The Haynie Family

Sick

2012-01-25T06:49:00.000-08:00

I am sick of being sick!
I'm sick of the kids being sick!
I'm sick of only getting a few hours of sleep every night because I'm taking care of
sick children!
I'm sick of having a panic attack because I can't find my Shout spray bottle.

This year the flu really hit us. I'm guessing it's the flu. It started around the 10th. Sabra came over with a really bad cough, and I was so worried one of the kids would get it. Funny enough, nobody got a cough. However, the next day Klara did get sick.

So, here is a break down of the last two weeks of my life.

12th & 13th - Klara throwing up every couple of hours.

-Everyone's fine

16th & 17th - Bryce and Ella get high fevers. Klara gets sick again.

-Everyone's fine

20th & 21st - Klara gets a high fever. On Saturday, the missionaries stop by and offer to help give Klara a blessing. I decide to stay home from church with Klara the next day, but I can't quite figure out who to have the rest of the kids sit by during sacrament meeting. I didn't need to worry because......

22nd - Except for Klara and Ryan, all of us are ridiculously SICK! I feel like I'm going to die. I'm also trying to clean up after Bryce who can't seem to remember he has a bucket for a reason. Ella can't move because she is so sick. Ryan got back from church and tried to take care of everyone.

23rd - Ryan uses a vacation day to take care of everyone while I sleep.

25th - I finally feel somewhat okay, however, it is 6 in the morning and I'm writing on my blog because I can't go back to sleep after waking up at 2:30 with Alec throwing up!!!!

This whole sickness has really put a kink in my New Year's resolutions- healthy home cooked meals each night and a really great cleaning schedule. I need to get back in my groove; unfortunately, I'm backed up on laundry because of all the extra loads and chicken noodle soup from the can has been our main food source. To top it off, I completely forgot about feeding the missionaries last night. So when they called I had to explain what what going on at our house and have Ryan take pizza to them.

Wish me luck to get back into my groove and for my kiddos to be well longer than two day.

December Part 1

2012-01-17T08:30:00.000-08:00

December 2011

Klara loved December, it was nice and cold and she was able to wear layers and layers of clothing. She was right in her element.

Tis the season for dressing up!

December brought a new game to our house.
The kids pulled out the pool toys and started stair surfing.
It was all fun and games until the whale got a hole in it.

Trip to see the Temple Lights.

We were wanting to go up to Mesa to see the Temple Lights, but kept putting it off. Then Ryan's mom got some bad news about her health. (She got better news later in the month, so everything is fine.) We decided at the last minute to head up to Mesa and spend the evening with family. We had such a great time.

These two boys are such good friends.

Ryan told the kids to make a crazy face, somehow they all managed beautifully!

One of my favorite parts of visiting the Mesa temple is seeing the Christus.

Alec's 12th Birthday.

I don't know were all the time went. Oh, how I wish I could go back and hold that little bundle of joy. This birthday was extra special. Turning 12 was such a big step. He graduated from Primary and he received the priesthood. For his birthday we got to go to the Gaslight Theater. He took a couple of friends and had such a great time.

We said Goodbye to our Wonderful Friends.

Me with Marci and Allison

It's so hard to have good friends move away. We're so happy for them, but sad to say goodbye. They've been such a big part of our lives. As a parent you pray for your children to have good friends, it's a joy to see those prayers answered in full. I'm not sure who's had the harder time, me or the kids.

Alec is ordained a Deacon.

This year has been so special, Ryan was ordained a High Priest and Alec was ordained a Deacon. During both ordinations my heart was full. I really do love my little family.

Grandma and Grandpa came for the special day.

Ella's first Violin Recital.

Christmas Eve.

Christmas Jammy time. The kids choose how to pose for their picture. First they did reindeer hands, then an upside down shot.

We did our annual nativity. Bryce was Joseph, Klara was Mary, Ella just had to be the angel. Alec was both a wise man and a shepard. After the nativity we sang the Christmas hymns. Well, most of us did, Bryce and Klara were busy still pretending. This was the first year that signing the hymns had an impact on one of the kids, usually they roll their eyes and can't wait to stop singing. But, this year Alec said "wow, I feel really good".

Christmas Morning.

Alec got a bike, legos, a toy helicopter, to name a few.

Ella had a Harry Potter Lego Christmas, she was so excited with the sets she got. She also got the Lalaloopsy Doll that she'd been wanting.

Bryce got legos and a captain america action figure. But, check out his face when he opened his socks. This from the kid who looses socks on a regular basis, it's like we're supporting his habit.

And Klara got a picnic set, barbies and a few other things. But she was so excited to get a skirt just like her big sister's skirt.

I won't shock you with the details of how early the kids got up Christmas Morning.
Let's just say there is a reason there are no pictures of either me or Ryan. I got about 2 hours of sleep, before they woke up and then they continued to come into our room every half hour to see if we were up yet. Then while sneaking around they went into the den and found the trampoline box that was the end of the scavenger hunt for their big Christmas present. That combined with the playdoe ground into the carpet, made for one grouchy mom!

After presents we went back to sleep. With a few zzzzz's, Ryan and I were in much better moods. We had croissant breakfast sandwiches this year. Then we got ready for church. My best Christmas present was watching Alec pass the sacrament for the first time. He did such a great job. Then we came home packed up and left for Grandma's house. We ate Christmas goodies from friends and neighbors on the way. We got to Safford and Bonnie and her family were already there. We hadn't seen them in a couple of years so that was also my favorite Christmas present.

December Part 2

2012-01-17T08:29:00.000-08:00

Day After Christmas-

Family Picture

This was the first time in a few years that we've been able to take a family picture with everyone in it. And with everyone, but me, having a baby in 2011 our family's really grown. Ryan and Brian did all the photography work, I did all of the arranging of who would stand where. I really scared a few of the kids with my moving them around. Notice Colbie's face in the middle picture. Yep that's because of Aunt Camille. :(

We celebrated Sydney's Birthday!

Yep, there's Sydney looking all grown up.
I couldn't believe how big everyone got. I guess 2 years makes a big difference.

The lemon cupcakes were so so yummy! Bonnie is such a great cook.

The girls all had so much fun together, and these two were inseparable.

Shooting by the river.

The boys went to try out the new guns Bonnie's kids got for Christmas. The girls let them take their brand new pink gun. What nice sisters.

Natalie's Birthday Party!

What a pretty one year old! Brian and Mary threw a pizza party for Natalie's first birthday. It was so much fun to go hang out. Mary has done such a great job on their house.

Colt just turned one too, so had to get a birthday shot of him too!

The kids had so much fun on the Kinetic at Brian and Mary's house.
Here they are playing Fruit Ninja.
Quick, name that movie "you're just jealous of my skills!"

Exploring the Gila Valley.

Bryce at the park.

Bryce next to the sign of his great, great, great grandfather, Ebenezer Bryce. His namesake.

Ryan saw this dry field and wanted to take some pictures of the kids. Alec kept complaining about bees. To which we kept telling him "there aren't any bees!" All of the sudden, we started getting chased by bees. Everyone ran to the car yelling and a bee started chasing me! I couldn't get into the car, so I ran ahead of the bee and the family had to drive to pick me up.
We must have looked crazy!

We took the kids for ice cream and then to the old post office to see the murals up on the walls. Unfortunately, they shut off the top two stories so we couldn't see the murals up there, but we did get to see the ones on the ground floor.

And that is how we spent our December.

Christmas at the Haynie House

2011-12-24T13:14:00.000-08:00

I wanted to hurry and post our Christmas decorating. So, here is my Christmas Eve post.

I love these little houses, they remind me of Christmases when I was little. The kind of memories you can't quite figure out when or where they are from but you have them in quick flashes. When TJ Maxx had these houses on sale a couple of years ago, I got my three favorite ones.

Frosty, with his missing lights.

It took me awhile on Pinterest to figure out exactly what to do with our banister, but I finally got it exactly how I wanted it.

Our nativities.

The Christmas Tree.

The kids' memory tree. We may need to get a bigger tree next year.

Christmas cards.

Front Room - Decorating for Thanksgiving

2011-11-13T07:25:00.000-08:00

We bought a new house in May.

Because we like house projects we thought we'd really enjoy fixing up a foreclosure.

It was a lot more work than we thought.

I now look back at my plans of having everything finished within a few weeks and realize just how laughable that is. So, don't look too closely at the photos, we still need to fix the crown molding and do window coverings. I also have plans to redo the banister, however that one will for sure wait until sometime next year. But, for the most part I think it's turning out well.

This is what it looked like before we bought it.

We had to remove wall paper from the entry wall.

Here is the finished product.

The girls decorated for Thanksgiving while I was gone for the weekend. I came home and found the Halloween decorations in a huge pile.
Ok, I'll admit I did try to rearrange things, however when Ella woke up the next morning she put it all back to how she had it.
Ultimately she did a really good job, so I let her keep everything where she placed it. And I added a couple of extra touches.
Of course that morning while the girls showed off their work, they had some fun with Dad.

These girls have their dad wrapped around their fingers.

She's so proud of herself.

This is what it looks like when we don't have a holiday season going on.

Grandma's Grave

2011-11-08T22:04:00.001-08:00

Between sessions of General Conference we took flowers to Grandma Smith's grave.

Klara had a hard time understanding why people are buried.
Or as she put it "why people get put in the ground".
Which made for an interesting conversation. And pretty much ended with "but why" regardless of how I tried to explain it.

She wanted to be in on all the flower arranging.

Of course, the boys were just being boys.

And here they all are after we finished, as you can see the cemeteries in southern Arizona are very sparse (to put it nicely).

I love this picture of Mom and Dad. I think it's wonderful that my Dad goes out every 6 months and puts new flowers on her grave. He did a great job this fall, the flowers looked beautiful.
It's nice to go out there with my parents. And definitely a good family activity during the conference weekend.

I just wish we would have had more time to look at the other graves of family members. I want my children to get to know who their ancestors are with the Gila Valley surrounding them as they read the dates and names on the grave stones. I want them to imagine what it would have been like farming and working in that area. I want my children to have a gratitude for the strength and dedication that is in their family's past. I want my children to understand the many testimonies of the people who were instrumental in bringing them to where they are right now. In short, I guess I want my children's hearts to turn to their fathers.

I miss my Grandma and wish my children could have known her.

Halloween 2011

2011-10-29T07:44:00.000-07:00

Clue Halloween

Colonel Mustard - Mr. Green - Professor Plum - Mrs. White - Mrs. Peacock - Miss Scarlett

We were a little rushed because I was trying to hurry and finish the chili before we left.

As you can see the kids all waited patiently.

We did make it to the church house, even if there was a couple of puffy eyes from crying.

Now we get the smiles, after trunk-r-treating.

A huge Thank You to Grandma for all the help with the costumes!

Ella's Costume

- She wore her Christmas dress that I got at Gap during the Columbus Day sale.
- Grandma sewed up the stole with some furry/sparkly fabric she bought years ago.

Alec's Costume

-I found the green coat in one of Grandma's closets downstairs. I'm guessing I should thank one of my brothers for picking it up during the thrift store chic period.

- The green baret was from Sabra's hat collection.
- The facial hair was all Alec, with the help of my good eye liner.

Bryce's Costume

- Alec's scout shirt, with some a yellow scrap of fabric from Grandma's fabric stash.

-The hat I found at Party City for $6.
-The medal I found at a thrift store for 75 cents and I tweaked it to look like an army medal.
-The name tag was printed out on an old shipping envelope.

Klara's Costume

-Grandma designed and sewed up the apron in under an hour. She used paper plates for the the template. For the material she use white fabric that doesn't fray, sewed lace around the edge, and a ribbon in the middle for the belt.
-The choker is a black ribbon tied in a bow at the back of her neck.
-The hat is simply extra ribbon from the apron, that I bobby pinned to her hair.
-I had her wear a black skirt and shirt.

I love this picture, but Ryan got cut out so I'll use it to show mine and Ryan's costumes.
My Costume

-I wore a favorite black dress with bright green gloves that Ryan's sister gave to Ella years ago.
-The shoes and hat I borrowed from Sabra. She also had an ostrich feather I put in the hat.
-The earrings with the peacock feathers are from Forever 21 and cost about $5.
-The necklace is from the Pretty Princess Game.

Ryan's Costume

-Ryan wore clothes from his normal wardrobe. But then again he is a computer guy! Hee Hee

-I sewed up the bow tie, by cutting up an old tie and looking up bow ties on pinterest.

One last picture at the end of the night, and I forgot my gloves.

Sabra and Luca came to the ward party and then dropped by for a visit.

Playing with my Camera

2011-08-25T14:12:00.000-07:00

Fat Lip

2011-07-31T12:51:00.000-07:00

Last week Klara fell and hit her lip against her knee. She got a huge fat lip. She couldn't walk on her leg either because her knee hurt too much. Every time she'd try to stand, she'd shake uncontrollably. So I carried her to the sofa where she spent the rest of the night.

It was also pretty obvious she was the baby of the family after that. Ella and Bryce fought over who would get the movie for her to watch. Alec kept checking on her. Basically she was pet and pampered the rest of the day.

The lip!!

She fell asleep on the sofa holding onto the ring pop, Ryan brought home for her after he found out she got hurt.

New Dresses

2011-07-28T08:28:00.000-07:00

The girls' new dresses arrived from Olive Juice Kids. I only shop there twice a year when they have their $5, $10, and $15 sale. So I stocked up on summer dresses, well maybe not stocked up. Ella got two new dresses and one skirt, and Klara got a new dress and skirt. But, they looked so cute for church I had to take their picture.

(Ryan got home in time to snap the last couple of pictures. I really need to learn how to take the camera off of automatic.)

Kindergarten Graduation

2011-07-25T13:30:00.000-07:00

I'm babysitting a newborn today, so I get two bonuses - my baby fix and computer time during feedings. So..... I'm finally posting Kindergarten Graduation.

Bryce's was so excited, he's gone to both his brother's and sister's graduations with the same kindergarten team. He's been singing some of the songs for years. So, it was a really great night. I felt bad that he didn't have his Sunday clothes, but this happen just as we got the new house, so all the church clothes were packed up. And Alec and Klara were still at Grandmas house. But, Bryce made it to the ceremony, which at the time was the main goal, considering how up in the air everything was.

My boy.

The Tootie Taw- a huge tradition at our school. The other song that Bryce has been singing since his siblings graduated is "I believe I can fly". It was my third time seeing one of my kids sing it and it still made me cry.

Here they are at the end of Tootie Taw

Bryce with his amazing and wonderful kindergarten teacher. What a blessing great teachers are!

I like this picture, because it was one of the craziest times we've gone through as a family (homeless for a week, Alec and Klara at Grandma's, we're a complete mess from working on huge projects in the new house) but what a great ride! Love my little family.

Christmas Card in June

2011-06-29T17:11:00.000-07:00

I decided to start blogging regularly. Sherral had a post about how blog entries use to be like writing a Christmas card. So this post is my Christmas card in June!

Klara- This little lady is keeping everyone smiling. She's the sweetest little thing in the world. And has two best friends that are just as much "fun" as she is.

Klara's funniest saying- She was acting up with one of those friends at church and a friend of mine was in the class and told her she needed to behave. She said "ok, I'll ask Heavenly Father to help me be good" and she folded her arms and said a little prayer in her head. She's also taken to call me madam.

Bryce - Everything is going really well with Bryce. He just started a new program for speech, the Lidcombe program. It basically involves us working with him and praising/acknowledging smooth speech. And likewise acknowledging and asking him to correct bumpy speech. (to put it simply) He's really enjoyed it, especially the extra one on one time he gets with mom.

Bryce's funniest saying- the other night Ryan and the kids convinced me that Napoleon Dynamite was a perfect family movie. After we watched it Bryce started singing the song Kip sings at his wedding, but he changed the words to "I love mom's softie, always and forever"

Ella- She has been a big help lately. This picture is of her taking wall paper off the new house. She helped out so much with the new house it was great! She is great and planning and preparing FHE. Basically Ella keeps mom and dad on the ball.

Ella's funniest saying- I can't think of anything off of the top of my head, because she is always cracking jokes. As soon as I think of one I'll up date it. ;) She's been playing tons of games lately. And drives Alec crazy by insisting he let her dolls have a turn. Which means Alec gets one turn and Ella and her "dolls" get three turns.

Alec- Alec is a boy scout now. He's also getting ready to start middle school. I just don't understand how the time went by so fast.

Alec's funnies saying- Ryan rented Battle Los Angeles and I told Alec one of the actors was LDS. Alec looked at the screen for a little while, started nodding and said "yeah, I can tell. All LDS men look like dad: clean shaven and sometimes wear glasses." Then the other day he was reading a kid's book to Bryce and said "Mom, why do they show a parent reading parenting for beginners, that really offensive." I asked "why is that offensive". He said "because it's like they're saying parents don't know what they are doing"

May - packing boxes through out the house.

As we were busy packing, these two built a fort in the kitchen.

April - grounded from the TV for a week.

All sorts of crazy things happened but the funniest was the wedding of Bryce and Klara.

This picture is my favorite because of all the details. The bride's bumble bee dress. The brick used as an alter. The flower in the groom's jacket pocket. The chairs turned to make an aisle. Alec holding his scripture, he actually read a couple of verses from Jacob, which I thought was a nice touch to make it all seem official for them. ha ha ha

Toddlers & Tiaras

2011-04-02T18:07:00.000-07:00

My youngest has such a great fashion sense.
I'm thinking of auditioning her for Toddlers & Tiaras.

1) swimsuit on the first layer, pants over the first suit, then a second suit over the pants. And rain boots to top it off.

2)purple tee, gray stretch pants, red skort, blue sweater, white socks, pink shoes, brown heels, women's button up shirt.

3) Black leotard (which is always worn at least once a day), blue sweater, purple scarf, white hat, red penguin socks, red Dorothy shoes.

4) One of her classic looks: nightgown tucked into her swim suit. Favorite striped socks.

What do you think are we Toddlers & Tiaras material or what?

PS. I thought her talent could be mountain climbing.

Why I Love This Girl-

2010-12-16T14:43:00.000-08:00

-She's fun to take shopping. She has to stop at every automatic door and say "Thank you Dude"

-She's is always singing and laughing.

-She caresses your face and says stuff like "you're just gorgeous"

-Like all the girls in this family she's feisty.

-She's so patient and after you do something for her she will say "oh thank you mama!"

-She says and does the funniest things, she keeps us all laughing.

-This girl loves clothes and dressing up. She knows what she wants to wear and how she wants to wear it!

-She's in a good mood in the morning. And always gives me a huge soft hug the minute she sees me.

-She's just fun!!!

A Great Big Happy Birthday to my very own Panda Bear!

Biz and Boba Fett

2010-11-10T21:09:00.000-08:00

Ever since the Biz Kid was little he's loved Boba Fett. Just before he turned two he started carrying a Boba Fett action figure around with him everywhere he went. As long as he had his Boba Fett he was good. One Sunday he left it in the nursery room and we had to borrow the primary president's keys to open up the toy cabinet and search for Boba Fett. After that we bought a couple of extra Boba Fetts, just in case. For the next couple of years he always had a Boba Fett in one hand or pocket and he was a happy little star wars fan.

It only made sense that Biz wanted to disguise his Kindergarten turkey as Boba Fett. Here are the results.

Here is the turkey

Hard at work

ta da, one custom Boba Fett turkey costume

Fall Break - we survived

2010-10-19T16:43:00.000-07:00

The 5th grade musical. I didn't know Al needed a solid blue shirt. Oh well.

After leaving town twice, Jasper is still alive.

Alec babysitting.

Mom's make up did not survive the break.

Mom's shoes did survive the many dress up sessions.

Bryce, being covered in a mountain of blankets.

Late nights, the house is thrashed and the boys falling asleep in front of the TV.

And the baby of the family just loved having everyone home all day long.

Cotton Candy

2010-10-05T22:28:00.000-07:00

Max & Sherral brought over their cotton candy machine after Sat. conference. We tried pink vanilla, blue raspberry, pina colada, green apple, banana, and then just plain sugar which was all yummy!!!!
Try to imagine all you can eat cotton candy......

I love Klara's face, as she watches the candy being made.

First Pink

Then Blue

He's working out the finer art of eating so much candy.

Notice her ladylike sticky fingers.

She has blue lips, but a pink cotton candy.

This is the sweetest picture of little Colbie.

Here's Hyrum digging in, he kept up with the big boys.

My kids thought she should be the cotton candy monster from scooby doo for Halloween.

Alec ate so much cotton candy, he couldn't fit it all in his mouth.

Thanks Max & Sherral, we loved it.

Hair Through the Years

2010-09-04T12:53:00.001-07:00

First Hair Cut -Hair

Nutella - Hair

Freshly Cut - Hair

One at her longest & one at her shortest - Hair

Patiently in the middle of a hair cut- Hair

Gerber Baby - Hair

Affectionately known as Crazy Lady - Hair

Hair that's stayed the same through out the years - Hair

Shark - Hair

Crazy Hair Day at school - Hair

Trampoline - Hair

Removing pesky facial - Hair

Amazing after nap - Hair

It just won't stay down - Hair

Country Girl - Hair

Hair Mom was still able to do - Hair

Phase that only required a barrette - Hair
(other wise known as the good ol' days)

No - Hair

(I love this picture because it reminds me of her bald days. We'd always say "Hewo Kwawa" to her in an Elmer Fudd voice. Because she looked like Elmer Fudd, but cute)

Curler - Hair

The result of curler - Hair

And last but not least the joy of finally being able to wear a pony tail - Hair

Fashion at our House

2010-07-21T13:29:00.001-07:00

We told the kids to hurry and get ready to go to the circus, here are the results

I'm not sure if she thought she was going to be in the circus, or just wanted to dress for the occasion.

When the kids were away......she dressed in their clothes and talked to the stuffed animals for company.

Everyone's back home and dressed for good times.
The girls raided my closet. E. told Ryan she hopes I still have this shirt when she grows up. Then if she comes to visit and doesn't pack enough shirts, she can ask me if she can borrow and I'll say yes.

Big News at our House!!!!!

2010-07-21T13:16:00.001-07:00

We finally caved in and the kids got a pet!

Introducing.....Jasper

Now he just needs to survive all the love he's given, by a certain someone.

Luckily he's fast.

Trip Home part 1

2010-06-18T21:54:00.000-07:00

We went to visit Grandma & Grandpa. It was a lot of fun.

The kids helped Grandma make cinnamon rolls.

One day we went to play in the water at their cousins house.

Trip Home part 2

2010-06-18T19:48:00.000-07:00

Mt. Graham

We love our Aunt Sherral, and her cuties too.

Grandpa went a little crazy with the camp fire.

Uncle Max helped the kids with marshmallows.

She is just too, too cute.

And now for mine. hmmmm

Grandma is like the pied piper.

The kids went off exploring before it got too dark.

Playing Minute to Win It
Brian and Mary planned games for us to play. We had so much fun.

1st Game: Penny Hose

2nd Game: Stack Attack

Ella's reaction to.......
3rd Game: On the Nose

4th Game: Elephant March

Baptism Day

2010-06-13T19:25:00.000-07:00

Just before leaving for the church house.

We found the youngest two outside pretending to dance.

I can't believe how big my little girl is.

Our little family just after the baptism.

Our extended family. Thanks so much for coming everyone. It meant so much to us.

Turning 5

2010-05-23T15:19:00.001-07:00

Turning 10

2010-05-23T15:06:00.001-07:00

Christmas

2010-05-23T14:34:00.001-07:00

Yes, I really am behind with blogging. Here is Christmas 2009.

Christmas Eve nativity. The first time that Mary insisted on being in the manger with the baby Jesus.

Christmas Morning

Christmas Dinner table, this picture made up my mind that I really need chargers.

Recital Time!!!

2010-03-17T19:35:00.000-07:00

Klara took dance this spring, she did great for the first dance of her recital. But, not so good for the second dance. And I know, I have way too many pictures of her but she is the baby!

life in our house

2010-02-07T14:20:00.000-08:00

Bryce and Klara hanging out eating cereal and watching TV

Mom and Klara reading at night. (Klara in her nightly get-up witch costume over her PJs)

This is our kitchen floor every Sunday after church. The kids faint the minute they smell dinner cooking in the crock pot.

Alec & Bryce trying to pass Dottie off as a stuffed animal.

Klara & Bryce playing Lego Rock Band.

Klara's World

In ten years, I'm really going to miss

2009-12-16T08:34:00.000-08:00

Doll dresses randomly hung up around the house.

Action figures tucked away in little places.

Outrageous bedhead in the mornings.

The whole sha-bang!

You've had a birthday, shout hoo-ray........

2009-11-09T18:06:00.000-08:00

Our goal: To make up for forgetting last year's birthday.

First we forced her to stay outside for an hour or so.....

while we decorated for her birthday!!

Next we dressed her so she'd have clothing on for this year's pictures as opposed to the saggy diaper the year before.

Then we let her have at it.

Enjoying her new toy.

After lots of help -

the cake is finished.

Three candles for my big three year old.

And that's an end of the celebration. Everyone remembered and gave her lots of love and kisses all day long. She's dressed for the pictures. I think we did it, it was a great day.

Halloween 2009

2009-11-04T07:06:00.000-08:00

We made it, we survived another Halloween.

After much debate Ella decided to be a gypsy. Klara didn't get a choice because a friend gave us this cute Gymboree costume for her. Alec was adamant that he wanted to be a ninja this year. At first I thought I'd try to make a costume, then I found this one marked down at Toys-r-us, and I realized there was no way to make one for under $11. So I came home from my shopping excursion with a ninja costume that Alec didn't take off for the next couple of days. When Bryce found out Alec was going to be a ninja he wouldn't be anything else but a ninja. And thanks to my good friend Marci and her son's costume the year before - Bryce got to be the ninja of his dreams.

Here are Alec and Bryce showing off their ninja powers! Yes, that is the famous crane move from Karate Kid that Alec's got going on.

Here is Ella, she loved being a gypsy.
I think it was all that jewelery that she got to wear.

We went to a Halloween party at our friends the Rhoades' house. They started the party with the kids posing in front a this cute canvas their kids helped make.
Alec took his very seriously, as you can tell.

And Bryce is just happy to be there, and happy he's dressed just like his big brother.

Klara would only sit still if I gave her their prop broom, it matched her costume so well. I wished I would have remembered witches have brooms. Oh well.

And here is Klara with her little buddy Dallin, she was making sure he was well stocked on candy!

Halloween

2009-10-07T10:24:00.000-07:00

This is my first year to actually decorate for Halloween. I only had two decorations that my sister Bonnie had made and sent down to me a couple of years ago. I found some clearance items at the Company Store this summer and decided this would be the year I was going to decorate for Halloween. My first attempt looked really, really pathetic. So I called up Bonnie (who is the holiday decorating queen) and she told me to use cute ribbon to hang my lanterns up with.

Then after an entire day obssesively looking up decorating websites and blogs, and 3 trips to the Gingerbread House in Safford. I redid the whole thing.

It's very kid friendly but that's where we are at right now. So here it is..........(drum roll)........

The lanterns and picture (it's actually a place mat attached to a flat frame) are from the CompanyStore. The pumpkins are from Target (I totally copied some pumpkins I saw at Gingerbread House and tied cute ribbon on them).

The candy corn is from Gingerbread House in Safford. Then I took out the pictures I had in these frames and used these adorable witch silhouettes

http://www.valuevillage.com/downloads/peculiar_picture_frames.pdf

This super cute pumpkin Bonnie made for me a couple of years ago (she's so darn crafty I can't believe it). I love the polka-dot bow so much a copied it for the pumpkins up above. I'm pretty much a copy-cat.

Here are the websites and blogs I poured over when I was trying to figure out what to do.

http://www.itsashabbything.blogspot.com/
http://kari-youcanmakeit.blogspot.com/
http://www.marthastewart.com/holidays

There's a bunch more but I didn't bookmark them.

Great Video = Great FHE

2009-10-05T23:27:00.001-07:00

Ryan showed me this video earlier today. It is so good. We showed it to the kids for FHE tonight and I was surprised how it impacted Alec. The other kids liked it, but Alec was really changed by it. Ryan and I kept hiding our smiles from him. He couldn't stop talking about how different he felt after watching it. It was cute.

So if you have couple of minutes, check this one out it's really good.

8:30 church = Sunday Naps

2009-09-30T14:41:00.000-07:00

Hurray for Sunday Naps!!!
I had to post this because my poor youngest child hardly has any pictures of herself, but this one is a favorite. There is nothing as sweet as a sleeping 2 year old.

This picture is to show my secret to taking a Sunday nap. I just let them dress me up as I snooze and it keeps them busy and is relaxing to me. A win win.

What happens while mom is out............

2009-08-05T08:49:00.000-07:00

Here is a secret look at what happens when I go out for the night.

P.S. Ignore the messy house, I'm not there to make sure it's in order. And maybe don't mention this one to Ryan, there's a good chance he won't be too happy that I posted this.

Surprise Trip to Utah

2009-06-25T15:05:00.000-07:00

Sabra came over two weeks ago and told me she wanted to have us surprise Bonnie with a trip up to Utah to visit her. So with a little rearranging of schedules we made a quick trip up to Utah. It was a lot of fun.

We were shocked at how cold it was up there.

Shhhhh! Don't tell, the 2 year olds have bottles. If the nursery leaders saw this we would be in big trouble. I got grief because of a pacifier, I can't imagine what they'd say to chocolate milk in a bottle.

He was in heaven not only did he get to play with his cousins, but there were two huge dogs for him to play with.

The kids got to put on their swim suits and hang out in the jacuzzi tub.

Here are the two huge dogs.

Bellie loved playing with her cousins but was terrified by the dogs.

Syd is getting so big and beautiful.

The boys had so much fun together.

Biz was mostly excited to be around so many dogs. The whole trip I heard "mom, you got to look at that dog"

These two played and played non stop.

Ryan says she gets this face from me, I don't know what he's talking about.

The kids had a bunch of late nights of video games and movies. There was even a bit of black jack going on but we won't go into that.
It was such a fun trip, we really loved hanging out with Bonnie and Wyatt. They are a great couple and have a wonderful family. We love you guys and wish we could get together more often.

Thanksgiving Point

2009-06-25T14:14:00.000-07:00

Not being from Utah, but having friends and family there I've always heard of Thanksgiving Point. I'd been told it had gardens and animals. So I've always pictured, a giant pumpkin patch with turkeys running around hence the name - Thanksgiving Point.

Apparently I was wrong. So here are pictures from our afternoon.

These two were little peas in a pod. They are so much a like it was fun to watch them.

Sisters make life so much better! And I'm lucky to have 2 awesome sisters.

Our little family enjoying the gardens, and not a pumpkin in sight.

Bonnie's super cute family. As you can tell by the expressions on their faces, they are so much fun to be with.

Sabra looking beautiful as always

Bonnie with her baby!

My baby, getting bigger and bigger everyday.

And we ended at a waterfall, how romantic.

Oquirrh Mountain Temple open house

2009-06-25T13:32:00.000-07:00

The Oquirrh Mountain Temple was really beautiful. Biz was the most excited to see the temple, the minute the angle Moroni came into view he started yelling "there it is, there's the temple".

The kids had so much fun seeing inside a temple. It was a neat experience.

After the open house we took a bunch of pictures.

Sabra got the girls matching dresses.

Spring Break Survival Guide: Part 1

2009-04-20T21:10:00.001-07:00

The number one rule to survive Spring Break is to start out at a nice slow pace.

4:30- School Carnival Begins

5:00- Son's musical

5:20- Mom sits in at Son's classroom booth/Dad waits in long line for younger son to ride a pony

5:40- Mom sits in at daughter's classroom booth / Dad waits in an even longer line for the ponies for older son's turn

6:00- Mom realizes that person who is suppose to take over her spot at carnival is not there, hurries to find teacher and apologize that she must leave to hurry daughter off to her dance recital.

6:10- Family runs to car which is parked ridiculously far from the school, because Dad lost original parking place when he had to leave at the beginning of the carnival to go back home to get the camera. Half way to the car, parents start carrying children who are too tired to run any more because car is still so far away.

6:15- Mom hurries and fix daughter's hair which must be worn in two low pony-tails, for dance recital. / Daughter throws a fit that someone is brushing her hair. All while driving to the school where recital is being held.

6:30- Arrive at school. Rush from parking lot to school multi-purpose room. Although early, still not early enough for good seats. However, the very last row does allow for children to stand on chairs in order to see the stage.

7:00- Performance begins

7:15- Older daughter dances wonderfully, younger daughter discovers boots worn by older daughter to protect her ballet shoes. Performs her own little dance.

7:20- Younger daughter steals doll prop used for one of the performances, sneaks out to playground with new found treasure.

7:25 Costume change, daisies put in the pony-tails that caused such a problem earlier.

8:00- Performance over, family packed in car, family debate on ordering pizza or stopping at Fry's for TV dinners (it is spring break after all, you've got to live it up).

8:15- Dad returns to car with grocery bags. Lack of milk swaying the vote in favor of Fry's over Pizza Hut.

8:25- Dad and older son leave to go help out one of Dad's home teaching families.

8:35- Kids eat TV dinners on a picnic blanket in front of TV watching the 1st season of The Cosby Show.

9:15- Mom and Dad eat, carry sleeping kids off to bed, so glad it's Spring Break!

Spring Break Survival Guide: Part 2

2009-04-20T20:52:00.001-07:00

Broaden your children's education by introducing them to a little art. Take a day during Spring Break and visit a local museum.

A fabulous break from all the mind numbing video games!

It's a great opportunity to add a little culture to your daughter's jig!

They'll love it so much you'd never think of locking them in.Of course you'd never hear the statement "All they have are stupid paintings in here, I want to leave now!"

No matter how busy the family becomes during the break, it's important to eat healthy!!!!

We stress good manners and never allow them to play with their food!

A Spring Break Survival Guide: Part 3

2009-04-20T19:03:00.000-07:00

Last but not least, the key to a great spring break is to teach your kids to grasp the essentials for happiness.....

Getting a kite up in the air.

The little known under-the-lip chocolate mustache.

Mastering the air guitar

See the challenge!

Meet the challenge!

Sulk when it just doesn't go according to plan!

Enjoy the pure bliss of being at Grandma's, where everything is so much better.

A Dream come True.....

2009-04-20T18:11:00.000-07:00

Well, the dream of a nine year old boy that is. Al's always loved animals. In fact, one of his great sorrows, is that he can never see a living woolly mammoth, along with the fact that Noah got to put all the animals on the ark. So as you can imagine he was so excited to get to pet a real zebra.

The oldest and the youngest were the only two who would feed the animals. Panda loved the animals and kept trying to climb in the cage with the pot-belly pig.

Then they got to ride the camel. They were really excited and we were surprised we got everyone to try it. I was a little nervous someone would have a brake down and try to climb off the camel mid-ride. But, everyone held on tight and made it back safely.

Gila Valley Temple

2009-03-25T11:54:00.000-07:00

We are so excited that the Gila Valley is getting a temple. I think the Valley will always be home for us, no matter where we live. One of my aunts once described driving into the Gila Valley and how it always tugs on her heart strings. And that is exactly how I feel every time we drive into the Valley, it's always like coming home.

Thanksgiving weekend we went to go see the future temple site with my family.

My parents got to put their hands in the cement engineering markers for the temple. (on a side note of that- when my parents told us about it I didn't understand that the markers were the markers for the whole site, I thought it was for the actual temple. So when Sabra and I went out to dinner with some friends I told them the complete wrong thing about it. And now I feel like a big dork. But oh well.)

Here we are at the site for the temple.

Then we just played around.

This is my brother with his super cute wife. They are so fun. I've got such fun in-laws, they all fit into the family so well.

Then we went back in Feb. for the ground breaking.

This was not the face Alec gave me at 6am while being forced into Sunday clothes on a Sat. morning. But, as I told him when he's a Grandpa at his grandchild's wedding at that temple he'll be able to say in an old man voice "why, I remember waking up before 6 in the morning to go to the ground breaking of this temple"

It was very cold and early.

Here we are with the golden shovels.

And here we are next to the rendering of the Gila Valley Temple

2 Great Friends, 5 Little Boys, 4 Little Girls, 1 Awesome Sister, and 6 Dining Room Chairs.

2009-03-20T09:36:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a very busy day. My good friend Marci came over with 2 of her kids to help me out with re-covering my dining room chairs. We took off the old fabric, added a little more batting, re-covered them in a green and red toile, then covered them again in clear vinyl. (I've finally come to terms with the fact that young children and fabric chairs just don't mix.) About 2 chairs into the project, another one of my really great friends Jen stopped by with her 3 boys and daughter. She had given her little girl a hair cut but needed a little help fixing it up. So my sister Sabra stopped by and fixed up her hair. Long story short we had children everywhere; boys gearing up for war, girls playing family and the younger ones just trying to survive it all. It was so so nice of my friends to help me out with a project. It ended up being an all day project. So, thanks guys.

Then after everyone left, Sabra helped me get ready for book club that night at my house. We ran to the Fry's, cleaned the house, and set up food. All in an hour and a half. Did I mention I have awesome sisters.

This is the only picture I could find of what the chirs use to look like.

And here they are new and child proofed.

A Boy and his Dog

2009-03-13T21:07:00.000-07:00

We never knew a stuffed dog from Build-a-Bear could be the best birthday present in the whole world. But, it sure was.

His birthday started out with waking up in the morning to a surprise in the living room. One of my aunts use to surprise her kids with decorations and fun stuff. (Think LDS kids asking someone to the prom and you've got it) I always loved the idea so we do that for our kids.

He was so excited to see a bunch of candy airplanes flying in the living room. And he insisted on hanging the poster up in his room after his birthday was over.
Then we went to Grandma's house a few days later and had the party with cousins.

For dinner we did all kid food. Chocolate cake, fruit snacks, pizza, pigs-in-a-blanket and lots of chips and dip.

He had to have the lights out in order to make his wish.

His little cousin had a birthday coming up the following day. So the cake served double duty. Here's the birthday boy with his cousins.

Here's the birthday boy with his cousins.

Blue & Gold (this one's for Laura)

2009-02-25T07:17:00.000-08:00

My good friend Laura R. wanted me to post all the Blue & Gold stuff. So here goes. I took this 1st picture the morning after. I draped a bunch of stuff over our entry way bench, I've decided I need to document all my activities more.

Here are some of the decorations and they were mostly made with construction paper. I ended up laminating all the signs because I'm sure I'll use them again.
-The sheet was super cheap from Target. Ryan and I traced it from a projected picture from Charlotte's Web.
-The little hot air balloon is one of our center pieces. It's just a can covered in brown paper with crape paper swags and curling ribbon attached to a balloon. The instructions are in Family Fun July '08.
We needed to separate the game area from the eating area. We borrowed quilting frame legs from a ward member. Originally we were going to use blue & gold crape paper between them, but at the last minute I borrowed these super cute flag banners from Laura, then April T. had the idea to use these instead of crape paper. They were really unsteady, Stacy H. had the idea to use bulk food bags to hold them down. It turned out so cute I wish I would have gotten a better picture.
Here is a shot of the sheet, April is trying to get it to actually stay up on the wall we finally got thumb tacks and that did the trick. Ryan and I used a projector, borrowed from Laura (she is the best, everyone needs a Laura R. in their life). It was actually really an easy project. Alec even helped us out with a section of the farris wheel.
Here is the gazebo. We talked about doing a Fair theme back in Nov. I really wanted it to feel like an old Disney movie. And I thought it would be so cool to have a gazebo. So I had been stewing over just how to build a gazebo. Luckily Jen D. had this pop up canopy and lots of masking tape and white crape paper later.......voila.
Here's Jenn D. setting up. She is such a great scout leader and always so on the ball. It wouldn't have come together with out her. Everyone on our committee did such a great job. And they put up with my craziness as far as moving things around a gazillion times and going a tiny bit overboard with things. It's always a little nerve wracking showing others how crazy you can be about things, my husband of course is use to it and he loves and puts up with me. But, that's sort of the package deal in a marriage because I love and put up with him too. But, our committee was great and went ahead and put up with my craziness. And our Primary counselor was awesome she was there all day decorating and helping, and she lives a lot farther away from the church than the rest of us. She majorly helped us out. And really everyone on the committee gave up their entire day to be there and make it work. It nice to work with people who are so great.
One side we had the art exhibits and the gazebo.
On the other side we had the games.

Our Cake Bake-Off, entries were placed
under the gazebo. The primary presidency did the judging. And our awesome primary president stayed and did major kitchen duty for us the entire evening. It was so nice of her to sacrifice her busy night to help us out.

Heather P. did a great job with balloons she made swords and animals and flowers. She did an amazing job. Heather gave me the best compliment to she asked where all the ideas came from and I told her I watched Pollyanna and looked up old fashioned fairs. And she said " Yes, when I walked in the room I felt like I had entered into Mary Poppins, when they jump in the chalk painting". I loved it, what a great thing to tell someone. Thanks Heather, that one comment totally made it worth all the work.

Doesn't making a Snowman count as an Excused Tardy?

2009-02-10T11:36:00.000-08:00

We woke up to snow this morning! The big kids hurried and played for 30 minutes before school. They actually did make it to school just before the tardy bell rang. But, it was pretty close.

As sad as it seems, this is a pretty big snowman for these parts.

Dancing with the cool looking snowman

Now we have a whole new set of clothes to get wet right before school. How do you guys in the snow zones keep up on laundry.

Later on in the morning the younger kids got to play with the snowman.

Disneyland

2009-01-31T00:08:00.000-08:00

I married into a family that LOVES Disneyland. This past Nov. we went with almost all of my husbands family to Disneyland. It was a lot of fun. It took lots of preparation, lots of saving, and lots of organization. But, it was a great trip.

One of my sister's friends told her a couple of years ago she hopes Heaven is like Disneyland. Which is such a funny statement. But, I have to say once you walk under that train track, then out of the town square, and start walking down main street. Everything sparkles and shines and that old fashioned music is playing. Everything is beautiful; the buildings, the flowers, and trees. And if there aren't many people around and it's just your little family. It's hard to suppress a huge smile, because it really is awesome.

Our First stop the carousel

You can tell by the kids' faces exactly what they are thinking, sheer joy and complete uncertainty.

2009-01-30T23:22:00.000-08:00

We started out the day at a bug's life

On your mark get set go.....

You've got to love big brothers.

The kids were so excited to ride with their cousins. Unfortunately our kids didn't like the fast ride so they didn't get to go on many rides with all their cousins. But, they still had fun.

This picture was taken just seconds before the workers told us Bryce was too little to ride with his brother and not an adult. He was so upset about getting kicked of the ride that they ended up giving our whole group an extra turn (with Ryan taking him).

Bellie and her Grandma, both love Tinker Bell and Disneyland, but not the rides.

Captivated by a parade with the real Buzz Lightyear

This may look like the L for California, it's actually the L for Long Day!

2009-01-30T22:55:00.000-08:00

Biz, right after I took him on the Matterhorn with me. Can you tell by his face what he thought of it.

Pooh and Minnie were the babies favorites.

The girls went crazy in Minnie's house, to tell the truth I'd love a house like that too.

Ella and Logan became good friends on this trip, apparently all those who refuse to go on rides band together.

If only we had Disneyland to put our kids to sleep every night!

The Last Day

2009-01-30T22:08:00.001-08:00

Our last day there, they had put out the Christmas letters during the night.

Pixie Hollow was brand new so we waited in line for close to an hour. But, the girls loved the fairies, especially Tinker Bell. Klara wouldn't let go of her baby Tink.

Alec and Ella both got to go up for Jedi Training! We really wanted Alec to have a chance, because he didn't get picked when his cousins got to do it. We were so relieved when he got chosen, because it was our last day there. Then when the Jedi called on 'the little girl in the back with the pink pants' we were so excited.

Here they are learning their super cool jedi moves.

Whoa that was close!

When Ella got to fight Vader he said to the audience "if you won't join the dark side, perhaps she will"

Here they are, full fledged jedis. I think it's so cool Disney did star wars for the boys, it's the perfect boy make-believe to compliment the girl's princesses. Disney is just so awesome.

2009-01-30T20:51:00.000-08:00

Bellie's favorite part of the whole trip was meeting the princesses. It had 3 things going for it.
1. It wasn't dark and scary
2. It wasn't moving at a fast speed
3. It's princess!!!

Our very last ride was the kids' favorite ride the tea cups. So sad to have to leave the happiest place on earth.
Ryan took his girls and I've got my boys.

We stopped by the beach on our way home.

Biz loved the Beach! The last time he was at the beach he was just 18 months and he would scream whenever he got sand on his skin, so he pretty much screamed the entire time. But, he LOVED it this time around.

We stopped by the New Port Beach Temple to show it to the kids. We actually went to the temple before the beach but since I'm not so good at the whole blogging thing, it's just going to be out of order. While we were there at the temple we worried that the kids were being too loud because workers kept opening the door to look out. It wasn't until we got home and found out about the protest over prop. 8, that we realized they were probably worried something else was going on. But, it really is a beautiful temple.

The one bad thing about the trip. We got hit by some debris on the freeway.

Badges & Recitals

2009-01-22T16:39:00.000-08:00

What a busy couple of weeks for our little guy. First his wolf badge and then his first piano recital.

He had to pluck a turkey to find his award! If you look closely you can see the turkey is losing his head. Oh no.

Pinning on the mother's pin is tricky business, it is pointed after all.

My little guy!!
And yes, Ryan and I are both in cub scouts. And while a weekly calling is so tiring, it's nice to be able to spend time with my son. I'm sure I'll look back on it and be so glad that I had that opportunity to be with him. Of course the morning after Pack Meeting I'm always wonder just how long a calling can last. But, it's lots of fun and even if I complain I'm glad I get to do it. And the uniform is to die for.

Next was his recital. He was so nervous.

He played Book of Mormon Stories and Let's Play Ball.

He did a great job, not a single mistake.

Panda's Birthday

2008-12-04T07:53:00.000-08:00

We have officially initiated Panda into the realm of youngest child of the family. We forgot her birthday!!! We totally forgot it. At about 8:30 that night I was on the phone with my Mom and Ryan came in the room with a shocked look on his face. He was carrying her and said "Happy Birthday to Panda today"!

And to make it worse the only reason he even remember was because one of the other kids was asking when everyone's birthdays were because they wanted to know who was getting presents and when.

We celebrated her birthday the next day. But, it was a Monday making it kind of a busy night, so it wasn't until later that I realized that in all of the pictures of her opening gifts and blowing out her birthday candle she is only wearing a diaper. Man! What kind of loser parents are we. So here are a few favorite pictures of our little sweet heart from age one to two. As always it went by too fast. It was a magical year. Newport Beach

Playing tennis with one crazy racket!!

Fancy Shoes for a Fancy Girl

The dryer is the coolest. I loved her in that little pants outfit. She always looked like a little package from the 40's.

CTR5 and the magic beads

2008-11-17T13:32:00.000-08:00

I got to sub in Primary this past Sunday, and I love subbing in Primary, it is so much fun. And with 2 kids in primary and 2 in nursery we get called a lot. It’s so much fun being with the kids and singing the primary songs. There is no other time in church when you get to just smile the entire time. The things they say are so funny, one little boy started talking about how his dad fixes teeth and he starts telling me that his dad is the king of all the dentists. Then our opening prayer in class was given by this cute little girl who started praying for all the things the other kids were doing during the prayer. It went something like this “bless us to stop talking, bless us to sit down, bless us to not whisper secrets in our friend’s ears during the prayer” and so on. And it’s the prayer so you can’t tell the kids if they don’t start behaving this prayer is going to last the whole hour.
I had Ryan in there helping me and every time the kids started getting crazy he would tell them he had a special prize for the kids who behaved. Finally, I hid behind the picture I was holding and asked him what prize he had. With a big smile he pulls out 2 beads from his pocket and says “I found these in the hall, I’m going to tell them they’re magic beads”. I start laughing; meanwhile kids are getting more and more excited about this really great gift they’re going to get if they behave. Slowly we’re starting to realize we’re in trouble, so I send Ryan out to the car to look for a treat, any treat. All he could find was a box of wintergreen Altoids. Now in my defense, they are not as strong as the regular Altoids but all the same they’re still Altoids. So, he asked the kids if they were good and they started jumping up and down saying how great they were. He starts out first with the “magic” beads, and of course the kids look at him filled with disappointment. So then he moves on to the Altoids and even then the kids aren’t very sure about that. Well, they all take one but pretty soon a couple of the kids have these looks of disgust on the faces. And one little girl tells me “my mouth is really hot”. I feel awful; we hurry to the drinking fountain and get everyone taken care of. When we get back to the class room all the sudden everyone wants the magic beads, but there are only 2 magic beads. Luckily, I remembered that they used beads for the Primary activity at the ward party. I hurried to the primary room, explained the need for “magic” beads. Helen, the primary counselor was great and gave me 5 green beads and 3 white beads to compliment the 2 clear beads we already had. I hurry back to the class and everyone gets their bead, all in the last few minutes of class. And sure enough they were magic, all the kids had to do was hold it and they turned into real frogs. You can’t get better than that. And whether or not we get asked to teach CTR5 again remains to be seen.