No More Mice

Just a quick update. Tracy got both mice. Thank heavens. I was worried about opening the back door cause I didn't want them to sneak in! He got the first one Tuesday night, he actually accidentally killed it. He wanted to just catch it and set it free in a field. He's nice like that. But it died! It was gross. He got the other one last night and was able to set it free. I hope that's all of them. We haven't seen any others so we might be ok. We are going to check the yard Saturday to see if we can find where they were living and get rid of it. But good news here!!

Ramblings

I just had to add this picture cause it's soo dang cute!! It was one of those that I caught her off guard. Keighlee's ears are very flexible. When she gets tired she plays with them, twists them and tucks the tops into her ear canal. It's so cute. Well, we put these earings on and they totally pulled her ears down. I was taking pictures trying to get her to look at the camera and she did this. I just fell in love with it!
I had to add this picture too. This is what we found between our screen and our back sliding door tonight. I am so thrilled. They must be attracted to the dogs food. And now with the dog we have to be careful what we put out back, we can't just set poison out cause he could get it. And we can't just set those humane traps out cause he'll chew those apart. So we are trying to figure out our options tonight so we can get rid of the problem soon.

On a lighter note, the kids go back to school Monday so tomorrow we are going to try something new. We are going to go to the Living Planet Aquarium in Sandy. Jared and Ems told us about it. They love it! And the year membership is pretty cheap. It would only cost us $57. That's about $100 cheaper than a year membership to Discovery Gateway. So we will go explore it tomorrow and see if it's worth the years membership.

The past week or so since I last posted has been good. I'm slowly progressing on my training for the 5K. By the end of next week I should be able to run for 2 miles without stopping.... supposedly. We'll see if I do that! On Saturday I went and helped my mom, brothers, uncle and various cousins clean out my Granny and Grandad's house. For those of you who don't know, my Grandad died almost 2 years ago from Alzheimer's and my Granny is in a nursing home with Alzheimer's. So we went to dejunk the house so they can rent it out for some extra income. It was a lesson on what not to do!! It was so ridiculous! We couldn't just throw things away. Everything had to be gone through because my grandparents thought that organizing and storing important things was to put them in suitcases and stick them anywhere they would fit. I found so much family history stuffed in suitcases under various old sheets and blankets. It was a neat experience to read some of my great-Grandad's letters when he lived in South Africa and worked in the mines there and to read letters sent to my Grandad on his mission. I also found some letters that my Granny sent to a cousin in South Africa about my birth. My Granny was a secretary and knew shorthand and she transcribed my baby blessing. I found the typed copy of it hidden with a bunch of old bank statements! Absolutely crazy. My aunt has been going through things every week since my Grandad got sick so if she hadn't been doing that, we wouldn't be done for months! As is it we spent 5 hours there on Saturday and that's after spending about 3 hours there a few weeks ago. I'm glad I know how to really organize and save important things. I also found a whole suitcase full of family group sheets, so I am excited to start looking at those and to see what work has been done, if any!

As hard as it has been to realize that the house that I grew up knowing as my grandparents house will no longer be available to go to and to see them in and to visit cousins and aunts and uncles in, it's good to have this stuff done. I miss my Grandad so bad it still hurts sometimes, and I have such a hard time going to see my Granny knowing that she doesn't quite remember me and knowing that I have to explain who I am and how many kids I have over and over and over. I miss her so much too. She was such a lady. So elegant and refined. It was from the age she grew up in. Her hair was always perfect and her nails were always perfect and her eyebrows were always perfect!! It's hard to see her when I do when she looks disheveled. My dad's dad, my Grandpa died almost 5 years ago from Alzheimer's too. Him and my Grandad are buried in the same cemetery. I should really go visit their graves more often. I wasn't as close to my Grandpa as I was to my Grandad. I have more vivid memories of my Grandad. The best memory I have of my Grandpa is when Tiaree was born. They came up to see us in Logan. He was holding Tiaree and she opened her eyes and just looked at him for the longest time. He talked about that day until he got the Alzheimer's. It was such a special thing for him.

Wow I've gone on and on haven't I?! Well it's nice to be able to put down my feelings. I keep a lot of how I feel about my grandparents quiet, I guess cause it's too hard to think about. But I do miss them, tremendously. And it does hurt that they are gone. And it hurts to know what my Granny still has to go through. I know my grandfathers are watching over me. They each died about 8 weeks before my last 2 children were born. I like to think that they helped them come. I was with my Grandad hours before he died and when I had to leave I kissed him and asked him to watch Keighlee and bring her safely to us and I believe he did that! Ugh, now I'm crying!! I'm going to go now so I don't drudge up more painful, but beautiful memories. Night all!

Valentines Day

We had such a fun Valentines Day! Tracy got to stay home because of the snow so we played all day. The kids played in the snow while we, or Tracy, shoveled our walks and helped with 3 others. Then we were able to decorate Valentine cookies. It was a lot of fun. We delivered cookies and went and saw my mom for a bit. After running to WalMart for some last minute dinner stuff, we went home and we made lasagna. We all had a candle light dinner together. It was so much fun! The kids thought it was the coolest thing to eat by candle light and they all ate so well. We had ice cream for dessert and then watched "Just Like Heaven". Cute movie. We thought a romantic comedy was well suited for the day. It was such a fun relaxing day.

Tracy and I got to go out last Friday. That was also a blast. We went with 4 other couples. We went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner then went to my brother and sister-in-laws stake Valentines Dance for a few minutes. Then we went and saw "Fools Gold". I liked it, I'm a big Mathew McConaughey fan. It was so much fun to be out with other adults for a whole night. We had a babysitter watch our kids and my nieces and nephews. 8 kids under 8, bless her! (Our kids stair-step starting with Tiaree and ending with their youngest who turned 1 in September. We have so much fun together!) But she is a senior and more responsible so we didn't worry about her. They had fun and we had a worry-free, child-free night!

I hope everyone had a nice Valentines Day!

Tagged

I've been tagged so here it goes:

What is his full name? Tracy McGee

How long have you been married? 10 years

Who eats more sweets? That is totally me. He gets mad cause we'll have something, cookies, treats, whatever, and he'll come home wanting some of it and it's gone. He should learn to take some to work so he can have some.

Who said I love you first? I think I did, well I actually sang it to him cause I was too shy to come right out and say it.

How old is he? 31

Who is taller? He is.

Who is smarter? My diplomatic kids say we are both smart!

Who can sing better? That is totally me, it's been proven with Singstar and Rockband

Who does the laundry? Me

Who pays the bills? I do, but he makes the money!!

Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? I do

Who mows the lawn? He does most times, I've done it before though and I hate it!

Who cooks dinner? Me mostly, he sometimes does and he does it .

Who drives? We both do.

Who is more stubborn? Me totally.

Who kissed who first? He kissed me first.

Who asked who out? He asked me!

Who has more siblings? I have one more.

Who wears the pants? We are usually pretty even on things, we think so much alike.

I don't know anyone else that would read this except Tracy, so if he wants to answer this about me he can! And B, if you read this you can answer it for Aly!

Humongus Snow Storm

Here are a few pictures of the snow from yesterday and last night. The snow started at about 3 and I don't think it stopped until like 5 am. It was crazy! The wind was howling the whole time so we have some giant drifts in the neighborhood. I went to my neighbors yard to get Bree unstuck and sank up to my thigh. And yesterday morning you could see the grass. It's so crazy! The first pic is of Tairee, Jarik and Bree playing on one of the big drifts in the front yard. The second one is of the snow drifting off my neighbor's house. Very cool looking. The third one is of the snow in my neighbors yard. So deep! He has a giant snowblower that just ate through all that snow. It was fun watching him just go at it! Our friend came up with his snowblower but it's not as big and at one point the snow covered his blower! He is like 6'5" and the snow was up to his waist. We won't go another winter without a snow blower. We've made that decision after this winter!

I'm glad my kids are off track. Yesterday the bus that would have brought Tiaree home slid off the road. It got the kids home an hour or so late, after being towed out. In Utah County, around Lehi and Saratoga Springs, there were buses stuck for hours. Also buses turned around and took kids back to schools there and there were some kids stuck at school all night! I think this was one of the worst storms we've ever had. It was blizzard conditions all night. Now it is sunny and very beautiful. As sick as I am of the snow, it is gorgeous when everything is fresh and white and glistening in the sun! And this weekend it will warm back up to the mid 40's so the snow will eventually start to melt. It'll just take a while with how deep it is. Stay safe all you in Utah! And keep warm.

Stupid Snow

This is the view from my front window right now. I can't even see the next street over! I am so very tired of snow. It's been wonderful here the past few days! It's been close to 50 and the sun has been shining and it's made everything so happy! I am very ready for spring. I hope that the snow storms we get from now all will be followed by nice warm weather that melts it all! It can still pile up in the mountains, it needs to pile up there, but down here, it can start to melt! Just let me see my daffodils and tulips start popping up, and my grass turning green, and all that wonderful spring stuff!

Bravery

I was brave today. I really was. I needed to go grocery shopping soo bad. Well the kids are off track and I had to go before I could even make dinner. So I went with all 4 kids. To the grocery store. To do something that takes longer than 10 minutes. And I survived! Better yet, the kids survived! They were sooo good. To be honest, I was shocked. I thought it would be just awful. Especially Bree, she can be such a handful. She just wanders so much and it makes me so frustrated. I've lost her more than the other 3 combined! She has no fear of being lost or being taken. She doesn't think there is anything wrong with going off on her own if the mood takes her. It's very annoying. But they did great and I think I'm going to get them a little something for being so good. I don't know what, a special FHE treat or something. We'll find something I'm sure. But they were awesome and I had to just brag for a bit!

I just had to add some pics of the kids playing in the snow that we got on Martin Luther King day. We thought this was a lot, but the snow we got this past Sunday topped it. Crazy how wet this winter has been. We got more snow today, but just an inch or so. I can handle that I guess. Well enjoy!

Training

So Tracy and I decided to try and run the Salt Lake City 5k this spring. I've been trying to run since the beginning of January and I'm really not doing too well. I was feeling really frustrated yesterday and went online and found a training program that I can do. It takes 9 weeks and it's supposed to get you running 3 miles in about 30 minutes. I am glad that I found something that will help me focus and reach my goal. It's very gradual and by the time I'm done with the 9 weeks, I'll still have 2 weeks before the marathon to keep working on it. So now my goal is back in sight and that makes me happy. My sister and sister-in-law ran it last year and I really wanted to do it this year with them and I'm glad I'll be able to, if I can keep this up. Hopefully I didn't just jinx myself or something and now I'll get sick and won't be able to do it! Goals are great and I really think having an attainable goal helps with so many things in life. It's a great feeling.

We got our state taxes back already. So many things to pay off, where to start?? Hehe. We are going to start with going to dinner tonight and not feeling guilty about it! We will probably just go to Denneys or something like that, but that's ok, I don't have to cook and we have the money to do it so I'm going to enjoy it. Then we will come home and figure out where to put the first chunk of taxes. Dentist? Lowes? Car repairs? Hmmm. It'll be fun seeing this money just disappear! Hopefully we can go on a vacation with it too. We usually go to St. George over Presidents Day so we'll have to see if we can work that in. My in-laws just had my father-in-laws dad move in with them. Did that make sense? His wife died this past year and he is getting older so they moved him down to warmer St. George to take care of him. The bummer thing about that is.... no more place to stay. We were going to get a hotel but it's the St. George Parade of Homes and all the hotels are booked. So we are thinking of going to Mesquite and doing the spa/golf thing there with Tracy's sister and her family. I don't know if we'll be able to work it out, but it would be fun. I guess we need to hurry and decide, since that's 2 weeks away!

Well Keighlee just woke up so I need to go get her. Poor girl is finally getting her last molar in and has a pretty nasty cold. I hate seeing my babies sick. It's so sad. And they get so clingy and that can get annoying pretty fast. Have a good day all!

Snow, snow go away

I am so tired of the snow. I know we are being so blessed with all the moisture that we've had but when you can't even open your front door, and you can't heave the snow over the humongous mound stacked on the side of your driveway, you have enough!! At least it's February now and we can see the end in sight!

13 years ago today I met Tracy. I can't believe that I've known him for 13 years! It's crazy! It's funny how I still remember the date too. And I remember exactly what he was doing the first time I saw him. He was scrubbing a grill in the cafeteria. It was the first day of my job at the Church Office Building. I had just walked in and met my boss and I looked up and he had been scrubbing, he kind of stopped when he saw me! hehe! It's nice to know that I had that power at one time!! Well that started it all, 5 months later he was on his mission and then 2 years and 6 months later we were engaged! And now here we are with 4 munchkins and a dog. So fun. It really is though and it's so fun to look back on how things happened.

Well enough reminiscing, I'm going to go to bed. I have to get my week organized tomorrow and clean the house. Preschool is going really well and since I started using the program I do, my life is much less complicated! But it does still take some organization! Have a wonderful week! I'll try to get some pictures and stuff up this week. That's something I haven't done on here yet.