh and more!

2010-10-10T14:04:00.000-07:00

I have canned and canned and canned. It has been great. I made pear butter and it said to use 6 cps of sugar. Well I just couldn't do that. That is just to much sugar so I put in 1 1/2 cps sugar. You would think that it would not be enough well let me tell you I should have put in maybe 1/4. It is so sweet, but it is also soooooo goood too. I am going to do it again but this time little or no sugar that is for sure. Then I dehydrated pears. Oh man, I don't need chocolate when those are around. I love em. I canned homemade salsa. I have to can some more we are going through it way to fast. I also canned tomato soup. My mother-in-law makes the most delicious homemade tomato soup and every year for my birthday that is was I ask for. But this year I wanted to try it so that I would not have to ask for it when I run out 6 mos. before my birthday. Mind you she doesn't care, and I know this, but I just wanted to try it. Mine is not like hers but still I did it. I made peach, boysenberry jam. MMMM. Is all I have to say. I tried to make fruit leather but I can't get it off the stupid wrap stuff I used. It just chaps my hide like nothing else. I love this type of stuff and now I just need my own orchard, and garden. Someday, until then I will just pretend.

Aden's foot is still bothering him. What to do? His expander is working because now he has quite a gap between his teeth. So now his big teeth can come in with ease. He tried out for both choir and instruments and made it into both. He is really excited and has to go to early morning practice on wed.'s. He is also class representative but is disappointed that he can not run for an office now. He is quite motivated and likes to be involved. I can tell he will keep us really busy but that is good. He is getting better at basketball. I am still screaming my head off at the games though.

Morgan is loving school. Her teacher is really great and she enjoys going. She loves to sing but can't try out for choir until she is in 4th grade. She has more homework than Aden and Austin combined. But she does it and does it fairly quickly so that is good.

Austin is preparing for surgery. He is trying to not be nervous. Heavens I am trying to not be nervous. The healing process it what worries me most. He will have to miss about 7 days of school. I think he is going to go nuts and I know he will drive me nuts in the process. He is constantly asking why. He doesn't mind obeying rules if he knows why it's important. That's good and it's hard. Sometimes I want to yell because I said so that's why.

Maryn is bored most of the day and wants to have a friend over all of the time. I feel bad but what do you do.

Ash just likes to do his own thing and will wander and play. He is talking a lot now and his favorite word is NO!

I have to run to choir so that is all for now.

what! No pictures!

2010-10-03T21:03:00.001-07:00

I just can't seem to download pictures. It's just one more step so it's either blog or pictures I chose blog.

Aden is doing basketball. He loves it and works really hard. He has a great coach who teaches them and rides them hard but the encourages right after. He is great. His last game was intense, they were behind and kept making simple mistakes. But they were able to catch up and then they tied. In this league there is no overtime which we are grateful for I don't think I could have lasted another minute. I had a lady move away from me because I was yelling so much. On the way home Austin asked Aden if he could hear us, and why didn't he listen to us. Austin continued, "Mom was yelling a lot and Dad was yelling in his angry voice." Adam wasn't but it is hard to decipher his loud voice is sometimes his angry voice.

Morgan noticed at the end of sacrament meeting that she had on 2 different shoes. One was dark brown and the other black. I was cracking up which made her cry because she doesn't like anyone laughing at her. I tried to tell her I wasn't laughing at her just about the situation but she didn't get it. She wanted me to go home and get her the same shoes. I couldn't so she had to deal with it.

Maryn's birthday is today. She had a princess party a couple of Friday's ago. In the first 10 minutes one of the girls said this is the best party ever. Yeah that's right. We had fancy punch (sherbet and soda), pink popcorn, pink playdoh (that I made from scratch) and they added fine glitter to it. Then they decorated wands and crowns. After which they jumped, played, had cake, presents, then whoosh quick the party was over and they were all gone. We rushed out the door to the park to meet some friends and then when we got home, my head hit the pillow and I was in a mild coma for the rest of the night. Now she is four and hopefully she will learn to say her g's, c's, d's, s's, etc. Everything is a t so when she says I saw a kitty cat it comes out I taw a titty tat. It's great!

I made a great acorn squash. prepare a squash as normal, peel, core and dice up an apple into fairly small pieces. Add butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, cloves, and allspice. Let it cook for 45 minutes. Then yummo, it tastes a lot like apple pie. My kids loved it too. Now I need to try to sweeten it with agave nectar or honey not sure which.

Well taw taw for now!

funny tid bits

2010-09-27T09:38:00.000-07:00

Maryn calls a praying mantis a pretty mantis not because she thinks it's pretty she just thinks that is what it is called.

Austin was saying prayers and is trying to expand what he is praying for. So at dinner he blessed Grandma and Papa Moore's food and that it would make them healthy and strong. On another occasion he blessed Grandma and Papa marchant to sleep in their beds all night long. Papa marchant does need that help so hopefully it worked for them.

Aden got on braces and an expander (I'll post pictures when I am not to lazy to download them). His mouth hurts and he does an amazing sid the sloth (from ice age) impression. But now that he sounds funny, you can't get him to stop talking. I think like all kids he loves the attention.

Morgan's teacher has them pick words ie, honest, trustworthy, positive, etc. and they have to read the definition, discuss it and try to be that all week. Well as Morgan was arguing with me she said, "Mom, you are making it so hard for me to be a peacemaker!" Yep that was her word and it was the hardest word for her ever.

The Hiney Shot

2010-09-19T21:18:00.000-07:00

So on our way home from church we pass a wal greens where they are advertising a shot. Aden says, "Mom, I don't get it. Why for the hiney shot do they do H1N1?" I couldn't help but crack up. "Because it is the H 1 N 1 shot not the Hini (hiney) shot." Ha Ha ha ha ha.

A quick update: (and by quick I mean really long so enjoy)

*Summer in a nutshell: =craziness! My sister with her six kids was here for a month so of course it was a party every night and day for a month. We, my sister and I, snuck in a camping trip. Two adults and 11 children. It was awesome, and we felt like the coolest mom's ever. It was so great. Then for the month of July we all headed to Cali to help get the yard ready for a wonderful wedding reception for my brother Logan and his wife Amanda. (It was a great wedding and the yard was awesome.) I was in heaven working outside everyday. It was such a bummer to come back to a place where the most yard work is trimming the front bush, yep I said bush singular. 15 minutes after arriving at a pool, rush to 5 different Urgent Cares to get his chin stiched up from a fight with the pavement (the pavement won). Just to learn that he can't swim at all with the stitches in. (Don't worry it was harder on Mom than it was on Austy). August we went to Williams AZ for a rain soaked, wake up to flash flood warnings, trees falling over nearly missing a vehicle because it was so soaked from the rain, quickly throw everything into a vehicle including kids (which isn't easy because camping you have so much stuff anyway), get the van stuck in the mud, get pulled out and cross the flooding river amongst cheers from all the cousins and families, cut the weekend short by a day, camping trip. It was insane! Good times, good memories, Great family, awesome kids.

*After a successful day and a half of homeschooling I realized I didn't like the program and wasn't prepared to teach 3 kids from my home. I couldn't eat, sleep, and breath it like I would need to.

* Signed the kids up for public school (got them some good teachers so they could get a good edumication)

*Started public school on Thursday of the first week of school.

*A totally new respect for Homeschooling ladies

*Because of this, though, we have instituted some great things
1. Scripture study, complete with there own binders that I am very proud of. This is the only part of homeschooling I really enjoyed because I owned it and did what I wanted to do with it. The binders are way neat and studying has made a huge difference in our house. (We're not perfect yet so no translation to Heaven but hopefully we will be better than we were the day before)
2. Super Saturday Activities: I found we waste a lot of time on saturday's. There is no yard work here and so we do our inside chores then waste time. So I have instituted a super saturday activity where we can do science, art, history, cooking, etc. We can do as many as we want. It's not every saturday mind you but this helps me feel as though I am activily teaching my kids something. I am trying to do things they can't do in a classroom because of cost or preparation etc. They will also have a folder where they will do recording, writing, etc. of our activities.
3. I have realized that I am too easy on my kids. I read this book where it showed a paragraph that was written for 14 year olds to read. I could hardly understand it. I was amazed and thought, wow, yeah our kids are smart and they can handle and do more.
4. We also have a morning routine.
5. I am getting organized (I seriously have issues with organizational skills. I would say it is one of my weakest areas, that and consistancy)
6. We are reading more. We are reading as individuals, a family and to kids separately. We did it before but it wasn't consistant. The kids love it, even Aden who could have read a book in one day but waited patiently every night for Adam to read it aloud to him. Why is reading aloud good for kids? Read a book called the Read aloud hand book.
7. We have very little time for T.V. and electronics in general. In fact the rule now is that they don't come on during Monday through Thursday. I want my time to be spent doing better things, important things. Don't get me wrong this is how Adam relaxes and so it does suck me in but it's a bit less now.
8. I am finding the time, desire, energy to actually do the things I have talked about like setting, making, and keeping traditions. Like Fun, Friend Friday. Making things important, spotlighting a child when they accomplish good things.

I hope this lasts. I hope I can be better.

* Found a nice place to go camping 30 minutes away. Yeah! When will we squeeze it in? No idea. But knowing me I will figure out something. Nature is my friend and my peace.

*Went to Cedar City (where I learned that my blog is not updated often enough for someone who says he has no life, I think he lives vicariously through me so all summer he hasn't known what he's done) and helped clean out Cedar Builders. Wow what a huge building but I love working hard. We inventoried, stacked, counted, moved boxes, broke down boxes, broke down huge shelves, swept, ate popcorn. . . and at the end of the day Uncle Kirk decided to have an asthma attack. His first one. Grandma watched the kids, I was in Heaven again. I could work hard for a whole day and the only butt I had to wipe was my own. Yipppeee! Brought home blueberries, and boysenberries.

*Made peach boysenberry jam, lots of smoothies. And one of my favorite snacks, vanilla yogurt, cottage cheese, roasted almonds and frozen blueberries. MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMGood! I am waiting to get completely over a cold and I am making peach boysenberry cobbler. I can't wait.

* Took Austin and Ash to the ENT (Ear, Nose and Throat). Ash is fine of course, why he gets so sick when he has a cold is beyond me. Austy however, has enlarged adenoids that cause dark circles around his eyes because there is not enough airflow to clear it up or something like that. It also causes him to not be able to breath through his nose making him a mouth breather or something of that sort. He has enlarged tonsils, and possibly something in his throat. (they are going to check it out when they put him under). Does he snore the ENT asks? I don't know I don't sleep with him and I have never really noticed. So I say no not really. Then Austin pipes up, "Morgan and Aden say I snore." Oh, I guess I should have consulted with the kids that actually sleep by him.

*Aden is getting some orthodontic work done to correct his bite, spread his mouth open so that all the teeth trying to come in will fit in his mouth. It's expensive but it is so worth it. The smile is everything for a face. I would spend a whole lot more if it meant straight teeth.

*Afternoon activities have started and I feel crazy just thinking about what on earth am I supposed to get the kids to this week. Yeah, I can't remember!

This is us, and i bet it sounds an awful lot like most of you and your crazy lives. We are livin' it up, and living each moment.

The best way to get money out of a cassette player

2010-06-27T21:11:00.000-07:00

Yes I said cassette player. Our car being a 2001 still has that feature. I know you all wish you could have one too. Well Ashdon likes to play in the car and yes put money (change) into the cassette player. I wouldn't really care seeing that we don't own any cassettes anymore, yes I said anymore I am that old. However, it messes up the cd player, the time and the radio. So being the crafty person I am I had to get the money out. I tried tweezers, they aren't long enough and it is hard to pinch them. So I had to get creative. I tried tape, not tacky enough. So I resorted to kabob sticks, and a piece of marshmallow. It works awesome. So there is your tip of the day. Marshmallows get money out of cassette players.

Toys are way cool!

2010-05-28T16:39:00.000-07:00

With Adam's new job. . . Oh wait I don't think I have mentioned that. Adam got a new job. YEAH!! He now works for Farmers as a claims adjuster. He really likes it, although I think he is ready to be done training and out adjusting. I am ready for him to have his company car because one car stinks. Although some friends of ours have been really helpful. There son hurt his foot so could not drive for a while and they let us borrow his car and then they have a scooter that we are currently borrowing. Adam drives it to work and everyday I am grateful to see him walk in the door. The license plate was lost/stolen not sure which so we are waiting for a replacement one. Adam did have an incident on it though. Some guy pulled out in front of him and he swerved so that he would not hit him, the scooter slid from under him, and road rash was received. Luckily Adam was okay, and the scooter is okay too. I am happy that Adam likes his job though, that makes a lot of difference. Now hopefully we can transfer in about 18 months out of las vegas. Don't get me wrong I love where I live, the weather, the people but there are no trees and no grass. I need that! So anyways, one of his toys is a lap top. So right now I am in the car (which is why I have the time) posting on the lap top. He got a lot of cool little toys and loves them.

This is going to be a long post because frankly I have 2 1/2 hours to kill. Sorry no pictures but I will on the next one.

Aden was a part of Battle of the books. It was a neat opportunity. He was a part of a team where they would read 5 books then the librians made questions and they would battle it out like Jeapordy. He was the team leader. I think those opportunities are really good to help them learn and grow. He did really good and could remember a lot. I was really impressed. He never ceases to amaze me by the things he does. I want him to learn to be a good leader because I think leaders, good leaders, are hard to come by these days.

Morgan is an exellent helper. I had to help out with the school fair for 1/2 hour, Adam and Aden were at Battle of the books so what does one do when they have kids that want to play games and I can't do it. Ask a friend to help no let an 8 year old push a stroller around with 2 kids in it and Austin on the loose. She was amazing. Not once did she come looking for me, they had played games and even got their nails painted. They had used all of their tickets so they were just watching the games. I was floored and impressed and so happy. She is so responsible when necessary. I give the kids a lot of responsibility out of necessity and they rise to the occasion and I see a glimpse of the future. Them as competent adults and then they are bickering and fighting again. Back to reality.

Austin - why is it that when he goes to take a shower he will cover himself running down the hall to the bathroom and then not 2 minutes later he will say mom watch me and he's jumping up and down dancing buck naked. That happens on a regular occurance. He is changing, get your head out of the gutters, I've moved on to new topics. His personality . .

This is where lap tops and wireless is not cool. It lost the rest of my post so I'm done now. Sorry to leave you all hanging.

Just Us!

2010-02-28T13:57:00.000-08:00

So we have discovered a fun new game. I actually played this with my uncle Larry but there was no fancy packaging and no written up directions just dice. But it was always so much fun. The game is called Farkle. It's easy enough for the kids to play and for the older one it works a bit on their math skills. Austin is the best at it. I've always thought he would be the rich kid in our family and here is why. First of all he could be a friend with a rock and that rock would love him back. That is just how he is. He loves everyone and anyone. He is just personable and will always have a lot of friends who are willing to do things for him. Second of all he has a ton of luck. Really he should be dead I think his luck is what keeps him alive (actually I know it's not luck and I don' t need a lecture on what it really is). Thirdly, he takes risks because he doesn't think of the consequences or the consequences aren't enough to deter him from what he wants. That is why he will be rich. Anyways, those attributes work well in this game Farkle. He will roll winning combinations that gain him a lot of points. I think out of the three times we played he's won twice and he cried the one time he lost. I don't think he actually thought he could lose it's just not how he thinks.

So Ashdon loves milk of course only in his sippy from Christmas though. He will drink it and play with his hair. It's a comfort thing. But he always wants milk. I've never had a kid like that and I love it because now he mostly sleeps through the night which is great for me. Now if I could only get Maryn to do that too. . . Now that would be something. Ash loves to jump on the trampoline and for 15 months he does a great job. And he hasn't fallen off which is good. His first word was candy at least it sounded an awful lot like candy and he was pointing at it too. Then of course he says Da and Ma. He can also mimic a lot especially pointing his finger. He found out that he has a hole in his nose that his finger fits into just so nicely. He goes in pretty deep too, it looks painful.

Maryn loves to have friends over. In fact her best friend is a boy named colston (spelling may be off). They are the cutest together and get a long so well. I love it. She is constantly asking for friends over. And when she's home all day everyday half of each day with just ash she gets a bit board. I'm going to have to go to play groups again. Yesterday she asked, "Mom, can I have some lmoads?" I said, "What is that!" And then she whispers, " Um, some candy." I think it's funny she's trying to spell things.

Morgan is doing great in school. She went to a birthday party at Build a Bear and boy was she excited. She has a bunny now I can't remember it's name. But who'd a thought that a silly bunny would become the world. It has and that's fine. Today she pretended to be pregnant with this huge balloon. I hate to tell her that if she takes after me she will probably look just like that.

Aden is a reading machine. I think in 3 weeks he has read 12 books and not just little books, books that are for 5th and up and have at least 400 pages. We were reading the Charlie Bone series and he would try to beat me to finish it. I think it would tick him off when he would ask me what page I was on and I would say oh I'm done. So instead of us fighting over one copy (we were both reading them at the same time) he checked them out at the school library. I think we need to get Aden another hobby. He doesn't think he needs another hobby and I'm not opposed to this one it's just good to be well rounded. Side kid (or note): Austin was at the library with a friend and Austin started reading his book. His friend was so amazed that Austin being the same age as he was could just start reading right then and read the whole book. That's right Austin can read. He does a really good job and we are proud of him. Back to Aden. He is a stinker literally he stinks just kidding he's sitting here reading this while I'm typing so I just had to put something weird in here. I like Aden's age it's fun to actually talk and laugh and things make sense.

Anyways, that's us in a nut shell for this last week.

Where to begin. . .

2010-02-21T19:43:00.000-08:00

Let's just say life is crazy and I just haven't wanted to blog. But tonight I guess I feel the need to play catch up through pictures and one liners. We'll see what happens. First and for most Morgan is getting baptized. Wow I can't believe it. She is so wonderful and making such great decisions. If you would like to come you are more than welcome. We can always find places for everyone to stay.

So after Christmas we went to my parents house. My whole family was there and it was a lot of fun. I miss that we can't see each other as often as we would like but we make the most of the time we have. So I got to rake leaves and use the blower. I was so sad when it started to rain and I couldn't do the front yard. Some of you think I'm joking but I love love love the outdoors. I am a sun worshiper and an outside junkie. I love working outside. I neeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeed grass and trees and gardens. Someday? I hope! I Pray!

So anyways while I was outside working my sister suggested we have some fun with the blower and this is the result. I laughed so hard it was so great.

I hope you laughed as much as I did. It still cracks me up. That's a piece of candy flying out of her mouth. Her little sister was happily picking up all of the candy from her siblings that was on the ground. Below is our Christmas Jammies from Grandma Marchant. They are the cutest.

This was Ashdon's favorite present. I swear he was molesting the sippy cup and would scream at anyone who would touch it.
Grandpa and Grandma Moore with all of their grandkids. It was a full house but a fun one.

Well this is a quick recap of our holidays and our life. I can't seem to remember anything unless I have a picture. So maybe next week I'll actually have a good one with a good story or two.

November

2010-01-10T14:45:00.000-08:00

Our first rain and its rare so we always play in it and take pictures. It was cold hence the coats.

At the first of November Adam and Aden went hunting so I got to go to Blythe to pick up my mom and visit Grandma. I love it out there. The open spaces, the memories, and Grandma of course.

If you ever wonder why on earth someone would live in Blythe take a look below.

It was so fun. We played games, chatted and the kids roamed outside unattended and are still alive. So apparently I don't like Thanksgiving. I didn't take a single picture of the event or even our trip to Cedar City. We spent Thanksgiving day with some wonderful friends. There was way to much food but it was soooo good. Then my friend and I dared the black friday. It was interesting. As we left walmart two men were being arrested. Yeah life in Vegas. Also a funny thing there was a line incredibly long for some very cheap Blue ray players. Well I get to Cedar and go to walmart on Saturday and there is a pallet full of these players at the same low price. Note to self next time just go to Cedar and don't get up at 4 in the morning.

Jalepeno Popper dip

2010-01-10T14:32:00.001-08:00

You have to try this. I would just like to say I got a simple dip recipe and Adam and I made it better. So i dare you to try this and not like it.

2 (8 oz) pkg Neufchatel cream cheese, softened
1 cp mayonnaise
1 (4 oz) can chopped green chilies
2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and chopped
1 1/2 cps shredded colby jack cheese
Parmesan Cheese
Bacon 2 slices, chopped

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Stir together the cream cheese, cheese, and mayonnaise in a large bowl until smooth. Cook the bacon, remove leave the pan with the grease add chilies, and jalapenos cook for 2 minutes on medium heat add the bacon stir and let sit on low for 2 more minutes. Stir into the mayonnaise mixture. Pour mixture into casserole dish. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese.
Bake for 30 to 40 minutes in the oven, until the dip is heated through. Serve with crackers, pita chips, bread.

2009-11-09T20:55:00.000-08:00

All the presents and his favorite thing was the yellow bag it came in. Irony!!!

MMMM!! He loves his cupcake.

He could hardly wait for me to take the wrapper off and this was after dinner. I think this poor kid is starving.

He loved his book.

I didn't want to do frosting so I did a light dusting of powdered sugar and I think they turned out quite good. Morgan made the cupcakes and they were so moist. I don't know how she did it but they were soooooo good.

Happy Birthday Ash.

Halloween

2009-11-09T20:43:00.001-08:00

Well we tried to get a picture with all of them but one giraffe was just doing his own thing. Maryn was a cow girl or as she says a tow gurl. Morgan was a pixie and of course I made her costume she looked great I thought. Aden was harry potter and I think he looked an awful lot like him. We sprayed his hair black and that really made a difference. Austin was Ron so of course we sprayed his hair orange. It was fun. I was scooby doo and Adam was Shaggy but we didn't get a picture of it. So Happy Halloween everyone.

My Birthday

2009-11-09T20:24:00.000-08:00

So for my birthday we went camping in Zion's. It was perfect. We loved it. As we drove up there were deer right there. The area was beautiful. We set camp up then went through the tunnel and of course we turned the car lights off. The kids thought it was funny because I would last about one second then start screaming because it was freaking me out. It was so dark in there. Right after the tunnel is a hike though and we were able to go and do that. We went with the Jones' and it was great. Saturday was my birthday and it was the best birthday. It was great to be away from laundry, the house, the dishes. Because let's face it, even though it's your birthday the normal stuff is still there. Well I escaped it and was out in nature. I love nature, I love camping and I love hiking. It was so great. To top it off I got a candle in a smore. You can't ask for more than that.

Funny things

2009-11-09T19:55:00.000-08:00

So a couple of things that stand out in my head are these:

Austin was playing the WII and on it there is a boxing game. So he's moving around like crazy punching the air and yelling "Apricot, Apricot, Apricot!" I thought what is he talking about. So I said Austin what are you saying? Again he says, "Apricot, Apricot!" Austin, do you mean upper cut upper cut. It was great! I still laugh.

Next Morgan rarely does things that are blog funny. But this one is great and she begged me not to blog about it. But I have to so that I can remember it. She was getting ready for Ashdon's birthday blowing up balloons. and I was up here on the computer trying to find a good cake to do for his first birthday. She come's up and says, "mom, the balloons aren't staying up in the air like they are supposed to." It's a good thing she has brown hair.

Ashdon nods yes and it's so cute! He is just so fun and so cute and makes me laugh all of the time but it's hard to explain. He loves the trampoline and his siblings.

Aden is currently hunting and was so excited when papa called and asked him to come out early with my brothers. That is a big compliment to Aden. It's means that they like him and I am so grateful.

Maryn is my shadow. I'm cooking dinner and she comes in and says, "Mom, what are we cooking." Then she plops onto the counter and tries to help. After church yesterday she came home with Adam and they got home first. I come in and she says, "Mom, we beat ya! Woo Hoo!" I then asked, "How did you beat me!" She says, "Easily!"

California camping

2009-11-09T19:39:00.000-08:00

So in August I went home on one condition. That my parents would go camping with me. With year round school we had a two week window and so we did it. Yeah!!! We went camping. We (my dad and I) found a beautiful spot with a river that ran right next to our camp site. It was great. We hiked around, climbed trees, played in the river, and had a great time. There were some ( a ton) of meat bee's though and they were a pain but we endured and had and enjoyable time getting away from everything. Papa even played skipbo with the kids. That's amazing in and of itself. California was nice and it was so great to be with my parents. We were able to go to the Schmoekels to swim and they have a great backyard. We played outside on grass of all things and it was so wonderful. Thanks mom and dad.

Can you say magazine cover?

2009-09-25T23:01:00.000-07:00

I am having the hardest time trying to decide which picture to choose from. He looks so great in all of these. If you have a favorite I'd love to hear it. It was funny because before he was practicing his smile and I was a bit nervous. So I was happy to see that he relaxed and Marissa was able to get some really nice photos. By the way I chose the pool pose for a 10x13 on my wall. It's just me, all of it.

Family Pictures

2009-09-15T16:20:00.000-07:00

We got wonderful and fun family pictures taken. This is by far my favorite photo session. First of all it represents my family so very well. We are who we are, we love who we are, and we have fun being who we are. So now though I need help deciding which family photo should be my 10 x 13. I'm only giving you two options. These were taken by a wonderful photographer Marissa Moss at http://www.marissadphotography.com/ or you can click on my family photo to the right to go to her website.

Sleeping under the Vegas lights

2009-09-06T22:18:00.000-07:00

Well we had a cool night so we had to take advantage. Daddyeo was a great sport and stayed out there with them. I used ashdon as a great excuse and slept in my own bed. The kids loved it though and that's whats important.

July 24th Up to Cedar

2009-08-31T21:11:00.000-07:00

I don't know why but I love shooting and I love guns. It is one of my favorite things and I want to own my own. Someday!! I want to become a really good shot that's my goal. My father-in-laws hand gun is heavy and I stink at shooting it. I couldn't hit anything. I was a little afraid of it too. It just seemed so dangerous. When Austin had it in his hands I was so scared. Of all my kids he'd be the one to shoot someone or his own toe. But Adam was right behind him helping him hold it up. All the boys had a great time and were decent shots themselves. Oh and hand guns are extremely loud. I could not here a thing when I was done. Thanks to Grandma for keeping Ashdon so I could go.

Wow what do they call this neat green stuff?

We went to the green show but the kids didn't want to watch it so we did a lot of tricks in this beautiful green grass. Something we don't see very often living in the desert.
Again we tried to squeeze as much in as we possibly could. Oh so why did we go to Cedar. Well for the 24th of july of course. They have a parade and a breakfast that we just couldn't pass up. Crazy the things we do. We also love to spend time with family and 3 hours is a lot easier to do than 10 hours (to my family).

A blast from the past

2009-08-31T20:39:00.001-07:00

The Fourth of July -
I know but just like my laundry I'm way behind and happy just to be breathing. My parents came for the 4th and so did Logan. We squeezed in as much as you can for a three day weekend. It was fun. We went swimming, on to the Bass Pro Shop to watch the fish feeding, slept a bit. Then off to Mount Charleston for a picnic and hiking. It was a nice short hike but straight up. We reached a small waterfall, complete with graffitti and a Mary statue (I don't know, it was weird). It was beautiful up there and it was so much cooler than vegas. Morgan does not like hiking. I think because it actually takes effort. But I plan on hiking the complaining out of her until she loves it. After which we went to Adrianne and Gregg's House for a fabulous party where we got to not only eat great food but also the wonderful shave ice oh and did I mention illegal fireworks. It was great.

It was so nice to have my parents and Logan here. I'm grateful that they don't mind traveling to see us. We have such a great time. It's never long enough.

Flax Seed Oatmeal anyone

2009-07-31T08:50:00.000-07:00

So I had no idea this happened or how long ago it happened but I found it to be quite funny.
We have in our cupboard some ground flaxseed in one container and in the same type of container oat bran. They look nothing alike mind you just the containers they are in are identical. I don't have them labeled because it's obvious which one is which. Well not to daddy-o. Morgan came down for breakfast and wanted oat bran. So adam made her a bowl. She started eating it and said dad this doesn't taste very good. Well instead of believing her because she waste food all of the time and whines about it he said well let's put some more sugar in it. Now I don't think truck loads of sugar could have made flax seed oatmeal taste any good. So she still complains that it doesn't taste right. So Adam, not wanting to waste food, makes her eat 3 more bites. Which she does complaining the whole time. Well when Adam gets it from her and starts cleaning the bowl he realizes that he'd poured her flax seed rather than oat bran. I don't know but I bet she had some great bowel movements that day!!!!!

Random Goings On

2009-07-23T09:26:00.000-07:00

We were sitting around watching a show and this guy had tattoos all over him. So I was trying to help the kids know that we don't like tattoos by saying, "wow, that is so ugly." And what does Austin say, "No it's not, I love it" AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! I am so scared. Although to his credit he did think they could come off like the ones he's been able to try.

We have had the throw ups at our house recently and when you have so many kids it just seems to stick around forever. So if you don't like throw up stories just skip this paragraph. This particular throw up would come on so suddenly that the kids didn't know what was happening. Well austin had breakfast and of course he wants pancakes (pancakes are not the easiest to clean up the 2nd time around) with food coloring - red no less. Yep you guessed it about an hour later he was sick. He comes to me, "Mom, I threw up and I didn't make it to the toilet." That's okay no big deal. If he didn't look like he was knocking on deaths door I think I'd have made him clean it up. He spewed on the carpet (I'd just barely cleaned and returned the carpet cleaner 3 days before) a trail to the bathroom, on the wall, etc. And then it was as though he'd tilted his head up toward the ceiling (the lid was closed also) and shot it forward. It was everywhere, on the wall, the toilet lid, down the toilet. I had to clean the toilet 3 times and the rest of the bathroom as well. It was nasty. I wanted to throw up after it was all said and done. Even Aden missed my toilet and threw up all over the place. Cheeze - its ! Need I say more. And then he didn't even say anything like Hey mom I just heaved all over your bathroom so don't sit on the toilet. Nothing. Morgan threw up once and then she wanted to go to church. Seriously it's like it didn't even bother her at all. All of the other kids were green and pasty looking and would throw up every 20 minutes for about 6 hours. Austin in particular looked awful. He had it coming out of both ends so had to change clothes a lot. I would find him laying in the hallway naked trying to find more underwear or jammies. He looked liked a Holocaust victim all skin and bones. It was gruesome. So that's enough of that moving on.

Yesterday I was doing laundry and of course the piles both clean and dirty were piled high. I tend to on a regular basis throw the clean clothes in front of the linen closet to folled the clothes at my earliest convenience. Well I throw so more clean clothes on the ever growing pile and about 10 minutes later when I'm transfering the clothes from washer to dryer the pile starts moving. What in the world is going on. Well Austin pops out, he'd slept on the first shelf of the linen closet and I woke him up when I threw more clothes in front of him.

Ashdon is getting teeth every time I look in his mouth it seems there's a new one there. He's all over the place and getting into everything. Last night he stood up and then just stood there longer than he ever has. I think he'll be walking soon.

The other day I was watching some kids and I came down to find that one of the girls was giving Maryn a hair cut. I could believe it. I was sooo mad. The pile of hair on the ground was all I could focus on, she had beautiful hair and a big pile of it lay on the ground. I'm thinking to myself It's just hair it will grow back, it's not worth going to jail over, don't hurt anybody. Just kidding. I did tell the girl to go be with her big sister for a while because I needed to calm down a bit. I called my sister got expert advice on what to do and now she has some layers in her hair. You can't even tell that someone chopped it. So shew.

Morgan found some tampons laying around and asked what they were for. Well I don't want her to think that those topics make me uncomfortable but where do you draw the line? How much info is too much. I told her what it was for and then asked was that too much information and she said no and then hasn't said a thing about it since.

Funny things

2009-07-10T11:13:00.000-07:00

So here are some funny/interesting things going on here.

The difference between Morgan and Austin.

The other night I called the kids in for dinner and they wanted to keep playing so I said, "fine." Well when they came in I was trying to get Ashdon to sleep and so I couldn't get their dinner for them right then. Well Morgan sits there and whines I'm so hungry, I can't wait. Well Austin bounds down the stairs and I asked where he was going. He says, "To get my own dinner of course!" He's a go getter and won't wait for me. He'll take care of himself. We've always said we could leave all the kids here for a week without us and Aden and Morgan would starve to death and Austin would survive.

Maryn was taking care of Ashdon while I finished up Austins reading lesson. (By taking care of I mean she was entertaining him while he was still in his bed) She put her doll in the crib oh did I fail to mention that it was in a large stroller, and every other toy imaginable. Then she comes running out with his blanket wrapped behind her back yelling I'm Suppppper Rynnnners!!

Last night in the middle of the night she threw up. When I went to clean up her bed I noticed that she had tried to clean up her own puke with a towel from the closet. How sad is that. Cute too.

Right before she went to bed she was crying because she wanted popcorn. Well she'd already brushed her teeth and it was time for bed so I said "firmly" Maryn go upstairs get your jammies and go to bed right now. She ran off crying but came back down with her jammies and stammering says, "Mommy, I don't like you screaming at me (and I promise I didn't scream at her)." I said, "Well you need to listen and it's time to go to bed." And in little sobs, "I just really want some popcorn." All in all I'm glad I didn't let her have that goldfish were nasty enough to clean up the second time around.

Austin smelled the popcorn and this is the conversation Adam overheard. Austin was talking to Aden. "Dad made popcorn and we just brushed our teeth. Why do they always make popcorn after we go to bed. I loovve popcorn."

Explorer of the Month

2009-07-08T21:56:00.000-07:00

Each teacher gets to pick one kid for Explorer of the month. Morgan got chosen. She was so excited. Congratulations Morgan! We are so proud.

Aden kept saying, "I don't get it, I do everything right, I pay attention, do my work and I never get chosen for Explorer of the Month. I just don't get it." He didn't even tell her congratulations I don't think. Then she left her medal (they get a really neat medal too not just a peace of paper) in the classroom and asked Ms. Wiatt if she could go get it. Well Aden was so put out that Morgan made him wait in the hot sun. He came home, "I'm so mad at Morgan, she made me wait in the hot, hot sun for 10 minutes just to go back and get her thing. She could have gotten it tomorrow but instead she wanted to make me wait in the hot sun." He's

Making Lemonade out of Lemons

2009-07-01T23:05:00.000-07:00

Life is fun when you're poor. We can find amusement out of anything. Even a backyard full of rocks, sharp and pointy, can be fun. First the kids use the rocks for baseballs and hit them with an oar. But recently they decided to find some soot and play in that.

Ashdon is climbing the stairs now.

The kids recently were allowed to do voice over's like their dad. He got the snowball out (microphone) and let them read lines into it. If I knew how to put sound bytes into this blog I'd add them here but I can't so to bad for you. It was great and the kids enjoyed hearing their voices. It's funny that now because we don't have tape recorders they don't have the opportunity to hear themselves. So this was their first time and Aden was wigging out about his.

Austin is doing amazingly well with his reading. I'm enjoying seeing his progress.

There's another new post down below as well so read on.

Really where does time go

2009-07-01T21:12:00.000-07:00

Aden's Birthday Party. It was the best party ever and Adam and I are the coolest parents ever. First I stayed up until 2 am making the invitations because we decided the day before that we would do Aden's party on Saturday. And that night we had also gone to the Drive in to see the movie up. Tuesday is Bargain Night so Adults are $4.25 and kids are $1 if over 5. It's a great deal for us and the kids have a great time. So I made the invitations, tore the paper around the edges, used my ink pad to make it look rustic, then rolled them up and secured them with some wire with a bead on it to make it look fancy. You can scroll down to see the unrolled invite. We decorated the front entrance with drift wood and the treasure chest with it's missing treasure. I made a way cool treasure chest cake. Adam finished it off with the latch he made from a washer and the foil from eaten rolos candy (Pretty clever). Then they helped make a pirate flag for Aden's Bay. Then Adam and I made up a way cool treasure hunt. We had them go all over the neighborhood with surprise attacks. It was great. They started out back to get there pirate garb on, headed to the neighbors to get their Ammo (water balloons) to defend themselves against the dreaded Pirate Adam and Morgan who were hiding behind the walls. Then off to another neighbors house where they were attacked with very cool squirt guns. By the pirates Austin and Morgan. At the door they had to say, "I be a pretty pink pony, who prances around in the sunshine." Before she would give them there clue. They had to go to the Paseo then out to an open field to dig for their treasure. By the time they got in the house they were completely exhausted. I asked who wants chips, cake, etc. And none of them wanted anything just a lot of kool aid and water. It was awesome. They were all using pirate lingo and everything. The party was 2 hours long with the majority of it outside searching for treasure. It was great!!!!

Ashdon is all over the place - the Army crawl is still his favorite. Today he was chasing Maryn all over the house (bottom floor that is) because she was rushing around pushing a stroller that he wanted. He gets so bored with the same old thing. He likes to be moving around, usually with me as the pilot, seeing new things. His top 2 teeth are trying to come in simultaneously. That's just a tad bit irritating especially to the ta ta's if you know what I mean. He loves to stand in the bath tub and suck on the spout where the water comes out but then he practically drowns himself with water. Yet he'll continue to do it over and over again.

A picture post

2009-05-31T23:14:00.000-07:00

So here is an update with pictures.

My Brother and his family came to visit. I don't know why but I don't have a single picture of his wife and I feel awful. We had a really good time. It was fun to have them here and to just play around. We had a fun time with the game called PIT. Don't have to have much brain just a loud mouth and we are all really good at that. Here is my bro riding the skateboard. I was way impressed that he could do it. He biffed it twice but other than that did an awesome job.

Here are the girls in the backyard playing with the rocks. We couldn't get them all to look at the same time. It was one or the other.

Austin was in Basketball with the community center. He loved it and he improved immensely. Here he is with Coach Cookie (I thought it was a weird nick name considering I have an uncle that has the same nick name and actually uses it on a regular basis too.)

He was great at stealing the ball from his opponents. He wasn't the best at dribbling down the court but by the end of the classes he was doing much better.

I just put this one on because it reminded me of the swimsuit editions in magazines. Here's our model in training. Just kidding.

Ashdon's first time swimming and shocker he loved it. What a cutey. Who is getting around quite well. Still not completely crawling but will army crawl everywhere, eat everything on the ground, and is now pulling himself up to things and standing. He loves to stand it is his favorite thing. He is so completely happy. I think he wants to run around and be just one of the big kids. His skin is awful he feels like an alligator or something with really rough skin. Maryn's skin however has cleared up completely when I changed detergents.

Memorial weekend I was getting the bug to just get out of dodge and do something. So Saturday we rushed over to Boulder City (which I love because it has big trees and grass. You feel like your in a regular small town) to the BEST DAM (as in Hoover dam) BBQ. The kids did a 3 legged race and one a cookie, they also did a seed spitting contest, and tug of war. Smart n Final had a booth and was giving away free candy bars and things. Ithink that was the kids favorite part. Then we rushed home to go swimming with some friends, then rushed home again to go out to dinner for ad's birthday. It was a busy fun day. Well on Monday I didn't just want to sit around and do nothing so again I hauled my family to Mount Charleston. BEAUTIFUL!!!!!! We had a picnic lunch and then went on a hike. I thought I picked a fairly easy hike but it was a steady incline all the way. The kids did great and as you can see it wore ashdon right out all that walking. This was at the top of the hike.
The hike led to a creek and then a small canyon we think. We saw the creek and decided that was far enough for the kids. They took their shoes off and played in the water. Aden kept asking if the water was okay to drink and it probably was but I didn't want to risk it.

We stopped a lot to remove rocks from our shoes. I guess that's what we get when we wear crocs to go hiking.

What a handsome guy. Adam was great and indulged me. We sure were tired and wished we had Tuesday to rest.

What a cute bunch of kids.

Funny things!

2009-05-24T21:57:00.000-07:00

So just a quick (yeah right) update on us:

We've been doing a lot and I am drawing a blank so here are the highlights of the kids

Aden: Aden is getting older and now I realize I need to read his books before he reads them. Mind you he will stay up for hours reading. We have to tell him to stop reading and to be honest he is so quiet we forget about him. So He checked a book out of the school library called Ice Fire. No biggy seems alright. Well after he is all finished he tells me about a part in the book where this guy is kissing another guys girlfriend and I'm praying that that is all they are doing. And then I'm wondering how much is it describing because I know some of the books I read and how descriptive they were. I wanted to ask how much did it describe and please tell me it didn't say anything about hands moving around anywhere. I tell ya I don't have time to read my own books let alone his books too. So we talked about it and how kissing is not good until you are older. He said, "Yeah this guy was in college. But why would someone writing a book for kids put kissing in it!" I'm thinking the same thing. Aden seems so older than his age it is hard. We have him practicing babysitting and let me tell you he is really stepping it up. He does a great job and wants a list of things he has to do. It's great to watch his whole demeanor change when he knows he's in charge. The hard thing though is a friend of ours pays her daughter. I don't know what to do I never got paid it was just expected. I can understand her reasoning but at the same time I don't know what to do. We are thinking of just giving him some more privileges. Ah we'll see. He also did his hair one day this week. It is a step up from him not caring that he looks like a cockatoo.

Morgan: Morgan has lost 4 teeth. One in December that still has not come in. Aden's have come in pretty straight. i'm afraid that morgans are going to come in all messed up. So far not too bad. She was part of a spotlight in school. Adam and I had to write her a letter telling her why we appreciate her. That was really fun. You hope your kids know that you love them but it's good for them to hear specifics as to why. One big thing that both Adam and I wrote was about how big a help she is with Ashdon and Maryn. It's hard separating Morgan and Aden. We require so much from her and from Aden that they sometimes seem the same age but alas they are not and I don't know how to fix that. She loves to make funny faces when we take her picture.

Austin: So funny story. I was nursing Ashdon and Austin asked, "Why does milk come out of your boobies." I replied, "To feed the baby and that is how God made it. It's healthy for them and that's just how it is." Austin stares at me for a while then says, "I wish I could suck on your boobies, but I can't." I tell you what I was rollin laughing so hard tears were coming out. Eventually he said, "Mom stop laughing." To which I replied, "I can't that was so funny but don't say it again." I was having a very stressful day one day and he had been around me when I was destressing by telling Adam everything. When we get home he goes to play with the neighbors. Shortly I get a phone call, "So Austin tell's me your having a very crappy day." So I have to be careful what I say around him. I often think he's in his own world but he definately absorbs a lot.

Maryn: She loves to dance and shake her hips. I'm sure she got her moves from her dad. Heaven knows my hips don't move that way. She also has a fun boobie story. She came to me one day and asked why I had boobies so I answer and I tell her that someday when she is older she will have boobies too. With a look of awww. "I will have boobies too when I grow up." Yep "I'm going to go tell Austy that I will have boobies when I grow up" I'm sure the Austy will experience a little boobie envy.

Ashdon: He gets around and eats a lot. It costs about 15 dollars a week jus to feed that kid. I can't believe it. But he sure is happier when he's full. He'll be on his stomach and he does the army crawl really well, he'll stiffen his legs and toes to raise his body off of the floor in an effort to cover more space. He also tries to pull himself up to things already. I can't believe it time flies. Just an update Adam didn't fax the paper over for the voting for cutest baby until 5:10 and the cut off was 5:00 so he missed it. We still know that he is the cutest baby.

So in a nutshell that's us.

Vote for ME!!

2009-05-10T21:00:00.000-07:00

So we've entered ashdon into a baby contest. We are not sure if voting makes a difference but just in case if you have a few minutes could you stop by www.kwnr.com and vote for ashdon. As of Sunday night it is not up yet but hopefully it will be soon.

Now on to the good stuff. Mothers day was good. I chose to celebrate it on Saturday so I could actually enjoy it. And it made sunday not so bad. Sunday's a terrible day to have Mother's and Father's day. So I changed it and I'm so glad I did. Adam cooked breakfast while I slept in, the kids gave me a pedicure complete with scrubbing off the dead skin. Then presents and I got many sweet things from my kids. Aden and morgan of course made stuff at school so Austin not to be outdone ran downstairs and came back up with a grocery bag taped to a newspaper ad. "Here mom it's a magazine holder so you don't get your hands dirty." Man that kid just takes care of himself. He adjusts so easily it's awesome. Aden had to go outside and didn't have a shirt on instead of going upstairs he slips on one of Ashdon's onsies. He wouldn't let me get a picture but I don't see stairs in our next house. We are all to lazy for that. So a bit of bad news for Aden. His bike was stolen. We are not sure when or how but pretty sure it was when the kids were outside playing. We leave the garage open so they can get in easily. They come in and out about a gazillion times. And now no bike. I feel just ticked off that someone thinks they have to right to our things. We've prayed to get it back but it hasn't landed on our doorstep. That would be nice. We've searched and searched for it. To no avail. Morgan has been well just wonderful as always. She is my big helper and yes she complains but she does a lot for me and I appreciate her. She still has her snaggle tooth and can't seem to pull it I'm so tempted to do it in her sleep. Austin is doing basketball and loves it. I love the community center. It's a skills class and they are teaching them some really good stuff. The games are the best and him running up and down the court waving is precious. Maryn is two but thinks she's three because the kids confuse her. And she doesn't believe me when I tell her she's just two. She went up on the stand with the older kids today to sing for primary. She and Austin waved to me. I was on the second row because I had to lead so that was fun. Ashdon is sitting up sometimes he falls but for the most part he does great. He can creep or roll across the entire floor to get what he wants. He's amazing. I'm afraid he'll be crawling really soon and then walking because he loves to stand. He wants to be with the big kids so bad.

Scentsy Consultant

2009-04-23T10:22:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to let everyone know that I am a scentsy consultant. I'm having a big open house here at my house on Friday, May 1st, from 4-6 pm. Kids are welcome! And everyone is invited. This is something new for me and very intimidating so I thought I'd just through this on my blog for all of those who read it and if you like this and are not from here you can still order things off my website by clicking the scentsy button on the side bar. Thanks so much, Kollen

Cha Ching Easter Came!!

2009-04-13T14:56:00.000-07:00

Well this is going to go backwards because that's just how it is.

wanted some pictures of Easter so I took some of our kids. Here are my lovely boys. Wow is all I have to say!!!

And beeeaauuutifulllll!!! Oh except for morgans snaggle tooth which is loose and is stuck in a funky position. And I'm probably the only that notices.

Okay so this above picture has some explaining to do. On Saturday we went to an Easter Egg Hunt here in our neighborhood. We got a free breakfast from Sonic. It was pretty good and they were very generous. Then the hunts were scheduled at different times by age group and wouldn't you know I had one in each age group. They had it all spread out so that I would have to be there from 10:30 to 12:30. Crazy. And then to top it off the kids in the front of the pack get 9 eggs and then those who are a little slower get like 1 or 2. So needless to say Austin was crying. Maryn didn't care she just wanted to open the eggs she had and eat the candy. So we did two age groups and then went to another Easter Egg Hunt sponsored by a church. There's are the best because they do it all at once and have it sectioned off for each age group if that makes any sense. And then they have a raffle afterwards (we didn't have to purchase raffle tickets they just gave you one per kid). Now this is where it's good to have a gazzillion kids. We first one the raffle for the girls ages 2-4 for Maryn so she got that lovely piano that's in the picture. I was thinking cool we never win anything. And then Aden's ticket won the grand prize which was a Nintendo DS. I can not tell you how long he has wanted one of those. I was screaming kind of. Cuz I don't like to bring to much attention to myself but you can't look ungrateful and just say oh look it's me I won again. So I gave the ladies hugs and I'm sure they wanted to convert me to there church which did sound appealing it being casual dress and all and only an hour. But I think I'll stick with the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints it being the true church and all. I felt a little guilty but not too much. Morgan was all upset because she didn't win anything and that wasn't fair. I said hey the DS is for all of us and then of course Aden starts getting all possesive. Hey it was my ticket. I tell you what I'm gonna go give that DS back and let somebody else have it. Anyways, And then after that I had to go to Albertsons because strawberries were on sale for 99 cents a lb. You can't beat that and I needed to make more strawberry jam. So while I was in there I keep hearing this thing about an easter egg hunt so I call adam tell him to bring the kids into the store. They hide eggs in 3 or 4 isles and let the kids go at it for about 2 minutes. Then they hand out these fabulous prizes. Again Austin is crying because he couldn't find any eggs. But I helped Aden because I saw a lady hiding some after they'd started. So he generously gave Austin an egg. So in a nutshell the kids made bank on easter stuff. Maryn - Barbie, water gun, goggles, piano, and candy which was her favorite part Austin - Soccer ball, pen, paper pad Morgan - Hannah Montana doll wooo whooo Aden - Shirt, pen, and a nerf gun
I tell ya I felt like I had a million bucks. I was so tempted to go play a slot machine cuz I bet I'd a won the jack pot. To bad I don't believe in gambling. I'm glad the night before when we were coloring Easter Eggs we talked about the importance of easter and the true meaning of it. Adam gave an object lesson that the kids could really understand. I hope that sticks out in there memories better then all they stuff they got for free. The Easter bunny was generous and brought DS games.
On Easter the Easter bunny did an Easter Egg Treasure Hunt sending the kids up and down the stairs hunting for their clues. It was great and the kids absolutely loved it. All of the said that this was the best Easter Ever. Well Thank you Easter Bunny.

So we were able to go to Blythe for my Grandpa's Birthday. It was so wonderful seeing them and some of my other relatives. Well my grandparents have some citrus trees which there is nothing better than eating fruit fresh from the tree. So in this picture is the contrast from a store bought lemon and a good lemon from the tree. The first fruit is a grapefruit, then a lemon from grandpa's tree, then a store bought lemon. We are paying to get ripped off is all I have to say. While we were picking fruit Austin wanted to eat a lemon. I told him it was sour but he didn't care he wanted it. So I peeled it for him took a sliver off like an orange and he put the whole piece in his mouth. Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha. His eye's were watering he could hardly stand it. It was the funniest thing ever because it's just like Austin. He hands me the rest of the lemon and says, I don't want anymore. Ya think ha ha ha ha ha.

We got to go Ice Skating for a friends party. They had a skate for Maryn. She could hardly stand up well with daddy but with me helping her she did better. But she only lasted about 5 min The kids had a great time though and really enjoyed themselves.

These are my very cute grandparents. I love them so much.!

Let's see now, Ashdon is trying to sit up, he has 2 bottom teeth and he loves to stick his tongue out and blow making the tongue vibrate against his lips.

Maryn is a poser and loves to pose for pictures often sticking her but out I don't know where she gets that from.

And now I have to go so I will post more later

Help!

2009-04-13T10:38:00.000-07:00

Well I want to post pictures but the browse button doesn't work so until I can figure it out or it fixes itself I won't be posting much of anything.

Austin. . .is anyone home .

2009-04-03T22:08:00.001-07:00

Sometimes I wonder if Austin is running on all cylinders. He reminds me of my brother whom we always said was in Lolo's land. And he'll admit that he was often wandering in his thoughts. I cannot tell you how many times I've thought "What in the Hell's the matter with you!", or a wonderful phrase learned from my father. .. Use your head. It takes all of my strength to not strangle him. So today he's eating almonds. I like that he enjoys nuts because they are healthy for you. He's throwing them in the air and trying to catch them in his mouth. I'm trying to get ready for company so I'm not really paying much attention. I come down to the kitchen a little bit later to throw something away and in the trash are about 20 to 30 nuts. I just bought the bag of nuts yesterday and they are not cheap. So I'm livid. Why are these nuts in the trash???? Austin says, well they fell on the ground so I had to throw them away (He's so much like his father no 10 second rule or nothing). I didn't know what to say except here is what I said. What is wrong with you? I just mopped the floor so they are not even dirty, and that's a waste of money, I can't believe you would do that. You can't have anymore nuts and you are going to eat those out of the trash can. Blah blah blah blah. So being the good son that he is he comes to the trash and timidly grabs an almond and just as he's about to put it into his mouth.....I come to my senses and say don't eat it. Whew that was close! Anyways, needless to say he's forgotten about it completely. He's in Austy land it must be nice there, he's there a lot.

On another note, Aden tried a new cereal today. Instead of pouring a small bowl just to taste it he pours his normal size which is a lot. He then decides he doesn't like it. I again get irritated because it's such a waste so I tell him your going to eat it. He gags down a couple more bites and then decides he's done. I say fine but your owe me 5 dollars. He comes down with 5 dollars in change, "Morgan wastes food all of the time and she doesn't have to pay money for it. Why do I have to do it." I can't believe he actually got money. He must of really not liked that cereal.

So I think I'm borderline pshycotic maybe one of these days I'll have something that doesn't make me seem so crazy.

Kids are mean

2009-03-24T16:36:00.000-07:00

Today Aden came home from school and said he'd had a bad day but that he wanted to tell me about it in private. He didn't want Morgan and Austin to hear. He said two of his good friends said, "No offense, but your annoying!" And then he proceeds to tell me the other reasons he thinks these two boys are not his friends anymore. They used to be good friends but now they are being rude. I'm so sad for my son. I want to make it all better but there is nothing I can do and I'm pretty sure I went through the same thing. And I turned out all right.

Expensive Popsicles

2009-03-18T22:02:00.000-07:00

So this is just an add on to the post below because believe it or not both of these things happened today. So I was going to play battleship with austin when I heard Maryn in the bathroom kind of choking on something. Well she decided to drink some baby oil. So I call poison control I should have just called my sister cuz she's amazing and always knows what to do. But I usually do and I was trying to be independent and grown up and all. So Poison control says you better take her in because if it gets into her lungs it will coat the lining of the lungs and could cause pnuemonia or other breathing issues and where she has breathing issues to begin with. He says we are going to call the hospital and let them know that you are coming and give them some recomendations of what to do. The emergency room doctor was like what are you doing here. I don't think there is anything wrong but we'll keep her for observation. So Austin and Maryn got a popsicle. And maryn was totally fine. AAAAHHHHH $$$$$$$$$ is all I could think as the clock was ticking. We were only there for about 1 1/2 hours so not to bad but man what a day.

A Warning!!

2009-03-18T11:47:00.000-07:00

Life is full of surprises and full of adventure. So I've started walking with a friend of mine let's just say to be healthy. So we decided to walk to the park because it is park day and then we could play afterwards. So Austin first falls off of his bike and biffs it. Then he stops at the play ground and I think I should just yell at him and let him know that we are going around one more time. Well I didn't heed that little prompting It's austin he's a survivor He knows cuz I told him I was walking around the park. Well I can't see him and then I see him riding his bike on the other side closest to the major road. So we cut across trying to catch him and then I don't see him. I overhear a lady saying something about a little boy on a bike so I say have you seen my little boy. She says yeah he's way down there so I start taking off running. She yells you need a car he is way down there. I yell I don't have a car. Do you think the security guy in the car comes to help noooooo stupid idiot. So I'm running mind you I'm not a runner and I'm way out of shape so I see this police man and I flag him over so he get's all of the information and takes off down the street. I'm thinking Austin must have gone home swear words are running through my head and coming out of my mouth. I'm asking people that I see if they've seen a little boy. NO, NO, NO what where is he did somebody grab him swear swear swear and swear some more. The cop finds me again gets my address calls other cops etc. I'm totally freaking out meanwhile trying to run home as fast as I can. I get home and I think he's got to be here he has to be sure enough he's not home aaaaaahhhhh. I jump in the car go to the neighbors where he has a friend he's not there either. I start going back towards the park and the cop finds me and yells He's at the park! OH hallelujah!. So I'm trying to drive the speed limit mind you it's 35 then the officer yells something at me on his mega phone I think it something like slow down the speed limit is 35. I don't know but I get there and he's with my friend rachel, she has her daughter and my other 2. So Austin had just continued riding around the park yelling and crying for me like he was supposed to. My neighbor jumped in her car, my other neighbor jumped on her bike and went up the paseo checking places where cars couldn't go. How awesome are the people I know. Needless to say I've learned several lessons today. 1 - Keep all kids in eye sight and tell them to stay close if walking around the park. 2 - if you get separated find the security guy and stay with them 3 - Don't believe the lady who tells you he's way down the street. 4 - drive the speed limit even if your kid is lost 5 - It's good to involve the whole neighbor because then you feel more embarrassed 6 - It's good to have a lot of friends who will drop everything and help you out 7 - Stay in shape because if you have to run to save your kids you don't want to let them down because you couldn't keep running a mile home. Hope your day is not as eventful as mine.

People Suck

2009-03-13T18:32:00.000-07:00

This post is for me to vent and for my family and friends who want to see my deep dark side. I am so angry and hurt. I bent over backwards for a lady and she screwed me and played like she had no idea. What the heck is a matter with people and why do I have to be so nice. Why, why, why!!! I'm grateful to Heavenly Father for amazing control. Control over emotions, feelings, temper and the desire to spout so many bad words and hurl them at this lady and not doing it. I would hate myself after and could get me into a lot of trouble but then I stew over it for days wishing I would have said what was on my mind. But all in all I know that it would make no difference. People justify in there own minds that they are right. I hope she enjoys hell. Apart of me does and then oddly enough the other part of me hopes and wishes that she finds peace, love, and happiness and that the money she took from me will help her out. I hate that I have compassion for her but I love that I have compassion for her. How can I feel two ways and it depends on the time of day as to which feeling is stronger. I'm grateful to Heavenly Father who loves me enough to give me the gift of control, love, and compassion. But the natural man in me wants to fight it and hate her. Over all I know that if I saw her I would still smile and I would still say hello because I am just that way. And dadgummit I'm glad I'm that way for the most part. Just so some of you know we got sued. And the judge could have cared less about anything we said and awarded her. And she knew, because it was explained to her several times but of course she claims she didn't know and the contract was crappy so that's our bad and boy are we paying for it and it didn't even matter that we had a witness nothing mattered. All I know is that Adam and I have worked our butts off for everything we have. We are honest to a fault, honest in our dealings, we pay our debts and obligations and everything we have we have worked for. Nothing has been handed to us. We can attend the temple worthily and partake of the blessings there. We have a wonderful, beautiful family, great healthy kids. And despite everything I am happy and I'm still smiling, and I'm still so greatful to the lord for the many blessings he's given to me because I have so much more than most. I love the Lord, My Heavenly Father, the gospel, my husband, my kids, my family, my friends and sometimes when it's all said and done my trials (not right now but I know that I'll look back on this some day and say wow we made it through that can you believe it).

Coolest mom Ever

2009-03-03T21:51:00.000-08:00

I am the coolest mom ever. Actually once in a while I will do something that goes above and beyond regular mother things at least for me. So I did some cooking classes for my kids and of course I didn't take a picture so no pic's again. Well each kid got to choose 2 friends to come to their class. I did 3 different classes for the my kids so that it would be age appropriate and not so crowded. Well Aden did chocolate snickerdoodles, morgan did an apple spice cookie (yuuuuummmmy) and austin did chocolate pudding, and lunch. I have to say the class I enjoyed the most was Austins. They were just so excited and loved mixing and pouring the ingredients. It was great. I mostly did it so that my kids can learn to cook and use fractions but they enjoyed just about everything. So that's my post Kudos to me.

ungrateful kids

2009-02-15T21:41:00.000-08:00

ST. Valentine comes every year knocks on the door and leaves presents. Well this year he got Madagascar 2. It being a little more expensive that and some M&M's were the only thing he brought. The kids get the door and the first thing that comes out of their mouths is. That's all. Last year we got more things. I was livid. Morgan was ready to cry because there wasn't more and all i wanted to do was take the present back and everything the kids own back. I usually take pictures but I had no desire too have that memory documented in a photo. So needless to say no picture with this post. Aden is getting really good at babysitting. So we were able to go to In-n-out with some good friends. In-n-Out you may ask, is not a very romantic place to go for valentines. However, it's colors are red and white and we had a gift card so we were able to go and do that (thanks, uncle bubby) After that our friends were very accommodating and came back to our house for Dessert. It was so nice and so fun.

The other day the kids were showing how far they could stretch sitting on the ground, with their legs in front and bending over touching their foreheads to the ground. Well Maryn tried it and not being able to do it she then laid flat on her belly and put her forehead on the ground. "See, I can do it!"

Aden said, "I've learned not to tell adults things." I said what do you mean. He said, "Well, I just know not to tell them things that I know that they don't know. I know to not tell them how things are supposed to be done."

So Adam didn't think he had to worry about his girls til later but no it has started already. A lady came up to me one day and said her son had a crush on morgan. No big deal she can't stand the kid. So I go to her school to help out in the class during the valentines party. I really go because Austin and Maryn walk away feeling like they had a valentines party too. Anyways, so there is this big valentine bag on this boys desk and someone asks "who's that for." I thought surely for the teacher. He said, It's for Morgan. I couldn't believe it. This kid bought her a card that said, How long will i love you on the inside is a hamster and it says furever. (not a typo) He also got her a large heart shaped box of chocolates that said you are special, and a soft pick stuffed dog. It was crazy. What are the parents thinking. The mom who was also there said yeah I've scrapbooked a page that says Ryan's firstgrade crush. AWWWWWWWW Adam is wigging out about it. Heck so am I.

Austin spins his arm around like it's not in the socket. So he's spinning it and says hey mom I'm going so fast you can't even see my arm can you. Can you see my arm. Nope I told you. Just so you know I could see it.

Brotherly Love

2009-01-30T14:40:00.000-08:00

So I had all of the funny things my kids have done written down in a note pad. Little did I know or care that it was Maryn's so it had been taken away from me and I don't know where she put it. However there have been a few things that have happened that I do remember so a post is in order or those memories soon will disappear. That's what happens when you are me and don't remember anything. Speaking of I have watched a movie called the "The Fountain" . It was the dumbest movie so I didn't actually watch the whole thing just parts here and there. Well I could have sworn I watched it with Adam(my husband) but he swears he's never seen it. I think he is playing a cruel joke on me but I've sworn at him so many times that it was him and he still hasn't broken down. I really would like to know who it was I watched that movie with because I'm drawing a complete blank. So if it was someone who reads my blog please let me know I really need closure and waiting to die to find out is not fun.
So anyways, the other day Morgan came home early from school. Aden is in charge of getting her and making sure they both get home together after school is over. He came home and said mom is morgan home. I was so worried and stressed. I asked a kid in her class and he said she had gone home. So I walked to the bike rack and her bike was still there. So I had to go back and make sure she wasn't still here somewhere." So I said, "Yeah I brought her home early because she said she was sick but she's not really sick." Aden said, "What!! All that stress and worry. I was so worried about her." I thought that was so sweet. And then to top it off he brought her bike home along with his scooter. Sometimes you wonder if your kids really like each other and then they do things like this. It was great.
Aden is also experiencing some B.O. issues. For crying out loud he's only 8. He'd also gone to a birthday party that was a rock band theme and came home with a fohawk (I don't know how to spell that correctly). Half was sprayed pitch black and the other half green. It was crazy he looked so much older and all of the sudden I thought it won't be long before he'll be a teenager and what if he wants his hair like this. And oh my goodness he looks really cool to top it off. If I were a girl his age I'd be all over that. That's crazy. I don't want him to get older. I don't want girls to like him just yet but they do. Wow! Life is crazy.
The other thing is the kids have been playing house lately and Ashdon is the baby for them. He doesn't last very long in there but hey they take him for a little bit. Morgan is the best helper of them all. She always wants ashdon to hold him and take care of him. She is going to be a great mom someday. She reminds me of Vanessa when we were growing up. I could really care less about holding people's babies and taking care of them but she would love it.
I had lost my credit card for about 2 weeks. Now I knew it was in the house I just couldn't find where it was and let me tell you I tore apart the house in the places I thought it should be. Well I was sitting here at the computer and all of the sudden Maryn comes walking out from her bedroom holding it up. Where she had it I do not know but I'm glad she found it.
Well I've got to go enjoy this 65 degree weather so going on a walk now.

A new look

2009-01-16T11:14:00.001-08:00

My hair before my new hair cut. Pretty wild if you ask me.

Auntie Adee preparing for the new cut? AHHHHHH!!!

During the process. I don't think I like this very much! Get me outta here!! Where's my mom? Oh yeah she's the one ignoring me and taking pictures of this torture.

TA DAAAAAH!! My new hair cut. I look Sexy. I need to work on smiling for the camera though.

Never re-read your own blog

2009-01-11T23:06:00.000-08:00

So I frequently make fun of people who spell incorrectly or make mistakes on their blogs because sometimes it's really funny. But I have been put in my place. Adam decided to actually read our blog tonight and I'm terrible. I have so many mistakes. He's cracking up and saying he thinks he needs to take over the blog. Yah right. So for now I will just stop making fun of others cuz mine is awful. So sorry to all of you who've had to read this and notice all of my errors. I blame it on being incredibly late every time I have time to do this. Oh and having the TV on doesn't help either because it distracts me. Anyways, to the good stuff. Ashdon laughed today. It was just timid like he was trying it out but he did it several times. It is the cutest. He's also sleeping great at night which I love. Maryn wanted a carrot but I was about to serve dinner so I said no. So she gets into the fridge, gets a carrot, looks at me, holds the carrot up and says, "Ah ha, I got a carrot!" And then she ran off. I didn't even try to get it from her. First of all it's a carrot and second it was really funny. She's also regressing. The other day she fell asleep with a pacifier in her mouth. I took pictures and I left it in there because I thought it was funny. Now when she's hurt she asks for her ba ba or fire fighter (pacifier but it sounds like fire fighter). The other night at dinner prayer it was her turn so I was helping her. It went something like this. "Thank you for this food, bless it to make us big and strong," and then we usually end it, so I said "in the name," And instead of repeating it she says bless us to play the Wiif (Which is Wii but she always adds an f). And then she ends the prayer. She also was playing with a pretend phone and she had a conversation with herself but it went something like this. "Oh yeah, I got it from santa. I looooooooooove itttttttt, It's my faaaaaaaavorite. Bye bye I love you." Austin believe it or not didn't do anything this week that really stands out. Unless you count not listening, beligerantly saying no and talking back. I swear he's gotten away with to much and now he thinks he can do what he wants. Morgan is just, well clutsy. She's scraped her knuckles because she fell off her bike. She scraped her knee because she was walking outside. It's amazing she survives each day. Aden is physical. Everything is wrestling, or karate, or kung phu(spelling) fighting. He just can't seem to contain himself. Every second he and Austin are fighting and one of them (mostly Austin) is crying because they are hurt. I told Adam today, I've lost control, there's no respect and I'm going insane. So welcome to crazy land, it's always fun here.

Just couldn't wait

2009-01-04T23:35:00.000-08:00

Okay so I couldn't wait til next week to post pictures. I didn't do all of the ones I wanted so that should save you some time. If you are my family and are reading this please look through these pictures and read the post right after it. If your not family you can do whatever you want.

The reenactment of the birth of Baby Jesus. Morgan played Mary, Aden - Joseph, Austin was a shepard and Derick was the donkey that mary rode which he really let her get on his back and ride in. Ashdon was baby Jesus.

Adam got to play santa this year. The first thing Maryn did when she saw him was say Daddy, and then he looked to grandma and said my daddy is so funny. Now Maryn says I got this from Santa my daddy. Aden was the first to get his present and was so embarrassed.

Of course with all of that snow we had to go sledding. The next time we went to Dallins house and he pulled everyone around behind his four wheeler. Now that was fun. We didn't have to hike up any hills.

The petroglyphs at Valley of Fire. It was beautiful and fun.

Yeah it was really high up. Read my post below for more on this.

The ox and the mire?

2009-01-04T21:58:00.000-08:00

So I know the sabbath day is to be kept holy but it's really hard when church is not until one. First I'm not sure to what extent is really considered the mire. If I'm about to go insane because I can hardly walk through my room(i'm going through clothes to get rid of maternity and see what fits which at the moment is not a lot) does that count or I need to wash my sheets because I've got sand in my bed (it's not kinky we went hiking is some very fine sand), or and here is the kicker is it when water/pooh is spread around the bathroom. I vote all of the above. So first yesterday we went to valley of fire with another family. It was so fun. The kids had a blast and it was beautiful scenery. Aden and Austin were mountain goats climbing up and down the rocks. I just look away and pray really hard that they will make it down the mountain safely. My mom says there guardian angels are working overtime and I have to say she is right. Here's a little tangent On New Year's eve we made homemade individual pizza and the pans were really hot. I told the kids not to touch them. Next thing I know Austin has got a towel, is rubbing his chin then asks can i get the towel wet. I say sure and then look at his chin he's already ripped off the first layer of skin. Then I asked did you burn yourself, sure enough he did. I must be a horrible mother because instead of crying he was so afraid I would get mad at him that he didn't do anything. Then these huge streams of tears are running down his cheeks. He didn't really cry vocally just tears. It was weird and sad. I felt so bad for him. He's eating his pizza and tears are still coming down his face. That kid is amazing. I'm working on being better. I wanted my kids to be afraid of me like I was afraid of my dad because it kept me out of trouble. I was afraid of getting into trouble for fear of what he'd do to me (which was nothing real bad) and for fear of disappointing him. Well I don't think want my kids to be afraid of me like that. So anyways, there was sand everywhere. I didn't think it was in my hair but a lot of things get in there and I don't know they are there. So needless to say I washed the bed sheets and since adam was around we turned the mattress (how far can I take the ox and the mier?). Since I was doing laundry anyways I did a few extra loads. So then we get home and we're cleaning up from dinner and Austin is in the bathroom. Now he frequently has issues that irritate me because I'm the one who has to clean it out of his underwear. That is when I find out about it. Sometimes he'll just hide his underwear that's always fun. So I hear him crying in the bathroom but he won't answer adam. So I go to the door and firmly say open up. I hear the shower door and I'm thinking what on earth. Well the door opens and I'm thinking SHIT literally is everywhere (for those of you who think highly of me I'm sorry I'm working on the swearing of even the little words, it's only the 4th and I've ruined one resolution course is that swearing if that's what it is) Anyways, the toilet is full of wet toilet paper/pooh but no water. There's pooh fragments all of the toilet and the floor. There's a wet towel hanging hap hazzardly on the shower door and Austins shirt sleeve is wet up to his arm pit. What on earth was he doing? I have no idea except I found my cleaning rubber glove all wet so I hope he was trying to clean up the overflowing toilet. He was crying (before I got there and during the whole thing) and all I could do was laugh. It's just Austin. He's a lot like my brother Logan so here's another tangent. He's just in his own world. I was at a friends house for a luncheon when Maryn said she had to go pee. So i take her. When I get out Austin is playing around meanwhile he's peed his pants, let's see she's 2 he's 4 hmmmmm is all i can say. So I leave 2 kids there and bring austin home to change. I send him in and say I'm waiting out here hurry up. He is taking for ever so I come in and yell what are you doing? He was playing. I had to call my dad and say how did you not kill Logan? They are just in there own little worlds having a great time and I'm trying not to pull my hair out. So that was my sunday. So a few funny things the kids have done or just some things about them because they all do things austins just stand out a bit more. Morgan lost one of her upper front teeth and has 3 more loose teeth. That kid is going to look so funny if they all fall out. She is my big helper. She loves to pick up ashdon and bounce with him however he doesn't always appreciate it and he's heavy so she lasts about 1 min. Maryn however is a bigger helper. When Ashdon is in his chair he'll be crying (sometimes) while I'm busy doing something then all of the sudden I won't hear him and I look out and he's got a pacifier in his mouth. There's no kid around sometimes. But it's maryn she loves to put it in his mouth and to lay on top of him or put a life size doll on him. He doesn't like the last one very much. Ashdon is smiling big time and cooing a lot too. It's fun. Oh and he's soo good he slept through all of primary today so I could do singing time YEAH. Maryn is funny she keeps asking to go to brynlee's house or Grandma's house and when I say no to both of those she asks to go to LEESEE's house. Then she asks if grandma is at our house. It's pretty funny. One day she was trying to get something open and finally did. She held it in the air scrunched up her nose and yelled woo whoooo I got it. Aden is a tease Age 8 for boys is irritating. But he's also growing and wants to be a grown up. I can't think of anything funny he's done but I'll work on it for next week. No pictures because it's 11:30 and I need to go to bed. I'll get some on of our Holiday maybe next week.

Funny Austin

2008-12-15T20:25:00.000-08:00

So somebody delivered cookies to us tonight, rang the doorbell and ran. So the kids get the plate and it is made out to brother marcheunt. So Adam says "They are mine, see Brother Marcheunt." And clever Austin says, "Well, I get some too because I'm a brother Marchant because I'm a boy." He sure is. And he sure knows how to get what he wants. There's always a way around a problem for Austin.

hay ride

2008-12-15T11:31:00.000-08:00

The Anderson Dairy Hay Ride Adventure!!!!

The Semi Truck! It had music and a microphone so everything was loud!

Austin and his daddy! Wow they look alike!

The cop that came to report the accident. The semi hit a cab rounding a corner! It delayed us a little bit but it was fun and funny. Probably not for the truck driver though.

It was a bit chilly but we had so much fun. The kids loved standing up while the truck was moving and dancing to the music. They also loved waving to the crowds. We drove up and down the strip. It was great when one of those advertisement trucks came right along side us with a ronchy lady in a nasty pose. Aden was good and just turned around. Some of the other boys were staring so I was happy. He knows! It was fun to watch the crowds on the strip they would wave and dance and shout and even take pictures. After wards we got hot chocolate and dough nuts and milk all provided. It was a great time. Anderson Dairy has the best chocolate milk. We had such a great time.
Aden had a great time with his friends. In fact he could have cared less that we were even there! I think this getting older thing is weird. Now Aden is too cool to sit on santa's lap or even stand next to him so i could get a picture. What is that about.

Ashdon had way to much fun and was all tuckered out. Oh wait he slept the whole time too. He's an awesome baby.

So we have been really busy! We had a fun christmas party that we went to. Morgan was in her first play at school and that was fun. Although Maryn fell asleep so I had Ash in the mobe and Ryn on my side. She's squishing ashdon he's screaming and we're trying to find Morgans jacket. Right then I thought. Where are all of the people I know and why is nobody offering to help me. Oh well we got to the car no worse for the wear. Well babies asleep so I need to rush around and get things done.

Happy Thanksgiving

2008-11-30T17:57:00.001-08:00

We had a great Thanksgiving. My parents and brother and his family came to town. It rained for 2 days, which it never rains. But it was still fun we played games, watched movies and had a nice relaxing couple of days. Friday we went to Calico Basin and hiked around. It was just beautiful. The kids had a great time. We watched a lot of football. Saturday Adam's family came into town. And I have to say I'm always nervous when combining two families. You just want everyone to be happy, not bored, and definatly not hungry. So it can be stressful. I have to thank Dana. She was just on the ball and so prepared and helped to bring food so that was great. We enjoyed the park for about 2 hours playing track ball and horse shoes. Everyone I believe had a great time. I enjoyed myself immensely and was not stressed at all. Today we blessed Ashdon. Adam always does a great job. And today was no exception. He gave Ashdon a beautiful blessing. I think Ashdon will be a strength for our family and strong in the gospel. I'm so grateful for preisthood blessings. Then we came home and of course ate some great food. Thanks to Mom, Jacque, Adrianne, Dana, and Steph. I was left with a clean kitchen and a house full of food and way to much dessert. Oh well it must be the holidays. I'm so grateful right now for all of my blessing. My cup runneth over. I love family they are the best. Happy Holidays.

Updates

2008-11-24T21:26:00.000-08:00

So I can't think of anything to write so I will just post some pictures so you can see the changes in Ashdon. It happens so fast. He weighs 11 1/2 lbs now. I know it's not much but it's something.

2008-11-11T10:57:00.000-08:00

I did it. Here is the official announcement of our newest arrival. Thanks to Adrianne for all of your help and taking pictures so he doesn't look all smashed.

2008-11-02T21:28:00.000-08:00

Well I was trying to be all cute and stuff but I can't figure anything out. So for now here are some pictures of our new arrival. Ashdon Tippets Marchant, 8 lbs 8 oz (although it's recorded as 8 lbs 9 oz), 19 1/2 inches long. Born on October 28th, 2008 at 2:13 a.m. He is wonderful and a very patient baby so far. The kids love him and want to help all of the time. Enjoy the photos.

Still Pregnant

2008-10-19T21:50:00.000-07:00

Just so all of you know I'm still pregnant. I think church is the worst cuz people just don't know what to say and they can't believe that I'm still pregnant. So all day I heard, Your still here! I wanted to say nope just stuffed a basketball there so I could get some great attention. But I didn't and I can't really blame them I understand it's a long pregnancy for everyone. Anyways, we had a great dinner tonight. Adam always cooks on Sunday he made Mustard Pork and Roasted cabbage. Delicious all the way around. The kids even liked it and most ate the cabbage. Then we made caramel and dipped pretzels and apples. Then we dipped the pretzels in chocolate and added toppings such as cooked coconut, mini m&M's, roasted pecans, etc. MMMMMMMMMMM good. Then with the apples we dipped them in white chocolate, then in brown sugar and cinnamon. Can I just say I think I've gained at least a few more pounds but man was it delicious. And it was fun too. The kids had a great time. I love the fall!

Thrush!!

2008-10-15T20:51:00.000-07:00

So I couldn't have that last post stay on there for very long. So I thought I would put on our fun thrush experience. Maryn got thrush, don't ask me how I do not know. So I hunted down some of the violet stuff and was warned that it stains and to be careful. So I was as careful as I could be but when she spits what are you supposed to do. Needless to say she looks a little funny when we go places. Luckily it has warn off a little bit.

Special Request

2008-10-13T21:53:00.000-07:00

As if my busty picture from the pizza place was not enough I've been asked to put a last minute pregnant picture so all of you can remember what I look like pregnant. So here it is and I hope you don't puke. Thanks to Marianne for this special request. They may kick me off of blogger for this one. Borderline Porn!

Fun Fun Field Trip

2008-10-12T22:56:00.000-07:00

So this last week we went on a very fun Field Trip. We went to the California Pizza Kitchen. They call it the CPK Kids Tour. Anyways, we get there and the kids are coloring as we wait for everyone to arrive. Then a lady gave a few facts about pizza and pizza consumption and then the kids made there own pizza's. After that they gave them a tour of the kitchen, the big freezer (they turned off the lights and all of the kids screamed really loud), the dishwashing area, ice maker, etc. And then they let them get their own drinks (if they could reach). Morgan got sprite and rootbeer mix. After that the pizza was done so the kids ate their pizza's and then they brought the dessert. The mom's got to sit at a different table and they brought us 3 different salads, then 3 different pizza's. It was so delicious. Now guess how much this all cost. Yeah that's right it was Freeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was so great. The kids had a great time and so did the mom's and we all left completely full of food. WooooHoooo!

Maryn making her own pizza and so happy!

Austin had a great time!

Andrea and I enjoying our meal!

Coloring Fun!

Family Reunion

2008-10-05T21:46:00.000-07:00

We had the best family reunion in a small town called Albion Idaho. We stayed at a place called Campus Grove. It was a wonderful establishment that accomodated our large family so we could all stay together. You should check it out, there website is http://www.albioncampusgrove.com. There was so much to do and the weather was perfect. We hardly saw the kids. We played ping pong, air hockey, fuseball, volleyball, horseshoes, rode the fun cycles, jumped in a bounce house, played smack the cracker (very fun and inexpensive) and enjoyed each others company. Many thanks to Taylor and Heidi for getting things arranged so we could have such an enjoyable time. I think pictures do more justice than me rambling on so I'll just add a few.

Just a little game called smack the cracker.

The next few pictures are with the adults.

Okay so my pictures keep getting messed up and switched around. The next few are of the talent show and then there's one of Austy in a tree. So there ya go.

The girls all wanted a turn with the Microphone.

Vanessa's kid's were very creative on such short notice and did a rendition of Hey my name is O

Taylor was well just Taylor and was very funny.

The Talent Show - The kids did a remake of the song Low they dedicated it to Grandma and then sang it. It was hilarious!

Aden did his Chicken Wings
Austy sang I Am A Child of God

Aden and Tyson playing Horse Shoes
Fun Cycles
Not so easy with a big belly and a skirt!

Maryn gave him a push and then wouldn't let go until she fell!

Mom and the girls. Oh so good to be together.
The Little Girls Eating Breakfast!

I don't think this was for the adults but they had just as much fun as the kids!

There were turkey's there. Not quite sure why but the kids liked em.

Papa and Maryn are best friends now. We don't know how it happened but she bonded with papa.

The kids had a blast in the hot tub and were pretending to be drowning. It was funny. They would also get out and run around so that it would be hotter when they got in.

The Boys and two peekers from the window!

The compulsive Liar

2008-09-23T21:56:00.000-07:00

So I have a huge problem. I have a compulsive liar. I don't mean he (Austin) lies every now and again it's almost every time I ask him a question. Every time and without even blinking an eye. He thinks he's so good. Luckily there is always something to give it away. We have been working everyday for the past 3 weeks on telling the truth. He'll lose privileges like computer time, tv time, friend time, etc. So his most recent large offense was last night. He was told not to go to the dirt pile where Aden was because it is a little to far for him to go by himself. He goes outside and we send Morgan outside to keep an eye on him and Maryn while we hurry and finish eating our dinner. Well, she runs in and says Austin went to the dirt pile. So we call austin in and ask where did he go on his bike, "Oh, I was just riding around the house and on our street!" Just like that didn't even think about do I lie or tell the truth it's lie first try to get out of it later. So we call Aden in. Hey where did you meet up with Austin. Aden says, "He came to the dirt pile and told me it was time to come home for dinner." So I think in his head he justifies his lies. Anyways regardless he lied flat out to us. So we call him back in and give him one more chance to tell the truth. We even say, Tell the truth, did you go to the dirt pile? "Um, no I was just riding around the house." So we take away TV , Computer, Friends everything basically that that kid relies on during the hours of 9 and 3:45 until his siblings come home from school. We talked about telling the truth, how Heavenly Father and Jesus want us to tell the truth, why it's important to tell the truth, and how the disciplinary action would be less if he first told the truth. So this morning he lied to me again, and again, and again, and again. All day one after another. I would remind him of why he couldn't watch TV, etc. And still as if it didn't matter he just kept lying. UUUGHHHH!!!!!!!! Well that is my update and my SAGA.

A Major Update

2008-09-17T21:06:00.011-07:00

So I have just done about 10 gazillion posts dating back to mid July. So if you want to catch up on what I didn't post keep going back. They are brief and have a lot of pictures. I had to download pictures today because we are selling oh wait yeah sold the honda. *It took an hour and 10 minutes to sell the car. Amazing. We got exactly what we were asking for it and there is a lot of work that needs to be done. It was crazy. I had about 20 calls on it in the first 20 minutes. I was amazed but thankfully for that I have updated my blog so go to all the blogs below to get a quick update of our lives here in Vegas.

Wonderful Baby Blessing

2008-09-17T21:06:00.010-07:00

So Cute! Brenny and Kieralyn. Here are a few pictures of the wonderful event and the next blog is of it as well. So Read on.

Keiralyn's Baby Blessing

2008-09-17T21:06:00.009-07:00

So Keiralyn is so cute. She weighs hardly nothing and sleeps all of the time. We had a great time with B and Amanda. The blessing was beautiful and they were so hospitable. Here are a few pictures of the fun event.

Blythe Trip

2008-09-17T21:06:00.008-07:00

So we went to Blythe for Brenny and Amanda's Baby blessing. While there we took the time to do a lot of visiting. Aden helped Grandpa by sawing down a limb in a very tall tree. Which he has already gotten a very nice thank you card and two dollars for doing. He thought that was wonderful.

Austin found and chased down a frog. I was surprised that he would pick it up and hold onto it. He liked it a lot until the frog decided to pee on his hand. Grandma Moore thought that was really funny.

All of the kids had to get there pictures taken in the trees. It was great visiting with Grandma and Grandpa, Jessica and Cookie, Julia and Chris, Jody and Denise, and Brenny and Amanda. We had a wonderful time, ate way to much good food, and had many wonderful conversations. Adam was able to go on a ride along with Brenny which he loved and was very impressed with Brennan. It's funny cuz we always think of him as a baby but he really is grown up most of the time. The mustache he was wearing was really creepy looking and I'm sure he got the response he was looking for. He shaved it off before the baby blessing thank goodness. Anyways, Jessica fed us a great breakfast, Chris and Julia provided a most comfortable place to stay even though there was a dog it was still really nice and the dog so well behaved. It never barked. Although not much of a guard dog. We went to the river which was so refreshing. Mom was so worried that one of the kids would be taken away and never seen from again so she was the life guard on duty which was great. All of the kids loved it. Dad came and I'm grateful because he didn't really want to but now my kids will have the wonderful memory of Papa going to the river with them.

First day of school

2008-09-17T21:06:00.007-07:00

The first day of the new school year. Morgy get's to go all day! I thought that would be great but Maryn and Austin are much harder on their own than with watchful older siblings.

We also get to walk to school this year. Morgy likes to lolly gag and Aden want's to get to where he's going as fast as possible. So they are learning to watch out for each other.
So the first day was eventful to say the least. None of the water bottles were clean so we went with out water. As we are waiting for school to start each kid goes and stands in their line and does a few things like the pledge of allegiance and the school pledge. Usually it takes under 5 minutes but today it was considerably longer. So next thing I know my friend comes and tells me that they've taking Morgy and they were fanning her. I rush (as quick as a large pregnant lady can) to the nurses office and walk in to find morgy pasty white. The nurse asks her how she feels and she looks at me and says much better. We get her some water and she's ready to go back to class. She was a bit nervous but her teacher was great and didn't hesitate to get her to where she needed to go. So I get home and have been home for about 40 minutes when the school calls me. Um, yeah this is the nurse we have Aden here in the office and he threw up. WHAT!!! So what do you want to do. Um let me think I will come and get him. I get there and the nurse says oh this one is yours too. Yep that's me. Then as I'm checking him out she says "He'll be our first sick kid of the year!" Yeah for me. I bring him home and we give him some gatorade stuff and three pieces of toast with cinnamon and sugar because if you've just thrown up that will make things all better. After about 30 minutes he's running around and talking non-stop. He's totally fine so back to school he goes. And that was our first day of school experience.

Mount Charleston - August

2008-09-17T21:06:00.006-07:00

So look at these sexy boys of mine. You can't get much cuter than that. I really don't know how to fix these pictures but we went to Mount Charleston with some friends and Adrianne. It was so nice. Who knew that this wonderful oasis could be in the middle of Nevada. It was only 75 degrees and the kids loved playing outside. Annalyse liked stepping in human feces, Morgans collected sticks, the boys ran around I assume playing something but I'm not sure what and adee was in charge of taking pictures. Apparently it was not to her benefit to take a picture of me. So I was there thoroughly enjoying myself sitting in a camp chair and doing nothing else.

Maryn just wanted to get dirty. That was her favorite thing to do. Although she had stage fright when trying to pee outdoors. That was great.

Maryn in the 80's

2008-09-17T21:06:00.005-07:00

I just thought this was so cute. She loves to put her own head bands on and this is the result. Good things she's pretty cute cuz she has no fashion sense what so ever. And as a side note she is potty training. How long is potty training supposed to last. She'll go a week with no accidents and then one day will pee all over the floor every time. I don't get it. Does she relapse every 8th day? But she is only 22 1/2 months so that's pretty cool.

Our Crafts

2008-09-17T21:06:00.004-07:00

We had a weekend full of crafts and jewelry making. It was so fun. I loved every minute of it. And don't listen to anything the others say about me being the queen and asking for them to bring me water, food, etc. Hey isn't that the benefit of being the only one pregnant at the time.

Girls Weekend - August

2008-09-17T21:06:00.003-07:00

So I had to tell morgan that you have to be over a certain age to do girls weekend. She doesn't really get it because Aden get's to go Hunting with dad on Boys weekend. I just don't know what to say but I'm not about to give up my one weekend a year without a single child. Where I can do whatever, when ever, I want. Before I got there I just wanted to sleep. After I got there I didn't want to sleep and waste all of my free time. Kind of ironic isn't it. We had a great time. We ate a lot but didn't gain a pound, crafted a ton which you have seen in the previous post. I know I did it backwords but it's hard to do when you're trying to play catch up.
We had tin foil dinners and smores mmmmmmm good. We used instead of chocolate and grahams we had the circle cookies with chocolate on em. Yum so much better than the other way. I loved them and ate enough for everyone. Course I'm pregnant so apparently I was eating for 4 or 5.

Steph and me. She still thinks she's fat(Just kidding Steph). But as you can see I practically hide almost all of her. So she must be sooooooo very tiny because I'm not that big. Behind us is our rough living conditions. It had everything. It was the best.

Paige was taking this opportunity to pose for pictures. She said something about a modeling contract on the way. I believe it's for the older generation. (just teasing)
It was a great weekend and I'm grateful for my wonderful sisters. I couldn't ask for more wonderful people.

Morgy's Graduation - August

2008-09-17T21:06:00.002-07:00

Morgan's Graduation From Kindergarten!!
They sang some very cute songs. We waited outside in the heat for about 1/2 hour and the production was less than 15 minutes. It was still great and she was the prettiest girl around.

Morgan with Mrs. Keidel We love her. She was a wonderful teacher and really pushed the kids to do better and to work hard. Morgan could of worked harder but everything came so easy and I didn't push it because trying to get one kid to do homework was hard enough. Now that's all over and she has to do it too.

Our pretty girl waiting to get her folder of stuff. They did more art projects than I think there was time for but sure had fun.

Shark Reef - July

2008-09-17T21:06:00.001-07:00

We got to go to the Shark Reef at one of the Hotels. The kids loved it and we got a great deal so that made it even better.Austin with the Alligator
The kids loved the self guided tour things. And I'm grateful my kids love to learn. They really take advantage of opportunities. They listened to every single one and tried to figure out which fish they were talking about. Then they would relay all of the info to my poor brain that can't remember a whole lot anyways.
The Manta Ray. We were able to pet them. Of course I practically drowned Morgan to get her to touch it and I also bribed all of the kids. I told them I would pay them a whole dollar if they touched it. And yes they all did. Aden a couple of times. Austin just once or twice (his arm was a little to short so it was harder) and morgan just once and that was enough. She moved away from it and on to the other things.

Austin trying to muster up the courage to touch it. It was great. We also got to see an Octopus and of course sharks. Even though there is glass they are still scary.

A Recap of Life

2008-09-17T21:06:00.000-07:00

So this is the raft raggata. I had no idea that scouts did more than the car thing. Apparently there are boats and airplane thingy's and cars. Well our troop doesn't just do one they do all three. Which of course the boys just love so we can't complain. Our scout leader is great and very good with the kids. He doesn't like the cheers they already have to he is constantly coming up (on the spur of the moment) with ones of his own. At this particular event we were at the park all sitting on the grass and they are doing the rain thing. You know when you make noises to sound like rain and just as we were getting to the part that heavy rain the sprinklers came on. He could not have timed that better. It was hilarious. He's very entertaining and we can't wait (wink, wink) to do this scouting thing three times over. Aden loves it and thinks it is the best thing he's ever been a part of. His den leaders are great to and do something every week. I am impressed because that is hard work.

Bowling Bonanza

2008-07-27T21:20:00.001-07:00

So this week we were able to go bowling with Adam's work. Our kids love bowling and no one else plays with us on our lane because there are so many of us. We have a good time. Morgan is all girl. . . She is awkward when she bowls. She would keep getting the ball stuck on the top of the bumper. Keep in mind the bumper is to help young ones keep it out of the gutter. Well it did that she just threw it right on top of the gutter. Needless to say she came in last place with a whopping 67. It was funny the kids were helping Maryn bowl. Well Morgan was helping her and got Maryn a spare. She was so mad. She said, "I can't get myself a spare just Maryn!" Aden was hilarious to watch. He would run throw the ball and then land on the ground and watch until the ball hit the pins. He would be in the way of the other lane and he just look funny. He'd hold his hand way back kind of like professional bowlers only really exaggerated. He got a couple of strikes and spares but was still second to last at 77. Well Austin had a hard time carrying the heavy ball but would throw it. It would move so slowwwwwwlllllllly till it got to the end and most of the time he did pretty good. He came in fourth with 89. Now maryn would just run there with the kids and pretty much watch them bowl. She just loved it though, it was great. Oddly enough with such varied help she scored 90. Now this next player was hilarious. He trailed the whole game and for a while Austin was even ahead of him until the end when he actually pulled a strike out from somewhere. It was quite comical. Adam bowled terrible. I think it was the bumpers they must have thrown his game off. He was so happy that he beat both Maryn and Austin and didn't have to be humiliated to much by the game. I assured him I would let everyone know the truth about bowling. He wouldn't have to worry. He ended with a score of 97. Now for me. Considering I probably shouldn't even be bowling I didn't do to bad. I couldn't bend over with the ball so basically I would just walk up to the line swing back and drop the ball because bending over about killed me. Well WOOHOOO I came in first. I scored 136. Pretty great. I don't often beat Adam but it feels good when I do. So yeah me I'm the weiner!!! Other than that our week was pretty normal oh yeah except for the loud pop and smoke coming out from under the car. That was fun. It turned out to be some hoses on the air conditioner. You'd think cheap and easy to fix. Of course not, detailed and expensive. Great! The only good thing is that I had just taken Adee to the airport and have her car so that I am not totally stranded while the car gets fixed. Small blessings but right now I'll take anything! Love to all.

Yuck!

2008-07-20T20:11:00.000-07:00

This week has been a one of cleanliness. We have washed all the sheets everyday. Due to the fact that some of us have been throwing up. It's been the weirdest flu ever. One day you have it and the next you don't. So we've been shut up the whole week except for friday when we ventured out to someone's house thinking we were all good. Well let's just say we were not. So now we have been flu free for 48 hours and hopefully that is long enough because i am tired of being a shut in. I had the flu as well which was awful but Adam took a day off and took care of everything. I'm so glad because I was able to rest today I finally feel like I'm back to somewhat normal. One thing I've found out is the baby in my belly is very active. Try throwing up while literally being kicked all over inside. As well as having an upset stomach and being kicked. It's an interesting experience. Anyways, I hope I've successfully grossed most of you out. One day this week Austin burst into my room with his big blue eyes sparkling, and his big huge grin, arms spread out wide and yelled surprise. Then came and jumped on my bed and said I love you mom and gave me a hug and a kiss. That's just austin so great. Adam and I find it funny that Maryn's first full sentence and has been for a while now, "I want foooood!" We hear that a lot through out the day. Aden is starting to grow up and it's weird. One thing though is his new phase of rough housing is very frustrating. All of the kids are hurt through out the day not because he's trying to be mean just because he's to physical with them. Morgan is going through a phase of wanting to have fun hair. Luckily she doesn't mind doing it herself sometimes. Unfortunately she doesn't mind doing it herself sometimes. (if you understand my meaning)

When are you due?

2008-07-15T10:01:00.000-07:00

So those of you who know me well and have suffered through my pregnancy's with me you'll have de ja vu. It seems as though I am always in a new ward when I get pregnant so I continue to amaze people at how big I get. Well it is the same this time. It starts when I'm about 12 weeks along and continues til the end. There are several scenarios. First it's the When are you due question. Followed by really large eyes and then the inevitable questions "Are you having twins." Lately, the switch that tells people to shut up and not continue any further is broken in every human being I meet. Because that questions is then followed with wow, your really big or wow, that can't be. Second scenarios is...Wow, you must be due any day. Which I reply No I have a few months. And the response is, "Are you sure?". To which I want to yell, Of course I'm sure you idiot would you like to know the last day of my period or rather should I show you the ultrasound picture's. I've even had a lady ask if she could touch my stomach and why was it so big because the baby isn't that big yet. What the hell? Come on now why don't you just say wow your a fat cow and there must be something wrong with you. Anyways, Sunday was no exception. First a husband of a good friend says, So, wow, you must be due any day. , Then an ultrasound tech who see's pregnant ladies all of the time said the same thing. Luckily her switch to not continue was on and she left it at that. But then I found out that I was the topic of PEC that morning. They were talking about expectant mothers and one of them said, "Well, what about sister marchant?" A counselor that knows us better just kind of snickered and said "Oh no, She has a couple of more months." What!! That can't be, came the reply. Keep in mind this gentlemens wife had twins so he's used to larger pregnancies.
So needless to say I feel as fit and slim as a large elephant and I still have 3 1/2 months to go. Wow! this should be exciting! Hope everyone else's Sunday was more complimentary then mine. Have a great day.

Aden's Baptism

2008-07-07T14:31:00.000-07:00

Aden was baptized this last Saturday. It was a wonderful day. We had so much support from family and friends that is was just beautiful. It was stake baptisms but there was only one other girl getting baptized so we were able to personalize it a bit. Grandma and Papa Moore both gave wonderful, thoughtful prayers and Papa Marchant gave a great talk on the Holy Ghost. He really personalized it for both of the kids and made them feel special and loved. Both Papa's were the witnesses and of course all the priesthood family got to stand in the circle. It was short and sweet and the spirit was really strong. I think I should have cut Aden's hair but we've worked so hard to get it this long that I didn't want to. He didn't either but would have let me when it came right down to it. What a good boy. He's always trying to do what is right. Afterwards we had a luncheon at the stake center. It was nice because I didn't have to do a whole lot. Everyone pitched in and helped a ton. I got to sit and enjoy my food and talk with everyone there. Thank you to everyone who traveled with gas prices so incredibly high and the family and friends who are here and took time out of their busy schedules to spend it with us. I just couldn't have asked for a better time. The whole weekend was just wonderful and I worked my butt off to get the house in order. It was almost there and now it is totally destroyed again. On the fourth we spent the day at home laughing and joking and dinking around. That night we went to Adee's (my sister) house and it was so nice. We had great food and a lot of talking and laughing. It was a very comfortable and enjoyable atmosphere. And when your blending two families that is pretty amazing. Plus we had fireworks and people all around us had illegal ones. They were fun to watch. Aden loves to light the fireworks which is rather scary and Maryn was freaking out when she would hear loud crackles and pops. It was great. Good food, Good Fun, Good Times. Thanks everyone I love you all. (I'll have 4th pictures posted after the batteries are charged up)

Ultrasound Pictures

2008-07-07T14:08:00.001-07:00

Well I've finally had a few moments to get the ultrasound pictures on to the computer. Can you tell what the last picture is a picture of? You would think that by the fifth kid it would be no big deal but each one is something special and something new. He seems to be developing well and for that I am very grateful. I feel him kicking all of the time now which for those of you who know me well know that that is a very good thing. All of the kids have felt him move too and everytime Aden gives me a hug he says I can't feel the baby (as if the baby is constantly moving). Austin is constantly touching my stomach in hopes of feeling the baby as well. I'm enjoying being pregnant with my kids older so that they can remember the little things like the babies movement. I'm sure what will stand out most in their memories is that mom is just a real big witch (and a b could be substituted and fit just as well right now). I don't think I'm that bad but I'm not about to ask either.

I'm famous

2008-07-01T14:49:00.000-07:00

Well I've had my 15 seconds of fame. I was on the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric actually it was just some news lady who did all of the work. Anyways you can go take a look for yourself on
http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/eveningnews/main3420.shtml go down to milk jugs get a makeover. Then I got to talk to the Marketing Director Dan and I asked him if the cows were given RBST hormones (he had no idea what I was talking about) but he called the vice president of Sam's Club and asked her. Just so you all know they don't. So that was exciting. Now I wish I would have put makeup on and maybe wore something different but I didn't know I was going to be on national TV I may have thought twice about it had i have known.

It is Fixed

2008-06-23T17:25:00.000-07:00

So I'm not a slacker our computer broke. Just like that one day it wouldn't turn on so of course it wasn't the simple thing it was the motherboard (everytime I say that I feel like I'm talking about star trek or something). And of course the place we bought the computer from who would have fixed it for free went out of business. Isn't that always the way. Anyways, now I'm back but I can't download pictures because I have to first download software but I wanted to update everyone. We had our ultrasound and we were right we are having another BOY!!!! They said it had big feet and was fat. It's foot right now is a little over an inch long, has a big belly, and weighs just over 1 lb. So that is our exciting news. We are looking for help with names if you know us well you know that it has to start with an A and end in either on or un (thus allowing us to use most of the vowels). I know it's weird but it is kind of fun for me. I'm a little sad as we will not be using all of the vowels. Oh well. Well hopefully I will blog again soon and give more updates.

Blog Guilt

2008-05-24T14:58:00.000-07:00

I hate that I have guilt over not updating my blog weekly and putting pictures in. Well I just don't feel like it. I hate that I can spend 1 1/2 hours on the computer without even blinking there the time goes. So I've kind of been anti blog, but the guilt has gotten to me and so here I am. It's not to bad though cuz I'm not going to put on pictures right now but I will give a little update of everyone and any humourous moments I can recall (which shouldn't be to many because my memory is failing completely). The other day I told a lady that I was 33. I asked Adam the next day how old am I and he said ummm, 32. I just started giggling because it reminded me of the silly little things my mom does. I love my mom so I don't care that I'm a lot like her. Adam's Birthday was yesterday and he is 33. It was a fun day and I was actually a little on top of things. I had remembered to get his presents in advance and the kids and I had discussed what we should do for breakfast. So I woke up early and made coffee cake, then went walking. Came back and made eggs and bacon. It was a good breakfast. Usually the kids come to me about 10:30 needing a snack. Well not that day. They didn't say anything until 12:30. It was great. I had a lot of energy so I got a lot done. I won't say what I did because when I actually form it into words it sounds so piddly and small but I worked hard all day. At 2:00 in the afternoon I remembered to make a birthday cake so that was good. We went to a movie (iron man, Adam's choice) and got popcorn. It was funny I walk up to the counter and adam is still looking at the choices a little behind and the guy says, "Hello, gorgeous!" I was flattered but a little shocked he'd do that with my husband standing 2 feet away. Once he realized Adam was with me he apologized to adam and then gave us a great deal on the popcorn. Adam didn't even hear him so it was funny. That morning Aden said, Dad already knows one of the presents he was getting because Michael and McKenna (friends) were talking about it. Adam said Oh I didn't hear anything. And Aden says, Well they said they already have it and are going to watch it later. We started cracking up because Adam really hadn't known anything and now he did. He got a tie, National Treasure, and a book. That same day I was trying on some pants and they came to my hips then wouldn't go any further. So Austin says, "Mom, maybe your just to fat." Thank you Austin.

Always Comical Here!!

2008-04-20T21:14:00.000-07:00

We've had some fun. Grandma and Grandpa were here for Adrianne's production. It was fun to have them here. Thank you mom for all of your wonderful help here around the house. It was a huge relief. I'm feeling better but not quite up to par so this is just another post of the little comedians in my life. I was having one of those bad days and had to throw up. I'm usually in the kitchen when this happens so I just throw up in the sink. As I'm throwing up Maryn brings a stool over to the sink (to get a better look I guess) and then laughs every time I dry heave. It was great. Also the other day I threw up with all the kids in the kitchen and not a single one seemed to even notice or care. Aden kept asking me questions and Morgan plainly states, "Oh, mom's throwing up." Well thanks for the love! There's a little song the kids sing that goes, down down baby I can do karate, etc. Well Austin likes to sing Dam Dam baby. I corrected him but he said no it's dam dam. Austin gave a talk in church today. It was on Following the prophet. He was great. He of course said what I told him to say and then sang solo the chorus to the song Follow the Prophet. The other night I left to go to book club and as I'm backing out of the driveway I hear screaming (mind you the windows in the van were all closed so it must have been pretty loud) I roll the window down and see Austin in his upstairs bedroom window crying, Mom, where are you going. I tell him. Still crying, "I love you mom, come back mom. I love you mom." I'm not sure what the neighbors think of us. We went to Ward FHE and during the lesson all of the kids sit up front. Well Austin kept turning around and waving to Adam continuously through the whole thing. The teacher kept calling on him because he thought he had something to say. That boy loves his daddy. The other day I asked him to go upstairs to get me a diaper and he screams, "stop asking me to do that, Ugh!" So I looked at him and said, "Okay, stop asking for food, and chocolate milk, and I won't make dinner or lunch, oh and don't ask me to wipe your but when your done going pooh!" He said, "Oh, okay, I'll get the diaper." He learned a lot faster than the other kids that's for sure. Morgan is more of my drama queen rather than a comedian so everything is just dramatic. When she gets hurt don't worry I think all of Las Vegas can hear her screaming. Well that's all for now.

Funny Moments

2008-04-06T21:22:00.001-07:00

I just wanted to add some funny things my kids have said or done. We were driving and there was a motorcyclist driving a little crazy. Aden says, "It must be a woman driving because it's all crazy." It was a man. Austin was in the tub with Maryn and she pooped so they got out. While Adam was putting them in the other tub Austin says, "Dad, Maryn went poop this way and then she went poop and she pooped out a raisin Dad. A RAISIN....(laughing hysterically)!" Maryn would babble aimlessly and then bend over mouth wide open laughing and wait for me to do the same. I actually started laughing for real because it was so cute. Morgan should write for mad libs. See if you can figure it out. to mom, i hop u fl bdr.

Some News

2008-04-03T10:57:00.001-07:00

Well there is a reason that I have not updated my blog. I haven't been feeling very well but I think I'm starting to feel better. Although I don't have time to or energy to write a whole lot. So yes for all of you who are wondering we are pregnant again. It was an accident. I was trying to decide if we were done and so I just said we are on hold because I couldn't figure it out. Well I guess I got my answer. Although I am just in the first trimester and I haven't always had great success there so but I don't usually get sick when that happens either. I've definately been sick. I will update more as I feel better so for now this is it. Oh and for the question your all thinking so are you done? The answer is Hell Yeah!! Sorry for the language but I can't think of a better way to say it. Sorry to my grandma if she reads this and my mother who will just be mortified that her daughter could actually use a word like that and my mother-in-law and anyone else who had higher expectations of me, however remember I'm hormonal and you never know what will happen or what a hormonal women can say or do. I love you all.

Beautful Weather

2008-03-02T20:53:00.000-08:00

With the beautiful weather, always for me anyways, brings much time outside. Therefore the inside of the house becomes a shamble. I can't seem to find the balance. The outside wins most of the time because I can't seem to be able to bring myself indoors. On Monday we went on a hike across the way where there is just wide open space. We found pretty rocks and started rock collections. Austin was stuffing random rocks into his pockets. When he would walk his pants would fall down. He kept saying wait up my pants are falling off. Maryn loved to throw rocks off the side of this man made hill of sorts. Actually all of the kids loved throwing the rocks down and watching an avalanche of rocks go tumbling down. I was worried that security would show up and we would get in trouble. We also found a whole box of clay pigeons. The kids were so excited that we had to hide them and go get them later. We were out there for 2 hours then continued to play outside until it got dark. We are all getting rid of the winter whiteness and getting a bit more color in our faces. We had a leap year party with a friend of mine. The kids played musical lily pad , and leap frog over (red rover) and had cupcakes. They also made a frog out of paper plates. It was a lot of fun and just nice to be outside where there was actually grass. Mom came into town for a night and it was so fun to see her. Although it was way to short especially for the kids they had fun playing a made up game with her. Mom is such a good sport.

A MEDICAL WHIRL WIND WEEKEND

2008-02-24T21:39:00.000-08:00

Friday started normal I had more errands to run than I wanted to so I wasn't home all morning. Through out the day Maryn started coughing and just wouldn't stop. Around 6:00 she would cough until she threw up. She threw up on me 3 times. Then the night set in and that was a real treat. She was having trouble breathing. Her nose was plugged really bad and then her breaths were really rapid and shallow. I basically stayed awake and listened to her breath. Then in the morning I gave her a breathing treatment. Well first I called the nurse (vanessa, what would I do without her) to see what to do. Then a few hours later with her breathing not improving and being really lathargic she got a fever (I also talked to steph whose daughter has had pneumonia to see how to detect that). I decided to take her into insta care. I hate those places because they always seem to be very dirty. They got us in pretty quick and then checked her out. Her oxygen intake was really low so they gave her another treatment with oxygen, gave her tylenol, took a chest x-ray all to say she has a virus and there is not much more they can do for her. Just keep up on the breathing treatments and if she gets worse take her to the ER. That was comforting but then she started to do better. I could tell. When I got home our neighbor whose a chiropractor was watching our kids and he adjusted her to help her breath better. Sure enough about 10 minutes later she got down and started to play around. She wore out quickly though and wanted to be held again but that was a major improvement. Then Austin sounded like he was getting this wonderful cold as well. But he wasn't coughing hardly at all so I wasn't to worried. The kids went to bed we checked on them at about 11:30 and Austin was doing just fine. At 12:30 we woke up to him freaking out because he couldn't breath. We did a treatment with a steroid and a second one with albuterol with really not a whole lot of improvement. That is the scariest thing to witness. To watch your child be scared to death and trying to breath. It is a horrible feeling. Needless to say Adam rushed to the ER (it's about 10 minutes away) and the night begun. I called my mom for her reassuring calmness. She's amazing and I love her so much. To make a story short Austin had to have 2 breathing treatments, a steroid, and a chest x-ray. If he'd had to have had 1 more treatment they would have admitted him to the hospital. Luckily he was fine and was able to come home at 5:00 a.m. Austin had a great time and thought that it was funny that daddy was falling asleep on the bed with him while he got to watch cartoons. He didn't fall asleep at all. Then this morning he was awake at 7:00 with his siblings. He loved that he got apple juice and animal crackers. Little does he know that I could buy those things for a whole lot less than it's going to cost us through the hospital. Oh well. He's alive and he can breath and that is all that matters. I'm so grateful for modern medicine and as much as I hate them for the facilities we were able to take our kids to. And that they are home and doing so much better. Life is crazy and this is just a small example of things never going as expected, but as always being watched over all the time.

Fire Pit at Chad and Dana's

2008-02-24T21:29:00.000-08:00

Chad and Dana had all of us over for a BBQ. They are the best hosts. We had a great time. We chatted, roasted marshmallows over a fire pit, and played games. Chad also taught the neighbor kids some english while the rest of us were inside escaping the cold. We had brats for dinner, and I almost thought it was summer time. I didn't want to go home but Maryn was having a come apart so we figured we better get home and put her to bed and take our craziness with us. Thanks for a wonderful evening Chad and Dana.

Fire Pit at Chad and Dana's

2008-02-24T21:23:00.000-08:00

Weekend Surprise!!!

2008-02-24T21:16:00.000-08:00

Steph and her kids came to visit us here in Good 'ol Las Vegas. We had such a great time. I'm so glad she sacrificed the traffic and craziness of Las Vegas. We went to the park and hiked up the mountain. Aden and Dallin were speed demons and were always way ahead of us. The kids love the play equipment and we all played kick ball as well. The weather was absolutely gorgeous. The kids stayed up way to late and played hard all day long. It was wonderful.

St. Valentine Comes Again

2008-02-24T20:47:00.000-08:00

So Aden is starting to question St. Valentine. He says, it sounds like you guys just do it. Then the next day he told all of his friends and what he got. He comes home and says Mom, St. Valentine didn't visit anyone in my class. I said well that's because they don't believe in him and he can't come to anyone who doesn't believe in him. The kid we took home says, I believe in him now. He brings toys. Aden says, " To bad you have to wait a whole year for him to come." Hopefully he forgets. The kids love there little surpises. We made sugar cookies as well and unfortunately I ate most of them. I just couldn't keep my hands out of them. Adam makes the best sugar cookies even better than lofthouse. We also made heart shaped crayons, too. It was a fun valentines.

Bowling Fun

2008-02-21T20:45:00.000-08:00

I'm playing catch up so this is from 2 weeks ago. Adam's work threw a family party. We got to go bowling and have pizza. The kids absolutely loved it. Aden loves bowling and couldn't stop jumping up and down even when we were there doing it. He even thanked the gentleman that put it all together for us. It was funny, he shook the man's hand and then started to say tha-- and the man cut him off and asked him a question. Again he attempted - than--- and again the man cut him off with another question. One more try and still to no avail tha- -- he was cut off again. So finally, he just says real loud and really fast, "Thanks for letting us bowl and for the pizza." If you know Aden that was pretty good to even talk to another strange adult. I was so proud of him. I think everyone thought we were crazy, no one, from Adam's work, bowled with us on our lane probably because we had the bumpers up but hey it helped me out. A group by us not with wells fargo just couldn't believe how many kids we had and they thought they were so cute. They would clap really loud every time one of the kids would bowl. It was great. Austin said, "Yeah, I got a stripe." Instead of strike. He kept asking when it was his turn and would just wait around the bowling balls. He would run and let the ball go. He said Mom, "Why didn't it just go faster, I just runned." Morgan was a dainty bowler, I think the ball was a bit heavy for her. Maryn even bowled a bit. Course the highlight for her was the food and soda. That was her favorite place to be. We were the last to leave at 10:30 p.m. because Aden wanted to finish the second game. Well okay we all wanted to finish the second game oh except for Morgan who got a bowling ball dropped on our foot. It happened right after we took the above picture. It was a fun night a good memories too.

TAG!

2008-02-14T16:10:00.000-08:00

I guess I've been tagged. So here goes nothing.

What is his full name? Adam Cumming Marchant

How long have you been married? 10 years

Who eats more sweets? It depends on what kind of sweets. I love cakes, pastries, breads, things of that nature but Adam is a sucker for most anything sweet. However, if a cake is left here during the day he'll be lucky to get any when he gets home for dinner.

Who said I love you first? You'll have to ask Adam I have a horrible memory.
How old is he? 32.

Who is taller? He is.

Who is smarter? He is, just ask our kids.

Who can sing better? That depends on who you ask. I would have to say we both sing exceptionally well.

Who does the laundry? Well he is supposed to but it hasn't been happening since we moved to Las Vegas.

Who pays the bills? I do.

Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? He does.

Who mows the lawn? He does.

Who cooks dinner? I do.

Who drives? We both do.

Who is more stubborn? He is.

Who kissed who first? I did, I had to I was leaving Cedar to go back to school and I couldn't wait.

Who asked who out? We were set up on a blind get together.

Who has more siblings? We both have the same amount.

Who wears the pants? It depends on what, but mostly me.

Happy day babe!

I tag Chelsea Jones, Chelsi Mcgee, Sabrina, Jaelyn

Blogs

2008-02-09T16:41:00.000-08:00

Blogs are wonderful but man are they time consuming. And taking the time to look through all of the ones that I like takes even more time. But I can not help myself. I have to see who's changed there's or who's added to there's. It's so much fun. Well this week in preschool we did a fun experiment with Density and colors. We put food coloring in oil, alcohol and water. Then we added them together and watched what happened. My friend extended it further and put things in the different liquids to see which one would sink/float. How smart. I love teaching preschool. It is a lot of fun. I get to do all of the fun things I've wanted to do with my kids but never took the time to do it. Now I have to and I just think it is wonderful. And the best thing is the kids are learning and they have no idea that they are. It is just great.

This past week was interesting. Austin decided to throw up and it wouldn't be so bad if he would make it to the toilet. But I spent 2 hours trying to get chocolate pudding (that's what he ate right before) out of the carpet and it is still stained. I used everything I could think of to no avail. He was really funny because he'd be so thirsty and want a drink so bad that he'd drink to much and sure enough up it would come. He finally realized that he could only drink a little bit at a time but even then he would still over do it. To top it all off this had to happen when adam was out of town. And Maryn got some of my lip gloss that has a pink tint to it and decided to poor that onto the carpet. I swear why we even have carpet is beyond me.

Austin was saying nightly prayers and he was saying thank you for the new presidency, President Monson (which just seems so weird to say), Elder Eyring, and Elder uchfart, I was cracking up during the prayer. I had the giggles so everything after that just seemed to be hilarious. I love those times. I don't think any of the kids even new what I was laughing about.

Lately I haven't been holding Maryn as much mostly because I'm tired of it so I just let her hang on my legs and cry. Well after a while she will now go to morgan or aden to have them hold her and it makes her feel better. I should have let them be more involved along time ago.

Good news I have finished my rag rug. It only took me 2 maybe 3 years. But now it is finished and I am so glad to not have that hanging over my head. So now my project can be just scrapbooking which I love. The kids were looking through there books and Austin asked why his only had such little pages. Needless to say I need to catch up on his so that he doesn't feel left out.

Fun Weekend

2008-02-03T15:11:00.000-08:00

This past weekend was a whole lot of fun. It was a fast weekend but as always we made the most of it. We went to Cedar City for Kaitlyns baptism. Saturday morning we woke up to the wonderful surprise of snow falling. It was beautiul and the kids loved it. Aden is our biggest fan of snow and it was all we could do to get him out of it and into the house at times. So with all that snow we couldn't let it go to waste so we went sledding. We took Brynlee and Dallin with us and had a great time. Aden and Dallin kept trying to hit a jump that was made out of snow. I think they hit it several times and just loved it when they would go flying. Maryn didn't like it until more towards the end and then she kept climbing on with whomever was going down the hill. We kept going down the hill even though all of us were completely exhausted. We just didn't want to quit having fun. But alas the legs gave out on us and we couldn't continue to climb the hill. It was great. Then we went to the Baptism which was just perfect. And the food afterwards was excellent. Needless to say it was a very fun, refreshing weekend.

Kids know how to get what they want. Maryn was calling me and grabbing my hand. I couldn't quite figure out what she wanted. Then she grabbed my hand and put it down by her crotch. I asked do you have pooh. No. But she kept doing it. I looked at Austin and he had his shirt pulled up so that you could see his tummy. Well Maryn wanted me to unsnap her onesie so that she could also lift her shirt up. Thank heaven for words, but as you can see we could get along with out them if absolutely necessary.

On the way home from Cedar the kids wanted some of this snack stuff we had. I was trying to figure out how to get it to them all with out it getting all over the car. Well I had some cardstock but no tape. With a little exploring I found some old tags for christmas trees that we had not used. I rolled the cardstock up, made a little cup, used the tree tag for tape and wha la there's a cup. Pretty ingenious if you ask me and it just goes to show that if you keep your car completely clean all the time your left with nothing and your dreams of being Macgyver are over.

It was a beautiful drive home. We drove through snow, rain, sleet, and a lot of wind and sand storms. But the earth and sky are just so beautiful.

Look at ME

2008-01-27T21:32:00.000-08:00

Austin learned to ride his bike. Actually, we just took the training wheels off and off he went. I just held onto it for a little while and then I got tired of holding Maryn, and bending over so I just stopped and he kept going. And that was that. Now there is no stopping him. I get a little nervous with the cars that are parked around. I hope he actually pays attention to where he is going so he doesn't scratch one of them. Aden is also doing so great on his Rip Stick. He loves it and is really good. I can only stay on it for about 10 seconds. No wonder kids think their parents are so lame. They keep coming out with new things and I'm not as agile as I used to be so whatever.

This week flew by as it always does. I'm trying to make Sunday my day for doing the blog. I want to keep it updated and all of my other days are filled with everything else. I have started a preschool. It is really fun. Currently I have 6 students including Austin. He absolutely loves it and asks about it everyday. I must be doing something right if he wants to have preschool everyday. We do a lot of fun things and the kids learn at the same time but they don't know that. That is the way to learn if you ask me.

On Monday my friend and I went to a Martin Luther King, Jr. Peace parade. Well at first it was alright but as the time wore on it became a big hang out and it was making me a little nervous. I kept my eyes peeled and noticed plenty of eyes looking at us as well. One person called us crackers. We left before the parade was over (mind you we'd been there for 2 hours already, much different then the parades in St. George). On the news that night it said that someone had pulled a gun and fired shots at the parade. It was after we left and I'm sure glad we did. So much for peace. That was my big adventure for the week.

It is raining right now. And the kids are all asleep and it is quiet. I love quiet with trickling rain hitting the window. What a peaceful feeling. It is nice to have moments of peace. My life, like many others, is filled with chaos and business. To have moments where I can sit and just think of nothing and listen is rare. On this occasion I feel peace and I am grateful for that moment that I've been given.

Halloween 2007

2008-01-23T22:29:00.000-08:00

The above picture is from Halloween. We were all the Scooby Doo characters if you couldn't tell. Adam was shaggy, I was Velma, Aden was Scooby, Morgan was Daphne (spelling?), Austin was Fred, and Maryn was Scrappy. It was fun to all be dressed up. The kids got way to much candy and I bought way to much as well. I think we still have candy and that's after making a ginger bread village. Oh well.

Nov. 14, 2007

2007-11-14T21:45:00.000-08:00

I have no idea what i'm doing but Dana said I should make a blog so here it is. I'll have to spend more time on it later though i'm sure.