Halloween Rocks!!

We had a great Halloween this year. First of all because Adam was finally off work for the first Halloween in a long time! And also just because the candy holiday totally ROCKS! (Except it totally sucks for my body)

I've not been much for blogging lately but I want to show off my cute babies, so to keep it short and sweet, I'm just going to post some scrapbook pages of our costumes.

I must point out, and maybe even brag a little, that I sewed Adam's costume! All by myself, everything but the boots!! Now for those of you that don't know what a lousy seamstress I am that may not be a big deal, but trust me it is. And I really enjoyed doing it. So much that I want to take a sewing class so I can sew me one next year (but hopefully avoid redoing steps again and again when I guess wrong).

GO COUGARS!!

Last Friday Adam took Grace to her first BYU game. She has been begging to go since she was old enough to say "Cougars". It was a late game so we didn't think Kaleb would make it (I'm not much for the cold either). So Kaleb and I helped my sister Kiersti paint her room, AGAIN!


Well Grace had a blast! Adam said the people around them were more interested in her than the game. That's my Grace, always making people smile. Adam bought her a "cougar claw" and some one gave her their extra bag of cotton candy. She got a little tired by half time but loved watching the band, cheerleaders and performers.


I wish I could post the phone pictures Adam took at the game, but here are some from before and the day after....

All bundled up and ready for the game...

Morning after the game she was still in Cougar mode. Adam is lucky to have a little girl so excited and interested in sports :) Particularly the cougs.

Adam couldn't resist getting this football uniform for Kaleb. He absolutely loves it and wears it all the time.

Harvest Time....

I love gardening! It's so much fun to plan and plant and watch things grow. I don't know much about it, but I sure enjoy learning and trying! It's awesome to see my family enjoy it as well. Adam and the kids love going out and picking fresh cherry tomatoes off the vine and eating them. None of them generally like tomatoes, but they love our garden grown ones. And who can blame them? They're delicious! I love that they're learning to enjoy working in the yard. I think it's a gift I inherited from my late Grandpa Bell and my Grandpa Carlson. They both have taught me a lot about plants, flowers and hard work. I hope my kids will carry on the gifts. Plus, just having the garden out in the corner of our yard is a fabulous site to see.

Some of the bounties of our garden!

Isn't she an adorable little girl... I think so!!!

Garden Surprise

One day while out picking cucumber I came across something that was not a plant....

This little guy was curled up enjoying the heat when I disturbed him from his sleep. It's a garter snake, completely harmless and good pest control. I was so excited. I used to catch these when I was younger and have seen a couple on the walking trails around here but they always slither away before I can get them. After Kaleb and I had our fun with it, I let it go again in the garden but haven't seen it yet. I think I scared him away... or my cats got to it!

"What", "Why", "No"

I often wonder why I even bother talking to my kids. Even as I'm saying what it is I'm trying to tell them, I already know the response I will undoubtedly get from them will be, "what", "why", or (my least favorite) "no"!!

Now I know not many of you wonderful, loving mother's of well raised children can totally relate to this. But for those of you who can I'm sure you feel my frustration when I say I would like to remove those words from their vocabulary!(occasionally the word mom could go too)

Even if the comment I have said has no relation to the word "why", I get it. It's just become a total habit for both of them.
In fact, yesterday I asked them to do something and they both unanimously replied, "what?" At this point I just had to laugh out loud and wonder, "will it ever end". I know there are worse things, but at the moment, it is on my nerves!!

Sorry if this doesn't make a lot of sense, but I feel better now for venting.

Grace's First Day of Kindergarten

Wow! The day finally came for me to send my sweet little girl out into the world. I survived the first two days, barely. The first day I thought there would be much more kicking and screaming and prying her from my arms... but not because Grace didn't want to go, but because I didn't want to let her!

No, it was a good day. She was really happy that the day had finally come, we painted her nails, curled her hair, dressed her up pretty and she wore a new bracelet from her great Aunt Jayne (thank you so much we love it!!) Yep, the day was going great, until we loaded her into the truck. Then the tears and the nerves started. I let her cry a little and tell me she would miss me (nice to hear sometimes). I was worried that she was bottling those emotions up anyway.

"Mommy I'm nervous"

Well after we got to the school we started taking a few photos, adorable one of her and Kaleb, and Adam even got her to smile a little. (I was still basking in the fact that she didn't want to leave me, doesn't happen much)
We were early so she got to play on the playground a bit and then some of her friends from Sunday school started showing up. She was happy go lucky Grace again. (I love the photo of the kids peering into the door trying to see.)

Then the bell rang and Mrs. Mikulecky (yes, that is a big name for those little ones) came out and let them in. Adam said it felt like the MTC, parents go one way and kids go the other...

It was cute to see her go, but then I had a nervous tummy all day.

We picked her up after school and all went out for shaved ice and to a local park. It was great. She loved her first day and was excited to go back.

Day Two

We promised her she could ride the bus the next day, which I hated. I just don't feel comfortable with that yet. She's five! Anyway, we took her to her stop, and helped her get on. She rides the cowboy bus (they have pictures in each bus so the kids know where to go). Well getting on was no problem...

It was getting off that we lost her!!! Yes, we really lost her. Adam, Kaleb, and I all walked to the stop and waited... and waited... and waited... One bus came, not hers. Two buses came, also not hers! Where's my daughter!? Finally I sent Adam home to see if maybe the bus didn't let the kids off at the same spot, and she had walked home. At that same time, a lady we had met at the bus stop that morning stopped and said "did she not get off?" I said, "No, so it already came?!" Then I started running home to call the school. On my way, a friend drives up and out jumps my Grace! She had gotten off at the wrong stop. She chose to get off with her friends and luckily, they knew to bring her to us. What a sick feeling I had. I just don't think I am ready to let her be that independent yet... Now how do I explain that to her??
Wow, being a mom sure can be stressful! And they have no clue, the little dears :)

A Taste of the Farm

Today the kids and I set out for an adventure at the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point (it's $2 Tuesday), but when we got there the line was longer than the ones at DisneyLand!! So I quickly scratched that plan and went to go visit my mom and sister. While sitting there I decided I still wanted to go do something fun with the kids, so we went to the petting zoo at Gardner Village. Loved it!
Meet our new friends....
This is Francis. She is a sweet little calf who just wanted to lay there and be loved. Don't you love her close-up?
The silly goat reaching up for the tree is Giggles. She's not the prettiest girl in the pageant but she was sweet. I don't know the llamas name, but I learned something new about them today. Did you know that their teeth keep growing! They have to sedate it and have the vet trim them down once in a while. The ginormous pig is Sally, she's the owners baby. She is about 5 yrs old and weighs 800 lbs. That's a lot of bacon! No, she was awesome, loves to be pet and enjoyed being sprayed off with the hose. And aren't those just the cutest little pop-belly piglets.
This little goat is Peewee and was definitely the favorite. She/he? was so funny! First it came and climbed in my lap, and just wanted to be loved. Then it discovered my necklace and wanted to nibble it. So after I moved that it found my hair, then my purse... it wanted to chew everything. It was quite funny to me, and the kids. After it got real comfortable with us it started butting us with its horns a little. It didn't hurt, it was just funny and cute to see it want to play.


Here is Peewee trying to get Grace's hair... And Kiersti, my sister, is scolding him/her for nibbling her hair too. As obnoxious as that may sound, it was really a fun little goat. We wanted to bring it home so bad!

"Look mom, no hands!" What's a visit to the petting zoo with out a pony ride!
What a fun day, who needs dinosaurs anyway. Bah! All those people standing out in the rain in a line wrapped around the building are crazy! I would much rather play with real, live animals!

P.S. One more day til Grace starts school!!

Summer Family Traditions

Traditions are great!! It seems a lot of people think of traditions as things just for holidays. But in our family we have many summer traditions too, and here I've posted a couple of them.
Every year, in July, my dad's family all gets together for a huge camp out. Our family loves camping, so we always go. For the last bundle of years, my Grandparents have liked the location of Millsite (near Price). Now this is great if you are a trailer, or motor home owner... which we are not! Every year the wind blows soooo bad, and often rips our tent, but we managed to get away without one this year. After much begging, he finally is going to try somewhere new next year, maybe Bear Lake.

On the flip side, we like that the sites are all near the lake so the kids can just wade in the water and we are able to see them from camp. There is also clean bathrooms and showers, yeah!



Above we have Kaleb being attacked by a killer Jack-Russell Terrier puppy... ooooh, scary! The left corner is my dad's clever way of fixing his shade cover when the wind blew and broke the bar. And on the right is my family getting some grub.

Upper right, Kiersti and Grace jumping off a cliff, about 10 feet high, pretty brave of my daughter if you ask me!! Right corner, my wonderful Grandpa Carlson, Captain G'pa (he's driving the boat).

Bottom left, my kooky husband! And last, Kaleb and Adam, ready for a wild tube ride... well not too wild. But after Kaleb got off, my grandpa really took Adam for a ride!

For the 24th of July, we go with Adam's family to the Bee's game, and then stay for the fireworks. Well we went this year but unfortunately the Bee's didn't play due to an illness on the opponents team. But they had an All-Star team play instead. We decided the kids really didn't care who played, and we would still get to see the fireworks. So we stayed and had a great time.

I love the photo of Kaleb's cotton candy goatee!! Before the game I painted the kids faces, they love that and I do it for most holidays and events. During the game I got lots of compliments and people were asking me where I got it done... I started thinking, "hmmm, maybe I should bring my paint next time and charge a dollar a face?!" Might be an easy way to make some money! :)

On the bottom right we have my little Kaleb curled up between daddy's legs, covering his ears because he doesn't like the loud fireworks. He did this on the 4th as well, only not between his dad's legs, just on my lap. Silly boy.

By the way.. only 3 more days until my baby girl goes to school!!! AHHHH!

Horseback Riding!

Hey, look at me, I'm a regular blogger again!! I've been asking my Uncle Danny (uncle da da, as Kaleb was calling him) to take us out to see his horses for some time now, and last May we finally got together. My Uncle's horse is Tough.. as in "Tough Enough to be a Cowboy", and my cousin Colby's horse is Dylan. But they are calling him "Big D" because he doesn't get ridden as much and has gotten large. He's also a little more wild because of that, so Colby came along to break him a little before we jumped on.


The kids were so excited. They both wanted to wear their cowboy hats and boots. They also brought along some rope, which I thought was very funny.


Kaleb was the first to jump on. That surprised me because Grace is usually more brave and a big horse lover. But she waited until she saw Kaleb doing so well, and even then asked if Danny would ride with her.


Grace caught right on to how to steer Tough. She had him going left, then right, left... right... He's an awesome horse and he really loves my uncle, you can see they have a great relationship.


Kaleb rode on Dylan with Colby for a bit after he was calm. He looks up to Colby, which is scary because Colby rides bare back, and bulls in rodeos! (I just won't tell Kaleb that)

He looks good up there, doesn't he?! We kept trying to push his hat up a little but he just pulled it right back down.
There's my Grace telling Tough who's boss. Adam is on Dylan, I didn't want to ride the unpredictable one.

Funny story... I haven't been on a horse in years and the stirrups were too long on Danny's (but I didn't want to make him adjust them), so I was using my legs to hold on. Well after a bit Tough started trotting a little... then a little faster. So I gently pull back, mean while I'm squeezing my legs. Now for those of you who haven't ridden, when you squeeze your heals, that tells the horse to go faster. Well poor Tough must have been real confused because I was pulling back to tell him to slow, as well as pushing on my heals. Finally my uncle yelled to me to put my feet out. "Duh!" was my thought. Then we had a nice smooth ride. Next time I think I will have him adjust it for me.

After we were done Danny put the kids on Tough bareback. They were a little nervous about that. We all had a great time and hope to go do it again soon!!

At last..An Update/Birthdays

The longer I wait, the less I want to update my blog... way too many fun things have happened since I last posted. From getting settled in our home, putting in and fixing up our yard, to birthdays, camp trips etc.! Well a few of you have been screaming at me to update, so I decided to get with it.

Since I have to start somewhere, we'll start with my very favorite priorities and that is my babies!! They both turned another year older in June (AHHHH!!) Adam and I threw them a fun Mickey party...

The kids got to help with the initial planning by making a big Mickey pinata. I looked at the ones in the store and the were so cheesy and expensive, I decided we would just try our hands at making our own. We're just going to bash it up anyway, right!

Kaleb loved the messy paste that we used, he was even licking it off his hands! (Gross I know, but at least it was just flour and water.) Grace on the other hand didn't really like the sticky, messy feeling and didn't help with that part much. They both really loved painting it and did a great job.

So we had the pinata, and I planned a few other games for the party like Mickey, Mickey, Donald (instead of duck, duck, goose). I also drew a large picture of Minnie and they played pin the bow on Minnie. I think the kids favorite part of this was while I twirled them around we said the magic words from the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse show... Meeska, Mooska, Mickey Mouse. And what's a party without fake tattoos, they were a big hit as well.

It rained the day we celebrated so we had to do the pinata in the garage, but it worked quite nicely. I wasn't up for making the cake this year so I ordered a delicious Costco cake. We sang to Kaleb first, who turned three... then we added two candles for Grace, I can't believe she's five!

Some fun facts about my growing little babes...

Grace:

She is as bubbly, and friendly as ever. Anywhere we go, anyone she meets she will talk... and talk... and talk. She is so smart and to big for her britches.

Grace isn't your typical little girly girl. She almost prefers to play super heros with a neighbor boy, or cars and dinosaurs with Kaleb than with dolls. But she does enjoy her horses, stuffed animals and little Disney charectors. She is often singing a song, made up on the spot, about anything that comes in her mind. She loves to perform.

She loves her little brother and takes very good care of him.

She will start Kindergarden this year, and although I'm not ready for her to go, she is excited!

Kaleb:

He is very independent! He does everything for himself. He even potty trained himself, wouldn't let me help! He picks his own clothes most days, and dresses alone. If you try to help and he didn't ask for it, watch out. But as independent as he is he still follows his sister around like a little puppy. She is his best buddy, and I don't know how he will cope with her being in school for the first bit.

A few funny things he says...

piggy piggy= piggy bank, peanabutterinaboon= peanut butter in a spoon (his favorite snack),

bahma= grandma, bayub= Kaleb. He's getting better with some of these but I think they are funny. He also loves to run up to Adam and say "I wanna fight Dada"

He's mommy's snuggle bug and I just love him. He's sooo sweet, in spite of his stubbornness.

There's alot I could say about them both, but that would just bore you all... I know I'm just a bias mom, but I think my kids are definately the BEST!!!

30 Already??

That's right folks, I've made it to the big 3-0! As of yesterday, I am no longer twenty-something! I can't believe it, 30, I certainly don't feel or act it!! Actually right now I think it is kind of fun thinking I am 30. I'm a BIG girl now. Of course thirty IS a lot of years when you think about it. But, eh, I don't want to think about it!!
Adam threw me a party with my family on Saturday, we had my favorite and usual birthday cake, strawberry short cake. And the sweet man gave me $100 to spend as I please... you sure you want to do that honey? I've seen some pretty cute bunnies at the stores lately, or maybe a bird...I've always wanted another bird...
Then yesterday I got a call at 7 in the morning from my mom. I answered it and she starts singing..."Happy birthday to you..." I wasn't quite awake, but finally I clued in, "Oh ya, it's my birthday today" Silly me. Well I got to go to work yesterday, which really was a treat. I love going there, it's so fun and I love playing with my friends/co-workers. My boss treated us all to lunch and got me a mini bday cake. My friends also gave me a couple gift certificates to go shopping. One was to "Forever 21", with the emphasis on the age thing. Ha ha. Such a fun day. I love my work. (and getting away from the kids once in a while)

Anyway, here are some silly photos from the party at my parents.

Mmmm, that looks yummy... After I blew that candle out, my parents said that was way too easy and Adam proceeded to relight the candle a few times, until I finally said, "Ok, we're really not going to relight this 30 times, right!?" And for those of you that are noticing, and wondering... yes I did cut my hair. About two weeks ago, my friend was here and we just did it... and I love it!

I was slurping some of the whipcream off the top of my cake and Adam shoved my face in it! Real smooth babe. As you can see I am a big fan of Cadbury Eggs too! Mmmm, I know most people don't like them, but I love them! Thanks mom!!
My Grace always makes the silliest faces when we take pictures of her. She is always performing. Such a doll though. I love my babies.
So there you have it, I am another year older! And happy to be here.

Finally an Update!

Okay, okay, I'm sorry... I know I have been a total blog loser. There is just so many things that I could tell and not enough energy in my little fingers to start. But I have to start some where and the topic of the night is... Drum roll please... Our new home!! I know, I know, it's so exciting! I'm finally going to post photos of it.
If I'm going to do this though, I have to do it right. It wouldn't give you the full effect if I didn't post before and after pictures. SO here we go...

This is the front view of our new 2-story home in Lehi. It has 4 bedrooms, 2 and a half baths (the half is on the main floor) Adam loves his 3 car garage. And I am excited to have more yard to garden in...
Except it is currently in need of a lot of help! We pulled all the weeds and 15 industrial sized black bags later got rid of them. But there is still so much work to do.

So, our home before we got it was referred to, by us and our realtor, Audrey Monson, as the "rainbow home". It was just that. The entry room isn't shown in these photos, not interesting enough, but it was the only decent color in the home. The rest of the main floor: including the kitchen, family room, and stairway upstairs was this delicious GREEN color. Which in smaller doses may not have been too bad. Also notice the lovely gas fireplace that sticks out like a nail in a forehead on that plain wall. No mantle or anything.. ewe.

As we climbed up the long, wide (love the wideness) staircase leading to the second floor we found ourselves shading our eyes against the bright ORANGE colors in the would be kids rooms. Grace chose the more peach colored room, which we had to prime twice to dull down the fluorescent color. The loft, not shown, had only one wall that we had to repaint, it was a dark CHOC BROWN. The rest of the hallway was a neutral color that we liked.
(Please ignore how crappy I look, the house was FREEZING and I was burned out from looking at homes.)

The kids bathroom was a hideous diarrhea brown/green color. Seriously I don't know what they were thinking!

Then there was the master suite...

BABY BLUE and CHOC BROWN. I know blue and brown work together.. but these were so not the right shades, if you ask me. And definitely not my taste. And the poor bathroom was BRIGHT PURPLE! Every where! I like some purples, but so not this one. This room took me two days to paint!! I hate cutting bathrooms, just for the record.

SO, think that's enough colors for one home? Well think again, you still haven't seen the basement hallway
Yep, they painted one wall going down the stairs ROYAL BLUE. And the one bedroom in the basement is sunshine YELLOW. I love yellow but this was just too much, even in the basement. The rest of the basement is unfinished, which is prob good. Who knows what other colors we may have found. The half bath on the main floor was a dark RED which we left for now, I like red and it was the least of our worries.

But, before we could cover up and change all the wild colors in the home, we had to find a way in... The home had been vacant for months and is North facing so when we finally got it, the driveway was covered in two feet, or more, of snow and ice.

It took Adam two runs with my grandpa's big, hefty snow blower to clear a way for us to get in.

And now, let the renovations begin!! We chose the two colors that were the only nice, neutral colors in the home, and matched them... so we wouldn't have to paint more walls! And I really like the colors, so it worked out.
The kids were with us most of the days that we went to paint. Grace really wanted to help paint, so we let her do some of her room.

Kaleb was always into things... we even caught him trying to stick a screw driver into an outlet! We stopped him before he did, but then he managed to stick my grandpa's keys in an outlet at his house a couple days later... Now we don't worry so much about him messing with the outlets. I think he learned his lesson.

He didn't know quite what to do with this mask that was way too big for him. A pirate eye patch works!

"Aargh, paint me room, ye scally wag!!"
We let Grace pick her color, which was pink. And were going to just paint Kaleb's all the neutral color we had been using upstairs. But when I told him his room was next, he said to me "Mine room blue?" It was the cutest darn thing ever! We were in the car, near a Lowe's, and needless to say, I made a quick detour and let him pick out a quart of blue paint. Which he later helped roll on the wall. He was SO excited when I told him he could! If you look close you can see his tongue sticking out from concentrating so hard.

We tried to keep the kids occupied with videos and a lot of junk food in the basement room while we painted...Kaleb also took a couple naps in our master closet, it was dark and away from all the action.
It took us 10 long days to paint nearly every wall in the house!! A couple of those days I had to paint alone because Adam was working.

This is how we all felt at the end of the day! I tried to rest her head to the side but she kept falling this way

My poor babies were such troopers. For weeks we had been dragging them through homes, and then all this. But it really paid off!

Tada, we finally have a clean slate and can move in!! We've done a lot of other updates and renovations since we've moved in, like the plain ugly fireplace wall.

We chose to put up stone and a mantle, and just finished it this week. I absolutely love it. The room feels so much warmer now!

So this is the fabulous family room, which expands to the lovely kitchen. And I finally have a pantry, and it is HUGE!

If you didn't guess, this is Grace's pretty little room.

And Kaleb's room, with the blue wall like he asked. He just started sleeping in his "big" bed this week. I took the toddler bed out 2 days ago... he's growing up :(

Upstairs laundry, YEAH!

Our master suite has more room than I really know what to do with, but I LOVE it!!!

And our large bathroom complete with two sinks, so Adam and I don't have to fight over it anymore, and large tub, separate shower and toilet. And the closet is very large as well. Of course Adam's shoes take up a good portion of it!

We are so happy with our new home. It has been a lot of fun making it our own. From paint, to towel racks, fireplace rock and new giant fridge (I forgot to mention we had to buy one of those too). It has been awesome. And best of all we love the neighborhood. Our neighbors are great, and the ward is so friendly! Of course we miss our old "hood" but I was very relieved to find great friends here already.

Ok, sorry that was so long. It has been too long, and I will try to do better....Take care!