We're Baaack!

The beautiful red-rock hills in back of Kelly's mom's house

I haven't blogged in so long that I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed at trying to catch up. We just got back from our Arizona/Utah Thanksgiving trip. We spent the first few days in Arizona, at Kelly's Mom's new house. I'm so happy that she finally has a home of her own. Kelly spent most of his time there working out in her yard helping to finish a rock retaining wall made out of the foundation stones of his grandparent's house that was originally on that lot. It turned out looking so great (of course, I forgot to take a picture of the finished product). Kelly had so much fun driving around in the Bobcat leveling things out. He had to give all the kids a ride:) We also enjoyed seeing most of Kelly's family, the only one we missed was his oldest sister who lives in Texas.

We headed up to Utah on Wednesday to spend Thanksgiving with my side of the family. My grandparents reserved their church and we had most of their kids and a lot of their grand kids there. It was so nice to see everyone, especially since we live so far away and don't see them very often. My aunt and uncle brought a bunch of scooters and balls, so we had some pretty mean games of dodge ball, basketball, and the kids had races with the scooters. After we got the cultural hall back in order we headed over to my Uncle Brent's house to hang out. The boys watched football, the girls chatted, and the kids (grown-up kids too) played "Guitar Hero," we all had a blast!

We spent the remaining days at my sister's house. On Friday Mel, my mom, and I did a little shopping, I finished up for my family so I wouldn't have to mail stuff later. In the afternoon we headed to Salt Lake to see the Joseph Smith movie at the JS Memorial Building and then walk around Temple Square to see the lights. It was so busy and cold that we just wanted to get out of there. We went to "The Pantry" at the Lion House to eat afterwards. It wasn't very busy, but the line took forever since the ran out of food on the opening night of the Temple lights!! Can you believe that? Oh, I forgot to mention the fender bender we got into in Park City on our way to SLC. That might account for the impatience we were feeling with the crowds and lines. I'm grateful we have a big car and that nothing serious happened. We were following my aunt and uncle who were following my sister and her husband. A car slammed on their brakes in front of my sister who barely missed the car, my uncle slammed on his brakes who barely missed my sister and we slammed on our brakes and hit my uncle who then hit my sister. It sucks, but at least no one was hurt and we're grateful for insurance:)

Saturday, we attempted to get an extended family picture. We did outdoor shots early in the morning. It was freezing cold, so the babies were very grumpy, as were some of the adults:) Hopefully we got some shots that will work. Kelly and Riley were able to get tickets to the BYU/Utah football game and went with my uncle. My little sister Rachel and her boyfriend, Brandon watched Bronson and Hannah while the rest of us took the older kids to see "Enchanted" we really enjoyed it, although it was a bit scary to Nalani and Maika. After that we picked up some Papa Murphy's, it was definitely a pizza night!

I'm so grateful for our family. We always have a great time seeing everyone and the kids absolutely love being with their cousins! Logan was crying because she didn't want to leave, they always ask if we can move to Utah for a couple weeks after we get back:) Thanks to everyone who let us crash in their houses and eat their food! You all always take good care of us when we visit. We love you! I hope everyone else had a great Thanksgiving too!

Our turn!

Well, it was our turn this weekend to have our pictures taken by Shannon. I think she did a great job, given the subject matter she had to deal with! Namely, one grumpy little Bronson! We will catch him on a happier day when he can handle sitting by himself without mom and dad having to hold him every second! Here's a sampling of some of my favorites! Thanks again, Shannon!

Anxiety...Attacks!

Last night I was watching a TV program called "Jon & Kate Plus 8". It is about a couple who struggled with infertility. The first time they tried invitro, it resulted in twin girls, three years later they tried it again and it resulted in sextuplets! Three girls and three boys!

So, the show is just about their daily life...with two 6-year-olds, and six 3-year-olds! I was having anxiety attacks just watching it. I was absolutely amazed, and I guess, overwhelmed, because I had nightmares about it all night long! Kelly and I were "John and Kate". I woke up so relieved to only have my four kiddos with their different ages and different stages at different times:) I cannot imagine having to do it all at once. Let alone the stretch marks this poor woman's stomach has after carrying eight babies in only two pregnancies!

End Result

Bronson is in the stage where the only way he will eat is if he feeds himself. So these are a few pictures of the end result. He usually eats without his shirt on, just to save on the Spray 'n Wash budget.

Bronson after a spaghetti dinner.

Bronson after an oatmeal breakfast.

Bronson in his usual bath spot.

He's usually way too messy to carry up the stairs and risk all the food falling off on the carpet. So, I usually strip him down and bathe him right in the sink. I even keep a bottle of baby wash in my windowsill.

Daddy Daughter Date

This weekend we were minus two kids. My friend, Candy, took Logan and Maika to their beach house Thursday through Sunday because the schools were out for parent/teacher conferences. She should receive some sort of sainthood in my "never to be humble opinion". She said they had a great time and my girls helped her girls to stay entertained. They got to go see the new "Bee Movie" and played a lot on the beach. I guess it was great weather on the coast, they couldn't even fly kites one day because there wasn't enough wind:) We never get that lucky, even when we go in the summer! Thanks Candy, the girls had such a great time!!

Kelly was supposed to go to the Oregon/Arizona football game but got the shaft at the last minute because some customer decided he wanted to go. The nerve! So his back-up plan was to take Nalani to "Disney Princesses on Ice". He was very excited to take her, he even went to the Disney Store the night before and bought her a new shirt, skirt, tights, and a "Going to the ball" kit which included sunglasses, cell phone, earrings, purse, fan, and a notepad and pen! I asked Kelly why we couldn't all go, since that only included Bronson and myself. He was adamant that Bronson could NOT go to Princesses on Ice! Maybe something else on ice but NOT Princesses! So, Bronson and I stayed home and took down Halloween decorations and pulled the dead flowers out of the yard while Kelly took Nalani on their date.

They got there early enough to walk around and spend a lot of money on some cheap toys. They even saw a few people they knew (Kennedy and her aunt Cindy). Kelly said Nalani sat on his lap the whole time and was mesmerized! Each time a new princess came out she would get all excited and say "ooh look, Ariel!" or whoever it was. Her favorites were Ariel and Sleeping Beauty. Kelly came home very impressed with the show and said he would do it again. I guess he liked it better than the time he took Maika and Nalani to "The Wiggles":)

One last story about Nalani: Yesterday after I picked her up from Nursery she was showing me the picture she colored of a Thanksgiving Indian. She was very proud of it! She then noticed Tammy's husband in front of us and started running after him yelling, "Hey, Jesus, look what I got!" I, needless to say, busted up laughing! This man has a full beard and I guess she thought he resembles Jesus a bit:) Too cute! And how sweet and innocent it was, it made me think we should all be living our lives so when He comes again we would be running up to him excited to show what we've been doing with our lives...

Halloween 2007

This is the best picture of my kids that I could find! As you can see, Logan followed in my shoes:) Maika was Tigger for the third year in a row. Nalani was Minnie Mouse and Bronson was our Bumble Bee. It was actually beautiful weather so everyone stayed pretty warm. We started our evening out with the traditional Halloween supper of Taco Soup, thanks to Rochelle! Then, we took the kids around the neighborhood for about an hour before heading over to the church for Trunk-or-Treating. We got waaaayyy too much candy, and I unfortunately have been sneaking some myself:( I need to be like Rochelle and throw it all out! Oh well, tomorrow I'll do better, right? RIGHT! We hope you all had a fun Halloween! Here are a few more pictures of the night.

Viva Las Vegas!

Let me start by saying I have the greatest husband! About a month ago Kelly came home and suggested that I plan a little get-away. That was about all he had to say for the wheels to get turning in my head. For a few hours on Wednesday I thought it might not happen because of an emergency dealing with Kelly's work in California. I was pretty proud of myself for not freaking out and it eventually worked itself out so that Kelly could still stay with our kids. Thanks so much, Babe! So, the end result was that on Thursday I left to meet my sister, Melanie and my mom in Las Vegas for a long weekend. This is what we accomplished:

• two breakfasts at Denny's (gotta love the French Toast Slam!)
• one mani/pedi
• lots of shopping (I'm down a pant size! yeah for me!)
• two good dinners (one at Outback and one at Hugo's Cellar)
• one session at the Las Vegas Temple (where I met a brother of a friend of Kelly's family, small world!)
• three thrill rides (two on the Stratosphere which were CRAZY! And the roller coaster around New York, New York)
• watched one movie ("Dan, in Real Life" which was good,but painful to watch the awkwardness of the situation. Sort of reminiscent of watching "Meet the Parents" for the first time, which is now one of my favorite movies.)
• lots of laughing and making of jokes!
• one and one-half books read (finished "Love, Ruby Lavender" by Deborah Wiles, who wrote one of my favorite books called "Each Little Bird that Sings" I highly recommend both of these, they can be found in the children/young adult section. I started this month's book for my book group called "The Hiding Place" about WWII Holland and a family helping refugee Jews, also very good!)
• three hours laying by the pool (it was 85 degrees down there!)
• lots of driving around, looking for the movie theater (for all the lights and advertising that goes on in Vegas, I'll give you a dollar if you can find a sign for a movie theater without trying REAL hard!)
• lots of phone calls home to make sure everything was going okay (and because I REALLY started missing everybody!)
• lots of pictures taken (because of my blog. I know my mom and Melanie were probably so sick of me bringing it up!)
• hugs goodbye (and me,secretly planning for next year)
• lots of waiting in lines (for the rides, but the worst was the airport on Sunday! If you're "Leaving Las Vegas" give yourself a LOT of time. I got there almost two hours early and the people were telling me, "oh you might make your flight." I made my flight.)

I had such a fun time but I'm so glad to be home! When Kelly and the kids picked me up from the airport everyone was happy to see me. Everyone, that is, but Bronson! I think he was punishing me for leaving or something. He didn't want anything to do with me for the first few hours, he only wanted his daddy. I walked in to our house and everything was so nice and clean! Kelly even cleaned the bathrooms and mopped the kitchen floor. Like I said, I have the greatest husband! Thanks Mel and Mom for a fun weekend and thanks again, Kelly,for letting me go and taking care of everything else!