Happy Anniversary...

We stayed at the Seven Wives Inn B&B
in St. George.

This was our private little cottage. It is located just
behind the main home. We even had our own private parking.

Sorry it turned out a little blurry!

This dog was a guest on the upper level of the main
house. We actually thought he was stuck for
awhile. He was not.

St. George Temple is one of my favorite.

Russell and I have been married four years now.
It really seems we have been together forever. We really enjoy being together.
Our family is growing so fast. I can not believe that Abbie will be 15 in May. Weston turns 13 in December. Trevor will be 12 in February. Ty turns 3 next month and Tate is 18 months. Where does the time go?
Russell I love you and have enjoyed our journey together so far. I look forward to our future.

The Pumpkin Patch

We once again visited the Red Barn for our annual pumpkin search.
This is a tradition that we all look forward to. We were sad that Justin and Nadine's family were unable to join us this year. Maybe next year!

What a good big sister...

Abbie really is a lot of help with the two little boys.
They loved playing with the side walk chalk with her.

Tate, has a hard time staying focused on one spot and
is always on the go.

Abbie is really like another mom. She is very helpful.
Her little brothers really do love her.

I love watching them at this age. They are so curious

about everything. I love being a mother. I wish I had
more patients. Sometimes its hard to remember that
those little things that stress us out, and make us crazy
are the exact things that one day we will be laughing at.

They grow so fast...

Ty has always loved playing on this step or laying there

when he is tired. When I saw him laying here today, it occurred to
me how big he has become. Before you know it he wont fit on this step
anymore.

I hope these two little boys will always be best buddies!
Or maybe I should say I hope they become best buddies!

Back to school...

Well we survived the first week of school. Abbie started the 9th grade this year. Weston joined his sister at the junior high. He is in 7th grade this year. Trevor is starting his last year as an elementary student. The day went well for all of them. Abbie was happy to find that her lunch hour is full of old friends. She was excited to return to school. She told me that this year there were not any scary 9th graders. I informed her that was because she was now one of the big scary 9th graders. Weston seemed to like school also. He was nervous even though he would never admit to it. I know this is true because he asked Abbie to meet him at his locker for lunch. He ended up doing just fine. He opened his locker found all of his classes. I hope that being at a new school will be a fresh start for Weston. Trevor was not real excited about having Mrs. Maughan for a teacher. That was Weston's teacher and I think he had heard of Weston's troubles and was a little nervous about how much of what Weston said about her would be true. I how ever loved her and thought she was great with Weston. By the end of school Trevor informed me that he really liked her. I was not surprised she is just the kind of teacher Trevor likes. She is calm and fun yet strict and expects a lot from her class. I really like her a lot. I am glad that school is back in. Not because the kids are back in school and I have some time with out them. I just like that it gives us a little more structure. I like routines and summer always feels crazy to me...fun just busy and schedules are never kept. I guess that is life with a family the size of ours. It is fun having a big family but very busy. I love every minute of it.

I want to be like my Dad...

Ty loves his Dad and wants to do everything he is doing.
I loved these pictures. We bought Ty this little lawn mower and
he loves mowing the lawn with his Dad.

Abbie

Abbie had her wisdom teeth removed today. She was very nervous about the whole thing. We met with Dr. Christopher Burton yesterday who explained the procedure. She thought about it the remainder of the day, and by bedtime had made herself sick. I am blessed to have married a man who is worthy and holds the priesthood and is able to give priesthood blessings whenever we feel the need for one. After Abbie's blessing she got ready for bed I told her I would be down to say goodnight. When I went down to her room to tuck her in she was crying. We talked for a little while I told her this was a good opportunity to exercise faith and let her blessing work and put herself in Heavenly Fathers hands. I left feeling like she felt better and that she would be fine. Not more than 5 minutes later she came up and asked if the wind could make her bed shake. Not likely since her room is in the basement. Again I explained she was just nervous and having a hard time relaxing. She ended up sleeping in Trevor's bed. (he is Oregon) This morning when we got to the oral surgeon center she seemed in better spirits. Still nervous but much better. As they prepared her for her surgery and asked us to leave again the tears returned. She did just fine 45 minutes later the came to get us. She was so completely out of it. It seems so strange to me that she is 14 years old. It truly seems like she was just beginning kindergarten. She has been involved in Utah National Guard military kids. A few weeks ago they took a road trip they went down the Colorado river. Stopped off at Zions national and also visited the Indian ruins in Fremont. They plan to visit Morocco next year. She is really growing up. She finally got her own cell phone. Of course it comes with a wonderful monthly payment, but finally she is like every other kid she knows. She is such an amazing girl. She is responsible and has her head on straight. She know what she want out in life and knows what she needs to do to get there. She gets good grades and is so helpful to me with the little boys. I am lucky to have her as my daughter. I am very proud of her and all she has accomplished to this point in her life.

Where did April go...

I can not believe that April has come and gone. This month I have two children celebrating birthdays. My oldest and my youngest. My parents just bought a new home and will be spending this month renovating and moving horses. The horses alone is a major project. The house is nice but needs some work. It needs some serious cleaning, paint and new carpet. I can not believe they are moving. I really did not think they would ever move again. I am sad in some ways, they live so close to me now. Just down the street. My family walks and rides our bikes their. My 3 older children use to walk across the street after school. They will still be close but not so convenient. I am happy for them. I know its what they wanted and they are excited. May also brings the school year to an end. Hooray!! Did I really say that? Seriously, I love the summer time, I enjoy doing things with the kids. That's not to say that by August I wont be saying hip hip hooray school is back in!! I think May is going to be busy, which probably means it will fly by. Take time to enjoy it!

Happy Birthday

I have to say I really think I have the best husband around. Today was my Birthday. First my husband arranged for me to have the day off work. He called a co-worker to work for me. Second when I woke up this morning on the toilet seat was a birthday card and a green piece of paper saying this "Happy Birthday! its your special day. into every one's live you are a sunshine ray. Have the kids help you follow each clue, I hope you know how much I really love you. You have a present, i do not lie, find the first clue where the clothes get dry." We went to the dryer and found the next clue which said "you found the right spot, you are so smart I love you so much, you stole my heart To find the next clue you must use your head try looking under a child's bed." This was found in Trevor's room 3rd "you did it again, you found it fast my love for you will always last. To get the next clue use your brain it is located near a bathroom drain" 4Th "how exciting you made it here Love of my life is what you are dear Windows are closed and doors locked tight look in the spot where the car sleeps at night." The garage...is where I found my new bike. How cute is that? He had also gotten a gift from the 3 older kids. He is so thoughtful. He had flowers delivered of course! My mom took me to lunch, and then Russell had invited everyone over for cake and ice cream. I really feel blessed to have such a sweet man for a husband. I hope he knows how much i love him!!

Meet the President

Trevor really gets into this kind of thing. He loves to participate at school. He had to do a speech on William H. Taft. He had a lot of fun researching this president. He was the largest president weighing over 320 lbs. He actually got stuck in the White house bath tube. It took 6 aids and a pound of butter to get him out. Wouldn't you just love that being a part of your history. He was the last President to have facial hair. Trevor really wanted to look the part. We stuffed him with pillows and made a homemade mustache. You will never guess what its made from!! Go ahead give it a try...

He really did a great job delivering his speech. He worked hard and had most of it memorized.

Trevor...

Trevor turned 11 on the 21 of February. Friday the 20 was our blue and Gold banquet for cub scouts. Trevor earned his Arrow of light before leaving the cub scouts. That is a great achievement. It is the only award earned by a cub scout to be carried over onto their boy scout uniform. Congratulations Trevor!!

Back to normal

I am finally seeing improvement in my sick children. I have spent the day cleaning, changing sheets cleaning toys that may have been slobbered on. I am hoping to clean out the sick bug that seems to be living at our house these days. Today is the first day that Ty has seemed to be his self. He is feeling much better. Tate is completely back to his self. Now if I can just keep them healthy. I am very ready for spring. I am tired of the cold weather, which I know we still have plenty of. I am just grateful to have things back to normal. It is nice to be able to get back into our routine.

Ty...

Well today I was back at the doctors office. Ty has some how managed to become worse. This is becoming the longest week of my life. After some tests at the doctors office he changed Ty's medicine (he has been taking it for 5 days and it has done nothing.) Then he referred me to the hospital. It seems that Ty's poor throat is so swollen that he was worried that the swelling was blocking his airway. After the trauma of xrays, we were told that his tonsils and adenoids were very large but the swelling was not affecting his airway. What a relief. Now with the new antibiotic hopefully we are on our way to recovery.

Sick Boys

My two little ones have been so sick. It has been so very sad. They are still not feeling well. Ty is still running high fevers. Neither one of them will eat. Tate is finally improving. Still not eating and sleeping great. Ty honestly looks like death. His throat is so swollen he can hardly talk, which is why he wont eat. They are both so cranky. I feel like I am loosing my mind. I am sleep deprived. I took this week off to be home with them. Sometimes I wish I were at work. I love them and am so sick of them being sick. This I think is one of the hardest things about being a mom! They only want me and when poor Russell tries to help Ty cries and tells him to go away. It is nice to feel needed but...enough already. I am thinking I might have to take Ty back to the doctor he is not getting better. He only has one more dose of medicine. Nothing gets done I sit all day and hold one or the other. Why do kids need to get sick. I wish there were some quick cure for when they are not well.
Oh well what are you going to do right.

DisneyLand.....

The Happiest place on earth

We spent a week in California. Three days were spent at Disney land, one day at Knotts berry farm. We had so much fun! Here is the interesting thing about this trip. It was last minute and we went with my ex husband and his wife and all of our children. Yes I know this is unusual. For our strange family this is really quite normal. I feel very lucky to have such a great relationship with both of them. I really must say that Wendy is one of my favorite people. She is very kind and very fun to be around. I think that this is how all divorced families should be. My children are so much more adjusted. They don't have to worry about causing bad feelings or feeling guilty because they enjoy their time out to their dads. When Gregg and Wendy called to invite us, it made me feel good that they would invite us on their vacation. They must really like us. I really do think a good time was had by all.I have waited my whole life to see this castle

Ty needed a little push to see Mickey

Mickey is one of his favorite cartoons

This is all of us with Minnie...What a happy family...or is that strange?

My favorite ride was Splash Mountain. It is Skip's favorite also.

Tate even had fun. Gregg fed him a peice of licorice.

I think Tate enjoyed the characters more than Ty. Or was less afraid.

Ty was so thrilled to see his very favorite car. QUEEN!!!

Ty hated stich

Weston found this hat for Ty. Ty loved it. Me not so much. It was $30.00! I thought it looked cute on Ty and we all had a good laugh. I could not bring myself to buy it however.

They had to settle for good ol' Mickey mouse ears.

All the kids at toon town. Man I wish that were a real cage.

I loved pluto. He was really cute with the kids

Again Tate enjoyed the characters, He was not afraid at all.

Ty did love Donald.

This is all the kids at Knotts berry farm.

Ty and Skip met Snoopy.

Ty loved him too.

Thanks to all the older kids for their help with Ty and Tate. Thank you Wendy, I would never have been able to go on so many rides if you were not so willing to babysit. Thanks Gregg for inviting us to crash your trip. This was really one of the best vacations. We had so much fun and really did enjoy the company.