Ward Field Day

Shayne and the kids had a BLAST at our ward's Family Field Day. They had all kinds of stations with jump ropes, hula hoops, etc. and ended with a boys vs. girls "tug-o-ward". The girls won!! WooHoo!

Happy Anniversary!

11 years ago, we both made the best decision of our lives. I don't know where I'd be without Shayne. 

He is: my happily ever after, my true love, my jokester, my one and only, my Priesthood holder, my lover, my rock, my idea bouncer, my best friend, my partner in crime, my confidant, my husband, my provider, my snuggler, the father of my children, my crying shoulder, my sweetheart, my sexy man, my strength, my reality check...my eternal companion.

Not a day goes by that I don't recognize how truly blessed I am to have him in my life. I love being able to share the joy with him, shoulder the difficulties with him, and take on the new adventures with him by my side. I'll love Shayne forever and always and am excited to spend an eternity together.

Happy Anniversary Sweetheart!

Saturday Morning Madness

Saturday mornings that we have nothing scheduled are few and far between, but I LOVE THEM! I love when we can be lazy, stay in our jammies, enjoy a yummy breakfast together, and attack Daddy!

 The kids LOVE to get shields and balls and bombard Shayne with all kinds of ammunition

He always gets them back!!

Isabelle's Spelling Bee

 Izzy was chosen to compete in her first Spelling Bee! It was with k-2 grade, and she was the ONLY Kindergartener that competed. She did an awesome job!! We are so proud of her overcoming her nerves and participating! Way to go Izzy!

 Here are the participants in her level.

We decided this needed some serious celebrating, and Izzy chose McDonald's Mcflurries...YUM!

Tying the Knot

Izzy has learned to tie her own shoes. She got some new tie-light up shoes for her birthday, and she was DETERMINED to be the one to tie them. She practiced and practiced and can now successfully tie her own shoes. She LOVES it! She tells me that she sits on the rug during kindergarten untying her shoes just so that she can tie them again, and has eagle-eye vision for any unsuspecting kindergarteners who might be walking around with untied laces. Don't be surprised if you come over to our house, only to find your laces mysteriously loose, and an energetic 6 year old willing to help you solve that problem...

Moving on?

Lately Bubba has taken a liking to motorcycles. It might be because Grandpa owns one and he got to go on a ride when we were up in Washington, but whatever the reason, his new favorite toy is a motorcycle. I know, what happened to the trains?? Is his toy tastes moving on? What would I do with the hundreds of trains that we have ALL OVER THE HOUSE? Have no fear, although in this picture, a cone trooper is riding the motorcycle, usually it is Thomas, or Diesel 10. I don't think we are moving on, just expanding what our trains can do, which now include riding motorcycles.

This Is NOT Normal

My kids turn their nose up at lasagna. They throw fits if we have chicken pot pie. Even simple things like hamburgers, meatloaf, chicken casseroles, etc. elicit whining and bargaining of what they DON'T have to eat that night. Why, O, why do they scarf up sushi bar and pot stickers complete with seaweed, fresh veggies, tuna, various sauces, etc. and ASK for seconds and even thirds??

Birthday Money

Izzy hit the jackpot this past birthday with $$! She LOVES money, but never seems to have any, and apparently EVERYONE got the memo, and gave her oodles of MONEY for her birthday. She would sit and count it, and spent a dollar here, fifty cents there, not wanting that fat wad to lessen in her wallet. Until, we came across...a BABY ALIVE DOLL! This is the doll of ALL DOLLS! Not only does it have hair you can brush, and she talks to you, but she EATS. DRINKS. PEES. and POOPS! Who wouldn't want a doll that can do all that? Izzy and Olivia have been talking about the Baby Alive doll for quite sometime, trying to figure out how to gain access to one, just to feed it and watch it poop. We spent about an hour at Target, while she wavered back and forth on whether or not to spend ALL her birthday money on the coveted doll, or to continue spending it one dollar at a time for the next few weeks. Tough decisions, tough decisions. I think Olivia finally persuaded her (Olivia really wanted a Baby Alive Doll too), and we exchanged the coveted birthday money for the greatest doll ever. Izzy LOVES it!! They feed her once a day (to make sure and stretch out the special doll food which is sold separately), and let her poop all over my kitchen table (so they don't use up all her doll diapers which again need to be purchased separately). They have even semi-potty trained her, by feeding her a bottle while she sits on the toilet, and then reward her with all kinds of treats...best doll ever...apparently.

Days at the Park

It has FINALLY cooled off enough to head out to the parks. We can't EVER get enough of being outside after we've been cooped up all summer!!

Our city park has a little creamer with really expensive little candies in it that the kids LOVE to blow their allowance on. :)

A Hannah Montana Birthday!

A Hannah Montana Birthday!!

 Izzy planned it out herself. She wanted everyone to come dressed like a rockstar,

 We streaked their hair and did make up at the party;

 We decorated our guitars.

 And rocked out through some of our games!!

 What a crew of ROCKSTARS!!

 The pinata turned out to be UN-BREAKABLE,

 But it was no match for us!!

 We had a decorate your own cupcake bar, which was a big hit;

and plenty of presents!!

What a ROCKIN' 6th Birthday!!

Kindergarten Rodeo

Izzy's Kindergarten put on a fun Rodeo for the entire family. There was panning for gold, face painting, sack races, horse races, cupcake walk, bean bag toss, and many more games that the kids LOVED!!

What a fun Rodeo! We were all tuckered out and had our fill of cupcakes, candy and prizes to take home!!

Best Kids EVER!!

Nothing better than getting your pregnant feet lotioned and rubbed by three masseurs. I love my kiddos!!

Boy-Cheese Sandwiches

I made grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner tonight. Quinten ate all his grapes, drank all his juice, but would NOT touch his sandwich. He wanted dessert, and I told him I would GLADLY give him dessert IF he finished all of his sandwich, to which he replied, "BUT MOM! I CAN'T EAT IT! GRILLED CHEESE SANDWICHES ARE ONLY FOR GRILS (girls)! I WANTED A BOY-CHEESE SANDWICH!" I told him that he HAD a boy-cheese sandwich, which is: sliced boy-cheese, buttered bread, and then cooking it on the stove, boy-style. After hearing that, he promptly ate his boy-cheese sandwich and enjoyed some dessert.

Laundry

I asked Quinten to put his laundry away. He said he did. This is what I found.

Olivia's Primary Talk

Olivia had to give a talk on "The Blessings of the Priesthood" in Primary last Sunday. This is the talk that she wrote:

Blessings from the Priesthood are when Daddies, Uncles, or Papas give you blessings when you are sick or scared. On the first day of school, I got a blessing from Daddy so that I could have a great and successful year. Another time when I was sick and my tummy was hurting, I woke up my Daddy and asked him for a blessing and it made me feel better. Boys can hold the Priesthood but you have to be righteous like it says in Doctrine and Covenants 121:36. I am glad that my Daddy holds the Priesthood. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Best Mom Ever!

Every day, at least once a day if not many more times, Bubba comes up and tells me: YOU ARE THE BEST MOM EVER!...But I don't like you when you're mad at me...

It kinda makes my day, every day, to hear him affirm that he loves me...usually.

Words I Don't Want Bubba To Say Correctly

They always fix their speech too soon for my liking. Quinten is already fixing some of the little things that I LOVE to listen to. Some of the words that I will be sad when he can say correctly are:

Kinapple (pineapple)

grils (girls)

extercising (exercising)

Visiting Mom and Dad

Mom had been out of the hospital for a week when I was able to go visit them for an extended weekend. It was SO FABULOUS to see mom up and about, recovering from her surgery. I wanted to be productive while I was there, some sort of help, so I decided that freezer meals would keep them stocked for a bit. I ended up making 20+ freezer meals, 5 dozen bran muffins, 3 dozen breakfast frittatas, and 20+ protein shakes. I hope they are set for the next little bit. I LOVED being out there, chatting with them both, and feeling like I could finally help in some way...

Mom's Heart

Since May, my mom has been sick...sicker than sick. After many tests, and a few wrong diagnoses, we found out that she has Constrictive Peri-Carditis. In short, the sack around her heart had calcified over the years, and was now constricting the function of her heart. She needed surgery to remove the front part of the calcified sack, a big under-taking, a day-long surgery. It is pretty rare, not many surgeons have even had the opportunity to do this kind of surgery. They found a surgeon who has performed the surgery, and it was set for October 12th. That was one of the worst days of my life, just sitting there, waiting. Being pregnant, I am overly-emotional ANYWAYS, and then to have my mom having serious surgery that has definite risks, made for an extremely difficult day. Luckily, my brother Matt was able to go out for the surgery and be there with Dad as they waited for Mom. I am so grateful that my brother was there because I know he was a HUGE support for both Mom and Dad (much more than I would be able to be in my current emotional state).

Mom's surgery was successful! She had to spend a little extra time in the icu because of a hole in her lungs they were waiting to heal. I know it is difficult for her and my dad during this recovery, but she is home now and able to do more and more each day. I am so grateful for modern medicine, good-competent doctors/surgeons who finally found the correct problem and were able to successfully rectify it. I know my mom still has a LONG road of recovery ahead of her, but I feel like I have truly witnessed a miracle...

Nerd Day

For Red Ribbon Week at school, one of the spirit days was Nerd Day. The girls weren't quite sure what nerds looked like, but this is what they came up with...

Best Day Ever

I think Shayne's "Best Day Ever" came at the Monday Night 49er game this past week. He got to tailgate for a few hours with some great buddies, went down close to the field, got to see Steve Young, and GOT HIS JERSEY SIGNED! Not to mention, the 49ers beat out the Cardinals, which always makes for a good night.

I hope they never grow up...

I hope they never grow up...

The Price We Pay

Our fabulous kids let Shayne and I sleep in for an hour on Sunday. This is the price we paid for that precious hour of extra sleep. I dare say it was worth it...

Izzy's Daisy Outing: Tolmachoff Farms

Izzy and Daddy spent some special one-on-one time at her first Daisy field trip, to Tolmachoff Farms. Shayne made sure I knew that he was the ONLY Daddy taking pictures, and that I should be VERY proud of him. (I have trained him well...) The two had a blast together at the farm, picking me all kinds of unique vegetables (like swiss chard) that I am supposed to incorporate into our meals over the next week.

 A few of her daisy compadres waiting to get out into the fields.

 They did a classroom in the corn, and learned about all the many many things that have corn in them.

 The train ride is always a favorite.

 A lot of Izzy's troop was sick or pre-occupied for the field trip, so only 1/2 of them made it. Here they are with their two fabulous leaders Kim and Trisha. We really appreciate all that these two ladies do for the troop, they are amazing!!

 Silly poses with their local farmer...

 Izzy's favorite activity of the day, feeding the goats and the petting zoo.

What a great day!