Baptism Day

Ethan turned 8 this month and his baptism ended up on Halloween morning. It was such an amazing experience! We got everything ready at the house that morning and then Johnny, Ethan and I headed to the church to get him all ready. It ran so smoothly and I was so touched by all the friends and family that came that day to support him. We had so many little kids there it made it hard for anyone to see when Ethan was baptized so I had to sneak to the front with the kids so I could see too. We've asked Ethan how he felt about the day and he says he feels good and warm. Thank you so much for everyone who came that day and for all your help.

Excited Ethan.

Ethan and mom.

Ethan and dad.

Just waiting.

Some of our family and friends who were able to come.

Happy Halloween

I love Halloween. My kids and I have had a lot of fun this month making fun Halloween themed crafts for art all month long. We are part of a home school group and had a Halloween Party on Friday. It was a blast. Then on Saturday night we went Trick or Treating as a family, I think that is a first. Johnny has always stayed home with the baby, but he had no excuses this year. Then we went and saw Grandmas and Grandpas and ended with a party at my moms.

My little witch.

Her kitty.

Hulk.

Iron man.

Mom and kids.

Out trick or treating.

Happy Birthday Ethan (and me)

My oldest baby has just turned eight. I can not believe I have a child this old. He is such a neat kid. His mind is so unique and he thinks of the neatest stories and all the wonderful inventions that someday he'll make. A friend of mine found a quote that suits him perfectly, "Those who can see the invisible can do the impossible". Ethan and I share our birthday which at first wasn't that big of deal because babies don't care, then the last couple of years my birthday was kind of blah, but this year he was really concerned that we celebrate the day for me as much for him. I love this kid!

Ethan's first birthday

His 2nd birthday

3rd birthday

I couldn't find his 4th birthday picture so I had to skip to his 5th birthday picture

6th birthday

7th birthday

And finally his 8th birthday

I know he looks a little angry in this picture but he ended up getting very sick that day. He got a camera for his birthday and has been taking all sorts of wonderful pictures like action figures doing really cool things, pictures of the TV and so on. I just realized that he has the same jammies on for his 7th and 8th birthday picture, maybe we should have got him some pajamas instead.

Happy Birthday Joshua

My little wild man is 3! Joshy has by far surpassed all his siblings in the "naughty" stage. He started as soon as he could crawl and has never quite grown out of it. He is so darn cute which has saved his life several times :) Happy birthday Joshy we love you!
3 Months old

Joshua's first birthday

Just hanging out in the oven drawer, what is that weird?

Camping, Joshy LOVES animals

We always do a big birthday breakfast for the kids, Ethan helped make the Mickey Mouse pancakes for Joshy

His birthday cake

Joshua loves whatever the big kids love, and they are really into Pokemon right now. FYI if your kids have never seen Pokemon please never let them watch it. It has to be the lamest thing I've ever seen. Anyway, he got Crowgonk a Pikachu movie and some Pokemon action figures. (I'm sure I'm spelling those wrong for any die hard Pokemon lovers out there sorry)

Cooking 101

Lately Porter has been helping me make lunch while I finish with Ethan during school. He is a pro at making top ramen and can do it completely by himself. Well yesterday I had been canning peaches and had left stuff on the oven, I told Porter to just use another burner, which is apparently a lot harder than I thought. Shortly there after I smelled smoke and Porter was crying, I looked over the balcony and saw an apron that was singed. I told him to just throw it into the garage. Then he started crying again and I could smell wax in with the smoke so I ran downstairs and removed the melting plastic off of the oven. All was well and we finished up school ate a great healthy lunch of top ramen then we all got packed up to go visit Johnny at his office. Porter opened the door to the garage screaming FIRE! FIRE! This is what we found.

Apparently when something is still slightly burning you need to put it ALL the way out. Johnny is really happy that it burned the steps, but in my defense I wasn't the one who started it on fire :)

First Day of School

I figured since everyone else posted their first day of school pictures I needed to do one as well. I had my kids pick their favorite part of the school room to get their picture taken. Porter and Bella both picked our devotional area, this is where we do the calendar, say the pledge, sing songs and all that good stuff. Ethan picked our maps. Joshua is sitting at the babies table where I had dreams of him and Tess sitting there and coloring so nicely and being quiet. I don't know what I was thinking, so far during school Joshua has ran away SEVERAL times. I found him one time stark naked covered with mud, oh the life with a 2 year old.

Farmers Market

My kids really want to make some money so they can buy every toy they've ever laid eyes on; and because my garden looks like this...

(I know it's awesome)

I suggested they have a vegetable stand. They thought it was great and ended up going door to door with our gigantic zucchini and yellow squash trying to sale some. They did alright and they had a really good time. They can't wait to go buy all their toys now.

Happy Birthday Bella

My little girl turned 5 last Saturday. She is such a delight when she's not being a diva :) We went out as a family for her birthday and saw "Aliens in the Attic" then went out to eat. She got a CD player and some CD's for her birthday and absolutely loves them. She falls asleep to Kid's Bop every night.




I know she's picking her nose in this picture but this one sums up Bella; completely adorable, doing something she shouldn't (stuffing a kitten down the couch is frowned upon at our house), and then acting like a little boy (picking her nose) and to top it off she's in a dance outfit (she wasn't in dance she just loves to wear a leotard or a swimsuit everyday)

Birthday morning, what's better than to blow out your candles in bacon and eggs?

Ethan's Play

Ethan was in his very first play last week. He did an amazing job and really got into his character. It was an American History play and he was Mr. Snowden. Way to go Ethan!!

24th of July!!

Happy Pioneer Day!! What a fun weekend we have had. Friday morning we had a kids fun run in the neighborhood. My friend Julie had organized the whole thing and had it seperated by ages and they all had different distances. Bella took 3rd place, Porter took 1st wahoo!! and Ethan was doing alright but stopped to pee and then pick some flowers. At first we thought Ethan was trying to cheat and cut through the fields, so luckily he's not a cheater but will probably get busted for public urination later in life. After all the runners they had a bike race. Bella learned to ride a bike the day before but doesn't have a bike yet so she was bummed to not be apart of the ride. The boys got to ride and had fun.



Right after the race we headed camping down to Fairview with my family. We had so much fun. We weren't sure what to do with Tess, so we decided to set up a truck tent right next to our tent so we could put her to bed when she needed to and then when we went to bed we wouldn't wake her. Great in theory, but the little stinker ended up screaming most of the night. We brought her in with us but she has never slept with us, she really hates it. I'm not a great night time mom and I get so tired I can't function, Johnny kept saying lets put her in the truck in her carseat and she'll go right to sleep. I kept saying no, that's too mean. Finally at about 6:30-7:00am Johnny just does it and she instantly fell asleep. I've been informed I'm not allowed to make any decisions while I'm tired.

We had four wheelers down there and just got to sit around and relax. We even got to go swimming in the leech infested waters. After about the 8th leech we decided to go back to camp. Johnny and I headed home Saturday night and tried as best as we could to get all the dirt off the kids before bed.

9 years!!

I can't believe it has already been 9 years!! What an adventure it has been, thank you Johnny for always being there for me and for our 5 five great kids, I love you!!

Clowns

Ethan really loves clowns and making people laugh, so last week at the library we got a book on how to be a clown and it had fun suggestions of how to paint your face. We had a ton of fun, and then it got a little out of control and neighbors got painted and unfortunately kittens.

Why I Love Homeschool

This is how Porter did his math today, it must have worked because he got 100%.

I'm such a sucker

Last week my neighbor got two kittens, then my sister got two kittens, so of course we HAD to get two kittens. Ethan named his Cheepy and Porter named his Snowflake. The boys have been pretty responsible in taking care of them and making sure they have enough food and water. The kittens have so far survived jumping off our deck and the dog carrying it around, but can they survive the kids...??

Strawberry Days!

Oh how I LOVE Strawberry Days! We had such a blast this year. We had hoped to start with the carnival on Wednesday but we didn't realize that it didn't start until 6pm that night, the kids were bummed but they got over it. That night we headed to the rodeo. Bella did the Mutton Bustin this year. She was all excited until she found out the sheep run. She was thrown on a sheep and was shoved out the gate and immediately ate dirt. She was very mad about it for a few days but now she loves to tell everyone she rode a sheep. Some of her cousins rode too.
Here is Hadlee and Bella.

All the cousins that rode.

I just love the look of pure terror on her face in this one.

Then on Friday we went to Huck Finn Days. We had one sister for each line so the kids could hop from line to line.
There was a fish pond.

Face painting.

Horse rides.

Then Saturday morning was the Grand Parade. It rained but we were prepared, so it wasn't too bad.

Fun Pic

I finally just organized all my old photos and ran across one of my favorites of Porter. This is at our old house when he was 3.

Compliment??

So I'm trying to decide if this is a compliment or not. "You look really good...for having five kids" Isn't that like saying "You don't sweat much for a fat girl" I'm not quite sure how I feel about this.

Trying to help??

I love to be out working in the yard. The only problem is that I usually do more bad than good. Last year I broke the lawn mower blade, got the lawn mower stuck in mud, and the list goes on and on. Well last night I was trying to be helpful again; we have a little trailer out on the road and I wanted to move it, so pretending like I have any muscles at all I was lugging it down the road. There was a basketball under the trailer and it got stuck. So what do I do, what else, pull harder. As I did that the trailer shot out and knocked me over and the tongue came down on my foot. Thankfully there were three little neighbor girls watching me or the whole neighborhood would have learned some colorful new words. I sent them off so I could lie in the road and cry. Then I hobbled inside and called Johnny to get home quick. My mom came over (thanks!) to be with the kids so Johnny could take me to the ER. I had to get 4 stitches and have some tissue damage on my foot. I go to the Dr.'s today to see what needs to be done. I'm doing alright and I'm very glad my honey can stay home to help me, thanks baby!



Just for the record I do not normally have sausage toes. Mine are generally very attractive. :)

How to...

...tell your 2 year old needs a nap.

Cinco De Mayo

My sister Tiffany is moving to DC this week and we wanted to have a party for her and lucky for us the party happened to land on Cinco de Mayo. It was a lot of fun, complete with Mexican costumes and Mexican food. We had a pinata and then watched Nacho Libre. We even gave Tiffany some WAY awesome going away gifts, we love you guys and we'll miss you!!


Me and my girls.

Bella trying to break open the pinata.

Getting ready for the movie.

Bike Ride

What a great day!! My brother is in town from DC, so we decided to do a bike ride up Provo Canyon to Vivian Park. I really wanted my kids to go, but didn't know how I would pull 5 kids behind me, so I got Porter and Ethan ride a bike yesterday. I made them practice all night so they could make the trip today. I'm feeling kind of mean now that I had them bike the trail, it is about 10-12 miles round trip. Porter did really good and took off. Poor Ethan was really struggling but he made it. We were one seat short for Bella, so we had three kids in one of the bike trailers. My sweet Johnny kept Joshua and Tess so I wouldn't have to take them. The boys are really excited to now go biking all the time. Now if we can get Bella to ride a bike then we can go on family bike rides again!!

Bella, Maddie & Megan at the park.


Porter's stupid human trick. You've got to love little boys!!


Three's a crowd.


My boys, Sam, Kate & Jack before we took off.

Shim...?

I've had my fair share of inappropriate comments from my children. "When is your baby coming out of your tummy?" to the heavy lady, and so on. Well yesterday at Wal-Mart Ethan out did himself. I had a "homely" lady checking us out and Ethan walked up to her and said, "Hey, when I first saw you I thought you were a man." I couldn't even look at her after. After Ethan and I had a talk about saying rude things he told me, "Well, she did." I had to laugh later because she really did look like a man.

OH Bella...

Bella and I have a lot of talks about choices and modesty. The other day she informed me that she can't wait to grow up and be a mom so she can make her own choices and wear immodest clothes. This sweet girl is only 4.

Slacker

I have been seriously slacking on my blogging updates and I'm sure you're all very curious what we've been up to. So here you go...

Ethan has been having some major asthma issues so I headed down to St. George for a week so he could clear up, and my friend Ashley came along. We had fun and enjoyed the warm weather. I wanted to cry when I was driving home and could see the snow again.



Then we found out that our rental home flooded and destroyed all three floors. That wasn't so much fun.



The boys have been playing Jr. Jazz. Porter gets really into the game and Ethan not so much, but he does a really good job on defense.

Race Pic

OK so obviously I stole this picture from the race, but I thought it was pretty cute.

Painters Half Marathon

Johnny and I headed down to St. George on Friday for my half marathon. We got down there and it was 60 degrees, it was so nice. We picked up my race packet and just got to hang out with no kids. That night we went to dinner with our friends. The race started Sat. morning at 9am it was sooo cold! Aubrey and I ran together and Aubrey's sister Julie, ran with her step daughter. We were doing really good, but finally got really tired around mile 10. Aubrey and I split apart at mile 11 she finished about 5 minutes before me. Here is a photo of us at the end.



After that I went back to the condo and slept until about 2pm. We got ready and went out to dinner with our friends, then headed home. It was a lot of fun and it was really nice to be out without our kids.

How to entertain your two year old

Joshua learned how to open doors last week, and it has been eventful. During school last week he and Bella were downstairs being so cute. I could hear them giggling and playing together. Little did I know it was because Joshua had opened up the pantry and dumped out most of the Costco size formula all over the floor. Isn't he cute...?

Merry Christmas

On Christmas Eve we headed over to my dad's for some snacks. The kids got to watch a movie and we got to stuff our face.

Our kids get to open one present that night and then we read the Christmas story.


We had a great time opening presents that morning and then my family came over to our house for brunch.

Then we headed over to the Thomases for a late lunch and open presents there. We had a great couple of days!

November

Well since I never blogged anything in November, here is a recap of what we did. And sorry, I have no pictures thanks to Joshua and Ranch Dressing. We've homeschooled now for two months, and I still really like it. It's nice to go at our own pace especially mornings. I love not being in a rush to get everybody ready and out the door. The kids are doing really good and really like being with me everyday. Johnny teaches them on Thursdays for a couple of hours at his office. That is their favorite day because they always get donuts after.

Bella had her dance recital the Monday before Thanksgiving. She was soooo cute!! Her cousin Kate is in dance with her but got too scared and didn't do the dance, but she looked super cute too.

For Thanksgiving we went to Thomas's. As always thet had a lot of good food. We played Hearts after dinner and I got the stinking queen of spades almost every round until I lost and the game was over. We just took it easy the rest of the weekend and got our Christmas decorations up.

We did go to a couple of Jazz games; before one of the games we ate at Happy Sumo and they had a really yummy salad after we ate it we asked what was in it. It was fried squid legs, I was glad we waited until after we ate it to find out what it was.

That's about it, I know my life sounds way exciting, so don't be jealous :)

Our Week

I found Johnny with another girl, in the shower!!




We carved our pumpkins.




If you're going to have an asthma attack why not do it in style?



Then finally Halloween!!

Tagged

I got tagged to tell you 6 quirks, if you didn't already know I was weird you soon will.

1. I hate when other people do my dishes. I like them washed a certain way and put in the dishwasher a certain way. Same with the laundry.

2. I don't like the feeling of dirt. I love working in the yard so I always am wearing gloves.

3. I don't eat candy or dairy.

4. I'm always cold and am usually wearing a sweater even if it's 80 degrees.

5. I don't like TV and it drives me crazy when people leave it on all day.

6. I love to clean Johnny's and my kids ears. Johnny has big ears so it makes it really easy!!

The sad thing is I could think of a lot more. Now I tag Aubrey, Laura, Kelly Jensen, Kelli Thomsen, Gygi, Stacey, and Bryndee.

Tess is on the move

I can not believe it. Tess is crawling. Well technically she's army crawling but she can get across a room now. She is my earliest crawler beating Ethan and Porter by 2 months. This is insane and I hope that doesn't mean she'll be walking soon, yikes!!

What A Weekend

On Friday we headed out to 5 mile pass to go four wheeling with some of the Thomas'. We had a lot of fun, I'm so sad we didn't get a picture of our family on the four wheelers. Johnny had Joshua in front of him then Ethan and Porter behind him, I had Tess hooked to my front and Bella behind me. We got back and were just hanging out with everybody and Joshua had climbed up the four wheeler ramp and was playing in the back of the truck. I'm not quite sure how he did it but he fell out of the truck onto his head. I went home with him and had called the nurse about concussions and he didn't have any symptons so he went to bed. The next day he hardly moved so we figured his neck was sore. Today he woke up and we realized it wasn't his neck it was his arm and he still hadn't used it. So I took him into Urgent Care and he broke his collar bone!! I felt like such a loser that I had waited until today to take him in. He has a little sling and it has made a big difference. He is feeling much better and is even running around with the kids. There's not a whole lot we can do other than keep him comfortable until the bone heals itself. Here are some pictures of us four wheeling and one of Joshua's arm.

Pray For Lance

On Monday night we were at another riveting coed softball game in Pleasant Grove. My brother-in-law Lance was pitching and took a ball straight to his face. He immediately went to the Emergency Room and had several tests done. They weren't much help but he got into a specialist the next day. He had to go in for emergency surgery. The ball had hit him so hard that it shattered his face. He had to get three permanent plates, one dissolvable(sp?) one, and about 15 screws into his face. They had to take his eye lid off so they could get into his head, they put one plate above his eye and one below. The third plate they went through the roof of his mouth for his jaw. He also fractured the other side of his face but there isn't anything they can do other than be careful.

On top of all of this Lance was supposed to be deployed today. He won't be leaving until November. He is doing pretty well but it's only been two days since he had surgery. So please remember him and his family in your prayers.

Tess 6 Months Old Pictures

I just got Tess' pictures back today and I think they turned out so cute!! What can I say, I make pretty babies :)

Happy Birthday Ethan!!

Ethan is 7! I can't believe it has gone so fast. His birthday was on Sunday the 5th but we went out as a family last night instead of throwing a big friend party. We went to Thanksgiving Point and despite the wind we had a really good time!! They had a lot of fun stuff to do there. Here is my crazy bunch the empty hole is Joshua if you look close you can see his hand in there.



The dangerous go-carts.



Here is why they were dangerous. We don't really know what happened but some how she managed to drive up onto one of the logs and apparently bonked her face.



So we did the kiddie corn maze I went in with the kids while Johnny stayed out with the stroller and Tess. I let Porter lead the way and somehow we crossed over into the giant maze. I got us really lost and luckily I found a worker who got us out of there. I was laughing but Porter and Bella were crying that we were never going to get out of there. Oh the drama...I would have had a picture of Ethan but he had ran off and found a way out of the maze. Looks like I was following the wrong kid.




For his birthday Ethan wanted a globe and books. He needed the globe so he knows where he can go exploring and the books so he knows what he would like to explore. He got a bike recently and he has been giving himself bike lessons so he can go where he wants, to explore. Did I mention Ethan likes to explore?

Time For A Change

This summer I had made the decision to home school my kids. I had researched different curriculum and was all set to go. I had mentioned to a few people that I would be homeschooling and they went on about how hard it is and how I have little children, blah blah, etc. So I chickened out and stuck them back into their school. Well a month went by and although I loved the curriculum at their school I wasn't enjoying ALL the extra activities and time commitment. My friend that I was carpooling with decided to take her daughters out and that would mean I would have to start driving back and forth everyday three times a day. So I took my kids out last week and have been homeschooling. I LOVE IT!! I am getting so much quality time with my kids. I know exactly what they are learning and where they need to be challenged and where they need a little help. It is so nice to set my own schedule, do my own field trips even Johnny is taking the kids for 2 hours once a week to teach Spanish and Geography. I am really lucky to have 2 other families in my neighbor who also home school so that we can have our recess around the same time and to have their help and support on what I am doing. My kids really enjoy it, especially Ethan.

I thought the house would be a constant wreck while doing this but it hasn't been to bad (other than Joshua ripping everything apart) Since they're home they help do the dishes and keep the kitchen clean. Yesterday they sorted the laundry while we talked about some of the things we were learning. I guess I'll have to do post again in a couple of months when the newness has worn off and see if I'm still loving it :)

Sisters

I have to have the world's funnest sisters. Today is my sister Heather's 30th birthday. So what would we give her...perfume, jewelry, clothes?? Oh no, that just won't suffice for such an important birthday. Tiffany had the wonderful idea to make a music video for Heather. We found the most lovely song "Happy Birthday Princess" thanks to the Disney Princess Soundtrack I unfortunately own. Of course we had to dress up like princesses for the music video. Tiffany is a Hindu Princess, Ashley is a Hawaiian Princess, I'm Belle, and Kallee is Princess Aurora. So we spent a few hours last night creating this masterpiece for Heather and then we went to her house and tied black balloons in her trees and put signs up in her yard. Heather worked the graveyard shift at the hospital so we took the movie to her at 1:30 in the morning so she could enjoy her present. Needless to say she loved it. I don't dare share the music video with anyone but her is a picture of how hot we looked for it.

That's My Boy

I put the kids to bed at 8 and I've just been hanging out in the office playing on the computer. Ethan walks in with a large grin on his face completely dressed for school. He told me now I don't have to worry about getting dressed in the morning. I starting laughing and took his picture. I went through a similar phase when I was little. I figured if I slept in my clothes then I could sleep in. It's not being lazy we just know how to better manage our time. I like the thumbs up in his picture, just in case you didn't already know this was a good idea.

Happy Birthday Joshua

Our sweet little Joshua is now 2!! His birthday was on Wednesday. He's kid #4 at our house so his birthday was a little sad. We couldn't think of what to get him, we have plenty of boy toys, clothes, etc. Luckily I was at a PTA meeting the night before his birthday and the school was having a book fair so I got him some books and a puzzle. Then I forgot to wrap them so they were all in a sack. He didn't care, that's what is so great about little kids. The big kids immediately grabbed the books and have had them ever since. Here are some pictures of him and his cake.



This next one is of Bella cleaning him off. I thought it was pretty sweet and Joshua thought it was really funny.



Here is Joshua opening his sack of presents. I made sure he didn't rip the bag so we could reuse it on Ethan's birthday.