And she's off!

Audrey has been riding a scoot bike for about a year now.  Her balance is excellent.  Her bike was the last one I bought, but I did find one on black friday.  Anyway she took off riding and hasn't looked back.  She is a natural.  Way to go Audrey!

Wizard of Bras

***Girl Talk Here***  Overt your eyes if you are a male***


It's been a while since I have had a properly  fitting bra.  It seems as I have had kids, lost weight, gained weight, had more kids etc.  I just haven't taken the time to get a proper fitting.  Well, I finally did it.  Thanks to my good friend Angela, for prodding me along with a birthday gift card, I made my way to Monrovia's Wizard of Bras.  There, they keep track of your size and the style of bras that you buy.  Now mind you, I haven't been there for at least 3 years.  The record indicated that my last bra was a size 34 E.  What size did I walk out in?  That would be 34 B.  Yea baby, I'm back to my original size.  Whoever said that being busty was fun, clearly hasn't been without.  I think being without is way better than being with.  I'm not sure most men would agree, but I'm sure the women can all relate.

Halloween 2013

It's almost Halloween again and I'm always amazed at how fast the year has gone.  The really bad part is that the rest of the year goes even faster than the first half!

We had our ward annual Trunk-or-treat on Monday night.  It's a really fun night for the kids.  Everyone is there in costume, even most adults.  This year I chose to have us all be Legos.  It was simple and fun and lets be honest, INEXPENSIVE.

The only problem is that sitting down to eat was a little hard for the kids.  Oh well.  It was only for one night.

Football and Pumpkins

Sunday was a marathon sporting day.  First game up was the Washington Redskins followed by the Red Sox World Series Game.   While Bjorn was watching the game I thought it would be a good idea to carve pumpkins with the kids.  It would occupy them for a long time and they wouldn't notice the fact that they couldn't watch "kid shows"  all day.

I started by cutting open everyones pumpkins.  Then I thought they would all enjoy getting out the "guts".  As it turns out, none of kids liked the feeling of the "guts" and I ended up gutting all of them myself.

Then on to the designs.  Audrey wanted an Ariel, Lydia wanted a Hello Kitty, and Myles wanted a little green alien from Toy Story.  They all turned out really well if I do say so myself.  I felt like the little red hen in the end.  I bought the pumpkins, I gutted the pumpkins and I carved the pumpkins all by myself!  Maybe next year they will be able to help out a little more...

Last Year

It's the first day of the last year of Pre-school for the girls.  I will be so happy to have them all at the same place next year.  I will also be happy to not be paying for pre-school any more.  It never seemed that bad when it was just Myles, but then the following year it was all three, and this year it's back to just two.  All the same I can think of other ways to spend that money!

The girls are eager to go and love that they have the same teacher as Myles did last year.  It's a fun, friendly, easy going place for them to spend the mornings twice a week.

Way to go Monkey class.  Next year it's on to Bradoaks to become a Bobcat!

Bubba turns 6!

Myles turned six on the 1st of October.  It was a low key day for the most part.  He had school and then we had our friends the Terrill's over for homemade pizza, cake and ice cream.

Myles was blessed with many gifts from all of you.  Thanks for remembering his special day.  He loved all of his gifts and is still in the planning stages of spending the rest of the cash that he was given.

I mad him a pirate ship cake for the event and as the night went on it became a ship wreck cake.  I guess the heat was too much for it and it split right into two.  Tears where shed, but I think it was still cute, even as a wreck!

First Day of School

It's official.  I am the mother of an elementary school student.  How did that happen?!  Surely I'm not old enough to have a child in school, especially full time school.

Myles was so excited for school to start that he awake at 6:30 am.  He was dressed in his uniform and ready to go.  The hard part was waking the girls and getting them ready to go.  School starts at 8 am and he has to be physically walked into the kinder area.  Thus everyone has to be dressed and have shoes on.

He loves school and his class.  He's even experienced his first bus field trip.  They drove an hour and a half to a farm to pick pumpkins.

Myles the "giant" is officially the tallest and strongest in the class by a whole head...He has grown 3.75 inches this year alone.  Way to go Bubba!

While the kids are away...

Momma will play!  I've been working on a birthday project for Myles while the kids are at school.  I can't decide if my need to build comes from self reliance or being uber frugal.  At any rate, Bjorn and I saw this idea for a sign in Norway.  We had two problems with it.  One, we had no way ro get it home.   Two, it was like 30 $ and my practical side just couldn't justify that for a toy.  Mr. Myles has a *slight* obsession with signs and order.  I knew this would be right up his alley.  Now because my little girls cannot keep a secret to save their lives I've had to build while they are away at school.  It's given me a taste for what it is going to be like next year when they are gone full time.  I have to say, I think im going to do just fine!  The signs are removable for different shapes.  He has a total of four posts And 12 signs.  I hope he likes them.

 

Gorillas

Conversations at the zoo aresometimes funny.  This was the conversation today.
Myles: Mom look at that huge gorilla.

Me: I see it!

Myles: Oh, he's leaving.  Look at that hairy butt!  Mom, daddy has a hairy bum too.

The crowd:  snicker.. laugh...

Me: Myles we don't need to talk about daddy right now .

Trip to Bountiful

The kids and I are visiting family in Bountiful.  As usual grandma has been playing "cruise director.  

 We have enjoyed time with friends and family alike.  The kids enjoyed a trip to Lagoon, a local amusement park.  They love that place.  It's always loads of fun for them.  

The next day was a slow one for the kids.  We scootered up by the golf course.  Today we went bowling.  Sorry for the photos being out of order.  Blogging from my phone and can't figure out how to move things around.  Thanks mom and dad for such a fun visit.

(I just found this post in my drafts.  It's now July 2014!)

Lake Powell

We just returned from a fun family trip to Lake Powell.  It had been almost ten years since my last visit, so there were a lot of changes.  Change #1, the landscape.  It changes from yr. to yr. due to the water needs of So. Calif.  This year was the lowest I had ever seen it.  Change#2, I now have 3 kids and a spouse in the equation.  And I might add that those kids are not swimmers, but sinkers.  Change #3,  a new houseboat.  This boat is 10 feet longer and about 5 feet wider than the old boat and has 4 bedrooms.  Thus allowing us to comfortabl

y house 29 people for the entire week.  We had great fun, food, and family togetherness.  I was having  so much fun I forgot to take many photos.  Here are the limited few I did take.

Utah visitors

We had my parents and my two nieces, Tess and Kate for a visit the beginning of June.  I'm just getting around to documenting it all.  Sadly the only photo I have is this one.  It was just before leaving for Disneyland the first day.  I had made shirts for my kids at the beginning of the season and the girls wanted to make sure that I would be making them for Tess and Kate too.  After all, what else would you wear to Disneyland if you didn't wear your "Disneyland shirt"?

We enjoyed them for a week of fun in the California Sun (except at the beach).  We visited Disneyland two days, the beach at Newport, Long Beach Aquarium, and the L.A. Zoo.  It was really fun for my kids to get to play with their cuzzie's from Utah.  I loved having them here and hope they will come back often.  

Fathers Day 2013

 

 

 

We love our daddy, even if we are a bit silly.  

Myles Pre-school Graduation

Myles has graduated from First Presbyterian Pre-school.  He had such a great time there for the last two years.  He will miss his teachers and friends he made there, but will go on to Kindergarten at Bradoaks Elementary with at least 3 of the boys from his class.  The girls will stay for another year at FPPS followed by their entrance into Kindergarten the following year.  I can't believe I'm the mother of a Kindergartner.  Time has moved so quickly...

4th of July

It was a fun filled 4th.  We started the day with swim lessons, followed by Dispicible Me 2 movie, and a BBQ with our good friends the Terrills.  After the BBQ we drove to the center of town to watch the fire works above the library.  What a great way to spend the day.  Friends, fun, food.  Need I say more?!

Say "Cheese"

Myles has had this loose tooth for about a month now.  I've made the tooth fairy pillow and we have had many talks about how to pull that sucker out.  He would wiggle it once per day, IF I reminded him, so I was shocked when he announces from the back seat, that his tooth has fallen out.  When I turned around to inspect it hadn't fallen out, he had just made major progress on it and it was just hanging on by a thread. We were driving home from St. George and I didn't have access to my camera.  I told him to "hold on" till we got home and I could take a photo of the monumental even.  As soon as we got home it was out.  He didn't even flinch or cry or fuss about it and the small amount of blood that comes with it.  He just couldn't stop laughing.  His new tooth was already poking through so it's no wonder that thing came out.  

Here he is with his new toothless grin.  I think he looks so very cute.  HE thinks he looks so cute without his tooth.  Audrey keeps telling him he looks WEIRD.  To which he says, "that hurts my feelings Audrey."
The girls are counting down the days till their #5 birthday (319 days), so their teeth can fall out too! He was especially excited to show me that the tooth fairy had left him a 2 dollar bill in his tooth's place.  He and the girls have been brushing well in hopes to get more money for teeth that are "clean" vs. teeth that have fillings in them ( hey whatever gets them to brush, right!.) 

 

"Others"

Audrey: "mom can we eat lunch outside in the garage?"

Me: "yes"

Audrey: "OK, I'm going to tell the others."

Audrey: "Hey "others", we can eat in the garage!"

Sometimes it's just the little things that brighten my days.  I have to remember to "take time to smell the roses."

Too cheep...

So about a two years ago we had to have Bjorn's breaks done on the Passat.  It cost us 1500.00.  I about crapped my shorts.  I vowed never to pay that much again.  So about 15 months ago I was at the dealer with my MDX when they told me that my breaks needed to be done right away.  I knew we were going home for Christmas and I could have my fabulous brothers help me do the breaks for just parts.  So they showed me how to do them, except when we got the tire off they really didn't need to be done yet.  ARGGGGHHHHHHH.  Damn Dealership...Fast forward till 2-13-13.  I knew the breaks needed to be done now.  I called Ryan and Dru, got the "readers digest" review of the job and watched a youtube on it.  Tools in hand I began the hour long job.  Well all went well till the one bold that needed to be removed BROKE OFF.  Lil' ol me broke the bolt.  What the crap!  Now I'm in real trouble because the car can't be driven and I need to get another part.  After many conference calls to the brothers I called Bjorn to hurry home from work so I could get the parts and finish the job.  Turns out they sell the replacement bolt and housing and I didn't have to buy an entire new caliper.  Good news.  8$ vs. 69$.  Got the part and was on to tire number two.  Again the bold gives me problems.  It stripped out and I couldn't get it out.  With some "persuasion", ie: beating the hell out of it, by Bjorn we got the second bolt out and put on the new pads.  Job done.  It only cost 100$ in parts and one small, very minor, bodily harm to myself.  Not bad, I will take that over 1500.00$ any day of the week!

Devil Child***

Where,oh where did my little girl go. Oh where, oh where did she go?  I think that Audrey has been possessed and she is truly the DEVIL CHILD this week.  On tip of all the shenanigans of yesterday, today she went to town early.  She broke into my bathroom an took another bottle of lip gloss.  Smearing it on her lips and then globes on the carpet.  After a stern chat i thought we were good to go.  Not so.  On an outing in the car she took the colored pens and drew all over her face!  While walking through the store she was trying to climb, touch, and destroy everything in her way.  I took her hand and she sat down and wanted to be drug through the store.  So I picked her up and we went on our way.  She then started to claw at my face like she was a cat.  So I put her down and held her hand while trying to get out of the store as fast as I could.  Upon getting home she wouldn't open her legs to undo the car seat buckle.  I said what is the matter.  Nothing was the answer.  It turns out she peed in the seat.  REALLY, it's been a year since she had an accident.  She did it on purpose.  I marched her right up stairs and put her in the tub clothes and all and hosed her down with a COLD shower.  She thought it was funny at first but she then began to shake in the cold.  She was crying and said she would act better if I turned it off.  SHEESH...

MOM IT'S AN EMERGENCY- QUICK!

Do you ever have those days that you just know from the start are going to be bad?  Today is one of those days.  I was lying in bed enjoying my sleep when Myles ran in and said, "Mom, come quick, it's an emergency."  "Yoda had gotten into something and made a huge mess."  Upon investigation I found that the mess was not made by the dog.  Instead was made by a certain three year old, named Audrey.  She had taken the tooth paste, pink and blue flavors, the bottle of lotion, and a bottle of sunscreen and squeezed them out all over the floor in the hall.  Then she added several cups of water for good measure, and started finger painting on the carpet.  Yep, that's right!  Large pink and blue and white circles on the carpet.  And if that wasn't enough she then walked down the stairs, into the living room and went to find some "lips" in my purse, something that is off limits, btw.  She took everything out of the purse.  Then went into the other purses that were hanging on the coat rack.  She emptied them all out too.  Consumed all the "treats" found in them, pulled open all the bandaids and taped them to the side of the purse and moved on.  I guess she found a bottle of RED nail polish in one purse. She then paints her nails, her toes, her lips, and then her entire foot.  Oh and everything else that she was sitting on too.  That would be the sofa, the leather ottoman, and the rug under the sofa.  I have just spent 2 hours cleaning up this little tornado and I hate to say it, but some of the mess is permanent.  What possesses a normally well behaved child to do something like this all before the hour of 7 A.M.?   I need a vacation!

This was the mess I woke to.

Notice her fingers and lips are also painted.  

Snow Day

Myles the snow remover

Audrey and Lydia with pure enjoyment on their faces

Snow isn't something my children see a lot of.  When they do visit it, it's always a good time.    Grandma and Papa's driveway is the perfect sledding hill after a night of snow.  It shoots you right out into the street which has been plowed and therefore stops  you right in your tracks.  We have to make good use of our snow clothes since they only get used once or twice a year at most.  

Market Street Grill

Every year at Christmas time there is an evening when all the adults go to dinner.  It's a great time for everyone to get to eat a warm meal and enjoy some great company.  It's the "Smith", "party of ten", kind of fun.  We all love it and it's the one time of year that I am guaranteed to have a great meal and eat it while it is hot too!  And another perk is that it's all on mom and dad.  That's right, we don't have to shell out a penny.  Thanks mom and dad.  

 Shauna and Mas; AKA mom and dad

 Bjorn and Brooke

 Chris and Kristin

 Melissa and Dru

Leslie and Ryan