Brinkie Bunch

T-Givin' and the Turkey Trott!

2011-11-30T13:49:00.001-08:00

Thanksgiving (or t-givin as we liked to call it) was great we had Crama (grandma) Bonnie, Aunt Rissie, the Matt and Michele Brinkerhoff's, the Saari family, the Floyd's, and of course my mom and dad. Lots of yummy food, and great company! Kelly makes an AMAZING brown bag turkey!! Here he is getting it out and ready! I don't have a lot of great pic from thanksgiving this year but heres what I got!
Ladies hards at work!
The kids played in the yard across the street for a while!
At one point Aunt Rissie took Kaylee to get all the kids slurpees! Haha AND my friend Cami's little girl hung out in her swim suit for most of the day! Nice weather huh?
Jenna's 3rd annual Turkey Trott was a success! We had about 30 people run the half which was doubled from last year. It was so much fun! I love my sissys so much, and I so enjoy our time running in the mornings. Even if it is at 5!
Here is our red short group! I LOVE all these girls we run with. Cami (on the left) is one of my best friends from Utah who came down for thanksgiving. I got her red shorts to fit in but she decided she would never wear them again so we'll take them back. Oh well we still love you Cami!

Kelly's 34th birthday!

2011-11-30T13:41:00.000-08:00

Kelly turned 34 on November 16th! I have to say I did not plan well and I feel so sorry about it. We did however have a little breakfast date that morning while all the kids were in school. As the day went on Karsyn got sick, kids had homework to be done, and it just didn't work out to do more. I do want to say that I love this man more than anything!! He could not be a better husband. He is so loving, thoughtful, hardworking, funny, HOT, a wonderful father, and so much more. I'm so grateful he is MINE! FOREVER!!!

Karsyn Turned 3!!!

2011-11-19T10:00:00.000-08:00

I can't believe my sweet little baby girl turned 3. That's right! 11-11-11 was her birthday! I just think she is so darling! She is a fun little sassy girl who definitely keeps up with her older siblings. Her and Ky are best little buds, and I am loving having those two home together. We love our little Karsy so much. Happy Birthday Karsyn!!!
I love this sweet little picture of her!

Halloween 2011

2011-11-02T13:09:00.000-07:00

This Halloween was fun! We started it off a few days early with class parties. Here is Kenzie as a cheerless cheerleader. It was fun to help in their classrooms.

Kaylee was an 80's girl. This costume turned out to be way cuter than the cheapy one we could buy.

We went to a ward trunk or treat where I was too busy with my kids that I didn't take any pictures. Then on Halloween I was coming down with the flu and I wasn't the best with taking pics. This was the only one I got, and it's missing Kenzie:( Karsyn was a bumble bee, and Ky was a ninja, a star wars guy, and quite frankly would have rather just worn his own clothes. With sickness going around our house we wern't so into it all this year.

The Thursday before halloween we had halloween zumba. Thanks to Jenna's creativeness me, Jenna, and Kimmy wore matching pirate outfits. We even danced to thriller!!!

This was only half of the people there. Lot's of people dressed up, but some didn't. The best part was that there were a few people that dressed up as me or as me, Jenna, and Kim. It was pretty hillarious!

Nothing was as hillarious as Hans dressing up as me with Kim's zumba clothes, and blond wig with a pomp on top. In all my life I have never had someone dress up as me for halloween!

Philmont

2011-10-16T09:30:00.000-07:00

Back in July we went to a place called Philmont. Our stake presidency and our stake young mens presicency got invited to go. Philmont is a scout camp, and they have new groups of people coming in every week. We were so lucky we got to go during LDS week. There were lots of general people from the church there ready to teach us. The spirit was so strong , and it was an amazing experience for our family.

These are our tents. Oh yea! We stayed in tents for a week, and we loved it! We had the three older kids in the one on the right and Karsyn slept with us in the other one. Life was so simple there. We focused on our family, and we were spiritually fed. Each day the me had classes of scout training, while the kids had their own fun little classes. They did horse back riding, crafts, hikes, games, and more. The women pretty much got to relax, go to really neat classes, and have a wonderful time.

This is one of the days we had free time. A cute little old couple let us fish with them for a while, and each kid got to catch a fish. Loved it!!!

It was so amazing to be in the presence of general leaders at Philmont. This is the general primary pres and her husband, and we also had the general young mens pres there too. They had such great things to share with us, and they opened their arms and welcomed us there. I really didn't want to go, but when we got there, and felt how strong the spirit was, and how much love was there I couldn't help but have this huge lump in my throat trying to hold back tears of grattitude.

These three are awesome dudes! Stake Young mens president Greg Olsen, and his counselors, Brandon McCoy on the left and Kelly Brinkerhoff on the right.

It was so neat to go with all of these families from our stake. We made some great friendships, and learned so much together.

Each family had to make a family flag to bring to Philmont. We hung them up at our tents, and we also used them to introduce our families in a special program. Our family was forever changed by our experience in Philmont. I am so grateful for the gospel, and the opportunities I have to learn and grow. This trip reminded me that Heavenly Father knows us, and he knows what we need in our lives to strengthen us.

Dance Recital

2011-10-05T15:40:00.000-07:00

These pretty little ladies had their dance recital back in May. Kaylee and her cute friend Brooklyn took tap and jazz together, and Kenzie and Brooklyns little sis Alivia also took tap and jazz together. They were so cute! All year we struggled with taking them to dance every wednesday because it was about a 45 min drive there and back. Besides being out there for 2 hours to wait. The Danze Zone was really a great place to have them take dance, but so not convient for our busy life. We loved watching them in their recital, but we decided this year not to put them back in. They had fun, but they are really glad to not be making that track every week!

2011-09-27T16:18:00.000-07:00

This was from last time our family went to disneyland, and I thought I'd do a little post about these great ladies in my life! This picture is so us. Always laughing, and being silly together!!!

I want to say how grateful I am for my mom who somehow raised us to love each other. I don't remember fighting much, but when we did our mom would make us read Mosiah 4:14. It basically talks about how you shouldn't let your children go hungry or naked, and you shouldn't let them serve the devil by fighting. I remember reading this and realizing how important it is not to fight with my siblings. Now as a mother I try my hardest not to let my kids fight. I know it is a normal thing for them to want to fight, but I also know it is important to teach them not to and the reasons why. I love these three women so much, and I am so grateful for the examples they are to me. Just wanted to share .

My Second 1/2 Marathon

2011-09-21T12:42:00.000-07:00

I think the order of my posts is a little off, but oh well! Right before Kelly and I went to Hawaii I ran in another 1/2 marathon with my sisters. My cute teenage nieces ran in the 5K. I had so much fun with all of these girls. Anything is fun when we are together, so I guess if i have to run long distances to spend time with my sissys it's worth it!

11 Year Anniversary

2011-09-20T15:54:00.000-07:00

Kelly and I went to Hawaii last January for our 11 year anniversary. It was so fun to be away for a whole 7 days. We missed our kids, but had so much fun together. We went to Pearl Harbor, and I felt like I wanted to cry the whole time. I just can't imagine being apart of something like that. I loved learning about it!

My hot husband trying to start a fire. It was pretty trickey!

On the beach at the resort we stayed at. So nice!!!

One day we did a hike up to a beautiful waterfall.

We went to the Honolulu temple. We were going to do a session there, but missed it by about 1/2 hour and they had no more sessions for the day. They did however let us do some sealings, and that was pretty awesome. It is so beautiful on those temple grounds. We LOVE Hawaii. We had a great time. AND I'm sure we'll go some more!!!!

Kaylees Baptism

2011-09-20T15:16:00.001-07:00

I guess I will just play catch up from this past year since i figured out the whole picture thing. Last January Kaylee turned 8 and got baptized by her Daddy. It was such a special day shared with lots of family and friends. Kaylee is such a good girl who always wants to do whats right. We love her so much!

2011-09-16T12:58:00.000-07:00

I know I haven't posted in FOREVER! I can't figure out how to upload my pictures from my mac computer. I got it for Christmas and when I click on the picture thingy I can't find my pictures. So POO! We are well here at the Brinkerhoff house. Two kids in all day school is lovely, and my two littles in preschool on Mon, Wed, and Fri mornings. I love all my little munchkins, two pups, and of course my wonderful hubby! I'll keep working on the picture thing! UGH!

Christmas 2010

2011-03-09T16:39:00.000-08:00

I'm finally getting around to catching up on this blog! Christmas was great! We got a new little pup who we named Lily. She's sweet, but puppies are hard!
I love my man!

Sissy's
Santa came to the grandkids Christmas party! So fun!

Cute kids in their Christmas jammies!

2011-02-20T15:33:00.000-08:00

Well I know I'm VERY behind with my blogging. I just sat down to hopefully get caught up and I don't know how to find my pictures on our new computer. BUG!!! Our family has been doing well. Busy as always, but I like it that way. Mostly! We got a new little yorkie puppy for Christmas that keeps us a little more busy. Last month Kelly and I took a wonderful trip to Hawaii! Some good friends of ours stayed with our kids, and we LOVED every minute of our time together. Hopefully I can post some pictures soon! Besides that we are busy with school, gymnastics, dance, my zumba classes, and soon to be soccer. I'm grateful for my family and all of my blessings!

1/2 Marathon and Thanksgiving

2010-12-07T16:23:00.001-08:00

This was really the only picture I got of thanksgiving at our house. We had around 50 friends and family over for thanksgiving dinner. There was LOTS of yummy food!
This year I was able to train and participate in Jenna's organized Turkey Trot! It was the first race I've ever been in, and I loved it. We ran 13 miles which I never thought I could do! I feel so blessed to be able to call each one of these girls my best friend
Me and my sissy Tracy after our run! I look up to Tra so much. She is my best friend and such a good example to me. She gives everything she has to her family, and then some!
The picture is a little dark, but I had to use it. This is one of my greatest friends Cami! She is a real funny gal, and I miss her because she lives in Utah. Something so funny about Cami is that she never even trained for this race. She just showed up and ran 13 miles! Like a champ!
Me n Kimmy! I love to have best friends when it just naturally happens! That is definately how it is with me and Kim. We don't have to work hard at being close, and she is a really great friend to me.
Let me just say my sissy Jenna is a BEAST! We were running together for a while and then she took off all fast and said, "Eat my dust!" Haha just kidding. She was really fast though! She is also my best friend, and such a great example to me. She trained us for this race, and I appreciate all of her helpful knowledge!
I have no pictures of Black Friday:( We had a lot of fun shopping, laughing, and eating! On Saturday my zumba class was so fun at the gym. I love it when all my girls come to my class! It's nice to feel their support!
One last picture of me and Cami. This class was Cami's first ever zumba class, and she did great! I love it when I get an occasional text from her saying she misses zumba. That means I did my job!

Happy Birthday Karsyn!!!

2010-11-12T05:04:00.000-08:00

Thursday was this little cutie's 2nd birthday! I can't even believe she is that old. I've been telling her she can't grow up and get bigger but she's not really listening. Oh man we love her so much! She is definately our fourth child as far as sticking up for herself to her brother and sisters. She does not mess around, and she can handle herself. It's actually pretty funny to watch!
Karsyn has this little tiny elmo that she loves to sleep with as of about 2 months ago. All my other kids have blankies that over the years we loose and they kinda become a real pain. I thought we were doing good for Karsyn to not have anything she's attatched to until her daddy bought her this elmo.
This little baby doll she got last night for her birthday giggles and wiggles her arms and Karsy got a pretty big kick outta her! I LOVE this picturer of her.
We had a small little family party for Karsyn with actually a funny little group. Most people were busy and that was ok! Aunt Tracy got her this birthday girl headband/ crown that she wore for about 2 seconds. Ok maybe 2 minutes!
Karsyn's cousins and siblings were so into her presents. Probably even more than her. Shoot she barely knew it was her birthday! Here's a list of things about Karsyn at the age of 2!
1. Karsyn sleeps by far the longest out of anyone in our house! (I like that)

2. She still has yummy breath that I personally love to sniff! I know I'm weird but i have ALWAYS loved baby's breath.

3. Karsy loves to say her prayers and says everything so cute! I hold her while I help her say them and she always snuggles right up on my shoulder.

4. Recently when I put her in bed after I put covers on Karsyn and Elmo I rub her tummy and say, "I love you!" To which she started responding in the cutest voice ever, "I love you!"

5. Sometimes when I try to lay Karsyn down for a nap she cries and reaches for Kaylee.

6. Kenzie has lots of funny names that she calls Karsyn. Nenol senol frenol, snorgans, nornan!

7. Mine are see see, be se, Karsy, se me boggie do, lady, sissy. I know I'm weird! Where do you think Kenzie gets it?

8. Karsy loves her daddy, and gets so excited when he comes home.

We love Karsyn so much, and we are so greatful to have her in our family!

A Disney Halloween!!!

2010-11-11T07:58:00.000-08:00

This year we went to Disneyland for Halloween! Yes we did pay extra to participate in their Halloween happenings. There were stations set up all over the park to trick-or-treat. At first we wern't so sure about the long lines but they went pretty fast and we got tons of candy! And when we stopped trick-or-treating to ride go on rides the lines wern't long at all! We thought the extra money was well worth it. After all Disney does everything great!!!

Bat girl, Army girl, and fairy girl!

I LOVED Karsyn's costume this year. She was such a cute little cheerleader!
Ky and his dad thought his costume was the best! So this Iron Man costume I got for Ky came with this silly little mask. Of course Kelly wasn't havin that so before we went to the park Kaylee's first costume was broken. Kelly took her to target to find something new. They came home with that cute army girl and this big ol (not messing around) mask. It opened and closed and made Iron Man noises. He also had something that goes on his arm and shoots bullets. As the night went on it was so cute to see how proud Ky and his daddy were of that mask, and Ky would blurt out to anyone and everyone, "I'm Iron Man!" Soooooo cute!
This was the first night. Grandma Bonnie and Rissie took my big girls to Disneyland while we hung out with the Iverson's on Downtown Disney. Haha That's why we have the wrong daughter in our picture! These were some tall dancin ladies!
Well some say we're geeks. Some wonder if we are in junior high. Yes We are geeks just like we are in junior high!! It all started last year in our zumba classes. People would always ask us if we were twins or for sure sisters. So when we went to Disneyland last year we thought it would be funny to dress like twins for one day. Our husbands made fun of us and we laughed all day at ourselves. This year we decided to be Pink Ladies for Halloween. It was fun!
GEEKS!!!

Although we were twins for Halloween we, in our nerdy way threw together another twin day! Sorry to those who got left out:( You know who you are and we meant no harm.
Between us and the Iverson's we have, count them 8 kids, and things are pretty crazy with out group. We had a great trip!
We played hard, and we slept hard. I love these pictures of my family sleeping. Especially these two sisters all snuggled up like they like each other or something. Sometimes I wonder.
Karsy and Daddy. Which by the way was Karsyn's first time not sleeping in a crib and she did AWESOME!!! My baby is growing up. Sniff Sniff:(
I like to call him Booger Bum!

Pumpkin Carving

2010-11-11T07:42:00.000-08:00

Pumpkin carving was fun this year! We had our family along with a few friends. Funny tho that there are no pictures of our cousins.

Ky was having a great time!
I love to see the girls happy and having fun together!

My cute niece Summer helping my Karsy!

2010-10-17T16:10:00.000-07:00

Man I wish I was better at this blog! Every now and then I feel haunted by the fact that I'm not keeping up on my journaling by blogging. Things have been crazy lately. I teach 4 to 5 classes of zumba a week. I have 3 callings. Kids need my time doing homework, going to dance, playing, or lots of other things. The house constantly needs my attention if I don't want to get super behind and live in a pig stye. Let's face it. The reality is we live in this house and messes are being made regularly. I know there more things keeping me busy that I can't think of, but through all these days of busy life I worry that I'm not taking time for the important things. Things like building loving relationships with my children. Teaching them all that Heavenly Father wants and needs them to know about him and his son Jesus Christ. Am I worrying too much about who's fighting, what mess I can clean up, what laundry I need to fold, what I'm going to make for dinner, what time are the kids actually getting in bed? I feel like I need to enjoy my kids more and do more for them to show them how much I really do love them! I love the chance to re-evaluate life and make changes where they are needed!

2010-09-19T21:39:00.000-07:00

I uploaded the pictures in the wrong order, but hey atleast I'm blogging something. Picture overload here we go! With everything that has been going on lately this little cutie has just been getting bigger, and even cuter if that's possible. I can't even handle how cute she is in those skinny jeans!!!
When we dropped the boys off at preschool last week Karsy wanted her picture taken too! She is so fun and recently has really been talking a lot. She loves to say her prayers at night, and loves to say the prayer along with whoever gets called on to say it. We all get some good laughs because of her!!!
Ky and Hunter are only 9 days apart, and they are such little buddies. It's so fun having them in preschool together. Ky is such a ladies man, and always has been. So on his first day of school he took his shoes off and asked the cute little Hawiian teacher Mrs.Bridget to put them back on. As she was putting them on she said she could feel him staring so hard at her face. She looked up and asked, "What are you staring at?" Ky said (in his cute ladies man kind of way)"What's your name?"Man I love that kid!!!
These three are a bunch of turds!!! Kyle is Hunters brother and he is in the preschool class one year older. Mrs. Bridget said she has had to get after Ky and Hunter for kissing and licking each other. Me and Kim gave her full permission to get after those two weirdo's!!
That's my boy showin off his muscles! He is such a fun boy, and I can't believe it has been 3 years since I had him 6 weeks early. He weighed 4lbs and 6 oz. CRAZY! Now he's a tank, and such a smart boy. I really am shocked sometimes by the things he knows.
Ky at his little birthday party! He shared it with labor day so we had a little bbq and swim party with family and a few friends!
Kaylee was happy to wear her crown.We did our second in a row back to school feast. We had ribs with corn on the cobb, baked potatoes, and smores for dessert. Our theme was "Be a shining star." All in all it was nice, but Kelly and I had to laugh at how spazy our kids were, and that they didn"t really pay much attention to our little lesson. We decided it will get better as our kids get older!
Kenzie all happy to wear her crown too!
Ky was happy to be a big boy and wear his crown just like the big girls.

And of course we couldn't leave Karsy out!!!
The first day of school was fun! We met up with all the cousins and walked from Tracy's neighborhood. My girls were excited!
Somewhere between walking and getting on the playground Kenzie wasn't so excited anymore. Not really sure what happened. There was a kid crying really loud in her class when we took this picture so I think she was pretty weirded out. Kinda funny! Needless to say she had a great time and is loving kindergarten.
Drew, Jake, Nate, Kaylee, and Tyler. It's a little hard to see, and we are missing Kenzie, but it still shows how fun it is to have all these cousins going to school together!

Kids say funny things!

2010-08-03T15:27:00.000-07:00

The other day Ky and I were eating Life cereal.
Me: Isn't this delicious?
Ky: Yea what's it called?
Me: Life.
Ky: Oh like yo ho yo ho pirates "life" for me?
Me: Hahahahahaha

This is old but cute!!!
Ky: The light's not on in the play room.
Me: Turn it on.
Ky: No!
Me: Are you scared?
Ky: yea.
Me: Why?
Ky: I'm a scaredy cat:)

Kelly was tucking Ky in bed the other night and he was helping him with his prayers.
Kelly & Ky repeating: Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for this day.
Thank you for all my blessings. Thank you that I could be a good boy.
Kelly: Thank you for the Book of Mormon.
Ky: Thank you for the Book of Mormon..........(singing) that my teacher tells to me.

2010-07-22T08:25:00.000-07:00

I feel like everything lately is about zumba, but Im having a great time with it. This is my good friend Erika. She has been my zumba instructor for over a year. We have come to be good friends and she has been so good to me as I am getting started with teaching. Monday night we had a zumba party. She had a dj there and we zumba'd for 1hr &1/2. She is an amazing teacher with so much energy!!! It might sound silly but I have noticed something about zumba. It really makes people happy. The whole thing about exercising making you happy is so true, but zumba takes it to a whole new level. I love to see when people come to my class, and start out nervous but end up loving it. It really is a great way to get in shape, feel good about yourself, and have lots of fun.

Catch-up!!!

2010-07-11T22:09:00.000-07:00

Well it's been way too long. Here are lots of pictures, and most of them are blurry. When we went to disneyland in May the lense to my good camera broke so all I have had is my phone so these will do for now. Kenz graduated from preschool in May, and although this isn't her graduation picture I thought it was sweet.

I stinkin love this baby girl!
When you have a brother only 14 months older than you, you end up having to wear some of his old jammies and looking like a boy!
When you're a 2 yr old boy and you have older sisters you are sure to get dressed in their clothes sometime! Ky always wants to know if us girls are princesses when we wear dresses. Sometimes I catch him telling Karsyn to spin for him if she's wearing a dress. So cute!
This was just a little Sunday fun! Poor pup!
Me and Morgan at our 3rd of July party! Geeks!
Oh how I love all these girls!
Kaylee Sue swimmin her little heart out!
So in the summer time we swim almost every day, and we love it. Morgan is the best little teacher and has Ky and Karsyn swimming all over the place, comin down the slide, and jumping off the side.

This is cute little Erika or as we like to call her Erikita!!! She is one of the zumba instructors that I take from. She has been so good to me as I am just starting out as an instructor. She threw a zumba party and asked me to do about 5 songs, and in her regular class lets me do some songs to get my practice in. She kicks our booty's and I just love her!
Me and my best friend Kim! I just love her too!
In June we went to Draper, Utah for the blessing of our little nephew Ryan. He's such a sweet little baby boy! We had a great time with Kelly's side of the family, and of course our kids loooove to see their cousins.
Karsyn, Kenzie, Ryan, Ava, Kaylee, and Ky.
One picture from disneyland. Ky was sooooo fun there this time because he loved it and got so excited! I voted him funnest kid there! We have been so busy playing, swimming, partying, and zumbaing. Life is good! I love summer time!

ZUMBA!!!

2010-07-09T17:17:00.000-07:00

Well I REALLY need to get back to this blogging thing! I will soon, but first I want to invite anyone and everyone to come zumba with me. Zumba is latin dance fitness, and it is so fun and such a great workout! The songs are choreographed and easy to follow. You don't have to feel silly at all or be super coordinated. No one will laugh at you because everyone is focused on following along. I am doing free classes on Tuesdays and Saturdays at the LDS church on treeline. It's across from LVHS. The class goes from 9am to 10am. We have babysitting on Tuesdays and it's only 3$ for 2 kids and if you have more than that throw in a couple extra. I mean it when i say anyone can come. Just because it's at the church does not mean you have to be mormon to come! I hope to see you all there!!!

More Hawaii

2010-05-10T15:35:00.000-07:00

We had lots of fun in Hawaii. The only problem was that we were somewhat sick:( I started with a bad stomach Thursday before we left, and it lasted until Wednesday. Kelly started majorly throwing up Sunday and never felt better until we came home on Saturday. Even tho we were sick we still had a great time relaxing at the pool. The first day we went to the beach, and the kids hated playing in the sand so I think we went back only one other time. Not the typical Hawaii trip, but still fun. All in all Kelly lost 7 lbs, we saved money on meals for him, I got a little tanner, and the kids had a great time swimming!!! I think Kelly and I need our own trip now!

Hawaii 2010

2010-05-10T14:53:00.000-07:00

Prayer

2010-04-18T15:29:00.000-07:00

Today in relief society the lesson was on prayer. A good friend of mine gave it and I was touched by her sweet emotions. Prayer truly is one of the most important things we have here in this life. I sometimes forget how important it is to really communicate with my Heavenly Father. I know he wants to hear from us, and help us through our trials. He also wants to rejoice with us when we are happy and successful. In my busy day to day life I forget to repay him for all that he has blessed me with by talking to him often. So today I take on, once again the challenge to become closer to my Heavenly Father by kneeling more often in prayer, and coming to know him and his son Jesus Christ more.

Sunday school with Kenzie

2010-04-12T22:28:00.000-07:00

This cute girl makes me laugh!!! Yesterday while I was doing my last posts (wow 3 in 2 days) Kenzie was hanging out in the office with me. She was practicing her letters and playing. All of a sudden I realized she was talking A LOT! So I decided to listen closer. She must of been playing sunday school because these are the words I heard. Actually speaking mixed with singing.

Liberty in ostrich.You know who I am I know God's plan in liberty and saints we do all infrinity. In the latter day saints we color all the things we do. Posicle in fraged. The things you most like to do is never important. All along our way we get some directions.

Then she ended by singing parts of follow the prophet. She didn't get to finish it all before she noticed me listening and then we laughed together. Kenzie likes to test me, but the older she gets the more I am figuring out the best ways to deal with her. She is a good girl who wants to do what's right. I love her!

Happy birthday Larba!!!

2010-04-11T15:27:00.000-07:00

We had the best birthday party for my sweet grandma Larrabee this weekend. I know it's picture over load, but this really was a great time for our family to come together and honor her.

All she wanted for her bday was for everyone to get together and sing to her. So we made it into a big party.
After a few songs my mom read a cute poem she wrote, and then we each took turns saying a little something about Larba. Me n my sisters call her that thinking we're so funny.
Morgan and Jake
Geej and Austin (my cute nephew)
My little Karsy lady girl
The Potter family with Grandma

Skiny Uncle Daryl and Aunt Jen

Me, my Larba, and Morgan
Aunt Kathy and her mamma
Tami, Grandma, and Minty
She's a funny lady who will do just about anything:)
Roger and his sore eye
Matty and Gma
My nieces Aly and Summer

The whole gang. Nice flash right in mine and Kelly's faces.
My cute niece Morgan and meeeee.

The main thing that we realized that night from the little kids who said something about gma is that she is the only true grandma. The cute things they said kept seeming like they were about to bear their testimonies. We laughed and cried together as a family realizing the strength that our grandma has so graciously given to us. She is such a great example of unconditional love, and so many of us said how no matter where we are or what we do we ALWAYS know that she loves us and most importantly our Heavenly Father and his son Jesus Christ. I am so grateful for her, and for my whole family too. I am one lucky girl.

Easter Pictures

2010-04-11T13:50:00.000-07:00

Although we didn't have church on Easter Sunday, before I realized that I bought Easter Clothes. So I had them wear them the Sunday before. Here are a few cute Easter pictures I got. This is the best I got of all of them together. I was getting all mad because I couldn't get them all to look at me at once. Oh well.

Kaylee Sue: My sweet little red head. Seven years old, and just the greatest little helper.

Kenzie Lou: My spunky little blondie who is almost five. She is so silly and always makes us laugh!

Buddy boy/ Booger bum(haha): My tank of a toddler. Into everything but makes me smile every day. How could you not smile at that face?

Karsy/Lady Lou: My bossy little lady, but so so sweet!
I am so grateful for these wonderful children of mine. They make my world so happy, and I am soooo in love with each one of them.

The big 30!!!

2010-03-02T13:01:00.000-08:00

Kelly and I at my surprise party! I thought the adults in our family were going to dinner on Saturday night. We were meeting at the Bowdens and the kids were going to get babysat there. So we pulled up and some of the kids were playing soccer in the front yard. We got to the front door and it was locked. I said, "Why is the door locked?" Morgan said, "Oh they probably locked the boys out cuz they kept going in and out." I still never suspected a thing. So we knocked on the door, and when they opened it we were greeted with a loud," SURPRISE!!!" I was soooooooo shocked. Usually when someone is getting surprised they kinda know a little bit, but man they totally had me fooled. In fact my sisters tried to surprise me the day before with lunch and a pedicure but i did kinda know what was happening. So with that surprise I thought nothing of having another one.
It was fun to have my kids there. You could tell I really didn"t know about it because they were all bathed and in jammies. Ky LOVES to sing happy birthday and blow out candles. That is my excited face to him about it.
Here are some of my greatest friends that came to the party. Thanks sooooo much for coming! It really meant a lot!
Aly and my buddy boy playin at the party.
Sometimes I think these ladies are too busy for me, so I really appreciated all the effort they went to for my birthday!
Silly sisters picking teeth.
My dad snuck in our picture. He's so cute!
Kim is such a great friend to me! She didn't even give the surprise away. We were both surprised by that:)
Me and my mamma!
One day last week Kelly came and said, " I need your ring." So I gave it to him and when I got it back it looked like this. It used to have one plain band. He had that taken off, and got two new bands on the sides. I love it!!! Thanks honey! And thaks for the party!
My cute nephew Jake was crashed out during the party. He wrestled in a tournament all day and won 1st place in his weight class. Drew and Nate won 2nd and 3rd in theirs. Such cute boys!!! I haven't been too excited about turning 30 because it means you have to turn right into a lady. Haha. In the end it wasn't too bad. I'm 30 now, but I still feel oh about 25. Whatever, it's just a #!

Snow fun!!!

2010-02-16T12:44:00.000-08:00

We got invited to go to the Iverson cabin with Shawn and Kim this past weekend. It was quite an adventure. Shawn and Kim went up on Friday. Because of work and my niece Morgan's play we waited to go up on Saturday. When we got there Shawn came and got us on his snowmobile. He took us and our stuff to the cabin in a few trips back and forth.
Ky was such a good kid up in the cold snow. We bundled him up in his snow clothes and he was happy to sit in the snow and play and watch.
Ky and his best bud Hunter!!! They are so cute!
Rylee and Kenz makin some bracelets! Kenzie was a little difficult at the cabin. The first day she cried a lot with a stomach ache. Kelly was up with her a lot in the night because let's face it he can handle her a little better than me. The next day she cried a lot about going in the snow, that her gloves itched, her boots were too tight, her hat was itchy.......and anything else. We tried to be so patient with her but I will say it got a little rough. So I didn't get very many pics of her.
Red cheeks and all he was still a happy boy!!!
Kim and I playin it up in the snow!

After we layed in the snow Kelly decided to throw snow right in our faces. Ohhhhhh it hurt so bad that it kinda made me cry. Haha good picture though!
We decided it would be fun to sled with one of us on the others back. We laughed our heads off!!!

Yea it didn't turn out so well! It was really fun though!
Kelly taking kids for rides on the snowmobile.

Right after this picture the snowmobile started on fire and I had to yank these little boys off. Kelly jumped off and Him and Shawn threw snow on it and put out the fire. A little scarey for a second.
I was able to get a quick shot of the snowmobile smoking.
But the fun must go on......Kaylee complains in the snow when she gets cold but she loves it and she is a good little sledder. Maybe that's not really a word. I don't know.
The two littles chillin in the snow. Yes Ky does have fur on his snow coat. Haha! We need to figure out how to get it off.
Isn't he soooooo cute!?!?!?! We left Karsyn here with Tracy because I didn't want to have two babies to snowmobile in and out, and worry about crying in the snow. We missed her , but everyone here loved her sooo much. My mom and dad kept her on the last night. They got her at 8:00 and didn't put her to bed until 10:00 because they wanted to play with her. When we went to get her my dad said we couldn't have her back, and that Tracy probably wanted to keep her too. I am so grateful that people are so willing to love and help take care of our kids. Thanks everyone!!! And a big thanks to Shawn and Kim for the invite! We love you guys !!!

Our 10 year anniversary!!!

2010-02-03T19:26:00.000-08:00

So I know that all of these pictures are a bit blurry but they will have to do. January 29th was our 10 year anniversary. On Wednesday we packed up and drove to Disneyland all by our lonesome. We were so excited just to be driving alone with no one crying or whining. Beautiful!!!
We stayed at the Grand California with a view of the California park. The hotel was really nice, and I wish we would stay there every time we go to Disneyland. Mostly we just hung out and enjoyed being able to do what ever we wanted. On Friday which was our big 10th we had massages at the hotel, relaxed in the spa, went in the hot tub, saw a movie, and went to Disneyland at night. It was a great day.
As much fun as we had being by ourselves by the third day we were missing our kids pretty good! We decided that being at Disneyland without our kids felt like we were missing something.
Oh Minnie!!!
Here we are being silly. I have to say a HUGE THANK YOU to my sisters, and my BFF Kim for taking care of my kiddies! I know they were in such good hands, and they made it so much easier to be able to go! Love you guys!!!
I am so grateful to have such a wonderful husband. We have had 10 amazing years together. I'm so happy that through our Heavenly Father's plan we will be together not just until death do us part, but for time and all eternity. I will be with all of the people that I love the very most in my life forever! What a wonderful promise and blessing that is.

Today I am grateful........

2010-01-05T13:59:00.000-08:00

Today I am grateful for my family. Kaylee is gone at school. Kenzie stayed at preschool a couple hours longer to play, and the babies are both asleep. The house is rather quiet, and to my surprise I don't love it. I miss the winter break days of kids playing all day long. Going in and out of the house. Asking, "What can we do?" Sneaking into the snacks, and eating treats all day. Then I realize that they are all growing too fast. I need to treasure all of these moments that I have with them, and make them more memorable as well. I am so grateful to be a mother to four beautiful children. They make me so happy. Not at all times, but even when they don't make me very happy I still love them more than words can even explain! I am also so grateful to be a wife to the greatest husband there is! Kelly wants nothing more than to give me the world. His example is so priceless to me. I only hope that I can do everything to be the best mother and wife that I can be. Just thinking...............

Not so back to school:(

2010-01-04T13:40:00.001-08:00

Well today did not go as planned. Kaylee did not go back to school because, "Mom I can't even hold my own head up." Poor thing. I got sick on Thursday, and today is the first day I haven't taken anything. Now it's Kaylee's turn, and boy does this stuff last! I just hope she doesn't miss too much school.
So besides Kaylee not going to school my house is a wreck! Here are the pics to prove it. I wanted the fresh start to be orderly, but instead I still have all my children home and a disaster.
I decided my rule for the day(because Jenna makes fun of me and says that I am a rules girl) is to not stress about it, and do a little at a time, if any.
I mean really.........What's a girl to do?

Cabin Fun!!!

2010-01-02T15:28:00.000-08:00

The Bowdens invited our whole family to come up to their family cabin. Kelly had to work and I wasn't sure if I wanted to do that alone. My Dad agreed to drive me which I am so happy about because the roads were very snowy. The first night was hard with Ky tossing and turning in my bed, but my sisters were so helpful getting up with us to give him some pepsi and an orange. Funny combo I know. He calmed right down and we were finally able to sleep.
The next day we went sledding, and had a blast! That night Kelly ended up surprising us and showed up at the cabin. Me and my kids were so happy to have him with us.
The kids loved the snow. Especially Kaylee, and sort of Kenzie. Kelly got to sled with us on New Year's eve before we drove home.
After all the fun we had we were so tired that by the time we got home we took showers and went to bed. We were all asleep by 10:30 and totally missed ringing in the new year. I personally was not totally bummed! Did I mention by that time I was sick too? Sick and tired......bad combo!

Here's all the cute kids loving the snow.
Karsy liked the snow a little. Her favorite part was licking it. Yummy!
My tired little cabin baby!

Randon Christmas Pics!!!

2010-01-02T14:58:00.000-08:00

Crama Bonnie (and yes I did say Crama) got tickets for Matt, Michele, Kelly, and I to go see Ka at the MGM. It was a fun little date night, and the show was awesome!

Me and my sweet baby girl Karsyn!
Every Santa picture we have this year has Karsyn crying in it. Funny memories! This Santa was cute because he asked the girls what they wanted for Christmas and they both said kites. He looked a little surprised and while nodding his head he told us that in all his years of being Santa no one has ever asked for a kite. Haha! I ended up telling the girls that Santa's elves don't make kites at this time of year.
These pictures are not in order. This is on Christmas Eve with Kelly's family. We have such fun traditions like decorating gingerbread houses, hitting a pinata, and a little program. We had yummy food, and great company!
Me and Ky being silly after church on Christmas Sunday.
A family picture Christmas morning before we sent Kelly off to work:(
Me and Karsyn with Aunt Rissie! Love ya Riss!
Ky got a little shaving kit so here he is practicing. Sorry it's a little blurry.
Kaylee's gingerbread house was voted the best one this year. She made it into a stable. I'm sad to say I have no pictures of Christmas day with my family. I had to tend my kids by my self after all. We had our traditional yummiest breakfast over at Tracy and Steve's. Then that night we went to my mom and dads for more yummy food. Our traditional sweet n sour chicken wings, and lots more. We had a nice program by my mom, and fun and presents at the end. We had a great Christmas even though Kelly had to be at the station. We are so happy with our lives, and all of the many things we are blessed with.

Worst mother of the year!

2009-12-21T13:42:00.000-08:00

So I win the worst mother of the year award. I ordered Christmas cards from costco with just our Disneyland family picture. I remember trying to figure out how to fit all of our names on it. Squishing and moving the names around I finally figured it out, and was happy about how it all worked out. So on Saturday we delivered one to a friend in the neighborhood. About ten minutes later I get a text from her saying, " Thanks. Forgot Kenzie?" I text back, "Forgot Kenzie?" Yep here we go.......drum roll please for the worst mother of the year award......I forgot Kenzie's name on the Christmas card. I guess with all of the fixing and changing it all fit nicely because we were missing a name. Aaaahhhh! I felt so bad I got a little bit of tears in my eyes. It probably wouldn't even be that bad, but Kenzie and I have our struggles so It makes me feel even worse. So.....Kenzie girl I am sooooooo sorry. I love you so much! What would we do without you in our family? We decided to write in her name, and I promise I will never do that again!

Christmasy Disneyland!!!

2009-12-12T17:52:00.000-08:00

We went to Disneyland this week, and had such a great time. I always hate coming home from Disneyland. It is so fun to go at Christmas time because everything is all decked out with Christmas decor.
Some of these pictures are a little blury but oh well!
Me and my girls trying to stay out of the rain.
Monday was our first day there and it rained all day. We still had a good time but we got pretty soaked. Our kids were so well behaved especially with all the rain.

The Iverson's met us there on Tuesday, and on Wednesday Kim and I were the biggest nerds and dressed like twins. Our husbands laughed at us and teased us all day. Actually we laughed at ourselves too, but we loved it!
We met up with the Stone's and the Law's too. What a group!
Just being silly waiting for the parade that by the way is so great at Christmas time!
Trying to keep this babe entertained during our wait.
Kinda dark but fun to take a pic with Pluto. Ha I think that's who it was!
Our last day at the park. Boo hoo!
Last weekend before we went to Disneyland one of my best friends from college and her cute family came to stay with us. One of our outings was to Walmart. We happened to see Santa there. This was my favorite picture, and as you can tell Karsyn is not yet a fan of Santa. I wouldn't be either if I were her. He had the most rectangle pillow in his suit that came clear up to his chin.
Another outing was to Kelly's firestation, and all the kids loved it. Bored Kelly probably did too!
Me and Selena! I love this girl! In college we were in a performing group called Acclamation together, and we used to laugh our heads off. Well we still do when we are together, and I love when I get to see her. Thanks for staying with us Sel Sel! Love you!

Christmas is coming.......

2009-11-30T19:47:00.000-08:00

I love love love Christmas decorations. They are all over my house. They make me happy. They remind me of the true meaning of Christmas, and that because of our Savior Jesus Christ we can truly be happy.
The lights in my garland on my stairs twinkle all night and all day. I love it!
This picture does not do our christmas light justice, but I had to say that I just love em!
My fancy tree.
The kids tree. Karsyn pulled it over on her a little bit ago. The whole scene was a little like Kaylee falling into the pond at sunset park. Screaming and panic mostly from Kenzie. There is still kind of a hole where the tree rested on Karsyns head. Too funny. She didn't get hurt.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-11-30T19:24:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving was a really nice day! I woke up early to run on the treadmill, and after that I rounded up my kids to go out to my sisters race. Jenna and Tracy put together a half marathon race that started super early, and then the 5k started a little later, and then 1 mile after that. After they both ran the 1/2 we all walked with the little kids. Later that day my little family, and my Mom and Dad went to Kelly's fire station to have thanksgiving dinner. The food was REALLY yummy. My mom and I made the rolls!
Poor kid......Do I have to take a picture mom?
All the ladies! We all went shopping the next day and had such a great day. We were all very productive. Plus, as usual we laughed our heads off all day! I hate when those days come to an end. Oh I love my mom and sistas!
Just chillin to some music.
I thought this picture was soooooo cute! Jake is such a good cousin!
Me, my mamma, and my boy! I love when he snuggles to me!

Decorating the tree

2009-11-30T19:04:00.000-08:00

Last Monday for FHE we decorated the kids tree and had a great time.
It's always fun when daddy's with us!!!
I ONLY posted this picture because of my outfit in the background! I love it!

2009-11-24T15:34:00.000-08:00

I let these crazy girls go to town with a pomegranete. Boy did they have a mess, but they were so happy they almost looked drunk....Kaylee!

2009-11-24T15:21:00.001-08:00

A couple weeks ago we took a little trip to visit some our favorite people in the world. Our best friends Luke and Cami, and Uncle Matt and Aunt Michele. Oh and of course their children too. We stayed at Luke at Cami's beautiful home, and had a great time. This was the view out their window to their backyard.
We took the kids to the dinosaur museum, and they loved digging in the sand.
It pretty much snowed all day on Saturday, and I loved it!
Uncle Matt, Ava, and Karsyn.
Kendall, Ava, Kenz, and Morgan.
Kenz and Morgs gettin their dig on!

Karsy's little bday party!

2009-11-12T22:12:00.000-08:00

We went to Red Robin for Karsy's birthday. Geej, Poppy, Grandma Bonnie, Grandpa Steve, and Rissie all went with us. It was a nice time, and we were so happy they could come with us. Here's Karsyn doing "so big."
How could I not kiss and squeeze her?!?!?!
Grandpa Steve and Ky.
Me and my girlies!
Look at those puckered lips! We love you karsyn!!!

Happy Birthday Karsyn!!!

2009-11-11T14:43:00.000-08:00

Exactly one year ago today I was in the hospital just having my new baby girl. I remember vividly laying in that hospital bed feeding her, snuggling with her, and snoozing with her. This past year has been so great getting to watch her grow and develop. She is such a great baby, and we all love her so much.
She has been my earliest walker by far. She has been walking for a month or more. I think she 's trying to keep up with everyone else. I love to watch her get fiesty with the kids when they are bugging her. She waves her hands back and forth seeming to say, "get out of my face!" I love the way she always puckers her lips to make an oooo sound when she sees something she likes or is interested in. She has one front tooth that is shorter than the other because she grinds her teeth to the side when she smiles. Haha! It is so cute!
I love the way she crinkles up her nose when she smiles. Oh and those lips...I could just kiss them all day. I love her squishy little legs. She sleeps great, and snuggles right into her bed when you lay her down. I always end up coming up with weird sayings or names I call my babies when they are little. I call her Karsy, Beaders, Beedeegue, lady, and I think that might be it.
Karsyn is such a happy baby, and she makes me so happy! Happy Birthday Karsy. I love you!

Homemade rolls.....mmmmmm!

2009-11-11T14:38:00.000-08:00

So I am 29 and made rolls for the first time in my life about two weeks ago. They turned out beautiful and yummy! I really need to make them again soon so I don't forget how. Thanks Julie Bowen for the recipe and a little bit of roll making lessons!

Halloween 2009

2009-11-11T14:09:00.000-08:00

My cute little lady bug. It suits her well since I love to call her lady!
Ky was the cutest little spiderman or barnon as he likes to say.
Ky, Alexa, Kaylee, and Kenzie.
At the end of the night we got home to a lovely smell of my pumpkin candle on the warmer. I turned the warmer off to go up to bed, but without giving the candle any time to harden up Ky pulled the cord to the warmer out of the wall and pulled and pulled until wax and all came crashing to the ground. UUUGGHH! Luckily my girls could see my frustration and helped scrape the dried wax off my wood floor. It took a while but things are all back to normal now.
That's not even half the wax we scraped up.
Kelly had to work the day before halloween, and sadly he got force hired to work on halloween. So he missed the trunk or treat and trick or treat. He also had to work the day after so it was nice to go see him before trick or treating. Those were a long three days of trick or treating, kenz throwing up all night, and everything else a mother of four has to do. We missed Daddy but we managed to have some fun!

Give me a break!!!

2009-10-19T21:37:00.000-07:00

Well here we go again...so last night we decided to take our kids up to the temple to walk around. Good idea right? We saw some people we knew and had a family picture taken......
The girls had fun rolling down the hill. I love the hair in these pictures.

This is the best we got of the kids together.
Kenzie took this cute picture right in front of the water fall. Ky thought it looked like a good idea. So he climbed up on the bench, backed up, backed up , and backed up a little more to finally go tumbling backwards right into the waterfall.
I didn't see it happen but luckily Kelly did and raced with Karsyn in his arms to pull him out. I got there just in time to pull him out and prevent Kelly from going in too. A little scarey, but a lot funny!
After Ky settled down the first thing he said was, "I cold." Here he still looks a little stunned.
At the very end Kelly had him happy and ready to wave for the camera. When we got home he kept saying, "I fall water sount cackwards." (water fountain backwards) We have had some pretty good laughs about it, and the girls have actually begun to think Kaylee's fall wasn't so bad either. Good times!!!

Feeding the ducks, falling in ponds, and the shark reef

2009-10-17T16:49:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we decided to have some fun with the kids. First we went to sunset park to feed the ducks. We all had a really great time and the ducks were so fun to watch.
Me and my sweet girl Karsyn!
It really was a lovely time, and I was excited for the rest of the day we had planned.
It's funny how crazy the ducks would go over one little piece of bread.
The girls looked so cute and were too excited for the day ahead. As I watched them feed the ducks I would remind them to back away from the edge because for some reason in my mind I felt uneasy about that edge.
Here is Kaylee having a great time all nice and dry.........
......and yes here she is all wet. It all happened so fast, and Kaylee fell in the pond. The ducks scattered as we watched her splash into that nasty water. For a second I thought I might go in after her, but realized the smart thing would be to wait for her to reach for my hand. She did and I pulled her out. She was screaming and so was Kenzie. I'm sure everyone thought we were crazy. As I comforted Kaylee and told her she was ok I quickly mouthed to Kelly to take a picture. This picture makes me laugh with both girls looking so hysterical. Luckily a nice man came over to retrieve Kaylees floating away flip flops that the girls were very worried about. Kelly and I laughed every once in a while remembering the whole thing, and both girls were offended that we thought it was funny. So anyone who read this please don't mention it to them:) They will thank me later to have this memory!
After the fun at the park we came home, gave Kaylee a bath, got her ready , and headed off to eat at ihop. The wait was too long so we went to Denny's. It actually wasn't too bad. The only thing was that Ky somehow fell out of the back of his high chair and landed on the back of his head. Two accidents down, but more fun to go!
Last we went to the shark reef at Mandalay Bay. We all had a great time looking at all the animals. That first picture was a crocadile that Kenzie didn't believe was real. It was floating in the water so still so she kept telling me it wasn't real.
Our one family picture that we managed to get.
Kelly and I loved the jelly fish. They were so neat to watch, and their colors were beautiful!
This is a lion fish....pretty cool looking!
Kaylee's favorite were the sting rays, and Kenzie said she liked everything the best! She wouldn't touch the sting rays though:)
We got to pet the sting rays, and that was really fun. They felt slimy and slippery.
I loved to be together, and be able to watch our kids have such a fun time. There is nothing better than family, and I know that is a day we will all remember.

Karsyn can walk!

2009-10-17T16:23:00.000-07:00

Busy Babies......

2009-10-09T14:58:00.000-07:00

This little baby (or lady is what I like to call her) is very busy ok! She is on the verge of walking, but not quite yet. But man the girl will crawl all over the place!!! Lately I have been letting her crawl in the back yard and got a few good pictures. She found daddys work boards and loved crawling on them. I think she felt like a big girl.
She loves to stand up to the firetruck. It makes me a little nervous because it rolls easily, and she might roll too one of these times.
Here she is coming down.......
and going back up!

So I have to admit......I have a little crush on my boy!!! Who doesn't? I'm not even kidding when I say he finds girlfriends every where he goes. Jenna, Tracy, Julie, Carla, Pam Picket, Julie Boyer, numerous teenagers....and the list goes on.
Once again, busy at play!!!
Does anyone else want to kiss that face off?
They had so much fun digging in the sand together. Karsyn wanted to eat it a little.
We got Halloween costumes. Kenzie chose the HSM cheerleader. She looked soooo cute when we got home and she tried it on. I was surprised at how cute the costume actually was.
Kaylee chose Gabriella from HSM 3. It's ok, but not as cute as the cheerleader. Kaylee saw how much fun Kenzie was having in her costume, and realized hers was itchy. We are going to take hers back and get her a cheerleading one too. So we'll have our own little squad.
Just a cute picture I got when I babysat for Amanda last week. Two little pink blanky girls with thumbs in their mouths.

I love this time of year!!!

2009-10-01T12:30:00.000-07:00

So I finally got the blogging bug again. I am so excited for this time of year. The past couple of days have been awesome weather, and we got our fall/halloween decorations up. I keep telling the girls, "doesn't it make you happy to see our decorations and feel the cool weather? It feels fun in here huh?" They get a little confused at my enthusiasm, but they pretty much agree!

So here are all our fall/halloween touches all over the house.

Ky looooves the pumpkins!

Pumpkins pumpkins everywhere!

This is a cute little haunted mansion my mom gave us last year. My kids love to look at all the little people, but I have it up high so they won't get broken. We have had quite a few broken Christmas village people in our day.

I had to add in this little cutie. She is so fun with that big cheesy smile she likes to give me. Oh and I love her little teeth.

My mom gave her a pile of bubbles while she was doing the dishes. Of course she put them in her mouth, but quickly realized they were not yummy!

Just look at those teeth!!!

My sweet little Kenzie girl! Just one more thing.....My sister Tracy asked me to sing last night at our wards young women in excellence program. I was so nervous because I don't do it very often anymore. I am so grateful for that opportunity because I was able to pray to Heavenly Father and ask him to help me, and give me comfort and peace. He did, and for that I feel so blessed. I know that Heavenly Father is real. He listens to us. He watches over us, and most importantly he loves us.

Ky's bday party!

2009-10-01T12:14:00.000-07:00

We had a little family swim party for Ky's birthday. We also had the Iverson's over since Hunter is Ky's BFF. Well we are making them be anyways.

Ky and Hunter. Kim and I were pregnant together, and we had them two weeks apart. So fun!

Oh he was so cute with blowing out candles. He wanted to blow them out over and over. Still to this day when he sees a candle he says, " uh to you candle." ( happy birthday to you candle)

Ky had lots of fun opening his presents. They were all excited to see everything. Especially the dinosaurs!

I just can't blog these days!!!

2009-09-24T13:52:00.000-07:00

Why can't I blog right now? Everyday I think I might, and then I don't. Sometimes I feel like I'm drowning a little with everyday things. I even try to keep myself not too busy. I can't keep my house clean, keep up on laundry, play with the kids like I want to, oh did I say keep the house clean. Oooooh that bugs me! It doesn't matter how hard I try I feel like it's always a mess. Oh well, whatever, who cares!?! Maybe I just need a better attitude, and I need to remember to bring my camera to fun places. Maybe that will help me get my blogging done!

Happy Birthday Ky!!!!

2009-09-06T21:56:00.000-07:00

My little buddie boy turned two today! I can not believe that two years ago I was going through such a hard time having my water break 8 weeks early, lying in the hospital for two weeks, having an emergency c-section, and having to leave my baby at the hospital for eleven days. At the time it was hard, but now looking back it really wasn't that bad, and now I can't believe he's two.
Ky is such a cute, smart, fun, and loving kid. He says the cutest things. Right now he says a lot of, "I firefighter truck, daddy." He sings I am a child of God with me, and we giggle through the whole thing with his cute little teeth peeking below his top lip. Ooooh he's so cute! Sometimes he snuggles up to me on the couch, and he nuzzles in as close as he can. Then he lays his head down on my arm.
He loves the Barney movies, and his favorite right now is Chipmunks race around the world. He calls it "Mumunks" and he would watch it 2 or 3 times a day if I let him.

Ky is absolutely loved everywhere he goes. Church, the store, the girls' schools. He always ends up talking to pretty ladies, especially his Aunt Jenna, and Aunt Tracy. Randomly throughout the week he will ask for either one of them like he wants to go to their house.

Everyday he says, "I go. Gym." I love that he actually asks to go there because it makes it easier taking him there knowing that he likes it. My big girls need to take lessons from him.

Kelly is at the firestation today so we went to visit for Ky's birthday. Then on our way home we stopped at Geej's and Poppy's to have some cake and ice cream. We had to sing over and over to him so he could blow out his candles a lot. It was so funny. Tomorrow we are having a family swim party so hopefully I will have some cute pics to post. For now I gotta get to bed!

First Day of School

2009-08-25T12:52:00.000-07:00

Kaylee was so excited Sunday night she could hardly fall asleep. She is so lucky to have Amamda as her teacher this year, and she has tons of friends in her class. She was so excited to be line leader, and she got to take things to the office too. It was so fun to hear that she had such a great day. Thanks Amanda!!!

Before school we met by Tracy's mother-in-laws and me, Kelly, n my sistas walked our elementary kids to school. They are all so cute, and they all had skinny jeans on. I had to convince Kaylee that all of her cousins would be wearing theirs even the older ones. She then decided to wear hers too. She's a little picky about tight things. Haha! She's her fathers daughter.
Oh Kenzie wanted to be in the picture too!

Nate & Drew 2nd grade. Tyler & Kaylee 1st grade. Jake in 4th grade.

Alexa, Tyler, Kaylee.

For those of you who read Nienie's blog I coppied her so bad! I loved her idea of a back to school feast, so we had one last night. I made the girls crowns, and everyone had a name tag where they were supposed to sit. At first Kenzie didn't like her crown, and she said I made Kaylee's sparkly because I like her better. I know Kenz has a little complex so I remade hers then she was very happy!

Through out dinner we talked and laughed, and told the girls that we were having this feast because we wanted them to know how special they are, and that we love them so much. I know they felt special!

The feast consisted of roast, potatoes & carrots, french bread, & ceasar salad. After dinner I gave baths while Kelly cleaned up. Yay! Then we all sat down again to have ice cream with sprinkles, and chocolate. To end the evening Kelly gave the girls each a blessing. They were nervous at first but quickly learned that they liked to have a fathers blessing. Ky quickly climbed up on the chair and wanted his own blessing too. He was so cute we could hardly contain ourselves. Kelly and I decided we loved having a back to school feast, and we will definately make it a tradition. Only it will get better and better every year.

Kaylee was so cute this morning that I thought I needed another picture! I miss my little Kaylee friend when she is gone all day, but I am so excited for her! I drew a little heart on her hand so when she sees it she can remember me throughout the day:)

Bubble boy, black eye, and pudding painters!

2009-08-21T15:17:00.001-07:00

Ky is so my little bubble boy! He loves ANYTHING having to do with bubbles. Iphones with the bubble game, bubble blowing in nursery, cereal bubbles......and I'm sure anything else! Church starts at 1:00 on Sundays so I lay him down for a nap and tell him, "Ok, you need to take a nap before church." and every time he responds with , "Church. Bubbles." The minute we get in the chapel he finds anyone he knows that has a bubble game iphone. Chuckie, Carla, and I really can't think of anyone else:) After sacrement meeting he heads straight into nursery where he's sure to find bubbles.

He is so fun, and keeps me smiling. Oh he's also a turd getting into things, and being a little naughty, but I wouldn't have him any other way!

Ky hit his eye on the corner of a step at Jennas and this is what he got right away. Throughout two weeks it has slowly turned different shades of blue and green. Poor kid! Many more to come I'm sure!

So I decided to be a fun mom the other day and I let the girls paint themselves with pudding. What was I thinking? It got all over the place. Oh well, they had fun and they stopped complaining that they were bored for a few minutes. Sorry they're in their undies:)

New school year....

2009-08-16T18:27:00.000-07:00

Well I am excited for a new school year to start! I remember growing up always loving the first day of school. What was I going to wear? How much fun would it be? Who would be in my class or classes? Even now as an adult I get so excited for anyone and everyone to start school. With the start of a new school year comes structure, cooler weather, holidays, and so much more. One more week to go, so I'd better get my booty in gear this week so I can feel ready and organized:)

2009-08-08T20:42:00.000-07:00

Kaylee is such a good big sister. She is so helpful with the babies, and she loves to carry Karsyn around.

Why is it that most of the time i don't get to just sit and feed this little babe her bottle? Poor thing....I stick her in her reclined high chair, give her her bottle, and then find her like this.

Tyler, Mrs.Ficklin, and Kaylee after their kindergarten program. Yay they are now first graders!

Our future firefighter......Daddy would be so proud! Ky says the best things right now. My mom taught him how to say "hi sweetie" he says "hi feetie" soooooo cute! He is such a smart kid, and is talking more and more all the time.

Posing for a pic before school.

Here is a picture of Kenzies clump of hair that she cut off. I came out of the bathroom and she was talkin about, "I had the scissors, and then I put them away, and now I don't have them......" I was like, "what?" Then I looked down and hair was all over the floor. The worst part is that it is a big ol chunk on the side right in front. Can't cover it up! Surprisingly I did not fgreak out! Yay me!!!

Maybe we could have her wear this wig for a while?

ZUMBA!!!!!

2009-08-05T16:03:00.000-07:00

I guess life is pretty boring these days. I don't really have much to blog about. Well actually I take that back......Kenzie cut her hair the other day, and there might be a couple other things I can come up with. I have just been exercising like crazy doing a new found love, thanks to Stephanie Davis! It's called Zumba, and I'm addicted! It's tons of dancing for one whole hour, and I can't get enough. Thanks Steph!

Just a thought.....

2009-07-21T12:42:00.000-07:00

As much as we swim around here, and it keeps us cool, I am getting sick and tired of being hot and tired. Doesn't the heat just drain you? Even my work aholic husband isn't being his work aholic self. I feel like I just want to stay indoors and eat treats which isn't a good temptation while I'm trying ever so hard to shed those unwanted baby lbs. I long for the days when we can open our windows to let the cool fresh air in, and we don't get scorched by simply walking outside, or getting in our cars to go somewhere. I know we have a ways to go so I'll just try to enjoy swimming while it lasts. Just a thought!

Happy late 4th....

2009-07-10T20:40:00.000-07:00

Isn't this a lovely presentation? My mamma made this beauty, and the yummy chocolate filled strawberries below! We had a really nice 4th of July with my Mom and Dad, Rhoads's, Iversons, & Boyers. We swam our little hearts out, laughed our heads off, and stuffed our faces! Lots of stuff that I LOVE to do!

My daddy brought his guitar and we sang some tunes poolside:) Oh and while watching fireworks too!

My two patriotic guys! I'll squeeze that little Ky turd!

In the morning we went to a breakfast that was in a cultisack(SP?). I wore a long dress that sometimes touched the ground. Later when we got home I lifted up my dress to go to the bathroom and found these dirty feet. YUCK!

Here's my little mamma's boy! I love that he loves me so much, and that kiss with his hands on my face couldn't have melted my heart more!

Brother and sister, or brothers? Poor Karsyn is having to wear Ky's last years boy jammies! So I'm cheap. I admit I hate spending money on pj's. I guess she doesn't look too sad about it. So I really didn't take very many good pics on the 4th. Our poses jumping off the water fall in the pool would have been some good ones. All in all we had a great day. We missed a few people, but there's always next year!

Park City fun....

2009-06-30T13:40:00.000-07:00

We had a lot of fun in Park City. Unfortunately I only took pictures the first two days. Saturday we drove through some rain, but made it safe n sound. Sunday we went to sacrament meeting, and then hung out on Main Street. We found a few good finds at this little Sunday market they had. I love this picture of my mom and Karsyn.....it's sweet!

I think Monday was the most fun day we had. We got all day passes to go down the alpine slide, the roller coaster, the zip line, and everything else they have to do there. At the very end of the day Kelly really wanted to go down the slide by himself so he could go fast. It took him a while to get down, and when he finally made it he told us he crashed. He had some pretty good scrapes to prove it. Aunt jenna always there to love on Ky.

These two were troopers! I love watching them grow up together. On Tuesday we went to temple square in Salt Lake. It was a nice spiritual day as we watched the Joseph Smith movie, and had a few different tours.

Here come the troops! Now I realize I'm telling the days and they don't match up with the pictures, but oh well! Wednesday was a hiking day. I was surprised the babes did well. At the end we ate at a place called Dairy Keen. Good times!

Aunt Tra was a speed racer!

Aunt Jen and Tyler.

Karsyn enjoyed some dippin dots while the old folks went down the slide.

Ky wasn't too sure about the rides, but after a while he loosened up and had a great time!

Aren't we cute! Haha! Thursday was fun! We went to olympic park and watched the skiers practicing their jumps into this huge pool. It was way cool! After that the men took the little kids to the movies while the ladies went shopping at the outlet mall. Sooooo fun! I found some great deals, and it wasn't too bad shopping with the babies.

Brynn and Kara are such cute girls. I love that they are such good friends. I hope my girls will be like them someday.

Morgan and Karsyn just enjoying the day in Salt Lake. All of my nieces and nephews are so good to help with the babies, and I am so grateful for that. It makes things a lot easier.

Uncle Steve acting like Jake is a baby. Aaaaahhhhh!

I know it's a little crooked, but sometimes I actually take a picture that ends up being kinda cool.

I love each and everyone of these kids so much, and I am so glad that they are apart of our family.

Three sisters and three husbands. Friday was nice and relaxing. After our morning exercise the ladies layed around for a while. The men took the kids fishing for most of the day so it left us doing whatever we wanted:)

My cute Mom and Dad........I love them, and I am so grateful they are such good parents!

This picture is when the kids got bored and my mom (GJ) played quaker meeting with them. The object is to not laugh while the person who is it tries their hardest to make you laugh. Saturday was a loooong day. It took forever to get home with all the stops we made, and one scarey tire riped to shreds. Yes it was ours, and I was a little freaked out, but lucky for me Kelly is a very great driver, and we made it home safe n sound! Every year I look forward to our week long family trip, and it makes me sad when they end. Life goes on, and we prepare for next year!

Park City.......

2009-06-19T11:24:00.000-07:00

Well the Horton crew is off to Park City tomorrow morning. We are staying at the time share for a week! I'm so excited to be with my family for so long. I have to admit I'm a little nervous about having very much fun with the babies. Oh well, no point in worrying. I know I will have plenty of help, and it's fun to be anywhere with our bunch! Thanks to Aunt Rissie and Aunt Steph for house sitting! See ya in a week!

Last weeks happenings!

2009-06-09T11:19:00.000-07:00

Saturday was the last soccer game of the season. That day at 1:00 we had my niece Aly's soccer team swim party at our house. Then we had Kaylee and Tyler's team party. Actually it is Coach Jenna's team. Then at 6:00 pm we had my nieces Brynn and Kara's end of the school year party until 10:00 pm. It was so fun to have parties here all day long. It kept us busy and wore us out like no other!

Their team won the sportsmanship award for their age group. What nice girls! They won some games too!

This is my cute nephew Jake. This season he had a couple headers that actually made goals for his team. He's a great soccer player, and his team was undefeated!

This is what happens when I take time out to blog. Uggghhh! If you click on the picture you'll see that there are chewed carrots on the ground.

She wants to crawl so bad!

This is our "Aunt Lion" Haha!

I took this picture one day when I was sitting in the backyard watching the kids swim. It felt so peaceful out there:)

Don't know who this is, but we laughed our heads off watching them drive down Charleston holding a picture out the window. Careful!!!!!!

Anyone's invited!!!

2009-06-01T12:30:00.000-07:00

Tuesday swim day! Tomorrow, Tuesday at 12:30. Kids get out of school, eat lunch, and come on over for some swimmin. Old friends, new friends, anyone..... you're totally invited! It's for mom's to hang out while kids can swim and have some fun. Oh, and bring a snack to share. I can't be feedin the world:) Call me if u need directions. 289-8577

Happy 4th birthday!!!!

2009-05-31T09:45:00.000-07:00

Growing up in our family when it was our birthday's my mom would make up little poems about us and tape them on the walls through out the house. Now in our own families my sisters and I do the same for our kids. The funnier or sillier the better! Friday was Kenzie's birthday and we had a fun swim party with tons of friends and family. So here are the pics. In between each picture are all the poems we wrote for Kenzie. You love to swim in our big pool. Everyone thinks you're totally cool!

We love u cuz you're so neat. We think u deserve a birthday treat!

U are 4 n that's no lie. u might want to cry and I'll say bye. (kaylee made this one:)

You're blanky was so pretty n pink. Now it just has a pretty weird stink!

U r a daddy's girl through n through, but sometimes u want a little mamma too.

In r bed u like to sleep. Daddy's side u think is pretty neat.

4 years ago u came out of mom's belly, n left it looking like a bowl full of jelly.

You're a real sweet girl, and we love that. Someday u could do magic and pull a rabbit out of your hat. Whaat?

u r 4 and we are happy! U probably don't want to take a nappy!

Sometimes you're a little stink, but you're gonna get too old before I blink.

You're a big sis, and Karsanns u like to kiss. (for some weird reason she calls Karsyn Karsanns)

Ky is your little bro. Please don't kick him with your toe.

Kenzie, Kenzie, you're so cute. Even if u let a toot.

Strawberry milk is your best. Your best, your best of all the rest.

I know they are silly, but we did get a good laugh out of them.

Kenzie-We love you so much, and we are so happy that you are apart of our family. You make us laugh every day! Happy birthday!
Oh one last funny thing. Kenzie got two swim babies. When she opened the second one Kaylee said, "Oh one for me!" Right at that same time I said to Kenzie, "What do you say?" Trying to get her to say thank you to the person that gave her the baby. She looked at Kaylee and said, "Your welcome Kaylee!" They have no concept of returning something to the store to get something else. Oh well! I thought it was so cute that she was so willing to let Kaylee have one of her presents, and Kaylee was HAPPY AS PUNCH!

Dance Recital!!!

2009-05-29T11:01:00.000-07:00

Tyler, Kenzie, and Kaylee after the dance recital. The other day Kaylee said,"Mom, after our dance recital can you please give us flowers?" Jenna and I tend to forget that part usually, so this time I got a bouquet at costco and split it up into three. They loved their flowers. Too bad they are almost dead already:(

Kaylee and her good friend Brooklyn. Aren't they cute!?!

Kenzie and Alivia are so cute, and such good play buddies.

I think she is one pretty red head!!!

Our cute cousin Tyler. We love her so much!

Waiting for the teddy bear dance to start.

These girls are getting really good with remembering their dance moves and doing them well!

Kenzie keeps up pretty good too!

Deep in thought......."Are we gonna do this or what?"

Memorial Day Weekend

2009-05-27T16:15:00.000-07:00

We had a reallty fun Memorial Day weekend. It started off on Friday with Matt, Michele, and Ava coming to town. We all ate at BJ's Pizza. So Yummy, but not the best service. Has anyone else ever noticed that? My pictures are a bit out of order. We went to the Stone's ranch on Monday. Here's my sweet Karsyn takin a little snooze in the shade. Future best buds snoozin together. Six month olds are too yummy!

My hot husband gettin his fishin on! He loves it!

This was the only picture I had of the swing. Hanging from those tall yellow poles is this long rope with a bar to hang on and swing off into the lake. It was scarey at first, but soooo fun! We definately want to go back.

My little buddy boy enjoying the outdoors. He is talking like crazy these days. It's getting easier to understand him although he still jibber jabbers a lot. So cute!

Two cute fisher girls. Kaylee........

..........and Tyler.

Lindsey's dad came out with his big ol tractor ready to give rides. He raised and lowered it while driving and everyone screaming. It reminded me of tower of terror at disneyland.

Here is everyone ready for the ride to start. They all loved it, and I about had a heart attack while watching from the side.

The girls had fun swimming with Uncle Matt and Ava. We all had a great time spending time with them. Especially since we don't get to do it that often.

They came for their 5 year anniversary. Happy anniversary guys! We love you!

Monday after the ranch we came home and had a bbq with some family and friends. It was so much fun, and let me just say I am loving not being pregnant this summer. I jump of the cliff into the pool like it's goin out of style, and I've tried my share of ways to go down the water slide. Yesterday we had tons of friends come over after school to swim, and it was also a lot of fun. Now today after having way too much fun all weekend I am pooped! I feel so tired and lazy. Along with tired and lazy comes guilt for not doing too much around here. Oh well! Tomorrow is another day and hopefully I will be a little more productive. Atleast I exercised this morning!

Last day of preschool.....

2009-05-21T12:45:00.000-07:00

Kenzie had her last day of preschool today. Well until next fall. She had great teachers Mrs. Bridget, and Mrs. Klee. Now I have to gear up for Kenz asking me who she can play with every day. Why am I not fun enough? Probably cuz I try to get her to help pick up. Mean mom. I am feeling so horrible that I didn't get these nice teachers a gift. I really do appreciate all they did this school year. I need to learn to be more thoughtful!

They can't quit fighting over silly things. I am learning to look on the bright side of things and find the humor in their fighting. Like these faces trying their hardest to be mad.

Well I need to pick up the house before I am off to get my glitter toes done. My great hubby agreed to watch the kids while I go to my appointment. He's the best at letting me do things I need and want to do alone when he is home. I know being with four sometimes five kids can be a little much (I should know) so THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart! My cute little Grandma Larrabee watched the babes this morning for my weekly trip to costco. I love that lady! Wow I'm a lucky girl today! Getting out twice in one day all by myself!

Funny girl, funny girl.........

2009-05-16T17:17:00.000-07:00

The girls went to Jessica Farnsworth's birthday party last night and had so much fun! When they got home Kenzie showed me this cute prize she won.
Kenzie: "Mom, do you know what this is called?"
Me: "What?"
Kenzie: "It's called a hammer damping."
Me: "Oh really?"
Kenzie: "Yea, a hammer damping, no a hamp dumper!"
Whaaaat? I thought it was a fancy little bottle, but apparently it's a hammer damping or a hamp dumper. One of the two! Haha!

The stolen lip gloss.......

2009-05-14T20:06:00.000-07:00

These girls are so fun! I love to watch them swim and have fun together! Today we had a little experience that I thought would be good to write down. We went to target to get a birthday present. Part of the present was lip gloss. Ky was sitting in front of the cart and Karsyn was in her carseat in back. I had slipped the lip gloss down in the cart on the side of the carseat. When we went to check out I missed the lip gloss. After having three kids already loaded in the car I picked up the carseat only to find the unpaid for lip gloss. "Dang it!" I thought. "I am not unloading all these kids again." So I got in the car and off I went feeling increasingly guilty. I called Kelly and said, " I did a naughty thing...." I then proceeded to tell him what happened expecting him to say, " Oh it's ok. You didn't mean to. Don't go back and get everyone out again." But no he was quiet and then quickly convinced me that I should go back ansd that it would eat at me if I didn't. So I turned the car around and said,"Fine I'm going back! Now I'm mad so I gotta go!" He laughed and said goodbye. As we were driving back the girls asked where we were going and I told them we stoled the lip gloss. They were concerned so I made sure to tell them we didn't mean to, but that we have to do the right thing and go back to pay for it. Kenzie wondered why so I explained how we want to be on Jesus's side, and if we steal that's being on Satan's side. Oh boy! So then for the next 20 minutes she wanted to talk about Satan and how he wanted us to steal, and how he said, "Do it, do it!" Haha! I finally had to tell her to stop talking about Satan. In the end I was really glad we went back. It wasn't that I didn't want to pay for the dang lip gloss. I just didn't want to unload and load everyone again. I think my girls learned a lot, and I'm glad that with a little prodding by my very honest husband I was able to be a good example to my girls. I know the whole thing may sound silly, and the lip gloss really wasn't worth that much money, but it was all about doing the right thing!

My silly girls havin fun in the pool. Oh it's getting so hot these days!

So tonight Kenzie asked me if I know what she wants to be when she grows up. I told her no and she told me to guess. I guessed a couple of regular things like... hair stylist, teacher, police girl, fire girl. Haha! She told me to guess a doctor, and when I did she said no. Finally I told her to just tell me. So here it is........A magical princess with a horsey! Haha! Oh then it quickly changed to a magical Arial princess with a magical horsey, and a magical flounder. She is a funny girl!

Karsyn is 6 months!

2009-05-13T13:05:00.000-07:00

Karsyn is 6 months old! Yay we made it half a year! Oooooooh I love this baby! So things about Karsyn.........
- She rolls all over the place. Sometimes she ends up under something weird crying her head off. Haha!
- She's getting good at sitting up. Still pretty wobbly though.
- We are still pretty hit n miss with her cereal. I'm busy!
- she sleeps all night until about 6:30 or 7:00.
- She loves to watch Ky and the girls. They give her good entertainment.
- She loves me and I love it!
- No more nursing, and boy am I feeling it. I haven't quite stopped producing milk yet. OUCH!!! I'm a little sad, but ready to be done for selfish and vein reasons. Haha!
- I got her ears peirced about a month ago, and it makes her look even sweeter!
- She has her two bottom teeth, and they are sharp. You quickly find that out if you put your finger in her mouth.
Today she went for her 6 month well check. She has been having stinky ears with a lot of wax in them. I clean them out , but they don't seem to get any better. I told the doctor when he was checking her. He took a good look and decided to clean out some of the wax. When he did he really noticed the smell so he decided to have his helper girl flush out her ears. so to flush them out they fill a syringe with water and squirt it in there. Guess what came out....small clumps of dried stinky old milk. It was so nasty, but fun to watch. Hopefully now we'll have some clean non- smelly ears!

Here is Aunt Rissie on mothers day in the ugly outfit that goes around in our family. She wore it over to Jenna's to ask Tracy what she should wear to work the next day. ( They worked together) Everyone thought it was pretty funny and I was glad to get rid of it!

Kaylee and Drew after grubbin on our left over mothers day ribs. Mothers day was nice. We did breakfast with my parents, and dinner with the Brinkies. My favorite part of the day was when Kelly took me upstairs, gave me two celebrity magazines, started a bubble bath, and told me to relax and go to bed. Thanks honey! I loved it!

Ky after eatin a bowl full of blue berries! Yum yum!

Rough day at church...

2009-05-03T15:57:00.000-07:00

I am sitting her on a Sunday afternoon with my babies asleep, and the girls at church. Which is really where I should be. Kelly is at the fire station today. Not my favorite type of Sunday, but I was doing well. I got everyone ready in time, and I even had one extra. Jenna and Daryl have been in Hawaii all week and I had Tyler for the weekend. So we leave in time to get to church 10 min. early, and I'm thinking I'm doin pretty good. We sit down, and just about the time sacrament meeting starts Ky starts screaming and fussing. I kept trying to give him the snacks I brought for him, but nothing would work. To make a long story short, my mom and I sat out in the hall with two fussy babies for the first hour of church. Thank goodness for her! While we were out there Ky was acting like he didn't feel good, but I tried to ignore it. Next I tried to gear him up to go in the nursery to play with the toys and have snacks. He kind of thought it was a good idea, but I don't think I was too convincing. He started crying the second I put him in there. I told the nursery leaders I would be back to check on him in a few minutes. So next I tried to go to sunday school, and I could hear Ky's cry every time the nursery doors opened. Finally I gathered up Karsyn and our church bags and made my way back to the nursery. Ky was crying with a tomatoe red face and was inconsolable. Poor buddy:( I do have to admit I was a little bugged with the little bugger! At that point I decided we were going home. What is the point in sitting in the hall for three hours with two fussy babies? Right!?! When I got home I fed both babes, and layed them both down for naps. Feeewww! So now I am feeling a little guilty for leaving. I mean I really do love to go to church and I think it is important, but what was I supposed to do. Any ideas? Now I'm getting all stressed worrying that Ky will never go back to the nursery. Sometimes I think that staying home with my kids every day isn't teaching them to be independent and adaptable to different situations. Maybe I'm over reacting, but I just don't know what to do. HELP!

Lizards, disneyland, and kids.......

2009-04-30T11:55:00.000-07:00

So I guess this guys wants to live with us. We recently got a swamp cooler so I turned it on and had the back door opened. I was feeding Karsyn when I noticed our dog Nala messing with something on the ground. I looked down to see this pretty good sized lizard on my kitchen floor. Luckily my dad was here so I yelled for him to get it. He grabbed it by it's tail, and it tried bitting him as he carried it out.

Then the poor little guy lost his tail. Oh well, I'm just glad he's out of my house! I have to admit I was a little scurrrred!

I just started feeding Karsyn cereal this week. She is almost 6 months, and it has been kind of nice waiting until now. She has caught on real fast, and let's face it, that was just one more thing to add to my list of things to do. She thinks it's yummy!

The other day I looked over to find Ky sitting with Kaylee watching tv. It melted my heart to see them snuggling! Ky loves his sissy's!

Last week our whole family went to Disneyland to watch my nieces Brynn and Kara perform with their show choir. We all had so much fun watching the girls, riding rides, eating treats, and just being together. There's no one I'd rather be with!

Poppy and Ky havin some laughs at Disneyland!

Kenzie was mad at this point, but my mom and I got her laughing before too long!

Uncle Kelly and all the littles participating in some little country show. Playin the washboards! This was our first time taking all four kids to disneyland and let me just say three kids is harder than two, and four kids.......well four kids is HARD! We were so lucky to have help from Grandma Jill and Poppy, and everyone else in our family. We couldn't have done it without ya!

Here's Karsyn and her babysitter Nala! I found this little set up last week and thought it was so cute. Buddies!

Nala is a funny little pup! Whenever I take laundry out of the dryer she snuggles herself right on in to the warmth.

Happy Easter!!

2009-04-14T14:35:00.000-07:00

We had a nice easter this year. Church was good, and I had fun getting the kids in their cute easter clothes. Just so happened that I found these cute pink and white dresses at walmart for ten bucks each! Score! After church we had a family progressive dinner. It started at our house with appetizers. Then we all walked to the Bowden's for salads. Next to my Mom and Dad's for ham, potatoes, and rolls. We ended at the Rhoads's for yummy crapes! It was so fun!

We are really going to have to get better pics in these cute clothes!

Our two guys! Ky looked soooooo cute or should I say handsome in his vest and slacks! Ooooh I could eat him!

Here's my cute easter baskets. I'm so proud of them because I got them on sale at pottery barn for like 4$! Another score!

All bright eyed and bushy tailed ready for the easter egg hunt! Kaylee and Kenzie woke up at 6:30, and we made them watch cartoons in the play room until about 8:00. They were so excited!

On Saturday we had fun with the Brinkies. They all came over to eat pizza, decorate cookies, color eggs, and have an egg hunt! Fun fun fun!

2009-04-11T21:07:00.000-07:00

Ky is at such a fun age, but he is also quite a little bugger! I like to call him a "turd" when he does something buggy. Before this picture he was inside eating a cookie and decided he was done so he started crumbling it all over the floor. Then he came outside and climbed clear up on this big stack of wood. Too bad you can"t see how high up he really is. I don"t even know how he got up there. Turd! Haha! We got these easter eggs filled with confetti that we broke all over the floor in the kitchen. They were fun and messy and weird. Ky sure was spreading it as much as he could. Turd!

This morning Ky had fruitloops for breakfast, and apperently he was done because I found him putting them on his spoon and flinging them to the ground below. It was pretty funny! Turd!

Ky is such a fun little boy. He will say most anything we tell him to. It's not always very clear, but he sure tries! He makes me laugh and smile all the time, and I'm so glad he's mine! Ooh I rhimed!

My three sweet girls! Kenzie, Karsyn, and Kaylee are all so cute and fun! They are my little buddies! I love this picture of all their cute smiles!

She couldn't be any cuter! I love my baby girl!

Irritated!

2009-04-08T11:34:00.000-07:00

I just need to get this off my chest, and maybe my day will go a little better. Today I am finding myself getting irritated over everything! So to start off Kenzie has already been in time out three times for fighting with Kaylee, and really she could have used a few more. Surprisingly I have stayed rather calm while she screams her head off that she wants to get out of time out. About oh I don't know every two seconds Kaylee asks with the whiniest(?sp) she can muster, "Mom what can we do? or Can I eat some candy? Can we have a picnic? Can we have smores? What can I eat? When can I eat?" and so on. If the million questions aren't enough the voice is beyond enough. Both girls have also made crumbly cookie messes on the couch and my freshly cleaned floor. Uugghhh! Kaylee wiped her wet hand all over the clean back door window. I know I'm being picky, but can't things stay clean for at least half the day? Recently Ky started climbing on chairs to get to the kitchen sink. He loves nothing more than to play in the water. He also loves to get into cubbards and take out any dish he can get his little hands on. Karsyn was fussy all morning, and is now finally down for a nap. Yay! Ok so I get it, they are bored, but come on little people give me a break. We had all of their cousins over all day Monday. Oh and all day means from 11am until about 9pm. They all swam and played all day. Then yesterday we had some friends over to swim and play too. Can't we have a little peace and quite today? Don't get me wrong because Monday and Tuesday were both fun days, but seriously. Well now that they are fed, Karsyn is asleep, and I had time to vent I think I will take my perfect little children out to sit in the jacuzzi!

Girls, girls, girls........

2009-04-04T14:18:00.000-07:00

Karsyn is such a sweet baby. I had a little bit of a rough time getting her to smile because she was pretty interested in the camera. She is rolling all over the place, and plays a little with her toys when I lay her on a blanket. I can't resist kissing her little face all the time, and smelling her yummy baby breath!

This week I kept threatening the girls that if they didn't stop fighting they couldn't play with friends. So finally on Thursday I stuck to it, and they could only play with each other. They had a great time playing outside. I thought it was a little too cold for spraying each other with the hose, but they begged and I caved. Hey at least they weren't fighting!

Track break fun!!!

2009-03-24T13:58:00.000-07:00

This picture takes me back to my own childhood. I remember playing in weird spots but thinking it was the coolest ever!

Last Friday night we went out to eat with family and some friends. When my sisters and I go out we usually put all of our kids together with the teenage girls left in charge. I love having biult in babysitters who I know I can trust! When we got home we found every last child asleep on this big ol' couch. My kids loved it so much we kept it up for a couple of days!

St. Patricks day was no big deal, but we did try to eat some green things. First they wanted green otter pops, and then I surprised them with green hardboiled eggs. I soaked them over night in green water. They thought it was pretty neat!

While Kaylee was on track break we tried to do some fun things. We went to a few different parks. ( I never took my camera to the park.) Our favorite place we went was pump it up. We went with the Iverson's, Floyd's, Law's, and the Stone's. It was on Monday so I brought the nieces and nephews that I babysit. The kids all had a blast, and I Carla and I took lots of pictures. Unfortunatley there were too many to post.

Here we are all sliding together. We laughed our heads off!

Karsyn was perfect as normal. I swear that girl is so good. She just hangs out even if she pulls her headband down around her neck!

Ky had such a great time with his cousins taking him down the big slide. Although he did only want to ride on someones lap, NOT by himself.

Me and Kim just happy to be out of the house!

Aly, our oldest trackbreaker! Not too much longer until middleschool!

I love my buddy boy!

Trackbreak was fun, but I sure am glad to have it over. I like to have a regular schedule of things that I do each day and school helps keep me on track with that! Thanks to all you girls who hung out at the parks, and pump it up! We had a lot of fun!

Four months old........Already?

2009-03-12T14:17:00.000-07:00

My sweet little baby Karsyn is four months old as of yesterday. I just love her to pieces. On Tuesday at the doctors office she weighed 15 pounds. On the charts she is average, and the doctor said she is perportioned perfectly! She is doing a lot of smiling, delightful squeeling, and the cutest cooing I have ever heard. Poor little thing has been sick all week with off and on fevers, but even with that she is still so sweet. I am so grateful that Heavenly Father sent her to our family.

Yesterday I came in the kitchen to find that Kenzie had dumped out the crumbs from the bag of pirates booty, and was getting her lick on, on the counter.

And here is Ky watching the whole thing. Probably wishing he wasn't buckled in his seat so he could join in! HAHA!

As much as Kenzie bugs the heck out of Ky I think they are kind of buddies. Too cute!

Family trip to Highland, Utah.....

2009-03-10T12:47:00.000-07:00

Karsyn is turning into a big girl now so she gets to sit in "bumbo." Kenzie cute as ever posing for the picture!

In Utah we went to this indoor little water park, and Karsyn slept in her carseat most of the time. When she did finally wake up she just hung out looking around. She's such a good girl!

Here is the water park in Lehi. Totally indoors with tons of kiddie swimming, and warm water. I was so impressed they had that there because it means life doesn't end in the winter!

The kids had soooooo much fun.We don't have a picture, but Ky was hillarious. He would walk right off the edge and fall in the water with Kelly there to catch him. On the one hand I'm glad he's not scared, but on the other hand now we will have to be super cautious. Look out summer here we come!

They couldn't get enough of that warm water!

We went to Utah to stay with some of our very good friends, The Saari's. Luke and Kelly served their missions in St. Petersburg Russia, and have been BFF's (HaHa) ever since. Lucky for them I think Cami and I are even more BFF's!

They have two cute little girls who I have no picture of named Morgan, and Kendall. We had a great time hangin out at their beautiful home, riding their motorcycle, swimming, talking, and most of all laughing! Thanks for having us!

Poor buddy! He was plum tuckered out from our fun weekend. We enjoyed this time while he took a little nap on our loooong drive home!

Kaylee being silly as usual!

Yesterday I babysat all the track breakers in our family. Aly, Jake, Drew, Nathan, Tyler, and of course my own four. We also ended up with about five or six neighbor kids. Needles to say it was a little crazy around here. Karsyn had a fever, and was being very fussy, but I kept having to lay her down to take care of other things. Finally....Daddy to the rescue! Thanks to the wind Kelly couldn't move trailers and he ended up coming home early. The two of them slept in that chair for a good couple of hours. Even with all the craziness!

Ranting, ranting, and more ranting.....

2009-03-06T14:30:00.000-08:00

I consider myself a pretty honest person. Haha! Not pretty and honest, just pretty honest. So let's be honest here. Today on this friday, with the week coming to an end I am feeling a little down. Now I know my last post wasn't too exciting, and a little bit comlainy, but here we go again. Last week end we went to Highland Utah to visit friends. We had some good old family time with Kelly all weekend. Then we came home on Monday. Kelly went to the firestation on Tuesday, moved trailers until later on Wednesday, went back to the station yesterday, and is now currently moving trailers. He will get home around 5:00, and tomorrow he will move more trailers.
So yesterday I got distracted and now i have to finish my post. Lucky for me Kelly isn't moving trailers today, but the day's not over yet and there is a chance he will leave. Now I am not complaining that my husband has a job in this time of economic crisis, but I am saying that life gets harder and harder the longer he's gone. Kenzie has been sick for a couple of days with a fever that comes and goes. I can always tell when Kelly has been gone too much by how sassy she is too. Ky has also had a few fevers along with being VERY fussy. I don't go a lot of places because it gets too hard with four kids. Mostly because there are two babies. Yesterday we went to the park with a few friends, and I ended up leaving early because Karsyn and Ky were both crying non stop. While we were there I was told I look tore up these days. Also I looked around at friends who are at different fazes in life and couldn't help but feel a little envious. My sisters and a group of ladies go running together, and I feel a little left out, but there is no way I can go. I do try to laugh things off like the fact that I look tore up most days, but every now and then I feel like having a little pitty party. The big reason I look tore up is becauseI feel like nothing fits me so I just wear comfortable clothes. I try to be patient with getting my body back, but let's face it..... I JUST WANT MY BODY BACK! Now don't get me wrong. I love my life, my husband, and my children, but can't I complain a little? Now that I got all of that out I promise that my next post will have fun pictures, and no complaining!
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It's just life

2009-02-23T12:08:00.001-08:00

It's been a while since my last post, and I have been trying to figure out why. I think I have just been trying to keep up with the life of having four little kids. Kaylee started soccer a couple of weeks ago, and practices are on Tuesday's and Wednesday's. Then on Thursday's both girls go to gymnastics, and they are totally loving it. By the time the weekend comes there is always something goin on. Date night, family time, church, and back to Monday to start it all over again. In between all of that I can't keep up on all the laundry, picking up toys, making dinner, doing dishes....... I know it's just stuff that everyone does, but isn't it sometimes overwhelming? So that's why I haven't really blogged lately. It's just life.

A great weekend!!!

2009-02-09T12:01:00.000-08:00

My sisters and I went to the Green Valley Ranch Spa on Saturday for Tracy's birthday. We spent time in the hot tub, getting massages, sitting in the sauna and steam rooms, and lounging on a big couch that made us so sleepy. We had so much fun lauging and just being together. Thanks to our husbands who kept the kids and let us have the best day in a long time! I love you sissy's!!!

We think we're the Charlies Angels with our red, blonde, and brown hair. I know we're geeks!

We love it!!!!

Ky got his first haircut on Friday. He was a little squirmy, but he did pretty good!

I tried to get a good picture of all his hair. He has so much more hair on the sides and back of his head than on the top.

Karsyn is so fun with all of her smiles, and story telling. She sure is a little wiggle bug, and drives me a little bit crazy when I nurse her. I'm trying to keep up the breastfeeding because it's good for her and it's cheap. Let's face it we're in a recession here people!

My sweet girls actually being sweet to each other. Kaylee made Kenzie a valentine's gift and told her, "Kenzie, I made you this because I love you." I had to get a picture.

The cutest little baby talk!

2009-02-07T09:06:00.000-08:00

Ky has really started saying things lately, and it's so cute. He says "enna" for his girlfriend Jenna. He says "taysee" for his other girlfriend Tracy. When I say "Ooh you're stinky" he says,"tinky." He also says "baby" in the sweetest little high voice when he is around Karsyn. This morning I gave him his regular everyday waffle, and all by himself he said, "day-doo." I have been telling him to say "thank you" a lot lately, but he has never just said it by himself. He even knew when to say it. His age is definately making him very busy, but so fun!

Nine Years.......Happy Anniversary!!!!!

2009-01-30T12:26:00.000-08:00

I'm a day late, but blogging is not the easiest thing to get to these days. Yesterday January 29th was our nine year anniversary. We are going out to dinner and to see Phantom of the Opera tonight. I can't believe it! Nine years and four children seems to have gone by so fast. I love to think back about our wedding day because I have such great memories of it. Everything went perfectly, and I couldn't have asked for anything better. Our wedding day was great, but our life since that day has been even better.
Kelly-You have always done your very best to take care of me, and let me know that you love me. You are so helpful when you can be, and so considerate of me and my feelings. You are much more thoughtful and giving than I will ever be. Your willingness to serve others and to give of yourself is such a good example to me. You are always patient with me even when I'm being silly. I have never known anyone who can fix anything like you can. I'm serious when I say anything! I love to laugh with you, and I think you are a great story teller. You are great at being a dad. Our children love you so much! I am always impressed with what little sleep you function on most every day, and the extremely hard worker you are. I hope you know that I love you with all of my heart. You make my life so incredible! Happy Anniversary!

Good ol' kids!!!!

2009-01-30T11:18:00.000-08:00

This morning as I was running on the treadmill Kaylee with her messy hair and morning breath came down with an unusual (for the morning) smile. She was so happy to tell me that she made my bed. So cute, I know! When I went up and saw it I had to take pictures. I tried to take one of her but my camera battery went dead.

Kenzie and Karsyn . Karsyn looking oh so happy!

Kenzie wanted me to take a picture of her and when I did this is how she looked on purpose. She wanted to see it and I said "Do you look like a nice girl, or a snotty one?" she said "A snotty girl. Will you take another one?"

After we took this one we decided she looks like a nice girl. I think she's a funny girl. Oh and by the way she has been a much nicer girl lately. I have tried to spend more one on one time, and we set up the time out chair. That's where she goes for anything naughty. Before I put her in time out in different places all over the house. Now one set place works much better, and she knows I'm done letting her get away with so much. She is a good girl and I lover her!

This was Ky's morning. Yay he's taking a nap now!

Our future janitor and his baby sister......

2009-01-25T08:10:00.000-08:00

Lately I have been calling Ky "janitor" because he is constantly getting into our broom closet and pulling out any broom or dustmop I have. It drives me a little bit crazy, but he loves it! When I try to put them away he gets so mad and tries to push me out of the way of the closet. He is so busy and cute pushing that dustmop around! Ky is really becoming more aware of Karsyn. He says "baby" when he notices her crying, and loves to look at her and touch her. I have to remind him to be soft. I thought these pictures were so cute of them interacting a little!

Hopefully she will always look up to her brother and think he's neat!!!

I love this one of them staring at each other! Best buds in the making!

The other day I needed to get ready to go somewhere so I put Ky in the high chair with some pudding, and this is how we found him. We all laughed as he played "so big" covered in chocolate!

Happy Birthday Kaylee!!!!!!

2009-01-18T08:25:00.001-08:00

Yesterday was Kaylee's birthday so we decided to go to disneyland and use our annual passes before they expire. We went with some friends early Thursday morning and came home Friday night. We had a great time. Jenna offered to keep Ky and we accepted! There were times that I wished he was there but for the most part it was nice to focus on the girls. This was after a little cake decorating party in disneyland. Fun fun! Thanks Lindsay!

Friday we ate at goofy's kitchen with some of the disney characters.

Here's our big group of friends. It was different to go with friends instead of family, but we had a lot of fun.

Cinderella's fairygodmother

HAPPY BIRTHDAY-HAPPY BIRTHDAY-HAPPY BIRTHDAY-HAPPY BIRTHDAY-KAYLEE SUE!!!
WE LOVE YOU SO MUCH AND HOPE YOU HAD A GREAT BIRTHDAY!!!!

Monkey boy.....

2009-01-18T07:57:00.001-08:00

So I found Ky in his high chair. I didn't know he could get in there all by himself. Apparently he is turning into a little monkey boy. Hopefully he doesn't try climbing out of his crib any time soon!

Kelly isn't going to think this is very funny, but us girls did. And so did Ky!
Karsyn has a twin. This is Kaylee's baby that she got for Christmas. She went from being Rico to Rylee, and I thought pretty close to being Karsyns twin. Kaylee actually got them mixed up once. Haha!

My girls just love to be in a good picture!

Kenzie, Kenzie, Kenzie.....

2009-01-13T16:08:00.000-08:00

My little Kenzie girl has been in need of lots of attention ever since her brother was born, and now she needs it even more since this cute little sis was born. Boy do Kenzie and I struggle to get along. That girl will argue till she's blue in the face, tell me no, ignore me, pick fights with Kaylee and her cousin Tyler, and the list goes on. Ok I'm gonna be honest. I do not know how to deal with her. Every day I try to deal with her better than the day before, but it always seems so hard. As a mom it is so frustrating that I can't figure out how to handle my own child, and I feel like a complete failure sometimes. I love my little Kenzie girl so much and I just want so badly to have a good relationship with her and teach her everything she needs to know. Now on a more silly note.... speaking of needing attention. This is how I found her the other day. Being the baby in the car seat with Karsyns headband and pacifier. I did let her put makeup on me the other day. We had a nice little time, and she called it her makeup shoptory. For some reason those pictures wouldn't go from my camera to my computer.

Soooooo late!

2009-01-11T17:37:00.000-08:00

I know, I know I'm a little late. Ok maybe a lot late. I just haven't been able to catch up on anything lately. Laundry, sleep, kids, cleaning up, and obviously blogging. I haven't even been able to look at blogs. So now I wanted to record the great Christmas we had. Here is Kaylee and Kenzie with their new baby dolls. They actually weigh as much as a real baby and their dolls have hair to match theirs. At first Kaylee decided she wanted her doll to be a boy and named it Rico. Ha ha! I guess that name came from the Hannah Montana show. Kenzie named her doll Gabriella. That came from High School Musical. It's her favorite play name. Ky had fun on his first Christmas where he actually got presents! He didn't quite know what to think.

This year was Karsyns turn to be the baby that didn't get any presents. She was a cute Christmas babe!

Santa brought a jumpy house that the kids love so much. That was all Kenzie wanted so yay Santa delivered!

When I was young my mom used to get different colored string for each person in the family and string it all over in a designated room. It went up and down and all around. We would have to wind up, and follow our own string until we got to the end. At the end would be another great present. We are carrying on that same tradition called the strings and the older our kids get they are loving it. At the end of their strings this year was a bike for Kenzie, and a scooter for Kaylee. Kaylee crashed pretty good on her scooter so it took a couple of days for her to get back on. She's still not too sure about it.

Christmas night the Brinkerhoff's came over. We ate yummy soup that they brought and had our annual gingerbread house contest. Seriza and Kelly are always very competitive, but this year Stephanie came ready to win. Her house did end up pretty cute, and we voted her the winner.

This is what we called our gingerbread house neighborhood.

Christmas Eve was spent with my family. I'm sad that I have no pictures but I forgot my camera. We enjoyed a nice night at my mom and dad's. We also went to Tracy and Steve's on Christmas morning for their traditional Christmas breakfast. All in all we had a wonderful Christmas and we loved every minute we got to spend with family.

Six weeks old....

2008-12-23T22:03:00.000-08:00

I can't believe my new baby girl is six weeks old today. Where has the time gone already? I guess it's gone to taking care of four cute kiddos every minute of every day. Sometimes the days seem long, but every now and then when I stop to think time really is going by so fast. I try hard every day to enjoy them now while they are little. I don't want to ever regret not enjoying these precious years. So Karsyn slept all night last night, and I was not expecting that at all. I kept checking on her to make sure she was ok. The night before last she somehow managed to roll over. I stood there thinking, " Is it normal for a six week old to roll over?" I don't know about anyone else, but it's not in my house. I think about three months is normal. I love her so much, and I'm so grateful to have such a sweet baby to hold and kiss all day! I love being a mom!