The McGee's

Back to School

2011-09-06T22:31:00.000-06:00

A couple of weeks ago my kiddies started school. I was so excited for them to start! We have an amazing school with amazing teachers and I feel so blessed that they get to go there. I miss them like crazy, but I know they are getting the best education they can! Tiaree started 6th grade this year. I can't believe I have such a grown up little girl! She has loved the increased responsibility! She has started safety patrol and I'm having to let go a little bit. She has to be to school early and stays after late and she has to do that all by herself, which is hard on this Mamma :D Jarik started 4th grade. He enjoys it I think. I know he misses his 3rd grade teacher, as do I, but I think 4th grade will be good for him. He is already hating homework and thinks it's too hard and that it isn't fair he has to do it! Typical of my very smart, but kinda lazy, boy! Bree started 2nd grade. I miss her 1st grade teacher as well, but I think her teacher this year will be amazing! Bree is having some anxiety going to school so we are working with her trying to figure out why. We have a few ideas that we need to look into more, but once we figure that out I think she will have a wonderful year. My little Keighlee started Kindergarten this year. This was such a hard step for me. I cried for 2 days after I dropped her off. I enjoy having my kids at home, even though some days they drive me insane. And with 3 kids in school I missed them but I still had Keighlee at home to take care of and play with. Now with Keighlee in school, I don't have anyone at home and I'm very lonely. I've gotten used to it, but I still miss her. Yeah, things are easier to get done without her "helping" but her constant stories and talking to me are so missed. I don't think I'll ever "like" all my kids gone, but yeah, I'm used to it and amazingly productive when they are all gone! Anyway, here we are 3 weeks in and getting all the routines down and I can't believe what crazy, busy lives we lead. Crazy and busy but so much fun!

My cute Keighlee waiting in her line. She was kind of nervous!

My three "big kids" ready to head to school!

Thunder and Lightening Oh My!

2011-08-03T08:55:00.002-06:00

I'm terrified of loud thunder. I'll own up to that. Absolutely terrified. Low rumbling thunder I love. I love it when it drags out and just rumbles. But the loud window rattling cracks do me in. Last night was a rough night for our little house. I woke up to the low rumbling and snuggled under the covers to just enjoy. Dozed off a bit. Woke up with my heart hammering, my hands shaking and clinging to Tracy. Terrified. 2 minutes later I hear little feet pounding up the stairs. Bree joined Jarik and Tiaree and we all cowered in our bed. There is nothing that'll force your nerves to calm like being strong for your children. I jumped once while I was holding Bree and felt her tense up in response. I had to make myself relax and not react to the bone jarring thunder. I didn't think I could, but I did! It's amazing what you can do for your children! Usually I just cling to Tracy, completely tense and shaking until it calms down. I couldn't do that last night. My children needed me :) I'm proud to say I was able to be Mommy and not a scared little sissy girl :D

Pictures!

2011-08-02T20:20:00.005-06:00

So I've finally found some pictures that I want to post! Enjoy :)

Girls Dance Recital in June:

Keighlee

Tiaree

Bree

Jarik loves soccer:

Keighlee's Preschool graduation:

Keighlee and Jackson

Keighlee's class

Those are just a few of the things we did this spring and summer :)

Long time, no blog :)

2011-07-12T16:20:00.002-06:00

Wow, it's been a crazy 6 months! We've just been going and going and going. I'll catch you all up here and then add some pictures later. In February I started doing the school choir again. That's always a lot of fun! March brought a much needed vacation to St. George with Tracy's sister and brother. We stayed in a hotel and swam and hiked and had a really great time! We also celebrated Jarik's 9th birthday. We didn't do much but he got a new bike and helmet so he was a happy camper!

In April we celebrated Tiaree's 11th birthday. I can't believe she is already that old. Next year she starts Young Womens :( April was a hard Mommy month for me. I also registered my baby for Kindergarten. Not cool at all!

May was a whirlwind of choir performances, soccer games and end of year preschool stuff! The choir performance was amazing! I love, love being able to lead them. They are great singers and performers :) Soccer is always so much fun. It was such a cold, rainy spring that we had to postpone so many games. We had a make up game of a make up game of a make up game!! Preschool ended with graduation. I can't believe that my last baby graduated preschool this year. It was a fun, kind of melancholy day.

June I helped with end of year activities at the school like field day and a 3rd grade water party. We also celebrated Keighlee's 5th birthday. She also got a new bike and helmet and she took to riding a bike like she'd been doing it forever! We also got to go to a Mormon Tabernacle Choir concert. It was a preview concert of their 2011 Eastern States Tour. It was amazing!! I love listening to their tour music :)

Also in June the girls all got to go with their daddy to a daddy daughter campout. They loved it! Jarik and I went on a date to Chilis :) It was a lot of fun just me and him. We also got to go to see the fireworks show at Taylorsville Dayz. I love seeing those every year. It's such a fun part of summer!

So far in July we've had a wonderful 4th. We went to the mountains with my mom and dad and Cait and Sam and we just stayed there all day. It was so nice and relaxing! That night we went to Tracy's sisters house for an awesome, and loud, fireworks show! I have never seen so many fireworks in one place! We've also played in the water a ton, built forts in the front yard and stayed up late having movie nights. So far this summer has been a lot of fun!

Also this month my little sister Caitlin is going to have a baby! I'm sooooo excited to be an auntie again. Baby Abbigale is due next week. I think I spelled her name right! But probably not :) We gave her a baby shower on Saturday and that was a lot of fun. I still can't believe my little sister is going to be a mommy! So amazing and exciting!

One of the funnest things I've ever done I did on July 2nd. I did a 4 mile "Dirty Girl Run" at Wheeler Farm. I was with a group of awesome ladies from my ward. I surprised myself and actually kept up with the runners. We sure got muddy and dirty and it was so much fun! I would love to do another one!

Well now I'm going to attempt to add some pics. Hopefully I will be able to!

Three Weeks Isn't Long Enough

2011-01-09T19:45:00.002-07:00

Three weeks from the day we buried my Granny, we found out that my Grandma will be passing very soon. Three weeks is NOT a long enough separation between the deaths of two grandparents. My last two grandparents. I'm still struggling with my Granny being gone and now I have to face the fact that my Grandma won't last the month and maybe not the week. It's been really hard for me to deal with. It's harder too in it's seemingly "unfair-ness". Grandma spent Christmas with us. She was happy and talking and laughing and visiting. And now she will be gone soon. Sometimes I just want to yell and cry and then lay in my bed and do nothing. Sometimes I feel like I can't take the sadness of losing her so close to Granny. How can any one person cope with loosing family that close together? Sometimes I don't know if I will be able to cope. Then I remember what I know. I'm not loosing them, I'm just saying see you later. I WILL see both of them again. They will both be with their husbands! They will be happy. Grandma won't be in any pain anymore. She will be whole. They will both be together. They will probably sit down and have a long talk about their shared grandchildren :) It is really a good thing, when I can get my mind to realize it and stop letting my grieving heart take control! But sometimes that grieving heart feels like it's going to rip out of my chest. I don't know how much longer she will be with us, but I hope to be able to visit as much as I can, and talk to her and reminisce with her and help her to be comfortable and happy before she goes. Love you Grandma!!

My Granny

2010-12-12T10:27:00.004-07:00

4 generation picture with my Granny, my Mom, me and Tiaree

My Granny, Gladys Valerie Hancock Steadman, passed away early this morning. She had been struggling with Alzheimer's for probably 10+ years so her passing is something that is actually a relief to me. My Grandad, her husband, passed in 2006 and to know that they are together again makes me so happy! Also comforting is knowing that she KNOWS who I am again. She knows me and she knows Tracy and she knows my kids! She knows I have 4 kids and that I have 3 girls and 1 boy! She knows their names! (This turned into something of a joke in my family as she would constantly ask how many kids I had and then she'd call Jarik and girl and the girls boys! Kind of a coping mechanism for dealing with the hurt of her forgetting.) If I saw her there would be recognition and love in her eyes instead of confusion and frustration. This brings me such JOY! Honestly there is more joy in her passing than sorrow. She is herself again, she doesn't have to suffer any more and she is with her husband who she so loved and who just adored her!
I am so very grateful for my knowledge of the Gospel and the Plan of Salvation. To know that she is still my grandmother and will be for eternity and that I will get to see her again brings me such comfort and strength. I am so grateful for my Savior and his atoning sacrifice that makes all this possible! I'm also grateful for the time I was able to spend with her before she passed. Last week we took the kids to say good bye. She was awake and talking, but not to those of us in the room. It was a very sweet, spiritual experience to know there were people there to help her transition. Jarik was watching her and was really quiet. When we got home he told us that he'd felt other people there and that when he got even closer to her, he felt it even more. What a neat experience for him to remember! I got to go spend time with her and my Aunts and Uncles on Friday night. It was so special to just sit and hold her hand and talk to her and rub her arm. Kind of payback for the years and years of her doing that to us :) It was a very sweet experience that I will never forget.

Granny's story is one of strength and faith. I want to share a bit of it :) She was born in Durban, Natal, South Africa on March 24, 1929. Her family was baptized into the Church when she was like 2. She grew up listening to Music and The Spoken Word on the radio, when they could get it :)She loved the Choir and she was blessed with a beautiful soprano voice. When she was just 21 years old she boarded a boat and set sail for New York, all by herself. I think of me at 21 and I don't know if I would have had the courage to do that! She came to America with the purpose of singing in the Tabernacle Choir and marrying in the temple. When she got to New York, she went to the mission home and met President Morris. He wanted her to meet a certain Elder who had just left the mission to go back home to Salt Lake. President Morris gave my Granny a sock and said it belonged to an Elder Steadman and asked if she'd be kind enough to return it when she arrived in Salt Lake. She did, they fell in love and her first desire of marrying in the Temple came true. She was married with none of her family present because they weren't in the US yet. That would have been so hard, to be alone on your wedding day! I'm sure my Gandad's family took care of her though!

Well my Grandad was a very musical man. He and his brother's had a radio program in Salt Lake that they'd sing on and his mission turned into a very musical mission. That is one thing that I remember really well about my Grandad, his love of music. Well my Granny's 2nd reason for coming to America was fulfilled with my Grandad. They both were members of The Mormon Tabernacle Choir for 20 years! I have such memories of my Granny singing. She was ALWAYS singing! She'd sing while she cooked, she'd sing while she got ready, she'd sing while she rubbed your back and that just lulled you to sleep! :)

Granny was such a classy, put together lady. I remember watching her get ready for the day and it was such a routine! It was so fun to just watch her as she did her hair and makeup. She always looked immaculate! From her clothes to her nails to her makeup and hair. Anyway, she was just fun to watch and to emulate.This is at my wedding and shows just what a classy lady she was. Crappy pic though :) Took a pic of the pic with my cell phone cause I couldn't get it out to scan it! Love that it's her and Grandad too!!

I will miss, and have missed, my Granny. I'm so glad that she is happy again and with Grandad again. I'm sure theirs was a very sweet, happy reunion! She is probably already busy singing and visiting and ready to get put to work on the other side! I love you Granny!!
Granny and Bree 2008
Granny and Jarik 2008
Granny and Tiaree 2008
Granny and Keighlee 2008

Sigh....

2010-12-03T18:05:00.002-07:00

I am so not good at this blogging thing and I really want to be. I take pictures so I can put them on the blog. I think of things that would be fun to put on the blog. Night hits when I have time to blog and I'm exhausted! I really think I'm still recovering from the yuckiness that invaded my body this summer. I can't stay up late. I just can't. Not unless I plan for it and take naps and kind of store up sleep. I know you really can't do that, but that's what I do. I did it a few weeks ago for an amazing night with some amazing friends. I got to hang out with my ladies and stayed up until like 3:00. I got up at 8 and wasn't too bad for the rest of the day. By about 5 though I was done. I think I was out for the night by 9. So my body is just weird now. Or maybe it's getting old. I like thinking it's just weird :D

I don't know if I should try to play catch up with pictures and everything or just talk about the fun few months we've had! I'll start with talking and if I have time and energy to add pics, I'll do that later!!

So September. Nothing much happened in September. I started preschool again. Keighlee is in my Pre-K class. The "big kids" as they call themselves. They are a lot of fun, silly kids! She is doing good and I really love teaching! My cute little 3 year olds are so much fun. They are all still so little and mostly very quiet. It's a hoot to teach them!

In October I started doing the Crescendo choir at the elementary school again. I LOVE doing this! It's so much fun. We are singing in 2 weeks and the kids have worked so hard and they sound so good. It's another way I get to teach and as an added bonus, I get to teach singing. I knew there was a reason I did a music emphasis in college!! And speaking of singing, can I just say how much I LOVE my calling?! I get to sing with the cute primary kids every week. It's such an amazing calling being able to feel the spirit through the kids' singing. And it teaches such amazing truths too. If you ever want a refresher course on the Gospel, sing the songs in the children's hymnbook. So cool!

Also in October was Bree's 7th birthday. We didn't have a friend party this year, just had family over. She loved it anyway! I can't believe how big she is getting. It's just crazy!! She is beautiful and smart and such a blessing. Love you Bree! Lastly in October was Halloween!! I got to go help at the elementary school for their Halloween carnival. I loved seeing all the kids in their costumes. I got to eat lunch with Bree and Keighlee got a sugar buzz from all the candy she got to eat being there from 8:30-1:30!!! I truly love being a stay at home mom and being able to go be in the school with the kids helping with all the different things I get to help with!

November flew by! I seriously don't know where it went. It was Halloween and then it was Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving was fun as always. This year was hard though, going to Tracy's Grandpa's house. Grandma Norma was very much missed. It's crazy how teary eyed we all still get when we think of her. How many little things are missed when you go visit Grandpa. Her bone-crushing hugs. Her whispers of encouragement in your ear. Her laugh! Her joy at seeing her family all together. Even her stress of wanting a perfect dinner and knowing she wanted to do it all! Grandpa mashed the potatoes this year because that was all Grandma used to let him do and he wanted to be able to do it again. This is probably the last year we will go to Grandpa's house for Thanksgiving. It's very sad to think about. Christmas will really be hard this year not going to Grandma and Grandpas house on Christmas Eve.

Thanksgiving Day was spent with my family at my moms house. It was so much fun! Yummy food, fun times and watching The Santa Claus. I so love traditions! I don't think the holiday's would be the same if we stopped doing certain things. I'm sure we'll just keep adding things and keep our December chuck full of fun-ness!!

Anyway that's the last 3 months in a nut shell. Life is blessed and I'm enjoying every minute of it. I'm thankful for my health returning and letting me enjoy my family and all the fun things we are involved in. Tomorrow all my girls dance at a Christmas festival. I'm excited to watch them and know that it'll bring even more Christmas spirit. This is my favorite time of year and I'm excited for all the fun things we have planned for the month, starting tomorrow! Maybe I'll keep updated with all the fun stuff! But probably not!!

My sickness and the kids back in school

2010-08-31T19:29:00.004-06:00

So this summer really flew by! We got out the 2nd week in June and went back the last week in July. Usually we are all ready to go back, we've partied hard and want the routine again (at least I do!) This summer we had our Yellowstone trip but didn't do much else. I was really sick all summer and by the time we found out what was wrong, the kids were back in school. Thank goodness for off track time I guess :) So I had severe stomach pains all summer. I went to the Dr in June and they gave me Prilosec. Didn't really help. I called after our Yellowstone trip to see a specialist. They wanted me to wait until the end of August. I said no! :) They got me in the first week of August. I had to have a CAT scan and they found out I had a perforated small intestine. Yep, it was as painful as it sounds. I got on 2 hefty anti-biotics and finally started feeling better. Now the pain is all gone but I am fighting fatigue. They found that I was anemic so I'm trying to up my iron intake. They gave me pills but every time I've taken them I'd have stomach pains again. I don't think it's worth it to re-injure myself for iron, so I'm just trying to eat as much iron rich food as I can find! I'm really starting to feel like myself again! Crossing my fingers that I don't have any relapses!

My three oldest all went back to school on July 26th. They were so excited and they all love school so far! Tiaree started 5th grade (gasp), Jarik started 3rd grade and Bree started 1st grade. It's different having them all gone all day. Keighlee enjoys the "us" time in the morning but by lunch time she is asking when the kids are coming home! It's nice to be back in the routine and have the kids learning so much. They are all doing so well already. Bree is taking off on reading. Jarik is a whiz at pretty much anything he does. Tiaree is a little read-a-holic. Seriously the girl could read all day if she had the time! She takes after me that way :)

Keighlee is such a ham! We start preschool again next week and she is so excited! She loves that she gets to be a big kid now. She says the silliest things. One that I remember really well and that I still laugh at was said on the way to the doctors. I had just found out the results of my CAT scan and had to go get blood work done and get my prescrips. So we are driving and pass a Taco Bell. She goes "Mom, when I was in your tummy did you eat tacos?" "I'm sure I did". "You did. I remember. And when you ate tacos I got tacos in my tummy too cause when I was in your tummy I went like this" and she proceeded to tip her head back and open her mouth as wide as she could! Cute little stinker! She makes me laugh every day!

Well here are some pics of the first day of school:

And here is a pic of Keighlee and her silliness. She was putting stickers on Daddy's bum while he slept!!:

Yellowstone!!

2010-08-02T09:28:00.010-06:00

We got to take the best vacation this summer! We went to Island Park and Yellowstone for 5 days. It was so much fun! We were able to go with my mom and dad, Cait and Sam and Erik and Ali. We missed Jared and Ems though :( But man did we have a fun trip. We left on Monday and drove through Idaho Falls and Rexburg. We got to see the temples there.

Tuesday we headed into Yellowstone for the day. We got to see the Upper and Lower Falls, Yellowstone Lake and a bunch of different hot pots and mud pots. We got to Old Faithful about 10 minutes after it had gone off. It was sunset by this time and just beautiful! But there was also a fire and so the air was smoky and there was ash falling on us. It was beautiful to see the sun setting through the smoke though! We finally made it home at like 11. It was such a fun day though!!

Wednesday we relaxed and went on a hike along the Henry's Fork of the Snake River. It was gorgeous!! The water was calm and it was so quiet! It was a 3 mile round trip walk and we got to see the calm river turn into rapids. It was amazing the difference in the sound. Quiet and calm to raging and loud! There had been a sighting of a mother moose and her calf on the trail so we were all being extra watchful!

Thursday we went to Quake Lake. We could have skipped that :D It was pretty boring but still pretty. After Quake Lake we went back into Yellowstone and headed to the Mammoth Hot Springs. They were actually kinda disappointing too. There was no water running through them so it wasn't as cool as it usually is. We got to have yummy ice cream though and it was just a nice day.

Friday we packed up and headed back to Yellowstone on our way to Jackson Hole. We stopped at Old Faithful and were just in time to see it go off. Love it! It's pretty amazing!! Then we took the drive down to Jackson. It was beautiful, especially when we got to the Tetons. They are breathtaking! We stopped at Jackson Lake and the boys and Cait and Ali all got in the lake for a few minutes! It was fun to watch them!! That night we got to go to the BarJ Chuckwagon for dinner and a show. It was so fun and the Wranglers were so entertaining. We were laughing pretty hard and the songs they sang and played were fun. The fiddler is awesome and one guy can yodel like no other!!

Saturday we got up and went swimming before hitting the 7.5 hour drive home. That was the worst part!! It was so annoying! But we made it home and we had a wonderful vacation!!! I wish I could go back :D

Life

2010-06-23T15:28:00.002-06:00

I don't even know if anyone really reads this blog, but I want to let those who do know that I am still here and still doing ok. We've had a pretty busy few months with Tiaree's birthday, Jarik's baptism, school functions, dancing, soccer, Memorial Day etc. etc. etc! I'll do pictures and updates on all that soon, I hope :) I'm just trying to get stuff ready for our Eclipse Party on the Plaza Event that happens on Tuesday! Yay!! I've also been going through some medical issues. I've had some severe stomach pains and I'm on Prilosec now to hopefully help. I can't believe how much one stomach can hurt!! It's been debilitating. When I have an "episode" I have to curl in a ball and just rock until it goes away. The medicine seems to be helping but I've only been on it for 5 days. I think it will take time to really work. I've been having to eat a bland diet and that's starting to get old! All I'd love to eat is chips and salsa, but it will kill me! Hopefully when I can get the pains to pretty much go away, I can start eating a more varied diet again! Here's to hoping! So now I just need to get everything done for the event and keep my house clean and dishes done and laundry done and my kids from killing each other and we'll be good! :D

Easter and Conference Weekend

2010-04-05T16:00:00.001-06:00

This past Easter/Conference weekend was so nice! Even though it was cold and snowy, it was so nice to listen to conference and spend time with family. On Saturday we scrubbed the house and then we colored eggs. It's always so much fun to color Easter eggs. The kids love it, Tracy and I love it and we all have fun! Sunday Jarik and Tracy went to the morning session of Conference. This conference was my Dad's last one singing with the choir. Since Jarik just turned 8, he had the opportunity to go to a Conference where both his grandparents sang. Tiaree and Jarik will be the only grandkids that were old enough to see them both live. The other grandkids will get to see Grammy, but not Papa. Except Keighlee, I don't think she'll get to see either one live. I can't remember for sure though :D Anyway, they got up early and left so that left the girls and I to find Easter eggs and baskets. It was a lot of fun for them! At our house, the Easter bunny hides the eggs we colored the night before, so if the kids want breakfast, they'll find all the eggs! The girls did a good job of finding them and then we had a yummy breakfast of eggs and cinnamon sugar toast. The girls re-hid about 5 eggs when Jarik was on the way home so he could find eggs and his basket too. It worked out really well and everyone had fun! I just did a slide show because it's easier than putting a lot of pictures in one at a time!

After Conference, we got to feed my parents. I love being able to serve them after they've sung all day. They are usually exhausted and the last thing they need to do is worry about dinner! It's become a tradition and I absolutely love being able to do it. It's always fun hearing their little stories about what happened during conference, even though we always tease them about "choir humor". It's one of those "you had to be there" things but they laugh and laugh! It was a really nice weekend and I always feel a little sad when it's over.

Jarik gets baptized this weekend and Tiaree turns 10 in 2 weeks. She also gets to participate in the District Science Fair and is so excited about that. I'll keep you posted! I'm also going to post about Jarik's birthday and the girls' parent days so keep reading! Oh, and Tiaree's science fair and why she is going to district!

Jarik's Birthday and an early Easter

2010-04-05T15:49:00.001-06:00

Blowing out the candles

On March 27th, my Jarik turned 8! I still can't believe he is that old! Jarik decided that he wanted a late night/sleepover party. We had a bunch of friends from the neighborhood come over on Friday night. We had pizza and ice cream and cake. They watched Planet 51 and played the Wii. Most kids went home around 10:30 but one boy got to spend the night and another friend came back early Saturday for breakfast. I think Jarik had a blast and enjoyed having so many friends over!

Zack gave him Legos

Trevor gave him Nerf swords

Daniel gave him a Nerf football

Ethan also gave him Legos

Nick gave him a launcher

On Saturday we got to go to a primary activity and then we took Jarik out to lunch at Red Robin. I usually dread going to restaurants with my family. The kids usually end up being embarrassingly loud and obnoxious! But I left feeling happy and we had a really fun time!

Sunday we had our Easter celebration with my family. With Conference being on Easter this year, my mom couldn't sing all day and then put on a big Easter dinner, so we did it early! We had wonderful food and the kids had a blast on an Easter egg hunt. We also celebrated Jarik and Mom's birthdays that day. It's fun having them have their birthday's so close!

Jarik, Bree, Tiaree, Alyssa, Keighlee and Colette getting ready to hunt eggs!

Jarik and Grammy blowing the candles on the Easter Bunny cake

Monday night we had Tracy's family over for cake and ice cream for Jarik. It was nice to visit with them and for the kids to play with their cousins. They love having time with cousins and we don't get the together enough any more!

More candle blowing with Kyli and Justin looking on

Next up is Parent Day at dance for Tiaree and Bree!

Parent Day

2010-04-05T15:01:00.001-06:00

Every year the girls' dance classes have a parent day where we get to go watch them and see what they have learned. It's always fun to watch the girls dance and show off! Bree and Keighlee had back to back parent days a few weeks ago. Keighlee hasn't had hers yet, but I'll post pics of her cuteness when she does! Here are my beautiful dancers:

Bree and her teacher Jenn

Cute curtsey

Tiaree and Jenn

Beautiful girl

The last post for the day is about Tiaree's science fair project! I'm pretty proud of her!

Tiaree's Science Fair

2010-04-05T14:20:00.000-06:00

So this year Tiaree had to do a science fair project. She decided what she wanted to do and it sounded really interesting. We were going to try to make sedimentary rock. We took different samples of dirt/sand/rocks from the yard and mixed them together. Then we put the mixture into 3 different bottles and added water. We shook the bottles and mixed everything up and then left them alone for the dirt to settle and the water to evaporate. We were supposed to be able to see layers when we cut the bottles in half, but all that happened with her is they crumbled. I thought, that's ok, we tried and it didn't work. So she took all her stuff to school and her teacher judged them. Her teacher chose 5 kids from her class to compete with the whole 4th grade and Tiaree was chosen. At that point I thought, ok, her teacher must really like her! :D So the day of the whole 4th grade fair I went up and saw her finished project and looked at all the others. I realized then that hers was good. Even though it didn't "work" like we wanted it to, she still did the experiment. She knew what she was talking about and how she could have made it better and I think that really helped. She was able to show her knowledge of her project when asked direct questions about how and why she did it! I was so proud of her, but I still thought that would be the end! She came home from school with a 1st place ribbon and the news that she'd been chosen to move onto district! The district fair is on the 16th of April. All she can take is her tri-fold and her science fair journal. Tracy and I get to go with her but we can't be with her when they interview her. I'm so excited for her and also a little nervous :D Here are some pics of her and her project!In front of her tri-fold
Her samples and the one bottle that you could sort of see a layer in
Her participation ribbon for winning from her class

Beautiful Day

2010-03-21T10:28:00.004-06:00

I just have to say what a beautiful Sunday it is! The sun is out, the sky is blue, it's not too cold and I'm listening to The Mormon Tabernacle Choir. What a way to bring the spirit into our house! All of these things are making me very happy today! I've been feeling really tired and blah and a little sick for a while and today things are feeling better! I'm still a little tired this morning, but I don't feel yucky so Yay!! Anyway, have a wonderful Sunday!! Here is a picture of the mountains out my front window. Isn't it just so beautiful!

Great Month

2010-03-16T21:36:00.006-06:00

So this month has been a lot of fun! We had a great trip to St. George and then we've just been living life! After St. George, I got to go to see Swan Lake with my Mom, Caitlin, Emily and Ali. It was so much fun! The dancing was so amazing! After we saw the ballet we went to Olive Garden for dinner. Yummy, yummy Olive Garden :) It was fun to hang out with the girls!! Me, Mom, Emily, Caitlin and Ali at Olive Garden

The weekend after that, I got to go have a sleepover with all my Twisters!! (Twilight Sisters) I have the best, best friends ever! We got to go to Midway and stay in this awesome cabin/condo. We stayed up until 4 and played games and did nails and watched movies and talked and talked. It was such a blast! I love being able to get away for a while and just be me, aside from being Mommy and wife. Not that I don't like being mommy and wife, but dang it's nice to get away sometimes! It's the whole "a happy wife, a happy life" concept :D I feel like I love them more and can be a better mom when I have some time off! I forgot to take any pictures, but I have a bunch of me tagged on facebook!

The night after I got back from my sleepover, I got to go with Tracy to an awards dinner for scouting. He earned the District Award of Merit. It was a really nice night and I was so proud of him. He kept saying other people deserved it more than him, but they chose him and he did deserve it! All the award winners
Keighlee was sad that she couldn't go up with us, so she ran up as soon as she could.
Getting his award

On Saturday the 6th of March, Tracy's brother got married. It was a nice day and everyone was so happy! He gets two new kids along with his new wife! They are a cute family! I don't have any pictures on my camera, but Tracy took all their pictures for them so I'm sure I'll get some on here soon!

Last weekend I went to a midnight showing of the movie Remember Me, again with my Twisters. We went mostly for the Eclipse trailer at the beginning :D It was a good movie until the very end. I hated the ending! It was bad. Robert Patterson did a good job though. The ending was so bad that it ruined the whole thing for me! Twisters in the theater! The funnest part of the whole night was the party in the theater for the hour or so before the movie started!

I also got to have a date night with my hubby and some awesome friends, the Gowans'. We went to dinner at Training Table (so love the cheese fries) and then we got to go see Brian Regan. That man is awesome. I was laughing so hard my cheeks hurt the next morning when I was singing in church! He is a clean, funny comedian! It was so much fun to get out with Tracy. We need to have more dates! Such a goof!
Self portrait. Notice the couple posing behind us :)
Tracy, Me, Camilla and Sam

It's really been a fun month! We have a busy month coming up too. Jarik turns 8 on the 27th and will be baptised on the 10th of April. Tiaree turns 10 on the 18th of April too. It's just crazy how time flies!!

St. George

2010-02-13T18:37:00.007-07:00

Well we are here in St. George for the long weekend. It's a much needed vacation and so far it's been a lot of fun! We went around town today to look at a bunch of places and take pictures for a county report Tairee has to do for school. It was fun to visit Jacob Hamblin's home, and take pictures of Tuacan, the Temple, the Tabernacle, Brigham Youngs home, and Dixie rock. I got some fun pictures of the little girls while Tracy took Jarik and Tiaree up on top. Here they are, sorry they are from my phone, so they aren't the best!

Grandmas, Bree's, KK's and my shadows

Bree and Keighlee in their special hole

Cute girls

After the big kids got down we took some more pictures. We found a hole big enough for all of them!

After we got back from our "tour" we decided to walk to some geocaches that were close. There was one we thought was really close ended up being up the side of a mountain!!!

See the rock clear up almost to the top,where the arrow is? Probably not, but that's where the cache was and we all climbed up there, including Keighlee. Yeah, that was fun! NOT!! Looking back now, it was, but while we were up there it was a little scary!

Anyway, it's been a nice day so far, and maybe later I'll catch y'all up with what we've done during the last month or so!

Wow!

2010-01-03T18:34:00.001-07:00

Wow, wow, wow! What a slacker I've been! November and December were such whirlwind months that I feel like I didn't have time to even breathe. I feel like I lost track of friends and what they were doing and going through. I didn't have time to spend with my kids like I wanted. I hope next Holiday season, I can relax and enjoy family and friends a little more! Well I'm going to catch up on everything that's happened in our family in the past few months with a few highlights!! Keep reading :D

December

2010-01-03T18:00:00.002-07:00

December is always such a fun month filled with Christmas traditions. We spend a lot of time with family and friends enjoying eachother and remembering the reason for Christmas. The month started out with the Tabernacle Choir concert on Thursday the 10th. This year we got to take Jarik and Tairee with us. They loved it! It is always fun for the kids to see their Grammy and Papa singing. This was my dad's last Christmas concert. He has to retire in April, he's too old now ;) He is sad and we are sad and so we took Jarik so that he'd be able to see his Papa sing live. It was a great concert with Natalie Cole as a guest. She sangs some fun songs and we really felt the spirit. Sam and Camilla Gowans were able to come with us too.

The next week on Wednesday the 16th, we got to go see Voice Male with my brother and sister and their spouses. This is always such a fun concert! We are going to make sure and save enough money to take all the kids with us next year. They are such great entertainers and they can have fun but also sing beautiful, sacred songs with such great feeling. Voice Male is such a great acapella group! It was fun to spend time with my hubby and have a date night too!

The next night, the 17th, was the school choir's Christmas program. They sang for the school during the day and for parents at night. Jarik and Bree were in the choir and Tiaree had a speaking part. Aunt Emily made the best nightgown ever for her in less than 2 hours! Thanks again Ems! I help direct the choir and I got to be the rag doll to help the Kindergarteners and 1st graders on their song/dance. Ems let me borrow her awesome nightgown and Tracy made me a red yarn wig. It was fun!!

On the 19th we had a progressive dinner with my family. So much fun!! I think it will be a new tradition. We got to see everyone's houses all decorated and we had a little something to eat at each place, ending with dinner at our house. The only house we didn't see was Jared and Em's because they had awful downstairs neighbors who smoked all the time and their apartment was filled with 2nd hand smoke. They were getting ready to move the day we had our dinner, so that was a bummer.

I got to help in Jarik's class for their Christmas party on the 23rd. It was a lot of fun! 2nd graders are all crazy!! LOL!! I'm so glad I get to stay home so I can help with parties and choirs and all that fun stuff. I'm so very lucky! Here's a slide show of December.

November

2010-01-03T17:43:00.001-07:00

November was extremely busy!! I was involved with putting on the New Moon Experience at the South Towne Expo center. It was on November 19 and 20. I was going, going, going right up until we put it all on. It was such a fun experience and I learned a lot and I got to spend time with some of my best friends (miss you all btw!!!) I was in charge of the Twilight Mom store/boutique. It was stressful and hectic but fairly successful. On Thursday Mom came and walked around for a bit with me, then Caitlin came and spent the rest of the night walking around and going to the Mitch Hansen concert. Then we hit the midnight show of New Moon. It was awesome!! Sooo much better than Twilight. I want to see it again, it's been too long :D On Friday Tiaree got to come hang out with me. I accidentally started a Twilight obsession with her. Or I guess I should say, Jacob obsession!! We got our hair done, our nails done and took lots of pictures. On Saturday after the event was all over, I took her and Jazmine (my niece) to see it again. They were so cute about it!!

On Saturday the 21st, the girls had a Christmas dance concert. Tiaree and Bree danced so good, Keighlee cried and refused to go on stage! Oh well, hopefully she will be better in the spring!

On Monday the 23rd, we had dinner at Tucci's for Emily's 30th birthday! It was a lot of fun being with family and surprising her!

Thanksgiving was a blast. We had my extended family over to our house and even though it was crowded with 25 people, it was so nice to see everyone and visit with family we haven't seen for a while. My Granny was able to come and it was good to see her, even though she doesn't know me from Eve. Her alzheimers is really getting bad and it's hard to talk to her knowing she doesn't remember me. It's also not so fun to repeat yourself 20,000 times!! She is going down hill fast and I don't know how much longer she will be here. It makes me sad to think of that, so I'm glad we got to spend some precious time with her on Thanksgiving. Here is a slide show of our awesome November! It's huge!!

October

2010-01-03T17:00:00.001-07:00

October was a fun month. Bree turned 6 and we had a fun party for her. She had friends over and they decorated pumpkins and played games and had cupcakes. I can't believe she is 6. My kids are growing up way too fast!

We had a great Halloween and such cute kiddies! On Halloween Tracy put on stilts with our neighbor and chased trick-or-treaters with chain saws! Too funny! Here's a slide show of October!

Harry Potter!!!

2009-12-05T18:41:00.001-07:00

Dh Preview One - The best bloopers are here

I'm Still Here!

2009-12-01T21:25:00.003-07:00

I'm still alive and here, I've just been so busy with the New Moon Event and then Thanksgiving! I'll post something again very soon and get all caught up with what's been going on!! :) I promise!!

Excited!

2009-10-22T15:58:00.003-06:00

Excited doesn't quite cover it. More like impatient, ecstatic, over the moon...I don't know, very, very excited!!! Here are two new clips from New Moon. This movie is going to ROCK!!!
This one is the Volturi Fight Scene

Here is the link to the HD TV spot on Fandango:

http://www.fandango.com/hdmovietrailers/exclusivetvspotevent-1303163152/

Pretty Ingeneous!

2009-10-17T23:05:00.000-06:00

I found this on my friend Amy's blog. Had to share, it's pretty great!

Fun Times

2009-10-13T19:41:00.012-06:00

Well just a quick update on Karsen. He is home and doing well. He is happy and they are working towards starting on the prosthetic leg. It is amazing to see the outpouring of love and help that has come to Karsen and his family. Last night the Chili's in Riverton sponsered Karsen. They gave %10 of all sales for those who had a coupon to Karsen's trust fund. It was so very cool to see so many people there in support of them! Amazing!!

Anyway, the kids have been off track for a week now and we all were sick last week. I got a cold and cough that took me down and the kids got a stomach bug this weekend so today was the first day we were on our feet. We took the morning to clean the house after a week and a half of sickness and then we went to Gardner Village and went on a witch hunt. It was so much fun!! We found all the witches and then we got to go get cookies for .25 cents. It was fun to be together and just having fun. Next week we are going to go to Wheeler Farm with my preschool kids for a field trip. That will be fun too. I want to make off track time as fun as possible for the kids so they don't sit around bored all the time, but it's sometimes hard with teaching and all the other things we have to do! Here are some cute pictures of the day:
The kids in front of the flying witch. Sorry about the grainy pictures, I had to use my cell phone since my good camera died! The kids with the "witch who needs a hug" Tiaree Jarik Bree Keighlee The kids by the "Witchy Poo"!!

After Gardner Village I took the kids to get haircuts. Tiaree and Bree both decided to chop theirs! We took a lot off of Keighlee's too. Hopefully her's will start to grow now. Jarik also decided to start growing his out instead of shaving it all the time. He says he wants it like Zac Efron or Joe Jonas. Not sure I want it that long though. I asked if he like Harry Potter's hair in the Half Blood Prince movie and he said yeah, so we are going for that look for now! They look so cute! Here they are: Tiaree and Bree Keighlee's cute short hair! Jarik being silly!

Hard News

2009-09-27T20:45:00.004-06:00

On Thursday my 3 year old nephew Karsen was in a tragic accident and lost his left leg mid-calf. It's been a very hard few days for our family, but mostly for his mom and dad. They are both self-employed and so money is tight and insurance is not so good. Please visit this blog, karsenmery.blogspot.com to read his story. There has been a trust fund set up at Mountain America in his name, and you can donate via paypal on the blog.

During the past 4 days I've been amazed at the out-pouring of love for the Mery's. Nicole is my husband's sister and her and her husband, Rick, have 4 kids. Karsen is their youngest. He is 3 months younger than Keighlee. Anyway, it's been so great to see how many people have stepped up to help them. Their house has been cleaned and repairs have been made. They've had so many visitors and well wishes. Even strangers have sent their thoughts and even their money to help. It's so great to see that there is good in so many people.

I've been thinking a lot about Karsen and what he's going to have to go through to recover. He has a long road ahead of him and his parent's have a lot of healing to do. I know that Heavenly Father will bless them and help them through this trial. In Relief Society today, we had a lesson on adversity. It was such a great lesson. I thought a lot about Nic and Rick and this awful trial they are going through. I was wondering how they were going to get through it. After the lesson I realized that they will come through as better people. This trial will shape them and make them so much stronger in the Lord. I know I already knew all that, but it was so wonderful to be reminded of the reason the Lord lets us go through trials. Watching them go through this has made my trials that I've been struggling with seem so insignificant, and yet I am still struggling and having a really hard time with things in my life right now. It almost makes me feel ungrateful that I'm still struggling when people I love are doing so much worse. I've realized I need to just keep having faith in Heavenly Father. I know I need to put my burdens on his shoulders but it's so hard to do sometimes. I don't even know if I know how to do that. I'm going to try to be more faithful and I hope the Lord will allow me to figure out what I need to do to fix some situations in my life. I don't mean to be poor me, poor me, but with what's been going on the past 4 days, I've had a lot of things put into perspective and these are just some of my thoughts about all that! I hope I can learn from Nic and Rick and their strength and faith and put the same faith into my small trials.

Oquirrh Mountain Temple Dedication

2009-08-23T19:48:00.003-06:00

Today we had the awesome opportunity to go into the temple for the dedication. It was so neat. Tiaree and I went for the 9:00 session and Tracy went to the 3:00 session. It was amazing. The talks and the whole service made me realize how lucky we are. I love that I got to help at the open house and serve there already. This whole summer has been such a special experience. We've felt the blessings of the temple already.

As I sat in the Telestial room with Tiaree, I realized that the next time I sit in that room with her, she will be going through the temple for herself. It made me excited and sad all at the same time. I hope she remembers the feelings she felt in there today and remembers the talks that were given so that she does make it back. Most of the talks in our session were directed at the youth and how to make it back to the temple as they grow older. It was truly amazing to listen to.

When the dedication was over, we were able to say hi to President Monson. He stopped in the room we were in and asked how we were doing. We were right by the door and so Tiaree got to say hi. He looked right at her and waved at her. She kind of froze and didn't go to shake his hand or anything, even though she would have just had to take 2 steps to be next to him! I couldn't have done it either! Then President Uchtdorf gave us a huge wave and Elder Bednar winked at Tiaree as he walked by. President Uchtdorf also gave us a huge wave as they went into the Celestial room before the dedication. Both waves were with both hands and a huge smile on his face! That was really special to be that close to the prophet of God.

I will always cherish the memories I have of today. That I had a child old enough to go with me was such a great experience. I am so grateful for our Stake President who worked so hard to get us tickets in the Temple. It was so amazing to feel the spirit there. I haven't felt the Spirit that strong since I went through the Temple the first time. I know angels were there today. I kept thinking of the story of the angels walking around the top of the Kirtland Temple when it was dedicated. That story kept coming to mind and I think it was a testimony to me that they were there today. I can not wait to go and do a session and spend time in the Celestial room soaking up the peace I know I'll find. What an awesome day!!

Grocery Smarts

2009-08-10T21:33:00.002-06:00

I just wanted to invite everyone who reads this, which I know isn't many :D, to my house on August 25th at 7:00 pm to learn about Grocery Smarts. I've been wanting to save money on my grocery bill for a long time and this is a great way to do it! Here is some more info:

http://www.asweetsale.blogspot.com/

Let me know if you are interested in coming!!

What a month!

2009-08-06T11:30:00.001-06:00

July was just as busy as all the rest of the year has been! We had a lot of fun though and took a lot of pictures! If you are interested in what we did, keep reading and I'll catch ya up! :) There are 7 new posts! Don't miss the 7th one, you'll probably have to click on older posts to see it!

Had to share

2009-08-06T11:21:00.003-06:00

Had to add this picture in while I'm on the blogging spree! We told Bree to go clean her room. She threw a total fit and went in and slammed the door. Well about half an hour later, it was all quiet in there so we went to check on her. We didn't see her so we figured she had snuck out and was downstairs playing with the other kids. We went down to get her and she wasn't there. We looked all over the house because she wasn't in her room, we'd already checked. Well when we couldn't find her, we looked in her room again, and this is what we saw after we looked a little closer:Her room was so messy that we didn't see her asleep on the floor when we first looked. It was funny, and we finally got her room cleaned and nice again!

Bree's first Day of Kindergarten!

2009-08-06T10:45:00.003-06:00

Tuesday Bree started Kindergarten. I was so excited for her but also very sad. I can't believe she is big enough to go to school. I don't want her to be big enough to go to school! She was all ready Monday night. She had her outfit picked out and was anxious to go to bed. She woke up Tuesday and was just wanting to get dressed and go right away. She is in afternoon Kindergarten so that was kind of a hard wait for her! We cleaned her room and then she took a bath and we had lunch and then she was able to finally get dressed! She was so cute! We walked up to school with our neighbors, the Gowans'. Bree and their Cortnee are in the same class. It was cute to see them walking up, holding hands. We got there and Bree was so anxious for her teacher to come. It was hard for her to wait patiently. Then when her teacher came and got them and took them inside, she didn't even turn around and wave! What???!!! I was sad, but also kind of relieved. I don't know which is worse, to have her sobbing and have to leave her there crying or for her to not even seem to care. Well I cried and had a hard time all the way home. Luckily Corntee's mom, Camilla kept me company and we spent the whole afternoon together and went up and picked them up after school. She was so happy when she got out! She loves school and has had a wonderful two days and can't wait to go back today! Here are some pics of her cuteness:Showing off her cute backpack!
Her new outfit!
Her All About Me flower she had to make
Walking up with Cortnee
Going in without even waving bye *sniff*!!

My birthday

2009-08-06T08:23:00.004-06:00

For my birthday, Tracy took me to see Transformers 2 and to dinner at Chili's. It was a lot of fun! Our friends, the Gowans' came with us and it was so nice to have an adult night! Thanks to mom for babysitting so we could go! When we got home she had made a cake and the kids had all made me cards and there were flowers. It was so nice. Tracy gave me a spiral bound hymn book so I can practice my piano skills (which aren't very good at all!). He even got my name printed on it. It was a really nice birthday!My cake the kids helped my mom make.

We also had a birthday dinner for me on Sunday at my moms house. It was a lot of fun!

Back to School

2009-08-06T08:22:00.004-06:00

The day after we got back from Camping, Tiaree and Jarik started school. They were both very excited to get back with friends and to learn and all that fun stuff! Tiaree started 4th grade this year and Jarik started 2nd. A week after they started and I am amazed at how fast the homework started, especially for Tiaree. She already has a book report due every three weeks, and a huge Utah counties project due in May. 4th grade is really a step up from the "little kids". Her teacher warned us last year that it would be kind of a shock and it sure has been. A lot more is expected of her than last year, but she is doing great so far! Jarik is doing good too, he has homework every night but he likes it and does it without complaining, so far! Here is their first day:
Walking up to school
Tiaree. She looks so grown up!
Jarik. What a stud!
Tiaree going inside!Jarik going inside!

Camping!

2009-08-06T08:20:00.003-06:00

I love camping! I love getting away from everything and just spending time in the mountains! We went on our annual camping trip over the 24th of July and we had a blast! It was nice and cool and I loved being able to just sit in my camp chair and visit or read or nap. The kids got sufficiently dirty from playing so hard and I was able to come home feeling refreshed and ready for life again! We went with my whole family this year, by brothers and their wives, my sister and her husband, my parents and my nieces. It was so great to be with them all and have such a fun time! I think it was one of the best camping trips we've had in a long time! Uncle Erik and Sister Ali (his wife's name, she was part of the family for so long that the kids gave her a name before she became an aunt and it's just stuck!) took the kids on a walk and named everything they saw after one of the kids or their moms or dads or grammy or papa! It was cool and the kids had so much fun! They made us go on the hike and showed us everything and were so proud! I think the best way to show you all the fun, is to do a slide show!

I also have to add this cute video of Colette and Keighlee singing by the stream!

Boise

2009-08-06T08:15:00.000-06:00

My best friend Katie and her daughter Kylie live in Boise so when Tracy went to Youth Conference, we decided to pay them a visit! It was so much fun! I drove up the day after going to Harry Potter so by the time we got there I was exhausted! We took the kids to a park that night so they could get some of their energy out, and I walked around like a zombie! It was very hot up there, hotter than usual. On Thursday we had a picnic lunch, did some shopping and played at a splash pad. Katie and I even got wet, it felt wonderful! Friday we hung out and didn't do a whole lot, just visited and helped Katie get ready for Kylie's birthday party. Saturday was Kylie's birthday party and it was so fun! Katie put on a tea party and had a special lunch. Then the girls made paper purses while Jarik and another little boy watched Transformers. Then we had cake and ice cream and presents. Katie also had a bounce house that the kids loved! They all had so much fun and I was very impressed with Katie. She was planning on doing a 4 hour party with 8 kids alone. Crazy lady. But she could have. I couldn't have though! Sunday we went to church and then headed home. It was a really fun week! I so loved spending time with Katie and Kylie! I miss them and wish we lived closer. But it is fun to have an excuse to get away! Here's a slide show of the fun:

Harry Potter!

2009-08-06T08:01:00.000-06:00

So my sister, Tiaree and I went to the midnight show of Harry Potter 6. It was so much fun! Tiaree felt like such a grown up and I loved spending time with just her. The movie was great, I thought! I love the Harry Potter series and I just keep in mind that the books will always be better than the movies and I am never disappointed! I stole some pictures from Caitlin from the night!

4th of July

2009-07-09T13:40:00.002-06:00

We had a different, but fun 4th of July this year. Usually we spend it with family in the mountains or something like that, but this year we didn't. We spent the morning in Morgan for a work party with Tracy's co-workers. The kids and I got to swim and Tracy went shooting. I forgot to get my camera out while we were swimming so I didn't get any pictures. Bummer. We had a BBQ after swimming and got to know some of the people Tracy works with. It was a lot of fun! After we were done we headed down to Provo. In March, when we had money from our taxes, we bought tickets for Stadium of Fire. We got them because the Jonas Brothers were coming and the kids, and I, really like them. It ended up being so much fun! It was very patriotic which was really nice. My kids know the reason why we have the 4th but they've never really been to a patriotic celebration. It was so cool. They had dancers from all over the state and they talked about the 4th of July throughout the years. They talked about the first 4th and about the Declaration of Independance. They showed the first flag too. Then they talked about the Civil War, World War 1 and World War 2. It was really neat. Then they had an AWESOME F-16 fly over! They started out talking about the preparation the pilots went through to prepare for the event. Then they went live to a pilot who said "Hi and happy 4th of July". Then the planes flew over! So cool!! SheDaisy performed a few songs, then they had a Black Hawk fly over and then more dancing. The dancing this time involved fire and was so cool. Everything was cool :) When the dancing was over they didn't even announce the Jonas Brothers, they just started with some drums and everyone started chanting "Jonas, Jonas". The best part was just watching Tiaree and Bree. They were so cute. The JoBros put on a pretty good concert though. My right ear was ringing though between Tiaree, Bree and the 3 girls about Tiaree's age behind us screaming at the top of their lungs! Too cute. The fireworks after were the best I've ever seen. In the middle they actually retired the huge flag they'd used at Stadium of Fire for like 16 years. That was really neat too. The military brought it in and they put it in this thing that looked like the torch on the Statue of Liberty and then set it on fire. It made me pretty emotional and proud to be an American. Then they had the fireworks finale and nature added in some pretty spectacular lightening and whala: the funnest fireworks we've seen on the 4th! Next year, my family is coming with us if we go. I really missed them and I know everyone would love to go to it! Here are some fun pictures:

Our Little Staycation

2009-07-02T16:35:00.011-06:00

This year we haven't had a lot of money to do fun stuff. Tracy has had to take a lot of his vacation time for Young Men's camp and Youth Conference so even if we had some money, we wouldn't have been able to go anywhere. So before Tracy left for Camp Heleman, we took a few days and had fun around here. On Saturday the 20th, we headed out to the zoo. We met with a bunch of Twilight Moms and started going through the zoo. It was really fun and then it started to rain. It was ok for just a minute, a little bit of a drizzle. And then it started to pour! We got cold and shivery! We had lunch and then we went ahead and went downtown. We took a tour of the Conference Center. We have never done that before and it was really neat. We went home and it was still raining and cold so we made a fort in the family room and watch Fellowship of the Ring. It ended up being such a fun day!
Us on top of the Conference Center. It was cold! Tiaree in the fort
The back of the fort

Sunday we headed up to Logan for the day after church. It was so fun! We did some geocaching on campus and then had a BBQ at Adams park. I love Logan and really miss it sometimes. If we could get a good job up there, it would be really tempting to move. The kids on the "A"
Walking to Old Main
Walking around campus

On Monday Tracy and I served in the Oquirrh Mountain Temple for the open house. Tracy worked parking and I worked hospitality. I got to serve cookies and water to all the people after they went through the temple. It was really amazing! We worked one other time as well and got to work outside the sealing rooms and see how touched the people were after they came out. It was so cool and the spirit was so strong. I can't wait for the temple to open so that I can go do a session there. It's so cool to have a new temple that I'll be able to worship in.

After the temple we went to the Bingham Copper Mine. We'd never been there either and that was really cool. It was so huge! After the mine we went to a drive-in movie. What a blast that always is! We saw Up! and The Porposal. Both were fun movies. The drive-in is always such a fun experience. The kids love it and it's cheaper than the theater. The only bummy part is when stupid people decide to smoke. Why they do that when there are obviously tons of kids around is beyond me. The cool huge tires that are on the huge trucks
The mine The kids ready for the movie to start.
Our fun little set up. My family is so cute!

Tuesday we went and actually participated in the temple open house. Tiaree and Jarik were really good, Bree and Keighlee not so much! Bree kept pushing past all the people in front of us and KK tried to go places that were blocked off. So kinda stressful. But we were able to go with Tracy's grandparents and that was fun. They took us to a late lunch after and Bree and Keighlee both had little melt downs in the restaurant so that was fun. But it was a really nice day anyways. Us in front of the Temple

Tracy left for Camp on Wednesday and on Friday my best friend Katie was able to visit! We were able to take her and her daughter Kylie through the temple open house but this time, I just had Tiaree and Jarik with me. It was really nice. We had a good dinner and stayed up way too late talking. On Saturday we were able to go to the Taylorsville Dayz fireworks. We do that every year with Tracy's family. It's always fun! I met Tracy and the kids over there after I went to a meeting for the awesome New Moon Movie event we are putting on. If any of you reading this are interested go to eventsbyalice.com !!!! :D We are always a little crazy when we get together but it's so much fun! I love all my TM friends! The fun TM BBQ!!
Beautiful fireworks! I love them!!

We had a fun weekend together as a family and I'm glad we were able to be together. I'm looking forward to the camping trip we will be taking at the end of the month too. That will be nice! I'm also going to go to Boise to visit Katie when Tracy goes to Youth Conference in two weeks. I'm way stoked about that! It will be great to get away!

West Jordan Park

2009-06-19T17:37:00.003-06:00

So I was having a really crappy day this morning. So many things were going wrong and I just wanted to cry. I decided that I needed to get out of my house and into the beautiful day to try and cheer me up. I took the kids to play at the West Jordan Park. It's a fun park and the kids love it. It has the feel of an old west town. I got some fun pictures of the kids enjoying the warmer weather and wearing themselves out!
Tiaree and Jarik on top of the "jail" part of the town.
The girls playing in the mister. That was nice and refreshing!
My little man!
Tiaree and Bree quickly saying hi as they headed up to the longest slide.
Keighlee in "her" swing.

It ended up being a nice afternoon and I feel better! Tracy is at scout camp tonight so I'm going to make chocolate chip pancakes for dinner and then we are going to watch a movie!

Pictures

2009-06-18T13:35:00.006-06:00

I'm sorry for the mega posts today!! I doubt anyone will read past this one and the next one, but when you play catch up, that's what happens. I was just looking through pictures and I noticed that I hadn't put any pics up of Tiaree's birthday. That's sad! So here are some cute ones of her day!

Also, we bought Stadium of Fire tickets with our tax return this year because Jonas Brothers are performing. And I've wanted to go for years! So while I was at Woman's Conference, I had to take this picture for Tiaree:

It's been forever again!

2009-06-18T10:45:00.002-06:00

Well I thought things would slow down in June but apparently I was wrong! We've had a fun month with Memorial Day, Keighlee's Birthday and Tracy's Birthday. Throw in a dance concert and a MoTab concert and that's our month. I'm going to write about each thing, so keep reading!!

Tracy's Birthday

2009-06-18T10:00:00.002-06:00

This past Tuesday was Tracy's birthday. We celebrated with family when we celebrated Keighlee's birthday so we didn't do anything big. My parents left on their Mormon Tabernacle Choir tour this morning and on Tuesday we were able to go see them perform all their tour music. We didn't see the first half of the concert because the kids were starving so we went to the gateway and got some dinner. That was pretty fun.

When they first announced the concert, it was supposed to be for family and friends so that kids and grandkids could see what the choir was doing. Well the morning of the concert my mom got an email saying they weren't going to let anyone in who was under 8 years old. Stupid. So we decided to go and at least walk by. As we were listening through the doors and watching through the windows, we found out that the ushers, who thought the "rule" was stupid, were bending it and letting in kids 5 and up. So Tracy took the 3 older kids into the Tabernacle and I took KK into the cry room. We got the best part of the concert, I think! We got to see them perform some of their best numbers. Tracy and I were going to go with them on tour but the money situation didn't work out for us to, and now after hearing them, I am really sad that we couldn't. Two years from now we ARE going, no matter what!!! For those of you who don't know a lot of Choir pieces, you need to invest in some of their cd's! My favorites are Consider the Lilies, Peace Like a River, Showtime!Music of Broadway and Hollywood, and their newest one Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing. That one has a lot of spirituals and stuff on it. Anyway..... here are some pictures of the night:

View through the window outside
My Dad clapping to Cindy
My Mom
Mack Wilberg's eye brows raised means "you're going flat!"
Cool pic of Tiaree, Jarik, Bree, my Dad and my Mom (in the background) They are all looking at the camera and smiling!
Alex Boye. The man has an AMAZING voice and does all the solos for their spirituals.

It was a fun night and I think Tracy had an ok birthday. Last night we were going to go to the temple for a birthday date night but the Jordan River is closed and the Draper doesn't have rental clothing yet and then our sitter was exposed to swine flu and Bree and KK have been sick so we didn't want to expose them. They are pretty vulnerable right now. So instead we rented Forever Strong and had some treats. It was a fun night! Happy Birthday honey, maybe next year will be better!

Keep reading for more June fun!

Girls Final Dance Concert

2009-06-18T09:27:00.001-06:00

I love where my girls take dance from! Their teacher is one of the sweetest ladies I know. Last Monday, the 8th, the girls had their final dance concert. For the final concert of the year, they always dance in the mountains. It's different and really fun. This year, with the crazy cool weather we've been having, the girls were kind of cold, but they had fun anyway. They both did so good! Keighlee starts with Jen in the fall and is so excited! Here's a slide show of the night!

Next Post: Keighlee's birthday!!

Keighlee's Birthday

2009-06-18T09:19:00.000-06:00

The weekend of the 7th we had birthday parties for Tracy and Keighlee. Tracy's mom was in town so it was the perfect time. On Friday night the 5th, we had Tracy's family over for a BBQ and some cake and ice cream. It was a lot of fun. Keighlee had fun opening her presents.
The present Jarik gave her, his old computer. He was so sweet about it.
Keighlee wearing her cool glasses from Aunt Nicole and gang.
Stoked about the dress up from Uncle Brandon and gang.
Blowing out the candles.
The birthday kids!

On Sunday the 7th we had my family over for another BBQ and more cake and ice cream. I feel bad that Tracy had these combined parties with Keighlee, but it was fun to get together. Here's some pictures from Sunday:
I love these pictures of Tracy and Keighlee together! Keighlee got lots of clothes cause she is getting so big!

This is a great candle blowing picture!!

Up next, preschool graduation!

My Baby Graduated from Preschool

2009-06-18T08:15:00.000-06:00

On Thursday June 4th, Bree graduated from preschool. I can't believe she is old enough to go to Kindergarten! She was so much fun to teach though. At times it was really hard and she had problems distinguishing from Mommy and teacher but I'm so glad I got to teach her. I think she learned a ton and I know she is going to do great in Kindergarten, especially since she will have someone besides Mom teaching her!! She writes her whole name properly now and knows her sounds, letters, numbers, shapes and colors. She gets this cute little squinch on her nose when she concentrates on her work, it's so cute. She loves to color and is getting better at adding details to her pictures and coloring in the lines. She is such a smart little thing, I'm excited to see how she progresses in Kindergarten!
I have some pictures of the graduation, but Tracy has to put them through his software and see if he can lighten them up. Here is a pic of her in her cute graduation cap she made:

Last thing to catch up on: Memorial Day

Memorial Day

2009-06-18T08:00:00.000-06:00

Memorial Day weekend started out ok, then got rainy and cold, then cleared up nicely!! We put the tent up in the back yard and slept outside on Friday night. Our thought was to sleep out all weekend, but the rain put a damper on that. Saturday night we played softball with Tracy's family. It was fun. Sunday we went to my Moms and BBQ'd in the rain. We watched old family videos. It was so fun to see us all little! Monday morning we went up to Mueller park and had an early morning breakfast. It was yummy and the sun came out and it was really nice! After breakfast we ran home and got showered and then went out to Tooele to Jared's house. We went fishing for about an hour then went over there and had pizza. We played in the park and had a really relaxing time. It was a nice Memorial Day.

New Moon Trailer

2009-06-01T12:56:00.001-06:00

Yay! This is awesome!

THE TWILIGHT SAGA: NEW MOON trailer

Wedding pictures

2009-05-19T19:40:00.001-06:00

Here is a slide show from the wedding. They're all fun, but some didn't turn out so great. It'll be fun to see the professional ones. We took pictures of all our kids in their reception clothes and I'll get those up later!!

My Sister Got Married!!!

2009-05-17T22:22:00.003-06:00

This has been a crazy few weeks. My sister got married and we were so involved with everything having to do with that for the last 2 weeks I feel like I haven't had any time for anything else. It was a beautiful wedding but I'm sure glad it's over!

The craziness really started last Saturday when we went to the Temple with Caitlin for her endowments. She went through the Bountiful Temple. It was a great session and it was so neat to be in the temple with my whole family. My parents have done a great job raising us, I think. They have 4 children and all 4 of us have been sealed in the Temple. I think that's just great and it was so special to be there in that holy place with all of my siblings and their spouses. All last week was spent with last minute wedding "stuff". We did the wedding ourselves, like the reception and stuff, so there was a ton to do. We also had Ward Conference so to add to the mix, we got to go to the Temple with our ward on Thursday. What an amazing experience that was. We got to have dinner before and had President Bateman of the Temple presidency talk to us. I guess we ended up have about 60 people attend the session that night. What an amazing thing! Oh and on top of that, I fell on Thursday morning and totally jacked my ankle. I rolled it but because I was carrying KK at the time, I went right down. Thursday morning I couldn't even put any weight on it. It was ok by Friday but I've been limping all weekend. I'm glad I didn't break it though. That would have been awful with the wedding!

Anyway....on Friday night we headed to my parent's church house and set up for the reception. It took soo long!! We got there at about 7 and we didn't leave until like 11:30. It was fun though. Tracy was actually pretty sick and he went home about 8 to try and get over whatever he had. He was doing a lot better on Saturday. Saturday started with us getting the kids up early and over to Nic's house for the day. Then we headed to the Salt Lake Temple. It was such a wonderful sealing. The sealer talked for a few minutes about some things Caitlin and Sam should do. One was say I love you at least once a day and one was to kiss at least once a day! He was a cute old man and had some wonderful advice about the covenants and promises Cait and Sam entered into. It was a great reminder for me! I got to go to the bride's room and help Caitlin get into her dress. That was very special. I'm pretty lucky I got to do that I think. It was a great moment for us girls to bond with our mom!

We took pictures around the Temple as is custom, but we had to wait for like 30 minutes before we could even start because there were so many brides. Lunch after was at the Lion House and it was so yummy! Salad, Chicken Parmesan, bow tie pasta and steamed veggies with cheesecake for dessert. Of course some of the awesome Lion House rolls too. Yummy!! After lunch, the race was on! We headed out to get our kids (after helping Sam's mom find her car in the parking lot!! haha!! It was funny but she was so embarrassed!) I had to give KK and Bree a bath and get the girls ready while Tracy went to the wedding rental place to get a few last minute decorations. We barely made it to the church on time for more pictures! The reception started and we got to stand in line and shake a ton of people's hands. It wasn't too bad though. We got to have dancing for a while after the formal line and that was fun. We sent Caitlin and Sam off with bubbles!! His friends did a great number on their car and they were very happy when they left. Then we had to stay and clean up. Tracy vowed to save enough money that we will NEVER have to do that for our girls!! It was exhausting. We left the church about 11:30 after cleaning everything up. The kids had had it by that point. They were tired and whiney and we were tired an whiney. It felt like Friday and Saturday were all one very long day! But they are married and happy and it was a beautiful wedding if I do say so myself!! :) Our family rocks!! Oh and thanks to Tori who made an absolutely beautiful cake!! Watch for some pictures tomorrow! I'll be making a slide show then, but now I'm still tired and just want to sleep!! :)

Amazing

2009-05-07T12:32:00.003-06:00

So I love Jon Schmidt. I have for a long time. He is amazing. Well here is a new video of his. He put Love Story by Taylor Swift and Viva La Vida by Coldplay together. Awesome!!

I've taken it off because it took up a lot of room on my blog. You can see the video at www.jonschmidt.com

Another Crazy Month

2009-05-02T22:47:00.002-06:00

So I haven't been around for a while, it's been so crazy busy around here it's not even funny. And it's just going to stay that way for about 2 or 3 more weeks! Easter was great, we had a wonderful day. It was really nice this year, and I felt that we really focused on the Savior a lot. I think the kids understood better that Easter is about Jesus and not about candy and bunnies. It was a nice day.

I have a new calling in the ward, I am one of the ward primary choristers. In our ward, we have two and we rotate every month with junior and senior. That way we get to go to either Sunday School or Relief Society every other month. It's been so much fun so far! It's a lot more work than just "throwing" a lesson together though. I actually have to use my brain to think of ways to teach these songs. But when it works, it's the best feeling and the spirit is so strong!

Tiaree turned 9 this month. I'm not old enough to have a 9 year old. No way. It's crazy how big she is getting. She is so beautiful and so smart. We had a nice day on her birthday. Her and Bree actually had a dance recital on her birthday at South Towne Expo. They did such a good job! That night we had just our little family at home and had a little celebration. It was really nice. The Monday after her b-day, we had family over for a BBQ. It was a lot of fun, and she really enjoyed it.

The last few days of April I got to go spend time at Women's Conference at BYU. What a wonderful experience! I went down with my wonderful friend Heidi and stayed in a hotel with her and her mom. I got to go and be spiritually uplifted for 2 straight days! I learned so much about my Savior's love for me and about my role as a mother and daughter of God. I was crying almost the whole time it seems. I learned about how to raise my girls with virtue and modesty. I learned how to study the scriptures with a purpose. I learned how to deal with my trials in the strength of the Lord. Elder Perry spoke at the closing session and he told us that we need to stand up and show the world what we as Latter Day Saints really stand for. He told us all the mis-conceptions about the church and told us that we have a responsibility to change that. It was such a great talk. I also learned about parenting techniques taught in the Book of Mormon and how to correct our children with love. That one was so needed and I have used it today with my kids and it's been great. They have responded quicker and there haven't been meltdowns or arguments. I'll have to get my notes out and type up the important points because it was wonderful!!

My sister graduated from college today and Tracy and I, and Keighee, drove down to Cedar City to see her ceremony. It was a really neat thing and I'm so proud of her! She goes through the temple next week and then her and Sam get married the next week. That's part of why things are so busy!

Bree had her Kindergarten orientation on the 17th. She is very excited to go to school. She was so good and listened so well. She will fit right in when she starts. It will be good to get her away from me!! LOL!! She is doing better in preschool with me as her teacher, but she needs a change.

Well I can't believe that it's May now. This month is going to fly by and the summer will be her before I know it!!

2009-04-15T14:18:00.004-06:00

Happy Birthday Granny

2009-04-03T14:38:00.004-06:00

On Saturday my Granny turned 80. My mom and her siblings threw a nice little party for her. My Granny has Alzheimers and lives in an assisted living community called Wentworth. On Saturday afternoon they had an open house and I guess a ton of people showed up. I didn't make it to the open house in time to see anyone but my mom said that lots of old friends and lots of family showed up to wish her happy birthday. After the open house we went to Johanna's Kitchen for dinner. It was yummy food and so much fun to see my extended family. It's always hard to visit with Granny because she doesn't remember anything anymore. It makes me so sad. Whenever I leave her after a visit I cry. I miss my Granny and it's so hard to see her not there. She looked so nice on Saturday though! Almost like her old self! She was beautiful and it was great to see her and everyone else.
Aunt Des, Granny and Aunty Win, Granny's sister.

The family at Johanna's Kitchen

Jarik's Birthday

2009-04-03T14:11:00.003-06:00

Last Friday was Jarik's 7th Birthday. I can't believe he's been with us for 7 years. It was some rough going for a while when he was born. He was in the NICU for 10 days with lung problems. Those were the worst 10 days of my life. Luckily he made it through and he has no effects from that time at all. He is my little miracle! Anyway, we had a fun night. We had homemade pizza for dinner and then Grammy and Papa and Uncle Brandon and his kids came over for cake and ice cream. We did a big party last year and we are only doing parties every 2 years so it was a quiet one. It was really nice though. On Sunday we had dinner with my whole family and had more cake and ice cream for him then. I think he had a fun weekend and got some fun presents!

My Goal

2009-03-23T21:47:00.002-06:00

This morning Tracy and I started an in home boot camp workout called Power90. I am so excited to be doing this. I have heard nothing but good about it! And because we are both not in shape, I think we will get some good results. Along with the exercise I am really starting to make an effort with my eating. I haven't really been a bad eater but I'm really concentrating on what I put into my body. Whole grains, fruits and veggies, less sugar. Along with the exercise videos came some other dietary guidelines like eating 5 times a day, not eating 3 hours before bed and not eating an hour before working out. I didn't eat 5 times today, I only ate 4 but at the time I should have had my 5th, I was really not hungry. I figured it was better to not eat than to eat just cause I should. I don't know though. They do say that eating 5 times will help you to not overeat at the bigger meals. I don't think I ate too much at dinner though. I'll just have to really pay attention and see what works best. I'm really excited and I really hope that this will get me off the plateau that I've been on since KK was born!

Happy St. Patricks Day!

2009-03-17T22:12:00.002-06:00

I hope everyone has had a fun St. Patricks day! St. Patricks day is always fun. I love dressing in green and teasing my kids that they'll get pinched if they take their green off or don't come up in the morning with it on. We never do anything huge for St. Patricks day, I dyed the milk green this morning which the 3 oldest liked, but which made Keighlee not want to eat her cereal! I also made Irish Soda Bread for preschool, and that was really yummy. As for the whole corned beef and cabbage thing, not for us. With a husband who lived in Ireland for 2 years, corned beef and cabbage isn't what they really eat, plus he doesn't like it! He said if you truly want to have Irish food, cook up some bangers and mash, or some "chips". Find a "chippie" and have bangers and chips or fish and chips. That's Irish food! He also said that he lived in Ireland for 2 years so he's good for like 700 more St. Patricks days with the Irish food! haha!! He also thinks it's funny that it's such a big holiday here. The holiday wasn't even celebrated in Ireland until we started celebrating it here! Too funny. Just some food for thought from one whose actually been to Ireland! As for me, it's fun to get a little crazy with the green food dye and go on pinching frenzies once a year!! :D

Proud Parent Moment

2009-03-10T21:33:00.002-06:00

We had a very proud parent moment today at our house! Tiaree got a package from her school in the mail today. It was a letter from her principal and a certificate from the Utah State Office of Education. Here is what her letter said:
"Dear Tiaree McGee,
Congratulations on your outstanding academic achievement! The enclosed certificate is your recognition for placing in the top ten percent nationally on the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills in the area(s) listed for the 2008-2009 school year. This signifies the effort you extend each day as a student at Falcon Ridge Elementary.

I challenge you to continue to set goals, work hard, and strive to do your very best. This will help prepare you for a successful future. I am extremely proud of you.

Best Regards,
Karen Thomson
Principal"

Yay for Tiaree! These are the areas she tested in the top %10: Reading, Science, Language, Social Studies, Core Total and Total Composite. She has a nice certificate signed by her principal the State Superintendent and the Chair of the Utah State Board of Education! I am so dang proud of her! Last week's parent teacher conferences were really good and her teacher showed us her scores, but I had no idea she was in the top %10 NATIONALLY!!!

Jarik had a wonderful PTC too! He is reading way above grade level and understanding everything he reads. He is passing off his addition and subtraction facts too. I loved going to PTC this year because they have been so good. Nothing but good to report. Well it's always been that way with my kids and I love that!! :) I love having bragging rights!! LOL!!

Fun Weekend

2009-03-10T17:47:00.000-06:00

On Saturday we went bowling with my brother in Tooele for his birthday. It was so much fun! The whole family went, except Sam and Caitlin cause they were in Cedar. The kids all bowled too, it was so fun to watch them. Tracy got some great pics with his camera, but I'll just put a few of the ones I got on mine. After dinner we had the most wonderful homemade pizza and breadsticks! (I'm still waiting for the dough recipe Ems!!) It was such a fun night. I love being able to spend fun times with my family.
Jarik gets some good heft behind the ball

Tiaree beat everyone on the first game, adults included!

Bree loved chucking the ball down that ramp.

KK just loved picking the balls up and trying to get them on the ramp.

Jared, Alyssa and Colette (and Bree sneaking in to try to help!)

I LOVE Alyssa's face here! Helping Dad!!

Amazing

2009-03-02T10:37:00.002-07:00

I found this video today and was truly amazed. I feel very inadequate now! This girl is 20 years old and was put on a panel about different religions at Harvard. She explained her beliefs and her views so well. I think that if I had been asked some of the questions she was asked, I would have stuttered and not been able to really answer them. It's a great video if you have the time to watch it!

Day of Faith: Personal Quests for a Purpose - 3. Rachel Esplin from Harvard Hillel on Vimeo.

Crazy Month!

2009-03-01T16:58:00.019-07:00

This is going to be really long so I don't blame anyone for not reading! This is the only journal I do now though so I need to write it down!! :) So February turned out to be a very crazy month!! We had thing after thing happen and I feel like today I can finally start to breathe again and get back to normal again. The month started out with some fun stuff. For Valentines we got to go have dinner at the Maddox in Brigham City with a bunch of my good TwilightMom friends. It was such a fun time! The food was so good and then we got to stay the night at the Crystal Inn. It was a great get away.

Tracy and I on our way to Brigham

This is me, Amy, Heidi and Laura. Laura and I helped Amy and Heidi plan.

The next day I went to the funeral of my good childhood friend Laura Noall Steele. We grew up together, went to elementary, junior high and high school together. I hadn't seen her since 1999, before she went on her mission. We just found eachother on facebook and were going to get together soon and then she got sick and died. It's so sad. She left 2 little boys who are like 3 and1 or something like that. It was such a great funeral though. I was amazed at how full her 30 years had been. Her and her husband had lived life to the fullest, taking nothing for granted and it was great to see that. It was one of the most spiritual services I've ever been to and really re-affirmed my belief in God's plan for us. I know that families are eternal and I know that Laura will be with her husband and boys again.

For the long Valentines/President's Day weekend we decided to go to St. George and visit Tracy's mom and hike and play. I got to help in both Tiaree's and Jarik's classes on Friday for Valentines. It was so much fun to see them and be able to help. We were right ready to go when school got out. Tracy had been complaining about a belly ache since Thursday night but he just thought it was gas or something so we went. The further we got on the road, the worse he hurt. By the time we got there, he was in a lot of pain. We got the kids ready for bed and he finally decided he needed to go to the doctors. We set off for instacare, but it closed at like 9. We were just going to head back to my MIL's but at the last minute Tracy decided that he should go to the ER. They got him back in not too long and started him on some contrast stuff he had to swallow so they could to a CT scan. They took blood and his blood work came back fine, but he was still ina ton of pain so they went ahead with the scan. The technician saw it clearly. My hubby had appendicitis. Crap. I was very frustrated and worried and upset and exhausted by this point. He made me go back to his mom's to get some sleep. They told me they'd be going into surgery at about 6. So I get to the hospital about 6:45 and start waiting. I took for granted that they'd do the surgery on time. About 7:15 I started looking for him. I was worried because I hadn't heard anything. I went down to his room, I'd been waiting in the surgery area, and I found him there. They hadn't even taken him to surgery yet. He went into surgery right around 8. The doctor came out about 8:40 and said everything was fine. I went back to his room and waited for him to get out of post-op. He came in groggy and didn't even know I was there. I left after I knew he was out and was ok.

The kids and I and Diane decided to make the best of our vacation and had a fun Saturday. We went to McDonalds for lunch and played on the play place. Then we went and saw Tracy for a few minutes. He was more awake by this time! We then went and saw Hotel for Dogs. It was very cute. We went to Denny's for dinner and went and saw Tracy again and then went home and to bed. I was so tired!! I'd only had about 3 hours of sleep and I was stressed and emotional and not the happiest camper!!

This is us on our way to see the movie. I don't know why Bree looks so sad!

Tracy got out of the hospital on Sunday morning and we spent the day walking around. He had to walk to relieve the pressure of all the air they filled him with. We also played the wii and just relaxed. Sunday was an ok day. We headed home Monday and Tracy was actually able to drive halfway. He was never given any pain meds and he didn't really need any. He took advil and that's all he needed. We were very lucky that he healed so well and so quickly. He stayed home from work on Tuesday and Wednesday though. That was kind of nice and relaxing for me. We just watched movies and vegged.

Monday after we got home we got to have dinner with a good friend from college. Him and his family live in Belgium right now where he is working but they are getting ready to head back home and he had a day of interviews here. It was so much fun to talk to him and catch up. I can't wait to see their whole family and to catch up with his wife too!! Becky and Justin, we need to have a day long get together when you come back!! One night won't be long enough!! :)

On Friday Tracy found out he was going out of town on Tuesday for 5 days. Totally last minute! It was really kind of frustrating. I just felt that I was getting back in control after the whole "vacation" fiasco, and then I got thrown this wrench. I usually have a couple of months to build myslef up to being alone but I had 3 days to do it this time. Kind of frustrating. So we went out to dinner and a movie Friday night. MaCools and "Taken". Awesome movie, great food! It was nice to get away for a few hours. Then on Sunday I got a last minute chance to go see Celine Dion. I'm not like a huge fan but I do like her. I like her more after the concert. It was amazing!! She is awesome. Being the daughter of 2 singers I watched her in awe. Her diaphram control was so sweet!! She was just so much fun to watch and it really seemed like she loved performing for us. I had issues about going seeing as how it was on Sunday, but my hubby convinced my that I needed the time away and my friend helped me make up my mind by pointing out that she'd listen to Celine on a Sunday!! :) It was great.

Tracy left Tuesday morning and got home last night. I survived! We had a fun time while he was gone. It was nice weather for the most part and we got to play at the park. We also went to see the "Saturn" show at the Clark Planetarium. That was pretty cool. It was on the dome ceiling and at one part they were talking about how they think the rings were formed by two moons crashing into eachother. It showed the crash and was really loud and then it looked like bits were falling toward us. Keighlee was on my lap and one big piece looked like it was going to fall right on us and she let out this huge scream! It was hilarious!! Then after the scream she goes "holy cwap"!! Too cute!! I was really exhausted when he got home and actually went to bed at like 7:30!! I slept all night and today I feel great! I'm hoping that things can get back to normal and that I can get a handle on my life after the craziness that was February!!

Silly Children

2009-02-04T10:15:00.003-07:00

So I'm sitting here waiting to stop sweating so I can take a shower and I thought I'd share some of the cute thing Bree and Keighlee do. They are so funny! Monday, when I was ignoring house and children in pursuit of a good book, the girls were playing dress up. Usually when they play dress up one is the mommy and one is the baby. They weren't doing that Monday, they were both just being princess. Well Keighlee comes in with the cutest little pout on her face and tells me that Breekah (our version of Bree's full name, Bree Rebekah) is a meany. She was so serious and so upset. I decided not to laugh it off like I might usually and I asked her what was wrong. She crossed her little arms with a huff and goes "She kissed my boyfriend"!!! Then I laughed! It was just so dang cute. She glared at me and actually stomped her foot. I said "she did huh" and she goes "yeah and it was mean. She is a meanie." If she is acting this way at 2 1/2, what's it going to be like when they really start liking boys? Not something I'm looking forward to at this point. Bree came in and argued that she didn't and that Keighlee was the baby and she was the mommy and they went off and played just fine after that. I thought it was too cute not to share!

In a moment of bad parenting, I realized last night that I have neglected Jarik. I got tagged to do this Mommy quiz thing on facebook all about my first born. Well I started writing down how much she weighed and when she was born and got my journal out just to figure out when the other kids were born and how much they weighed. It's been a while since I compared. Well all the girls were in my journal. Interestingly they were all born within ounces of eachother and only 1/2 inch difference. 6lbs 12.5 oz, 6 lbs 3 oz, 6 lbs 5 oz, 18 1/2 inches, and the other two were both 18. Kind of funny. And they were all born around 3 pm. 3:35, 3:07 and 2:56. Anyway, after I looked all that up I wanted to remember about Jarik. I know he was bigger and longer. I didn't write it in my journal. What?? What kind of mom am I that I didn't write anything about his birth in my journal. Granted he was whisked to the NICU for 10 days, but that shouldn't matter. I should have still written it all down. I wrote down Tiaree's 2 months after she was born. I feel really bad too since him and Tiaree were looking through my journal at breakfast and both noticed that I hadn't written anything about him. Since he is the only boy, I often feel like he is overlooked. I really try to make time for him and make him feel special. And then I do something like this. Great mom I am. I told him I'd find his birth certificate and try to write down all I remember about his birth and what time and stuff that he was born. I do really need to do that. But it's been 7 years. I'm afraid I won't remember that much. Ugh, I feel awful!

25 Things

2009-02-03T21:07:00.003-07:00

I just did the 25 random things on facebook and thought it would be fun to post here. So here it goes, 25 random things about yours truly:

1. I have been tagged by so many people I hope I remember to tag them all back!

2. I love sci-fi shows! Star Trek, Star Wars, Stargate SG1, Stargate Atlantis.... you get the idea.

3.Like Tracy, I love Joss Whedon! Firefly and Serenity are my favorites. It goes along with the sci-fi thing!

4. I loath spiders. That's why I had a son, so he could get them when Tracy wasn't home!

5. I absolutely LOVE to read. I will read everything and anything at least once. I'm not biased! And when I really, really like a book, I will read all day and ignore chores and children!

6. I went on a vacation by myself, with people I barely knew, to the town where a fictional book takes place. Yes I am that obsessed :D

7. I graduated from USU with a dual major in Elementary ed and Early Childhood ed

8. I hate teaching anything higher than 2nd grade, the math gets too hard!

9. I love ice cream. I can eat it anytime, anywhere. Even if it's freezing outside, ice cream will sound good.

10. All my closest friends I've met online :), except Katie :D

11. I've never been to Disneyland

12. I pee my pants when I throw up. Always have, it's just gotten worse with the 4 kids!

13. I've only flown 3 times in my life.

14. When I get over being shy, I can talk way too much, and way too loudly

15. I waited for my hubby while he served his mission.

16. I only dated my hubby for 3 months before he left.

17. We were engaged 24 days after he came home.

18. I would move back to Logan in a heartbeat.

19. I hate dogs and own two of the biggest dang dogs you can have.

20. All three of my girls' names end with ee. It was coincidence with the first two and intentional with the last one.

21. I've climbed down a lava tube in the dark.

22. I love to bake but don't do it a lot because I HATE the mess!

23. My husband and I have never gone to bed mad at each other and we've been married for 11 years.

24. I was on Dance Company and Drill Team my senior year of high school and on the Pep Squad (K-ettes) my sophomore year.

25. I love to "blog-stalk". I really enjoy reading other peoples blogs but I rarely leave any comments.

There ya go. Enjoy it for what it is. A bunch of silly stuff about me!

Oh Happy Day

2009-01-28T09:54:00.003-07:00

Today is a great day! Not only have I already exercised for an hour, but the two older kids are FINALLY back in school! This off track time was a long, long break. We went off before Christmas and are just going back. Something like 5 1/2 weeks! Crazy. But luckily I've only been going crazy for about a week. It wasn't too bad for the most part. Thank heavens for the Wii we got for Christmas! I was very ready to send them back this morning though. I'm ready to get back into a groove, to get our routines back down. To get chores done every day and to have the TV off! It was hard having this break during the winter. The kids played outside some, but the last 2 or so weeks we had that awful inversion and I didn't want the kids outside breathing that gunk up. Especially Bree with her asthma. She suffered enough being inside! We did take a trip to the aquarium during our break, and we went to lunch with Daddy and we had fun just being together.

Today should be a good day, since I'm off to a great start. I have to clean the whole house since I'm having a movie night over here tomorrow night. I'm so excited about it, it's going to be so fun! So I'm off to shower and run some errands and then clean, clean, clean!! It should be a lot easier to clean with just 2 kids at home though!

Good Start

2009-01-26T10:39:00.007-07:00

Well I'm off to a good start today. I exercised!! Yay!! Thanks to everyone for the motivating words. It's all in my attitude if I'm going to do this. There is aerobics at the ward 3 days a week that I could go to (thanks Tori for reminding me!) but during off track time, I'm not taking 5 kids down there! I babysit the little boy across the street after school and during off track and 5 kids is more than I like to impose on people! Maybe I'll start going to the church again on Wednesday when the kids go back on track (a fact which thrills me to the core). But today is starting out great. We have no goodies or snacks for me to fall victim to, so that's a bonus too. I have a ton to still do today though so I'm off to tackle the list. I'm writing the list down so I can remember, maybe I'll try to be tricky and cross them off of here when I get them done! Ok, so I can't figure out how to cross things out but I will change the color when I get it done!

Shower
Put laundry away
Vacuum upstairs
Sweep and mop kitchen
Prepare preschool lessons
Prepare FHE
Sam's Club
Get the kids to clean their mess in the basement
Girls to dance
Fix dinner-Tracy did this since I was busy running the girls back and forth to dance. Thanks hun, love you!!

A pretty good list, but I think it's manageable!! Thanks again for the motivation everyone!!

Frustration

2009-01-23T16:09:00.003-07:00

You know, I am finding it hard to get motivated to get back into shape. I know I should exercise and all that jazz but I can't seem to make the time or have the energy to do it. I used to do so good! I exercised at least 3 days a week, or more. I ate well and I lost weight. Then I got so sick about 18 months ago. I had liver problems and after weeks of suffering, not knowing what was going on or what to do about it and seeing doctor after doctor and having test after test, all the problems just went away. I was so thankful for that! But I'd lost my "groove" by that point. I haven't gained any weight since that time, a fact that I am very thankful for. I eat well, not perfectly, but good. I still like my sweets but I don't eat them all the time. I have been stuck at the same weight for 18 months now and I know I could get off the plateau if I could make myself exercise like I need to. I've had different people tell me about gyms they belong to or how getting up early works for them, and that just doesn't help. I don't have money to go to a gym and I can not for the life of me get up an hour earlier than I need to to exercise. What am I going to do? I know I need to still loose about 40 pounds and to get there, I need to exercise. But where am I going to find my motivation? I hear about my friends exercising and doing well and all it does is make me depressed.

Well I had to just get that off my chest. I don't know what else to do or how to fix the problem but I just had to vent for a minute. If anyone knows how to get me motivated, I'll listen!!

I know, I know

2009-01-16T16:03:00.007-07:00

I know it's been a month since I posted and part of that is because it's been busy and part of it is just me being lazy! We had a wonderful Christmas and New Year. We had a great Christmas Eve dinner and Tracy's grandparents with his whole family, aunts, uncles, cousins, everyone! It was really fun. We got home and the kids were so excited to get their present and they all loved their new jammies. Christmas morning came and we made the kids stay in bed until 7. As soon as it was time we started the present frenzy! It was a lot of fun and everyone loved their gifts. The biggest thing we got was a Wii and that has been so much fun! It's also been a lifsaver on the longest off track time ever! Christmas day we had a blizzard. It was crazy how much snow we got. My in-laws plowed their way over for a breakfast of cinnnamon rolls, bagels, oj and hot chocolate. It was yummy! It was fun to watch the snow fall and being nice and cozy inside. Finally about 11 we had to venture out to visit and have yummy lunch and dinner. Tracy had to shovel about 2 feet from the driveway before we could even get out of the driveway! It had pretty much stopped snowing by then but the roads hadn't really been plowed. We actually followed a plow down our street. Funny story. The plow stopped at the end of the street and backed up to come back up the other side. Well at the bottom, some hot shot in a little short sports car decided that it didn't want to wait for the plow to turn around, and sped around it. Well we saw it start to go around the plow, but it never came around the other side! When the plow moved, this guy was stuck in the snow bumper deep! We laughed pretty hard, he got out and yelled at the plow, like it was it's fault and we drove on. Tracy was going to get out and help but another plow was coming down behind us. We had a good laugh about that one.

After lunch with Tracy's family, we headed to my mom's for dinner. It was a nice day visiting and spending time with each other. We headed out as soon as more snow started to fall. As it was, it took us about 20 minutes to get home when it normally takes us under 10. We got home and the kids played with their new toys and Tracy and I played the Wii. It was a wonderful Christmas!

For New Years we had some friends and my parents over and we played games and ate yummy snacks. When every ones little kids had enough, they left and we spent the rest of the night just hanging out. 3 of our 4 actually made it to midnight! We all had sparkling cider in "fancy" cups and we went outside and yelled at midnight. New Years Day we went to Olive Garden with my family. My brothers, sister, parents, nieces and all significant others. It was a fun time. Oh!! My sister got engaged 2 days before Christmas! So that's way exciting!

Our holiday's were so much fun, we were so busy and I really felt the spirit of the season this year. We had a small Christmas but it was nice to be able to keep is small and focus on Christ. Since then our family has just been dealing! The kids have been off track so it's been a little crazy. We will have been off for 5 1/2 weeks. I wasn't ready for them to go back right after Christmas, but with a week and a 1/2 left, I'm ready now! It will be good to be able to really get back to schedules and routines. We have new chore charts that we've been working on this week and when we go back, we'll really be buckling down on chores and helping around the house. Anyway, I don't think I have much left to say. I'll try to post more, I don't know what about, maybe just my ramblings which will bore the crap out of you!! :) haha

Here is a slide show of our Christmas. I got a new camera from Santa so that was fun!

Electric Sex

2008-12-13T16:57:00.006-07:00

So we were driving home from Jarik's Jr. Jazz game today and we saw this in the window of our good friends:

Too funny! I was laughing so hard. I think this is one of the coolest things I've seen. "Only one thing in the world could've dragged me away from the soft glow of electric sex gleaming in the window!!"

Jarik had his 2nd Jr. Jazz game today and he absolutely loves it! He was right in there hustling and going after the ball and this was the result:

See the blood? He got popped in the nose and had one major nose bleed. But he was so proud after the game! At first he didn't want to go back in. He said the kid he ran into was strong and he didn't want to run into him again!

Here is a slide show of what we've done so far this December. It's been so busy and crazy but pretty fun!

Stealing from the Stealer!!

2008-12-09T20:12:00.001-07:00

Stole this from Kathy, who stole it from Lisa. Too funny. And so very true!

I've been tagged

2008-12-06T21:16:00.002-07:00

Rules:
1- Post the rules
2- Answer the 6 "8" items
3- Let each person know that they have been tagged

8 Favorite T.V. Shows

1- Bones
2- House
3- Office
4- Life
5- Chuck
6- Ghost Hunters
7- Stargate SG-1
8- Firefly
I know those last two aren't on anymore, but they are cool!

8 Things I did yesterday

1- Grocery Shopping
2- Put up a Christmas Tree
3- 2 loads of laundry
4- made a to do list :)
5- Went to Sam's club
6- picked the kids up from school
7- got my hair done
8- watched Rescue Dawn

8 Favorite Restaurants

1- Olive garden
2- Tepanyaki
3- Chili's
4- Red Robin
5- Training Table
6- Applebees
7- Blue Bird when I go to Logan
8- Rumbi's

8 things I am looking forward to

1- Christmas
2- Tabernacle Choir concert on Thursday
3- Voice Male concert next Tuesday
4- Temple Square lights with my family
5- Seeing Twilight again next week
6- Zoo Lights with Tracy's family
7- My solo to be over!
8- A long winter's nap!! :)

8 things on my wish list

1- To start loosing weight again
2- To feel the Christmas spirit strong in my home
3- To go to Disneyland with my family some time soon
4- To have more patience
5- To learn more about the Gospel
6- To maybe someday be in the Tabernacle Choir
7- To travel the world
8- To be happy with my family always

I tag whoever wants to do this!

Thanksgiving Vacation

2008-12-06T19:12:00.003-07:00

Here are some pictures of us in St. George over Thanksgiving. Well I guess to be more accurate, us in Zions! The frog king pictures of of a rock formation that Jarik found. We were hiking and he just looked and and saw the frog. It was really cool!

Another video

2008-12-05T13:57:00.004-07:00

K, I know I've posted a ton today but I just found this video. I think it's great, and my mom is on it! Well I couldn't actually see her, but I know she is there somewhere! I love the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. For me, they make Christmas! Everyone should check out their new CD "Rejoice and be Merry". It features the King Singers, who are so very awesome! I am so looking forward to their concert next week!

Bored

2008-12-05T13:44:00.001-07:00

So Heidi has been very bored today:

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

That's Heidi, Michelle and I with Edward and Bella!

Again, us with Edward and Bella:

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

A TwilightMom Christmas

2008-12-05T09:22:00.001-07:00

My friend Heidi did this of some of our good TM friends. It's too funny! Thanks Heidi!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Two Pictures

2008-12-04T12:40:00.003-07:00

Here are two pictures that I copied from my friend Heidi from the Twilight Movie premier:

Heidi, Amy and I at Red Robin before the midnight showing.

Heidi and I at the check-in table at the event. You can't see it very well but we both have in "Cullen" contacts. They are really cool looking!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-12-01T10:05:00.003-07:00

Well here I am, back to the grind. It was nice having a long weekend! All our fun started on Wednesday when we went to Tracy's Grandparents for a big Thanksgiving dinner with all his extended family. The food was yummy! We came home from that and watched the Polar Express. Well the kids watched the Polar Express, I zonked out! I think I saw the train leave but never pick up the other boy!!! Thursday morning Tracy went and played Turkey Bowl with the guys from the neighborhood. He is still sore! It was funny, he just played way too hard. After he got home, I went and helped my mom get the turkey in and then she and I and my sister went swimming. We have been going swimming every Thanksgiving for so long! It's way fun. It's a nice way to work out and then not feel so bad when you pig out! LOL! We had a super yummy dinner at my mom's with my brother and his wife and my sister and her better-be-fiance-soon boyfriend! My other brother and his wife were in Colorado with her family. We missed them and their girls tons, but I'm glad they got to go. After dinner and pie and visiting we came back here and watched the Santa Clause 3. That's a tradition too, after Thanksgiving dinner watching a Santa Clause movie. Well it's usually SC1 but we watched that on Sunday after we had our own little Thanksgiving dinner.

Friday morning we got up and headed to St. George to be with Tracy's mom. They couldn't come up so we went down there. It was nice. We went to Zion's on Saturday and I coudln't believe how crowded it was. It was crazy! It took us forever to find a place to park. But we got a good hike in to the Emerald Pools and then went to the Lodge and relaxed for a few minutes. Then we headed back to our car, which was parked at the Grotto picnic area, about 1/2 mile from the Lodge. It was a nice walk and we saw a herd of deer just sitting there off to the side of the trail. They weren't even scared. I think they are used to people and they know they won't be hurt. They were cool to watch. Tracy's sister and her family got there Saturday night and we had a nice dinner. Then us girls went to see Twilight!! :) My MIL hadn't seen it yet, and I'll take any excuse to go see it again! (Keep reading for my thoughts on all things Twilight, I'll do it in another post!) Yesterday we lounged around and then headed home. Traffic was crazy! I've never seen that many people heading north on I-15! I guess it was even worse going south. My SIL and her family headed to Disneyland for the week and it took them 10 hours to get there from St. George. I guess it was only supposed to take 5 or 6. Seeing as how I've never been there, I wouldn't know, but I guess the traffic was horrid!

Anyway, it was a fun weekend and I'm glad I got to relax and spend time with all my family. Tracy is home today too and we are going to start putting all our fun Christmas stuff up! Yay! Stay tuned for some pics of Zions and Thanksgiving!

My Twilight Weekend

2008-12-01T08:00:00.001-07:00

So I haven't blogged yet about all my thoughts on our fabulous Twilight Movie Premier Event. It was so much fun! We've been planning this thing for months and to have it work was amazing! The fun started for me when I was able to go to the midnight showing of the movie on Thursday. I went with a bunch of ladies from Team Alice, which is what our planning committee called ourselves. My SIL Nicole came too. We went to Red Robin before and I don't know if I saw any men there eating! It was hilarious! Then the movie started and I was entranced! I got home at around 3 and was back up at 6:30 to get the kids to school and run all the errands I needed to before heading to the District. I roped Tracy into helping move all the goodie bags from Heidi's house to the theater. I think he was kind of amazed, or flabbergasted. 1000 goodie bags take up a lot of room! I was assigned to help at the check in table. We had will call from 1-3 and the event started at 4. It was so much fun to see all those people come just for Twilight! Everyone was so excited and all I heard was positive things about what we did. We had the upstairs full of vendors and booths for people to visit and look at. There was a picture booth where you got to have your picture taken with some life-size cutouts from the movie. I think it was Edward, Bella, James and Victoria, but I don't remember. I never got my picture taken with them. It was crazy busy! The public was welcome to go take a look too, and I think a lot of them did. We had two showings that night and they were both sold out! I still look back on it and can't believe what a huge thing we put on. It was so much fun and the ladies I met and made friends with on Team Alice are so awesome! They will be friends for life! Here are a link to some of the pictures people took: http://twilightmomsforums.freeforums.org/twilight-premiere-party-at-the-district-in-utah-t18159.html I was too busy to get any pictures, so hopefully you can see these!

Now on to the movie! They did a pretty good job on it. I like Robert Pattinson as Edward. I think he did a great job. I was doubtful at first but by the end of the movie...he WAS Edward. He caught the tortured Edward from the books! Kristen Stewart did a great job as Bella too. I wish they would have done a little more with the clumsiness that she is supposed to have, but it worked. I LOVED Billy Burke as Charlie! He was great, he had that awkward father thing down so well! And the rest of the Cullens, they were great! I adore Kellan Lutz as Emmett. He is such a cutie! And Jackson Rathbone did a great job as Jasper, I loved how he portrayed the struggle Jasper has being around humans. Ashley Greene was so cute as Alice! Nikki Reed was great as Rosalie. Some people say she wasn't beautiful enough, but I think she was fine. She is beautiful and who on earth could really portray how amazingly gorgeous Rosalie is supposed to be. Besides, she had the character down perfect! Peter Facinelli did great as Carlisle. He IS Carlisle! My only issue was his hair! It didn't move! I think it needed to be a little less stiff, but other than that he looked great! Elizabeth Reaser was wonderful as Esme! The nomads, James, Victoria and Laurant were awesome! The actors who played them (Cam Gigadnet, Rachelle Lafevre, and Edi Gathegi) must have had so much fun! Taylor Lautner was awesome as Jacob. He will be great in New Moon if he can bulk up a bit!

My favorite parts...well....there are quite a few. The baseball scene!! That was awesome! The music by Muse just set the scene, that song is my favorite from the soundtrack. I loved the scenes with Charlie, he was great! The ballet studio scene was good, I think they did that one well. I thought the CGI stuff was good too. I was a little nervous about how they'd "sparkle" Edward but it worked. The scenes they added were good too, they were a good way to move the story along without making the movie 5 hours long and following the book exactly. The chemistry between Bella and Edward was great too. The kiss... wow! I just really enjoyed the movie! I've seen it three times now and I'm looking forward to seeing it more, and then of course buying it! :) Are there things I missed, yes. Are there things I wish they'd have done differently, yes. But overall is the movie good, YES!! And the fun 2 days spent with TM's was so great too!

Happy Birthday TwilightMoms

2008-11-25T20:08:00.002-07:00

So last November 22nd, Lisa Hansen had a wonderful idea to start an online community for Moms who love Twilight. What a wonderful idea she had! I joined in February and have loved every minute of being a TM. I have met so many wonderful women being a TM. We have had so much fun doing so many things! At the Red Carpet premier of Twilight, many of the actors wished TwilightMom's a Happy Birthday. Here is a video of that. I thought it was pretty cool.

Thanks Lisa for creating such a wonderful thing! You are awesome with your Empire and all us little Minions!!! LOL!!

Lots of Things!

2008-11-14T15:48:00.004-07:00

Ok, I know I haven't blogged in a while but I've been super busy. So I'll blog about a few things today! First off, I just got off the phone with my Grandma. She is 82 years old. She just read Twilight! I get this call and it goes something like this: "Are you going to the Twilight movie?" Um yeah, Twilight has only been my life for the past few weeks, months.....since I read them. But I say "Yeah, in fact I'm on a planning committee for a huge even we are putting on at the District for it. About 1000 people are coming." She giggled. My grandma giggled. She goes "I'm going to get tickets too. I love the books. That Edward!" And she giggled AGAIN!!! Can we make an off-shoot of TM's called Twilight Grandmas?? Or give them honorary status or something?? I think it's awesome! Then she starts in on if I think Rob is going to do a good job. "Yes, I think he will. I was kind of a skeptic at first but the more I've seen of him, I'm really liking him." Meanwhile I"m drooling at the thought of Rob ;) Then she starts talking about the guy she thinks would have made a good Edward. I looked him up, he's too old for Edward, but for an 82 year old woman, I can see how she'd think that. He is pretty cute too. It's Simon Baker from CBS's The Mentalist. She just found the show and really likes it and say's he is "way cute"! Way cute!! Is my grandma suddenly a 16 year old! I've been laughing since I got off the phone with her, promising to call her on Friday after I see the midnight show! Oh, my sides hurt! But it's so awesome!!

On to other things. My girls, Bree and Keighlee, have been stinker pots today! Just fighting about everything and screaming and hitting and pinching. So they both got sent to their rooms after lunch. Kk for a needed nap and Bree for time out. Well Kk wasn't having any of it. She cried and moaned and then said she wanted Jarik. I told her no, to go to sleep. Well it got quiet and I went to peek at her and this is what I found:

Too cute!! Jarik and Keighlee have always been close. When we go out, Jarik is usually the one she will snuggle up with and go to sleep with. She loves her big brother so much. I thought this was so cute and so tender. I have more of them falling to sleep together but they are on the other camera and the other camera always gives me problems when I try to download pictures.

Last thing I need to write about is Halloween. It was a really fun Halloween. It started Thursday night and we went to the ward trunk-or-treat. It was really great. The cub scouts had done a spook alley in the church. It was really good, I actually jumped at one spot and made myself look like an idiot. I think I even yelled! Friday after school, we went to Tracy's work and trick-or-treated and then went to my mom's new work and trick-or-treated and then came home and they trick-or-treated. Each of the 3 oldest had plastic WalMart sacks full of candy by the time they were done. Crazy. We still have candy. I think I'll throw what's left away before Thanksgiving. All the good stuff is gone now anyway! It was a really fun day though. One of the funnest Halloween's I remember with my little family. The only crappy thing was that I had a sinus infection. I went the next day to the doctor and got on Augmentin. I'm still taking it. I was pretty sick, but it was still fun. The girls all got sick the next week too. We will all be done with our antibiotics tomorrow! Yay! I have pictures too for Halloween, but I can't find the flash drive Tracy put them on. I had it sitting by my computer since the day after Halloween and now I can't find it. When I do, I'll post pics!

OH!! I forgot, I haven't posted about Bree's birthday either! She turned 5 on October 20th. I can't believe how big she is getting. I don't want my kids to get any older. They can all freeze right now. Well, except for Kk, she can get potty trained and then freeze!! We had a fun day I think. We went to Red Robin and then did some clothes shopping. Then 2 days later we had some of her cousin's come over for cake and ice cream. The day before her birthday, we went to my mom's house for a family dinner and she got sang to and had a cool witch cake, the picture of which is on the elusive thumb drive. Here is a video from the night her cousins were over. She loves the spotlight!!

I think I'm all caught up now. Sorry about the eternapost! Have fun y'all!!

Cute Kids

2008-11-02T21:21:00.002-07:00

So I have to quickly post about what Keighlee did the other night. She is having issues about staying in her bed and going to bed in her bed and all that fun stuff. Well the other night she kept getting out of bed. We'd put her back in bed and 3 minutes later she was out again and coming into our room. Finally Tracy put her back in bed and told her to stay there until morning. She got this little pouty look and said "Otay daddy". Well 10 minutes went by then 15. By this point I'm thinking yay, she's asleep. Well about 20 minutes later we hear her door open, again, and she comes wandering into our room. She looks at us, we were watching tv, and goes "Good morning". It was too hard not to laugh at her. It was so dang cute! She's pretty smart for a 2 year old! We told her nice try, it's not morning yet, and to go back to bed. She did and that time she did stay and fall asleep. Now if we could get her to stay in her bed through the night....

My Dad

2008-10-25T22:25:00.003-06:00

So at my Dad's work, he is a painter for the Church, they always pull pranks and stuff on each other. Well the guys he works with caught one prank on him on video. This is great! My dad is pretty reserved and so that makes it even more funny! He asks about a dollar on the floor at the beginning, it's kind of hard to hear, but the rest is nice and loud!

TV Spot

2008-10-25T22:23:00.001-06:00

I think this is a new TV teaser trailer!!! It has some Port Angeles stuff in it!! YAY! Totally made my night better!

*Sigh* How long do I have to wait!! LOL

Farm

2008-10-22T10:02:00.005-06:00

On Monday we went to the Farm for Bree's preschool fieldtrip. It was a beautiful day and a lot of fun. Bree thought she was so special because we went on her birthday! (More about that later) I forgot my camera, of course, but I took a couple cute pics on my cell. We saw the cows and I stumped the kids when they said that chocolate milk came from the brown cows and I asked what milk came from the black cows then. It was funny. I then had to explain that all the cows give white milk. There were a ton of horses out eating and some ponies too. They were cute. There was one horse that was sticking his head over the fence so we all were able to pet his head and mane. The kids really liked that. We went on the wagon ride which is always a highlight. These are my pics from that:

Bree and Jaxon

Keighlee was so cute. She held to my hand so tightly! She was smiling and giggling the whole time, but she wouldn't let go!
We went and saw all the ducks and geese and there were some scary aggressive geese that were very demanding. They finally figured out that we didn't have any bread and left us alone. We ended with a picnic lunch. It was really fun, the sun was warm and it was a really beautiful fall day! Oh, the geese bothered us while we were eating too. Crazy little things. They are really kind of scary if they don't get food! It was a fun day though. I'll write about Bree's birthday after we have her party with her cousins and stuff tonight! And when I have Tracy's camera that has pictures on it!

Fun Little Quiz

2008-10-21T22:20:00.002-06:00

I just took this fun little quiz. Good thing that I already decided to be her for Halloween. The contacts are on the way!!! LOL

Take the Quiz and Share Your Results!

Singing a Different Tune

2008-10-17T22:40:00.000-06:00

So I was really not looking forward to having another dog. When my sister-in-law bred our dogs mom again, I said we WILL NOT be taking one. Wash (our 1 1/2 year old puppy) is enough. Well she had puppies and she had some black puppies and they were so cute. Still I said no. Well with my husbands persistence, my children's pleading and my SIL's pushiness (hahaha, j/k Nic) we took one of the puppies. Her name is Zoe. She is 8 weeks old. She is all black. And she is THE cutest dang thing ever!!! I so love this puppy! She is calm and loves to cuddle. She follows me around. She will actually go lay down when I tell her to. She isn't hyper like Wash. She's been good for Wash too. He has calmed a bit. He isn't bored and you can so tell. He treats Zoe so good! He has taken on the big brother role well. They were sleeping on the back porch the other day and he had one paw on her back and every time she stirred, he'd pop his head up and make sure she was ok. It's been way cute. I think that getting Zoe was one of the best things we've done. She has me under her little paw, that's for sure! I'll put pictures of her on when she holds still enough for me to get one, or when Keighlee leaves her alone long enough to get one! :)

New Twilight Trailer

2008-10-09T12:21:00.002-06:00

I had to add this because tonight they are releasing the last Twilight Trailer. There is also going to be a segment on ET tonight that will have some fun Twilight stuff on it. Check it out!!

Our New Kitchen

2008-10-09T08:35:00.000-06:00

So for the past 2 weeks, we've been working on remodeling our kitchen. Well remodeling might be too much, we painted and laid new flooring. Two weekends ago we painted the big wall and this past weekend we turned on Conference and laid the floor. It looks so nice! I have to thank our neighbor Kurtis for giving up his Saturday to help, and of course his wife for letting him be gone! It took longer than we thought, but it was done by 5. We had two different batches of wood and that gave us problems. Last year when we did the basement we did wood down there and had like 7 boxes left over. We decided then to put it in the kitchen/dining room but we had to wait to get the rest of it. We got it last week and started putting it down. Well come to find out, that in the year since we bought it, they'd changed styles and the two woods wouldn't lock together! So we had to saw off the edge of the new pieces and glue down one row to transition to the new pieces. Kind of crazy but it looks really nice now. We just have to get the baseboards back up and we are set! Here are some pics.
Before:

After:

Great, But Sad Family Home Evening

2008-09-30T19:58:00.005-06:00

So for FHE last night we went to my Granny's nursing home to watch a program they put on. For those of you who don't know, my Granny has Alzheimers and is going down pretty fast. She was a very classy lady. I remember how her hair was always perfect, her makeup was always perfect, her nails were always perfect. She wouldn't go outside without being perfect! I walked up to her last night and she had no make up on. At all. It was sad, not because I think ladies need to always wear makeup, but because she was so....anal I guess I could say, about it before the Alzheimers. It made me sad because I knew if she could, she would have been mortified. Anyway, we went to watch a sing-a-long they put on. It was fun. They sang a bunch of songs from their era. My Granny was always into putting on a show. She was a member of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir with her husband. They also sang in choruses for Utah Opera. She was always one to love an audience and to put on a performance. It was fun to watch her sing last night. Even though she didn't remember most of the words to the songs, she had fun singing and waving and putting on facial expressions.

It was also very sad. It was like going to a Kindergarten program. My classy grandmother sitting in front of an audience, reading the words for the songs from a big flip chart, following an upbeat director. If she was all there, I think she would have thought it silly. But because she is so far gone, she loved it. But that's the part that makes me sad. Sometimes I wonder why Heavenly Father allows horrible diseases like Alzheimers to run rampant. My Granny is my 3rd grandparent to be diagnosed with the disease. Both my grandfathers have died from it. It's an awful, cruel disease. It's heartbreaking to go visit and not have them know you. To see my children go up and give kisses and hugs and know that she has no clue that they are her great-grandchildren. I remember when Tiaree was born, she was so excited. Her first great-grandchild, and now she doesn't even recognize her, let alone me. I remember with my Grandad, my Granny's husband, that he lost his ability to speak first. He got confused and forgot and all that, but he could still listen. He would bow his head and just listen, but he couldn't say anything. Then one day my mom put on some Mo-Tab and he sat up straight and sang every word to one of his favorite songs. It's weird how it works like that.

Anyway, I wanted to put some pictures and videos of my Granny up to share with you. All the ladies wore tiara's and boas and all the men had on top hats. It was cute. So my Granny has the blue shirt on in the front row. Her sister, my Auntie Winsome, actually lives there with her and is sitting one down from her. They are cute ladies and they get together and criticize everyone over and over cause they don't remember they've done it once already!! LOL They are from South Africa and their accents get really thick when they are together too. Auntie Win doesn't have Alzheimers, she does have some dimentia though. She is a good thing for my Granny. A constant that my Granny remembers all the time. I think it helps. I believe that a lot of times with Alzheimers the person knows something is wrong and gets frustrated and scared when they can't remember. I've seen that with all my grandparents. My Granny is the best at blowing it off though, of covering it. But she really is an actress, has been all her life, so it comes easy for her to pretend like nothing is wrong.My Auntie Win is the one in the purple shirt with the pink boa.

Here are some videos. They are from my cell so they really aren't great, but they are fun. They show my Granny's performing side, especially the last one, she is very theatrical!! Enjoy! K, I just realized that the sound isn't working at all on these videos, but you can still see her dancing, which was what I was going for! Sorry though, the sound is kind of creepy!

My Sore Booty!

2008-09-26T11:02:00.003-06:00

So I went walking with some awesome friends of mine this morning. I need to exercise more and walking with people at a set time is a great motivator! But I am already feeling the pain! I am going to be so sore later today! I have to thank the ladies that went though. I'm glad I found out what time they go so I can impose myself on them. I really do need to get back in shape. I am on that plateau of weight loss and I really would like to head back down the other side. I'm hoping that walking will help. I'm going to try to go 3 days a week with them, but now that my kids go off track today, I don't know what I'll do. They are good on their bikes so maybe I'll let them ride with us. Maybe I'll try that Monday and see how they do and go from there. I don't want to stop after just 1 day! Here's crossing my fingers that they will be cooperative! :D Now I just need to work on weight training too. I have my awesome Turbo Jam videos that really work for that. I just need to get downstairs and do them. I don't know why I can't motivate myself to exercise. I used to! I used to work out a lot and I was doing so well on the weight loss thing, and now I'm just stuck. At least I didn't put anything back on! Well I'm going to try from now on to be better at it!!

Keighlee

2008-09-20T15:28:00.006-06:00

So I have to post this cute video of Keighlee dancing to High School Musical 2. She makes the cutest faces when she dances! Bree got in on the end action too. They are the cutest girls! They play so well together and it's just fun to watch them and listen to them. Hopefully this will work:

Forks Baby!!

2008-09-17T20:24:00.002-06:00

So I am finally home from Forks! I had such a good time. It was so much fun and I made some wonderful friends. I took tons of pictures too! I had like 350 of them on my camera. I put them all on photobucket so if you want to see them you can go here:

http://s365.photobucket.com/albums/oo92/chelsmcgee/

I don't have captions or anything on there yet, but I'll keep working on it! We left Wednesday afternoon and drove through. We stopped in Boise for dinner and then got to Olympia, WA about 3:30 or so. We decided to sleep in the car for a few hours. We slept until 6:00 and then headed back out. The Olympic Peninsula is so beautiful! It was such a pretty ride to Forks. We stopped at one of the Kalaloch Beaches on our way in. They had huge driftwood logs all over the shore. We stopped at this huge cedar tree in the rain forest. It was so cool. After we got to Forks we had to wait to check into our hotel so we looked around a little. We saw the hospital and the "Cullen" house. We also had a pretty good lunch at a little burger joint. After we checked in I crashed for a few hours. When my room mates showed up I got up and showered and went to dinner with 2 of them, Heather and Stephanie. Great girls from Lees Summitt, MO. Also sharing my room was a wonderful lady from Evanston, Jerri. She's awesome and doesn't snore too bad!!

Friday we got up and went hiking in the Hoh Rain Forest. It was amazing. It was so green. Even the light shining down had a green tint to it. And the trees were huge! The Hoh river that runs out of the rain forest has one of the prettiest color blues to it that I've ever seen! After the rain forest, we went back to LaPush and went to First Beach. It was shrouded in fog and so pretty. I got soaked by the tide, it was so cold but so fun! After First Beach we went back to the hotel and got all "niced" up and went to dinner in Port Angeles. We went to a place called Michaels Divine. It was ok food. But the wait was crazy! We were there for 1.5 hours before we even got our salad. We were there for 3.5 hours. And then it ended up costing $600 more than they had said. Ridiculous! But the company was great!! Jackie got some drinks and expected the food to get there sooner and so the drinks went right to her head. She was cracking us up. Then she joked that she had to have 3 drinks to stay up with us "mormon girls"!! Too funny. Then we went looking for Snack Box's in Port Angeles!!! Inside joke and I don't want to explain but it was a blast. We stayed true to the TwilightMoms Code of Conduct though. Or as my friend said, we only bent the crap out of it!!

On Saturday we got up at 4:45 and went to the tide pools at beach 4 at Kalaloch. They were so cool! I've never seen so many star fish all in one place. Of course I've only seen tide pools once before, 9 years ago!! :D They tide pools were cool and we went back to Forks and got ready for Stephenie Meyer day. Forks went all out for it! They had Twilight stuff all over. Most places had signs wishing Bella Happy Birthday. (September 13th is Bella's birthday, hence Stephenie Meyer day being then) We went to the park and there were vendors with Twilight related stuff and cakes and Bella's truck and Charlies police cruiser and our very own TM Alabama sisters had the "shiny, silver Volvo". We had a huge group picture of everyone that came and then just of us TM's. It was fun. Then we had pizza for a late lunch and headed down to LaPush.

The Quileute tribe put on an Indian dance for us. It was really cool, not at all what I expected but neat non the less. Then after the Wolf Dance, we headed back to the beach for a bon fire and storytelling. A storyteller from the Quileute tribe told us all the Quileute legends. They were so neat. They actually have legends that they used to be able to turn into wolves and orca at will. Crazy stuff. It was very eery that night. The fog was so thick and just completely wrapped the beach. Forks was crystal clear, but you couldn't see 100 feet in front of you at First Beach. It was so fun to listen to the stories.

Sunday we got up and packed and headed for the Sol Duc rain forest which is on the way to Port Angeles. We hiked to the Sol Duc falls. They were beautiful! They fall into this narrow ravine and then flow down to a larger river. It was just cool! We were supposed to ride the ferries back to Seattle but the one was running late and the other one we could have taken, we missed. So we drove around the sound through Tacoma. It was still a very pretty drive. We passed Bremerton, WA where a Naval base is. My Grandpa worked there during WW2 as a welder, working on the Naval ships. We didn't realize they were there until it was too late to take picures of them. Oh well. We got to SeaTac on time and had fun waiting for our plane. I love flying, and this flight was a blast. There were so many TM's on the flight! Probably 20 or so. Our very own Coven Mother (creator of the TM's) Lisa was on the flight. We got glow sticks and made bracelets and headbands. The piolot actually lowered the lights more so we could glow away! It was hilarious!

Overall this was one of the funnest trips I have ever been on. The Forks area is spectacular! The company was awesome and I made friend and memories for life!! I feel very lucky to have been able to go, it was such a good thing for me. I think I needed the little get away!! Well I just looked at the clock and realized that I still have stuff to do for preschool, so I'm going to go. Enjoy my pictures!!

Sickness and other Ramblings

2008-08-26T08:50:00.003-06:00

Well we've had a yucky week or so. I guess almost 2 weeks. Last week everyone, including me, got some kind of flu bug. Keighlee is still suffering from it. She finally ate all her breakfast this morning for the first time in probably the 2 weeks since I've written on here. I've been worried. She's thrown up a lot, and wasn't eating hardly anything. I'm sure she lost a little weight. But I'm really hoping that she is on the up side of it!

I just realized that I haven't blogged about the first day of school yet. What a great mom I am! I will have to post pictures when I get my computer back. Tracy is trying to fix it. It got some kind of virus that was really screwing it up. So I'm using the desktop for now. I'm just not sure where the ports are on this and I don't want to stand on my head to find out. But I can sure tell you about it.

Tiaree started the day before Jarik but they've both been going for 4 1/2 weeks now. They love it. I love it. We have our beautiful new school that we get to walk to everyday. The kids don't have to ride the bus 30 minutes to and 30 home. It's wonderful! And their teachers!! They have such great teachers this year. Tiaree is in 3rd grade and her teacher's name is Mrs. Vlam. She is a nice lady. She is very straightforward and will get it done, but she also has a wonderfully funny side to her. I think Tiaree really likes her. She is taking off this year. She is still reading amazingly well and now she is working on harder math and is just taking off with it. She actually seems to enjoy math. I don't understand that!! :D She is always talking about what they learned during school and last year, I could hardly get her to say one thing about school. I'm glad she is having such a great experience this year since she had such a crappy one last year!

Jarik started 1st grade and his teacher's name is Mrs. Huey. She is really nice too. Jarik loves school so much too. He has just taken off on reading. He can read the scriptures with us with minimal help. He does so well. It's funny, the first time he started reading by himself he sounded out Nephi as Nep-hi. It was too funny! But he is really doing well and constantly tells me about his day. I have to make sure both him and Tiaree take turns telling me stuff and be aware of the other person because they tend to talk over each other cause they are so excited! I love that they love school. I was worried because Tiaree had such a bad time last year, but this year is good. And the school! It's beautiful, everything is so nice and new. They have a computer lab with bran new apples with big flat screens. They have all new books in the library. Each class has a projector and screen. Tiaree's class has enough individual white boards for everyone. They have a huge playground and field. It's really great. And I love that it's so close, that I can hear the bells ring, when it's cool enough for my windows to be open!! I love that if anything happens I can be at the school in 2 minutes instead of 15. It's such a relief to have them so close. Plus it's getting me exercise! It's about 1/2 mile there so when I walk to and home morning and afternoon I'm walking about 2 miles a day. Pretty dang good since my exercise has gone out the window! Anyway, I could go on and on about how happy I am with the school situation but I won't!

This weekend was a fun one though. A while ago my mom asked me to go with her to help move Caitlin back down to Cedar City. Well that was this weekend. We packed up and left early Saturday morning. We stopped and had breakfast in a tiny little cafe in Beaver. It was really yummy. We got to Cedar about 11 and moved all her stuff in and then started unpacking. About 1 mom and I went grocery shopping for her while she got ready for a ward party. It was so fun seeing her down there. She is so happy there. It's so great to see. She had a sparkle to her that made me wish I was a single student again! After we got her groceries, she took off and did her own thing with all her many friends down there and mom and I checked into our hotel and went swimming. It was so nice and relaxing! After swimming we went to Chili's for dinner and then got some ice cream and went back to the hotel and watched 13 Going On 30. I've never seen that show. It was so dang cute! Then we were sick because we ate all the ice cream and had some candy. But it was fun. I haven't relaxed like that in a long time. Sunday morning we went to church with Caitlin. It was fun being in a singles ward. They are so awesome. And so quiet!!! I was afraid to even breathe! I'm so used to noise that I didn't know what to do with myself. There was no one to hush, no one to get after. There was no whispering questions that come out little quieter than normal speech. There was no spilled water!! I made it through the sacrament without getting wet. I was amazed. Funny thing is though, Tracy texted me after they got out of sacrament and he had 2 full cups of water spilled on him!! LOL!!! Too funny. I got to go to Relief Society too. That was nice. I really enjoy my calling in primary but it was so nice to have someone teach me, and to just be able to relax and feel the Spirit. Anyway, it was a nice weekend and I'm glad Caitlin is having so much fun.

The last bit of my exciting life it that I get to leave for Forks in 2 weeks. YAY!! It's going to be so much fun. I am so dang excited! We are going hiking through the rainforest, doing a ton of Twilight related stuff, having a bon fire on the beach and the Indian tribe there is going to do a wolf dance for us. It's going to be so cool! I'm really excited for this, but a little anxious too. I don't really know anyone I'm going with. I've met them a few times but never really hung out with them. And the people I'm rooming with I've never met at all! It's kind of scary but it'll still be way fun. Since we already have so much in common, it won't be hard to get to know each other better. I still can't believe I get to go! My hubby is so awesome for working it out so I can. He is the best!! Love you hunnee!

Well I need to go get ready for the day. I have to go to the store and get Tracy stuff for Young Men's tonight. They are doing a combined activity where they have to put 72 hour kits together in like a relay way. I'm not sure how it'll work but it sounds fun. Well I have to go buy all the 72 hour kit stuff. For 23 people. It'll be fun. 63 packs of Ramen Noodles, 23 cans of Pork n Beans. You get the idea. Oh well, I'll do my best to find it all. Hope everyone has a wonderful day!! I'll post pictures soon!

Sad News

2008-08-14T15:52:00.002-06:00

I just found out they moved the Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince movie from November 21st to July 17, 2009. What's up with that? Dumb, dumb, dumb!

Piggies and Paws

2008-08-13T19:32:00.002-06:00

Hello all my blogger friends. I'm inviting you all to a party I'm having at my house next Thursday the 21st. It's an open house from 5-7 pm. It's called Piggies and Paws and it's really fun! Here is the website so you can check out what it's all about:

www.piggiesandpaws.com

Please comment and let me know if you are coming and I'll send you my address and stuff. Thanks!!

LOL!!!

2008-08-12T09:21:00.003-06:00

For all you Twilight fans, this has to be one of the funniest things I've seen. Even if you're not a Twilight fan, it's funny!

Made my morning. Hope you enjoy!!

Fun Video

2008-08-11T22:18:00.004-06:00

So other things have been happening in my life this past month besides Breaking Dawn and movie trailers! We went to East Canyon for a family reunion with Tracy's family over the 24th of July. It was so much fun! I'll blog more about that later I'm sure. Maybe I can make a slide show for that too. I like slide shows. They are fun! Anyway, my brother-in-law took video of us swimming up there. We were all trying to jump in the pool and stay afloat on various large floating toys. He edited them all together and made a really fun video of it. Y'all should check it out! Jarik and Tracy are on there a lot, along with Tracy's sis Nicole. I'm on it once (thank heavens only once) and Tiaree is on there a couple times. My mother-in-law is on it once at the end and my sister-in-law is on it once. My nephew does it a couple times and who else...oh yeah, Tracy's cousins other half Casey is on there once. Anyway, like you really care who alls on there! LOL Enjoy the show, we had so much fun!!

Breaking Dawn

2008-08-06T10:34:00.002-06:00

Hello all! I'm back! :D I finished Breaking Dawn on Monday morning and I had to get my house back in order before I did anything else! Friday night was so much fun! We had dinner and games at Marci's house and then we headed to Barnes and Noble. I got to help at the trivia station while we were there. It was fun, and a little crazy. Ok, so alot crazy! Because some of us Twilight Moms volunteered we got to get our books first! Yay us :) I was so excited to finally have that book in my hands! After we all got our books we went back to Marci's and had a toast and wedding cake. Tara made a beautiful cake! Then we started to read. I stayed until 3 reading, it was fun to read with everyone else, to hear gasps and groans and laughing. I don't think I was there for the biggest reactions though, I think I'd gone home by then. I would have stayed all night with those wonderful ladies, but Tracy was out of town and I needed to have some sleep to deal with my kiddies! I didn't go to bed until 5 though and then Jarik and Tiaree woke up at 7....on a Saturday. Figures. The other two were up by 8 so I got like 3 hours of sleep. But it was worth it! I tried to nap during the day but everytime I closed my eyes I would think about what was happening and I had to read more. I finally crashed around 9. I couldn't read as much as I wanted to on Sunday, with church stuff, but that's ok. I took the kids to school Monday and then just read.

I really enjoyed the book. It was not what I was expecting, but I don't think I had any expectations. It had a different feel from the rest of the books though. Like the 7th Harry Potter. Just different. More grown up. Not so simple. But I still really loved it in spite of that. I've started to read it again because I know I missed a lot. I usually enjoy a book better the 2nd time because the first time I read it so dang fast I miss things. I think after I re-read it I will love it even more.

Thanks to Heidi and Marci for working so hard and volunteering your house so we could have such a fun time. Here are my pictures from the night! I loved meeting everyone and I'm hoping to do more with everyone again! It was a blast!

Harry Potter Trailer

2008-07-29T22:25:00.002-06:00

K so earlier today I posted about how I'm anxiously awaiting a trailer for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince....well here it is:

http://www.moviefone.com/movie/harry-potter-and-the-half-blood-prince/27063/main

YAY!!! It looks so good too! Oh and here is the latest Twilight Trailer for those who want to see it:

http://www.mtv.com/overdrive/?vid=259802

I have had a good day!!!

So Excited!

2008-07-29T19:02:00.003-06:00

So most of you that know me, know that I'm completely obsessed with the Twilight series. I'm not alone in this obsession which is wonderful. Well Friday is the day of all days for me! I guess technically it's Saturday, but my fun starts Friday night. At 12:01 a.m. the last book in the Twilight series, Breaking Dawn, comes out. I've been helping to plan the party of all parties with 68 of my TwilightMom friends. :D Well some of them, like my awesome sister, are friends or family of TwilightMoms. It's going to be a huge crowd all enthusiastic about Twilight getting together to talk Twilight and eventually to read Breaking Dawn. We are having a pot luck dinner and we are going to Barnes and Noble in Sandy and then after we get our wonderful, beautiful, most awesome books ever, we are going back to a friends house and we are staying up till all hours reading away!!! We will have food and fun and caffine and we will all be able to talk to each other about our favorite, or (hopefully not) our not so favorite parts! Only a few people understand how completely excited I am about this! When you start getting giddy over a name tag, you know you are crazy, but when you get giddy over a name tag with 4 other ladies, you have some awesome friends! :) I love the friends I've made through TM's! I wish we could do more together. I'll have to plan something at my house soon. That would be a blast!

Then after the release of Breaking Dawn, the wait is on for the Twilight Movie. I am also so very stoked for this. Again we are planning a huge party, but this time, we are renting a whole theater out from the District. AAAGGGHHH!!!! It's going to be so fun. Every new tidbit I see from the movie makes me.... I don't know, it goes above excited. It's the same for the Harry Potter movies. If there was anything released for that movie, I'd be watching it over and over too! They come out 2 weeks apart! It's going to be a great two weeks. :D

To get me through to December I have my first long trip out of state without my family to look forward to. I am going to Forks, WA in September. Forks is the town that the Twilight books are set in. I am going to Forks with a bunch of, you guessed it, TwilightMoms! I can't wait, it's going to be so much fun. We get to go to the beach and have a bon fire and just see Twilight sights! WAHOO!!! I still can't believe that I get to go. My hubby is so dang awesome, working things out so I can go. He is awesome with this whole Twilight thing anyway. He just grins and rolls his eyes. I haven't had friends to do girl things with and hang out with so I'm hoping that he realizes how important it is to me to have friends like this. Even if we are crazy!! LOL!!

Anyway, I am so dang excited this week and I had to just blog on that.

Memories

2008-07-21T12:31:00.001-06:00

I got this idea from Melony, it sounds like fun!
1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty cool (and funny) to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you.