Wo is me...

Last week kicked my butt!

(The majority of this post is me complaining so feel free to walk away now.

However since blogging has become my journal of sorts I'm going to go ahead and whine away.)

It started off sunday with our family hosting "family dinner". This is when the 5 families (about 30 of us) that live here in Alton get together for sunday dinner. Sunday dinner's only happen twice a month and all of us sister's/in-laws take turns hosting. The last time it was our turn it fell on Christmas Day. Even though we all live so close we really don't have a lot of contact with each other through out the week. Family dinner's are pretty relaxed. The adults sit around and visit with one another while all the kiddo's play together. Even though there's a lot of people and a lot of dishes by the end every one is VERY good about sticking around and helping with the clean up.

Family dinner wasn't overwhelming for me by itself. I just had no idea what the rest of the week had instore for our family.

Monday I spent the day getting ready for Preschool and getting some homework for myself done knowing our family was leaving town for the weekend.

Tuesday morning started off with preschool which lasted 3 hours. I try to have a lot of fun with my 6 kids learning about our theme for the week. When preschool is over it can take up to an hour of clean up time for me. I put all there work books and pencil boxes away. I've got craft stuff all over to be put back up. My table gets all the glue washed off it and my floor gets all the little cut pieces of paper swept away. Some days are worse than others but I've learned quickly that preschool can be quite messy. When my preschool mess was picked up and put away I had to start gathering all my needed supplies for mutual that night. My beehives and I were in charge of introducing the new YW/YM theme for the year, Arise and Shine Forth. We had 6 different challenges set up for all the youth to complete in teams. It was a lot of work! We didn't get home until 9 that night.

Wednesday morning (10am) I had to teach a "freezer meal" class for enrichment. I was asked VERY short notice to do this class. They asked me to bring a hand out of our families favorite freezer meals and to bring everything needed to put a freezer meal or two together. With everything I had to do the day before, come wed. morning I was not prepared. I got up early and got right to work. Everything went well during the class and I felt pretty good about it but I was tired. Wednesday afternoon I spent preparing for the next day's preschool.

Thursday morning I did the preschool thing. When that was over with I started on laundry and just cleaning the house in general so it would be ready for us to leave the next morning to Prescott Valley. Madelyn had her 1st basketball practice after school making me have to drive down to Orderville to pick her up. While in Orderville we got to sit around waiting for our truck to be inspected so that I could renew it's expired license before going out of town. On our way home I got a text from my visiting teachers asking if they could come visit that night or the next morning. Being we were leaving I told them they could come that night. Unfortunately it was just one more thing added to everything else that needed to be done.

Friday morning we got up and left the house about 9am. Long story short the 51/2 hour drive turned into a 8 hour drive. Yeah for us!!! We couldn't get to PV fast enough. We enjoyed our night with friends. Stayed up way to long talking and just enjoyed each other's company.

Saturday morning both dad's went to work. Leaving the 2 moms to drag 8 kids to Good Will for there 50% off day and then on to Target. We did get some awsome deals while shopping. Later that night we took both families to our favorite restaurant Garcia's. Garcia's is a mexican restaraunt. It's probably not any better than any other mexican resaraunt but it became our families favorite because on wed. nights kids eat FREE! While living there this was great we'd walk away feeding our family of 5 for about $16.

Sunday morning our plan was to attend 8am church just for sacrament meeting and then head on home. However that morning none of my kids had been bathed and none of them wanted to go. Kory and I talked about this and in the end we decided it might be a bit much asking them to sit for an hour through sacrament just to get in the truck for another 5 1/2 hr. drive home. So to my disapointment we loaded up and hit the road. Our trip home started off well. But to quicly Emily started complaining that her ear hurt. Soon after that my ears started to hurt. Not having a lot of snacks left we cut up several apples hoping that the chewing would pop our ears. Not so! By the time we got to Flagstaff (only 2 hours away from PV) both Emily and I were in tears. I have never had such an ear ache. We stopped at a gas station and picked up several things of gum hoping that would help. I'll admit while chewing my ears would pop but then immediately feel plugged again. Emily cried almost the entire way home. She'd fall asleep just to wake up a few minutes later complaining about her ears. It only took us 6 hours to get home but I swear it felt longer than our trip to PV. We got home in time to attend another family dinner which was great not having to come up with something to cook that night. I hated leaving such warm weather we had to play in Prescott Valley to come home to a cold 48 degree house, 55 degree's outside with a storm blowing in. When we got home from family dinner I felt so sick! Within the hour I was on the toilet not knowing which end to stick down. I was absolutely miserable. I went to bed early and tried to sleep it off. Monday the puking went away along with the diahria and ear ache but was left with a nasty cold. Since then I can hardly breathe. I am constanly blowing my nose. My eyes literally leak continually. I've got red marks where this leakage runs down my cheeks. I look like I have "sad" clown eyes. Can I say just once more how miserable I am. I stayed in bed almost all day monday and let Kory run the household. Tuesday I spent the day on the couch watching my kids destroy the place and NOT caring a bit about it. That night the kids and I did go to the church to participate in the Scout's Blue and Gold. Following it was mutual. The other leaders after looking at me sent me home to bed which I was so thankful for. The crusher at Kory's work broke during the day, after getting the new part and it still not working everyone was sent home early. This will suck when we get his paycheck but it was so nice to have him get home the same time I got home last night from the church. I went to bed and let him get the rest of the kids to bed.

This morning I woke up to no more leaky eyes and I could breathe easier. For just one second I thought I was well. But then I discovered that I can cough up a lung and my chest hurts so bad every time I do. Oh ya, Did I mention I had no voice at all! By this afternoon my voice kinda came back although it's very horse and I called my doctor to see what I could take for this dang cold. Sudafed, just plain old sudafed. I have sudafed, it's not plain but not having any other options for me and being at my wits end I took 2 pills anyways. Oh my goodness do I feel better tonight. I can breathe without coughing, my chest doesn't hurt and my kids can hear what I'm trying to say. All this just in time for Brayden to fall asleep on my bed and wet his pants. I've stripped my bed and have thrown them in the washer but I am not waiting for everything to be dried. I am sleeping on top of a blanket tonight with others thrown on top. Looking around my house tonight does not make me feel any better. I wish I were a kid that gets to go to school tommorrow and come home to a clean house. Or maybe I'm wealthy enough that a maid will come in and take care of it all. I know this sickness will pass and my house will eventually get put back to gether. I'm just not sure when!

Why does anyone get sick?

Seriously though I think that as busy as I was last week and the lack of rest I had I just wore myself out. I was so tired and a little overwhelmed last week. The previous week 2 of my kids were suffering with the croop. While in PV Hunter's croop flared up and we gave him a breathing treatment. Maybe that's part of what I've got. I will admit I'm thankful that all the "crap" that hit me waited until we got home instead of at a friends house away from home. I know this to will pass. I just hope it hurries. I don't know how much longer I can take this. I do know I will have so much more empathy the next time my kids get sick!

24 weeks...

Yesterday I hit my 24th week mark. This past month has gone by so quickly. I wanted to compare how I have grown this past month so I'm sharing last months picture too.
Might be a bit bigger..... not much though.
I won't complain. I know I'll get plenty bigger over the next 4 months.

The CONSTANT feeling of needing to pee has subsided. I can almost go the whole night with only having to get up once to relieve myself. Yeah!! Although it seems like during those last few weeks of pregnancy that constant need returns. Glad I've got 3 months before I hit that again!

I'm not craving eggs as much any more but I still eat them for breakfast at least 3 times a week.
Green vegies are still my thing.
It was spinach and broccoli but now mostly broccoli or asparagus.
Thank goodness for Bountiful Basketts which is where I've been getting all these fresh veggies on a regular basis. My kids have learned to take all they want the first time the bowl is passed around because it will be gone by the time they are ready for seconds. I hope this baby doesn't come out looking green!

Madelyn has been able to feel the baby move. I am LOVING her excitement with this pregnancy. Hunter hasn't shown an interest in feeling the baby and the younger ones aren't patient to wait long enough. I'm excited to see what their reactions will be when she gets a little stronger and it's easier to feel her movements. I think they'll be hooked after they feel baby move for the first time just like Madelyn is.

My only pregnancy wo right now is how tired I can feel. During the middle trimester is the time that I should be feeling my BEST! I don't remember ever feeling this tired during any of my other pregnancies. This is definetly a first. At last months doctor's appointment I mentioned this and was told to take a multi vitamin daily. Not having any at home cause' I don't do the daily pill thing I went right out and bought a bottle. After just 3 days I could feel a difference. My fatigue was gone. This lasted for almost 3 weeks. Than.... last wed I felt like it came back and hit me with a vengence. It was bad! I got up that morning with my big kiddo's at 6am. When they walked out that door a little after 7 I went back to bed and didn't get out of bed until almost 10. I did my morning ritual but was still so so tired. I put Brayden down for a nap at 1 and slept another 2 hours with him. Kory came home early from work to grab a tool he needed later that night at 8p.m and I was already in bed for the night. I just felt exhausted. The next morning I went back to bed AGAIN after the big kids left. I got up a little after 9 only because I had preschool in less than an hour. When preschool was over I used Brayden as my excuse and went in to take a nap that I desperatly needed. Kory came home for lunch before I had dozed off and was teasing me about still being in bed. He asked if I was taking my vitamins? Huh???? Seriously, I don't know when it happened but I know it was just a few days before this sudden fatigue hit me that I had forgotten all about them and quit taking them. Since then I leave them out where I can see them and Kory's got the kids asking me daily if I have taken my vitamin's. Despite being annoyed by this it is working. I'm still tired but the kind of schedule we are living right now and everything on my plate at the moment I think this is to be expected. I can handle this kind of tired it's the other kind that I can't handle. This baby must be really sucking the vitamins out of me. With the constant daily reminders from EVERYONE living in this house I don't think I will be forgeting again to take my vitamins. It's amazing to me how much better I feel, how much more energy I have when I take one little pill daily. Not ever feeling like I was NEEDING a multi vitamin I'm assuming this need will continue through my pregnancy and probably while breast feeding. I'm thinking taking a vitamin daily just might become a daily habit for me. Possibly even for forever now.

Preschool Fun

We've had some fun during preschool these past 2 weeks. Last Tuesday we had ourselves a very fun Valentines Day party but Thursday we had our normal schoolwork to do. We worked out of our workbooks that gave everyone some good practice writing the letter "N" correctly.  love this picture because of Brayden. He knows the letters of the alphabet and the sounds they make better than Emily. However, when it comes to writing them, she's much a head of the game. Doesn't keep him from trying though.
I did something different, something I had never done before. We painted letter N's with cooked noodles instead of a regular paint brush. At first the kids thought I was crazy, but they LOVED it. I loved the way the pictures turned out.

This week we celebrated President's Day.
Do you know who's on the quarter?
Do you know who's on the dollar?
Thanks to an easy/catchy song Hunter learned in kindergarten all 5 of my preschool kids do.
It's George Washington.
He also happened to celebrate a birthday yesterday (in between preschool days).

On Tuesday this was our craft we made.
Meet George Washington and the currency his face is on...
We talked a lot about George Washington, our very 1st President. Though if you ask the kids the majority still tells me he was our 1st prophet! LOL
I shared the story of when he was a little boy and cut down his dad's most prized cherry tree. So of course, we had to paint a cherry tree to help us remember the story.

Today's big project was making our very own American Flag.

I don't know how much these little ones will remember of this week and our celebration of living in a free country. I hope though that something will stick with them over the next few years even if it's only our little song about George Washington being on our currency and being President #1.

Valentines Day

Valentine's morning my kiddo's came down for breakfast to this. Each had their very own box of candy, a baggie of homeade carmels and pretzel/rolo treat and a heart shaped swirly straw. I do NOT like straws and I almost NEVER buy them. These "special" straws can be used all day long but at the end of the day I tell them they are now done and gone. The kids throw them away for me. When no one is watching I pull them out of the garbage, wash them and put them back in my valentine box. These straws have now been given 3 years in a row. I laugh that they haven't caught on yet!My breakfast pictures turned out too blurry to post. I served pink heart shaped pancakes with pink strawberry syrup and a heart on top made out of cool whip thanks to the spray cool whip cans. They were in heaven!

Monday night for FHE the kids and I put there valentines together. When it came time to make something for the teachers I realized I really slacked off this year. I had NOTHING to give them, I hadn't even thought about them. What is my problem? In the end I pulled out my heart shaped cake pan and made chocolate chip cookie bars.
The kids then made a special valentines and attached it to the big cookies.

A little story about Madelyn's valentine outfit.... She came to me about 2 weeks ago and asked if I remembered that Valentines was just around the corner. She then asked if I was going to make her a valentine shirt like I have done for many years now. Not wanting to disappoint her yet not having a fabric store down the street or a Wal Mart for a new plain tee I wasn't sure if I could come up with one. So I asked her to help me design what she wanted with what we already had. Madelyn surprised me with her creativity. She spent an hour or two creating different valentine shirt designs on paper. She then picked a plain brown tee she already had and some corresponding fabric we pulled out of my scrap fabric drawer. Lucky for her the fabric she picked out matched her bright pink pants she was hoping to wear on Valentine's. I wish I would have saved her paper with the different drawings of valentine shirt ideas. They were all so cute! 

Ta da....
Here she is.
I love this girl's enthusiasm when it comes to the holidays. Her and I are quite alike when it comes to this. We both love all holidays and want to go all out for them. Make them memorable!
She couldn't stop with just the outfit. She asked for hearts in her hair too. And so we created two pigtails and turned them into heart shapes and added some ribbons to the bottoms. She LOVED the way she looked when she went to school.

I really struggle on Tuesdays. They are by far my busiest days of the week. It seems all morning I'm getting ready for preschool and then when that's finally over at 1 p.m. I get lunch, clean up from preschool and prepare for mutual later that night. The kids get home from school just for Hunter to run off to scouts. When he get's home we eat dinner and off we all go for mutual and then don't get home till about 9pm. By the time I crawl into bed Tuesday nights I am beyond exhausted. I know being pregnant has a lot to do with this. So, when it came to our valentine dinner instead of going all out which I would have liked to do I did an easy meal instead. We had spaghetti and a homemade heart breadstick with pink lemonade. For dessert we ate our extra heart shaped cookie bar. It was yummy and it worked for us this year.

It was a busy but great Valentine's Day.

My daughters are so different. Madelyn loves the frills, the dressing up, she WANTS her hair done each day with a matching bow attached. She loves the holidays and enjoys "dressing up" for them.

Emily on the other hand could really care less. While making Madelyn's shirt she asked me if I was going to make her one too. I told her NO!..... Why????

I made her a Halloween shirt that she refused to wear. Didn't matter that she picked the shirt and the corresponding fabric. At Christmas she did the same thing. I told her then that I would not be making her anything else since she refuses to wear them. I spend a lot of time and energy creating these holiday shirts and I don't appreciate her attitude towards them. Especially when she asks me to make her one specifically and then refuses to wear it. It's not that she doesn't like the way the shirt has turned out she just doesn't want to wear them anymore. And so, I am done!

After the big kids left for school Valentine morning Emily asked if she had a new shirt too?

When I said no, I'll admit I was almost hoping for a little temper tantrum, anything to show that she was jealous or disappointed that she didn't have a valentine shirt to wear like big sister.

But all she said was, "Good, I don't want one".

Well, I'm glad little one because I didn't waste my time making you one.

I feel like we are raising our girls the same way, yet they are so different and, in more ways, than just dressing up for the holidays.

It will be interesting to see the personality of this new baby girl that's going to join our family.

Preschool Valentines Party

Tuesday my preschool kids celebrated Valentines like all their big siblings. Being preschool is only 3 hours I didn't feel like we could party the whole time so I TRIED making "learning" extra fun on this special day. One of the many activites for the day was to graph a box of sweeet hearts.We played a matching game... lowercase to uppercase letters.
The funnest part Emily told me later was when I let them frost sugar cookies. They each got to frost one for themselves for snack and then they each got 2 more cookies to frost and decorate for their parents.

Another game we played involved dice.

Each child had his own paper and 2 dice. When rolled they counted the black dots and put a marshmallow on the corresponding number.

Our project of the day was to make a valentine holder.

It drives me crazy that this little man squints his eyes EVERY time I try to take his picture.

When our project was complete the kids were able to pass out there valentines to each other.

Preschool was a sucess and so was our little party.

I was tired after the party, a little more than usual.

But it was worth it, to see all the smiling kiddo's.

It's A Girl

I had my ultra sound yesterday morning.

It's a girl!!!!!

Kory and I decided that since this is going to be our last baby we'd take all the kids to the ultrasound appt. Hunter and Madelyn are old enough that we hope they will remember this experience. Before the ultrasound we took a tally of what the baby was going to be.

Madelyn and Emily thought/hoped for a girl.

Hunter and Brayden (with Hunter's help) thought/hoped for a boy.

Mom and Dad kept saying as long as the baby was healthy and strong we didn't care. However, if we had to choose (the kids wanted us to) we'd both choose boy. As fun as a little girls are they can be full of drama. It's seems our house has had a little too much drama lately. With Emily going to kindergarten next year I thought it would be great to have a little brother to play with for Brayden.

When the technician took the pictures between the legs I saw the 3 white lines. She asked me if I could tell what the baby was. Having 2 already, I said I believe those three white lines means It's a girl. She confirmed it. Emily was thrilled. She was jumping up and down saying, "yes, yes, yes. I knew it was going to be a girl". Then ALL day she kept asking, "Can we go back to the hospital to get that baby out now?" Madelyn was just as thrilled but kept her excitement to herself a little better than her sister. Hunter leaned over to me and quietly asked,"is there another baby in there? It could be a boy!" His question made me feel sorry for him. He really did want another brother.

On the way home Madelyn drove both Kory and I absolutely CRAZY!!! This girl just had too many thoughts running through her head like: "Where are we going to put another bed in our bedroom. We already have 2 beds in there!"

"We're going to have to get a bigger dresser. The one we have now barely holds my clothes and Emily's".

"Maybe dad can make us bunk beds. Emily can sleep on the top and we can put a bigger bed on the bottom that I will share with the baby".

"Where are we going to keep all the baby stuff? Like the crib and her little chairs and her swing?"

"Mom you can make all 3 of us matching easter dresses."

"Our table's not big enough for another person. We need a bigger table."

"Can the baby sleep in my room and when she wakes up I'll bring her to you?"

"Are you going to hang her clothes like you do ours or fold them like you do the boys?"

"Mom did you know that we don't even have a car seat for the baby?"

"Mom, you know those initial letters you hung over my bed and Emily's? Your going to have to make another one for this baby."

Seriously the questions/statements went on and on and on. Finally Kory reminded her that we still have about 4 1/2 months to make all these decisions. Lets talk about them later.

PLEASE!!!!

Listening to her talk was kinda making me nervous. I was realizing I didn't have an answer to the majority of her question's. It's a good thing we still have a little while before baby joins our family. We are so not ready for a baby. And she is right we have absolutely NOTHING for a baby.

Why oh why did I get rid of everything after Brayden???

I am getting excited for another little girl. It's been a while. It'll be fun to make new bows and bracelets. Another 1st doll and just the fun that little girls bring. As far as names go Kory's a brat!! He never wants to discuss names until the baby is born. I swear he does this just to irritate me. Despite what he says, all of our kids names were picked out before they were born except for Emily. The ONLY reason her name wasn't picked out was because we were letting her be a suprise. However I felt like the baby would be a boy, all the wives tales said it would be a boy. Every one around me told me they thought it was going to be a boy. I had 2 outifts to take to the hospital to bring our new baby home in. One was for a boy and the other one was for a girl. However, I knew it was going to be a boy so I left the girl outfit at home and only brought the boy outfit. I didn't buy a lot of clothing while being prenant but what I did buy well... was saved for Brayden because it was all boy! Needless to say Emily wasn't even a consideration until she was born. But that girl was named before we left the hospital.

As of now the kids and I are leaning towards Kylie, not sure about a middle name yet. I liked Kaleb better but baby's not going to be a boy. Kory says he doesn't like Kylie but I've HEARD that with all my pregnancies until the babie's born and he says, "I really don't care, that sounds fine, whatever you want." So until then with all the extra help I have with this prenancy baby is now being called Kylie. By the time baby is born Kory will probably be used to it and just assume the baby's been named with out any input from him. I'm afraid if he wants a say in this he had better jump on the band wagon and do it soon!

1st Month of Preschool

Since I was laid off several months ago, I have been trying to find another job. Living so far away from a city has made it a bit difficult to do. While working in St. George my travel time didn't bother me to much as I really loved my job, I enjoyed being there. Now that I've had a break from having a 4 hour commute to work twice a week I've decided that I really don't want to do that again. These past few months I've made many phone calls and was constantly looking on craigslist and ksl.com. But I still haven't found anything close by. Before Christmas Break I learned that my sister-in-law who was currently teaching preschool for our town was looking for someone to take over for her. I did have another sister-in-law that was talking about doing it but decided she liked the 3 hour break 2 times a week that she currently had and wasn't too sure about teaching preschool as she had never done it before. Being jobless I decided to give it a try.

I teach preschool every tue/thur from 10am-1pm. I've got 6 kids. Four girls and 2 boys. 3 of these kids will start kindergarten later this year and the other 3 will have one more year of preschool left. Brayden will be old enough to attend next year which helped me make my decision of taking over. Each week we learn a new letter/number and I try to pick a theme that correlates with that weeks letter.

My first week teaching we had the theme Ice Cream to go along with the letter I. 

Somehow I missed pictures of our ice cream party.

This is Rachel and Emily. They are cousins and are just 3 days apart!

I must have forgotten to take pictures during our J/Jungle theme week.

For the letter K we read books about kings and then made our very own crowns so that we could be king for the WHOLE week during preschool.

We also made a kite and talked about a few shapes.

Our letter L fell during the week of Ground Hog's day. On tuesday we talked about hibernation and learned about the different animals that hibernate. Thursday was Ground Hog's day so we made our very own groud hog and had it guess if we still had 6 more weeks of winter or if it was Spring. Being it was snowing outside during preschool every little ground hog decided we had 6 more weeks of winter, cause it doesn't snow in the spring!

Here's our groundhog treat.

This week is the letter M/Monster theme.

Today our snack was little apple monster's

We practiced writing the letter M, we wrote words that began with the letter M like: me, my, mom and monster. We read a silly book about monsters and for our craft? We made our very own monster to take home out of an empty tp roll and "stuff" from my craft drawer.

Kylie, cousin Bella, cousin Rachel

Who doesn't love monster's?

All about Madelyn

I believe it was just last week that our kids celebrated the 100th day of school. Madelyn was given a blank poster board and was asked to bring it back with 100 items. I love these kind of projects that my kids get to do. It's great to see them brain storming and coming up with their very own ideas of what to do. After rummaging through a few drawers Madelyn decided we had enough fishy crackers to do her project with. I thought that she'd just glue them on and be done with it. Boy was I wrong! After she cut the pond out and glued the fishy's to it she just kept going on and on and on. Near the end she thought the picture would be even better with clouds. She started to cut out paper when she saw the bowl of left over popcorn on the counter from the afternoon snack. Why not use popcorn for clouds? This girl amazes me with her creativity sometimes. She worked very hard on this project and I think she did a great job!

The 2nd week of January Madelyn participated in a mini cheer camp. She loved it! She had 3 days of 1 1/2 hours of practice with her age group. Then Friday night at half time during the high school girls basketball game they performed.

 Goooooooo.... Valley!!

Isn't she cute????

20 Weeks Along

Today it's official. I am 20 weeks today.

Where has the time gone???

I really do feel like this pregnancy is going by fast. Maybe it's the going to school online, the 4 kids I take care of on a daily basis, teaching preschool 2x a week, the holiday's we just went through or maybe being in the YW Presidency. Not quite sure what it is but time seems to be flying. I forget I'm pregnant until someone asks how far along I am. Last night I was asked how many weeks I was and my mind completely went blank. I couldn't answer her. I really did not know what week I was in. My answer to her was far enough along that I'll be having an ultrasound in the next few weeks so I guess I'm at least 17 weeks!

WOW!

With any of my other kids I would have known that yesterday I was 19weeks and 6 days.

I was on pinterest.com the other day and came across a cute idea of monthly belly shots. So here's to our 1st photo shoot over the next few months. Thanks girls for your help, Emily for holding the sign and Madelyn for taking the picture. It was fun!

Pregnancy Facts

I'm feeling the baby move quite a bit now. It's great to know there's a reason why my belly continues to get bigger. Baby's still small enough that I can't feel with my hand baby moving from the outside. Doesn't stop my kiddo's from trying though.

I'm constantly peeing during the 24 hour day period. Doesn't matter what time or where I'm at.

I've never really craved sweets in pregnancy and this one doesn't look to be any different. What I am craving however is eggs and dark green vegetables. Paticularly steamed spinach and broccoli. I'd eat broccoli for breakfast, lunch and dinner if I could. The other night for dinner I steamed 3 heads of broccoli. All my kids took a spoonful (they all like brocolli too) and then it's embarasing to admit that I ate the rest. I had to have eaten 2 1/2 heads all by myself. Soon after it was gone Hunter asked for me to pass the broccoli to him. I told him it was gone. His reply was,"What the heck??? You ate all that??? What are you a pig???" Gee, I think I've heard this before but it wasn't coming from him!

Emily's new do...

Both my girls generally speaking always have long hair and I absolutely LOVE it. I've always peferred my girls having long vs. short hair. I enjoy being able to do the long hair in a style and have it last for more than 1 day. For several months now Emily's head has turned into a very soft head. She cries and cries and cries when it comes time to doing her hair. Every day she cries! She starts crying before I can even pick up the brush and then cries harder as we work out the tangles. For over a week now I decided that just maybe it was time to cut this beloved long hair into something a little more managbale for a 5 year old.

Emily wanted her hair to come to her chin. My problem with this is that when Madelyn was about the same age she wanted to do the same thing. I took her to a friend who cut her hair to her chin. She loved it for about a week and then decided she hated such short hair. She hated it not being long for pig tails, she hated we couldn't do any of our favorite do's, she just didn't like her hair so short. Since then when it comes time to cut Madelyn's hair she's always quick to say, "Remember when my hair was really short? Don't cut it like that o.k?"

I don't want a repeat of this experience with Emily!

(Emily before the big hair cut)

After I cut 9 inches of her hair off, I had her jump in the shower to wash it.

She wanted to brush it for the 1st time. She was THRILLED that there were no tangles and that she could brush ALL of her hair.

I wanted to cut her hair to her shoulders. I feel like we compromised.

Her hair straight is at her shoulders. When we blow dried the hair around her face we curled it under. She loves that it's as short as her chin.

She loves it.

I hope she will continue to love it.

Whether her hair is short or long she still looks cute!

1st Doctor's Appointment

Today I had my 1st Dr.'s appointment for my pregnancy in Cedar City. Sitting in the waiting room reminded me of what I once knew. I was not liking the realization of having to get to know a new doctor, new office staff, new hospital, new city. I didn't like the question's I later had to ask, "Where is the lab for me to do the blood work? Where's Radiology to schedule my ultrasound?" In Prescott, the 7 years that we were there I saw the same doctor who basicly had the same staff. I delivered at the same hospital and used the same labs. I loved my PV doctor, I've missed her already, she delivered all of my babies thus far.

I was impressed with my new certified midwife, Laurie Hansen. She does not do home births she was quick to say and I learned the difference between a doctor/ certified midwife and a certified midwife/midwife. Not sitting in the waiting room for more than 2 minutes before being brought back started my appointment off with a good start. The nurse did the normal things took my urine sample, blood pressure, gave me a new pregnancy book and just talked about my previous pregnancies. She than left telling me Laurie would be right in. I was very impressed that I had barely pulled my book out of my purse before Laurie came in.

WOW! No waiting.

I think I will learn to love my new midwife like I loved my previous O.B. I was very impressed.

The best part of my appointment was hearing babies heart beat. It's great to know there is something living inside me causing me to get fat once again. Today I am 17 weeks and 1 day. My due date is June 14, 2012. I scheduled my ultra sound for the same day as my next O.B appointment. This means the beginning of next month as long as EVERYONE is cooperating we should know what our next little bundle of joy will be.

Hunter and Brayden (says Hunter) are wanting a brother. Madelyn and Emily no suprise are wanting a sister. I would absolutely LOVE another little girl to do the frillies with, bows, flowers, teeny tiny bracelets. It's been a long time. However, later this year when school starts it's new year Emily will be at school all day leaving Brayden home by himself. I'm thinking a little boy would make for a nice playmate for a few years anyways before Brayden is off to school too.

Kory is quick to point out our family is 3 to 3 (boys vs. girls). What will our little tie breaker be?

It's a New Year...

Last Friday morning I talked to my best friend, April, in Az finalizing our weekend plans. You see Kory had a job in AZ to finish and so our whole family had plans to go with him. Being Kory had to work Friday night our plan was to leave saturday morning and arrive in sunny Arizona sometime that afternoon. We were going to take both families to our favorite restaurant, Garcia's, for dinner. Saturday night both our families including kids would attend a New Year's Eve Party at our old bishop's house. Several other friends were also attending. We were so excited to see everyone again. Our plan sunday was to attend church at 8 am and spend the rest of the day catching up with each other's lives. On Monday April and I were going to hit all the Christmas Clearance's at a few differnet stores. I was really looking forward to going to Hobby Lobby my most favorite store of all time. We thought about taking the kids to the park that afternoon and just enjoying what little time we had together. Tuesday morning our family would leave Arizona to return home in time for Kory to be to work by 4 that afternoon. We knew it would kind of be a short trip but we were going to make the best of our few days away from home.

Come Friday night, our bags were packed, the van loaded, Kory was off to work and I was arguing with the kids why we had to wait until the next morning to leave instead of what they wanted :leaving Daddy in Utah to find himself a ride to AZ the next day. Silly kids, it was because of Daddy we were going to AZ in the first place. I was sitting on the couch folding my last batch of towels when Brayden came to me saying he was sick. I asked him where he was sick at and before he could answer he threw up all over me and the couch. UGH!!!! I was desperately hoping it was a fluke. Not the case every 15-20 minutes like clock work from 7 o' clock that night till 1 o'clock the next morning my baby boy was sick. At midnight Hunter came down to inform me that he too had just thrown up. From then until 8 the next morning Hunter was throwing up every hour. When Kory got home at 3 that morning I told him that the kids and I just couldn't go. Not only do I not want to be stuck in the van for several hours with puking kids but it wouldn't be right to show up at someone else's home with sick kids. And so our wonderful plans changed.

Saturday I spent the day washing sheets, comforter's, blankets, towels and trying to disinfect our entire house. As saturday night approached and no else got sick we were seriously considering leaving sunday morning to AZ as a family and continuing on with an even shorter mini vacation.

I couldn't believe it when April called that night to inform us that her kids had just started throwing up too. Seriously? I didn't know germs could be spread through the phone line. Needles to say our family didn't go to AZ this weekend. Kory did leave late sunday night, he finished the job monday and returned home in the wee hours of this morning. He may be coming down with what the boys had a few days ago as he's still in bed complaining he REALLY doesn't feel good. Hopefully he can sleep it off.

Our family rang in the new year by fixing a gigantic bowl of popcorn and watching a new movie mom had hidden away, Beethoven. Hunter, Emily and Brayden had all fallen asleep on the couch before the clock struck midnight. Madelyn desperately wanted to stay up till midnight so Kory and I stayed up with her. As soon as midnight struck we all went to bed.

The kids and I played together all day yesterday trying to make the most out of our last day of Christmas Break. Today it's back to the grind stone, school, dishes, taking out the trash, etc. I'm already missing our break that went by way to quickly.

Happy New Year's Everyone!

Christmas Break 2011

I was a little bummed to see that instead of my kids getting the full 2 weeks off like most school districts give for Christmas Break we only get 1 week and 2 days. Having the kids home has been a lot of fun. I am so glad that school is half way over. I'm looking forward to summer vacation already without all the homework, spelling words, getting up so so early to catch the bus, etc.

We are taking advantage of our Christmas Break this year.

On monday of this week Kory and Hunter got up early and drove to Panguitch. Kory with 2 of his brothers and a few of there kids went ice fishing on Panguitch Lake. The girls and I decided to stay home because quite frankly I wasn't going to go stand on ice and freeze my tushy off for a few hours to fish. That is not fun for me! However we have been having exceptionally warm weather of late. All week our outside thermostat has hit over 65 degrees. By afternoon we're almost to 70. I am not complaining about our Spring like weather we are currently having. Kory and Hunter had a wonderful time fishing in this warmer weather even though they got skunked!

Tuesday afternoon the Young Women had an incentive trip. They planned to go ice skating. Being no one had school and all the leaders had plenty of room in there cars all of us leaders took our kids. This was the 1st time my kids have gone ice skating. We all had so much fun! Madelyn started off with a little help. After about 30 minutes she ventured off on her own.
Hunter was a natural. The leaders kept asking me if this was really his 1st time on ice skates.Not long after we got there he and some cousins started playing tag. I was pretty impressed with his new found skill!

After some coaxing even Emily went out on the ice. She's sure glad she decided to be brave. She was the last one off the ice when it was time to go home and kept asking if she could do it just one more time.

Brayden and I stayed off the ice and watched everyone else have fun. We brought books and puzzles to keep us occupied together. Before heading for home we splurged and bought 2 hot chocolates to share. It was pretty good. When we 1st got there and I went to pay for all the kids I was told it was going to be $2 kids and $3 for adults. However, despite the hour drive we had to get there they considered us "locals" so it was only $1 for the kids. That included there ice skate rental too. They let Emily skate for free and the hot chocolate was $1.50 each. I spent a total of $5 for a great afternoon spent! For such cheap and fun entertainment we've got to do this again.

Tuesday night Hunter asked if I'd play Monopoly with him and his sisters.

I LOVED Monopoly growing up.

So after dinner was cleaned up we opened our new family christmas gift and started playing. We didn't start the game until 7 and didn't finish until almost 11 o' clock that night. WOW! I had forgotten how long this game can go on for. The kids had fun, I had fun and we've played it once more since.

Yesterday, wednesday, Uncle Dustin invited us to go quad sledding with his family. We don't have a snow to do it the right way so we did it a little different. Uncle Dustin has a big field behind his back yard that is quite often than not in shade. I think this field has the most snow than anywhere else in town. Which really isn't saying a lot.

Uncle Dustin tied a sled to a long piece of rope and tied it to the back of his quad.

Here's cousing Esther taking Brayden for a ride. Brayden was dressed very warm but decided he was to hot and took off his coat. I guess that just goes to show how warm it was...

Here's Emily and Madelyn. Madelyn fell off and decided she wanted to be dragged instead of getting back on the sled.

Hunter was pretty thrilled when Uncle Dustin asked him if he wanted a turn to drive it. There was no hesitation from him of course. Uncle Dustin did sit behind him during his driving "just in case".

We stayed up late again last night not getting to bed until after 10pm. This is so not like us. I'm a pretty stickler about getting my kids to bed at 8 each night. It's been fun staying up with the kids and enjoying their company. No one seems to roll out of bed until after 8. Breakfast hasn't been until almost 10am. As I said we our taking advantage of this mini break from school and are throughly enjoying ourselves and the little adventures we've done each day.

Heaton Christmas Party 2011

This year being we are the new family to town Kory and I decided to host Christmas Dinner for the Heaton Family. We invited his 4 siblings and their families that live here in town along with 2 other siblings that live within 2 hours from town. In then end only 5 of his siblings and their families came. His older sister Holly decided not to make it because her oldest is on a mission in Texas and for some reason wasn't able to call home until that evening. Can't blame her for not coming. However, they were missed.

We had lots and lots and lots of food to eat. Being the host of this grand event I missed out on taking pictures during our grand turkey and ham dinner. After dinner some of the adults stayed on the couches visiting while other sat around the table playing games. Here are the 4 oldest grandkids that were present.
The boys kept themselves enteratained with the WII, nerf guns and lego's.

After I kicked the boys off the WII, the girls took their opportunity to play Just Dance Kids.

I think they had fun.

The little girls and boys had fun playing in the girls room and loft.

Our house was FULL, it was little LOUD and CRAZY at times but I hope we all had fun.

It was good to have everyone that could come, come. It's nice to know that my house could hold 40+ people all at the same time and survive. I have the best sister-in-laws ever. Before everyone left they ALL helped clean up bedrooms that suprisingly weren't bad and helped wash, dry and put away all the dirty dishes. Even though my dishes were done and my sink was empty before everyone arrived it was astounding to see how many dishes we had piled up after our big meal. I was very thankful for all the help in the clean up.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Christmas Morning 2011

Twas' the night before Christmas and all through the house not a creature was stirring NOT even a mouse. The children were nestled all snug in there beds with strick instructions from Daddy not to get out of bed until 7 the next morning. Daddy however working nights for almost a year now REALLY struggles sleeping like the rest of the family on the weekends. Saturday night was no exception. The kids were all in bed by 9:30 and at 10:30 when I went to bed they were sleeping. Kory came to bed about midnight and I KNOW he struggled with sleep. With all his tossing and turning I felt like he kept me up all night too. We were both lying awake at 5 am sunday morning when Kory suddenly said, "I can't sleep let's go wake up the kids". I said, "Heck no! With all your threats from the night before you are not waking anyone up till 7." After another 30 minutes listening to him toss and turn, knowing I wasn't going to get much more sleep I threw in the towel. Kory jumped out of bed, ran upstairs and woke the kids up. Despite the picture Brayden wasn't crying just yawning and stretching. Can't imagine why?????Santa definetly found us...
Santa brought Hunter a Star Wars Lego set. He also filled his stocking with a box of Mike and Ike's, a star wars watch that came with a figure and Indiana Jones 2 WII game.
Mom and Dad gave him some real cow boy boots, a nerf gun and a Lego Star Wars set. The rest of the goodies came from Grandparents, Aunts and Uncles and Cousins. This year we had the kids exchange gifts that could go in our food storage or just storage in general. They had so much fun with this. Hunter was given several deodorants and a bottle of white gas for his bbq.

Santa found Madelyn too.

Santa brought her a Hello Kitty Camera. Her stocking was filled with a new watch, Just Dance Kids WII game and a box of Sugar Babie candies.

For several weeks now Madelyn and I have been talking about giving her Barbie house a make- over. So mom and dad gave her a box with 4 different Barbie house furniture rooms, a pair of boots and a box of Horses that her barbies can ride. For her food storage gift she received several boxes of cake mixes and brownie mixes. The rest of her goodies came from friends at school and extended family members.

Santa brought Emily a horse for her baby doll's along with a new doll. Her new doll is dressed up as a Horse Jockey. She loves it! Her stocking had a new watch, a Pet Rescue WII game and a box of Gobstopers.

Mom and Dad gave her a doll house with a ton of family members and so much furniture it won't all fit that I bought months ago off of Craigslist. We also gave her a new Memory game. She like the rest of the kids recieved many gifts from fellow classmates, her preschool teacher and extended family members. Her food storage gift was a case of Top Ramen (her favorite) and 2 cases of Mac N' Cheese (her 2nd all time favorite).

Brayden was so much fun to watch this year.

Santa brought him a Fire Station that has a fire truck, 2 firemen and a dog. His stocking had a box of Skittles and Diego movie. Mom and Dad gave him Diego puzzles a Diego book and a game. I think he was more thrilled with the play dough his Nursery Teacher gave him and the crocheted ball Grandpa Bob (other nursery teacher) gave him. His food storage gift that didn't make it into the picture was several boxes of Life Cereal, his favorite. He too recieved a few extra gifts from cousins.

After pictures and the floor was picked up Mom and Dad went back to bed while the kids played with their new toys. Hunter kept himself busy with his new lego's.

After a great Musical Sacrament Meeting only we came home and started to get ready for the Heaton Family Christmas Party we hosted this year. Brayden kept himself entertained on the stairs playing with his new playdough.

We had a great Christmas this year.

Kory and I enjoyed just sitting and listening to our children playing and talking together. It was a great spent day! We recieved some fun Family Christmas Presents this year. My brother gave us a sled. Now all we need is the snow! Kory's sister gave the kids 2 of those blow up balls that kids sit and jump acorss the room on. On top of the ball came a fabric horse, so that it looks like the kids are galloping. My parents gave the kids a teepee to play in. I'll have to post pictures of these soon.

Merry Christmas everyone!