The Brownie Bunch

Stuff

2011-12-14T21:38:00.000-08:00

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We've been blasted with lots of this lately. It's only fun through December....

Speaking of "snow".. Koby auditioned for a part in the school musical, "Snowbizness" and he got the part. He's so excited!

Billy is in the spelling bee and is so excited about that! Smarty Pants!

Ryan has started a year round soccer program, so that's been keeping him plenty busy as the coach. Koby and Ryan are both excited about that!

Cameron is still my curious, adrenaline filled momma's boy. Who also happens to be a math genius and wants to be a "rollercoaster engineer" when he grows up.

Anna is as sweet as ever.... as emotional as ever too. She loves doing gymnastics.

We had our family pictures and I LOVE them!

Our photographer, Meghan Holdsworth, did an awesome job!

Did I already show this pic?

The day before Thanksgiving we finally got around to the Greenway Trail through downtown Prescott. It's an "urban trail". And it was very fun and interesting. The leaves were also gorgeous!

I'm now a webelos leader with the cub scouts. We went caroling at a nursing home yesterday and this old, tattoo covered biker man, answers to the name of "Chopper", that isn't going to be around much longer, gave us his guitar. His very nice guitar. It was very touching. He couldn't even unzip the guitar case he was so weak. He loved hearing the boys sing and said he wanted the guitar to go to their school so that they could learn and love music like he did. What a neat thing for the boys and for me!

Can't think of much else to say for catching up. Busy as can be. In some ways, December has been a nice break, as many of the kids "lessons" have been cancelled for the month!

Not to mention, all of my Christmas shopping is done!!!

Thanksgiving

2011-12-14T21:33:00.000-08:00

We started this tradition in Texas. We use the same table runner and everyone writes what they are thankful for on it. It was fun to look back 4 years ago and see all the cute things that were written.

4 generations

This is Gamla Mor. That's Swedish for great grandmother. We adore her. She cat naps like this. So does my mom and I bet I do too! She's a spunky, adorable 92 year old that still exercises every day. Some days she does water aerobics, other days she rides her tricycle, but she keeps moving regardless!

Justin and Kari and kids came up the next day. It was so fun to have all of them!

The Return of Snow Days

2011-11-27T22:11:00.000-08:00

When you wake up to this..... "Mom, will you help me put my gloves on?" You know it's a snow day!
How do people not love snow?

Billy came out later in the day....maybe even the next day.... but his snowman rocked!
Nice job bud!

That night we went swimming........

Indoors of course!

Norman Rockwell Halloween

2011-11-27T21:52:00.000-08:00

Cameron as a ninja

Anna as Red Riding Hood

Billy as a vampire

Koby was a robber. He's starting to minimalize his costumes.... ):

This was our first year without Koby for trick or treating! His scout group was handing out candy for an older couple on Mt. Vernon.

Mt. Vernon is where the entire town goes trick or treating.

Well, not exactly, but pretty close. The town gives money to the residents on the street to buy candy. The neighborhood goes all out. Awesome decorations, full size candy bars, creepy music. The street is shut down to traffic and there are policemen roaming to keep it safe. And it feels entirely safe. The kids are there with all of their friends. It truly feels like a step into a movie from the past....

Hanging with friends

I'm thinking I should do this next year! Love it!

"Autumn, the year's last lovliest smile..."

2011-11-01T21:22:00.000-07:00

Fall Picnic

A few years ago, I let the kids pick, or make up a family holiday. Cameron and Anna were too young at the time, so I should let them pick one now, but Koby picked "Animal Appreciation Day" which is our trip to the zoo and Billy picked "a Fall Picnic". I love it! So each year we have gone on a fall picnic! This year was a beautiful one......

We had chili dogs and pumpkin apple muffins for dessert. We painted a fall scene with nature as our inspiration.

Anna's

It was so beautiful, and then she added the gray swirly thing and I was so sad. I commented on how she should paint the blue back over it and fix it because it wasn't as pretty with the gray swirls. BAD MISTAKE! I really hurt her feelings. What was I thinking?? In the end it was okay and she wasn't mad at me anymore, but I should just let her paint whatever she wants... even if it's a beautiful fall picture and then she adds letters or flying ninja's to it...

Koby's

He did a night scene, trees blowing in the wind with a wolf on a rock. Love it!

Cameron's

The red and orange are the sunset and the pumpkins and leaves! On the right there's a deer, and a black cave with an animal in it. Adorable!

Billy's

Similar night scene, but he has deer on the rock and a coyote at the bottom. I love his different colors in the night sky.

Grammy and Aunt Mary Carol

Love their fall trees! They did such a good job. AND it was their first time!

It was such a lovely day! After our picnic we went on a different route home and saw some new beautiful places! What a beautiful world! And it's no secret that I love the fall. It rejuvenates me!

I don't know if it's the children coming in earlier as darkness settles, the hot soup and warm bread. Maybe its the snuggling and the fires, the colors of red, gold, orange, green. Or it might be the scarves and boots, hmmmmm the pumpkin cookies are pretty good too! Wait! Nope, Grammy's pumpking bread takes the cake there. Add in the switch to flannel sheets and the crunching leaves of family walks or better yet, the walks with just my husband. But 10 years ago we moved to Denver, though only for 4 years, I realized what I had been missing. Fall is my happy place. And it became a requirement for where we would sow our oats.

Billy raking leaves. I don't even ask, they rake and play in the piles. (:

Granted the piles are fairly small still.

Ahhhhh.... the love...

I don't want fall to be over, but it looks like we may have snow on Friday! I'm not ready for that yet!

Anna and her cute friend in the corn maze at the pumpkin patch.

Anna and her friend Anna. Pickin their pumpkins.

Have you ever done "popcorn on the cob"

Just microwave some Indian corn and spray on a little fake butter. (:

My kids thought I was AMAZING!

Look at his eyelashes!!!

So cute! My loves...

"Every leaf speaks bliss to me, fluttering from the autumn tree."

Emily Bronte

P.S. My apple tree is turning a beautiful red!!!!!!!!!!!

Beach or Bust!

2011-10-31T13:07:00.000-07:00

We spent some of fall break in California. We were celebrating Breezy, and another year of remission, with a trip to the beach and Disneyland! We had so much fun with Justin and Kari and their family and also Alisa and Joe and their girls. I may be partial, but I have some dang cute nieces and nephews! I don't have any pictures of Disneyland, but here are a few of our great trip!

Uncle Joe taking the girls out..

My beautiful SIL Kari building sand castles with Bree.

Ryan and the kids with cousin Gunner

Billy giving snorkeling a try!

She's a major reason for this party! Cancer free Baby!

My gorgeous little girl!

Cousins building sandcastles on Balboa Island

My little sis, Alisa and her cute family.

Billy's smile was plastered.

Nice hops little one!

We all took a turn flying high...

Alisa and I out in the bay on the paddleboards. Love her face!

My honey taking the boys out..

I have a picture here every year.... why are they getting so big??

This sign is just the thing to fix that!

Balboa Island is my favorite!

Happy Birthday Cam!

2011-10-24T10:35:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Sweet Boy!

He is totally a momma's boy. Still sleeps with us most nights, loves me to lay with him at night and sing him a song and scratch his back. He loves bugs, dirt, sticks, mud, science projects, legos, his brothers and Harry Potter parties.

Koby led the "potions class" which also had a mentos explosion taught by Dad. (:
Koby and his little buddy. They have both been missing lots of teeth!
The balloon send off!

I love you Cam!

And this, just because I love the yellow flowers!

It's cold out there.... and fitness thoughts

2011-10-05T08:56:00.000-07:00
No need to read this. Just typing out my random thoughts and frustrations.

This morning I went on a wog. AKA walk/jog and I had to wear a sweatshirt, mittens and my hood. About mile 2 I was warm enough to remove the mittens and hood. Too bad I only did 2.5 miles.....

But that 2.5 miles led to so many thoughts. 8 years ago I regularly ran 4-5 miles several times a week averaging a 9 1/2 - 10 minute mile and then walked everywhere too. 6 years ago I was really into kick boxing. Loved it! Then I moved to Az, have had a hard time finding my thing. It didn't help that I developed allergy related asthma that I have yet to find a way to control, or messed up my knee, or foot... etc. etc. I did start running again this last Spring. Did the Whiskey Row 10k and didn't do too bad. I think we averaged a 10 1/2 minute mile and considering the hills, I was okay with that! So after that I kind of skimped on the running. Did shorter distances, more occasionally. So much company and being out of town.... Then I started doing Zumba again. I do really like that. It's fun, but who has time to go to an 8:30 class several days a week. Gotta get it done earlier sometimes. Then I started mixing it all up. Zumba one day, a walk with a friend another day, tennis class and a quick mile on the treadmill another day, a hike, a Billy Blanks home DVD. Still exercising about 4 days a week, give or take a day.

This is where the frustration comes in! Today I was wogging, and I swear I spent more time walking than jogging! I have stayed active, but don't feel like I can run the same! A treadmill is so much easier than the hills around my house! And the fact of the matter is... I don't REALLY like running! I feel good about being able to run. I feel like I SHOULD be able to run. I feel guilty for walking and not running. But walking is so much more fun! You can look at things and carry on a conversation. But it seems so wimpy to walk. And why is it that my husband can exercise occasionally, like racquetball or mountain biking once a week and then go SPRINT the hills (granted he did a mile and a half and was dying when he got home), while I can spend 2 months jogging 4 miles 3 days a week to be able to make it up those hills without stopping to walk?? And why is it so easy to lose the ability??!

This lady from tennis that is in great shape says running is horrible for your body. She thinks it's the worst thing a person can do. So she does tennis and yoga. I wish I could say that. Truth be told, I think yoga is too quiet. The music too serene.

Another totally random thought. And when can you call yourself "a" something. When do you cross the point when you say, I'm a runner. I'm a tennis player. I'm a hiker. I'm a yogi. I'm a zumbaer. (: I'm a walker sounds lame, doesn't it?

Cowboy Poet

2011-09-18T21:29:00.001-07:00

Koby won a poetry contest at school and was able to perform his poem at the college with the other winners from the district for the "Cowboy Poet Gathering". He did great and his poem was awesome! Unfortunately, we didn't get it recorded!

Storm Dream

Once I was out on the range

when I saw a thunder cloud roll in;

lightning cracked like a bull whip,

thunder banged like a shotgun.

Two bulls rammed their horns,

stomped their hooves on the rock,

snorted their nostrils, shooting snot;

the others joined in

until the ground shook like an earthquake.

Dust rose from the ground,

the river rose like tsunamis,

my horse charged like a bullet!

My clothes were soaked as if I'd been swimming.

I lost all sight of cattle,

then I woke up with that dream in my head.

Calendars

2011-09-18T21:27:00.001-07:00

My Saturday's are over!

Soccer games all day long. But there's always a few other things on there as well. I need to stop stressing and just go with it!

More Cousins!

2011-09-18T21:14:00.001-07:00

My sister's girls came and spent some time with us. Not often that we have enough girls in the house to outnumber the boys!

The first thing her girls did when they got here was to check out the treehouse. They immediately decided that they needed to "spruce it up". They colored it with chalk and picked some flowers. You can bet my boys were mad! There was a little fight, but I settled the natives down.
Annalise and Anna

Girl Central

My littlest niece cracked me up! She was sooooo into soccer balls and sooo into the treehouse!

Still into soccer balls and Billy was a fantastic babysitter!

They also spent two straight hours rolling down the hill.

They were TIRED when they got back to the house.

We even got to shake some ball players hands!

Bubble bath for the ladies.

Anna and Ava are only a day apart.

I call them "twin cousins"

The Cabin.... Lawn Mowing, Crawdad eatin' and Cousin Lovin'

2011-09-18T21:00:00.000-07:00

My boys seem to be going through a phase.

I think it's the "lets try and gross Mom out phase"

I never thought I'd be googling things like, "What cactus is safe to eat" or learning to cook crawdads. Why do they feel the need to eat worms and such things? All I know for sure is, I'm glad I'm not a boy! Girls don't seem to want to eat gross things!

Too bad I didn't get a picture of him eating the worm!

I love how Koby took Caleb by the hand and they hung out and explored for quite a while. So very cute together.
Billy and Macy playing Sorry (Billy's favorite board game)

I caught Anna reading a book to her new cousin, Jackson

Whoa Bode. You've got quite the fan club!

Labor Day weekend. Also, my parents anniversiary! But they didn't meet up with us at the cabin because they went on a major RV trip across the country..... we missed them!

But.... there was plenty of lawn to mow, and you wouldn't believe all the cousin lovin' that went around!

So glad we didn't stay in Texas. Just for the cousins alone!

Koby's Birthday and Soccer Crazy

2011-09-18T20:49:00.000-07:00

Koby turned 11.

It's killing me. He still has the face of my one year old baby..

AND he wanted a soccer/water party. AND he didn't want a cake, but banana splits instead! What happened to the little boy that wanted me to make him a cowboy cake?????

Now he wants to ride skateboards and bikes with his buddies, have water balloon fights and go to a college soccer game and come home for banana splits!! Whoa! Put on the brakes!

We went to the college soccer game and guess who played!

Ryan! Aka- Dad

It was the Alumni Game (aka Old Geezers against Young Pups)

Guess who won!!

Yeah..... the Young Pups

But Koby was so proud anyhow.

Flagstaff Getaway

2011-09-18T20:27:00.000-07:00

My sweetie took me away to Flagstaff for a night and day. We had a great time together, and it was just what we needed.

We spent most of the day riding our bikes around downtown and NAU. We discussed whether or not we would allow our kids to go to any other college than ASU. What are your thoughts on that? That's where we went, and that's where our parents and grandparents went... We haven't yet decided what we would do if they said they wanted to go to NAU, BYU, Harvard.. (:
U of A is easy... the answer is NO.

The next day we drove out to the Lava Tube Caves. It was so pretty out.

Loved these flowers... it had just rained and the colors seemed extra bright!

Going into the cave.... hope we come out alright!

Nice headlights! It was a little cold inside and a lot dark! Like you couldn't even see your hand in front of your face dark..

The cave goes for an entire mile underground. Seems too perfectly shaped in some areas to be natural.... more like a subway system.... but there are also other areas that require lots of scrambling over and under rocks.

But, the colors were so pretty! Sometimes it looked like diamonds all over the place, and other times it looked like a beautiful rusted metal..

It was a wonderful time! And the calm before the soccer storm that was just about to hit..... and HARD.

Annual Ice Cream Social

2011-09-18T20:12:00.000-07:00

Now, before anyone is bothered that they weren't invited this year, because they always have been in years past.. this was primarily a neighborhood party... though we have so many old people in our neighborhood that we really decided to encompass the neighborhoods surrounding ours as well.... We had loads of fun, and even had a band this year. Our good friend, Tom and his band, The Sheldons, played for us. It was a great time.

I started this tradition years ago. Mostly due to memories of hanging out in a big tree in Gamlamor's backyard, eating her homeade ice cream with my cousins. It was always a treat! Now I make her homeade ice cream every year, and have added a few new ones as well. This year I did Grandma's vanilla, lemon sherbert from a TX friend, and a cinnamon ice cream that was soooo good!

We usually tell people to bring their favorite if they would like, and everyone goes hog wild. Hopefully, it will be a great memory for my kids as well.

The Sheldon's

They're good. Really good!

Scouts

2011-09-18T19:55:00.000-07:00

Koby earned his "Arrow of Light" which is the highest award in Cub Scouts. He has now moved on to big boy "Boy Scouts"!

Ryan is the cubmaster, so he had fun painting all the boys foreheads!

Billy loves scouts more than anyone. Note that his uniform isn't nearly as put together as his friends...poor Billy.. his mom doesn't know anything about scouting... or about how to sew on all those patches.

I glue them on! Which Ryan thinks looks oh so tacky!

The funny thing about this mom (me) that doesn't know anything about scouting is that I am now the Webelo den leader. Ryan is the cubmaster and my mother in law is also a den leader. We have apparently become a "scout family".

Heaven help us!!

Better start by figuring out the uniform!

Survivor

2011-09-18T19:33:00.001-07:00

The kids decided to play "survivor" one day. They had some friends join them, ate cactus, juniper berries and an ant during the first hour or so. Of course I was frantically "googling" all of the things they wanted to eat to make sure it was safe... Then they asked me to hide real food and water in the woods so that they could eat something that wasn't so gross. I obliged. Even hid some popsicles, which apparently melted pretty quickly.
Koby and Billy carried it on all day AND night...
They slept in the hammocks till about 5a.m.

I LOVE their imaginations! That's why we moved out here!

Back to School!

2011-09-18T18:43:00.000-07:00
I forgot to interview the kids on the 1st day of school! Anna was sick the first day of kindergarten... so sad! But she made it to school the 2nd day!

Back to School Dinner!

Anna and the greatest kinder teacher ever.... Ms. Merrell!

Friends in class! Yeah!

Koby was in a "loop" class, so he gets to have all of his buddies from last year in the same class again!

Billy's birthday was the first day of school, so I met him for lunch with some Panda Express. He quickly became better friends with the boy to his right as they shared the orange chicken. (:

Looking good boys!

Anna even rode the bus one day that week. She LOVED it!

Birthdays!

2011-09-18T16:09:00.001-07:00

This guy turned 9. He wanted dirt cake with LOTS of gummy worms, to play on the waterslide and ride bikes. He also wanted a scary movie, but we couldn't seem to fit that into the 5 hour party! It was all pretty simple!

Goofing off

Billy loves tetherball and always wants to have "tournaments"

The buds all lined up!

And we topped it off with glow in the dark bike rides. (:

Billy is such a good kid. He knows how to roll with the punches and he is thoughtful of others. We sure love him!

Yosemite

2011-08-08T21:16:00.001-07:00

The Gathering! I love it when Ryan is together with his brothers.

They crack me up.

But this cracked me up more. You're awesome Pax!!
And this was snapped when the cousins all got there.
And yes, we're crazy. Maybe report us to CPS. We took all the kids up the face of Lembert this year, instead of the trail. It's steep, best stairmaster ever. But it's also gorgeous. Just follow the cracks, and hang onto a kid!
At the top, Shawn and Lacy. Looove it! Our family pic at the top was too ugly to show.
Hiking Cathedral with my honey. The kids were probably off chasing a bear behind us.

His family has been here EVERY year for 70 years! There are always great aunts and uncles and cousins everywhere. It's loads of fun. My washing machine can prove it by the time we get home!

Check out the snowbridge we crossed. Until Koby fell right through it!!
"Hmmmmm.... Why did we bring the kids on this hike?"
It's worth it at the top! Crystal clear lake with waterfalls everywhere!
Cam did the happy dance at the top.
So did the girls!
See that lake in the distance? Lake Tenaya. Heading there next for some rest and relaxation! It's my Mother in Law's happy place.
How did we get the kids to the top? Bribed them with treats~
Thanks Pat. Please just don't publish the other one of me....
We did glowsticks of course, and all the kids made themselves into some kind of glowing warrior.

We ended up leaving a day early. No real reason. But for my birthday, not only did I get a shower, I got a waterfall, a 3 story slide that wraps through a shark tank, a dinner buffet and I got to see the movie, "Soul Surfer". I bawled. It was ugly. We snuggled on the hotel beds and the kids all watched me cry.

The only picture of me in a swimsuit that you'll ever see is with my bottom half hidden! Not sure why my arm looks broken, but it was an awesome pool and a fun day. I went down the waterslide a gazillion times. My honey bought me a fruity drink to sip at the pool and my kids were sweet as can be!

Only downfall was that Ryan split his shin open as we were packing up to leave Yosemite. He couldn't swim with us. Such a bummer. He became the trip photographer/pool boy. A hottie pool boy at that! He almost stitched himself up (Yes we bring a kit for that. There are always a few injuries!) but opted for a few butterfly bandaids and duct tape, thanks to his lovely wife and his gracious aunt.

And only $38 bucks a night!

Before the 4th

2011-08-08T20:25:00.000-07:00

Just on a side note, doesn't my MIL's porch look like something from Better Homes and Gardens??

We went to Utah to watch the Manti Pageant. On our way we stopped at this cave. My husband actually knew the guy that owns it!
The pageant was amazing! And the temple there is gorgeous! But I have no pictures! Where was my camera??

We hung with Mater and saw Cars 2 in a super cute little movie theater.

After leaving Manti, we decided to bring some cousins back with us.

Then we sent them off to Racquet Club Camp! They did arts and crafts, fencing, Dodgeball, dancing, scavenger hunts, tennis, racquetball and swimming and came home EXHAUSTED!

We've done lots of this between company. And it makes my heart happy when they play so nicely!

Out with the old! Sent this glass table to the garage and replaced it with one I found on Craigs list for $60. A little sanding and paint and there's a whole new look. Oh yeah! The rug helped too.

Bathing beauty

I love this picture.
Here's the new table and rug. Livens things up a little!

Fantastic Fourth!

2011-07-20T21:38:00.001-07:00

Don't let looks deceive you. This looks tranquil, but all mayhem broke loose!

Boy did we terrorize the neighborhood! We had a family reunion with my husband's side of the family. And whew! What crazy fun! The pictures are in no particular order, but just a few cute memories from the 31 (ish) loved ones that we were able to celebrate with!

Some of the crew just before the "kiddie parade"
Cameron lighting up the night.

The little kids LOVE Uncle Don.

Getting festive!

SERIOUS games of Scrabble!

The little boys in the little pool.

Little boys in the hammock.

4th of July midday. We took some of the kids to the arts and crafts fair on the square. They didn't know what hit em!

Surfs up!

More of the crew before the parade.

I love nice teenage cousins!

Waterslide for the big kids.

Lawnmower races in the driveway....

Yeah... we're classy. (:

Each afternoon the rain would hit.. beautiful!

Some alley cats

Pablo played the guitar and sang us some songs while we danced in the yard. It was surreal.

We went to the "World's Oldest Rodeo" here in Prescott one night as well. It was so fun! We would love to do that again.

No pics from the night of the 4th, but we took homeade ice cream to Ryan's parking lot at work and had an amazing seat to the fireworks. It was all so perfect!

It couldn't have been a better 4th of July.

Primarily because of this......

Love you all!

Hey June!

2011-07-19T22:07:00.000-07:00

The day school ended, Ryan and I took off for New York. He had some continuing ed classes and it was our anniversiary... so ... we both went to play.

At our little airport in Prescott. Love it! Takes 1 minute to park and walk in, 2 minutes to get through security, then a quick lunch in the diner!

We landed at midnight, and were blown away by how busy it was. Our hotel was just a few blocks from Times Square so we went down there about 1 a.m.

The one thing we weren't prepared for, was how hot and humid it was. Combine that with millions of people and we were dying! We'd head back to our hotel and strip. Not just because it was our anniversiary... but because it was so hot! Dirty minds!

Watana and I at "Rain"

We still had lots of fun. Went to see The Lion King and Rain (a tribute to the Beatles- Ryan took that class in college ya know!) We met up with some wonderful old friends from residency and talked till all hours of the night!

The wait in line to see the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island was like 3 hours long. We opted for the dinner cruise that took us out around the statue and Ellis Island, then under the Brooklyn Bridge (which we walked earlier that day)

Not the best photo, but she was beautiful.

Bike tour around Central Park from a fun Irish guy! We went back and walked through later, but really loved the ride with all the history and information about where the stars live, movies filmed, etc..

We played chess in the park. There were some very serious players there!

I even went around the city by myself while Ryan was in class... and didn't get lost... thanks to my cell phone's mapping abilities. We hit Central Park which was absolutely gorgeous! And we went to the American History Museum.

We walked around everywhere.... and went to Castle Garden park. Most people don't realize when they are buying tickets to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty that they are standing in the first official immigration building. I learned this because I had been researching my family history for the trek we would be going on right after New York. It was fun to have read my Great Grandma Hilda's journal and then to be at the very place she was when she stepped off the ship from Sweden.

We saw the 9-11 Memorial and it made me cry! That whole day is still so vivid in my mind!

We had fun in New York, but it's not really a place I care to visit again anytime soon. It was so crowded and stinky and hot and did I mention crowded or hot? I didn't think the food was anything special, but maybe that's because I got sick after eating my first hot dog in years off a street corner!
A big thank you to my MIL Kathy, and Aunt Sharon and Uncle Don for holding down the fort while we jet set from one extreme to the other!

We were home for 1 day... had Anna's birthday party and then headed out to do the "trek" with our church youth group. We were Ma's and Pa's over 10 teenagers. We walked 26 miles pushing handcarts. Ate some pioneer (code word... not so yummy) food, and though it was kinda tough, we had some great fun! We were on the VERY DIRTY side when we got home. Showered and took off for Anna's dance recital. That same day we found out about the fire in Greer. We hadn't had cell reception in quite a while.... At intermission, Ryan took off for the cabin with Koby and Billy. They went to move valuables out and they put sprinklers on the roof. Talk about exhausting! We hadn't slept in almost 2 weeks by now!

A week later we got to have our Cook cousins come for a visit.

The soccer camp up here is tradition for Gunner and Cameron. I love the two of them together.

Caleb, Anna, Gunner and Cameron
Crazy day at soccer camp
Every day was pretty much the same. Soccer, lunch, swimming. A kid's dream come true! Whoa Billy! Just noticed the face you pulled by the pool. Please forgive me. I can't edit any pictures because I've had computer problems. I'm trying to show Gunner's head!

Look closely at his hair. He's standing by the edge of the pool. The hair color we used for "Wacky Wednesday" STAINED his head! We laughed at that all week long!
Koby showing off his wacky skills. I love him getting older. He's so fun and he's becoming so responsible and helpful!
Cameron
Jumping cousins.
My gorgeous SIL, Kari and her gorgeous baby, Bodee.
Like I said, I LOVE these two together!
Billy

Cousins Anna and Bree sleeping together

Grammy had some cousins from the Brown side staying at her house and sometimes they would come join in the fun.

Braxton and Bodee. Simply adorable.

Later that week was scout camp. The boys had so much fun! Billy, my serious scouter, had been looking forward to that moment for years. It didn't disappoint!

Looks like summer has already been too much fun! But just wait, there's more!

He didn't listen either..

2011-07-19T20:56:00.000-07:00

I know this seems silly, but look at how big he's getting! Mowing the lawn??? When did my babies grow up?

Why do they have to grow up?

2011-07-07T21:45:00.000-07:00

Anna turned 5. I told her not to grow up, but she's not listening so well..

I'm a fan of parties at home. So, we did one, like usual, in the backyard.

Anna wanted a garden theme, so we did the simple, "dirt cake" and each girl planted a flower in a little pot that she painted. Anna's preschool teacher also came and helped the girls make flower hairbows. It was LOVELY!

Of course, a great game of Duck, Duck, Goose.

And a game of tag in the yard.

Anna received so many sweet, girly gifts.

Some of her lovely girlfriends.

Anna loves to pick snap peas. In this case, they cleared them out!

Where do I begin....

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

Yeah... I'm WAY behind! The point of a journal is to record so you don't forget... part of me wants to forget! And I have... Good thing I threw out that calendar page! My word for May was "Maynxiety" because it was truly giving me anxiety! I'm sure every mother feels that way at the end of a school year!

Anna before her dance recital. Adorable

The picture above was taken a year ago to the day of her recital! She was so sick at the time. And I was so stressed. If we could only see to the future sometimes....
She is so healthy, happy and beautiful. I am so grateful. We have only had to do one blood draw since November. She is totally recovered! And if it were to recur, we know what to look for and how to treat it.

Her dance recital song was, "Oh Susanna". They were all so cute!

Last day of school for the boys. We LOVE their school!!
Anna "graduated" from preschool. Whew! That was a close one. (:
Koby and his buddies from school before their field trip. Yes... he's tall.
There were piano recitals

There were stolen glances of love. This is Adam, Anna's future husband. (:
And Mother's Day was INCREDIBLE! Mother's day was lousy last year.
I won't go into details, but it was REALLY lousy. Not because of my kids or my husband, but because of someone and something that happened.

Point being, it was a beautiful day, with so many people that I loved around me.
And my boys... check out how sweet they are. Their own idea to decorate the car with flowers!

Whiskey Row 10k!

2011-05-18T19:13:00.001-07:00

Some of the office girls (and me) before the race with Ainslie and her mom. The other girls were frantically trying to sign up for the race, so they missed the photo op.

We had such cute shirts. We all matched and had "Smile. Fight like girl. Go Team Ainslie" all over our shirts. So fun!!

If you've lived in Prescott, you've probably heard this one...

Question "Why do they call it the Whiskey Row Marathon?"
Answer: Because after all those hills you'll need a bit of whiskey"

Our office and my dear friend, Adrienne, did the Whiskey Row 10k on Saturday. It's definitely a tough route. The basic rundown is that the first 4 miles are primarily uphill and the last 2.2 are downhill. With the toughest hill, "Puke Hill" in the middle. (: I have never done a 10k before, but two of my sweet friends, pushed me there.

At dinner one night, after downing a basket of chips and salsa, Adrienne tried to convince me to do it with her. I wasn't sure how I felt about it. A 5k, yeah, alright. 10k I couldn't imagine. She convinced me to go running with her the next morning, but I wasn't convinced I'd be doing the race.

Then, I found out that our sweet friend, Ainslie, who is Anna's age, had cancer. How horrible! She shouldn't have to deal with all of that. Some of the girls at the office were talking about it and we were trying to think of what we could do to show her our support. We decided to do something hard, and to do it for her. The 10k was the choice. Most of us hadn't done one before, but decided we were willing, if for nothing else but to make her smile. Turns out she didn't need any help in that department. The girl is so darn positive and spunky!

Luckily Ainslie was feeling well enough to help with the water station that our office signed up for. Ainslie showed up bright and early with her mom, and boy were they kept busy! There were 715 runners that did the 10k alone. Not sure how many did the half or full marathon.... The girls at the office that didn't run worked the water station. I think they all had fun. I wouldn't know, I was praying for the finish line!

By the time the race was finished I was happy. We didn't do too shabby. Barely hit the 1:09 minutes. Averaging an 11 minute mile. Hey! It's known for being what's called a "slow course".... you know... all those hills. We came in around 300th out of the 700.

But thank you Adrienne for pushing me to go further, and thank you Ainslie, for your courage and positive attitude rubs off on those around you. You made me a stronger person.

We do Hard Things...... but mostly you!

Right after crossing the finish line. Yeah, I know I look awful! What'd you expect?

And maybe, maybe, a half marathon next year? Or maybe not. (:

Party Time

2011-04-30T17:52:00.000-07:00

One of our family's favorite traditions came from living in San Antonio. We love Fiesta. Every April we celebrate Battle of the Flowers right along with our loved ones in Texas. We just do it in our backyard in Az. I didn't get many pictures, but we had lots of fun, great friends, yummy food. Egg confetti everywhere, box parade and a pinata that lasted all of 1 hit!

We also had an Easter picnic with cousins in the valley. Anna and Gage racing!

Cameron is so cute without his 4 front teeth! Talks a little funny and eats a little funny, but so darn cute!
The other day I had lunch with him at school and he had strawberry on his face. I said let's wipe that off. He responded with, "No, mom. People think it's blood".

Hahahaha! So Cameron.

Easter morning chocolate mess. Why do we eat chocolate bunnies? Seems so wrong.

Easter family picture before church.

Cameron, goofy as usual.

Hugo at the after church Easter egg hunt at Grammy's cottage.

One day I'll have to take pics to show you how cute her house is.

I found it first~

This sums her up.

A Yee Haw ballaskaterina.

Totally made up that word. I'm into that this month.

Am I biased?

And whatever am I gonna do when she either

a. grows out of these boots

b. it gets too hot to wear them

Billy and his buddies. Every Tuesday. (:

We opened up shop in Prescott Valley too.

Sharing space with Dr. Fenderson

So... we had a party here to celebrate...

My friend made these gorgeous cakes. We messed it up a bit trying to move it after the party. No you can't have this leftover cake. It's also yummy.

Solar lanterns from the tree, pretty Ikea tablecloths, candle lanterns for the centerpieces. Planted pretty flowers in the pots. Made Costa Vida sweet pork for dinner. Even used the pie tins and fresh tortillas. I think it's my favorite meal. Did you know that at Costa Vida there are like 900 calories in the salad???? Best to share!!

Saw this idea in a magazine and loved it! So, I stole it. (:

I wish I'd taken pictures before instead of after... but you get the point.

Now I think I'll relax. Oh wait! I can't! I get one day off, that's today.

We spent it downtown picnicking at the square watching the Whiskey Row Off Road. It's a bike race. Some of our friends were crazy enough to do it. We had lots of fun eating hot dogs, listening to the band, LOVING the town in which we live. Now that it's come alive again. Yeah for warmer weather~

Oh yeah. Also got my first stitches (though not technically, seeing as that I've had 4 babies and knee surgery) But still..... my first "sudden injury stitches". Though technically it's just 1 stitch. Short but deep. And I think my black eye is actually rather fetching. I almost want two. Looks like I already have makeup on!

April, you were fun. Full of blossoms and parties.

Maynxiety. My new word. Not looking forward to you.

Kitchen Remodel and Favorite Things

2011-04-13T17:36:00.000-07:00

I don't think I ever posted pics of the kitchen remodel.

Here she is!

Love my HUGE fridge, love my farm sink, love my island and my wolfe range and my double ovens!

We kept the original cabinets but had them modified and our cabinet guy did a great job! Can't tell what's new and what's old.

Okay... try not to look at the mess. Love what we did with this pantry! You load it from the laundry room and pull through in the kitchen. That way you can rotate your food easily! You can also see what you're running low on. I now have 3 pantries. It's a bit confusing, but we're figuring it out! This is old, but I still love my spice drawer!
Mixing up some wildflower seeds before the snow. Perfect timing!

Hope it works!
My new favorite thing!

I love this vase!

It's sooooo happy!

Love this girl and love dying Easter eggs!

We've already eaten about 2 dozen of them.
Don't love how I end up so darn squished every night!

That space on the right is mine...... (:

One day I'm sure I'll desperately miss these two in my bed so I try not to grumble too much.

Love all the bulbs that have come up!!

Grape hyacinth is my new fave!

Findings

2011-03-31T12:57:00.001-07:00

An old friend lost her child last weekend. He was the same age as Cameron. Had a sudden brain aneurism. It breaks my heart. I had only met her little Ethan once. We were living in Denver and she came up to see an Aunt or someone and we got together. She had two little boys at the time. She is a wonderful, beautiful mom. A patient, bubbly person.

So the last few days I have tried harder to be patient, loving, bubbly. To cherish the moments. I've come to a conclusion that the "To Do" list is simply not much fun. So, when I was vacumning the house the other night and my kids wanted me to suction their hair and head with the hose for the 100th time, I did. Just to make them laugh, hoping that I wouldn't forget the sound.

And I have taken pictures of odd findings the children have left for me.

Their home decor I suppose....... (:

The sunglasses are probably Anna.

I find little animals posed ALL the time! Cameron for sure! This was put away, then magically reappeared. Koby's artwork. A spear. A Dr. Seuss pinwheel casually displayed (by Billy I think) in my rooster pitcher. (:
And what got washed with the jeans. Rocks of course, toy cars, scout bead, guitar keychain, and CU pin. (:

This week was pretty tame. I've found a lot crazier things!

What do you find in your wash?

No Mother of the Year Award here...

2011-03-30T20:30:00.000-07:00

Billy received the "Superintendent's Award" for 2nd grade at his school. We were called ahead of time and told about the award's night and said that we would be there. It was at 6:00 on a Monday. Well.... at 6:15 we remembered as we sat down to dinner. I was in sweats and hair in a ponytail, Billy had his "holey" jeans on, Ryan met us at the ceremony. We were late, but they still awarded him anyway! What kind of mother forgets something like that???? Way to go Billy! You always give it 100%!

The boys were up in the air about whether or not they wanted to do Little League. So... I made the executive decision that we would not! I LOVE having the evenings back, well, at least a night or two we are all home together... and my kids have taken to playing baseball TOGETHER in the backyard these days.
Poor Cameron.

Riding his bike down a hill too fast. Flew over the handlebars right onto his face. He knocked out the four upper teeth and chipped the bottom two. Also completely tore his frenum. That's why his lip eerily reminds me of Anna's.

He now has the cutest smile!

Coming up Hyacinths

2011-03-21T11:06:00.000-07:00

March is off to a great start! We started warm, around the 60's with bright sunny days. And all over the place, my bulbs are beginning to bloom.
We've seen bunnies making their appearance and buds on the trees.
Cameron so wants to catch a bunny. He made this clever trap. The bunny goes up the wood beam and jumps to grab the carrot, tied to the other end of the rope (not visible) is another bucket. Plan being that when the bunny pulls the carrot down, the bucket with come flying from the other side and land on top of the bunny. (: Love that kid!

Pinewood Derby. Koby didn't place, but he had the "nuttiest" car around. And he had a great time!
Billy took 3rd in his first pinewood derby.

Cameron cried for days because he didn't get to participate!

We headed off to California for spring break. It was a little bit chilly, but we had lots of fun with our old neighbors and friends, the Fords. We have several arranged marriages planned.

The Daddy's teaching their girls to surf.
Cameron coming in.

Jump rope with seaweed! So fun! So creative!

Pondering thoughts on love.....?
Lots of seaweed. This one was pretty funny looking!

Loved digging holes.

Totally arranged marriages.

Hot tub every night, followed by ice cream.

I think my favorite was the bike riding. The comments we got as our kids rode their bikes like ducks in a row down the boardwalk! 7 kids 4 parents and one baby in the bjorn. Some thought we were lunatics, others asked if we were for hire. (:

And right now, it's snowing amongst my daffodils.

The Final Goodbye

2011-03-02T13:44:00.001-08:00

When I took the dog to the vet a few weeks ago for a "quality of life" appointment they told me there was something wrong with her spine. Most likely from the javelina attack several months before. She's had arthritis for years and had been on medication for that, but she has seemed to be doing worse the last several months. They told me I could give her pain killers 3 times a day and her arthritis meds twice a day until we knew what we wanted to do. Well... she wouldn't take the pain pills. She'd spit them back out and Billy would sit on the floor and cry, begging her to take them. It was frustrating, but we knew what needed to be done. She was old. Almost 14. She was in pain, falling down often, not playing or even hanging out with the kids anymore. When we left the vets office, she gave us a book called, "The Final Goodbye". I thought it was a little dramatic and that we would be sad, but we'd be okay.

I was wrong.

It was DRAMATIC. And I was way more upset than I thought I would be.
We're going to bury her ashes right here under the treehouse where she can still "watch over" the kids. (:

We took her on a little walk before she left. Koby's eyes are so sad.

This little girl has loved the dog SOOOO much. She doesn't have a sister, or a sibling at home, so she hangs out with the dog. (:
The last walk.
Makes me want to cry all over again. She sobbed and sobbed. We returned the book to the vet yesterday and she asked me if we were going to pick Maggie up now. We told her Maggie was going to go to sleep and then go to heaven but that we would see her again in heaven. I guess she didn't fully understand. I had to explain it all again yesterday.
She sat here with her head on her hands crying for quite a while.

Cameron surprised me. He didn't show the dog much attention when she was alive. He liked her, but just didn't go out of his way when it came to the dog. He was so upset. Slammed his bedroom door kicked on his bed and screamed. Ryan calmed him down and helped him to feel better.

Koby went with Ryan to the vet to send her to heaven. He cried and told her he loved her. He told her to go chase some birds. He also surrounded her with pictures the younger kids had drawn for her.

Billy seemed to do more of his crying earlier in the week, though he still shed some tears, he held it together.

On a lighter note, we had more of this. Seems like we've had a lot of this on a regular basis lately.......

February so far...

2011-02-22T11:36:00.000-08:00

Ryan and I did a quick trip to Mesa overnight. It was fun to be with just him for a little longer than usual.... We ate at Red Lobster, stayed in a hotel, watched a movie, went to the temple, walked the streets of downtown Mesa and had lunch, met my new nephew and visited with my parents.
Here I am in an elevator that I broke, like 20 years ago, with the help of my cousin and a few boys... can't remember who they were... We had been playing tag or something at the hotel and were totally goofing off. Ended up stuck in this glass elevator for an hour with everybody in the lobby staring and pointing at us. An electrician was called, the security guard took our names and numbers and told us our parents would be notified. Then he told us to never set foot in this hotel again!

Haha! Here I am. Glad to see the elevator is in working order. (:

And this fellow giving me the eye, is my adorable nephew, Bodie. I probably spelled it wrong, sorry. But isn't he so cute?! I could almost eat him.

Anna is taking ballet and tap. She LOVES it, despite her serious face in this photo. She is smiling for the majority of class time.

He shoots! He misses! Darn! Koby is playing on the competitive league at the YMCA. We haven't done a whole lot of basketball so he's not a shining star yet.... But, he's getting better every week and he's doing alright. So proud of him for all of his effort and his positive attitude. Not to mention his desire to TRY and that shows in his improvement each week. That makes him a superstar in my book.

Cameron made a basket just after this pic was taken. He is playing in the recreational league. He cracks me up because he takes his guarding VERY seriously! As evidenced below.

He scores!
Billy is also playing in the recreational league. He is loving basketball. He even loves it more than soccer. Ouch!

We've had some good snowman making snow.

And plenty of hot chocolate to stay warm.....

The upside of Influenza (aka.. the flu)

2011-01-30T12:28:00.000-08:00
Cameron was the third boy. Then when he was only 9 months old, I was pregnant with his little sister. When he was 18 months old, the only little girl in the family stole his thunder. He's always been kind of a baby. A dare devil, a Hoodini, a Dennis the Menace too. Those all fit. But he has always loved his momma.

He still sleeps with us which is probably why he ended up sick too. He had what Ryan had, but I had the flu. A bad case of it too.

I have noticed the past few weeks that my patience with Cameron has been short. We have been at an impass, the two of us. Well, he spent the whole week with me last week- knocked down. And guess what. It was great for the two of us. The sick part was soooo lame. But Cam and I became close again.

I found my new favorite spot in the house. The daybed in the rec room where I had a view of this.....

We watched cartoons together. Cried about how awful we felt together. Swallowed pills together. And by the end of the week he turned to me as we were watching Furry Vengeance and said, "I'm in love with you Mom". So, today everyone else went to church. Ryan told us we couldn't go. So we went on a hot date to the lake to eat bananas and feed the ducks. (: While we were there he told me he wanted to do this again tomorrow. I told him he had to go back to school and he told me he didn't want to. I said, "But what about your friends?" He responded, "They'll be okay. They have other friends". Funny boy!

My real hot date (aka my husband) has been so great to me. I'm sure he's sick of looking at me and taking care of everything and everyone. He's rubbed my back and feet, tried to feed me, bought me flowers, rented me chick flicks, and made me swallow all kinds of pills. Thank you honey! I'll try and make dinner again in a few days. (:

The Myster of the Green spots and other weird happenings..

2011-01-19T15:55:00.000-08:00

Weird things have been going on round here.
So I came home today and saw big green spots on the carpet, followed by smaller green spots leading to the kitchen, and this is what I found. The trail led right to her! The dog broke open a green pen! I wasn't happy at first, but now it's kind of funny. I did get the spots out of the carpet! Whew!
Seriously. Green spots straight to the suspect.

For mutual we played Fear Factor Faith Factor. It was so fun! One of the things was fishing the green gummy bear out of the bowl of flour with only your face! Poor girl! She looks scary covered in flour, but she's actually a darling gal.

One thing is not like the others. Can you spot the sardine? First one to choke the blender drink down scored 40 points.

I finally feel like a GROWN UP! I have a real bed. When we were first married we leaned a headboard against the wall and bought a new, cheapo mattress. It lasted a few years. Then when we transitioned from dental school to residency we bought two twin sleep numbers (the first- most basic model) threw them on a board and topped the mattresses with a foam pad. Worked okay for a while, but THEN a few weeks ago I bought a real bed. The kind with posts that I've always wanted. We used the makeshift mattress thing for a while, but it was horrible. The twin mattress ends like a foot and a half from the footboard and it was so low it looked silly. Then my back started hurting. Finally while helping Ryan's mom get a new mattress, Ryan broke down and bought us a new one. When we pulled the old one off we realized the wood board underneath was broken. No wonder our backs hurt! But... Let me just say, my new mattress is so big and fluffy and gorgeous and my back doesn't hurt at all. I have, for the first time in our married life, a REAL, grown up bed! Kind of feels weird that it took so long! Now I need to work on the window coverings.......
More weird, random moments.....
Last Saturday night at midnight we heard banging on our door. We went to see what was going on and a teenage girl came in sobbing hysterically. Turns out she was lost trying to get to a party and her car slid on the ice and went off the road into a ditch. She couldn't get phone reception and tried knocking on one door and nobody answered. She was scared and said she just ran and ran (throught the forest!) till she got to our house. The girl bypassed like 10 other homes! Anyway, she sat on the couch crying, called her Dad and had to tell him what happened. She was SUPPOSED to be at a sleepover, but ended up going to a PARTY at midnight instead. I'm certain Dad wasn't happy with her. Ryan and I got in the truck and helped her pull her car out just as her Dad got there. Luckily he seemed fairly calm, but I bet she's not going to another sleepover for a while!!!
Speaking of sleepovers...

Koby's friend "D" who has a thing about sleepovers and the word "stuff" and has a mom that keeps the house perfectly clean at all times. (:

D: I think I am ready to sleep over. I'm a man and stuff now.

Me thinking: What the heck does that mean? I hope nothing horrible happened.
Me saying: Why are you a "man" now? And your mom said you tried a sleepover last night and they brought you home at 1 a.m.

D: I just decided to grow up. And their house was messy and everybody kept tripping on stuff, I couldn't handle it and stuff. But your house is clean and stuff. I like it there so I would be okay.

Review #2
Billy's friend came home today as he often does on Tuesdays. The following conversation was to me a great compliment as I think this kid's mom is a rockstar.
Me: Boys, J's mom will pick you up from scouts and bring you back here to drop Billy off at home.
J: Yeah! I get to "visit" your house like twice in a day
Me: So glad you like to "visit"
J: It's because your house is like.... comfy... It feels like it feels at my house, like and it's not scary like..

So there you have it. My home is somewhat clean and not scary like. (: Just in case you're the parent of one of my kids friends from school and you are googling me to find out if I'm a drug dealer, kind of like how my friend, Gina, googled a mom that I am also friends with to find out what they were like before she let her daughter play. You know we are ALL a little paranoid. It's actually a bit hysterical!

Happy Freezin New Year!

2011-01-04T19:27:00.000-08:00

We welcomed our guests with a speed bump and snowballs.
We also welcomed them with a high of 21 degrees and a low of -9!

Billy making snow angels

Dear Anna, you look frozen!

We usually just get a few inches at a time. In the end we had about 14- 16 inches.

Going.. Going....

Gone

Cute, happy cousins

Poor Gage. I think he went sledding all of 1 time before the tears started rolling. Can you blame him. It was wet and freezing cold!

Some more happy cousins!

My brothers are weird. Love them like that.
My sister in law is adorable- just in case I haven't already told you that.

Snowball fights ensued...
Uncle Tyson is down.

Enjoying "snowcones"
Tyson came up with the brilliant idea and it was a hit! The kids absolutely loved it! Good thing I had the supplies. Unfortunately, it was the sugar free syrup. Not very good.... The kids were still just as excited to eat colored snow anyway!

Taking a break

New Year's Eve night we stayed up late and then barely popped the door open to blow our horns and yell "Happy New Year" before we quickly slammed it.
Again.... It was FREEZING out there!

2 days later....Look closely. The sleds have been abandoned in the front yard.

Notice the dark amongst the snow... it's ice. You could go ice skating. Why?
Well.....
A pipe at the well house froze and burst and drained our whole storage tank! We ended up without water for about 26 hours.

Sooooooo lame!
But.... we survived

My sweet husband went to the storage room to get out water supply and it was rather frozen. Not entirely, but quite slushy. We drank leftover soda from the big New Year's party for dinner that night. We also boiled snow to wash dishes and to fill toilets.

Heaven knows we have plenty.

Love ya family!

Treehouse video tears and all

2010-12-29T17:40:00.000-08:00

The Stockings Were Hung.... and the PARENTS delivered!

2010-12-29T14:45:00.000-08:00

At our house, Santa does the stockings and one other gift. He's not the cool one.
We are!
Well, actually, we know that Jesus is the reason for the season! But... in the fun and games aspect. Mom and Dad usually rock.....

The stocking were hung from the chimney with care
Filled with oranges and new underwear...

This was the year of the shoes. Everyone needed and received new shoes. Just so happened that they all got fun vans.
Cameron gave this gift to Anna. I love that he is excited for her!

Anna got tap shoes along with tap lessons.

She has been DYING to take tap!

Ahhhh! What grown woman wears polka dot pajamas? They do nothing for the figure!
I got a dinner bell! That way I don't have to scream out the door.
And it goes perfectly with my ALMOST done...

Kitchen! Which is a little messy for picture taking. I mean look at the fridge for pete's sake.

But.... my island is in.... even though I don't have my butcher block top yet. At least it's functional!

Ryan got bedliner for his truck. He's been wanting that for a while.
Nice face honey!

The best gift of all! My kid's have been eating lunch here every day. They also bring games and books. And their walkie talkies, just so they can drive me nuts!

"Mom, what are you doing?
"Mom will you bring us a......"
"Mom!" Then they bust out in song
Sometimes I get a, "Mom! We love you! Come in. Over and out"

The best dad EVER! Well, right up there with mine!

The snow melted and we were left with mud...
And... kids that have been outside all day tracking mud in!

They are so clever. They made their own pully system with a bucket from Home Depot and a rope they found in the garage. They've also decorated with flags and used more buckets for chairs.

Then we headed to my parents for Christmas dinner with my family. It's was loads of fun!

I chose this pic because of the look on Koby's face. He loves his older cousin Conner and really wanted to get him something cool. He even wrapped the ASU shirt in a BIG box and tied a bow because he thought it would be funny. He admires Conner and his face looks a little proud and a little shy as he goes for a hug.

Good job, Koby. I think he likes it.

The kids divided themselves up perfectly amongst the tables.
This is the "Little kid- eclectic- I'm so cute and still LOVE school" table.

The "little darling, I've been through a lot, angel girl" table.
Seriously. They've each had health issues. Obviously, Bree trumps all! And look at her hair!

" The studly, we're growing up too fast" table.

The "adult" table

And now, I leave you with this.... the view out my kitchen window at this moment.

Heavenly.....

I might was dishes for a long time!

Christmas Eve, Eve, Eve

2010-12-23T19:31:00.000-08:00

Holy presents!
Santa Kelly and Elf Billy
What is it about being with one's brother that makes boys turn so goofy?

Hmmmm.... I wanted that one!

Eating dinner

My kitchen was being worked on WHILE we started preparing the food!
The island is in.... with a temporary top... but it's looking so good!
The little boys
So cute... all 5!
Ryan had them laughing so hard, it was pure entertainment by the end of the night.

Then, the next morning my hubby was working on this...

Sh! Don't tell! It's a treehouse for Christmas!
I'll post the "after" pics after Christmas.

The next morning we did a LITTLE sledding in the front yard. The slope was perfect for the younger ones. (:

Cameron's even being nice to Anna. He's giving her a lift back up!

That must have been her Christmas gift.

He's growing bigger every day!
Girls have a crush on him. They've even told their parents that they want
to
"Marry HIM"
Whatever will I do?!

And I woke up to this...

All because this beautiful little niece prayed for snow. (:

It was a beautiful Christmas Eve, Eve, Eve.

Progress in the Kitchen

2010-12-20T11:35:00.001-08:00

Almost done!
Backsplash needs grout and sealant
Waiting on some of the cabinets, doors and the island

We had some issues with the tiled backsplash. They ended up different colors, but.... the tile guy came up with the idea of doing a lighter stripe in the middle and I think it came out looking alright. The white diamond above is actually a piece of granite with glare (:

The sink is my new favorite thing!

We also got to have a little visit from these awesome people.
Love my Gamalamor (Swedish for grandma) and Uncle Joe and Aunt Aurora.
Thanks for stopping by. We miss you so much!
The ladies

Kitchen Update and quick getaways

2010-12-16T15:32:00.000-08:00

No witty post, just a few snapshots of the kitchen getting closer. We have one pantry, but it's smaller than what we're used to. The pantry on the left will be a rotating pantry. Stock the shelves from the laundry room and pull out the kitchen side. It will also store office stuff. Unfortunately, older homes don't come with "office and computer areas".
Those must be carved out. We removed the built in hutch and will eventually do a built in computer station, but for now it's simply a counter with junk everywhere. (:

I think my favorite part is the farmhouse sink! I love the new faucet too.
Look past the mess. I had a dish towel, plant, granola, etc. strewn about. (: I'll clean up for the final photo.

Looking so much better. You didn't see it with the drawers and cabinets gone.
I'll get my island back on like.... the 23rd. Just in time for Christmas! Everything won't be done by Christmas, but most of it will be!

I got my granite counter tops in today! YEAH! But, they were immediately taped up and covered for the tile guy to do the backsplash. I didn't even get to see it all installed!

We headed down to my family in Phoenix. They cooked us food. (: And we played with some of Ryan's friends from high school. The weather was warm and gorgeous!

My Dad snapped this as we were heading out to church. Nothing like a 3 minute family photo session. (: Thanks Dad!

And we went to the Polar Express! So much fun! They didn't want to take the picture. They NEVER want to take family pictures!

The Kitchen Remodel (aka. Tornado on Angus)

2010-12-08T16:58:00.000-08:00

Before the kitchen remodel began, I left a job list for the kids on the kitchen counter.

With Permanent Markers. (:

They thought I might have lost my mind.

They had fun though. I hope Billy's friend didn't "try this at home".

Later I found some sweet notes.

Yep! We rock!

They did a good job covering the counters

Do I look like I'm calm......?

Pencil markings on the microwave placement from the early 80's

Make way for the new pantry!

Going once, Going twice, Gone!

Shew! Looks so much better than it did an hour ago.
Tomorrow they'll take away the island to modify and we'll add a larger one.

Can't wait till it's done. Hopefully before Christmas!!!!!

Random

2010-12-02T12:37:00.001-08:00

I want this table. A beautiful door under glass.

We're remodeling the kitchen. Will I go crazy and is this the right choice for the counters?

Why doesn't my sister live by me? She has such cute girls. And Anna and Ava are only a day apart. Anna might not have a sister, but she has a twin cousin. The 2 on the left.

My husband is hot.

Billy is sooooo responsible. It kills me. Sometimes I want him to just flake out once in a while. He's so serious and such a perfectionist! That being said, I love that I can count on him. That he gets perfect grades. And that I never have to remind him to do his chores. (:

It was easier at our old house to start a fire. You switched a flip.
This house, started with cutting down tree limbs, stacking wood, building the fire in the fireplace and several attempts to get the fat log burning.

Anyone see the movie New in Town with Rene Zellwegger? I'll never forget the fireplace seen!
Hahahahaha! Still makes me laugh!

My Cameron loves to cook. He's in charge of stirring the noodles.
The boy watches cooking shows on tv!
Yesterday the kids were talking about what they wanted for Christmas. Cameron told me that he wants
a stuffed fox
and
SHOELACES!
I about died laughing.

Since they both end up with us in bed, I thought maybe if I had them share Anna's bed, they would stay there. That way they would be warmer and not so scared. It didn't work. Cam was in our bed by midnight.

The next night Koby said he'd sleep with her so she wouldn't be scared. I came in to check on them and this is what I found. Koby being such a good example helping her to pray.
Koby also started my new favorite tradition. He posted mailboxes (envelopes) on everyone's bed and notes are being written and passed out. We are all loving it! So sweet. Thank you Koby!
The boy is growing up too fast. He told me he wanted a new pair of vans and a sweatshirt for Christmas!!!!!! When did he get so old?

Modern art. And isn't she beautiful?!

Not to mention... helpful!

Thanksgiving

2010-12-02T12:16:00.000-08:00

We headed for Huntington Beach for Thanksgiving. That's where Ryan's extended family lives. Had a great time and the weather was pretty good to boot!
Anna and Lacy walking Balboa Island before turkey dinner.
Bocci ball- rolling style
I'm ready to eat, but the dining room is desolate... except for the millions of place settings (:
Cooking mayhem
An after dinner game of charades.
What is Uncle Patty doing???
We even went to the beach. It was cold and windy, but my crazy kids were in heaven.

Anna is the craziest sleeper. Billy's got a foot in the ear and she's wrapped around Cameron's arms.

We got a smokin' deal on a little rental house right across the street from the park and walking distance to Main St. by the pier. It was so fun and we were able to play and enjoy the beautiful blessings all around us.

Where to begin...

2010-11-09T18:15:00.000-08:00

I haven't been keeping up with this blog. I know people that post every day. It's short and they're done in 10 minutes. Then I stare at my photos in my "October file" and think. How do I begin??? I'm not a facebooker. I like to do my blog for family memories. So I'm going to try and start being more regular... Wish me luck!

October was full of family and fun! One party after another and one loved one after another! We had Uncle Don and Aunt Sharon, Scott and Tiffany, Uncle Bud and Aunt Laurie, Grandma and Grandpa, Aunt Adelia and the kids. Nothing but partying going on over here! We loved it!

The leaves started changing and that means... someone had a birthday!

Cameron turned 6!

He had a volcano/dinosaur party with his buddies.

We made volcanos out of water bottles and modeling clay, They gathered rocks and grass from the yard and we did the ole' baking soda and vinegar trick.

They loved it!

My sweet friend Lori, that I love so dearly because she totally knows my kids, wanted to get Cameron a pet for his birthday. I said, "please, no". So she bought him a bug catcher.

We've had many pets since....

The salamander

Found 2 tarantulas in the yard in 2 days!

The kids have also been working... lots

On our way to the neighbors house.

Billy has taken care of the neighbors horses.

He told me he didn't mind scooping poop that much and if it meant he'd have a horse, he'd do it with a smile every day. (:

We set the horses out to the arena.

Those horses have a great view.

Freeman Farms.

It was unusually warm that day, but we had lots of fun.

I love it when they're sweet with eachother.

The petting zoo was a hit!

Anna loved the sheep!

The kids especially loved the goats and have been begging for them ever since.

We named this one "Kissy" because she kept licking the kids faces.

They must have been covered in kettle corn.

The corn maze was another favorite.

I love this tree. It's across the road from us.

The kids had crazy hair day at school.

They love their new school!

Okay, so you can't see it in this small photo, but there were about 10 deer in our yard earlier this week. The little white spots are some of their eyes. (:

Love these tender moments.

Love my trees. What happened to the tops of them?

Billy's been doing great! Scored 4 goals last week.

Koby too. He had 3 goals!

Cameron loves to "slide it in".

My parents came to visit.

Grandpa and Coach.

No wonder the kids did well....

Anna kind of looks like her Grandma, doesn't she?

Halloween.

Showing off the loot.

Anna was both a cheerleader and a witch, depending on the night.

This night we had a party at our house. We did a "spook alley" under the gazebo. I covered food items with towels and the kids stuck their hands inside to guess the body part.

We turned on ghost stories in the tent.

Ryan and the boys created a "haunted forest"

We had lots of fun!

Everyone was invited. If you're reading this, I hope the message got to you too. (:

The next night we did "Trunk or Treat"

That's where the kids loaded up on candy!

Then our cousins came from Idaho.

We had so much fun, playing in the leaves...

Went to Cuppers for lunch and when Grammy arrived the kids went crazy!

They mobbed the lady!

She is so loved!

Adelia and the kids, waiting for quiche.

Uncle Kelly's favorite thing on the menu.

These cousins look alike too, don't they?

So much fun!

Rainbow sherbert or chocolate malted crunch???

Yosemite

2010-11-07T21:00:00.000-08:00

I just found this post as a draft. And while it's from August, thought I'd post it anyhow. Every year we go to Yosemite for a full week! That's longer than I like to go camping, but it's Ryan's family tradition. Tons of family is there and it's actually really fun. We hike and picnic every day. There are no showers or electricity, we hike to the bathrooms or find a tree. True camping! Wish I had more pics, especially the one at the top of Hoffman. Dana if you have a pic will you send it to me?
Koby and Prince Charming
Koby on the whirlpool
Anna cliff jumping. (:
Billy jumping... FREEZING cold water!
Koby's turn

Cameron's got it~

Ryan trying to get to the top of Poppy's Rock.

He did need a little help, but it's straight up!!

See!! My man's got muscles!

Stop looking at his rear! (:

And there he goes... from the top.

Looks like he's holding up the clouds.

Cameron and nephew Hugo. Discussing how to solve world hunger.

And another...

Ryan stepped it up this year. He got us a "room" at the lodge. We had heat in the stove, a shower and....... Dinner at the restaurant. What a birthday! All the girls snuck in for a shower, and Ryan sent us all to dinner while he and the other uncles watched the kids. He met up with me later for his shower and a cozy nights sleep.
Thanks Kathy for sleeping in the tent with my kids. (:

Room #9 at The Lodge.

Seriously plush.

The kids had so much fun with glowsticks and marshmallows at night.

They are seriously dirty!

Hugo at the beach. He has a thing for buckets on his head.

Jaden, Anna and Lacey. Building sandcastles at Tenaya Lake.

We love it there! Probably my favorite spot. The water is very cold, but not frozen.

Anna and Alex

Anna and Lacey hiking away.

The view from the top of Lembert is beautiful.
My kids AMAZE me with the hiking! Especially my boys!
Only because Anna is still so young do I say that. She can hike 2-3 miles uphill, but the boys are doing 8-9 mile hikes.

Anna and I on our way to Lembert.

Don't judge. Hadn't had my shower yet.

Soaking their legs in the water after a long hike.

Back to School Interviews

2010-11-07T17:02:00.000-08:00

Okay this post is also 2 months late. Don't know why I never published them. Oh yeah.... we were moving at the time. (:
After the first day of school at Yogartz

Cameron

Me: How's kindergarten

Cam: I like recess

Me: What else?

Cam: Inside recess

Me: How many recess breaks did you have today.

Cam: 4 outside and 3 inside

Me: What is inside recess

Cam: There were actually 5 outside and 4 inside

Me: What was your favorite subject?

Cam: art

Me: What did you do in art class

Cam: All we did is color

Me: If all you did was color then why was that your favorite?

Cam:I also read a Sesame Street book

Me: Who were your friends?

Cam: Pretty much everyone in my class.

Me: Anything happen today that made you sad?

Cam: My new friend hit me in the face and I got a bloody nose.

Billy

Me: Tell me about second grade

Billy: No thank you.

Me: Why?

Billy: I don't know

Me: Who are your new friends?

Billy: Cooper, Hayden and Alexis

Me: Do they sit by you?

Billy: Just Cooper.

Me: What was your favorite part of classroom time

Billy: When we sat on the floor and my teacher read to us.

Me: What's your teacher reading?

Billy: It's called It's a Spoon not a Shovel

Me: How was lunch

Billy: Medium. I'm leaving now.

Koby

Me: Tell me about Mrs. Corbett

Koby: Fun and boring

Me: What's fun and boring

Koby: Fun is that I get to talk to my friends and play at recess. Boring is that my teacher talks a lot.

Me: That happens in school.

Koby: No, mom, seriously. My teacher never stops talking.

Me: What's her favorite thing to talk about?

Koby: U of A, puzzle pieces that tell about us, everything

Me: Did you tell her we don't like U of A

Koby: Not yet, but whenever she says U of A, I say A S U

Me: Are you being rude when you do that?

Koby: No

Me: What about specials. Did you have any of those?

Koby: Music. Okay, I'm done. I'm outside riding my skateboard.

Maybe I'm not a country girl after all....

2010-10-08T12:48:00.000-07:00

We have animals. Serious animals. Ryan's been sprayed by a skunk, the dog has been sprayed several times and now.... Koby. He doesn't know I took this pic of him taking a tomato sauce shower. Please don't tell. He'll be mad, but I figure one day he'll thank me for the memory.

Then there are the coyotes waking me up at all hours of the night because they are in my backyard. Making a horrible racket!

The javelina. I hate them. Note below.

The ground squirrels digging up my yard!!

The deer. I like them.

Koby with a tomato sauce shower.

Maggie was attacked by a javelina. Right here in the neighborhood. Gross pic, I know. It was so sad! I swore we would never have a dog have surgery, but.... she looked at me with those eyes..... And my children got a little emotional....
Now I'm trying to shove pills down her throat all day.
That is seriously driving me nuts.
But not as nuts as her cone hitting EVERYTHING as she passes!

We have to keep a close eye on her, so here's Anna taking her shift and reading a book. It was FREEZING! But she braved the elements. (:

We wanted trees. That's why we moved here. But now we have over 139 trees. And these are the trimmed branches that Ryan and his brother removed. The pile is almost as big as the house! The kids and I slaved away too. Every day after school each of the older boys has to trime 3 trees and then drag the branches to "THE pile". I worked alongside. Handing them cookies and pointing out missed branches..... (:

Stocking up on our own wood for the winter...

Moving day
Koby, when did you get big enough to help move large furniture?
Please don't get any bigger!
And this year for his birthday cake, he wanted CHEESECAKE! Gone are the days of asking for a volcano cake or a cowboy cake! What's a mom to do??!

The new house on the ranch.
We plan on naming the place. So far I've come up with Stinky Skunk Farm. Uncle Don has named it "Casa de Chaos" and Aunt Sharon picks the pretty names, Live Oak Farm and Plum Tree Farm. What's your pick?

My favorite, the gazebo

The kitchen, waiting for the remodel. We went with stained concrete on the floors. Looks pretty good too.

The dining room and computer station. We want to do built in cabinets for the computer station when we remodel the kitchen. But.... this works for now.

living room 1
living room 2

Rec Room or "Wreck Room" and the guest room too.
Of course everything is full of furniture and decorated now.
Sometimes even the floor is decorated with legos!
Often times the guest room is decorated with guests!
We're lucky like that.

Anna in the bedroom hallway

I call it the creek, it's really a drainage reservoir, as it only runs when it rains.

The first day of schook
Kinder, 2nd and 4th.
They love their new school. Not that there was anything wrong with their old school. It was great, but I think they also love not having a dress code. And frankly, my dear, so do I!

Billy was baptized this summer. It was a beautiful happy day. He is such a good boy. Caring and responsible. I'm going to try and figure out how to post a video my sweet friend, Debbie Wiser made. It was amazing!

The "wreck room" being used by a small group of the dirtbag kids.

Every year we have the "Dirtbag campout" Ryan's friends from high school come up and stay the night sleeping in tents in the backyard. We stay up till 2 a.m. talking, laughing and playing games. It's absolute chaos, but loads of fun. 3 of the dirtbags and their families weren't able to make it this year, but we still had plenty of fun chaos with 16 kids and 8 adults.
The coolest ones were there anyhow!

Cameron ran away for the first time. I told him to be back in time for dinner because the javelinas and mountain lions would probably be out looking for their dinner when the sun would start to set. He was back in about 10 minutes. (:
So proud of him. He packed clean underwear, water, snacks and toys.

Anna's first day of preschool.
She loves it and has so many friends. Not to mention an AWESOME teacher!

The climbing trees. The boys keep building "ziplines". Notice how high up Anna is in the tree on the right. I'm sure another concussion will happen any day now.

We make time for caramel apples, but oh wait.... Koby doesn't have one! Poor guy has space maintaners and isn't allowed. I'm not too mean. He got a popsicle later.

Let the games begin!!!! All day at the soccer fields.

Conference weekend. Loved it!

"Our Lake". It's across the street (5 min away) and we have had some fun paddleboarding....

and picnicking with guests! (Scott and Tiff)
The craziness continues.....

Tears.. the good and the bad

2010-09-17T21:14:00.000-07:00
1. Tears from today with Anna at the E.R.
First of all.... her last platelet count came back yesterday at 333. Which is AWESOME! But.. today she fell off of our retaining wall, head first onto the cement and started bleeding out her ear. Which is exactly what her doctors told me I shouldn't let happen. But, her counts have been good and she's been off restrictions. Still....PANIC. Her head started rolling back and I took her straight to the E.R. which is approximatley 5 minutes away. The docs at the E.R. were great. So was our nurse. It's funny that we already knew most of them. But it made things very comforting for me. Our Bishop, who works at the hospital, immediately met us there and that's when I started crying. Funny how when someone else is there to help, you lose it. The bleeding was scary so they did a Cat Scan and everything came back NORMAL! Yeah! She had a concussion and burst her ear drum. Poor girl has been to the hospital way too much this summer. She'll have a headache and her ear might hurt the next few days, but if her platelet counts had been low, she could have been dead. Scary. Too scary. Then I cried and prayed tears of gratitude.

2. Tears from being sick.
I had strep throat earlier this week and cried for my mom to stroke my hair and kiss my forehead. Ryan tried, but he didn't do it right. He did, however, take care of everything as I became a bed hermit. I felt horrible and ended up dead to the world for a couple of days. I'm better now.

3. Laugh so hard you cry and almost pee your pants tears.
These were the best tears. Ryan was sprayed by a skunk right before we left for church on Sunday. It was hilarious! And stinky! He took a tomato bath and I tried to take a picture but he wouldn't let me. He smells better now. I'm just lucky I didn't pee my pants laughing! The crying part I can deal with!

That's all for now. I know I haven't been blogging much. Life has been INSANE....

Happy Birthday Billy!

2010-08-04T20:40:00.000-07:00

I love this boy. He is so sweet and gentle and funny and spunky. He is also a great organizer. I had him clean out my junk drawer and I think he organized it better than I do. He loves horses and wants to be a cowboy. Loves to wear cowboy boots with shorts and doesn't care if it looks cool to anyone else but him. He also wants to be a tiger trainer at Out of Africa (a zookeeper would be fine with me). He loves his family and watches out for his little sister. He is brilliant. Seriously. Picked up reading like it was nothing. And he is my technology guy. He loves computers .... and the wii. His favorite color is "sky blue" and he loves to eat Swedish Pancakes, chicken legs and noodles. He is sensitive and wants to make everyone around him happy. He tries to do what's right and does pretty well at that. He loves primary songs and will often walk around the house singing them. He'll be baptized Saturday. I'm so proud of him. And so grateful he is my little guy!

Conversations with Cameron

2010-08-04T20:35:00.000-07:00

Tonight I was snuggling up to this little bugger and we were talking about "the move". I asked him if he thought he could handle packing up his room.

Cameron: I can't wait to pack up my room cause then I get to unpack it and it's like at Christmas when we get out all the decorations. (very excitedly, but sweetly with a wave of the hands)

Me: You're so cute that sometimes I want to eat you.

Cameron: Why would you want to do that? I would probably taste like footballs.

Me: Why do you think you would taste like footballs?

Cameron: Because I land in the grass and dirt a lot. Sometimes I even land in dog poop!

(:

Trade offs

2010-07-20T21:03:00.000-07:00

The punk in blue starts kindergarten. Will it devestate us girls not to have him around all day? I want him to go to school and have fun with new friends. But.... I also want him home with me..... And do you see how Anna looks at him?

This little girl has done quite well. We've started checking her blood every couple of weeks instead of every week. We still check her daily for bruises.
However... she has had 7 bloody noses in the last 48 hours. I'm trying not to freak out because she doesn't have massive bruising, but that's a lot of bloody noses. Sunday night she had 1. Monday she had 4. It would start with a sneeze. Today she has had 2. We went in for platelet counts today and will get those back tomorrow. I'm hoping it's just the weather. Or maybe she's lying to me and she has been picking her nose. (:
I looked out the window and saw her outside with her brothers with the toilet paper shoved up her nose to try and plug it up. My heart sank and I went right back to May 23rd.
I'm writing this later in the day. Her counts came back in and they did drop a little, but are still within normal limits. (: Her bloody noses are most likely due to the weather. Humid/ dry flip flopping. Whew!
Did this last weekend. Lots of fun! We'll miss our trampoline. You see it's cemented into the ground. It won't be coming with us... I guess we'll swing from the trees instead. Maybe a zipline!! I LOVE THOSE!

I will miss this view on my morning walks. Not sure why I took a pic of this house when there are prettier houses around. I just love the open fields with the mountains in the back.

I posted a pic of our new backyard, but not the inside.

Needs a little updating, yeah?

The kitchen. Large, but..... not so pretty. I have to wait a few months to gut this sucker.

So maybe I'll do my cooking here.

And this will be our new dining room...

Because this is a great view too.

Summer Fun

2010-07-09T13:28:00.000-07:00

It's been a fantastic summer! Here's a taste of what we've been up to!

Picnics at the courthouse. Our favorite night is Thursdays. It's Prescott Karaoke Idol. So fun! Followed by ice cream at Kendalls.

Koby taking Anna out to dance. Such a good brother!

Yeah, he was bribed with ice cream.

Listening to music in the grass.

Making new friends at the town square

Too cute to resist!

Anna's dance recital

Sassy girl

British Soccer Camp!

Sooooooooo fun!

And Billy is a serious stud muffin.

Go Billy!

Koby feeling anxiety

2 seconds later
Koby feeling joy.

They won!

Anna's not allowed to play soccer this year.
She didn't mind.

She hung with her cousin playing Polly Pockets and eating snacks. (:

Woohoo!

I just missed these two cousins high five'in it.
I wish they could always play soccer together!

They are 5 year old stud muffins!

One of the homework assignments this year was to make a "crazy sandwich". This is Billy's.
Peanut butter, bbq chips, swedish fish and marshmallows. EWWWWW!

Our new favorite activity. Paddleboarding at the lake.

Not the greatest picture, but proof that even I can do it!

The boys out on the lake with their cousins
Waterfights later ensued.

Happy as a trout

Kelsey started this water fight.

Uh oh. Looks like Uncle Ryan is....

Goin' down!!!

Grandma Cook and Anna on our way to the parade

Aren't these boys adorable? I mean rugged and manly looking?

These girls are so adorable I might just hug my computer.

Begging for candy at the parade

Our favorite float.
Stand Up for the Constitution!

My babe and I

My family. We're being dorks.

And if all works out as we think.... my new backyard on Wednesday.

Conversations with Anna

2010-07-08T20:49:00.000-07:00

So tonight I was laying with Anna before she went to bed and this is how it went...

Anna: Mom! The boys said I'm a "spy girl" now!

Me: What does that mean?

Anna: That means at night I can sneak out of my bed and I go right there (pointing) and look at you and Dad and you don't even know.

Me: Really? Are your brothers "spy boys"?

Anna: Yeah. They been spy boys for a long time.

Reminds me of when I was a kid and we used to "spy" on my parents. We thought they were having a party every night without us. We heard the blender turn on and the milkshakes were being whipped out.... so unfair!

But what kind of spy girl gives away all her secrets??! She is so dang funny! They each have their own personality and I think they're fun to be with. Except for when they're fighting or not listening to me!

So, Anna is doing very well! Way better than her doctor thought. I'm sure they need to give worst case scenario to prepare the parents, but I think we've shocked our docs! I was excited because Anna has held her counts steady for the last two weeks (she actually went up 1) but in my mind, she held steady and didn't fall. Then a friend mentioned the other day that Ryan had told her that her counts rose all on their own. Why didn't I see it this way? So, 1 isn't much, but that is seriously a blessing. Her platelet count did raise all on its own, without medicine involved. We're celebrating! It's not over yet and they could fall again, but I'm feeling very optimistic!!

A Brown Friend Reunion.. very beachy

2010-06-14T14:30:00.000-07:00

For Memorial Day we got together with our dear friends, the Browns.

We moved into our ward in Texas on the same day. Our husbands were both doing residencies (her husband is an ER doc) and we had the same last name. People confused us for months. We had a great time catching up, watching our kids grow up and playing Settlers of Catan. A game that we used to play over and over and over... We had so much fun with the Browns, then and now......

Erika and I
Here we are having a deep and lively conversation about solving world hunger, or maybe just about potty training.

Sadly, I only have two pictures of us from the whole trip. I guess that's because we always have the cameras. This was a more flattering pic of me, so it's the one I'm posting. She has a beautiful baby wrapped around her and that's always flattering. (:
My favorite picture. My hot husband and my sweet baby girl.

The kids revisiting the whole they dug earlier in the day.

Not sure what she's doing.... ?

Oh so fun!!

Koby watching his Dad surf ... on a paddleboard....

Billy building a sandcastle

Anna posing for the camera

Starting our magic kingdom

The gigantic hole. They spent at least an hour digging it out.

Looks like she had a purple cow milkshake, but she still looks so cute!

Hangin outside the beachouse... literally.

The couple walking out their gate were wild. I had to get them in the pic too because every night Ryan and I had to hear every single bit of their wildness. (; And she was totally faking!

I LOVE this picture!

Cameron, Billy, Scott and Koby

Old buddies.

The girls doing sand angels.

More sandcastles

Ryan paddleboarding. He's on his knees instead of his feet. I'm thinking this was his last run. It's hard in the ocean. Not that I tried it there. I prefer the calm waters of the lake. (:

Anna's favorite thing to do. Sea anemone kisses.

She had her birthday at the beach. Just what she wanted and all she could talk about at the hospital. Her birthday wishes: Ride the Ferris Wheel at the Fun Zone, ride the ferry, eat a Balboa Bar and play at the beach. She got that and more. When we asked her what her favorite part of her birthday was, she said...... having cake at Aunt Sharon's with her aunts and Grammy!!!

We love the beach and the Browns!

Can't wait to do it again!

Things I love..

2010-06-11T18:53:00.000-07:00

1. My husband. So, he's not a "thing", but I still love him at the top of my list. It's our anniversiary and he helped me find some new "things" to love! I won't do a cheesy post about all the reasons I love him, I've done that a few times, but because of him, I have a few other loves listed below!

2. Prescott. Plain and simple. I love it here. Maybe I don't LOVE it here in the Spring (still cold and windy), but I do the rest of the year! Last night we rode a tandem bike around downtown and stopped at the square for Karaoke Night. I literally looked at him with tears in my eyes as I told him that I love our little town. During the summer it's so much fun! Every night they have an event at the square. Kids run through the grass barefoot, old married couples dance to the live bands playing and we all lick our ice cream cones from Kendalls. (: It feels a bit like Mayberry.

3. Motor Lodge. We stayed the night here after reading about it in Arizona Highways. Such a fun, retro place. They had a bowl of fresh fruit and sparkling cider for us in the mini fridge too.

4. Paddle boarding. So peaceful and beautiful today. We went to Goldwater Lake and it was a bit cloudy, windy and cool. Thank goodness I didn't fall in.

Oooh! And the Farmer's Market starts tomorrow. So fun! Want to come for a visit. I'll take you everywhere but the Motor Lodge. That's reserved for my man. (:

Our hematologist said..

2010-06-05T10:35:00.000-07:00
I started typing this and laughed. It reminded me of my SIL Angie's Christmas card. The theme was, "Things I never Thought I'd Say".

The mustache fading quickly. Today she only has bruising in the creases!

Anyway, our hematologist called to talk (thought he was actually laughing) about Anna's blood count from yesterday. (Let's just say the appointment did not go well. She screamed "I'm not doing this again! and when I asked her if she'd rather get a little blood test or end up at the hospital again her exact words were, "I would RATHER do NEITHER! I want to go home and stay there!" Then she popped the needle in her rage and squirted the sweet nurse with her blood! Whew! Can't wait to do that each week!) Anyways! Our pediatrician had called the night before and was shocked because he had never seen a count so high. Especially when a week and a half ago he had never seen a count so low. And while high is good, too high is bad. You know how our bodies need balance. But the pediatrician said, we might as well enjoy it and let Anna play at the park for the next 2 days. I wasn't sure what to think, I was concerned about the dangers of having counts go too high and worried about why her body is responding so unpredictably. She also had a fever yesterday. So I felt relieved when the hematologist started the conversation with, "You've got a wild little girl". (He has no idea!) He said he would worry more about the high counts in an adult than a child her age and that we are planning on her counts dropping a fair amount here in the next week or so. Whenever the IVIG is out of her system. He said he's seen counts drop from high to back where they started and he's also seen them drop from high to a fairly stable count. Though they'll probably be a bit up and down for the next few months. He said not to let her play because it would confuse her. I say to heck with him! We're going to the park! She understands that she has to be careful, though we have to remind her. And if you ask her what's wrong she'll tell you, "My blood isn't working so good, but it's getting better". I'll just explain to her that she has to be careful again next week. (:

In the meantime, we'll party! Just don't tell the hematologist!

We had a Birthday!!!

2010-06-05T10:31:00.001-07:00

Anna turned 4!!!

So crazy. Where does the time go? I swear I just gave birth to this little firecracker. (: I am so grateful for her and the energy she has. She is so friendly and excited pretty much all the time. She loves everyone and is always ready to try something new. The perfect mix of tomboy and girly girl. She adds just the right dimension to our high testosterone family. I love how she has so much confidence and she takes her own road. When I found out I was having a girl after 3 boys, I panicked a bit. I was confused about how to put tights on a baby and realized I have no idea how to do their hair. Not to mention the fact that the only toys we had were trains, trucks and dinosaurs. So grateful she came to us. Not only did Ryan and I need her but my boys did too!

All she wanted for her birthday was to go to the beach. All we wanted were platelets. Looks like we all got our birthday wishes. Next post will be very "beachy"!

Anna's condition and our stay at Phoenix Children's Hospital

2010-05-26T14:30:00.000-07:00

So, our world was rocked a bit this weekend. Let me start by saying this blog is my journal. So some of this you may this find boring. But I will also put stuff on here for family and friends that want to understand her condition better. Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura. But it is commonly referred to as simply ITP. Unfortunately, she had a severe form of ITP.

It all started with the bruises on Friday. Unexplained. I thought she'd been playing too rough on the plastic pool in the yard.

Then Saturday the bruises were a little worse. I decided to put the pool away for a few days and see if that cleared things up.

Sunday she fell and hit her mouth during a tea party. A tiny scratch and a bloody nose that wouldn't stop bleeding. Ryan grabbed her and checked her body over. More bruises... everywhere.

We called our pediatrician (who is amazing. Dr. Hinton if you live in Prescott. We love him! Hope he doesn't mind that I posted his name) he pretty much diagnosed it over the phone and sent us to the ER for a blood count. At the hospital they told us we needed to head straight to children's hospital in Phoenix. She had a blood platelet count of less than 1,000. Normally a person has about 150,000 to 350,000 at any given time.

This was bad.

When things were under control, doc texted Ryan back and told him he had NEVER seen a count so low. Our hematologist even said they don't usually see kids with ITP having a platelet count go that low.

One of the scariest aspects for us was that this is a sign of leukemia. More tests at Phoenix Children's told us that she did not have leukemia. Just a blood disorder that could be controlled.

WHEW!

They had us stay in the leukemia ward because she had a blood disorder and that's where the hemonc doctors are. Our sweet little roommate has a bad form of leukemia. They found out she had leukemia the first day we were there (Sunday) then on Tuesday they found out it wasn't good. Broke our hearts.

Anna and I hanging out Sunday. We had to change the gauze for her bloody nose every ten minutes because the whole thing would be soaked. Aren't you glad I didn't post that picture?!
Even though her injury was tiny, her blood wouldn't clot. Her lip looked like this by Sunday night. Bleeding internally.

So, they started by giving her IVIG. A medicine to get her spleen to stop killing her platelets. She was making platelets fine, her body just kept killing them off left and right. That's why her counts dropped so quickly. They gave her the IVIG twice. Usually they give one dose but her counts were so low they decided that she should have it twice. The IVIG has side effects of headache, fever and nausea. Boy did she end up with all 3. She was a serious puke bag! I take that back. I was the puke bag.

She was pretty happy and did pretty well most of the time. She absolutely hated the IV, but who doesn't??

Monday morning. Taking care of her baby.

She had lots of visitors. One of the hospital nurses commented on all of her bling bling. Cute pj's and slippers and toys. She told them it's because she had "lots of people that loved her and they brought her presents". (:

At lunch they asked her if she wanted chicken noodle soup. She asked, "Is it my mom's? Because sometimes she makes it and I like hers". Isn't she so sweet?!
I felt so loved by our families too. My mom and mother in law stayed with us on Sunday for quite a while. My brother Justin met us at the hospital and took our kids home with him. Thanks to all that visited and brought us food!
Thank you!
Her brothers came to visit and got to play in the play area.
I am amazed at this place and the volunteers. If you can, donate to the cause.
The ChildLife program is what the kids truly live for each day in the leukemia ward. Everyone is so upbeat and they do amazing crafts and games. They are all going through this yucky stuff together and this is their chance to step away from the yuck and to play with others going through the same thing as them, or their brothers and sisters and parents. I honestly can't say enough about the volunteers there. The kids had lots of fun.

Oh yeah. We decided to drive down, but then we ran into the HORRIFIC traffic on the 17. 2 weeks ago I went to my mom's and it took almost twice as long to get there because of construction traffic. We stopped a policeman and told him our situation. He escorted us through to the first crash sight (we didn't get far at all) and then we drove on the shoulder for a few miles. People were so rude, honking swearing, you name it. Anyway, it was a parking lot, so Ryan got off on a side road and we did some 4 wheeling down to Phoenix. (:
Anna laughed the whole way.
Monday afternoon she said she wanted a party in her room. We ordered pizza and invited some visitors. By the time the pizza and visitors arrived she was feeling awful again and wouldn't even talk or smile to anyone. Didn't eat a bite of food either. No problem, we all polished it off.

Her IVIG makes her sleepy and soooooo irritable!
Isn't she a doll?!

Anna's friend Roberta. Roommates. They would watch tv on the edge of their beds and chat with their stuffed animals, then they would head to the playroom. (:

The last day we were there we found out that Roberta had lice.

The nurses think we'll be okay because the eggs hadn't hatched yet.

Praying they're right!

Poor Anna thought she's was feeling better so we went to the playroom.

She sat down to do some painting and puked all over the table.

The whole room cleared out in seconds. We finished our art back in bed with our puke bins nearby. (:

See. The girl got serious bling! A feather boa!!

Her brothers really do love her.

Some of Anna's art. Anna left the picture on the right for the "art teacher" to keep and then she copied it and framed it and brought it to Anna. SO NICE and so unexpected!

One of our sweet nurses, Katie. She was constantly bringing Anna hot packs for her IV.

That seemed to make the whole IV thing tolerable.

Anna kept telling the docs and nurses she was ready to go home (in between puking) She was done. Not going to do it anymore. She would hand them the puke bucket and say, "I'm not sick anymore. Here, take my princess pillow (IV). I don't want it"

Finally about 10pm they said she was stable enough to check out if we wanted or stay till the morning. Ha! 3 days in the hospital was not going to be 4! We flew the coop! Got home at midnight. Anna only threw up one more time after that and took one more dose of tylenol. This morning she seems to be doing pretty good.

We all slept till about 9 a.m!

OUT COLD!

Some things I learned in my crash course on platelets

1. ITP is not contagious. Yes it often stems from a virus, but it's the bodies reaction to the virus- usually chickenpox, measles, even the flu. The spleen goes into overdrive killing ALL platelets.

2. About 4 kids in 100,000 get it. Not terribly common or uncommon

3. It's only life threatening if not controlled

4. 80 percent have acute ITP and grow out of it in about 6 months, the other 20% have chronic ITP

5. Worst case scenario is... well, we won't talk about what could happen in an uncontrolled environment, because it probably won't happen, but if it's chronic then removing the spleen is an option.

6. She has a HUGE list of things she can no longer do for the next several months, so if you are brave enough to have her come play, please don't be offended if I share the list with you.

7. This opens her up to become more artistic and musical. Maybe she'll be reading chapter books soon!

8. It's most often caused by a virus after a case of chickenpox, mumps, measles, rubella. She hasn't had any of these and has been immunized. ?? Weird.

9. She has to have her blood drawn once a week for the next 6 months (approximately).

That will suck!

10. They don't expect another hospitalization. But possibly some IV of the drug Wynro through the outpatient center. She has the RH factor and this works really well with that.

11. A health crisis is great to have at the end of the school year. The kids aren't doing much and my dear husband, who is much better at understanding all of this than I am, doesn't work as much!

Thank goodness he was with us for most of the time. I was only on my own for a 24 hour time period!

We are doing well. No need to bring meals. (: She's happy as a clam. Still looks a little scary, but we are so grateful all is well! The doctor couldn't believe how her platelet count rose to 50,000 in just a few days. I believe it was because of all the prayers in her behalf.

Thank you!

Oh what do you do in the Summertime.....

2010-05-23T18:09:00.000-07:00

When all the world is green....
Do you know that song?
Love it!!
So it has been 80 degrees for two days in a row.
Hallelujah!
So...... we celebrated.
I love that a little inflatable pool, some milkshakes and some fun neighbors are all these kiddos need for a good time. I love that we have so many great neighbors right on the streets around us. I also love that my garden is "springing back to life".
Cameron was playing in the backyard this morning when I came home from Target. I had just bought some "lemonade stand" supplies because they have been asking to do a lemonade stand forever. Cameron came in and said, "Mom, I was thinking this day would be good for a lemonade stand". I laughed and told him I had thought the same thing! So, we went for it!

This pretty butterly liked our lemonade stand.

So did lots of our sweet neighbors.

Quit your day job folks.

All you need is some Country Time and a wagon.

They brought home a whopping $33 after an hours' worth of sales.

Whew!

Too soon

2010-05-21T17:25:00.000-07:00

Cameron had his kindergarten shots and his kinder screening this week. He has been so excited. Can hardly wait to go to school with his big brothers. I asked him where he wanted to go to school and he said "Wherever Koby and Billy go".

While he was getting.....5 shots yesterday.... Anna started crying. She was so upset standing next to him trying to comfort him with tears going down her cheeks. I was impressed that she didn't cry and run away, or close her eyes, but she stood with him asking him if he wanted her to sing him a song and telling him over and over, "It's okay. You'll get 5 stickers when we go home". So sweet. Loving her brother as only a sister can. (:

On the way to dance that day she said, "Mom. I don't want to go to kindergarten. I'll just go to Miss Gina forever and then stay with you". Oh darling, wish it worked that way.

I was wiping the counters after they had all left for school, thinking about how nice it will be when they are all in school. No messes throughout the day, just the beginning and end of the day. (: But then I realized with that. There will be no giggling, silly questions, random dancing and karate moves. There will also be no fighting. But will the house be too quiet? My neighbors will be happy. Less screaming from the kids and from me!

But then.... what do I do? Don't get me wrong, there are a million things I've been dreaming of for years. Maybe I'll exercise more... and not at 5:30 a.m. Maybe I'll take some classes at the college. Go to lunch with friends and go shopping. I'll be volunteering at their schools for sure. But when it comes down to it... that sounds lonely. Right now I get kisses and hugs and temper tantrums all day. Non stop talking thanks to Anna.

Preschool graduate with his boys.
Notice the pictures above. Anna has the bubble gum shirt
and Cameron is in turquoise.
Miss Gina does it every year. Precious!

Cam and Anna with the amazing Miss Gina.

Me with my sweet babies.
I look a little posessed in the eyeballs and my tshirt is a little screwy, but it's the only one I have of Cameron not sticking out his tongue. (:
I can call them my babies because they still sleep with us on a VERY regular basis.

Princess Party

2010-05-21T17:23:00.000-07:00

Grandma Cook threw a party for all her grandaughters. It was SO much fun! First was dress ups, then cupcake decorating and a tea party. We moved on to pizza, ginormous bubble baths and a Bella Dancerella. The girls finally went to bed around 10:30 and got up early the next morning for Swedish Pancakes and Princess gifts. We also painted Grandpa's toenails pink while he was sleeping! They had such a great time with eachother and their Grandparents. Thanks Mom!

Whew... fancy!

My niece Kelsey is the oldest. She was so sweet playing along with the little ones. She also had some pretty good camera action!

Grandma Cook laughing at the sprinkle mountains.

Tea time

Bubble Bath

Can you say Princess Diaries?

Easy Breezy Beautiful

Ballet

Matching pj's!!! Ava was tired.

Cousins in the morning

Anna and Ava

1 day apart!

Painting Grandpa's toenails..... PINK

He was hamming it up for the girls!

"I don't do pink" he said.

Look at the girls faces. They had some serious giggles.

And the latest little additon.

My little sister had her 3rd baby girl, Livi.

Isn't she sooooo cute?!

Out of the mouths of babes

2010-05-10T08:03:00.000-07:00

I was driving Koby home from piano lessons and commented that we should have given his piano teacher a card or something, because it was Teacher Appreciation Week. Then the conversation got good. Really good. So, good I had to post it here so that when he is 14 I can remind him. Here's how it went.

Me: We should have gotten a gift for your piano teacher since it's Teacher Appreciation Week

Koby: But mom, all adults are kind of like teachers. You're a teacher.

Me: You're right. I used to be a teacher. Your friends parents are your teachers at church....

Koby: No, you're a teacher now. You teach me stuff.

Me: So, what do I teach you?

Koby: Like.. everything I know.

Exact words there. Warmed my heart.

Also, my kids didn't fight yesterday. Well, maybe 2 SMALL episodes. But an uncle took care of one episode and Ryan took care of the other, so I didn't have to deal with it!

The older kids gave me little gifts they made at school. I could tell the younger kids were feeling bad because they ran off to bring me a "present". Anna brought me one of her stick horses and said, "Happy Mother's Day. I got this for you!" Cameron ran to the garage and brought back a Christmas ornament he found with a similar line, "I made this for you. It's pretty, huh?". Poor kids. I oohed and ahhed through their lies trying to make them feel better, is that wrong? Billy showered me with gifts. I tell you, his future wife is going to be a lucky girl. (:

And have I mentioned that I love my husband. He was so incredibly helpful yesterday. We had a lot going on this weekend, but he was a rock the whole time.... as always!

And I didn't mention my two favorite women! I love you Mom and Kathy! You are both such amazing women with strength and beauty!

April

2010-04-26T10:34:00.000-07:00

Thursday, April 22nd. Yep, snow and slush all day.

I don't know these kids, but I was working at the Children's Museum
here that day and I thought they did a great job.
Pinochio, a robot and a picture frame.

Went to Out of Africa twice in April.
Once for Koby's field trip and once with the family.
Watching these people play with tigers is
C R A Z Y!!!

This giraffe is so cute! We all got to feed him.

Found these two on the safari too. They're even
cuter than the giraffe!

Koby and I on the bus ride home.

The weather was gorgeous on a "no school day" so we
went with some favorite friends on a hike.

Camping with Grandpa here in Mayer at the Hunt Club.
Apparently my boys are bird hunters.
This is horrible, close your eyes and don't read.
But my kids actually wrung the birds necks.
I so don't get hunting.

We parked our campsite under this tree.
Beautiful!

Billy's field trip to the nature center. The kids couldn't stop smelling
tree bark because the docent told them that different trees have a different
"dessert smell". Vanilla, chocolate, etc. We couldn't stop laughing because the kids were
constantly smelling the trees!
Love this girl!
Ballerina in tennis shoes and sloppy pig tails!
So cute!! So full of spunk!

We had belt promotions at taekwando.
Here's Cameron practicing his self defense.

The boy can catch some air!

The taekwando supporter.
As long as her brothers don't practice on her.

Billy broke the board!
He's a stud muffin.

Koby about to break the board. He's a stud muffin too.
Does this remind anyone of karate kid when he's
standing on the beam one one foot?
We also celebrate Fiesta.
It's a San Antonio event.
And yes, there are things about Texas that I miss.
We honor Fiesta every year in our Arizona backyard.
Anna made a butterfly float for the "Battle of the Flowers Parade"

Decorating our boxes for the big parade.

The line up. Ready to go.

Cameron made a volcano float.
He is sooooooo creative!
Koby made a jungle float, so did Billy.

Look at these adorable girls and their adorable floats.

Allyson, that confetti looks great on you!

Love this shot!

The mess. It's all cleaned up now. There was lots of YUMMY food and
about 50 people. We managed to pretty much eat everything.

Anna in her "fiesta dress".
Yes, we had a pinata.
No, my husband wasn't thrilled.
He got over it pretty quick.
Do you sometimes want to cry when you look at your calendar on Sunday night?
This was before we synched our phones. There were 5 updates.
It's even worse now.
So, I went swinging in the backyard with my kiddos.
Before the chaos on Monday begins.
See, we really did clean up the yard.
Thanks Papa for the swing!
It's my refuge.

In parting I'll leave this.
Because it makes me happy and
I have lots of cleaning and laundry to do inside.