The Wolfley Family

Christmas Day!

2012-01-29T20:47:00.000-08:00

My favorite part--opening the stockings!
The first thing the kids saw was Breje's gift from Grandma and Grandpa. Grandpa built her a huge wooden chest for the end of her bed and drove it out to our house weeks before Christmas. She loved it!

Yes, that's Trayson reading his new book, smack dab in the middle of all that Christmas fun!

Kutter had desperately been wanting a camo hat "just like Simon's". It seriously got his biggest grin of the day!

I love how shocked my kids are that Santa actually got them a wii. I'm pretty sure they had resigned themselves to never joining this century!

One last shot of the carnage, before we packed it all up and got ready for church.

It was really such a fun morning and so great to be able to just wake up in our own beds!

"Pretend Christmas Eve"

2012-01-22T21:17:00.000-08:00

Christmas eve has always been my very favorite part of the entire holiday season. This year the best part of Christmas Eve was that my whole family was willing to celebrate one night early and have a "pretend" Christmas Eve -- complete with all our favorite traditions -- so that we could spend it with them but still have Christmas morning in our own home. It meant a lot to me that they were so willing to go our of their way to share this special time with us, but also so understanding about us wanting to have some Christmas memories in our own home (not to mention eliminating so much of the stress involved in having Christmas for 6 somewhere away from home!)
This year we kicked things off with a new tradition -- "minute to win it"! Forgive the blurriness of the picture, but my camera could not deal with the supersonic speeds the kids attacked kleenex boxes with!

The only thing sillier than that was wrapping each other in whole rolls of toilet paper!

Finally, a game of 7-ll for all the kids -- definitely more noisy and chaotic than we had anticipated, but fun for all! I loved that these games were fun for both the tiny kids and the older kids. It was great to see them all enjoying each other so much!

Of course, the highlight of the evening is always presents! We couldn't wait to give Lucy hers, but she mostly wanted to hide her candy in the wrapping paper to keep it safe!

Trayson got a hug from Simon for his cool horse trailer ....

.. and Hayley has definitely taught her girls how to be adequately thrilled for each gift!

My girls were completely thrilled with all their loot ....

... but it's fairly obvious the boys will be competing with Grandpa for playtime with their fun new helicopters! Gee, I wonder who picked those out?

I totally loved capturing these shots the next morning, of all the kids gathered around and playing with their newest toys, just like every Christmas morning!

Preschool Christmas Party

2012-01-17T21:15:00.000-08:00

With only four days after the Wolfley Family Party until we returned to Utah for more holiday fun, we still had to squeeze in the holiday parties for the kids at school. Brielle's party kicked off with a bang when she finally got to wear the hand print antlers that she's been dying to show me for days!I then had the pleasure of hearing her sing "Rudolph" and several other Christmas carols with her friends -- don't you think the red nose just makes it perfect? She did.

The highlight of the day was waiting for St Nick to show up. Now, Brielle has not always been a fan of the big guy in red. In fact, she has repeatedly refused to even look in his direction whenever he's near, but this year she assured me things would be different. She even practiced telling him that she wanted a "pink La la loopsy" doll for Christmas, over and over in the car on the way there. When her teachers announced that he was on his way, Brielle was the first kid over so that she'd be able to sit close to him. Thrilled, I stepped back and waited to snap that perfect picture when Santa walked into the room....

... this is what I got!

She practically flattened the little girl next to her in her frantic efforts to get as far away from him as possible. She wouldn't even take her candy cane. She did, however, calm down enough to demand the opportunity to give him the picture she'd colored for him!

The Wolfley Christmas Party

2012-01-13T21:32:00.000-08:00

The Wolfley family party is always an enormous affair, simply because there are so dang many of us! We tend to make even a church gym feel cozy and a bit overcrowded, so we're pretty lucky to have that option. It's a bit of a challenge to wrangle this group into any kind of organized activity, but Jason and Chelsi gave it a pretty good shot this year.
I tend to spend quite a bit of my time during these parties trying to locate various groups of children so that I can get pictures of all the fun. I found two willing models (Brooklyn and Brielle) when all the kids had disappeared behind the stage curtains. ...... apparently, all that posing looked like loads of fun!Ryann, Bella, Jaeli, Brielle, and Brooklyn make quite a beautiful crew, yes?

There was a craft table set up so that the kids could make pretty Christmas tree decorations. Someone pulled out glitter and stickers and I thought I'd never be able to tear Brielle away!

There were several "minute to win it" games for the rest of us. Jody actually won this one, by drawing the best Christmas scene on top of his head!

I love this one, it's just some (I couldn't fit the entire line in the picture) of the grandchildren lining up to recieve christmas gifts from Jody's dad. I'm pretty sure it was longer than any line I saw for Santa in the mall this year!

We also had tons of great food, a slide show by Kaycee, and tons and tons of noise!

Pardon the Interruption

2012-01-11T21:32:00.000-08:00

I have been trying to continue my Christmas posts for two days now and have just not been able to face them. Have you ever been so worried about something that you felt like some one's pushed the pause button-- every one's rushing around but your stuck in slow motion and completely unable to focus? Everything is blurry and I just can't seem to function properly.
My brother-in-law has cancer. It's not new, many of you know that he's been living with it for years now, but we don't talk about it a lot. He's gotten so good at pretending he's fine and we kinda like pretending to believe him. It makes it easier to keep moving. Recently, however, he's been in such pain that he can't pretend anymore. I wish I could say that the worst part of that was having to face the reality that cancer is still there, but it's not. The worst part is wondering why that pain is there. Worrying that nothing can make it better. Knowing there's nothing I can do to fix it and being so far away that I can't even give my sister and her family a hug. Cancer seriously sucks, people!
Anyway, I'm trying really really hard to remind myself it won't do any good to be angry. I keep finding myself wanting to hit something and say lots of bad words, but I'm trying to remember that the one thing I can do is pray. So if you're reading this, say a little prayer for your family, and mine, too.

2012-01-08T21:19:00.000-08:00

Yes, it's been pretty much forever since I've posted, but I do have an excuse. My computer died -- as in seriously bit the dust. And then I took about a million pictures -- which completely overwhelmed me. And then I got really really lazy. I finally forced myself to face the situation and that's when I realized how many of my most adorable pictures involve Hayley's children and had to face the facts that since her sweet husband (the computer wiz) is the only reason that I am actually able to download my pictures (let along blog them) the least I could do is put them out there on the net so that everyone (including my sis) could adore them.

Seriously, they are about the cutest kids ever and I am so grateful for the bonds that my kids share with their cousins. To make this a little more bearable for all of us, I am going to attempt to break down Christmas into only slightly more manageable compartments, beginning with the annual party and Grandpa Ones' house. This party is sometimes the only day all year that my kids get to hang with my cousin's kids -- and they seriously love it.

Check out how much fun Brielle and Sienna are having with Holly and Becky's daughters! (Do you love how they are all color-coordinated? We totally didn't even plan that! ) And Breje and Courtney have shared the sweetest friendship since the first party that they remember.

The kids usually grab a ton of food and then rush off to the basement to hide from the adults -- who are only too willing to play along. That made it pretty difficult to find victims for my camera, but the few smiles I caught show just how much they look forward to this party.

I love that I caught this EXTREMELY rare shot of Kutter and Simon willing to play GQ. Brielle and Sienna, on the other hand, gave me SEVERAL DOZEN frames of this pose!

This was merely the first evening in a 3 week long Christmas celebration -- but what a way to kick it off!

FHE in December

2011-12-05T20:54:00.000-08:00

I love Family Home Evenings in December, because they are already pretty much pre-planned, sweet and simple, with a built-in message (and usually a necessary treat!)
We usually decorate our Christmas tree on the first Monday in December and it seems to get even more fun every year. I love watching my kids get all excited about each ornament. It reminds me of when I did the exact same thing growing up. Brielle seriously wanted to put up the star, but Daddy is the only one even close to tall enough!

Last year we began the tradition of writing a letter to Jesus about what we want to give Him for His birthday each year. Each child gets to decide what would make Him most happy, write it in a note, then place it on the tree. It's a great way to bring the celebration back to the Savior, and it often provides a bit of comic relief as well. Brielle's first two attempts (which, unfortunately didn't make it into the card because everyone was too busy laughing to spell it for her) began with "maybe He would like some cards!" and "how do I spell, 'Dear Jesus, you are sooo cute!'" Gotta love her!

A "love"ly Thanksgiving weekend

2011-11-30T21:07:00.000-08:00

We had ourselves a Thanksgiving weekend full of fun, delicious food, great shopping, and gobs of love!
Love is ...
Brielle and Sienna snuggling on the couch instead of falling asleep, just cause they "haven't seen each other in forever!" Love is.... showing Aunt Heather lots of love over our oreo turkeys,

just cause we know how much she needs it!

Love is squishing 5 cousins into the 2 closest chairs at a 10-chair table, because waffles just taste better that way!

Love is ... Lucy putting up with Uncle Jody's antics,

and even bonding with Trayson over computer games (while the entire pathetic family stares and giggles for a good 15-20 minutes).

I love my family!

Fall Crafts

2011-11-21T18:15:00.000-08:00

I usually don't actually get a major urge to craft until all the Christmas tunes start blasting on the radio, but this year has been a serious exception. I don't know if it's because I'm really trying hard to start making my gifts earlier, or what, but each time I try to focus on Christmas, I end up with another autumn themed decoration. Oops!

Burlap has totally been making me happy this season. I think it just seems to fit out here on our mini-ranch! We had a fun Relief Society activity where we got to make book-pumpkins --- right up my alley! I have to admit that I didn't actually cut them out -- I left that to my super crafty friend, but I did do the rest. I think we were only meant to learn how to make one, but I ended up with an adorable little trio! And they look so cute with my floral wire pumpkins!

My last craft was really just an FHE cop out. It was Monday night, I had no plan, and I REALLY didn't feel like coming up with a lesson. For me, finding a branch, spray painting it, stuffing it into an old spray-painted pot, and cutting out a million paper leaves seemed way easier than coming up with a spiritual thought.

I was sure the kids would just roll their eyes and demand a treat, but it has been one of my favorite things this year and is sure to become a trad ition. The things my kids are thankful for make me smile everyday!

Just a quick laugh

2011-11-16T18:20:00.000-08:00

I may get around to posting pictures again someday (my kids are still truly adorable, I swear!) but for now I just had to jot down some recent conversations I had with Brielle that totally cracked me up!

After preschool, yesterday, Brielle and I had a delightful conversation that went a little something like this:
Brielle: "Hey, Mom, neither one of my teachers told me how beautiful I looked today!" (seriously broken-hearted face!)
Me: "Well they don't have to say that every day, do they?"
Brielle; "Uh yeah" (eye roll)
Me: "My friends noticed how cute you looked today"
Brielle: "Oh, well, ok. But I probably should've told them that this dress is new "(new as in, we just found this adorable little dress in a box that I had completely overlooked --thanks again Hayley!)
Me: "I actually did"
Brielle: "Oh good. Thank you!" (serious relief)

Help me! What have I done to this child?

Later on, she was helping make some Christmas presents (cause I'm totally on the ball like that!) and asking all sorts of Christmas questions. She wanted to know why we talk about joy so much at Christmas, so I reminded her that it's because we are celebrating Christ's birth.
Brielle: "Oh yeah. I already know all about that. Tray told me last night. Then Kutter overheard so he totally joined our discussion".

REALLY?

Soccer

2011-11-07T18:45:00.000-08:00

Since I can't seem to download my more recent pictures (like Halloween!) I've decided I might as well post some of the stuff that didn't quite make it to my blog this fall.
Soccer season was even more crazy that usual, this year. We had three kids on three different teams, and of course we caved and agreed to coach Brielle's team.

It was actually pretty fun to watch Tray's team this year. He's getting really good and his team did awesome!

Brielle's games were more for comic relief. I love this pic --Jody told the kids to give us their ready faces.Pretty much the only time Brielle was able to kick the ball was when Jody let her kick off or do a corner kick . . .

...I love that this picture shows how far the ball actually went after the kick!
That's quite the kick!
Is it just me, or does she seem to be the only kid running away from the ball in this picture?

Kutter's games were a lot of fun to watch, too.
He 's getting really good and had a blast because two of his best friends were on his team!I am so relieved that it's finally over -- at least until spring!

Last Weekend

2011-10-30T19:10:00.000-07:00

Most people probably considered this weekend their last blast before the outdoors freeze up and turn from gold to a murky gray--their last chance to play before winter sets in. For us, last weekend was the pinnacle of all our fun until the holidays roll around.

The fun started with the delight of having a visit from Grandma and Grandpa -- who came on Wednesday for an extra long weekend! This meant that Brielle had the pleasure of dragging Grandpa along with Daddy for her very first field trip -- to the pumpkin patch and corn maze. She could hardly sleep the day before and was so enthusiastic that it almost made them as excited to join her.

The best part of that whole deal was it meant Breje and I were free to spend a whole day with Grandma in Boise -- and we literally shopped til we dropped!

The only way this weekend could get better was by having Travis, Hayley and the girls arrive on Friday afternoon. We kicked the celebration into high gear with another trip to Boise for dinner.
I'm pretty sure Brielle and Sienna were the only ones who didn't notice what a long, hungry drive that was!
We eventually made it and delicious Mexican food was had by all -- along with yummy brownie sundaes for Kutter and my birthdays! Whooo hooo!The real highlight of the weekend was that Kutter was able to be baptized. I got this shot just while we were waiting for everyone to arrive. Can you tell that Kutter is "seriously nervous and really happy"?
We were able to have a very simple, small ceremony with just our friends and family, and the only thing that could've made it better is having the rest of the fam there!

Grandma Linda always makes a special baptism book for the kids to remember their special day. Besides all the fun pictures, she includes a personal testimony from everyone in the family that the kids can read whenever they want.
It was a pretty big hit and Kutter even admitted to me later (although if you tell him that you read it here I will deny it with all my heart and then hunt you down!) that he cried when he read all of the testimonies. We were pretty much worn out after all that, so we spent the rest of the weekend eating great food, playing games, and just watching the kids hang out.

You can't really beat that weekend!

Kutter's Eighth Birthday!

2011-10-15T21:11:00.000-07:00

I can't believe our little Kutter has reached the age of accountability! There are so many things to love about Kutter, but I think my favorite is his sheepish grin! I adore how much he loves school and how quickly he makes friends. He loves all things boy -especially sports, which is why we threw him a football party for his birthday. I tried and tried to get him to agree to USU colors, but he's officially ditched my team in favor of BSU blue and orange -- we'll try to forgive him! I'm kind of proud of my BSU blue turf tablecloth ....... it was supposed to be bad weather, so I planned all sorts of football themed games -- a football toss and football bingo...

.l. but I was thrilled when I was able to ditch that plan and just send them outside to play football!

I eventually had to let them in for dinner -- good ole ball park franks, blue and orange nachos and some nasty orange gatorade. They thought they'd died and gone to heaven!

I have to give Jody credit -- I started whining about Kutter wanting a real cake and not just cupcakes (I am so not one of those talented cake decoraters) so Dad stepped in and created Kutter's football cake!

Gift time was the best part! You know you got good stuff when you're older brother is sneaking up behind you to snatch your new toys!

He liked his new BSU shirt way more than he's showing. I swear! Happy Birthday Kutter!

Feelin Crafty

2011-10-08T15:58:00.001-07:00

It hasn't exactly been feeling like fall around here lately, but something happens to me when the kids go back to school and I just desperately need to craft. The problem that I constantly run into is that there are hardly any places to buy craft supplies in this small town -- so I literally jumped for joy when I found this idea somewhere out there in blog-heaven. The supply list was surprisingly do-able.
Old sweaters: check
Twine: check
Rubber bands: check
Stuffing: Well, you're supposed to use actual stuffing, but if you're as cheap as me then you just use the wasted pieces of the sweater and then you feel even less terrible about cutting it up in the first place). So check!
The cost of this adorable little pumpkin patch? Totally and completely free. That's not even the best part. It involves no sewing and it's completely possible to complete them in one afternoon (as long as you and your friends are prepared to completely ignore all of your sweet little girls and not notice that all the flowers have been decapitated and a frog may or may have lost his life in what possibly could have been a science project gone horribly awry!)

2011-09-29T14:57:00.000-07:00

Such lovely proof that summer is not quite over... ... do you love her outfit? Nothing says "I will never trust daddy with a hose" like wearing a bathing suit to help wash the car....

.. and you didn't miss the perfect pairing of the black cowboy boots did you? Which brings me around to mentioning that the other day, when I was dropping Brielle off at preschool and didn't have anything scheduled, I asked her what I was ever gonna do without her during class. She thought for just a few seconds and then replied, "Maybe you should just go shopping .... and buy me a whole bunch of shoes!" Had to ask!

And since you asked (okay, 2 of you asked!) Breje titled her poster "centered around a great oak". The oak represents how her family is her center, her ctr ring and her torch represent how important her faith is and standing for truth and righteousness. The tent symbolizes how much she loves camping and all the flowers represent her closest friends. The muic notes represent her love of music and the lightbulb represents her glorious brain! The cats represent her pets. Whew!

School Projects

2011-09-25T17:59:00.001-07:00

I think I need to dedicate this post to my mom, in honor of all the ridiculously complicated school projects that she helped me complete in the wee hours of the night, because I either forgot all about them or just couldn't face them until the last minute. Mom, remember the miniature log cabin which counted for half of my grade in Interior Design 305? Remember helping Jody and I (yes, I was a grown married woman for crying out loud!) glue individual floor boards on until 4:30 in the morning? Even Cody helped me with that one -- his Styrofoam chimney rocked!
At least Breje has given me some advance notice so far, this year. She had me puzzling over how to create a scale model of the earth's crust for at least a week. Here's what we came up with.... ... yep, that is an enormous brownie, covered in several flavors of chocolate chips. Leave it to me to make a science project out of chocolate. Breje and I were carefully placing chocolate chips until early the next morning, and yes, that's to scale baby!
The next week she gave me the entire weekend to help her with her project for English -- a poster decorated with at least five symbols that represented her. She even convinced her friend MacKenzie to come help. I figured it would be a piece of cake.

Clearly, during all those late night creative sessions, my passed along her "seriously this is not problem and it'll be done in no time and we can still make it way cooler than any one else's" gene. At some point I convinced Breje that it'd be way easier to build a tree out of packing paper and silk leaves than to draw one. It spiraled a little out of control after that, but the good news is that she did get manage to get both projects turned in on time and received w A's! We make a great team.

Preschool

2011-09-08T20:50:00.000-07:00

Brielle finally got to start preschool this week. It is her new favorite thing. She had butterflies and nervous giggles for an entire night before-hand and woke up with explicit instructions as to her attire and hairdo. (Not a control freak at all!) She begged for lunch at 9:00 because she knew she was supposed to go to school after lunch. She couldn't wait for pictures--apparently this is the official "I am old enough and cute enough to go to preschool" pose. Maybe Sienna taught it to her?! She went in with hardly any hesitation and gave school glowing a review when I picked her up. She told Breje that the only time she was "nuhvus" was when they did "that scout thing, with the flag, you know, the plex a burlegence"! I guess we'll be practicing that one at home for awhile!
Since she's getting so gosh-darned old these days, I find myself hanging onto her more naive moments. One of my favorites was when she demanded curly hair for our Labor Day party. When I finished she said "People are going to say that I am so beautiful, but (noticing my straight hair) they might think you just didn't do your hair!"

New Schoolyear

2011-08-25T21:03:00.000-07:00

So, school actually began for my children last week and I am just getting around to this. Don't judge me! I currently have 3 kids in 3 different schools. One in EARLY MORNING SEMINARY. Brielle starts preschool in yet a 4th school next month. Throw in 3 kids in piano, one in Young Women's, one in scouts, groceries, play dates, exercise and seriously crappy Internet, and it is an outright miracle that these pics have finally made it to the worldwide web.

Breje's picture was taken on her first 5:30 am day -- she looked gorgeous, but let's face it, neither one of us is at our best at that time of day! At least she's smiling!The best part of taking the boys to school is that it is actually looking like daytime when they leave -- at least for now. It is also possible to take them both at the same time, and they are actually both willing to get into the car --bonus! (Do you love that Kutter looks like he's going backpacking in the Uintah's or something? This kid needs his stuff with him!)Although Brielle doesn't actually start until September, she had a way fun open house. She was seriously looking excited about it until she got there and saw all those people. She had a death grip on me until she saw the hermit crab, the fish, guinea pig, and a gecko! Then she found a slide and some dress ups. Twenty minutes later she was outright refusing to leave! Seriously? This time of year always makes me feel like they are getting way too old way too fast, so I'm trying really hard to remember the funny, innocent things they say. Brielle had a great one the other day. She woke up completely distraught, saying she had a bad dream. Now, Brielle never actually remembers here dream, but this one left a mark and she couldn't wait to share the horrors with me. "We were going camping and boating (sob, sob, sob) and we were in the truck with the windows rolled down (crocodile tears) and suddenly my necklace blew off and out the window and it got crunched!" (way more sobs). It was a bit difficult to hide how amused I was at her "tragedy", but I couldn't help be a little bit thrilled that she is still young enough that this was the most awful thing her little brain could conjur!

A Farewell to Summer

2011-08-18T21:40:00.000-07:00

to swimming lessons -- and to learning that we'll all learn a lot more if the girls have a cute girl teacher, and the boys have a cool boy teacher.

to thinking you're the bravest kid in the world for being able to dunk your head under the water "10 times!" and believing you're floating even when some one's holding on!

to finally being brave enough to jump off that high dive

and even attempt a real dive!

to family reunions (the one's you're really really looking forward to, and even the one's you're not)

to dirt in your fingernails, your nose, your food, your bed -- and not noticing because your cousins are right there.

to the sweet imagination of childhood, that can turn a bunch of tree stumps and sticks into t "the coolest rock and roll band ever"! (the "blue bandannas" in case you were wondering!)

to making some new friends, and reconnecting with some old ones.

to slip and slides-- to those who rock that thing on their very first try (Sienna) and those who will probably never really get it (Brielle) but are having too much fun to notice.

to Popsicles, sunscreen, wet towels, picnics, and way too much candy.

to last minute camping trips, just cause the summer is almost over. to the smell of campfire permeating everything, the joy of marshmallows cooked perfectly (or not) to discovering that french fries can be had in the wild and bacon should be cooked with everything. (bacon fried pancakes -- oh yeah!)

to sleeping in way too late just cause you can, shooting stars, sleep-overs at Grandma's house and movie night smack dab in the middle of the week!

Family Fun

2011-08-08T21:48:00.000-07:00

The kids and I were lucky enough to get to spend a whole week at my parent's house before school starts up again and ends all our fun. The kids were kind of ticked that they couldn't get rid of me the whole time, but we managed to have fun anyway!
My awesome parents. They totally spoiled us!The first order of business was my little sisters' 30th birthday party. Hayley LOVES her birthday and it just wouldn't have felt right to miss such a big one, especially since my mom and friends decided to throw her a huge surprise party. It was so fun getting surprise her and to finally meet all her cute friends.
Isn't she just beautiful! We spent most of the rest of the week just being lazy -- watching movies, eating good food, shopping. Most of my favorite pics of the week involve all the kids snuggling together. I love this one of the kids all crashing on Grandpa while they watch a movie!

My cute brother totally stole Brielle's heart this trip. She forced him to snuggle with her half the week, and she's still trying to convince me to let her live with him!

The kids spent hours playing in the backyard pool. It was just one of those things that totally took me back to my childhood, playing in a pool in the exact same spot in the yard, playing some of the exact same games.

My mom always manages to cook up a few extra fun activities for all the grandkids-- this year they had a blast tie-dying t-shirts together and then they got to wear them to their surprise "snuggle-up" movie in the back yard. Too fun.

We wrapped up the week with a fun family reunion with my dad's side of the family. These are the people I spend most of my childhood with and we are still really close. It was so fun to sit and chat and watch all of our adorable children become friends that I nearly forgot to take pictures.

I'm thrilled that I got this one of Brielle and Sienna. Priceless.

And I actually remembered to get a couple of my kids attacking the seriously overstuffed pinata!

I hardly saw Breje the whole day, because she hardly ever gets to see my cousins adorable daughter, Courtney. I love that they have such a sweet friendship even though they only get together a couple times a year.

Cheap Thrills

2011-07-22T23:31:00.000-07:00

So I have seriously been needing a project lately. Like bad. The problem is that I'm feeling more picky about my projects these days. I needed to know that I could actually complete it. I needed it to be quick. And I seriously needed it to be cheap. Usually I'm looking for some ugly wood to paint, but I found this bad boy at the thrift store the other day and it was irresitable---mostly because it was only 65 cents! It was even uglier than my picture shows. Tons of ugly rust and they hadn't even dusted off the cobwebs. The hardest part of the entire project was convincing myself to pick it up and put it in my car. I dusted it off and dug through my spray paint and totally hit the jackpot. I'd forgotten all about the pretty green paint I'd found on clearance that matched the pretty bench on my porch. I didn't have a use for it at the time, but it was only a dollar and sooo pretty!

I did a little antiquing with some black paint and voila! Brand new plant stand for $1.65!

Yellowstone

2011-07-11T21:43:00.000-07:00

Watch out for this post, folks. I may have busted my "add anthother image" button forever, but I just had to share every second I could of our trip to Yellowstone. I'm not sure how I have this many pictures, since my camera batteries seemed to have developed a severe allergic reaction to my actual camera and kept popping out whenver I needed them most, but somehow I still managed to reach picture overload.

First up is our awesome cabin. It looks a bit dubious from the outside, but it was the complete opposite on the inside. It was beautiful, clean and fit us all perfectly!

We had a little bit of time after checking out the place before dark, so we hopped into our cards and checked out some lovely falls. I am clearly not a master photographer, but trust me, they were breathtaking.

First stop the next day was Old Faithful, of course. Fortunately we didn't have to wait too long, but I did mange to get some shots of our good-lookin group to fend off the boredome.

Grandpa and all his grandsons. Too great.

The Brielle with her beautiful cousins.

Then we took a jaunt to fishing bridge, where we did some shopping and got to hear the story of how Grandpa got chased by a bear while fishing there. The kids were in heaven. So was Grandpa.

Of course, no day at Yellowstone is complete without at least one tour of hot pots. Brielle kept finding ingenious ways to not have to actually walk the trail...

The buffalo, however walked right across the path just before us! I've never seen them actually hanging out at the hot pots, but they were snuggling up with them like they were hoping for a facial or something.

Day two was all about some guy time (fishing, where no fish were caught--so I guess it's ok that the camera wasn't there) and some girl time (shopping and eating, of course)

We had to get a picture of our girls with the giant stuffed bear, just in case it's the only one we saw all trip.

And we coudn't get through the day without admiring all of Hayley's handiwork-matching hairdos for all the girls (minus little Lucy, who's just not quite there yet)

When the guys finally gave up on fishing, we met up with them and visited the bear and wolf center, to make sure the kids could all scratch those animals off their lists.

And later we were completely surprised when Island Park put on about the best fireworks show we had ever seen. We were lucky enough to be able to watch from our cabin and it went on forever!

The kids would probably say that the best part of their trip was all the surprises from Grandma. I loved this shot of the boys using their brand new binoculars. We had to look at everything through the binoculars for the whole rest of the trip!

Our last day in the park was full of surpises, including a very up close look at this black bear! Our very first ever in-the-park-bear. Hooray!

We saw tons more hot pots.

And some more elk at Mammoth hot springs. Although, let's face it, the obligatory ice cream was way more fun than those elk! The best part for me was being able to spend so much time with my whole family together.

This one's for Grandma!

2011-06-24T20:34:00.001-07:00

Brielle got this cute dress from her Grandma Linda's trip to Mexico. She adores it and I have to admit that I LOVE how pretty she looks in this color. My favorite thing about it, though, is how she feels when she wears it. Her very first comment about it was, "hey, mom, don't I just look like a beautiful rock star!?" Yeah, nothin says rock star like a Mexican sundress and a cardigan!

I finally painted!

2011-06-16T20:14:00.000-07:00

Brielle's room has been torturing me ever since before she was even born. I knew that I wanted to do a brown and pink room, but her room is seriously tiny and painting it brown terrified me. Painting it pink was almost as scary. I finally came up with a plan about a year ago and it's taken me a whole year to get up the guts to do it, but I finally did it and I am completely thrilled with it! Doesn't it make you want to go out and eat some Neapolitan ice cream? Now I just can't seem to make myself put holes in the walls to hang up her decorations. Hopefully that won't take a whole year....

2011-06-14T15:37:00.000-07:00

School has been out for nearly a month and yet we have only seen one day that actually reached 80! It's been a windy and rainy and gloomy, and really really busy. I've found myself wondering when we'd be able to get started with all our summertime fun, until I finally downloaded my most recent pictures. Evidence of summer is everywhere!

First night of the summer sleeping out on the tramp --- Brielle actually only made it about an hour, but the rest of the giggled until all ours of the night! It sounded beautiful. This is our first morning of no school. It looks like sheer laziness -- but I like to call it "everyone snuggling on the couch and agreeing on the same show and getting along and letting mom sleep in". Otherwise known as "bliss"!

I believe this is morning number two. Waking up to find your son reading to his smiling little sister is a serious treasure!

We've also done some baking. Like a lot of baking. Maybe I should not have bought that enormous bag of chocolate chips at Costco right before swimsuit season?

The boys even got to have their first fishing day with dad of the season. They FROZE to death and fought the wind more than they fought the fish, but they got their guy time in and even caught a couple of fish in the process.

I can't wait to see what we get to do when summer actually begins!

Breje turned 14, and we got tons of visiters!

2011-06-01T21:29:00.000-07:00

It's unbelievably difficult to comprehend that my little girl is actually a 14 year old! Having her party right after Brielle's really emphasizes how much older she is getting. She no longer begs for princess parties and dreams about getting dress-ups and coloring books. Topping her list was a slumber party and, of course, the ipod! (Thanks, Grandma!)

It's a good thing she is such an amazing teenager -- it makes missing her childhood a little bit easier. Breje has an amazing testimony for someone her age and a very firm hold of her values. She's a huge help with her brothers and Brielle and I'm not sure if I'd still be sane (at least partially) if she wasn't so willing to babysit for me. I love that she lets Brielle have "sleepovers" in her room and does her hair and everything else she can think of so that those ten years between them seem so short. I love that she shares my love of reading and that she "gets" Pride and Prejudice. I love that she's even more beautiful on the inside than she is on the outside, even though she grows more lovely every day. Happy Birthday, Breje!

Her birthday was made even more special when Grandma Linda and Aunt Hayley (with the ladies, of course) made the long drive from Utah to come celebrate. We finished up all her birthday shopping and ate some yummy food along the way. My camera happened to be missing at the time and it just kills me because there were many lovely moments. It never ceases to amaze me that Ady and Kutter have still not discovered that they have nothing in common (despite spending EVERY SINGLE WAKING MOMENT TOGETHER) and Brielle and Sienna never seem to stop smiling.

It was literally an hour after this crew left that Jason, Chelsi and kids showed up for their first visit to this lovely town. It was so fun to see how quickly the kids connected, as they don't get to see each other very often.

Spending time with them helped remind us that there are positive aspects to our sleepy little town. We spent most of their time here enjoying all of our wide open spaces in the back yard. The kids braved the motorcycle together....

... and the horse....

... and I seriously wish I had a picture of how much they enjoyed our new kittens (the sentiment was most definitely not reciprocated!)

Thank you so much, everyone, for making our Memorial Day weekend seem a lot less dreary!

My Baby Just Turned Four!

2011-05-22T17:18:00.000-07:00

How is this possible? As trite as this sounds, it really does seem like just yesterday that we brought her home from the hospital and she's been our little princess ever since. There are so many things to love about our Brielle --- here's just a few of our favorites....

Brielle is always my number one helper. She adores laundry. She got roped into picking rocks out of the corral on her birthday and kept exclaiming, "This is so great! I love my birthday!" (making the rest of us look really really bad!) She can usually be heard saying "oh, I'll get that for ya" or "just let me do it". Her willingness to serve blesses our lives on a daily basis.

This kid is a snuggler. She is so full of love and usually more than willing to share. Occasionally she runs out of hugs and kisses, but she usually manages to discover a few she's got hidden around the house before we feel their absence too keenly.

I love how vocal she is. She has no idea that she is not actually twenty five and her vocabulary reflects that. Each day brings a new phrase that we can believe we actually heard from her lips. It's constant entertainment.

She adores her siblings and would do almost anything for them. We often discover her cleaning someone else's room so that they'll have time to play with her, and she'd follow her big sister anywhere!

I love how well-rounded she is. She is such a girly-girl -- crazy about cute clothes and make up and anything princess, but she'll get down and dirty outside with her brothers and she adores her dad's motorcycle!

Now, onto partytime! Brielle has been completely determined, for months now, to have a pink and purple princess party. We kicked it off by delivering these little purses to her friends, with invitations inside.

She chose a lavender tablecloth with pink and purple accents. I made these little paper "glass slippers" and filled them with links so that they could make their own necklaces or bracelets while they ate.

Since I SO don't do cake decorating, I printed princess cupcake toppers and stuck them in cupcakes (chocolate of course!) with lavender icing and pink sprinkles.
I think my favorite party decoration were the pom poms I made to hang from the ceiling. If you find them hanging in my home, different colors for every season, don't judge me. They just made me happy!

When her friends arrived, I had a stand waiting with homemade princess scepters and tiaras with their names on them. I also set out a bunch of dress ups in case anyone wanted to add to their princess attire.

First, we played "pin the tiara on the princess". Then we decided to cut right to all the sugar. We had to have the party just before dinnertime, so I kept it fairly simple with cupcakes and princess punch.

The jewels were a huge hit!

Then it was time for pictures and presents.

I love how tiny she looks surrounded by all her friends. She acted completely overwhelmed when she opened each present and LOVED everything she got!

Including this adorable beach umbrella, which the girls promptly begged to try out!

Then we played a princess treasure hung game with clues like "If Sleeping Beauty came to stay at Brielle's house, where would we find her?" I made it up that morning and was astonished by it's success. The "treasure" was the goody bags that Brielle had to give out to her friends. I'm so mad that I forgot to get a picture of that because it was her favorite part of the whole day!

We spent the remainder of the afternoon reading princess stories while they examined their treasure (This is when I discovered that getting kids to sit still while you read to them is simple if you just give them a ring pop!) and coloring in Brielle's new princess coloring kit!

Easter

2011-05-10T22:51:00.000-07:00

I know. Easter isn't exactly a recent event anymore, but it's so tough to blog about the pinnacle of spring when it is totally FREEZING outside! Plus, the real kicker is that my children are experts at evading the super sweet-all-the-kids-standing-together-in-their-Easter-clothes-looking-adorable-picture. I even contemplated faking it the next week, but they've eluded me once again and so I must press on ....
We did manage to have some fun painting eggs with our friends... ...we didn't quite have time to pull out my fancy silk ties, but we managed to create several pink and purple eggs, along with a seriously alarming plethora of Bronco inspired eggs.

On Sunday, we rushed home for dinner and the annual egg hunt at a friends' house. Notice the utter lack of formal attire, mere minutes after leaving church! (sigh!)

Because Brielle so admires the camera, and NO ONE else does! I manged to capture this shot of Brielle helping Kutter find more eggs ... can you tell that he is sOOO not amused that little sis is giving him pointers?

That's all for now, because picnik has decided to hate my guts, but I'm on it ---- ok, so I'll probably give up and just post a couple blurry, uncropped pics in a couple days!

Oh Brother!

2011-04-19T21:35:00.000-07:00

I was so excited for Trayson, 7 years ago, when I found out that our third child was going to be a boy! I pictured my two handsome little guys tossing a football around in the backyard, driving monster trucks all over the house, getting in trouble for treating bedtime like a constant sleepover ...

...I guess I had COMPLETELY forgotten what it was like to have a younger brother. I saw this gentle reminder (in paper airplane form!) flying around my house this week, and it's all coming back to me!My only consolation is that their relationship really is so similar to the one I use to have with my brother, so I get to assume that someday he will love and appreciate him as much as I love mine now!

It's finally hit the fan!

2011-04-08T13:29:00.000-07:00

We've been flirting with disaster ever since we moved out into the country and acquired many of the trappings that came along with our remote address. The serenity of our little sage-brush farm was very deceptive. First, we acquired the mice that the farmers scared out of their fields across the street. Next, we were overrun with "whistle pigs". Then, we acquired cats to rid our yard of the mice and the whistle pigs.

We did try to be really responsible and keep those cats from multiplying -- honest, we did! We took them to the vet and had them fixed, but outdoor cats in these parts don't survive long and set after set of recently neutered cats disappeared from our yard never to hunt mice again (or so we assume!) Apparently, visits to the vet are the kiss of death at our household and we got really sick of paying for services that seemed completely unnecessary in our dangerous little patch of weeds. I've been actually wondering if it's cruel of us to even adopt more cats since we seem to have such a difficult time rasing them to adulthood, but we decided to give it one more shot.

We got three cats -- the cute little black and white cat did not quite make it, but his beautiful sisters did, and of course, the inevitable happenned ....

...we discovered four tiny baby kittens in the garage on Monday night. The kids are ecstatic! My cats are ecstatic. Me, not so much! Yes, they are adorable. Yes, it's fun to witness our two cats, who until recently were very skittish and reclusive, nestled into a tiny box with four kittens, all of them purring their hearts out in pure contentment. Yes, they bring out the nurturing, protective side of my children. Yes, I want to get rid of them as soon as they're old enough!I'm posting these pictures in the hopes that there's someone out there who is tired of emptying mouse traps and just cannot resist how snuggly these tiny balls of fur are. Just in case you need another look to win you over ...

Oh, and the best part? Cat #2 is looking like she's about to pop!

Family

2011-04-03T10:00:00.000-07:00

"Be who you are and say what you feel,

because those who mind don't matter,

and those who matter don't mind." Dr Seuss

I don't know if it's because it's been such a long time since I've been home for a visit, or because I've had too much time on my hands lately, but I've been thinking a lot about what makes my family special (In EVERY sense of the word!)

We got talking about how different families react in similar situations. Some families spend lots of time dancing around the elephant in the room, pretending everything is just fabulous no matter how uncomfortable it gets. Some have huge fights, some have big family counsels and talk a problem to death.

My family just lets it all hang out. We criticize, correct, call each other names, and tease each other to the point of tears. Whenever I begin the long journey to Utah, I find myself looking forward to all the shopping, games and delicious treats that we'll enjoy together. I can't wait to see our kids play together and form bonds. I like having my kids surrounded by all those people who love them as much as I do, and possibly like them even more. It's what gets me through all the packing and that awful drive, but I came to realize on this last visit that the very best part is that I always come home feeling a little bit more "me".

My Loving Fam

2011-02-27T14:19:00.001-08:00

Each member of my family actually deserves their own post but, the thing is, we kinda just work better together. That's one thing I love about us!

I love that I pretty much ALWAYS wish I had my family around -- it took me years to learn that not everyone feels that way. I love that, when we do get together, the smallest things become entertaining (like stupid jokes and great food!) I love that, somehow, my parents taught us to stay close to each other no matter how far apart we are.

I love that my kids think anything good they have is from Grandma (even if they were with me when I bought it for them!) and anything we need but can't afford, Grandpa can make!

I love that I actually love hanging out with my little brother -- It doesn't hurt that he found me the coolest sil ever and has two adorable children!

I love that my sister knows me so well that she can shop for anything I need better than I can (clothes, hairstyles, books) that her husband's sarcasm always makes me smile and that her girls melt my heart.

I love playing games, eating good food, watching the kids play together, and totally making fun of each other ALL THE TIME!

A little more love

2011-02-21T14:28:00.000-08:00

Last but not least, of course, is our little Ellie bug. I think we all love how much she takes advantage of being the baby in our family. We shouldn't, but we just can't help being completely wrapped around her little finger. She's just so much fun.
I love how vain she is. One of her most favorite things in the world is her long, beautiful hair. She's thinking she's almost as pretty as her new idol, Rapunzel. I agree.

I love how affectionate she is. She could spend hours snuggling on the couch and, if you can't get close enough for that, then she insists on blowing and catching kisses.

I love that she's a total neat freak. Maybe I should be worried about all the therapy I'll have to pay for someday, but for now I just have to love it. She had to clean up her room before we could leave for church last Sunday, because "all these toys are just driving me nuts!". She LIVES to help me do laundry and clean baseboards, and I've even caught her telling her friends they can't play with her toys because it'll make a mess. Maybe she's a nut job, but it just warms a mother's heart!

I love that she's so so girly, but she also loves to hang out with the boys and get dirty and rough.
I love how much she loves her cousins. They are her very best friends. Whenever something good happens, she wants her cousins there. When she's sad, she wants them even more. She has such a special relationship with them, and every time I see it, it reminds of how important my cousins are to me.

We're so glad you're part of our family Brielle!

Still feelin it . . .

2011-02-18T14:34:00.000-08:00

I love, love LOVE this kid's dimples. They melt my heart. Especially when they accompany his sheepish grin-- when he's trying really, really hard to not smile but just can't help himself. It's good stuff!

I love how affectionate he is. When he loves you, you know it!

I love that, when he apologizes, he really really means it. Even if he's going to have to apologize again in ten minutes for the same thing it is genuine.

I love that he's introduced mischief into my life. That little bit a naughty in him adds such excitement to our lives and definitely brings humility to mine!

He's our little athlete. He will play any sport at anytime (sound like anyone we know?). Lately, he's been asking to run on the treadmill sometimes at night. This is him on Tuesday, when he ran 2.8 miles -- and he ran over 3.5 the next night! Whodathunkit?!

I love how much he loves school. I was a little worried about this at first (you know, the whole "naughtiness" issue) but he soaks up knowledge like nothing else and really seems to be enjoying school.
I love giving this guy presents. There's nothing like it. You could give him a playstation or a pair of socks -- it doesn't matter -- either way you're gonna feel like the nicest, most thoughtful person on the planet. In a world where most kids just expect to have the world handed to them on a platter this kid seems to get that it is an honor to be given something. So far he even seems to be too naive to realize this just makes me want to give him more stuff!

Love you , Kutter!

More Love!

2011-02-14T21:25:00.000-08:00

Is anyone surprised that this next post is about Trayson?

One of the things I love most about Trayson is his goofy grin. It's closely related to his silly sense of humor and his readiness to share it. I love that we can be anywhere, around anyone and he's got a little something funny to add to the conversation!

Again, his fabulous brain! How did I get such smart kids, anyway?! This kid hordes useless trivia just like his Grandpa -- every time he mentions that he knows something I don't (often) that really know one should ever remember actually learning, well, he makes me miss my dad a TON!

He also has a very strong testimony and a tender heart about the things that make him love the gospel. He can't wait to hold the priesthood and serve a mission. It's pretty sweet, and pretty comforting.

He's a kiss-up. Breje teases him about it all the time and it drives her nuts, but I have to admit that it makes life easier sometimes!

He has a special talent with small children. They LOVE him. All of them -- and he has tons of patience when they want his attention (or to pull his hair!) This still comes in handy at home quite often!

He's a morning person. I have to admit that this used to be one of his more annoying qualities, but it's become one of my favorites. He's usually the first one up on Saturday mornings and is content to help whoever follows to breakfast and cartoons, thus allowing mommy to sleep in Forever!

He's one of the most affectionate kids out there. Not many kids his age are willing to give mom a hug on demand, let alone ask for one! Melts my heart! Love you, Tray!

Love

2011-02-10T21:08:00.000-08:00

Yep, it's that time of year and I've decided that the only way to get out of this wintertime funk that I'm in is to just totally run with it. Instead of concentrating on how stinking cold it is all the time, longing for the holidays that are soo soo over, glaring at all the shades of gray, and counting the many days left until spring arrives, I have decided to immerse myself in all things I love this month! (Yes, I am aware that it is already Feb 10-- it took a little inner pep talk to get started ----- SUE ME!)

So here, it is. I'm thinking it's only appropriate to start with my beautiful children, since they're sort of tops on the list! Today belongs to my lovely firstborn
Breje

There's all sorts of things to love about this kid.

One of them involves the way she makes having a teenager seem slightly less awful because now I have a new friend. It's so fun when she asks for new clothes on her birthday and wants to join us for the annual girls' shopping trip.

Her testimony is seriously amazing to me.
She has an inner strength which most people don't acquire until they're much older. She bore her testimony on Sunday and I was so torn between pride and sheer terror because she sounded so dang mature (old!)

Her brains. She's super smart. She gets awesome grades, her teachers love her, and she's got gobs of musical talent. It's pretty cool!

I love that when her teacher's tell me how smart she is, they ALWAYS follow that by what a great PERSON she is.

She's a huge help to me. She gets stuck babysitting a lot and it SERIOUSLY helps me out. She even usually has a great attitude about it!

The relationship she has with her little sister. I remember feeling so bad that they'd have ten years between them, but sometimes it seems like the perfect spacing! Brielle misses Breje like crazy when she's at school, and big sis is often the person who is willing to read or story or play "fashion show" when everyone else is just plain too lazy!

I love how much she enjoys young women's. She takes her calling as Beehive president very seriously and is always excited to go each week (even on Sundays!)

She loves reading almost as much as I do, and she even just read Pride and Prejudice. It's enough to make a mom tear up!

--hmm, I think that did help a little! Thanks for making me smile, Breje!

Skiing

2011-01-25T15:07:00.000-08:00

The Jody and the kids finally made it up on the slopes -- thanks to some prompting from Treva! She drove out with her new fiance, Brett, and the whole crew (including a couple extra friends -- my husband is so brave!) went out to Soldier Mtn.

It was great to have an opportunity to get to know Brett a little better and I have to admit that Brielle and I really enjoyed our quiet time at home!

Finally ... More Christmas!

2011-01-03T19:45:00.000-08:00

Holy Cow! I may have just broken the record for most pictures in one post. Blogger is getting mad at me and everything, but I knew that if I tried breaking this into parts that it was just never gonna happen. Here goes ...
Christmas Eve was so fun and magical it even overcame a few minor flu bugs. We played games and ate awesome food and then crowned the festivities with our annual "friendly" gingerbread house decorating competition. This year we hit a new low and made the kids their own little houses so that they wouldn't interfere with ours. Sounds evil, yes, but look how much they are enjoying just slathering candy and frosting together in piles on top of their houses! Plus, this year, the houses still resembled houses by the time we were done. Now, we know that we are not exactly pros at this, but you'd never know it by all the trash-talking happening in the Johnson kitchen that night. We all had such giant egos over the whole thing that we decided we needed help choosing the very best final product. If there's anyone out there that just reads my blog and doesn't comment, this is the day to share some love! We'll just call these two "house 1" and "house 2".

And this is "house 3" and house 4". Come on people, I'm banking on a huge win so don't let me down!

As much fun as that all was, the annual opening of the Christmas jammies was definitely the icing on the cake -- which brings me to the picture of the year ...

I don't think Brielle got happier about anything else all year! The rest of them look pretty pleased, as well, and I must say that it would be tough to find a more adorable bunch of kids than this!

Christmas morning started wonderfully, as the children actually let us sleep until nearly 8:00 am! Then the chaos ensued!

(My past self would never have imagined buying my future children motorcycle clothes and a BSU sweatshirt!)

On Christmas day we headed to Jody's mom's house, which quickly filled up with most of his siblings and their cute kids. I loved stumbling upon Brielle and her cousins having yet another impromptu beauty session!We spent New Year's Eve at our friends house and ended up having so much fun with the wii that we totally forgot our "we're leaving right after midnight and going to bed, kids" speech and stayed up until nearly 2:00 am. Well, except for Brielle, who was out cold in the middle of the party way before midnight!

It was hilarious watching the whole crew play rockband. Tray finally got nominated lead singer because he can still hit the high notes!

The dancing is what really kept us up late.

We even managed to get the dads in on the action!

Happy New Year!

Christmas Overload

2010-12-22T01:06:00.000-08:00

I'll have to apologize for the million pictures I'll have to put into this post -- apparently it takes awhile to blog when you wait 3 weeks between posts in December!
Last weekend was seriously crazy crazy and full of Christmas! We raced to Utah on Thursday night to do some last minute shopping and get new hairdos for all the parties (Thanks again, Hay!) Then we headed to Layton for the Wolfley party.
Brielle was a little bit excited to open her gift!

This party was mostly about kids running all over the place and just enjoying seeing each other. I seriously caught only glimpses of my boys the entire night, but did manage to catch a few of my girls enjoying their cousins.

Somebody had the bright idea to snap a shot of all the Wolfley women together -- I love that I somehow ended up behind Treva for once.

Then the guys had to get in on the action as well -- this wasn't even everybody, folks, and yes, this is just immediate family.

We ended up at Jody's brother's house with three extra kids at 11 pm, all together in the family room. Talk about a sleepover! Then Saturday we were off shopping again on our way to SLC and Grandpa's house!

Grandpa's party is what we all look forward to every year. I hardly ever see Grandpa and Grandma and the cousins who I considered my best friends growing up. It doesn't truly seem like Christmas until we've all reconnected and eaten way more delicious food than should be humanly possible!

Brielle and Sienna hugged each other like they hadn't been together for a month!

I love watching how close my kids have become to my cousin's kids. Breje and Trayson get so excited every year to see Holly and Becky's kids-they seriously usually only see each other once a year, but these friendships remind me how much I love their parents!

We couldn't tear ourselves away until 9:00, then we had to drive all the way home! What a whirlwind weekend-- but so full of fun and family!

Flamenco Barbie

2010-11-24T14:42:00.000-08:00

Hayley and Travis recently took a blissful trip to Spain and returned with this adorable little number for Brielle. She thinks it's about the most beautiful thing she's ever had. You can tell she just feels like dancing when she wears it. She loves it so much that she insisted on wearing it to church on Sunday. Seriously, all out tantrum until we put it on, then she gave us this happy little pose. We're in trouble!She got so much attention at church that I'll probably never get her to wear anything else ever again!

2010-11-22T21:56:00.000-08:00

On a gloomy, rainy day in October, my friend Sherida and I decided that the best way to get over the autumn blues was to spend the afternoon making a cute craft. Sherida had an idea in mind, I had some leftover wood, we both had a free day the next day (by free, of course I mean tons of stuff we didn't really want to clean, places we could pretend we didn't have to go....) We figured it would be simple, and we'd feel good about shirking responsibilities, because we would have something lovely to show for it by the end of the day...

... It actually took us about three weeks of pretending to have free days before we finally put this little number together! I get my optimism (time frame denial) from my mom -- not sure where Sherida gets hers! Please tell us you think it was worth all that undone laundry!
Anyway, we finally have it done, only to stumble upon...

WINTER! In all it's hideous snow filled, so not autumn anymore slushiness! I'm thinking we should've just started our Christmas craft last month, instead. (which we blissfully began planning for the first craft day, you know, just in case we had some leftover time!)

It's a good thing my kids are having so much fun out there, or I'd be really, really ticked!

I'm loving how hard Trayson is concentrating on building this snowman. It takes a lot of hard work to get it just perfect!

As much as I despise being cold and wet, and driving on slick roads I was deeply grateful for the hours --yes, I said hours, that my kids spent outside this weekend playing together and NOT fighting.

2010-11-19T12:21:00.000-08:00

Last weekend I was bound and determined to visit my family while Jody and the guys went on their fishing trip. I thought about it for weeks. The kids packed for days. And then I got sick. I woke up Saturday morning, popped some pills and decided that, hey, I wasn't feeling all that bad.

Okay, so I probably shouldn't have driven that far when I was feeling like garbage (in retrospect, I KNOW I shouldn't have driven!) I probably shouldn't have dragged my germs with me, and I really should've just waited until I felt better so that I could totally enjoy hanging with the family. I'm really not good at making the intelligent choice.
We actually made it there safely and I promptly discovered that I wasn't feeling all that much better. Of course, I decided to ignore that and go to lunch and shopping with the girls. Brilliant!

Aren't I doing a great job pretending like I'm feeling fine?! (but seriously, how beautiful is my daughter!) I dragged my poor mom and sister along for the ride, they were pretty great sports, dragging me to stores and just forcing me to buy stuff so that I would give up the farce and go home to bed!

The real reason I was so determined to go is to watch the kids play with their cousins. They spent the whole weekend proving to me that it was worth it. They all have such sweet relationships with each other, and just smiled and giggled the whole time.

Thanks, guys, for taking such care of me!

2010-11-10T20:48:00.000-08:00

Brielle has really been outdoing herself with witty one-liners lately and I just had to share a couple.
I had a bunch of stuff all over the counter the other day while I was doing her hair and ended up knocking a few things onto the floor in my hurry. Without missing a beat she said ,"I saw that one coming!" Is she really only 3?!

This is a conversation that Jody related to me the other night when I came home from scouts.
Jody: "Brielle, you know you're not supposed to be jumping on the couch."

Brielle: "I know, Dad, but mom's not home!"

Then, in the middle of the afternoon last week, I recieved one of those phone calls we mothers dread, "Your son fell off the monkey bars at school. He won't get up and he doesn't want us to touch his arm." Crap! Crap! Crap! (long story short, no break, just a nasty, nasty cut!) Brielle was very tender and worried about him in the ER, promising to watch "that dragon movie" with him instead of Barbie and everything. So sweet, until she got a look at the gash in his arm. "Mom, Kutter's elbow looks just like a crabby patty!"
He wouldn't let me take any pictures that day, so this is after a couple days of some serious neosporin. Poor kid!

Happy Halloween

2010-10-31T17:10:00.001-07:00

The holidays started for us a couple weeks ago, when Breje volunteered our barn for her Beehive's Halloween Party. I guess unfinished walls and no electricity spells spooky to 13 year old girls! Breje did her best to drag some Halloween spirit out of me for the occasion. I mustered just enough to create this creepy "forked eyeball" treats for her to share. Not much, but for me it was a huge gesture! That was all I had, so Breje and her friend did their best to add some more chill factor to the barn. I was pretty impressed with how much they accomplished with a few fake spiderwebs and my meager supply of spooky fare. They even managed to create coordinating costumes for the event-- Breje's happened about 2 hours before the party! Does she have some Johnson in her or what?!

We were invited to a friends house for the annual pumpkin carving. Doesn't Brielle look thrilled to finally be given a modestly sharp object? And can you tell how seriously my boys took this task? Somehow, we forgot to take pictures of the final project and they have not aged well this past week. Just image the most stunning Halloween display ever, and you're close!

Saturday night we finally got to dress up for the ward trunk or treat. Brielle could hardly contain herself-- as she's tried to sneak this fabulous witch costume on countless times during the last month! (Hayley, these pictures are for you!) She's very proud to be a SCARY witch this year. She was even more excited when Breje found a costume that matched hers. She went around telling everyone that she was a witch, just like her big sister!

Trayson was determined to be a sorcerer this year -- wouldn't you know that we couldn't find one single dang sorcerer costume around here--even with a trip to Boise! We did our best with a trip to the thrift store and a little imagination. He added the dramatic flair himself!

Kutter's costume was a piece of cake this year. Our good friends gave him some pretty awesome motorcycle gear for his birthday, and Halloween just gave him one more chance to show it off. Please tell him he looks tough!

Hope you all had a happy halloween!

Quick Catching UP

2010-10-25T20:14:00.000-07:00

I seem to have completly lost my blogging mojo! This is my sorry attempt to get back in gear, and get caught up with what's been happenning in our lives the last couple of weeks. We've actually been super busy -- though you wouldn't know it by glancing at my camera. I have gotten camera lazy -- someone should harrasse Breje and get her to download her pictures!Blogger won't let me rearrange my photos, so this is about as random as you can get!

Kutter turned SEVEN this year! How has this happenned? He is getting so tall and oh so grown up! He got to celebrate by going to soccer practice (such has been our life!) and then motorcycle cake with the Wortham family. (I'm pretty dang good at a muddy motorcycle track, huh?!)

We had a lovely visit with cute little Carmen --- yes, she did bring big sis and her parents, but they were a little camera shy. It was a whirlwind visit since Jarin spent most of his time building our fence, half of us drove to Hailey for a football game, and Jody had to coach Kutter's soccer game. We did get a little bit of time to just chat and it was priceless. Thanks, guys!

We got to go hear Breje and her friend sing at their choir concert. They were awesome and they totally earned their flowers!

A few weeks ago, we had a lovely visit with my entire family. It was another crazy weekend with us all splitting up for games and running all over the place, but we managed to squeeze in a few games of canasta, tons of great food, some shopping, Conference, and this fabulous moment with the girls riding Sugar Legs. What more could we ask for?
My cute friend, Angie, flew in from ALASKA to surprise Sherida for her birthday -- Terrible picture, but can you tell how happy we all are to be at Olive Garden together?

Camping

2010-10-08T19:26:00.000-07:00

Mom REALLY wanted to blog, but she had book club, so she put her daughter up to the job. Again. So yes, Breje is blogging today.

A while ago, we went camping with some friends and their friends. We boated most of the time, but eventually the boys brought out the motorcycles and we didn't see them for the rest of the day. Mom didn't have a camera then, but I did! Mostly, I got pictures of me and my friend messing around in our tent, so I didn't have much pictures to work with, but I was able to get a couple of Brielle and tubing!
Me, Rowdy, Kenzie. This was about our 5th time on the tube that day!

Mackenzie and I getting ready to go "fish" with her cousin. We didn't catch anything with his handmade fishing pole until he left and kenzie and I were in the car, ready to go. her brother caught a little one with the pole. (A stick with fishing line tied on it, holding a hook and some bait)it was interesting to watch though!

Mackenzie finally got me on a motorcycle. She was so proud! Eventually I got on my own and rode around, which made her even more proud!

When we went boating, the water was so cold we only stopped to swim once, and if we ever stopped to get in the water again, it ws because the little girls needed to go potty.

It was nice to get in one last camping trip before

school really got started! We had only been in 2-3 weeks when we went camping.

(Mom also wanted me to add that we had a great time last weekend when our family visited! I had no pictures on the computer yet, so I just posted this instead. A post will be coming soon- though I may be writing it again. Anyway, thanks for a fun weekend!)

The need to paint

2010-09-28T20:34:00.000-07:00

It's a strong urge, my friends. When it strikes, nothing in your home is safe. If you've ever caught yourself roaming around the house, looking for something that needs a little color change, just because you seem to be lacking a creative outlet, you know exactly what I'm talking about. I was absolutely distraught a couple weeks ago when I discovered that I have already painted nearly every object in my home at least once--but no worries -- I just headed to the thrift shop and picked up this bad boy for $4.
It didn't occur to me to take a picture until after I started sanding, but the whole thing originally looked as bad as the back -- nasty warped laminate topped off with a faux brass handle straight out of the 70's. I already had the sandpaper, the paint, and even some leftover beadboard, so all I had to do was buy new knobs and the total cost of this new nightstand for Breje's room is just $7.
I got to be creative AND cheap. You know this makes me happy, happy!

You Gotta Love It!

2010-09-16T21:52:00.000-07:00

Remember when they were babies and you just adored their toothless grins? I'm thinking there's a reason that they lose their teeth again when they are nearly seven -- it takes you back a few years to when their every move was adorable. You know, before they started talking back!

While the Cat's Away ....

2010-08-31T20:39:00.000-07:00

Have you ever wondered what your kids do when you leave the oldest one in charge? Thanks to Breje's awesome camera skills, I was able to find out some of what they were up to this summer. I should probably freak out and never leave them alone again, but no one got hurt and you have to admit that these are some pretty great shots!

It's a bird, it's a plane ....

... it's synchronized jumping!

Summer

2010-08-26T16:18:00.000-07:00

Mom says she has no time to blog, so she is having me do it for her. These are just a fraction of some of Brielle's little poses she loves to do.

We're Back!

2010-08-24T21:39:00.000-07:00

I vaguely remember May. It was full of piano recitals, final school projects and soccer games. It consisted mostly of mad dashes from one place to the next, with between 1 and 4 children in tow and the hope that it was the right number, the right children, and they had -at some point- been fed something! I remember thinking that, surely, when all this stuff is over and summer finally begins, I will relax a bit and then get caught up on my blog.

I guess I've always been a bit forgetful. I forgot how ready I'd be to sleep in everyday, to spend time soaking up sunshine, and to visit the fam. I forgot how much mess kids make when they are home all day and how often those pesky creatures insist on being fed! I forgot that I usually spend the month of August whistfully imagining all the free time I'll have when the kids start school again.
Lucky for me, they started seriously early this year. While we are still lamenting the loss of those final weeks of summer, I, for one, am feeling extremely ready to have a real schedule again!

This is the first year that I had 3 of my kids leaving for school bright and early in the morning. These are the largest and most sincere smiles that I could coax from them. They don't seem to be sharing my enthusiasm!Actually, they are all doing really well so far (they've been back for a whole week now!) so there is a slight chance that I may find time to share a few pictures from the summer. Who knows?

Happy Mother's Day!

2010-05-09T12:27:00.000-07:00

A mother is a person who seeing there are only four

pieces of pie for five people, promptly announces she never

did care for pie---Tenneva Jordan

I spent a lot of time today listening to the talks on motherhood in church and thinking about all of the wonderful moms that I've been surrounded by in my life. Several of them are the friends gathered around me in church, some are friends I've left behind in other wards. So many of them are women I get to thank my own mother for --- my aunts, her closest friends, my sister, my grandmother (my 2 yr old told me that she loves me "from ocean to ocean" the other day, and that reminder of her legacy alone is enough to be truly grateful for!), my great gram. There's all the women in my extended family -- my many wonderful sils, my mother in law, grandmothers. I was overwhelmed with the many wonderful examples of motherhood that I've been given and all the amazing things I've learned from them. It got me to wondering if I could even list all the things I've learned from my mom. I'm pretty sure I can't, but here's a few of my favorite....

.... Integrity is EVERYTHING. Chocolate is a food group --- in fact, it is the most important one. There is ALWAYS something you can do for someone else. It is important for women to go shopping together - even if there's nothing they need to buy --- (but there's usually something they need to buy!). I am a daughter of Heavenly Father and He loves me and that's really all I need to know. I have a coupon! It is NEVER okay to judge someone else. It's ALWAYS possible to make something prettier and it is not meaningless or unnecessary to do so. It's important to expect a lot from other people. She taught me my love for books and gave me the knowledge that sticks and stones are way less harmful than words. Choose them carefully! You can never have too many friends. Chocolate should be shared. Most people are truly wonderful, if you give them a chance to show you that they are. Laugh at yourself. A Lot. Make sure you KNOW your kids, and it's a pretty good idea to know their friends, too. Be fun. Be happy. Make sure you treat yourself sometimes -- but treat others way more. ALWAYS be willing to drop everything to whip up a quick dessert, throw together a cute craft, or write someone a quick note because somebody you know needs a little boost today. It's always possible to learn something if you're open to learning. You should always be open to learning. EVERYONE has a talent, some of us just have to look harder to find them. Kindness is everything. Willingness is right up there. It's okay to think your own children are better than everyone else, and to tell them that all the time! Being a mom is harder but the only thing better than being a mom is being a Grandma!

Thanks, mom, for all that and so much more! I love You!

What have we been up to?

2010-05-06T15:10:00.000-07:00

for the last three weeks? I can't believe it's been 3 whole weeks since I've blogged, and I hardly have any pictures on my camera to prove it. The last month has been such a blur that I can hardly remember why we've been so busy. Here goes ....

Trayson got celebrated in his school assembly. His teacher couldn't stop saying nice things about him. It was almost embarrassing. We got to see Breje compete in track. Doesn't she look like such a pro?! She did great this season and it was so much fun to watch her improve every week!

Jody made a quick trip to Utah to watch his little sis and her family be sealed in the temple. It was tough to not be there, but I think this pic says it all! Aren't they cute?

We headed back to Utah for another weekend that we packed absolutely full! We did baptisms at the Salt Lake Temple with our 12-year-olds, saw the Beehive House and the conference center, saw a motocross race, drove tons of my in-laws nuts (thanks so much Marcus and Yvette and Heath and Kaycee, for being so kind!) visited with tons of family, drove Jody to the airport for a last minute TDY, and stopped by Travis and Sienna's birthday party before we finally made it home!

(Can you tell Kutter is ticked that we've spent all our time at Temple Square and he still hasn't seen one motorcycle?)

Add countless soccer practices and games, scouts, young womens, and school activities and is it any wonder that I've been too tired to blog?

Easter Weekend!

2010-04-11T15:19:00.000-07:00

Yes, I know, Easter was last weekend. I am way behind. Again. Sue me! Do any of you know who invented soccer? I would like to hurt him. Anyhoo....

... True to our natural way of doing things,we crammed way more than is humanly possible into our Easter weekend. We kicked it off with a drive to Grandma Kay's, where Brielle discovered how much cooler real babies are than their plastic counterparts. She's met her baby cousins before, but this is really the first time she "got" how amazing they are. She couldn't keep her eyes off them. Thanks, sils, for being so kind and understanding about that! After as much drooling over babies and playing with cousins as we could fit into a 4 hour period, Kutter and I were off to Primary Children's for his sleep study. Please, people, put this on your list of experiences to avoid in life! So not fun! The nurses were awesome, but it was still sheer torture. If you don't believe me, check out this picture of how Kutter looked right before he fell asleep!

and he was way more positive about the whole thing than me!

On Saturday morning, they woke him up bright and early for a finger stick and kicked us right out of there, which was fine with me since Breje and I had a shopping trip planned with the girls. We spent the entire day eating, shopping, laughing, eating, gossiping, and eating some more. (See picture at the top, the one which refuses to move to the correct spot and is driving me crazy but accurately displays the disgusting display of gluttony that we were so dang proud of!)

Next on the list of must -do's for the weekend was egg decorating at Grandma Linda's. The amounts of glitter and tie dye consumed in ten minutes of this is staggering. Their cute creative little faces were so worth it!

I found a fun idea on the internet for the adults involving old silk ties to decorate eggs and I must say that it was quite a hit! Even the older kids could do it and it was way fun to see how well they turned -out!

Easter morning had the kids driving us all nuts, so Grandma gave them one of her famous surprises -- Easter monster trucks. You would not believe how well this went over, even with the little girls, and one of the best parts of the day was watching them play monster trucks together.

Finally, the Easter bunny remembered to hide the eggs and we let all 7 kids loose on Grandpa's lovely yard! How cute are they? I love this picture of Brielle, she's not even pretending to hide her excitement -- and I love that she's just turned her back on an egg hidden right at her eye-level!

It was a matter of minutes before they'd found all eggs and were ready to compare their loot!

The only thing that could've possibly been cuter than that is watching them all pushing each other on the swing set. It almost looks like a lovely spring morning!

My Girls!

2010-03-31T21:07:00.001-07:00

We seriously haven't been up to much lately, but I had to hurry and post a couple of quick pictures of my beautiful girls.

Breje had New Beginnings last week and it was tons of fun! They're theme was "In the Mood for Values" and all the presidencies had to put on a fashion show choosing one value to model. Breje had faith and it was seriously tough. Most girls were going to just dress all in their value color, but who has all white in their closet? Not us! (We are messy people, folks!) We did our best with the color, but decided to incorporate the idea of faith as best we could. We used the example of faith as a seed and Breje just ran with the concept. Here's the final product... ... homemade flowers all over her pants and hat, and a necklace made of flowers and seed packets. Didn't it turn out great?! (especially since she had only been home from track practice for 1/2 hour by the time she had to leave again!)

Then there's Brielle. I have been marvelling at the speed with which that girl's hair grows, and decided to re-attempt leaving her hair down for church. I'm thinking it may never happen again, because she seriously looks 18! Help!

2010-03-21T14:08:00.000-07:00

On Thursday, Brielle and I were able to go watch Kutter get celebrated in an assembly. He was rewarded for "impressive academic growth", being a "curious learner" and his "determination and great attitude". He was in heaven and seeing him so proud of himself made it totally worth dragging ourselves out of bed and to school by 8:30! (I know, that's not technically early, but we DO NOT like mornings at our house!)

Later on that afternoon, he totally took me by surprise while admiring our Amaryllis plant. This happens to be the one-and-only houseplant that I have not killed within it's first week in our home. It came in a box and I won it at bunco, so it definitely represents miracles to me. Apparently I'm not the only one. You see, weeks ago we all marvelled when that clunky bulb I pulled out of the box grew and grew and then blossomed into two huge pink and white flowers. They were seriously awesome. Then they died and I guess we all figured that was the end of my most successful plant ever. Well, Kutter noticed that it now seems to be thinking about producing several more flowers. When he asked about it, I told him that it is actually supposed to regrow new flowers when the old ones die.

He thought for a moment then, totally out of the blue said, "That's just like us. We start out small and get bigger and bigger. Then we die, but we get to live again with Heavenly Father.

Um, Okay.

Thank you, Primary!

More Ellie-isms!

2010-03-10T21:01:00.001-08:00

Brielle's most recent bit of "attitude" has me wondering --- at what point do the cute little remarks stop being charming and just become warning signs for when her head is about to spin? For example...

.... "Mommy, I told you a hundred times!" --- that was seriously cracking me up this morning, when she was cussing me out for putting her pajamas away wrong. It's no longer morning, and I think I've forgotten how to laugh. Is this seriously what I sound like? .... "I'm not looking at you right now", took me by surprise and made me giggle --- now I"m just wondering what she could possibly be saving for when she actually hits puberty!

... "Fabulous!" Okay, that one is never gonna get old. Breje and I followed her around the house for two days trying to get this on camera, because there is no way to describe how cute it is. No luck, so you'll just have to trust me.

We recently spent the day having the kids try on all their summer hand-me-downs. I had absolutely no trouble getting Brielle to try on each item, and the pile of clothes that would fit next year just grew and grew (Hayley, you are seriously great!) It was still lying on the floor when Jody got home from work and Brielle marched him into the bedroom and said, "Daddy, I tried on all those clothes. It was AWESOME!" She had Jody totally cracking up the other night when they were snuggling in front of the tv and a Dairy Queen commercial came on. Out of the blue she says, "Oh Daddy, I really need a great big cheeseburger!" Then she thought about it for a minute and said, "and mommy does, too!" Thanks, kid. I do and I"ll try and remember that tomorrow the first time you say, "that's not my fault!"

Back to Work

2010-03-09T19:12:00.001-08:00

After two weeks on our couch, recovering from his ACL replacement, Jody is finally back to work -- which is probably a good thing .... ...and sometimes, he really likes his job!

Ski-days!

2010-02-22T19:46:00.000-08:00

Jody managed to get the kids up skiing 2 whole days before he had to go in for his knee surgery (no, I didn't let him take my kids skiing without an ACL, it just sorta happened) If they weren't before, they are now officially hooked-- and Brielle is just dying to get up there. They do make the snow clothes look pretty great!

This is the only pic that makes me jealous I stayed home. Lunchtime --with it's reprieve from life-threatening accidents and freezing cold. Besides, look at that spread!

Kutter's homework today included looking out his window and drawing a winter picture. Apparently, his teacher forgot that there's no winter outside, so I told him to make it up. He drew a bunch of skis and a snowboard. Good man!

Ellie-isms

2010-02-17T09:39:00.000-08:00

One of the most enjoyable things about hanging out with a two-year-old all day is getting to hear all of the silly things they come up with to say. Mine has really been cracking me up lately. Here's a few of my recent favs that came to mind this morning.......We were watching ice skating yesterday morning --- she was still pretty groggy, as she had just rolled out of bed, but she hopped up and said, "That's what I do!" with some serious conviction. Yeah, okay.

..."Oh mommy, you're sooooo cute!"

... At the dinner table, out of nowhere, she rolled her eyes, shook her head, and said, "oh, mom, sometimes I worry about you!" Even the bigger kids sometimes take you by surprise. Trayson, especially doesn't ever like to be outdone. I went to his school Valentine's party and he brought me a handful of his candy with a "here, mom, this should hold you!" I guess my sugar addiction has become more obvious than I thought!

Yumminess

2010-02-15T08:20:00.000-08:00

Fudge Lover's Strawberry Truffle Cake..... ... yeah, you know you want some. I saw this picture and just knew it had to be our Valentine's dessert. The whole fam, plus my sweet friend who invited us over dinner, decided that this was definitely a must-make-again treat! Now, don't freak out and start counting calories when you see the list of ingredients. Just buy them, make it, and eat a salad the next day. You'll thank me for it!

Cake
1 box Betty Crocket SuperMoist chocolate fudge cake mix
water, vegetable oil, and eggs called for on cake box

Ganache Filling and Topping
2 packages (8 0z each) semiweet baking chocolate, finely chopped
1-1/3 cups whipping cream
1/4 cup butter (do not use margarine)
2 cups cut-up fresh strawberries (We decided a few extra strawberries wouldn't hurt!)

Garnish
6 fresh strawberries, cut in half lengthwise through stem
1/4 cup white vanilla baking chips (I used white chocolate)
1/2 teaspoon vegetable oil

1. Heat oven to 350. Grease bottom only of a 13x9 inch pan. Mix cake mix as directed on box. Bake and cool completely.

2. Meanwhile, place chopped chocolate in a large bowl and set aside. In 2-quart saucepan, heat whipping cream and butter over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until butter is melted and mixture comes to a boil. Pour cream mixture over chocolate, stir until smooth.

3. Line bottom of 9-inch springform pan with waxed paper round. Cut cake into 1-inch cubes. In large bowl, beat half of the cake cubes on low speed until cake is crumbly. Add remaining cake cubes and 1 3/4 cups of the ganache (reserve remaining ganache for topping). Beat on low speed 30 seconds, then on medium speed until well combined (mixture will look like fudge). Fold in 2 cups cut-up strawberries. Spoon mixture into springform pan; smooth top. Cover with plastic wrap; freeze 45 minutes or until firm enough to unmold.

4. Run knife around side of pan to loosen cake mixture. Place serving plate upside down on pan; turn pan and plate over. Frost side and top of cake with reserved ganache. Arrange strawberry halves on top of cake.

5. In small microwaveable bowl, microwave baking chips and 1/2 teaspoon oil uncovered on high 45 seconds, stirring every 15 seconds, until melted. Drizzle over top of cake. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Cake is bet served the same day. (although I just snitched some of the leftovers for breakfast, and it's not too shabby on day 2!)

This cake is very forgiving--I was in a huge hurry and it still turned out tasty and almost as pretty as the picture!

Super Weekend!

2010-02-08T21:43:00.000-08:00

I can't believe how much we were able to squeeze into our less-than-48-hours-in-Utah this weekend. Jody's sweet sister took him skiing (he totally forgot the camera!) on Saturday. The kids and I spent the day buying TONS of groceries for our Superbowl bash and just chillin with the cousins. Most entertaining moment of the day was watching the kids decorate Valentine cookies at Grandma's. This has become quite the tradition and it never gets old. It's so much fun to watch their styles evolve from just plain eating the frosting --- that would be Brielle, to sloshing on the sprinkles--- sweet, sweet Simon, to various edible masterpieces. If any of them offers you a taste, think twice, my friends!
Saturday night was the best pre-Valentine date ever --- yummy yummy dinner with the fam (missed you Amy ----- again!) and then off to the b-ball game where USU totally whupped on Nevada. We topped off the bliss with the best shakes in town and came home just as Breje was putting all the kids down for the night. (Did I mention what a great babysitter that girl is! She was totally our hero of the evening!)

No matter how many things we try to cram into one weekend, we somehow manage to snatch plenty of moments like this one. Can you tell Brielle is in heaven?

Sunday was definitely Superbowl Johnson-style with more food than you could possibly imagine. I should've taken a picture, but you'd all just be ticked you didn't come hang with us. Besides, for once, the highlight of the day was the halftime entertainment. No, not "The Who", we didn't even watch a second of that. We hooked up the Wii so that Sienna could show us her fav new game - dancing -- and I don't think I've laughed that hard in a long time! Would you believe my dad totally danced circles around Hayley? NO? Here's proof....(sorry Hay!)
Seriously, do I not have the cutest family ever!?

We're Ba-aack!

2010-01-25T20:07:00.000-08:00

Okay, so it's been awhile -- like 5 months and a couple days, but I have tons of good excuses. It's slightly difficult to blog when you have no Internet access! That's right, folks, I have had no Internet for over five months and we are all still breathing -- barely! It was shocking to discover how much we really rely on the Internet. How did we used to get the scores to the Jazz game, movie listings and show times, coupons, lesson ideas, pictures of our adorable nieces and nephews, directions, etc before we had Google? I honestly feel like we have been living in Siberia, but baby, we are BACK!
So how do I plan on updating you all on our fantastically interesting life for so many blog-starved days? I don't. I have just enough sanity left to gift you all with a brief summary and way too many pictures! Enjoy!

It began with leaving Jody in Texas to finish Intel Training, (that would be my remaining 6, 754,932 excuses for not blogging sooner!) rushing home to enroll three kids in school, unpack, completely reorganize our house, and have a couple visits with the fam in the process. Whew!

Oh yeah, soccer season (2 teams!) Kutter's birthday #6, Halloween, potty-training nightmares, homework that is Waaaay beyond me, Young Women's, Scouts, Primary, Book Club, and about a million calls to parents and neighbors to PLEASE HELP ME! (We are not going to even mention the lack of sleep, lunches with the ladies just because, and gallons of Coke consumed during the fall!)

Finally, wrapped up the year with a drive to Utah, flight to Texas (Just ME -- ask Cody and Hayley how much they LOVED watching my kids for a week!) a long drive home, Christmas parties, a funeral (man, do we miss Grandma Great!), a wedding, a baby blessing, unpacking, Christmas, another drive to Utah, Trayson's birthday, New Year's Eve, sledding, and, oops -- did we have homework due when we got back? I'm hoping that someday, somehow, we will make up for some of the sleep that we all lost during that whole process. Unfortunately, Brielle has convinced Daddy that he still has just enough energy left to hit the slopes!

2009-08-18T20:14:00.000-07:00

Grandpa has arrived amidst shouts of hurray! Our journey begins tomorrow... ...pray for Grandpa!

Bathing Beauty Brielle

2009-08-12T12:44:00.000-07:00

I think this picture proves just how much time we have spent in our swim gear this summer. Brielle used to spend all her time dressing up as a princess or wearing my shoes. These days, this is what makes her feel pretty.... ...a good look, No?

Partyin' in San Angelo

2009-08-08T19:00:00.000-07:00

We were lucky enough to convince some of Jody's family members to come and visit us here in our tiny apartment last week. Veronica, Shane, and Jaeli were driving through on their way home from Tennessee, so Cam, Michelle, and kids drove up here to hang out with all of us. The few days that their visits overlapped, we had 15 people in this little two bedroom apartment--that's an adventure in itself! We divided most of our time between the swimming pool, the lake, and the park in an attempt to just get enough air!

The kids had a blast on the tube ( I even hopped on a couple times!) and Jody was just thrilled to finally get a chance to wake board and ski.

We hauled all the kids to Brielle's favorite park -- this park has a special slide that she could spend all day on. The rest of them liked it quite a bit too.

Eventually, Uncle Shane found a way to make it even more fun. It was his bright idea for the kids to "surf" down it -- they caught on pretty quickly, but I'm not sure if the other playgroup moms are going to be happy with me.

Kutter looks so tough now that he's got it down, and can you see how happy Brielle is in the background?

Who could have fun at the pool without chicken fights? Not our group!

When we were all crammed into the apartment because of bad weather (or sheer exhaustion) we spent most of our time just watching the kids play together. Brielle and Shayla finally spent some quality time together....

...even though I'm pretty sure that Andin will always have her heart.

At one point, I think even the little kids noticed how crowded the place was and they retreated under the bathroom sink. It was actually quite adorable. I caught Brielle and Shalya trying so hard to hide under there, but they would climb in and not be able to shut the doors. Shayla would get in and say, "will you please shut the door?" Brielle would say "sure" and hop out to shut it, then promptly hop back in and say "will you please shut my door?" Shayla would hop right out and they started the whole thing over again. This went on for probably ten minutes before Andin discovered them and came to the rescue!

This place sure feels empty now!

Oh Yeah!

2009-08-04T17:22:00.000-07:00

Apparently, I am not the only person in the world that believes ANYTHING can be made better with chocolate.

My prayers have been answered. Intoducing ....

That's right, people. Water now comes in chocolate! Happiness. Joy. And seriously, it doesn't even have calories! The world is now a better place.

Thanks, Michelle, for introducing me to this new little treat!

Just in case anyone's needing a little silly in their day!

2009-07-26T18:53:00.001-07:00

2009-07-22T18:58:00.000-07:00

Once again, my mom found a way to make sure we all felt a lot of love while we are so far from home. We got a lovely "little" package in the mail full of lots of goodies to make us smile. It really did feel a bit like Christmas. Jody got his big fat birthday check. Brielle got this adorable new sundress which she couldn't wait to model. I asked Breje to choose the best picture -- but it was tough, so here's the top two! Please excuse her cleavage. We're working on it, but dontcha love her tan line? I'm loving Breje's new dress, but isn't she looking just way too grown up? I got an adorable new shirt, you'll just all have to believe that I look totally hot in it, as the pictures were terrible and I deleted them all! (sorry mom, I just couldn't do it) I do seriously love it -- almost as much as the bagfull of quarters she sent! Yep! Quarters are the new IT thing around here as they have become such a necessary part of our routine. These should keep us in clean clothes for the rest of the month! The boys each got these giant Bakugans. I really have no idea how to spell that, but it sure made them happy! They're extra great, because they are actually big enough not to get lost every other minute! Brielle also got this cute doll with snap-on/snap-off clothes. Think she likes it? To top it all off, Grandma slipped in a couple sets of marker paints that have brought us hours of peace and harmony. We know have DOZENS of pictures similar to this one to bring home for Grandma! Thanks Grandma Linda! We love everything!

Happy Birthday Jody!

2009-07-19T19:05:00.000-07:00

I had to take a quick minute to celebrate Jody's 38th (that's right kids, he's getting up there!) birthday! I had to laugh as we sat around our little apartment doing our best to make the most of this day. Jody's definitely done his best to make sure that our life together is never dull! We've celebrated birthdays in at least 6 different states, and more than double that number of homes. I'm pretty sure this isn't exactly how my husband pictured his 38th year, but I love that he makes sure that we are always right where we should be -- even when that's not the easiest thing to see. I also love that he makes sure it's never just about him. He asked for a wake board this year-- mostly because that will make us more fun to visit!

The kids told him he could choose how to celebrate his birthday, so yesterday he took us all out for steak and then we caught the 3D version of Ice Age 3. Today he made us all ice cream and then took the kids to the park (it was 99 degrees!-- that's love!) For him, it's ALWAYS about having fun together!

I know what you're thinking -- you're dying of jealousy that you missed out on this flashy little shindig! Eat your hearts out!

Girl's Day Out

2009-07-13T14:19:00.000-07:00

Finding 6 hours to spend at Ross and the Mall, WITHOUT the boys? Darn near impossible.

Keeping Brielle in the cart/stroller for the majority of the time? About a dozen mini cookies, 4 pennies to throw in the fountain, and LOTS of begging.

Drinks and appetizers for the entire crew? Way more than you'd think!

Having a day to bond with my beautiful daughters and getting pics like these? PRICELESS

July 4th -- The Sequel

2009-07-11T20:37:00.001-07:00

I couldn't quite wrap-up my 4th of July weekend posts until Michelle was kind enough to email me the pictures she snapped while we were waiting for the fireworks to begin. I couldn't help sharing a few because this has always been one of my favorite days of the year! This picture pretty much captures what I remember most about the fireworks growing up-- all the kids sitting on blankets or running around, eating whatever they can get their hands on and acting as silly as possible.
Brielle definitely got into MY favorite part of the holiday spirit! Seriously, I don't think she spent a moment all weekend without both hands full of junkfood!

She thought that she couldn't wait to see the fireworks, but she completely freaked when she heard the first one and spent the first half with this look on her face ....

...totally refusing to watch. About halfway through, she turned back around and started oohing and ahhing with the rest of us. Whatever kid!

Although the show was better than we had expected, we all headed back to Cam and Michelle's house for our own little fireworks display. Once again, Brielle was terrified and kept saying, "No, Daddy, not more!"

I also couldn't help sharing a couple more of the kids on the four-wheeler. They spent tons and tons of driving around in that heat!

Breje even spent plenty of time driving Brielle around, since Daddy proved early-on that he couldn't be trusted to go slow enough for her taste!

Also, since I so appreciated all of your concern over our current binkie situation, I thought I should let you know that she merely played with it for a couple of hours and then, happily, forgot that it had ever existed! Whew!

Our 4th of July Weekend

2009-07-07T17:32:00.000-07:00

Jody was able to get some time away from class for the holiday weekend, so we were able to take a min-vacation to Cameron and Michelle's house to celebrate the fourth with them. It was a min-vacation because we only had four days, but we sure packed a lot in to them!

We spend our first full day visiting South Padre Island -- soaking up as much sun and sand (and food, or course) as is humanly possible! I got a little camera-happy. Please forgive me.... I'm pretty sure that Brielle and Shayla could've played in the sand for a week straight!

Except Jody and Breje kept snagging Brielle to play in the fun waves!

And then she had to make time for eating all of that sugar!

I love the way she looks at Andin like he is so soo lucky to be graced with her presence! He totally lets her play the role of princess to her hearts' content!

I love this one -- The kids had those looks on their faces for the majority of the weekend!

We filled the rest of the time with more good food than I can even begin to talk about, tons of movies, shopping, playing games (yes, there was Phase 10) even more food, and kids running around everywhere! My kids had forgotten what it was like to have so much space to move around in, and cousins to play with and they revelled in every moment.

They spent tons of time riding the boys' four-wheeler in the backyard. I snapped this when they got tired of waiting for the adults to come start it (it was seriously HOT outside) and so they were taking turns pushing each other on it. Is that fun? Apparently, yes!

I think the best part of the weekend (yes, even better than sleeping on a bed, eating at a real table, doing laundry IN the house, etc) was watching the kids' bonds with their cousins be strengthened by all that play time. They normally live pretty far away and it was good to see how quickly they become close when they do get a chance to be together!

#@%##@!

2009-06-27T07:38:00.000-07:00

Brielle was not easy to ween from her pacifier. We made several, I mean SEVERAL failed attempts to rid our home of that thing! Each attempt began with a frenzied search for the missing binky that she so desperately wanted, led to an adamant refusal to spend another penny on those blasted things, at least one sleepless night while she begged and then screamed for one. Each attempt finally ended with her cheerfully finding at least one of the missing binkies the next morning. Not fun, people!
We finally did it, though. Months ago. We routed them all out, stood firm, and refused to buy anymore. Then we packed up a very small portion of our belongings and we moved to Texas. We've been her for a month and we can practically name every single belonging that we have with us. Brielle has completely forgotten all about her beloved binkies. So how in the #%@*#*! did this happen?! Seriously! How did it get here and where did she find it? I asked her about a million times. Each time she says, "Ummm. It's mine!" *#@^*!

Pool Pics

2009-06-24T13:30:00.000-07:00

I know, I've got tons of time to blog, now and I just plain haven't. The thing is that we just don't do anything. Really! We are about as boring as it gets around here. I've looked through my camera, and these are pretty much all the pictures I have that I haven't shared. I'll try to do better in the future. Really, I will! In the meantime ... you get a few of my favorite pool pics. Enjoy!

Weekend Fun

2009-06-16T16:51:00.000-07:00

First of all, I want to thank everyone for their comments on my last post. It makes me feel so loved to have all of your condolences!

Fortunately, we were able to get away from our cramped living quarters this weekend, and meet up with Jody's brother and his fam in San Antonio! Warning: This post is positively bursting with photos. My apologies!

This is us when we arrived Sat morning -- just before we completely melted! Seriously -- it was so hot that we finally gave-in and changed into our bathing suits for the rest of the day. This definitely helped our attitudes.

This is our poor clan trying to entice the dolphins to come a little closer. They were having none of that -- as you can see I couldn't even get one close enough to get them in the shot. My kids were hugely disappointed and it was all I could do to convince them this was not my fault!

While the dolphins fell a little short, this trip, the spooky 4-D movie was such a hit that we had to see it twice! The bonus to this one is that you got wet. (Did I mention that it was HOT!)?

I have to admit that Seaworld, San Antonio was a bit of a disappointment. The one in Orlando is much more family friendly, but Shamu (Or "Shampoo" as Brielle calls him)was definitely as cool as ever. For us, the very best part of the trip was getting to see Cam, Michelle, and kids. We haven't all been together in awhile and it was fun to see how close the kids still are. I was planning on Brielle and Shayla, who is only 4 months older, becoming really close, but they mostly admired each other from afar. The fun surprise was watching Shayla's older brother, Andin with Brielle. She figured out pretty quick that he worshipped the ground she walked on and she took full adavantage. It was so cute watching how attached they were to each other.

On Sunday we took a trip to the Alamo to see the sites and give the kids a little history lesson. (They had never even heard of Davy Crockett -- what are they teaching our kids these days!?)

I thought it was pretty cool and it's actually really beautiful up close. Can you tell that the kids are not nearly as impressed?

They were a little more appreciative once we got inside-- especially the boys. Nothing like Bowie knives, old guns and ammo, and some ancient cannons to get little boys interested in history!

Finally, we headed over to the Riverwalk since it was so close by. Since I was so excited-- the poor kids thought they were going to see something really great. Apparently, even the waterfalls and riverboats were not enough to make them walk around in that heat all day. We finally gave up after we snapped this quick photo. They look pretty done, don't they?

Thanks, Cameron and Michelle -- for all the fun, the water, and the ice cream!

Now who wants to come visit?

PS Hayley, now that I'm blogging again, don't you think this page needs a face lift -- you know, if you get bored .....

Home Sweet Home ... Sort of!

2009-06-12T13:40:00.000-07:00

I kind of feel like we're living in some sort of freaky, alternate universe, or something. No aliens or cute vampires or anything -- just a surreal place that's missing most of our things and all of the people we love! Do I sound homesick? I really didn't mean to. This post is supposed to satisfy all of you who have been dying for a peek of the glory that is our new home. Here goes. This is our spectacular front door. It actually looks much nicer in the picture. I feel like I should get on Picnik and edit-in the dingy factor. You have no idea how badly I want to splurge on a welcome mat and a flower pot, or something. This proves I have a problem!

Notice our folding chairs for relaxing outside in the 108 degree weather -- they also double as our "company" chairs -- if anyone comes to visit we have to drag them inside so there's enough places to sit!

This is our cozy front room. The kids think that they have to sit right in front of the tv since it's so small. We have two of the fancy chairs that Trayson is lounging on in this pic. This has sparked numerous battles in our apartment. Good times!

This would be the boys' room aka, the dining room. Did I mention this place is cozy?

The girls actually get to share a bedroom, but Brielle is on the floor. We still don't trust her with a cot. The gray rubbermaid tub doubles as her nightstand and the boys' dresser. We are nothing if not resourceful!

Last, but certainly not least, is the master bedroom/office. We are currently on foam pads -- our fancy air mattress started leaking 4 days into this experiment. NOT my favorite part of this adventure!
While this experience has me desperately missing our actual home, it has already served to teach us a few lessons. First, I appreciate Idaho way more than I ever thought I would, if for no other reason that my bed is there!

Second, it really makes us realize how many great people we have in our lives. I thought I appreciated you all -- but I had no idea how much! Especially as I look around and see that so much of the few possessions we have here are actually donated by friends. Most of our furniture was generously donated by the "L" family -- you guys rock! and all of the rubbermaid bins that got us here and are now housing our clothing were furnished by the "w" family. Throw in everyone watching our yard, our animals, our house, our mail and I know that we are really really lucky to have you all!

Third, while I have spent most of my time complaining about how expensive it is to rent this nasty little apartment when we own a home -- it just occurred to me that it is seriously amazing that we can do it-- especially when it wasn't long ago that we wouldn't have even been able to imagine affording the rent here (anyone who saw our basement apartments will understand!)

We are also having tons of new experiences, so for now, we are just making the most of it and hanging in there.

A trip to the Zoo

2009-05-17T21:53:00.000-07:00

Kutter's preschool class recently had a field trip to the zoo and Brielle and I were able to tag along. It was a bit colder than we had planned (and we all know how much I love cold!) but the kids really enjoyed it. We were technically with his whole class, but two of my friends and I kind of went off on our own. Maybe not our best idea ever. We had three moms, 6 of our own children, one that I borrowed, and two (empty, of course) strollers! It took me days to be able to remember my own name! Fortunately, we got a few cute pictures to prove we survived.
I love this one, because it is evidence that Brielle and Kutter thoroughly enjoy each other's company -- at least for now! The lions were part of the zoo's newest addition -- and they received their due respect. I only wish they could've got the children to hold this still for another hour! This is the only part of 3 hours when we weren't chasing them all!

This is my final signing-off before the big drive to Texas. I will be missing you all desperately, and I promise to get my Internet squared away as soon as I can (because I know that you will all be completely lost without me!)

Happy Birthday Breje!

2009-05-10T21:18:00.001-07:00

It's not technically her birthday yet, but the computer'll be out of business by the time she reaches 12 (we'll sort of be on the road to Texas by then!) and we couldn't let this landmark birthday slide by without a big party, so we had one early!
We chose a polka dot theme (Thanks, Yvette, for the awesome idea!) and the girls really humored me. I was worried that they would think they were too old for such silliness, but they jumped right and we totally polka dotted to our hearts' content!
The decorations were easy. Balloons, sticky dots from the dollar store, fun colors, and round plates that spelled "Happy Birthday". We had polka dot napkins and I spilled Skittles all over the table for them to snack on while they played. Breje and her friend almost had more fun decorating than they did at the party! While we waited for the pizza to arrive, I let the girls make polka dot magnets for their lockers. I somehow managed to skip pictures of this but it was a huge hit and they turned out great.
After pizza, we had a ton of fun making polka dot flip flops. The girls really seemed to enjoy it and each pair turned out so uniquely different. I think they look adorable all together, don't you?

We also played "Who has the most polka dots". We put a bunch of questions into a bowl that asked things like "Who has the longest hair?" and "Who is the most boy crazy?" Whoever was chosen as the "most likely" received a polka dot sticker for her face. We had a tie and the girls were sweet enough to share their funny polka dot prize.

I tried to jazz up Breje's requested ice cream cake with some homemade polka dots -- not as cute as I had hoped, but it was definitely tasty!

She got tons and tons of fun presents-- her friends totally spoiled her, but the best part was just watching them all sit around and giggle together!

We sent them all home with polka dot goody bags, complete with "dots", gumballs, butterscotch candy, and round lip gloss. I'm thinking that I better apologize to all the moms for the inevitable sugar high! I seriously can't believe that my little girl is already twelve years old! She is really turning out to be an amazing young lady. She is smart, beautiful, friendly, and talented. She is usually a huge help with Brielle and puts up with her brothers as well as she can! I'm really proud of the young lady she's become, and thrilled that she is becoming such a good friend!

Visitors!

2009-05-07T21:48:00.000-07:00

Jody's mom and sister made it out last weekend for a quick visit before we take off for Texas! I must say, they were real troopers, driving all this way for a rainy weekend with no plans! They got here late on Friday, just in time to help put kids to bed, and we spent most of Saturday morning getting ready for the boys soccer games -- only to have them canceled due to nasty weather. We finally did make it to one of our towns' few attractions-- double fried egg rolls at the local Chinese place Yummy! Afterwards, Treva had the insane idea of burning off all the extra calories with a rousing game of kickball in the rain! Notice that she is the only adult out there?! The rest of us mostly observed from the front porch, and eventually, the windows. I was going to edit this picture, but I loved seeing crazy Treva running around with all the kids in the rain, my poor trees about bending in half because of our famous "light breezes"! What a trooper!
We finally convinced everyone to come and spent most of the afternoon playing cards and munching on candy. There was one brief moment in the afternoon when the sun thought about shining, so Jody got out the motorcycles. I'll be forever disappointed that I didn't grab the camera in time to get a picture of Jody riding the kids' motorcycle, but I couldn't resist posting this picture of Treva getting her turn. What a goofball!

2009-05-03T19:07:00.000-07:00

Each spring, I get a guaranteed shopping day with my mom, my sister, my sil, and NO KIDS! We plan it for springtime so that we have an excuse to buy summer clothes that the kids are needing (and if cheesecake and a new purse are haunting us, well it would just be a waste of gas money to go back for it later!) I wasn't going to blog about our fun girls' weekend because Hayley already did such a great job. If you want to read a sappy post about how wonderful we all are, just log onto her blog.

I couldn't resist a quick post, however, because it does happen to be one of my favorite weekends of the year. It seems to get more fun every year, especially since Breje comes along now. The five of us tend to be very different in a lot of ways, but our combined passion for bargains and tasty food brings us together and it is ridiculous how much time we spend giggling like kids. I don't think we've had a year, yet, where someone (usually a waiter) looks at us like we're drunk. I'm not sure why that makes it more fun, but it does.

I seriously feel so lucky that I am so close to these women and that we have such fun together. Hayley blogged about all our best qualities (leaving out her bravery, mothering skills, creativity, etc) but I think my favorite thing about all these women is how willing they are to just get silly. Without sharing too much, let's just say that...

... if you ever get Amy a special treat, do it quick and then stand back -- she's liable to lick you! And if Hayley is in a rush to get to Target just get her there fast -- or you may encounter a crazy astronaut in depends moment! My mom? Just ask her about gestures. Not obscene ones, they're well, just gestures. Memorable gestures!

Thanks, ladies, for all the fun! Can't wait til next year!

2009-04-22T22:17:00.000-07:00

It's been awhile since we had any visitors out here, so the kids were extra excited to have Grandma and Grandpa come see us last weekend. We had a fairly busy weekend (it's soccer season, you know!) but we did manage to squeeze in a few yummy meals, some shopping time, and lots of just chilling outside in the lovely weather.
The kids made sure that Grandpa spent plenty of time with them on the trampoline. Some days I'm not sure how I'll get Brielle off of that thing, but Grandpa is almost as bad as she is! We were able to watch both Trayson and Kutter kick butt in their soccer games on Saturday, then we did the whole jr high thing where the girls and boys split up and ignore each other! Awesome! The boys went golfing (Kutter's first time and he is already addicted!) and the girls headed to the big city for some real fun!
Grandma Linda wanted to make this a special weekend for Breje, since she will not be able to be here on her birthday. She got to choose the dinner (prime rib, of course) and most of the shopping was about her. She has been dying for a Build-a-Bear for years, so that was one of our first stops -- where we welcomed cute little Blossom into our home ....

... I'm thinking that I'm kinda glad it took so long for us to get there, because she turned out way cuter than she probably would have four years ago!

Breje got a few cute new shirts, but the best part of the night was all Grandma Linda's idea -- she took her to the make up counter at Macy's and had them do a min-makeover for her. Since she will be allowed to start wearing make up this summer, they gave her some great tips on how to make sure she doesn't overdo it. It was loads of fun and it almost killed me that such a tiny bit of make up made her look so grown up and beautiful!

We forgot the camera, but I did manage a quick snapshot before she went to bed. What do you think, should we just lock her up now?!

Thanks again to Grandma and Grandpa for making the long, boring drive out here to brighten our weekend!

2009-04-13T22:16:00.001-07:00

Our Easter started early with a way fun package in the mail on Friday. I should warn you that I did a terrible job shooting this video, so feel free to skip past it. We just wanted Grandma Linda to see how much the kids enjoyed their surprises. The highlights are that everyone got their first cute new spring outfit, loads of candy, and even the fancy Easter egg coloring kits that their mom is way too cheap to buy. They were absolutely thrilled, and Grandma definitely took some of the pressure off the Easter Bunny!

It was kind of strange knowing that we would be spending the entire holiday without any extended family, but we have definitely been very blessed with friends here. We spent Saturday afternoon with a few families from our ward and the kids had a blast. They got to have their Easter egg hunt with about 13 or 14 other kids and over 200 eggs! Then we had a big barbecue all together and colored about a million eggs to finish off the evening. Thanks to the Wortham's for throwing such a great holiday bash and inviting such fun people!
I was thinking that our Easter dinner would be way late because we don't even get home from church until about 4:30 or so, and I just couldn't have Easter without a huge dinner (it's how I was raised!) Lucky me-- my sweet friend Angie invited us over to her house for a huge Easter feast -- complete with all the fixings and some of my very favorite people. They are defiantly my family away from home and it was lovely to spend the day with them (and not just cause I didn't have to cook!)The bonus to the day was how adorable my kids looked in their Easter duds--- and the best was hearing Breje play the violin in Sacrament meeting for the very first time. She played beautifully and it was the perfect addition to our celebration!

More Brielle

2009-04-09T20:48:00.000-07:00

Brielle has had quite a day. It began with a "quick" trip to Walmart to complete our Easter purchases -- including 2-18 packs of eggs. (If I couldn't contain myself and already shared this story with you, you can just scan down to the pics!) I carefully placed said eggs in the seat next to Brielle because it seemed dangerous, at the time, to place them at her feet. I then proceeded to make another "quick" stop at a friends house on the way home. Brielle stayed in the car. Can you see it coming, folks?
Yep. I returned to discover both egg cartons face-down on the floor of my car. Empty. Where were the eggs, you might ask?That would be her lap. All 3 dozen eggs were now sharing the car seat with her. She just looked up at me like she had no idea she'd done anything wrong. And really, it's me who should've known better! I'm ashamed to say that I did not have my camera with me, and although I did ponder leaving them all in her lap until I got home, I really really wanted to save the ones that weren't cracked open yet! Surprisingly, only 6 or 7 eggs completely bit the dust. 6 or 7 eggs can be really really really messy! It took forever to get it all off of her, her clothes, her blankies, the car seat, and the car. Looks like she had fun, though! She tried to make up for it later, by indulging in her cleanup habit. I have to admit that I usually enjoy this side of her. It's nice to be able to let her get out the blocks and scatter them all over the house, without thinking that I'll have a huge mess to clean up. The best part of this game is that she totally loves the clean up song. I couldn't help recording her version of it to share with you all. A few things to note before you view
-- She's already been doing this for about 10 whole minutes. It was a big mess, but she never stops until she gets them all, and she sings the entire sons.
--Yes, that is the only line she remembers.
--She gets her musical ability from Grandpa Mike. Enough said. (Love ya, Dad!)
--Her little "so good" at the end of the song. It is completely her own addition to the song. Enjoy!

Last But Not Least . . .

2009-04-05T20:59:00.001-07:00

. . . My baby, Breje, who is just so not a baby anymore that she won't even let me take a picture! That's why this post has taken so long. She is never home, and when she is, she avoids the camera (or is it me?) like crazy. You would think she is too old to have any quotes to share, but I've been saving this one up.
-- it was about midnight and we were in the middle of canning our apple pie filling. The kitchen is positively overflowing with the smell of apples and cinnamon and she pipes up with "Wow, this stuff smells just like a really good candle!" Yup. I blame Scentsy.

What she loves: Pretty much everything girls her age usually love. Clothes, chocolate, shopping, music, etc. She still shares my love of reading, but now we get to share shoes, too! Yay!

She also seems to love helping with her baby sister (most of the time -- she has been trying all of our patience with her climbing habit!) and she's been enjoying learning how to cook a few things.

What she doesn't like: Most of the time she'd say her brothers, but when they are not thinking about it they get along really well. She seriously hates mornings and cleaning her room. She hates getting ready for the day, but can't stand not looking put-together. Again, I'm thinking it's that whole age thing!

I have to take a little minute to brag about her. She also just had her parent/teacher conferences and they were pretty fun. She usually gets good grades and her teachers always rave about what a great kid she is. Every one of the teachers I talked to said she wasn't just well-behaved, but the kind of kid that is kind to everyone. I think it's rare that a girl her age can be friends with every girl in her class and it's a talent she has that I am really proud of! One teacher also told me that he's sure she will have a full-ride scholarship to college someday and that she's the kind of kid I will never have to worry about as a teenager! He said she was a testament to her parents! What mom wouldn't want to hear that?! I'm thinking that will make up for some of the teenage-girl-drama we have coming our way!

Trayson

2009-04-03T20:57:00.001-07:00

I got to go to Trayson's parent/teacher conference yesterday, so I really like him right now. It is so much fun to hear that his teacher wants to clone him and that he is the sweetest and smartest kid ever! He also got to bring home the dinosaur which he built last week out of turkey and chicken bones (his teacher admits that she is pretty much crazy!) This brings me to some of his latest funnies...
... "Mom" (before the conference) "It's kind of funny that lately the kids in my class have all been saying that I'm, like, the very smartest kid in the whole class. I don't know why." Wow. Real humility there, Tray!
"Mom?" (on the way home from the conference) "Do you think my dinosaur looks like a Pachyosepholosaurus? I think it does because they had skulls that were 15 feet thick and they were so tough that they didn't even get bruises". Sure thing, kid.
What he loves: All sports. He has way too much of his dad's competitive spirit. If there's not a sport to play right now, he'll make one up. It makes me almost grateful for soccer season!
Girls. All girls. I think mostly because they ALL worship the ground that he walks on, so that he can take a break from it. Heaven help me!
What he hates: Anyone to be upset with him. This kid is a pleaser and just gets so upset if anyone is mad. He also really hates it when anyone else around him is not obeying the rules. His teacher says she can see him get stressed when the other kids get out of control.
Having nothing to do. He cannot sit still unless it is to play computer games. The busier he is, the happier he is. I CANNOT wait for summer so that he can run around outside!
One of my favorite things about Trayson is his tender heart. I also love that he is constantly reminding me of his Grandpa and his Uncle Cody. I have no idea how someone so young can have so much useless info in his head to spout off at random moments, but he sure does!

Kutter's Turn

2009-03-31T21:44:00.001-07:00

Kutter's dimples are still pretty much my favorite thing about him. They show up in the most unexpected places and times! We see them when he's happy, sure, but also when he is feeling shy, a little bit sheepish about something he's done, and when he's concentrating really hard! They ALWAYS make my day! His latest loves: He is still definitely all-boy. Soccer is his very favorite thing, but he loves anything that involves testosterone. He thinks his bunk bed that Grandpa built is the coolest thing ever and Mickey Mouse has seriously risen in his estimation since our trip to Disneyland!

His latest funny: I dread waking him up for preschool -- it is the never ending struggle. Although he seriously loves preschool, he is just NOT a morning person and it usually takes him forever. This morning he jumped right up with a huge grin and explained that he had been pretty worried he wouldn't get to go today. "I had a dream that spring break was over but they wouldn't let us go to preschool because it was too cold and we couldn't do anything and it was just so sad!" I felt so bad laughing at him because he was so relieved!

Also, when I picked him up from his first soccer practice and asked him how it went, he responded by saying "pretty good, I think the other kids will all get the hang of it eventually. I'll take it easy on them til them". No ego there!

His latest dislikes: Pink is still a huge problem at our house. He can't play with the pink bouncy ball. He refuses to sit on the pink chairs at school. He won't even eat the pink jelly beans! I've never seen a kid so afraid of a color before!

Kutter also really hates anything to be wrong with Brielle. He is usually so stubborn, but he will go out of his way to make her happy if she's sad. I've seen him smack his head or dramatically fall to the floor to get a giggle out of her. It reminds me of Boo and Sully from Monster's Inc.

She definitely brings out the best in him ... at least for now!

Okay, Hayley....

2009-03-30T22:15:00.000-07:00

....I accept your challenge. I do think my children are much cuter than the peaches, so I'm gonna try a lot harder to take pictures of them this week! In fact, I've decided to share a little update on each of them at some point during the week. I'll start with little Brielle, since I was already dying to share this pic... Her latest loves: Well, mostly shoes. She loves all shoes and is constantly begging me to change them for her. She's found all of the shoes that don't fit her yet and she clearly already knows which are her favorite (the fluorescent pink flip flops, Hay). She has also figured out that Dad's shoes are the easiest to get on if mommy is not inclined to help her at the moment. In this picture, she is extremely proud of herself since I expressly forbid her to change shoes because we were trying to get ready for church! The part you can't see is that the boots have spurs on them, so she did a little tap dance for me in the kitchen. What a goof!
She also has a very disturbing love for bologna. She could eat it all day long. And she calls it "brownies". Yes. This disturbs me.
Her latest phrases: My latest of recent memory also comes from Sunday morning. Jody was snuggling with her before he left early for his meetings and he finally told her he was gonna have to leave. She just looked up at him so sweet and said, "NO. Hold you all day long!" Yeah, he was probably late for that meeting!
She's also taken to throwing all of her clothes out of her drawer and rummaging through them. When I finally asked her what in the world she was doing, she looked up at me all innocent and said, "I wanna buy this"!
Her latest dislikes: Mess. I think I've corrupted her. She threw an enormous tantrum while playing with a friend today. It wasn't that she didn't want to share her toys -- she just really, REALLY wanted to clean up! She screamed, threw herself on the floor, and even kicked, until her cute friend finally gave up. Brielle instantly jumped up and put the hopscotch tiles neatly back into their package. What am I gonna do with her?
Clothes. She seriously loves looking at them. She apparently loves shopping for them. However, she refuses to wear them for any lengthy period of time. I don't remember the other kids doing this, but she would run naked all day long if I let her. I am extremely tired of wrestling her to the ground to get her dressed, just to do it all over again in twenty minutes. Help!
So that's 1 down, 3 to go. Wish me luck!

How do ya like them apples?

2009-03-28T17:01:00.000-07:00

I finally decided I had better do something about the 3 cases of apples that I have had out in my garage since Christmas. My friends have all been canning like crazy --- applesauce, apple butter, apple jelly. Sounds waaaay out of my league. We've tried, desperately to eat all of the dang things, but I can only eat so much fruit before the fruit dip comes out! I can't stand the thought of them wasting, so I decided to take my very first stab at canning.

Breje and I made a girl's night out of it and it was so much fun! She happens to be way better with the peeler/corer/slicer than I am, and she was such a trooper about staying up way late with me so that it never got boring.

We had so much fun that I ran into town to buy another box of jars so that we could do more. I think they are absolutely beautiful!

I think Jody thought he was being hilarious when he suggested, at 11:00 that night, that it would be great to be able to take a couple homemade apple pies to work the next day. Joke's on him! We stayed up until 1:30 am baking them, because we couldn't bear to open up those lovely jars already when we still had tons of apples! It was not our usual girl's night, but I'm sure we'll remember the fun we had everytime we open one of those jars.

BORING!

2009-03-18T21:26:00.000-07:00

I think about the most exciting thing to happen to us since we got home from Disneyland was Brielle falling asleep on the living room floor. Yes, this is seriously pathetic. We know! Seriously, I think I've still got a bit of the post-vacation-blues, and they're running right into the why-isn't-it-summer-yet?-blues. It's not a fabulous combination, but we're working on it, folks.

Our only major bright spot in the last couple weeks was how great Breje and Trayson did at their piano festival last weekend. Festival is not nearly as fun as it sounds -- just ask my kids! It is so NOT a party! They have to go into a room with just a piano and a judge who takes notes on how well they play 2 songs. They have to memorize these songs and then play them as perfectly as possible and they only get one chance to do it. This sounds absolutely terrifying to me and I am so proud that they are even brave enough to try it! (Who am I kidding -- I am still proud that they can figure out how to read the dang music! How are they my kids?) Their piano teacher was super proud of how well they both played and we just found out they both received superior ratings-- the very best they can get! Whoo hoo! I am extra glad that I took them to Boise afterwards to celebrate. We went out to dinner, did a little bit of shopping, and then saw a movie together. I couldn't believe how much I enjoyed hanging out with my big kids! Thanks, guys!

Magicalness

2009-03-04T21:53:00.000-08:00

"Magicalness" is my SIL's new word to describe Disneyland and I am totally stealing it! Thanks, Ames, I am positive they will be adding it to the next edition of Webster's, cause it's the only word that really fits our week in that happy happy place!

I'm not sure how to keep this post from becoming unbearably long -- 8 adults, 7 kids, 6 days, 2 parks, about a million Disney characters, even more churros-- all wrapped up in magicalness. It's tough to summarize. Vacations sometimes don't live up to our expectations, but this one did.

We averaged over 10 miles a day! (is that child abuse? strollers were involved, I promise!) and yet everyone managed to stay happy most of the time. I think I'll just show ya'll the pictures to prove it!

This is Brielle waiting in line for her very first ride. She waited forever to get on the coaster in Toon Town, and then found out she was too short, but doesn't she look so happy?Everyone got a chance to meet a few of their heroes during the week. The girls got to meet most of the Disney princesses -- except for Brielle, who apparently found them terrifying! Hayley's girls were utterly star-struck, though and it was fun to see that Breje was still just young enough to get excited about too! I think one of Kutter's favorite moments of the week was getting to meet his hero --Lightnin McQueen!And Pluto was just so darn cute that I had to get him in here, too!I loved that there are quite a few rides that everyone can go on together. The jungle cruise was a big hit with everyone, mostly because it was a fun challenge trying to get Brielle and Simon to look excited about something. The two of them spent most of the week trying so hard to drink it all in, that they couldn't be bothered with any extra emotional displays!

The carousels were another thing we got tons of use out of. Grandma and Amy were especially good sports about taking all the younger kids on it whenever we were off doing something they were too little for. I'm pretty sure their heads are still spinning, but don't the kids look thrilled!

We never get any family pics, but I finally remembered to hand the camera over and get this one in front of the falls at California adventure. I think I mostly wanted proof that I still knew where all four of my kids were by the end of the week!

Grandma Linda made sure that all the kids were completely ready for the fun we'd have there. She got them all mouse ears and autograph books and they were so excited! Notice that Grandpa was the only adult willing to don one. Grandpa was a fun surprise on this trip, and we actually decided to give him the "most improved" award for this vacation! If you've ever been on a trip with us, you know that staying up late, spending tons of money, eating bad food, and trying to keep track of everyone is usually a bit tough on him. This time he took it like a trooper and truly seemed to enjoy it. I don't think I saw him shake his head once!I think my favorite part of this trip was watching all the kids together. They have always been close, but visits are usually pretty short for us and it was so nice to get to see them just be themselves together.
Trayson and Sienna are not the usual twosome when we visit, but she started following him around like a little puppy last week and he just ate it up.

Breje and Ady in front of the castle -- what could be more beautiful, right?

I always get tons of Trayson and Simon together. This one is definitely one of my new all-time favorites. Cody, did you teach him that pose?
Brielle is finally old enough to start forming stronger friendships with her cousins, too, and they had more time together since they were always waiting for the big kids to get off rides. They don't look too upset about it, do they? Whew, that was a ton of pictures! Sorry! Thank you guys, for getting us to come along and for all of the entertainment along the way. (I have a seriously amusing family!) Thanks a million for helping keep track of my kids -- I know they wouldn't have all made it home without you!

Busy Weekend!

2009-02-10T22:13:00.000-08:00

We had a seriously busy weekend, so I'll have to apologize in advance for all of the pictures in this post. We had a bachelor party (ok, Jody did) a wedding, and a surprise baptism! What fun! I'm feeling pretty guilty, though, because I got absolutely no pictures for any of those things! What a nerd -- I was too busy taking pictures of all the beautiful children running around!

For those of you who got pictures of the happy couple at the wedding, or of Markus on his baptism day, feel free to send them my way!

The kids and I started the weekend at Grandma's house--where the girls were all trying to eat as much food as possible while pretending to watch the kids. The guys ended up staying out until about midnight. We did a ton of eating!

Meanwhile, Grandma Kay did her best to reintroduce Brielle to her cousin Shayla, who she hasn't seen since May. It was a rocky start, but stories and pizza seemed to do the trick!

On Saturday we were able to go to Jarin and Megan's wedding. It was beautiful -- really it was -- but who can notice with all these cuties around?

This is my newest niece, Chloe, hanging with her new cousins. I loved that Draden had to get in on the action when we were trying to get pics of all the girls in their pretty dresses. Doesn't he just look like he's supposed to be surrounded by beautiful women?

This is seriously probably about 1/4 of the Wolfley children running around that reception center. The people who ran the place seriously did not like us!

This is either Brielle being bossy, or Brielle trying to show Brooklyn where the food is. All I know is that they are finally talking to each other!
On Sunday morning, I finally got time to snuggle with my newest nephew, Brody. He is just as adorable in person, and even more well-behaved. It was just heaven to sit and chat with him for awhile!

That evening we were able to attend the baptism of our brother-in-law and it was definitely the way to end our weekend. The chapel was pretty packed with people who were just thrilled to watch Markus finally "taking the plunge". Lots of tears, lots of smiles, lots of hugging. We were so glad we were able to be there, even if it meant getting home at 1:00 in the morning! Thanks, Markus!

These last couple shots were taken while we were waiting to head over to the stake center. Shayla had been refusing to look at me all day, but I finally got a good shot of her beautiful eyes and those oh so lovely curls!

I had to post this picture for Uncle Cody. Brielle was completely enamored of Draden's new tool bench. The saw made noise and everything and that girl completely ignored the princess kitchen and just sawed and drilled forever!

2009-02-04T21:20:00.000-08:00

Brielle has been seriously cracking us up lately! She definitely has her own mind and is always willing to let us know what she wants. Usually, it's either food, or dress-ups. It's been so fun to get all the girlie stuff out again, and I can't believe how much she already loves to feel pretty. This is her doing her best Sienna impression the other day...

... whadya think? Apparently, Sienna likes to have marshmallows hanging out of her mouth, because this is the only way she'd pose. Yes, she is posing. She refused to actually eat any marshmallows until I took pictures. This do took FOREVER. She grinned at herself in the mirror. Put all her jewelry on, and promptly fell asleep. So much for curls!

One of her favorite new words is "goodness". It works if she's scared, if she's being chased by her brother, if she smells bad, or if she's giving you an extra good hug. OK.

This was taken just yesterday. I lost track of her for a minute, which gave her just enough time to scale her nightstand and spill all of her clippies onto the floor. By the time I found her she had a couple of them already in her hair, and she kept demanding more. I finally had to hide the rest!

She kept staring into the mirror and saying "pretty". I couldn't take them out until she fell asleep. That was fun!

Snowday!

2009-01-26T21:29:00.001-08:00

We woke up on Sunday to the most enjoyable phone call ever -- church was cancelled due to the snowstorm we didn't even realize we'd had during the night! Is it wrong that we were blissfully happy about this fact? Instead of finalizing lessons, sharing times, kid's talks and throwing everyone into showers and begging them to get dressed, we did ....nothing! How's that for a day of rest? I have to admit that it still took awhile for me to get used to. Growing up in Utah, I think I remember one Sunday when church was actually cancelled. The snowstorm had actually broken windows and the church building was becoming it's own winter wonderland. Otherwise, four feet of snow during the night just meant that all the men had to get up earlier than usual to shovel every one's driveways --no excuses, even if you weren't one of the lucky families who had friends with a snow blower on the block! Here, no one owns a snow blower, there are relatively few snow shovels, and the snowplows didn't even reach us until late in the evening. Hooray!

Treva's Visit

2009-01-25T12:13:00.001-08:00

Last weekend we were lucky enough to get a quick visit from Aunt Treva! Treva is always such a trooper --- willing to just hang-out and do whatever boring things we already have planned. On several occasions, she's flown out to visit us just so she can help pack us up and clean our house for a move! I guess this weekend was probably a blast in comparison! It involved Trayson's basketball practice, some quick shopping in Boise (basically just Target) milkshakes, a wedding reception (we totally made her sit in the car with the kids) and dinner at Sizzler. We topped it all off with a rousing game of Phase 10. I swear that someday we are gonna make sure Treva has the time of her life with us. For now, it sure means a lot to us that she is willing to go to all the trouble of coming out here, just so that the kids can get to know their Aunt Treva!

Trayson's Baptism

2009-01-19T22:29:00.001-08:00

Jody and I were so proud of Trayson on his baptism day! I don't remember being nearly as prepared to be baptised as he was. He was just so ready! I'm truly grateful for his strong testimony and the example that he sets for his younger brother and sister. And seriously, doesn't he just look so handsome in his new suit?

This was one of those days that usually brings out the OCD in me. I'd been planning all year on making it the perfect day for Trayson, the best treats, an awesome meal, a spotless house, all while entertaining the entire fam and bunches of friends ---then I had to go and get pneumonia. Thank goodness I have such a supportive (and may I add, also slightly OCD) family! Jody made sure the house was at least respectable before everyone showed up. My mom did all the grocery shopping, she and Hayley cooked up a storm, Hayley groomed my children to perfection, and Amy and the guys kept the whole pack of kids entertained and happy. Me, I just sat there. Thank you guys for helping my son have such a special day!

The upside of me being so sick, is that I had to let go a little. This resulted in us focusing mostly on the actual baptism instead of all the fanfare that comes with it. It was perfect. Most of the day was chaos, but the baptism was very sweet and spiritual. Jody made sure that there were plenty of tears to

accompany all that coughing (my entire family had bronchitis, so did most of our friends!) and the confirmation was really speciall. It's always so reassuring to me to look at the men in the circle and realize how many great examples my kids have. They are so lucky!

Christmas... finally!

2009-01-14T08:08:00.000-08:00

I'm going to have to start this post with a serious "there are way too many pictures here, so it's ok with me if you just skim" disclaimer! The truth is, I'm realizing that I actually didn't get near enough pictures, but there are still so many that it was tough to choose.
Christmastime was crazy busy, so I'm going to give a pretty brief overview, just to get it all straight in my own head. The first stop on our whirlwind tour of Utah was the Wolfley family Christmas party in Layton. The weather wasn't great and it ended up taking us about 6 hours to get there, but it was worth it. Jarin was in charge and did a bang-up job!
The kids all loved their "cousin" gifts. Big smiles all around. The food was delicious and that's usually my favorite part (shocker, I know) but I think the best part this year was watching Brielle bond with her cousin Ryann. Ryann is about 4 months younger than Brielle and this is the first time they actually interacted with each other.

Who knew that an unattended case of apples could be so much fun?!We rushed to Logan the next morning for Great Gram's Christmas party, held at my mom's house this year. I somehow completely forgot to get out the camera that afternoon, but we did really enjoy getting to spend some time with my mom's side of the family. The food, of course, was awesome, but it was mostly nice to reconnect with relatives that we hardly ever see.

The next couple days were spent driving all over the place to see people, last minute Christmas shopping, and just trying to enjoy family as much as possible. I didn't get out the camera again until Christmas Eve, but apparently I used it a lot! That night we gobbled tons of food and played lots of Christmas-themed games with the kids. The definite hit of the night was decorating gingerbread houses. It became a competition, of course, but the it was so much fun to see how creative everyone got. Brielle got the most out of the evening ---- candy everywhere and no one paying any attention to what she was doing. If you close, you can see that her cheeks are just packed full and no one is even looking at her! Another favorite tradition is Christmas jammies from Grandma and Grandpa. Don't the kids look just adorable all decked out in their new snuggly pj's? They were all absolutely thrilled to get them!

We ended the evening with Grandpa reading the Christmas story from the scriptures. We must've really worn the kids out, because they sat so sweet and listened to the entire thing. It was the perfect way to end the night!

I couldn't help adding this picture of the tree on Christmas morning. Despite the ridiculous amount of presents, doesn't it just look like coziness perfected? Then, the chaos ensued and paper started flying everywhere. I got tons of pics, but here's a few favorites. I just adore this picture of Brielle totally making out with her new stick horse. Think she likes it?

And Kutter was completely thrilled with this remote control car that drives on walls and the ceiling (thanks, Santa!) In his words, "I've been wanting this my whole life!" What a goof!

This is one of those gifts that my boys probably figured they'd never get, since I am such a wuss, so it was a really fun surprise. They can't wait until the weather gets nicer so that they can drive all over our land!

That evening, we headed back to Ogden for more gifts with the Wolfley family (again, I forgot pictures!) We also spent a lot more time bouncing from house to house trying to see everyone. We got to go sledding with Yvette and Marcus, chill at Lance and Milisa's, watch movies at Grandma's, and visit with most everyone else. It was so great to have the time to see everyone. We ended the trip with one last night at Grandma Linda's, which we mostly spent at the ER with Brielle's double ear infection. Oh well. Overall, it was a great Christmas vacation!