Christmas 2009

It's been a wonderful Christmas day! The season went way too fast and so much was going on that I feel that I didn't get to really enjoy it. But today was wonderful. We woke up around 8:00 a.m. and got ready to see what Santa brought. Dale and I decided that we wanted to let each child go out one by one to see what he brought for them. It's always so hectic and we miss the reaction of each child. The kids didn't like that idea very much. We talked them into letting Katie go out all by herself. She was very cute. We let her crawl into the room all by herself. Everyone's stockings and toys were all over the place. She crawled right through it to her little chair with her new baby on it and immediately started holding and loving her. She was so sweet. She continued to be happy and sweet all morning even though she skipped her nap. It was so much fun to watch her play with her new things!

All the rest of the kids were GREAT all morning! There wasn't any fighting and everyone was excited about what Santa brought them. They all played with everything for almost two hours before we even started opening any presents. Two years ago, Santa brought our family a WII that has since been broken. Our boys really love to play video games so we decided to give them a new WII this Christmas. It was a big hit! We gave them new paddles with their names on them and a new charger with rechargeable batteries. They are all set up to play and now they can play with their friends here because there is something to do. (My kids think our house is boring!)

This was Jaxon's reaction after they opened the WII

My kids were so kind to give me a really nice jewelry armoire for a gift. I'm really excited because now I can throw all the boxes away that the jewelry is currently in.

The kids gave their dad a foot massager. I think this gift is more for them than him because now he can't beg them to massage his feet.

We spent some nice time with Dale's mom and my parents when they brought gifts for our family. My kids always love it when they come over. They love to show them all their new exciting things.

One of my favorite things about Christmas is real surprises. Sometimes you might have an idea of what someone is going to get you. This year Dale gave me something I would never have even thought of. He gave me the entire series of FRIENDS on DVD. I was so excited. I really like that show and I miss watching it. I love to sit and watch it and laugh but it's usually on TV when my kids are around so I can't watch it since it's not super kid friendly. I'm excited to have that release.

It has been a really special Christmas. It's so fun to have excited kids who love what they got! We are going to my parents tonight for our annual Christmas night get together. I always love to eat yummy food and hang out while all the grandkids exchange their presents! Yay Christmas!

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"Just a mom"

Conversation I had with Kyson while driving to the store:

Kyson: Mom, what do you want to be when you grow up?
Me: I am already grown up and I'm a mom.
Kyson: You're just a mom? That's not a job. Moms just clean and work all the time.
Me: That's all moms are good for?
Kyson: Ya! Maybe you should drive a tractor. You can drive a tractor AND be a mom!

Katie loves her sister!

This week Katie learned how to say Kierra's name. It is so cute. She will stand on our couch (when Kierra isn't in the room) and yell "Kara" until Kierra comes in to play with her. Today I heard her yelling "Kara" over and over. I went to find her and she was standing at Kierra's door and pounding on the door while she yelled her name. She didn't realize that Kierra was at school. Kierra is thrilled that Katie said her name first. All the other kids, on the other hand, are dissappointed that it wasn't them first. I'm sure she'll be saying their names in no time.

Lights, lights and more lights!

Jadon has always been excited about putting up the Christmas lights. He begs Dale every year to put them up early. He has also wanted to put more lights on our house than we do. This year he said that he would spend his own money to buy lights if we can put some more on our house. So one night I took him to Wal-mart and we bought some more lights. Unfortunately, it was too late by the time we got home to start putting them up. He was very excited to put them on the house after he got home from school the next day. He spent a long time figuring out all the wiring. He only asked for a help a few times but for the most part he did the whole thing himself. I was very impressed with him and I must admit that our house looks pretty festive.

He wanted to do more but I told him we'll have to add a little more each year. I couldn't get a good picture of the whole house so I took a picture of the tree that we've never put lights on before. I love it! I hope he has the same passion for Christmas lights when he has his own house someday!

Boys watching TV

This little conversation between me and Jake, Kyson and Jaxon proves that you can't have a conversation with boys who are watching T.V.
Me: Boys, please look at me while I tell you something. I am going to go get in the shower. Katie is going to take a nap in my room so please don't come in there.
Boys just staring at me with one eye still on the T.V.
Me: What did I just say?
Boys still staring at me, saying nothing. I turn off the T.V.
Me: Where am I going?
Boys: To a baby shower

My little boy is five!

Today is Kyson's 5th Birthday. He has been so excited for his birthday, especially since Jaxon and Katie recently had their birthdays. Kyson really is a good kid! He likes to do the right thing. I frequently find him watching all the other kids. If he sees that they are going to get in trouble, he will quickly do what he's suppose to so that he won't be in trouble also. He's also very smart. He is doing really well in school and is about to start reading. He is super good at puzzles. There is a website that has jigsaw puzzles on it and Dale has taught Kyson how to get on it and do the jigsaw puzzle every day. He is best buddies with Jake. They are so cute together and get along amazingly well. They never fight! They might get in a disagreement about something but they never get mad at each other. A few weeks ago, Kyson was watching a T.V. show where the kid on it got a medal for something. He asked me "Mom, why don't I ever get a medal?" So today, for his birthday, I gave him a medal. I told him it was the "Being such a great kid" medal. He wore it all day and night.

Tonight we went to McDonalds for dinner. Kyson was in heaven. He got to eat his happy meal right next to a video game and play the game while he ate. He loved it!

On Saturday we went to Jungle Jims to celebrate Kyson's and Katie's birthday. He had a great time there! My favorite part was when Jadon and Jaxon gave Kyson all their tickets that they had won from the video games. He was so excited to get his prizes! I thought that was very sweet of Jadon and Jaxon! I hope Kyson had a good birthday! I'm so thankful to have his sweet little spirit in our family!

Happy Birthday Katie!

Today was Katies' 1st Birthday. I think this has been the fastest year of my life! It seems like just a few months ago that she was born. We were in Pocatello today for Thanksgiving and Katie got up early so I took her down to the breakfast so she wouldn't wake everyone up. I really enjoyed spending the quiet time with her all by myself. I remembered a year ago when I spent Thanksgiving in the hospital with my sweet baby girl. I couldn't believe how perfect she was.

She has been an ultimate joy for our family. I don't think anybody knew just how in love with her we would be. She is so fun to snuggle and kiss! She has just started talking and will say "Ya" and "No" all the time. It's so fun to ask her questions just to hear her answer them. Katie loves loves loves baby dolls! We gave her a new doll with a stroller/walker for her birthday. She loves to walk around the house with it. She loves to take the doll in and out of the stroller.

I thought I would put these two pictures of Katie on her actual Birthday and Katie on her 1st birthday. She grew up so fast! It really makes me sad to think I won't be able to have a sweet newborn to take care of again. I have enjoyed this last year with her so much!

I love you Katie and hope you had a wonderful Birthday!

New calling

A few months ago, I was called to be the wolf leader in cub scouts. I was really excited because I love scouts. It was going very well. I guess it's true that they take you out of your calling just when you really like it. Yesterday I was called to be the 2nd counselor in our new Primary Presidency. I'm still kind of shocked but also excited. I am excited about the ladies that I'm going to work with. I'm excited to be with my kids and get to know all the other kids. I'm excited to learn all the new primary songs that I don't know. I'm excited to be a part of the primary program. The only thing that I'm not excited about is that I will probably have to speak in church soon. This will be a fun adventure!

I love the cabin!

I just got back from spending 5 days at my cabin. I am so thankful to have such a wonderful place to go and relax! It's the only place that I can go and let myself be lazy. I don't have anything that I have to do so I don't feel guilty if I sit on the couch all day and read my book. I read two books while I was there.

Kamry and Kayla came up for a few days. Kierra seems to have such a good time with them. I was cutting squares from all our old levi's to make into a quilt. Some how they got the idea to make all the scraps into clothes for their American Girl dolls. They spent hours putting them together. They started out using a stapler to hold the clothes together until we found a needle and thread and then they sewed them together. It was neat to see them be so creative.

I got all the levi's cut out and this is all the squares. I wanted to count them to see how many I have but that was just too much of a project. My goal is to have the levi quilt or quilts done by baseball season next year. Luckily I'm going to the cabin again in January so maybe I can do them then.

Jake and Kyson had so much fun playing video games. Our WII is broken so we borrowed Lisa's Nintendo 64 and brought that up. They have definately been on video game withdrawal. They pretty much played video games the whole time we were there. I know, I'm a bad mom. We ended up coming home a day early because there is suppose to be a huge snowstorm tomorrow. I hated to leave especially since all the trees were covered with new snow and it felt like Christmas there.

The best thing about coming home was the surprise Dale and Jadon had for me. (They didn't come with us because Jadon had school.) They painted my bedroom! I was shocked. Dale had recently talked about doing it but said we would do it next year. When I walked into my room to put my clothes away, Jadon was waiting with the video camera going. It looks soooo good! The picture doesn't really do it justice. It's amazing how painting a room can make you feel like you have a new house! I was so impressed with them especially since Dale has been pretty sick all week. We had a great time at the cabin but I was glad to come home and see my boys!

Daddy Daughter Fiesta!

Every year our ward has a Daddy Daughter date for achievement day girls. This year it was a fiesta. Kierra always loves to go on a date with her dad. They don't get a chance for one on one time very much and this is a great oppurtunity for them.

This is a really cute conversation that happened while they were gone. Jadon came home from his friends and asked where Daddy was. I told him that he was on a date with Kierra. A few minutes later, Jake asked me if he was getting a step-mom. I said "No, why do you ask that?" Jake said "You said that Daddy was out on a date. Why is he dating someone else?" He obviously didn't hear that he was on a date with Kierra!

Happy Halloween!

Last night we went to the annual Halloween party with friends from our ward. Dale and I don't really like to dress up so we decided to make our costumes simple and comfortable. There were a lot of people there with some really funny costumes. Maybe one of these years I'll get really creative and do something fun for our costumes. We had a lot of yummy food and learned some new games. It was a fun party

Happy Birthday Jax!

Yesterday was Jaxon's 9th Birthday. He has been so excited about his birthday for a long time. He made a list of things that he wanted for his Birthday. It had over 40 items on it. Some of them were small like a pack of Big Red gum while others were big and not very realistic like a whip or a real bow and arrow. He is always off track for his birthday so he was pretty bored in the morning. He kept looking at the clock because he wanted to know the minute he was nine years old (which is 12:45 in the afternoon). After he was officially nine, Dale and I took him out to lunch at Subway.

Later in the afternoon, he went to his last Wolf den meeting. I am his leader and we decided to have a Halloween party where we played Fear Factor. He got to be the one who had to fish for gummy worms in a plate of whip cream. He just dove in and got them as fast as he could. It was so funny!

After dinner, we had his yummy chocolate cake. It was a football cake and I thought it looked great! Dale asked him what piece he wanted and Jaxon said he wanted the 50 yard line piece. So that's what he got! Dale cut the first piece right out of the middle of the cake!

For a long time, Jaxon has seen the commercials on TV for Nightmare on 13th street (The Haunted House) and said that was what he wanted to do for his birthday. So that's what we did tonight. Kierra, Jake and Kyson said there was no way they were going, so we left them at my mom's. When we first got there, Jaxon decided he didn't want to go in. We finally talked him into it and we had a great time! It was a very well done haunted house and it was fun to watch the kids get scared (I was just as scared as them).

I hope Jaxon had a good Birthday. It's important to me that my kids have a good birthday because it's their day! We're so glad that Jaxon is part of our family. He definitely gives us some challenges but he has a lot of wonderful qualities and it's so fun to watch him excel at so many things. He's a great athlete and is doing great in school! He has a lot of friends and likes to have fun. I hope he goes far in life with his determination to be the best! I love you Jaxon!

11 months old

Katie is 11 months old today. I can't believe that in one short month, she will be a year old! My, how time flies! She is growing up and learning so many new things. She has learned to climb on things and loves to climb in the dishwasher and on the bottom of the end tables. She has even climbed into the bathtub. She loves to get into cupboards. We are trying to teach her what cupboards she can't open because we don't want to buy those dumb cupboard locks. Hopefully it will work. She if finally sleeping through the night. Once we decided to be strong and just listen to her cry, she did awesome. It only took her two nights to figure it out. I have to say, I miss her snuggling with me in our bed! It's fun to watch her learning how to communicate with us. When I ask her if she wants to eat, she claps her hands. She is just starting to shake her head "No", when she doesn't want something. Since she has learned to crawl, she loves to explore. She LOVES the kids rooms! If they ever forget to close their doors, she will zoom down the hall and try to get in there before they figure out they left it open. Katie loves anything that makes music. She has adopted a little dog from Kyson that sings songs and she loves it. She will bounce up and down every time the songs play. We are thoroughly enjoying our little girl. It is so much fun to have a baby around again!

Mystery reader

Jaxon has a teacher for 3rd grade that Jadon and Kierra also had for 3rd grade. She does what she calls a "Mystery reader" every Friday. The parents take turns coming in to read a book to the students. The parents sit behind a curtain, while they read, and the kids are suppose to try and guess whose parent it is. Last Friday it was my turn. When I did it for Jadon and Kierra I couldn't disguise my voice good enough. They knew as soon as I started talking that it was me. This time I brought helium balloons and sucked the helium before I talked. I told the kids jokes because Jaxon loves joke books. After the story was over, and the kids knew it was me, they all took turns saying what they like about Jaxon. I think it's a great moral booster for the kids. After that, I get to tell what I like about Jaxon and some funny stories from when he was young. It was fun to embarass Jaxon! Since we were going off track, his class was having a Halloween party and they got their faces painted. This is what Jaxon looked like. I thought he looked pretty cool!

The joys of crawling

Katie has gotten to be quite an expert at crawling. She is really fast, especially if the door to outside gets left open. She loves outside and crawls super fast, only to get there right as someone shuts it, leaving her crying. So sad! She has just started climbing onto things. Today I was unloading the dishwasher and she decided to climb right in. She was very proud of herself and was thrilled at how much easier she could get to the dishes.

Freaky Friday

On Friday Kierra's 5th grade class celebrated Freaky Friday. Her teacher started this because when she was in 5th grade, she always wanted her mom to come to school with her. It really was fun. We got to go to school with our kids for an hour and a half and do what they do at school.

We went to recess with them. All the girls play some really cute games and they taught us how to play them.

The parents had to take a spelling test. I'm ashamed to admit that I got 16/20 on the test. Then we did a math paper and we raced against our students. I beat Kierra on that. We had to take a test to see how "cool" we were. They had phrases like l.o.l. and p.h.a.t. and we had to say what they meant. I got enough answers right to barely make it into the cool parent category. It was really fun to see my daughter with her friends and know a little more about what goes on in the day. I found out one thing though. I'm NOT smarter than a 5th grader!

Everybody needs to be an only child sometimes!

The other day Jaxon got the chance to be an only child. All the kids were playing at friends houses and Jaxon couldn't find a friend to play with so he was just hanging out with me while I made cookies. We were just talking and I said to him "Hey, it's kind of like your an only child right now." He thought that was so cool! Then we remembered that Katie was crawling around on the floor so he wasn't "really" an only child. He said "That's OK, I love just being with my baby sister by myself." We continued to just hang out. He asked me if he could have a cookie batter beater since he was an only child. I usually don't give the beaters to kids because we have too many kids and I only have two beaters. It wouldn't be fair (I know, I'm a mean mom!). So, guess what I did. I gave him both the beaters. You should have seen his face. It was fun. I don't get one-on-one time with him much and I really enjoyed it!

Three forks hike

This weekend we went on a hike with my family up Diamond Fork Canyon. When we went camping with the Byers family a few weeks ago, we went on the same hike. I wanted to go again without my little kids so we could just enjoy the scenery. I was hoping the leaves would have changed so we could enjoy the fall leaves.

The colors were amazing! I never dreamed that they would be so pretty! Every time we saw a beautiful scene, we didn't think it could get any prettier. Then we would go around a bend and it was even prettier.

After some of the kids went swimming in the hot pots, we hiked back down. The hike down was even prettier because the sun was shining through the leaves. When you see beauty like this, you want to share it with everyone. It was a fun hike on a beautiful day.

First conference together

Jadon went to the priesthood session of conference for the first time tonight. It was neat to see him and Dale leave together, dressed in their suits. They started the tradition of going out to dinner before so they went to La Luna, of coarse. Dale said it was neat to have Jadon there with him for the session.

Butterfield canyon

Saturday evening we took a drive up Butterfield canyon to see the leaves. It was so beautiful! We go up the canyon every year to see the leaves. I have never been to a place where the fall colors are as pretty as they are there. The road gets pretty narrow in some parts and Dale loves to drive close to the edge and freak Kierra and me out, but it's worth it! If anyone wants to check it out, I would recommend doing it this week because the leaves start to fall in the beginning of October. The leaves are the prettiest around 5:00 pm because the sun is shining through them. I absolutely love fall! It's my favorite time of the year!

10 months old

Katie is 10 months old

today. She has learned so much in one month! About 2 weeks after she turned 9 months old, while we were camping, she learned to crawl. It is so cute to watch her chubby legs going. She loves her new freedom and loves to crawl down the hall to find the kids. Dale has been working on teaching her "So Big" for a while. She finally learned how to do it and likes to do it over and over while she's eating. She also learned how to clap. All we have to do is say "yay" and she claps. She likes to play with the phone. If we say "Say hi to baby" she will put the phone up to her ear with a big grin on her face. Just this week, she learned to suck from a straw. We love this because it makes eating at restaurants so much easier. She has also found a new love for baby dolls. She loves to hold them up to her face and pat them. She will play on the floor for a long time with her baby doll. It's amazing to me how loving dolls just comes with being a girl! When she wakes up from her nap, she likes to sit in her crib and play with her stuffed animals. She will play for a long time before she cries to get out. Then when we come in to get her, she gets so excited. She continues to bring a great amount of joy to our home. Everyone loves to sit by, hold, kiss and talk to Katie!

My little helper!

Before school started, I thought Kyson was going to have a really hard time without Jake being home during the day. So far, he has really enjoyed his time with me and Katie. My favorite thing is that he loves to help me do jobs. I was cleaning out the pantry and he helped me carry everything out to the table. He loves to dust and always wants to clean the mirrors in the bathroom (he likes to squirt the windex on the mirror). He loves to play with Katie and make her laugh. We've been having a great time together!

Yummy Salsa!

I always love fresh salsa but have never known how to make it. Well, we had a salsa taster's table at enrichment and I got a recipe for some really good salsa. I decided I would ask Kris to help me can it since she's the canning expert. We had such a good time! It took way way longer than we anticipated but now we both have 41 bottles of salsa and I am so excited!

We decided to make each batch a little different. We made 4 1/2 batches. We saved a little bit of each batch and had Doyle taste them to see what one was better. Unfortunately, I can't remember what one he picked. The most important thing was...he liked it!Here is some of the finished jars. My favorite part of canning is taking the jars out of the big black pot with the little tong things and lining them up on the counter. I feel so good for accomplishing something. I just like to look at them for several days after they're done. It was fun to can with Kris because she feels the same way. It's fun to share your accomplishment with someone!