We Love Us

What happened??

2012-01-22T09:59:00.000-08:00

So I left off on October 27th. So Halloween is where I will pick up!
This year the kids all wanted to be something easy for Halloween so I was very excited! Michelle wanted to be a surfer, her new favorite movie is "Soul Surfer". So all she needed to do was wear a swim suit, which is totally doable here in AZ. I even made her the coolest shark for her arm so she could actually be "soul surfer" but she didn't like it, thought it was LAME! whatever! Eli was the hardest guy to dress up, he wanted to be Roxas from the video game, Kingdom Hearts. WHAT? WHO? thank goodness for Google :) I made his robe thingy and that was all for him. Parker wanted to be Frankenstein so all I had to do for him was buy green paint, wahoo! Emie was many different things for all the times she had the opportunity to dress up! But we had all the costumes she wanted to be, thank goodness for hand-me-downs! Funnily enough Emie in a witch costume was the only picture that I got. So here is Halloween 2011 for ya'

School Pictures 2011

2011-10-27T21:36:00.000-07:00

So my kids as most all kids do had school pictures at the beginning of this school year. Most years I have asked my kids oh so nicely to smile nice and pretty and make sure their hair looks nice! This year was just like years past," please if you have recess before pictures comb your hair before your picture", "please smile your nicest smile, let me see!". So years have gone by that maybe one of the pictures have hung on the wall that maybe wasn't their best in show! But this year I got a awesome surprise! These are the pictures of my kiddos.
I am going to write something about each kiddo I think I did this in a previous post but it seems approiate to do it again so I am! You don't have to read it again!

Parker my second grader and my "handful". I love him and am so thankful for him. At the same time he drives me crazy he has major mood swings and he can be a total booger. But when he wants to be a sweetheart and a big helper you can always count on him. He is mostly always the first kid to offer when another kid doesn't have something, he is so kind and generous! Parker has so many "fans" there are so many people in our ward who just love Parker. They love his honest opinions and they love that he doesn't hold back. I get worried that at some point I am raising that one guy that everyone can't stand because he doesn't have a filter :) But we love Parker and who couldn't look at him he is such a handsome boy.

Here is my Eli! I call him "my Eli" because he is the one who is the easy one. He gets along with everyone and rarely fights with anyone. He is the one who sometimes gets "lost" in the ruckus of the house he is off doing something just him and he loves to be alone. Just the other day he was saying how he just needed time alone. He loves to play video games, maybe a little too much but at the same time he joins games of football or basketball to play. He loves to swim and play with friends.

Here is Michelle, my first baby! She is getting so grown up she is turning 12 this year and is starting Young Women's. She is also a sweet heart, but with a twist! She can turn like a top that is for sure but what else do I do? Look how grown up she is I can't believe it the time has gone by so fast. Michelle loves to hang out with her friends and to watch movies and ride her bike. She is active and loves the church and playing the violin. She has started to pay attention to things that girls like, like she spends lots of time on her hair and she takes a lot of time picking out the exact right clothes and she spends a lot of time in the shower too! She is also a big help (when she wants to be) and she can't wait to start babysitting (for money) and she can't wait to be older! I just love this picture it just shows just how grown up she is and she is beautiful!

Summer Fun 2011

2011-10-24T13:56:00.000-07:00

First stop Provo!

This summer was spent traveling. We had lots of fun and lots of adventures. In June we traveled to Provo to see Justin's cousin Tracy get married. She was beautiful and everything was gorgeous! We hadn't met her husband and he was fun and cute. They were so excited and it didn't look like they were nervous at all! The reception was in Tracy's backyard. Everything was so pretty, I think I will need to hire Tracy and Lindsay to make Michelle and Emie's receptions just as beautiful. I loved Tracy's dress she was so pretty!

Cute first kiss! We got lots of pictures here but I thought this one was great! We had a great time spending time with Justin's family. I always love going up there not only to leave AZ but also to see his family they are great and we really love them :)

The only crazy thing about Tracy's wedding was one of her friends hair! Can we all say Ariel together. Sorry if this offends! I couldn't take it anymore I finally just had to take this picture, so I could show this to everyone!

While we were in UT for the wedding we also made plans to see Danny. However, Logan was just a tad to far to drive so we met in SLC. The kids LOVE to walk around temple square and look at everything so that is where we met. We actually met up on the hill by the state building? we walked A LOT that day. The kids had fun and Danny got out of being bored in Logan whilst Gwen was at a race!

SLC temple.

We waited for a LONG time just so I could get this picture of the fountain. I am not even a fan of the pic but I figured with how long we waited I should post the picture. While we waited we visited and just took in the peace of the Temple.

Here the kids are I don't ever think I actually knew where this "pool" thing was until this trip to UT. You learn something new every day or every year as is my experience :() By the time we were done at the temple we were hungry so we headed down the street and ate at a burger place. I can't remember what it is called but it was good and I am sure Justin would like to go back someday!

The next day we had to head back home. It was so sad to leave and the weather was beautiful! I hated to leave I want to live there sooo bad!

MORE TO COME!

Happy Birthday Eli!

2011-10-13T16:57:00.000-07:00

We spent Eli's birthday in St. Johns this year...pretty much like every other year. We have a family reunion in SJ with the Arkansas Platt's (and WA Platt's too) they are the family we all love to spend time with! So this year they were in AZ so we headed north! He had a great birthday banking about $50 and getting a few awesome presents. Cyndi had this AWESOME idea for a cake and we went to work. Eli LOVES hamburgers. He loves lots of food. I always tell people that he is built like the Crockett's not the Platt's! Anyway, here are a few pictures of the party and presents! He had a great day thanks to everyone who was there to celebrate! It was a big milestone the big ol' 10

So Eli is my sweet boy, he always has been. I hope he never changes. He is such an easy going guy and he so so understanding! He also can be somewhat of a goober but we still love him. He has such a great personality and is always happy. It is an off day when I get attitude from him! It does happen but not often. What a great kid happy birthday Eli I love you!

PS Eli had 3 teeth pulled right before our trip and he has such a goofy smile!

Did I Ever Mention???

2011-10-13T16:46:00.000-07:00

Sooo did I ever mention that the kids went back to school? They headed back oh just about 9 weeks ago. I am not behind be nice :) Anyway Michelle is now in 6th grade. She is so excited that this is her last year in elementary school and she is doing a great job so far. Eli is in 5th grade and joined orchestra this year. He is playing the cello and likes it so far. Eli is liking his teacher and friends in class too! Parker is in 2nd grade and seems to be doing a good job. He always seems to have a few problems but we are hopefully getting that stuff worked out! Emie even went to school. No she didn't start at Houston but she did start at her pre-school. She is loving it so much and can write her name already. She may not know what the letters are but she knows how to write Emie!

Aren't they cute and grown up? of course I think they are cute and everyone can't believe how big they are all getting! Michelle especially, she is about 2 inches shorter than her old mom and getting taller every week it seems. Eli is being a funny man lately always crackin' jokes. Parker is my handful but I have started to tell everyone it is ok because Heavenly Father gave me extra love for him. And Emie she is a cutie she also loves to make everyone laugh, probably unintentionally most of the time but she sure does make us laugh!

Obeying the Words of The Prophets

2011-08-26T07:29:00.000-07:00

Ok so in the April General Conference we as parents were encouraged to have a picture of the temple in each room of the home. It gives our children something to look at everyday and have a goal to work for. So I asked my kids which temple they would most like for their own pictures in their rooms. Michelle chose the Salt Lake temple, Eli the Gila Valley temple, Parker the (and I quote here) " the Salt Lake Arizona temple" AKA the Mesa, AZ temple, and Emie chose the Mesa, AZ temple.

I was lucky I live in Mesa, so I was able to go take pictures of the temple with the help of Emie. I have pictures of the Salt Lake temple because I always take pictures when we are there visiting. And we were on our way to the Gila Valley area for my nieces baptism.

So I was able to get some pictures of that temple. So here is what the kiddos chose for their own special temple pictures!

They aren't the best pictures but I was able to give the kids something that I did instead of buying something at the store!

it's been a while!

2011-08-25T12:22:00.000-07:00

Well this years new year's resolution hasn't been working out great! I said I was going to blog more often about things going on well...my last post was from march! OOPS...so this is me trying to re resolute my blogging! Wish me luck I need to get my thought all put together and hopefully I will get something posted!

BTW my birthday is coming up..I am going to be 35! Ahhh

Parker Made It!

2011-04-01T09:23:00.000-07:00

It is a miricle but Parker has made it to #7. I love Parker I love Parker I love Parker!

Parker has been looking forward to this day for a LONG time:) He practically figures out what he needs (or wants) a year in advance so living year to year is a LONG time for all parties involved! Anyway, This year all he wanted were Lego's, nothing but Lego's hey NO problem right I like Lego's they are a mom approved toy! So one day he was telling me that kids made fun of him because he rode on a pink bike. You might need to know that Megan is also a very.....let's just say.....Frugal person! Michelle had bikes after she grew out of them Eli rode them and after he was done Parker. Well Parker didn't like having to use a girls pink bike, DUH. Eli is so easy to please. So I decided, maybe 3 days before his big day that I would look for a bike at the city's garage sale, well they had nothing so for the first time Justin and I bought a BRAND NEW BIKE for our child!

Parker was so excited to open Lego set after Lego set from Monica and the kids, Grandma and Grandpa Platt,and Tony and Michele Lopez. Funny thing is that 3 out of the 4 sets were the exact same thing, so Parker is so excited to take those back and get more different Lego's.

He had a great day with Hamburgers for dinner and his BFF Tony at his party!

He also got this Dr. Suess book he loves them and is getting better at reading because of them!

This is Parker's reaction to the sight of his new awesome bike!

I think, I think ... he likes it!

Parker is a great handful of a kid, he makes me laugh and he also makes me CRAZY! He has a wonderful giving spirit and has a knack of saying whatever he thinks which makes him popular at church with some of the adults! He is smart and he is excited about playing whatever he thinks about, he plays so well with Lego's and has a great creative mind. He has been on a break from piano which mom isn't to happy about so we will take that fight head on sooner than later! I love Parker very much and here's to another year of gray hairs and stress induced eating :)

Happy 4th Birthday Emie!

2011-03-07T08:55:00.001-08:00

Sunday February 27th Emie turned the big 04! She was so cute and I was so excited to be able to be in primary again so I could be there when they sang the birthday song, but I was totally sick with goop and stuff so I made Justin go! He said she was really cute! We also had a little party planned with a few of the couples who fight over her in sacrament meeting. Well that was postponed, but just for a week! Monica was in town for the weekend so she hung around to watch Emie open her presents and have a little family party! Well on Saturday night we went over to Kohl's and I said I should get Emie a cute new birthday dress. This is the one we found, it is totally her personality and she LOVES it!

here she is showing 4 finger salute? so funny!

this is a new face but who's complaining?

Pre-present opening excitement!

Money from Grandma and Grandpa Crockett!

Blowing out the candles!

So yesterday the couples from church came over to sing and have cake and ice cream. So we were kind-of teasing Emie and asked her if she wanted us to sing Merry Christmas she was like "no sing Happy birthday Merry Christmas" so we were like ok and Sang the normal happy birthday song. She DID NOT like that! "sing happy birthday Merry Christmas" so this is what the song went like

Happy Birthday, Merry Christmas

Happy Birthday tooo YYooouuuuu!

That was the first for all in attendance! They loved it and of course Emie did to! Emie loves to lead these people on for example...Sunday at church we walked in and Emie immediately saw the Porters and went up and gave Brother Porter a big hug, they were teased they thought she was gonna sit with them. Nope she said bye and went to sit by Michele and Tony Lopez she sat there up until we asked her to go see Beth Porter she was ok with that but was intercepted by a YW in our ward Tessa Smith! The Porters love Emie but she keeps playing with thier emotions I don't see that ending well:)

All in all Emie is a wonderful child we love her she makes us laugh ALL THE TIME! I am so grateful for her! I love you Emie!

Crazy Week!

2011-02-16T19:53:00.000-08:00

Wow this has been a week from Crazy town! Last Thursday while playing at recess Parker broke his collar bone. Friday morning Michelle woke up sick. Friday afternoon Monica and her kiddos came to play while the "big" girls went to jewelry night. Saturday came around and by the end of the night both Eli and Megan were sick. Thanks Michelle! Well no rest for the weary is a true statement because I HAD to go to church on Sunday because I received a new calling! Back in the Primary as the 1st counselor. So to church I went while Justin stayed home with the kids. By the end of Sunday night Parker had come down with this nasty bug! He says "it's no fair I have a broken collar bone and I am sick" we agree. Monday morning Justin so kindly stayed home to take care of everything while I was in bed all day, nice of him! Emie woke up Monday with a really high fever, YAY! So by Monday night Justin was sick so lets take count...Michelle, Eli, Megan, Parker, Emie then Justin, YEP all 6 of us are sick and this EVIL, horrible, nasty, devil of a bug is setting up camp and making itself at home. We have done nothing but eat and sleep all week! Tomorrow is Thursday and I am pretty sure I am not sending any children to school just because it is now just too much work! Anyway I will post pictures of Parker in his sling when I find the camera they are on!

Happy Birthday Justin

2011-02-02T08:17:00.000-08:00

Justin had a birthday last week! He turned a certian...age...ah heck he is now 38! I guess you could have guessed that with the candles on the cake! He HATES to get his pictures taken so these are what we got! Happy birthday to Justin LOVE YA!

This picture is of Justin reading the AWESOME card I got for him! He thought it was sooo funny!

Harry Halloween

2011-01-29T09:10:00.001-08:00

So I just realized that I never posted about this years Halloween. Normally I probably wouldn't care or I wouldn't worry about a post cause it is MONTHS late, But I made the kids their costumes this year and I did a GREAT job on them and the kids loved it this year (last year) whatever!

So I asked the kiddos what they wanted to be for Halloween and they all picked Harry Potter characters. Michelle wanted to be Hermonie, Eli Ron, and Parker Harry! I was like Ok you can't change you minds, this is what you are gonna be. I didn't want to start buying accessories for the costumes and have them decide to be something else! Then I turned to Emie and asked her, she didn't have the same "no changing your mind" rule cause well she is only 3! Well hers was the quickest response! "KEVIN"! I knew exactly what she was talking about! Kevin the bird from the Disney movie UP. What I didn't know is how in the world I was going to make a Kevin bird! I searched the Internet and NOTHING pre-made was there I guess Disney didn't think that any little kid would want to be Kevin for Halloween!

So after weeks of work and lots of imagination! I made these costumes!

Pinewood Derby 2011

2011-01-25T08:09:00.001-08:00

Well Eli had his pinewood derby this Saturday! What a fun day, Eli did great, his car on the other hand didn't:( Eli was a great sport when his car didn't preform up to what he wanted. I kept telling people if our ward had a "flat tire award" Eli would have won it! But it was a fun day and Eli had a good time anyway!

Pinewood Derby 2010

2011-01-21T06:52:00.000-08:00

Yep here is another "lost" memory of 2010! Last year at some point Eli had his 1st pinewood derby with the boy scouts! He was so excited and worked so hard on his car! here are a few pictures of the event!

He took 3rd! He was very excited and I was too. Justin actually had Eli do all the work (aside from the table saw stuff). I think that is why it has survived until this day!

Do you see how dirty she is! the whole church and most of all the kids looked like this! I didn't remember my brothers being this dirty do you?

BTW This coming weekend is this years (2011) pinewood derby so if you see 2 in a row...that's my bad!

FOUR! Girls day out!

2011-01-17T08:49:00.000-08:00

Ok do you understand the FOUR? It means "watch out" in golf! Here is what to watch out for...Last MAY a few of my college roommates decided it was a great time for a reunion. Well actually EAC was having a choir reunion and since all the roommates were in choir we decided to go. Becky drove down from Bagdad, AZ to meet us, Kandice drove from the west valley to drive us all over to Thatcher. They got me and drove to Globe where we picked up Jeannette and Amy. From there we headed over to pick up Monica at my parents house then reunion where Jodi caught up with us and we headed over to eat lunch! It was catered by one of the yummy mexican food resturants from the Gila Valley...the food wasn't really yummy that day, I think it is because mexican food is best served fresh. After the luncheon the choir preformed. We couldn't handle it the program is so different from when we were there that we decided to leave at the intermission. We went over to my parents house again where we readied ourselves to go visit the new Gila Valley Temple. It was such a wonderful experience. I hope we can do it again soon!

Playin Catch! Mine and Justin's 13th Wedding Anniversary!

2011-01-17T08:39:00.000-08:00

So Last March Justin and I celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary! What a long time! At one point in the day I decided that we needed to embrace our "time" in that part of our lives and I decided we needed to take the kids with us out that night! I am not sure Justin really appreciated the decision but we did it! We went over to Red Robin and had a fun little night! Here are a few pictures that we got while out on the town.

You can now see why we don't take the kids out very often...maybe we should though so they know how to act while out with mom and dad and when they are out without is too!

Playin Catch up! Happy 6th Birthday Parker!

2011-01-17T08:26:00.000-08:00

Well almost a year ago Parker turned 6! He had a great day. Mom took him out of school just for a bit and we went to the Lego store and he made 3 original lego men! Parker took a couple minute activity and turned it into a hour long ordeal! He loved it and I loved watching him figure out EXACTLY what he wanted for his lego men! Then he expressed an interest in having more, so I found a box of lego men and bought it to wrap it up for later! He also got a pair of roller blades that he still just loves and is still just a bit shaky on them! We had a great day with Parker and I am sure Parker just loved his 6th birthday!

Did I Mention...

2011-01-05T12:14:00.001-08:00

Did I mention while Justin and I were in Seattle I made a day trip to Forks, Washington!

I know I am a dork but I had a lot of time to fill so why not! The trip was gorgeous! The town was cute and a little different I didn't have to much time after the 3 hour drive up there but it was a fun short little trip! Here are a few pictures I took! Ok more than a few but it was so pretty!

So there was Forks haha!

Here is the Drive up there! I couldn't help myself from stopping every corner brought something so beautiful!

This is a picture of the bridge to the fairies! SO fun!

Trip to Seattle

2011-01-05T11:40:00.000-08:00

This last November Justin had to go on a "training trip" to Seattle for work...I was like "Luuckkyy" Well one thing led to another I Justin called me one day from work and told me he got me a ticket too!

Justin's mom came and Heaven's Bless her she watched our kids for a whole week!

Justin was in training all day everyday so I got to entertain myself by sightseeing all over Seattle! Here are my pictures!

View from our room at the Westin!

View from the Space Needle!

While I was touring the Space Needle I noticed a sign for a Harry Potter exhibition at a museum near by so I went on over there and did that too! The kids would have loved to go but alas it was only me! We weren't allowed to take pictures of the exhibit but this is the museum where is was!

I also go to go the the Pike Street Market! That was fun!

I also stopped in at a glass blowing shop! That is a crazy thing to me, it was fascinating!

I also road the Fairies! That was sooo fun I loved it!

View from the fairy!

I had such a great time and Justin said he was so happy that I was able to come with him and he wouldn't have and any kind of fun, but since I was there is was great!

Christmas 2010

2011-01-05T10:17:00.000-08:00

Well it is January 5th and I guess it is a good time to blog about our Christmas! This year we did things a bit different! Justin decided to "put in" for a deer hunt for the month of December, well that meant that if he didn't get a deer the first week of the hunt the whole family would head over for Christmas! Well he didn't get anything so that is where the chaos started. I had to not only pack for the family for 5 or so days I also had to make sure Santa was all ready to reroute to Thatcher and to Grandma and Grandpa Crockett's house! That was probably the most difficult thing because I had the kids home all week with me and you know how mom's talk with Santa always in private!

So off we went to Thatcher for Christmas it was a great trip everyone had a great time!

On Christmas Eve we had a very interesting nativity I think Grandma thought her house would be struck by lightning! Michelle was Mary holding a doll and Bronson as Joseph, who was very attentive! Parker was an unruly shepherd and Grandma had to take his staff! Eli was a shepherd and wise man along with Kaitlyn, and Madelyn was an Angel (of course).

Emie zonked out and woke up just in time to go for a walk around Grandma's neighborhood and take a look at all the lights! This one guy had the coolest light display we looked forward to his house the most and it didn't disappoint! When we got back we had a few snacks while watching a Christmas classic "A Christmas Story". I was surprised to find out that my family had never seen this movie! They weren't impressed, however I laughed with Justin and Jeff!

Kids in PJ's from Grandma Platt

Christmas Morning was full of the usual excitement! The kids slept in until about 7 which I told Justin was good! I actually had to wake Parker up! We gathered around the Christmas tree and I played Santa. Our Christmas was little this year but the kids would have never thought that! They each got something they "couldn't live without" and a few things mom and Santa thought would be a good thing for them!

These pictures are blurry because the kids wouldn't back up!

After presents on Christmas morning we were invited over to Uncle Jon's house where we had Christmas Breakfast! They had about 40 people there, about 18 of which were kids, visiting and playing. Jon added on a huge addition so the family could be accommodated for Christmas this year and it looked great! And the food was fantastic, lots of food!

We stayed for Sunday and came home after church. When we got home we noticed that Santa actually left a few other presents here at our house! The kids were told to get a few things put away so we could open the remaining presents! They were a little surprised when they opened a box of paper (just white copy paper) and a package of 6 scotch tapes. They were less than enthused until they realized that that was theirs and they weren't going to get into trouble when they used it! Unlike when they use mom's grrr :(

They were then instructed to go outside to the back yard and look for something new! Yep, Santa left a basketball hoop! They are really excited about being able to "shoot hoops" and play with that! I didn't get any pictures of what Santa left at home so I am going to have to rely upon my memory for their cute reactions! We actually had to put the thing together right then we were up until 10:30 that night!

Justin didn't get a deer over the Christmas visit so we again left to go back for new years. We had a few things we needed to do before the fun started. Dad watched the kids while Monica and I went over to Old Grandma's house and helped her take her Christmas decorations down. After that we went to help Grandma out at her class room and cleaned up after a semester of nothing being cleaned...I am sure of that, the place was dirty! The next day Monica and I went shopping with Grandma and spent a little bit of money :) We went home that night to discover that Justin and Jeff didn't see anything to shoot! The last day of the hunt and nothing! I would say the guys spirits were a little defeated! New Year's eve was a little down played...we watched a couple movies the kids colored and colored and colored, until 12:00 and then it was off to bed! We left the next day, not without a great new years lunch of pork, mashed potatoes, peas, and sauerkraut.

All in all we had a great hoilday season and we are thankful for our friends and family and are greatful for all of our blessings!

Parker's 1st Piano Recital

2010-12-10T07:36:00.000-08:00

Last night Parker "preformed" in his FIRST piano recital! I say first because if it is the last thing I do he WILL take piano throughout High School! He is so good already and he is so funny about it all too! After her preformed he came back down to his seat and fell asleep! We are so pround of Parker and I can't wait to see how great he can be! The video can be found on my Facebook account I cannot get it to upload to blogger :( Anyway, here is his pre-preformance pic!

December 8th 2010

2010-12-10T07:08:00.000-08:00

Michelle Turned 11 on Wednesday! I can't believe how much she is growing up! We went to the Dr.'s office yesterday and she has grown 3 inches and gained 13 pounds in a year. So as of right now she is only about 3 1/4 inches shorter than I am...yep so if she does it again she will be taller than mom by the time she turns 12! I am handling that alright, it is EVERYTHING else that I am having a hard time with. But that is ok too I will get it right (not by her by at least by me). Anyway On her birthday the kids had a half day of school so we took a couple of Michelle's friends and went to see the movie "Tangled"! What a GREAT movie! I really liked it and the kids loved it! I see an new movie in my future! After that we came home and played with toys and of course what kind of party can you have if you don't play Just Dance!

After the girls went home we ate dinner opened presents, had cake then ran off to get some Frozen Yogurt at Ocean Blue, that is our families favorite "ice cream" place! Then we came home and read another chapter of Harry Potter #6 and went to bed.

Here are a 11 things about Michelle that makes her who she is now!
1. She is always caring (sometime a little much) but always cares about things.
2. She loves her family (even Parker)
3. She loves to learn and going to school.
4. She LOVES Taylor Swift, to Michelle, TS is the only person who can sing!

5. She is growing up, she likes to do her own hair now and pick out her clothes!
6. She has great friends who share her interests and likes to talk on the phone with them!
7. She is playing the Violin in school this year and is really enjoying it!
8. She may be 11 but there are times that she can still play just great with Emie and her doll house and poly pockets.
9. She loves being a member of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, she loves her teacher and loves to learn and ask questions about the church!
10. She really wants a cell phone (mom and dad say NO)
And Finally
11. She is such a sweet girl always wanting to be loved!

We love you Michelle have a great 11th year!

Hoodwinked!

2010-09-15T06:35:00.000-07:00

In June Eli got to go to the Cub Scout Day Camp out at Heard Pueblo! For those of you who do not know what this means don't worry...I didn't either until I was asked at the last moment to help out with the boys! When I say last moment I really mean 2 hours before the departure of the troop I got the call, and when I say boys I mean like 13 of them...maybe less, I don't really know they move ALL the time!

Anyway We go out into the desert in JUNE and the boys do activities to earn merit badges all day. Merit badges I have yet to see what is that all about? So Eli had a ton of fun and here is a couple pictures of him shooting a BB Gun!

Later that night while walking back to our "campsite" Eli just about walked on top of this SNAKE!

Can you see it? back by the bush! Yea that was a fun story! At the beginning of the camp day the people in charge told us that of course there is wildlife we are in the desert. I was fine with that, not a problem! Then they went on to say if you see a snake have someone go get a worker person and have someone else STAY WITH THE SNAKE! WHAT? First of all, don't you want to get as far from the snake as possible? And second How do you stay with a snake? It slithers away when people come! So yes I got to be the one to stay and I had a older boy get the worker person 15 minutes later they showed up! Anyway I was hoodwinked to going to Cub Scout Day Camp! I had a good time with the boys and especially with Eli!

Destination Arkansas!

2010-09-09T08:56:00.000-07:00

This summer we decided to make the trip back to see Justin's awesome family in Arkansas! This is my little families longest trip ever taken with a total mileage on the car of 3,742 miles. I was pretty excited about that...I am not sure why? Anyway I digress, the Arkansas Platt's (as we so lovingly refer to them) come to AZ every other year for a reunion in St. Johns. We decided in 2009 that we were going to make the voyage to AR for the in between year! We as in Jeremy, Karrie, Drew, & Cyndi. The other siblings really wanted to go too but with scheduling 11 different family schedules and trying to sync all of them some of the fam couldn't go. But don't worry 2012 is the year for ALL of us...Are you ready AR Platt's?

The first part of the trip was VERY LONG...we promised we would find a tornado for Jarred since he could go...well on our way into TX we spotted one a far distance away so I grabbed for my good camera and found out it was broken so this post will be mostly words (journal for a better description) I did get the pic of the tornado I just can't get it off the camera...maybe Justin will do that for me?

We decided early in the planning for this trip that we would stop in San Antonio for 2 reasons 1st reason is my friend Julie lives there and I could get to see her and play:) Julie is one of the most genuine people and I love her! We stayed in SA for 2 nights and it was awesome. The first day I insisted that we go to the Alamo! This is a Crockett thing...I think you can guess why? So the first day in SA we went downtown and toured the Alamo there was a line into the place which made Julie say "this has never happened before"! Funny the line didn't take that long. If you have never been to the Alamo there isn't much to see and the tour ends pretty quickly! Once out side the kids played on the cannon's and looked at the fish and we just stayed in the shade to stay cool. We were only there for an hour or so. After the Alamo we wanted to tour downtown so we took the riverboat tour.

The kids were soooo excited about it. We saw the neatest things and we also saw the weirdest building...I don't even know how to describe it. When you look at it from land level (or as for us boat level) it looks like a flat building but it is a hospital...I didn't understand how that worked? After the morning downtown I talked Justin into taking the kids to SEA WORLD. This was very exciting for the kids as for myself. They loved the Shamu shows and it was really nice being sprayed with nasty tank freezing cold water just to cool off a bit.

It was a pretty hot day we picked to go touring! Funny story: We were enjoying the show I looked over and Emie was just so excited laughing and having a fun time (she loves any animal) sitting next to Michelle. When Shamu came to splash our end of the arena Emie got SOAKED! and this was her reaction she cryed for a little while longer it was so funny! After the fun Shamu show I decided that we should take the kids to see the sea lions you know...no so traumatic for the younger ones...Emie really liked the funny sea lions then, I think we made up for Shamu! Sea world lasted the rest of the day we went to one more Shamu show that Emie loved again and hated being soaked again! Michelle insisted on being early for that show so we could get front row seats...they found very good soak zone seats! The kids loved riding the roller coasters and playing in the water at Sea World...it was a great treat for the whole family! That night we took Julie out to dinner at a VERY YUMMY Mexican food restaurant I really want to go there again it was sooo good!
The next morning we said our goodbyes to Jules and took off to AR! The drive was so pretty it makes me want to move to TX or AR.

We arrived in Texarkana, AR later in the evening of Sunday night. We sat around visiting with everyone for a few hours then headed off to bed. Brad and Suzanne practically had a hotel for us to stay in their house is beautiful and we had a finished room with bathroom above the garage to stay in...Jeremy and Karrie we just a hour or so behind us so they got the RV out back, which is totally decked out too! Beds bathroom and kitchen. Thanks to Brad and Suzanne we had a wonderful stay at the Rolling Hills Ranch!

On Monday morning we had sort-of a late start what with everyone traveling so much on Sunday. I am not sure what we did and in the order we did it in but I will try and tell you all the fun we had! Jeremy wanted to go explore the ranch and took a 4 wheeler out to see everything and Justin was going to be next...we waited and waited and waited and joked about Jeremy getting stuck somewhere when the next moment we saw Jeremy come into the house soaking wet saying he got the 4 wheeler stuck and just hiked about 4 miles out of the ranch:) We had to give him heck about that and when Brad got home they went and retrieved the 4 wheeler. That night we had a really fun Family Home Evening with all the Platt's who live out in AR/TX. HJ and Cori, with Nick! Then Kevin and Jileen and there 3 boys! We played games and visited and then it was time for bed again!

On Tuesday morning Suzanne, Victoria and Cole showed us the Cadoe river...We went canoeing down the river! It was so much fun aside from the tipping of the canoe and almost losing Parker to the current (thank heavens for life jackets) and the animal life...the bugs are incredible out there! The river was so much fun we skipped rocks, Jeremy won that non-contest, ate lunch, just had such a great time!

Here we are waiting for our ride up the river!

Brad and Suzanne have a pool so when we arrived home we "bathed" the kids!

Wednesday morning we woke up early and headed even further east to Memphis, TN. Justin has another cousin, Whitney, who lives there so we decided since we were going to be that close why not go see them...little did we know the trip was going to take a little longer than expected, but it was totally worth it. We headed out to Memphis with the intent on seeing Graceland too! When we arrived Justin had NO desire to tour Elvis' house so I hopped out and toured with Jeremy and Karrie and their kiddo's. I liked it I will never need to do it again but I thought it was fun and interesting! Elvis was a weirdo when you see and hear things but who isn't is some respect!

Here is The Mansion...it was actually really small, Elvis added a few rooms onto the back. But the land was beautiful!

Here was my favorite room in the mansion...it used to be Elvis' racquetball court (I know) but it is covered from wall to wall floor to ceiling in records pictures costumes! I thought it was amazing!

After Graceland we headed over to Whitney and Josh's where they took us all out to eat at an awesome BBQ joint in Memphis. It was really yummy! After dinner we went back to W&J's house they have the cutes little house. IT really isn't that little they were able to sleep to more families of 6 on BEDS and air mattresses. We got up on Thursday morning and headed to downtown Memphis. We saw the ducks at the Peabody Hotel. The Peabody Hotel is the hotel where ducks live in the fountain in the lobby! It was really cute to see these little ducks the kids liked it anyway!

We then walked a bit down Beale street. Then we had to head out back to Texarkana!

That night we went right over to HJ and Cori's house where we had a swim party and lots of food and desert! We had some great conversations and lots of laughs!

Friday was so exciting we had the chance to fly in HJ's medical practices airplane! Eli didn't want to go he wanted to stay and play with Jake and Cole on the ranch well his mean mom made him go and I think he was ok in the end!

We all headed over to the hanger at the airport, all of a sudden there was a down pour of rain so the plane was "grounded" for about 20 minutes. AR weather is sort-of like AZ's in that respect. Here it rains for 5 minutes then stops and is sunny again. There is went on a little longer than 5 minutes but when it stopped and the sun came out MAN WAS IT MUGGY!! Cori has a really nice camera so she took some really great pictures of us playing in the hanger waiting for our turn in the plane, and some GREAT pictures of the kids monkeying around under the deck!

This one of Parker is sooo good! I always said we missed our window of opportunity to get him into modeling but after this I think we should really try!

What do you think?

Here is Emie Cori was really proud of this pic because of the splash in the picture! She was very patient with Emie who didn't want her picture taken!

Here is Michelle she is such a sweet heart and had a blast posing for pictures for Cori!

Here is Eli loving being a monkey too! I have such a cute group!

This is Victoria she loved all the little girls in the house! She did hair and she helped make jewelry (along with Suzanne and her supplies). She just was the best kid and Emie loved hanging out with her...of course she wouldn't show it in the picture!

Ohh how handsome!! Am I lucky or what??

Here we all are right before our flights...we mixed it all up a bit and just had such a great time! Justin actually got to fly for a bit. Parker and Emie(picture missing will find it soon)went with him and Justin said Parker didn't stop talking the whole time...he kept asking if the guys in the tower could hear him and if us in the hanger could hear him. I could totally see him doing that which make it really funny to me!

Saturday was fun we toured the ranch..shot guns I finally shot a skeet after about 25 trys. LOTS of saved clay targets. Saw the house Brad and Kevin and HJ and the rest of them grew up in. We had just such a great time winding down for our departure on Sunday morning. For dinner they took us to a local BBQ place called Big Jakes BBQ. It was REALLY GOOD too! After eating dinner we walked over to a local park where this old train car was we took some great pictures of the whole group I only have a few since my camera wasn't working well! I thought the pictures of the whole family walking back to the resturant on the railroad tracks was so cute!

We headed back to the ranch for a fireworks show put on by Brad and Kevin! It was AMAZING! Just as good as I have ever seen.

The next morning we packed up and headed out. What a wonderful week Thank you SOO much to our Awesome Arkanasa and Texas family to host so many people for so long it was so fun to see you all I missed you as soon as we left! Thanks so much!

Eli's 9th Birthday

2010-09-07T18:30:00.000-07:00

On July 21st Eli turned 9 years old...I know I am getting so OLD! He had his whole day planned and I just had to do what he asked. He wanted Breakfast Cake (coffee cake) for breakfast, and for dinner Hawaiian Haystacks with Ocean Blue for dessert. The day before his birthday he asked if he could have a friend party to which I replied "you can't expect me to plan a party for your birthday TOMORROW!" So Eli being the easy going, easily pleased child accepted my counter offer of a movie with a few friends. He chose Disney's The Sorcerer's Apprentice. The movie was really good and ALL the kids had a great time. He chose to take Tyler, Ryan, his friend Zack and his siblings! We all enjoyed the movie and I enjoyed the air conditioning and the $5.oo admission! Later we had our family party when he opened his gifts. Eli asked for a few shirts and shorts...see what I mean by a good kid! My family has been very interested in the Harry Potter series so I thought Eli would love to get Harry Potter Lego's game it looks fun we haven't played as a family yet...yes recheck the date it is September 7th!

More pictures to come when my internet isn't running as slow as a snail!

First Day of School 2010

2010-09-06T18:50:00.000-07:00

The kiddo's started school on August 11th! HOLY COW that was early! But very delightful! Michelle started 5th grade this year...5TH GRADE! When did that happen? Eli started 4th grade...It is not as traumatic for the second child sorry! And Parker started 1st grade! They are all very happy with their teachers and so am I. Their previous teachers have all been wonderful and lovable and just awesome people! This year all their teachers will challenge them and won't take any of there whinny crap! I am so excited! My kids are smart but for some reason they like the dingy blonde approach to life, this year I hope that all changes! Here are a few first day of school pictures!

Michelle is in 5th grade which means she gets to choose if she wants to play a musical instrument and if she wants to do band or orchestra...she decided that orchestra was what she wanted to do playing the violin! She is so excited about this and she is constantly talking about the violin and what she is learning!

Eli likes a lot of things and it is pinning down what exactly what it is he likes to put him in anything. This semester we are trying Lego club they get to go every Thursday after school for an hour to learn to build different form of transportation. He is very excited about this club!

Parker like Michelle (in so many ways...to many to talk about here) is into the musical instruments. He is taking piano lessons from our good friend Jennifer Jarrett! She is pretty much the only person who and will teach him! Anyway Parker is also in the Lego club with Eli both of them love their Lego's

Parker's Bravery

2010-09-06T18:36:00.000-07:00

Parker lost his first tooth a few days ago...OKOK I know it was probably a month ago...Anyway!

That's right I remember...it was the first day of school he came home and was so excited that it was so very loose! I asked him if he wanted me to get the pliers and yank them out? He was fine with that...I asked him if he wanted me to just punch it out? He was fine with that too...I then asked if he wanted dad to use a string and the door method of tooth removal? We was very satisfied with that idea! So he sta very still while dad tied the dental floss to his tooth then we went over to the bedroom door and tied the other end. He was a little nervous but didn't show it to badly. The door was slammed and nothing came out, WHAT? So we had to retie everything up and try again! The second time was successful! Out popped the tooth! We literally were all down on our hands and knees trying to find this little baby tooth! Finally we found it and Parker put it under his pillow so excited for his first visit from the tooth fairy! He is our brave little boy who actually let us tie him to a door to get his tooth out!

Labour Day 2010

2010-09-06T18:13:00.000-07:00

This year we decided to stay home and spend time together as a family...sounds really nice huh? Well it was don't get me wrong but this is what we decided to do.

We went out to Saguaro Lake we have never been there before so I thought something new, different, and exciting! We planned to go and have a picnic play in the water a little and just have a good time together. We got out to our original destination looked so nice couldn't wait to get out of the car, looked at the sign and saw that we needed to buy a permit back in town, not there at the park...us being newbies at this didn't realize this is how it worked. So we headed back into town and also thought we needed an awning because the sun was out and HOT! So we went to Big 5 sporting goods looked around no awning but they did have permits so we were good to go and try again! We didn't try to go out to the original spot again we decided to try a few of the closer spots along the way! It was a lot of fun the kids tried really hard to be swept down stream and I tried really hard not to yell too much! After about 1 1/2 hours later it started to sprinkle just a little...then a little harder then it was really hard so we headed back up to the car and the picnic tables to have our little picnic. We just packed sandwiches and chips and cookies. The kids really hated this part, well because of the bee's we tried to tell them to ignore them but more and more kept coming so I just called the whole thing off! So we headed home and decided that if we try this again, next time we will defiantly be prepared for it!

Here are a few pictures while they were still having fun!

Emie is 3!

2010-03-03T08:47:00.000-08:00

This Last Saturday Emie (my baby) turned 3! We were so excited to have her birthday party. Monica and Jeff decided that they needed to come to town and do some things so we had Kenny and Michelle and the boys come over to. After some thought I decided to invite the Jarrett's and Baxter's over for some cake too. Parker told Mrs. Standage all about the party and that she was invited also...no biggy right we love Mrs. Standage! So we had a packed house for the 3 year olds birthday party! We had some dinner and yummy cake with Winnie the Pooh, Emie's favorite! The cake was really yummy. Of course we started eating and Emie couldn't wait any longer to open presents so she went to town opening up the presents she got. Mom and Dad got her a indoor playhouse, which she just loves, it came with the stove and sink and washer and dryer you see in the picture. Mom got a pretty good deal on it. Everyone else brought presents for her too and she loves them all and playes all day with these presents. We let the kids play for a while and then decided to have cake and ice cream before I forgot to serve it. Emie knew exactly what to do this year and did a great job! She blew the candle right out! Here are a few pictures of what the party looked like! I can't believe my baby is 3! It makes me sad but at the same time I love watching her learn and grow and be so independent. She was potty trained in January and we have given up her "shirts" along with that she gave up sucking her thumb! She has definitely grown up in the past few months! Now our goal is to get her to bed before 10:00p.m.

Justin Went Huntin'

2010-02-22T18:50:00.000-08:00

So I should have posted this already but I didn't have time today and Justin was on the computer all day so I couldn't get to this until now!

Sorry it took so long to post this Justin!

Well Justin decided a few months ago that he wanted to try hunting as an extra curricular activity! My Brother-law Jeff was very excited about this news because it meant one more person to hunt with, my sister was even more excited because that might mean Jeff will leave her out of the hunting life. Justin was a little apprehensive about going out first thing and hunting something big like a deer or an elk so Jeff told him to go buy an over the counter Javelina tag!

He prepared for weeks getting his gun sighted in and he loaded lots of ammo to be prepared! This weekend was the BIG HUNT!

They went out to an obscure place in area 31 and the first day saw nothing but dear...much to Jeff's dismay. The next day Monica and I knew that it would be a long day with the kids while the guys were gone all day hunting. Around 12:00 Monica noticed a text from Jeff saying

"Pig down"

She was speechless she couldn't believe that they went out and found something and actually shot it!

Justin was (is) so excited they came home and took care of it right away!

It was so gross. I remember, you know, growing up babysitting for the McCarey's seeing the taxidermied animals and thinking whatever they are cool. I never saw the actual after math of it, it is something I will need to get used to!

Anyway here are a few pictures of Justin's first kill!

Justin only took one shot and he shot the thing right where he was aiming and it died just great (that is what he said). Good Job Justin and I guess good luck next time!

2010-02-12T11:02:00.000-08:00

Here it is finally! Emie and I went and took some pictures on Monday but Michelle didn't want Justin to see it until she got to show him herself so I could put the pictures up until now!

Michelle's Artwork

2010-02-08T14:10:00.000-08:00

We recieved a letter in the mail addresses to: The Parents of Michelle Platt...My first thought was oh great what now but I was pleasently surprised!
it said:
Dear Parents,
I am so pleased to announce that your child's artwork has been selected as one of the exceptional designs to be on display for the month of February through March 1st...To be selected for this display is quite an honor ...as only 3 to 4 pieces of art are chosen to represent each of our schools for the present month! Congratulations to you and your talented artist.

How exciting! We knew Michelle loved art and she always works hard on her assignments at school and they always look great. I am just excited that she will have this memory of her art work!

I will get a picture ASAP and put it up soon!

Sometimes My Kids are Funny!

2010-02-08T10:36:00.000-08:00

So sometimes my kids are funny here are a couple of examples:

On Friday after school we were running a couple of errands and Michelle was looking through Parker's backpack and found something he made at school. It happened to be a couple pieces of fabric sewn together and Michelle was very excited for Parker and what he did and he was so excited that Michelle was being nice to him.
Michelle "wow Parker this is really good you are so smart"
Parker "Thanks Elle yea I am smart I'm K-mart Smart"

Justin looked at me and said "Did he just say what I think he said"
Megan "yep"

Then later that night we were all sitting down to eat dinner and this is the conversation we had

Michelle "Mom did you get the e-mail about the movie from Mrs. Billingsley"
Me"Yes I did"
Michelle"where is the theater we are going to"
Me "It's the AMC"
Michelle"What are the streets by the Theater"
Me"Stapley and Baseline"
Michelle"is that this way?" (pointing in the direction of the AMC and stapley and baseline)
Me"Yes"
Justin"Why are you asking a question like that if you don't know where you are asking about"
Michelle" I don't know"
Me" You could have asked...Is it by the Wal-mart we always go to?"
Eli" There is a Wal-mart by our school"
Me and Justin" no there's not"
Justin" there is a Sam's Club"
Eli" well I don't know I'm not a girl"

See I told you I have funny kids sometimes!

The End

I LOVE JAY LENO!

2010-01-21T09:33:00.001-08:00

Dress Up Time!

2010-01-17T18:52:00.000-08:00

Of course you all know how funny we think Emie is and sometimes I like to share those experiences with you! Well Yesterday Emie came out with these two outfits on they CRACKED ME UP so here I am sharing another funny Emie moment!

TEE HEE HEE!

Christmas 2009!

2010-01-17T18:25:00.000-08:00

Christmas came and went before I knew it! We had a wonderful Christmas this year. We had the kids really work on their behavior and chores before the big day just to teach them that good behavior is a direct result of how many presents they get from Santa! They did well but on Christmas Eve they really kicked it into high gear! Anyway, on Christmas morning I almost forgot all about the camera so I got only a few pictures of the chaos! We had such a great day after presents I made breakfast which was an interesting combination of potatoes, eggs and bacon! We had practically nothing else! So after breakfast we headed out to Safford for a few days. My brother Danny and his wife Gwen were here from Utah so we needed to see them before they were gone again! We spent a lot of time playing games and watching movies. We played with Danny's and Gwen's dog Mic (he is so cute and the kids loved him). We went up to the mountains one day and went tubing, we had a blast! I took my camera to Safford and didn't take one picture so I don't have any pictures of our fun in the snow! Emie loved it though!

New Years was so much fun too! Thanks to Kenny and "Mitch" they invited us over to play wii and games and stuff! The kids played and we played and wanted to go to sleep at about 10:30 but had a great time!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and a great new year!

Michelle, Michelle, Michelle!

2010-01-17T17:53:00.000-08:00

Yea I know Michelle turned 10 a LLOOONNG time ago. Well this is the first time I have had a chance to update this blog! So here are a few pictures of her birthday party! We had a small party with just our family. Ate the dinner she asked for (taco's) and then had cake and ice cream! She had been begging for some heeley's and I could never justify buying her these shoes that cost soo much and will only fit for a year maybe a year and a half, but I came across a pair at a yard sale (practically BRAND NEW) so I bought them and she loves them. She had a good day that day but she always does when she gets to be the center of attention!

Michelle also participated in Cheer leading this year! She needs to find her "lot" in life. We have tried piano and nothing and we have tried dance and that didn't work out so this year is cheer! She has a friend in the class to which makes this way easier. She started out really liking cheer and then came time for the competition, well this is when she informed us she didn't want to do it anymore, turns out she had a serious case of stage fright! She did very well and they took 3rd in their class! We have talked her into another semester of cheer (to justify purchasing her very expensive cheer uniform) and can't wait to see how good she gets. Congrats to Michelle for her hard work!

She had a rewards night last Monday and received a new pom for all her hard work. Apparently cheer is like karate in a way...every level they go up they receive a new pom of a new color! News to me!!

So I Gave a Talk Today!

2010-01-10T20:01:00.000-08:00

So last night at about 9:30 we got a phone call informing me that Parker had a talk and it was kind-of important because it was ward conference so we needed to make sure he did something besides just giving his testimony! After asking what the topic was I went to work writing the talk. I found what I needed and found the right picture and put it all together. This morning when we were sitting waiting for church to start Parker and I practiced it through. He did a great job repeating every word I said he had some trouble with a couple but he always does so..no biggy right? Anyway after SM (that stands for Sacrament Meeting), we all went in to hear this awesome talk that Parker was going to give. They did all the stuff leading up to the talk finally it was time...I walked up to help Parker out!

We started out just fine he repeated almost all the words I told him to say then all of a sudden he turns to me to say "I have to go Potty!!" well if you know Parker when he has to go you need to take him now or you will be sorry! I said "let's try to finish the talk first" by the end of the next sentence I decided I would rather him go potty then wet his pants. So I told him to go ahead and go to the bathroom! I then finished up his talk.

So today I gave a talk in Primary! It has been a while and I of course cried like the baby I am! You can never expect to know what will happen next with Parker I guess that is why we keep him around!

Michelle Turns 10 Today:)

2009-12-08T15:44:00.000-08:00

Today is

Michelle's 10th birthday!!!!

I can't believe how time flies by!

I remember so much of when she was a baby,

and now look at her she is just about 5 feet tall

and just as fun as can be!

She loves her friends, and going to school,

and loves to be with her family!

She loves her brothers and sister and likes to boss them around.

Michelle got to do cheerleading this last semester and I think we are going to continue with that!

She is our oldest and we love her, she is so special to us and we are grateful everyday that we have her with us!

Michelle on her 1st birthday

Michelle's 4th grade photo!

Happy Birthday MONICA!!!

2009-12-03T07:06:00.000-08:00

Today is my sister's 30 somthing birthday so we are sending her a special...and I mean special in a few ways...message!!

Hope you have a great day today Monica!!

Mother Daughter Hair Day!

2009-11-25T20:56:00.000-08:00

Today we took a Mother/Daughter day! Yep, I took Michelle out of school early...come on don't judge me...it should have been a half day, I mean it's the day before Thanksgiving, they have half days all the time! Anyway, I won't go on! So all the girls needed hair cuts Michelle hates her hair at least that is what she tells me every time she brushes or combs it, or anything else, like looks in a mirror! So we went short, not as short as she would have likes but short enough that she is happy! I got a cut and color but there are no pictures, that is something I wouldn't mind not being documented! The most exciting thing about this day is that it was Emie's first hair cut! Yes I know...she is almost 3 and this is her FIRST hair cut. Well let me tell you, we cut bangs in Michelle's hair when she was like 2 maybe younger and Michelle is well you could call it over reactive about things. So I am trying to raise Emie a bit different! Michelle is a long story and I don't think this is the time!!

Here is Michelle happy!

So cute.

Emie's before...I love her head with her "Pooh Bear Ear" ponies! They look like Winnie the Pooh's ears!

Emie's hair is CRAZY! If I don't do it, it will look like this or worse. I constantly have to say "Where is your face" and she takes both hands and moves her hair out of her eyes...and nose...and mouth!

Getting ready! She is not happy at this point!

Look at the ground, why? I can't see what you are doing down there!

Why does mom keep taking pictures?

The blow dry part! Still not so happy!

And here it is...Isn't it soo cute? Come on just look at the hair, she is still mad, oh and really tired, she just about fell asleep right here!

and the back view!

and here they are together. I have such cute girls!

Two Cards:)

2009-11-25T20:46:00.000-08:00

In October both my mom and Justin's dad have birthday's 2 days apart. Drew and Cyndi were in town for his B-day this year and the kids decided to go-in-on a birthday gift card, so he can buy himself a new church suit so I made this card to put the gift card in! It was fairly easy once Jessie told me I could do it, and then with Justin's mad run to Joann's to get matching thread and button. I really liked the card and I can't really tell you how my FIL liked it cause I don't' think he even noticed:(

Then this is the card I made my mom for her B-day a couple days later. My mom loves quilting and so I found this really simple but cute card for her. I then drove all the way over to Safford to hand deliver it to her! I am pretty sure she loved the card but I am positive the real gift was the surprise visit!

Funny Parker!

2009-11-21T21:42:00.000-08:00

While shoveling dirt today the kids were commenting on the torn up American Flag at the neighbors house...

then the neighbors drove up and one of the guys got out of the car and

Parker said" Your flag is all torn up"

guy "that's not mine it's his, but it does look pretty bad doesn't it?"

Parker then said "That's not right you need to get a new one!"

They thought that was pretty funny...maybe we will get them a new one for Christmas, and have Parker deliver it!

Halloween Party!

2009-11-16T07:13:00.000-08:00

So this Halloween Grandma Crockett decided it was time to have another Halloween Party! She had one a few years ago when there was only 6 grand kids! Now it is + 5 and that much crazier! Anyway the kids had a ton of fun ALL DAY! Grandma had activities that had the kids (and the mom's) busy the entire day! We painted pumpkins (the mom's opted for the less mess approach), we had a doughnut eating off a string contest. We had a fish tank with a TON of prizes, we had a pinata! We bobbed for apples and we also had a bean bag toss into a giant pumpkin that Grandpa Crockett made! "Old" Grandma Crockett came for the entire day too and had so much fun...I am sure she fell into bed that night! After all the activities Mom had the kids make their own pizza's for dinner and made some homemade root beer, the kids thought the dry ice was awesome! After the kids ate it was time for the costume parade, all the kids got dressed into their costumes and marched for "Old" Grandma! Then it was time to Trick-or-Treat! We went to so many houses that Ryan was begging to go back to Grandmas house. It didn't take that much longer for the rest of us to wimp out and go home too! After the trick-or-treating, we had a haunted house where the kids had to go out the the playhouse and retrieve an eye ball to receive a prize. That was really fun! Then to finish up Grandma Crockett made prizes for each of the kids for their costumes! It was a fun day...it seemed to take forever, but it was fun! Thanks Grandma Crockett for doing so much for the grand kids!

My kids had an easy time deciding on what to wear for their costumes. Michelle wanted to be a vampire with a red dress a black cape a white face and fangs. She was very specific! Eli was a little easier, he wanted to be "Wolverine" from X-Men. Well his was a little hard, and you can tell from the looks of his costume. Better luck next time is all I can say for myself! Parker was sooo easy. He found a spiderman costume at D.I. and that was it, then talking to my Sis-in-law Karrie she mentioned she had a SM costume with the muscles well we went for that one! Emie also found her costume at D.I. She decided to be Winnie the Pooh, she was also Tigger and Piglet!

Michelle was being scary not mad!

Eli wasn't sure what to do!

Parker had it down!

Emie is just soo happy!

Primary Program!

2009-10-25T16:52:00.000-07:00

Today our ward had their annual Primary Program. It was a great program all the kids new the words to the songs and their parts and they incorporated families into the program. It was the best program I have ever seen! But this isn't why I am posting this:

Today I was in the primary room and when I left Sister Bentley followed me out to tell me a funny story about Parker! We all know how much I love to hear stories about Parker, and if you don't know, It terrifies me! Anyway this is what she said!

Yesterday at the program practice Sister Crawford (the chorister) and Brother Ray (the Pianist) were trying to figure out how many times he would need to play a song to help the children remain quiet while the next class walked to the microphone for their parts. Well Brother Ray being a man just told Sister Crawford that he was going to play the song 3 times and that is all. Well at that point Parker raised his hand and Sister Crawford called on him to say what he needed to say and he said "someone needs to tell him to get along". Well Sister Bentley intervened at that point and asked Parker to tell her. So he said again..."someone needs to tell him to get along...that means he needs to be nice" Well Sister Bentley said who needs to be nice and he pointed to Brother Ray and said "the man at the piano". Sister Bentley loved that and laughed so hard. I thought it was pretty funny to! Parker will always say things I just hope they will keep being funny and not something that will terrify me!

Red Ribbon Week!

2009-10-20T09:22:00.000-07:00

This week at school is red ribbon week! During this week at school the kids get to dress up or what ever the day brings. Well today was crazy hair day so this is what we did this morning!

They had fun deciding on what to do with their hair! Eli had this do last year but didn't like it, so I was surprised that this is what he wanted today! Parker wanted a Mohawk...I actually contemplated shaving a real mohawk but chickened out. I styled just a regular mohawk and he liked it then saw the other kids with all the ponies and said "now no one will laugh at my hair" so I told him I would do lots of ponies down the middle of his mohawk...he was happy and it was easy! Michelle has SOOOOOO much hair it is practically impossible to do and have it look decent so I just went at her hair with nothing in mind and this is what we got! She was happy with it and I figured that is the biggest win I'll have all day so I went with it! So my kids are wacky today and lovin' it!

Dancing With The Stars...or Emie.

2009-09-28T22:16:00.000-07:00

Here is Emie dancing with Dancing With the Stars! She loves to do this and I think it is soo funny!

Holy Randomness Batman!

2009-09-27T21:19:00.000-07:00

OK so this post is just random things I wanted to blog about so here it goes! By the way I cannot pronounce the title to this post, but I liked it too much to change!

Ok first of all these flowers were delivered to me just the other day! aren't they beautiful, A friend in my ward remembered my birthday and sent me these what a wonderful surprise...Thanks so much D'Ann!

So what do you think of Parker's suit for church today?

I happened to be at choir practice this morning and this is how he went to church. I did tie his shoes!

Eli earned his first belt loop in scouts a bowling award!

I wanted to do Emies hair in curlers, she wasn't very excited about it but whatever. I love her head!

Yea this isn't an after shot I forgot to do that the next morning! Sorry Monica she did look so cute too!

Eli is playing soccer for his extra activity this semester. We went through Young Champions of America and we will just have to wait and see if we like it!

Here he is running real fast!

Here is Parkers first Saturday in his soccer class! Actually listening!

Now concentrating very hard on the task at hand!

Michelle wanted to do some cheer leading for her extra activity. She seems to enjoy it and has a friend in the class with her! What do you think of her jump not to bad!

Here she is doing her first cheer!

This is just a really funny car I saw while driving home from Target the other day! It made me laugh so I took a picture!

Eli's Baptism.

2009-09-21T10:19:00.000-07:00

Eli was baptised on September 12th 2009. It was an exciting day full of hurry and fun! In the morning (at about 2 a.m.) I realized I didn't ever get Eli pictures in his suit for his big day...I know bad mom. Anyway I told myself there isn't really anything I can do about that RIGHT NOW go back to sleep. So at about 8:00 a.m. I got Eli in his new suit (courtesy of Grandma Crockett) and we went over to Freestone park and took a few pictures.

Eli wanted a running shot!

Eli didn't want to take to many. After we were done taking pictures we were off to Walgreen's were we picked 2 photos out and printed off a couple of 8X10 prints to have on display! When we got home we cleaned and cleaned and cleaned so when the whole family came over for a luncheon we (I) wouldn't be embarrassed. After cleaning I ran to the store bought some drinks and chips picked up two three foot subs from Subway and got the pictures and came home. That was all before I showered and was ready when Family started showing up at 11:00 a.m. Impressed...I didn't think so other people wouldn't be such procrastinators. Anyway after the luncheon we headed over to the Stake Center and did the whole baptism thing. What an spiritual experience. Eli was very focused and wanted to take it all in. He looked sooo handsome in his suit and in this baptism clothes. I am so proud of him for making this choice to get baptised.

He is such a wonderful kid and I just love him dearly! After the baptism, Koe invited everyone over to go swimming...it was like 105 degrees that day. Anyway I sent Justin and the kids up to swim while I "played" with a Jeannette and Amy who came all the way from Globe to surprise me (and Eli)! It was so fun! Thank you to all who came to support Eli and for all your love you show my family!

Happy Birthday to Me! Again:)

2009-09-11T19:21:00.000-07:00

So yesterday was my 29th birthday and it was great! Justin took the day off so he could take care of the kids and get them off to school and he also wanted to make sure I had a great day with lots of fun! We were able to do a few things that needed to be done, errands and such stuff. I know what you are thinking that is NOT fun but you have to realize these things needed to be done and I didn't have to do them all alone and I also didn't have to drive myself all over town and I didn't have to drag Emie in and out of store all day by myself, so for me it was just fine! Actually I enjoyed spending time that way just the 3 of us! Anyway he didn't forget to make sure I got my Krispie Kremes. and made sure I had a great breakfast at the Black Bear Diner! Later on Justin grilled up some delicious stake and we had mashed potatoes and gravy no veggies (Justin said I'm not a cook I don't think of that stuff). The stake was REALLY good! Anyway after getting after the kids for bringing their homework to us at 8:00pm and sending them to bed Justin remembered he didn't give me any presents. He went and woke up the kids to help pass them out. Here is what I got: A yoga mat, an itunes gift card, an All American Rejects CD, and a pair of workout shorts. All of which were on my list! He also got me this card it was the perfect card to get for me!

So that was my 29th birthday for you! I had a great day and I am very grateful for my Husband, and kids and all the great friends I have in my life that wished me a happy day via Facebook! So here is to the next year I hope it goes as fast as this year has flown by!

I Have a Cub Scout!

2009-08-27T21:35:00.000-07:00

Well it is official Eli has been officially welcomed into the cub scouts. Yep I am a mother of a cub scout, what am I going to do? He was so excited I sewed all his patch's on his shirt this afternoon and he practiced his "cub scout promise" and all the things he needs to know to earn his Bobcat award. So tonight at pack meeting we (Justin happens to be the Cub Master) were able to award Eli with his "upside down" bobcat award. He will get to turn it right side up when he does a good turn for someone else. Which won't be hard for Eli he is always doing nice things for others! I have forgotten or I didn't realize or something but I didn't know that as mothers we get to be pinned for the ranks the boys accomplish I think that is pretty neat. A friend in the ward says it's nice that the boy scouts do that since the mothers do so much work getting their sons all the awards, she says it is our own scout bling! I love her she is great! Well I hope I can be as good a scout mother as my mom was and all the other mothers who live in our ward, I don't want Eli to suffer because I am his mother! So wish me luck and hopefully this won't be the last time you see pictures of Eli getting Awards in scouts;)

Finally, the First Day of School!

2009-08-24T10:48:00.000-07:00

Ok so I am a little behind, so bear with me for posting this blog so late! On Monday August 10th my kids had their first day of school and they were so excited. Michelle knew exactly what she was going to wear Eli picked out his favorite shirt and Parker was good with what I picked for his first day of school. They were so excited and couldn't wait to get to school. Michelle is in the 4th grade now so she gets to go to the intermediate playground to play before school. Eli and Parker are still together in the primary playground so Eli gets to take care of Parker in the morning! But on Monday morning I took Parker in for his first day. He was so funny...when his teacher came out to get the class he told me that he was fine and I could go. He took the bag of school supplies from me and was off to his first day of school in Kindergarten. I got a picture of him while writing his name at his desk, he looks so cute and smart. I then went to Eli's class to inform his teacher I forgot all of his paperwork and his first day of school homework...Yep not off to a great start! Then over to Michelle's class and he teacher was busy talking so I didn't interrupt her. When we first got there we saw Parker's friend Nouha (I babysit her when Tressa needs a break) she is in Kindergarten this year too we are very excited about this! I got a couple of pictures of all the kids before school and Emie of course had to be in on the action! She went to school in her nightgown that morning! Shows how together mom is!

Opening Our Hearts

2009-08-21T18:00:00.000-07:00

So on August 30 I get to speak in church...yep why did they pick me I don't know! Anyway...my topic is Opening our Hearts, the talk given by Gerald Lund in the April 2008 General Conference (the May 2008 Ensign). I am not as nervous as I would say I am not sure what I am going to speak about! I have had a few ideas pop into my head but nothing that would give me a 10 minute talk! So I sit here typing this blog post instead of prayerfully reading and studying this message to be able to give a good talk! I guess I should stop this and try to focus on what I NEED to do. That is all just a little rant about what is going on! Oh and By the way...I will post about the first day of school before my kids have been in school a month I promise!!

Summer 2009

2009-08-17T10:07:00.001-07:00

Disclaimer...this post is a very long post that covers most of our summer this year. Please realize that this is for a journal purpose so if you want to read go ahead but I really have no expectations of people reading this whole post! Except Monica!

Summer 2009 was one of rushed excitement. Justin had so many days off people were starting to get scared he was laid off! At the end of June Justin and I decided to rush up to Orem Utah to surprise one of Justin's cousin at her reception that night. We decided not to tell anyone we were headed up so it would be a great surprise, Justin's mom didn't even know we were going. We got there in the nick-of-time. Naomi looked beautiful that night and we were so glad we drove so fast so we didn't miss anything!

On Friday we drove (not so fast) up to Salt Lake City and did all the touristy stuff that our kids enjoy doing. We toured the Temple grounds and the conference center and just enjoyed the nice weather outside. I also practiced my photography. I also decided that the Salt Lake Temple is one glorious miracle. It took 40 count them 40 years to build this wonderful temple. It wasn't an

easy thing to do it was all up to the saints to use their hands (they didn't have all the machinery we have today) to bring the wonderful blessings to us today!

Anyway after a couple of hours in Salt Lake we headed up to Logan Utah to visit my brother Danny and his awesome wife Gwen.

Justin like to refer to them as Dan and Gwenny. Anyway we had so much fun playing with them they took several days off of work to entertain us while we were there. We had the chance to tour their new home and we were really paranoid that our kids would trash it, which they did. On the first day we were there Danny took us to Logan's own little zoo. It was a lot of fun not too big to get tired and bored but big enough to entertain us for an hour or two. Emie was having fun feeding the ducks and the older kids were having fun tormenting the animals. I got this really cool picture of a bird house the mother bird flew by and all of a sudden 4 little bird heads poked out the hole waiting for their food. It was really funny to see that.

The next day Justin and I were still on AZ time and slept in but we finally got up and Danny and Gwen took us to the dairies and looked at Logan. We also went to see the Disney Movie UP! That was very exciting for the kids and Justin and I liked it too! On Sunday we were late for church (on account of me and Justin still being on AZ time) then we had a nice relaxing Sunday afternoon at the house watching movies and playing in the back lot. On Monday Morning we decided to go rock climbing and fishing. Danny knows my kids pretty well so he told them not to get upset if they didn't catch anything because it was their first time fishing. Well right when we were getting ready to head out Michelle caught this little fish. She was so excited (or scared), we couldn't tell if she was laughing or crying but later she was excited. After releasing the fish we packed up to go rock climbing. Michelle has been begging Danny to go for a few years now and this was our chance. We all had a blast doing this Justin and I even go to go. Gwen and Danny enjoyed it too, I hope!

Tuesday Danny and Gwen had been called into work so we were left on our own for a couple of hours. Later we went and got ice cream and just had fun relaxing again.

On Wednesday we got ready because we had a family reunion up in Idaho at the Bear Lake Lodge.

This was exciting for a couple of reasons...1. I have never been to Idaho before and now I get to cross it off my list, 2. We got to see a ton of relatives we hardly get to see, and 3. We were still in Utah not in AZ. Bear Lake was marvelous it was cold at night and cool during the day. It was green and beautiful, it was eventful and fun and exciting. At one time while we were there there was about 68 people all together it was so much fun!
On Friday we headed to the north shore of the lake to play in the sand and water. Uncle Eric and Uncle Steve rented Sea Doo's and let everyone have a turn. I especially loved this Justin had fun riding on the back while I drove :) We had hours of fun playing, visiting, and eating (thanks Karrie). Parker found this piece of driftwood he asked if he could bring it home...umm Parker NO! Eli didn't get out of the water the whole time we were there, he was always on a raft or inflatable boat or something but always in the water. And Emie found a cousin to put sand on. She thought she was soooo funny. And Thanks Casey for being such a great sport.

Saturday was July 4th so we headed up to Paris Idaho where we enjoyed a cute little town parade and got tons of salt water taffy. After the parade we went on out to this little Ice cave and spent an hour or so there watching just about everyone slip and fall on the ice. When we got back to the lodge we all got ready for the fire works on the Utah side of the lake. They were very good considering we didn't hear very good reviews of them from some locals. After the fire works we headed home and got the car ready to drive all the way home on Sunday.

While we were there I was curious about the real estate and how much it would cost to buy a little place or a piece of land. I was walking around in Garden City Utah and found this house with a for sale flyer.

This house cost $300,000!

WOW I wonder what this house cost!!

We were home for 2 weeks then we headed up to St. Johns for the 24th of July celebration and to see our "Arkansas" cousins. Justin also helped his parents dry wall their attic. Something that has been needing to be done for a few years now...(try 20 or so). So St. Johns wasn't eventful until Wednesday. Wednesday was Eli's 8th birthday. Grandma got him a gift and let him open it first thing so he didn't feel like he was being ignored while we were still in the attic. Later The cousins called to announce their arrival in St. Johns so we invited them for dinner and birthday cake. We had a party and some yummy cake and brownies and ice cream. Eli loved his gifts from mom and dad and Grandma and Grandpa Crockett.

The next few days were filled with the celebration activities. We ate ice cream and rode on a float in the parade and went for a bar-b-que, and sat at a campfire circle and went out to the ranch and had more food. It was so much fun! We had such a great time for the 24th celebration that we didn't get many pictures of what we did. Hopefully next time I will be better.

While we were in St. Johns my Brother Kenny called and invited us to Eager for the next week at a ranch just outside Alpine. So we headed home on Sunday and left again on Wednesday to go up to Eager, we had to leave Justin behind this time because his work scheduled some training for him, he came later for a day and a half! Anyway This was a fun relaxing trip where the kids ran and played and rode horses and got very DIRTY!

Not only were they very very dirty but they were very tired too!

We had such a great summer this year and we were so excited to see so much family and spend so much time playing and having so much fun!

Strawberry Breakfast Sundae

2009-08-17T09:52:00.000-07:00

Today for breakfast I made Strawberry Breakfast Sundae's. They were very delicious, and very easy...the only prep would be to cut up a couple of fresh strawberries.

So here is the recipe :

Cheerios ( or the generic version if you are cheap like me:)
Vanilla or Strawberry yogurt
1 TBS. Strawberry jam
Strawberries sliced
and 1 big strawberry whole
Place 1 TBS strawberry jam in the bottom of bowl
top with some cheerios (about a hand full)
cover cheerios with half of the sliced strawberries top that with a couple spoons full of yogurt.Top that with another hand full (and a half) of cheerios followed by remaining sliced strawberries and more yogurt topped with the whole strawberry! I also put some whipped topping on the ones that wanted whipped topping.

So of course my kids did not like the strawberry jam on the bottom of the bowl, and of course Parker doesn't like strawberries so in the next couple of days I might try this with banana's. I won't put a jam on the bottom of the bowl and I will use Vanilla yogurt instead of strawberry and I will put banana's on instead, duh! Anyway other than the 1 little complaint of the strawberry jam the kids loved this breakfast!

Wednesday and Thursday Breakfast

2009-08-13T08:14:00.000-07:00

Yesterday's breakfast was pretty good, or so I am told. I made...

Strawberry Bars

1 cup flour

1 cup rolled oats

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/4 tsp. baking powder

1/8 tsp. salt

1/2 cup melted butter

3/4 cup strawberry jam

preheat the oven to 350 degrees

in a large bowl mix everything together except the jam, then add the butter and fold that until all the dry ingredients are wet. Measure out half the mixture and press it into the bottom of a greased 8X8 square pan. Take the jam and spread it onto the pressed mixture. Then take the other half of the mixture and press it lightly on top of the jam. Bake for 25 minutes and let it cool for 15. Cut and serve plain or with strawberry yogurt!

The kids really liked this breakfast, with the exception of Parker...he said he didn't like it until he was done then he said it was really good. I don't get him, whatever, the biggest win was Emie she ate 3 servings of it! YEA! she is our pickiest eater and she loved it with yogurt on top.

Today I made some very yummy strawberry smoothies!

Berry Banana Smoothies

1 small banana cut up and frozen

1/4 cup fresh or frozen berries (any kind, I used strawberries cause that is all I had)

1 cup orange juice

3 TBS. Vanilla yogurt

in a blender combine the frozen bananas, berries, juice and yogurt. Blend until smooth. Makes 2 8 oz. servings...I served with whipped cream on top!

The kids kept asking if we could have these smoothies everyday before school and for dinner, I am guessing they liked them. They were super easy and again it was a winner. Parker again said he didn't like it but then he said it was really good and he tried really hard to finish before we had to leave for school. I had Emie try Parkers leftovers...nope not a winner for her. I am really starting to think she hates berries. she won't eat fruit unless it is a banana or apple. I don't know what to do with her! Anyway try these they are so good!

Fruit Kabob

2009-08-11T07:27:00.000-07:00

So I am a mother who believes that serving a healthy breakfast is important to my kids learning! It also can't hurt my kids to have an extra advantage! Anyway I also think that breakfast can get really old really fast with all the ordinary breakfast foods out there (ex. pancakes, waffles, oatmeal, and eggs). So I went on line to find recipes that my kids would enjoy. Here is the fruit kabob that I made this morning.

I served it with strawberry yogurt. They loved it they dipped the fruit in the yogurt or just ate it off the stick. Well since they enjoyed it I thought I would share what I learned. I just cut up some apples, strawberries and bananas and got some grapes and put them on the sticks, Yep it is that simple have fun! Hopefully I can give out some more recipes as I try them out on my kids!

And The Winner Is...

2009-08-10T15:30:00.001-07:00

Monica!!!

Yep, Justin decided to build himself a HDTV antenna!!

Isn't that awesome!

This is my disclaimer...please pay no attention to the condition of the room in this picture! It was a very busy day!

Let's Play!

2009-08-10T10:38:00.000-07:00

Ok everyone we are going to play the game...

What is it?

to play this game all you have to do is look at the picture below and

then leave a comment with your guess as to what the object in the photo is!

I am sorry to say that there will be no prize given for a correct answer!

Think of it this way it is just a fun game!

I will post the answering picture here in a few hours, days, months at some point!

SIGH.....

2009-07-14T17:22:00.001-07:00

I really need to update my blog! Maybe someone here knows why my computer won't upload my pictures to blogger? It does fine with facebook? It just takes 10 or so minutes to decide that the pictures can't upload. I am frusterated, I have some fun things to share and I can't without using 2 different computers. The saying "computers will make things easier" isn't somthing I believe right now! So until I have the time to sit down and upload tons of pictures and then sit down again and write about them I guess this will have to be my update!

Post 101

2009-06-19T12:22:00.000-07:00

Well I totally messed up! I was going to do something grand for my 100th post but alas I wasn't paying attention so Emie in Charge was my 100th entry! So I guess I will hold off on my grand idea until my 150th post or maybe the 200th!

Here is what has been happening lately.

On Wednesday morning all the kids went to the dentist to get their teeth checked and cleaned. All the kids even Emie sat in the chair for the Dentist, they all did great not a single cavity to be seen! On Wednesday night Emie was playing with a ball on the trampoline when she decided to push it through the springs. When the ball finally fell through she fell too and hit her mouth on the trampoline bar! The perfect trip to the dentist was marred by this fall because she hit her mouth so hard it cut through her gums and possibly damaged her permanent tooth. Off to the dentist again...Thursday afternoon. The dentist took X-rays of her front tooth to see if there was any damage to the tooth or root...YEA nothing is wrong everything should turn out just fine. She will just have some discoloration of the baby tooth.

That isn't the best picture but she didn't want me doing that in the first place!

So Thursday was full of errands and dentist visits but the most exciting thing that happened was we got a new garage door. The old one was so broken and so with this years tax return we decided to go ahead and get a new door! Here are the before and after pictures! The before one is the one with Emie!

Just one more home improvement made, Check! We didn't want windows again for a couple of reasons...1st because the windows made the old door break in the first place, ask Justin to explain if you HAVE to know why. 2nd the windows make it easy for a robber to break the glass pull the cord and lift the door open. 3rd Because I can park the car in the garage and no one will be able to tell if I am there or not...the Schwan's man, or a solicitor.

Then while waiting for the door to be installed Emie decided to put on this Buzz Lightyear costume.

The thing about this costume is that it is made for Parker's Build-a-Bear. Yea she thought it looked fun and put it on. I was thinking if she doesn't grow at all during the year she could wear it for Halloween! Just kidding, I just thought it was pretty funny though!

Emie in Charge...

2009-05-29T17:14:00.000-07:00

Of our days and our nights!

Here is Emie waiting so patiently for the kids to come back to me at the pool.

She was ready to go home and take a nap, and didn't like all the waiting. She is so funny, when she wants to call someone she pinches her cheeks instead of making a megaphone with her hands and when she is looking for someone and it is bright she puts her little hand to her forehead like she has a huge headache. Emie is such a saving grace I am so happy to have her!

It's Official!

2009-05-24T16:38:00.000-07:00

Well today was my last official day of being in the Relief Society Presidency!
Yep after just 11 months of serving as the R.S. 2nd Counselor I was released. We got a new bishopric a few Sunday's ago and the new bishop happened to be the R.S. Presidents husband so by direction of the 1st presidency he needed to release her and the existing presidency! So here I am with no commitments and summer vacation before me. I am already buggin Justin as to what to do now! If I didn't feel like crap I would say lets go camping tonight with my sister and her family but I don't feel like getting sicker if I go camping! Anyway the new R.S. left some holes in other organizations so someone said to me today not to get to lazy...yea right I am not going to church for a month and I will then avoid any callings that would come my way!
So as my last official act as 2nd counselor I have a meeting on tuesday morning where I give all the good stuff away and fill and emtpy corner of my house with junk!

Michelle's Piano Recital

2009-05-14T10:13:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday afternoon Michelle had her 2nd piano recital. She did a great job, I however didn't check the amount of room left on the camera card so I only got about a minute of her song! I hope that you get the jist of her performance!

Very Discouraged

2009-05-10T20:53:00.000-07:00

So I was looking at my blog today and the layout was hurting my eyes...I think it was just to ugly to have anymore so I went for something a little more easy on the eyes:) Anyway I also put a little piece of encouragement for my own piece of mind here on my blog! I hope it helps me know what my importance on this earth is. This weekend was a huge challenge for me and Justin with our kiddo's and I need a few positive affirmations in my life...I hope I start thinking more lovingly about my kids! Here's to a new week and only 2 weeks until school is out!
OH by the way...Blue October's new CD "Approaching Normal" is excellent. Justin got me this CD for Mother's Day along with a new shirt and skirt. It has been a great day filled with breakfast in bed, gifts, church, naps, Sabrina the Teenage Witch (don't make fun I loved that series), and Dinner! Thanks family for the great Mother's Day!

P.S. I did get the clean version of the CD!

Emie...

2009-05-05T12:01:00.000-07:00

Emie cracks me up everyday and a lot, so here are a few pictures of Emie that got me laughing!

She got herself dressed this morning...Notice the shoes and she put her own dress(nightgown) on!

This Sunday Morning she let us put her arms into her tights, and Loved it!

Who couldn't laugh at this face!

Tooth brushing hobo?

Monica posted this pic awhile ago but I thought I would get it on my own blog. Again she dressed herself!

Busy, Busy, Busy!

2009-05-05T11:52:00.000-07:00

SO the last few week Justin and I have been really busy trying to get our ugly little brown house looking better...So here are a couple of pictures...one before and a couple of not so finished products! We went through so many paint colors finally Justin said we are not going to buy anymore samples the next color we get will be in the five gallons! Yikes so we went back to H.D. and the guy talked us into one more sample so we wouldn't ruin a 5 gallon bucket of $100 paint! We got home painted it on and loved it...back to H.D. we go and this was what we got!

Now we have the rest of the house to do at least the front is almost done...these pictures were taken before Justin finished most of the trim! Like I said we have been busy!

P.S. I didn't put the before picture up I gotta find it...maybe later!

Big Trouble!

2009-05-04T18:11:00.000-07:00

So today was going well...I had my day care kiddo's come and they were playing with my kids just fine, I was sorting the MOUNTIAN of laundry-that has accumulated for a couple of weeks-and getting the dishes done. A very productive morning! Well about 10:00a.m. I got a call from a friend that had something for me and she was going to drop it off, sure no problem. I like this person we always have a great visit. At about 10:30 said friend showed up and dropped off my bag of stuff, while we were talking Emie decided to climb onto the back of the couch and get a toy full of water and drink it, I of course got her down and told her "NO"! And if you know Emie this doesn't mean anything! Anyway I walked my friend out to the car and talked a little longer when I came back in Emie and my D.C. kid PJ both decided to play in the water and flood my counter tops! AAAHHH! both of them were in trouble time out for both of you!!!!! Here is Emie in time out she is so cute and very good while she is in there!

Earlier I went to write a check to give to again said friend, and found this

YEP, a check written out to Michelle by Michelle in the amount of $10...for babysitting, with even an attempt at forging my signature! What? I don't think so! Does she really think she will be getting paid to babysit when she is old enough for Justin and I to take off whenever we want to! UMMM the answer is NO, she will be our sitting slave.

Easter Weekend:)

2009-04-14T11:10:00.000-07:00

Alright, wow talk about your blog catch up! BTW, I blogged about the month of March but had already started it and saved it as a draft soo it is under the post about the wax story! OK now on with it Megan!

This Easter weekend we got to go over to Safford to spend our time with my family! We stayed with Monica and Jeff and had a lot of fun that night! Saturday morning we woke up not so early and headed out to Klondye for our 2nd Cousins reunion. They decided to invite our grandma and the rest of the Crockett side their reunion! How nice they fed us and gave all the kids a Easter basket LOADED with lots of fun stuff. They live out on a ranch and had lots of outdoors for the kids to roam without us worrying about them too much! They had an Easter egg hunt for the kids and then it happened...we spotted the cute little puppies and that was it, the kids were hooked! Well so was I, it turns out they were to be given away as Easter gifts! So what did I do? Yea momentary lapse of brain function and said "I want the brown one!" Oh he is so cute! So here he is!

I think we will name him Max, that is the name we actually all think would work! The kids are so excited, he is a great puppy. It's sort-of funny how he doesn't like being outside, although that is where he lives. He probably never went indoors before now and now he is hooked! Every time the door opens he runs to get there before it closes!

So the Easter Bunny visited in a way that has changed our lives completely, thanks to my impulse reaction to hearing that something is "free"!

Sunday was a good one, Church, food and family! We went to church with Jeff and the Kids (Monica got sick) then headed over to my mom's house where she fed us Ham and lots of Jello's. Then visited until it was time to leave! It was a great day and good to be able to see everyone!

General Conference!

2009-04-14T10:49:00.000-07:00

Wasn't Conference great this year?...Yea that was a question! We did have G.C. on all day on Saturday and watched the first session while making breakfast and getting ready for the day, but my kids just like to make things like listening very difficult! Anyway Saturday after the morning session Justin decided to move a wall so painting the house would be easier and to make the look of the house nicer too! Anyway so we missed the second session on Saturday and Justin missed the Priesthood session that night due to needing groceries at Sam's Club! At this point we are really glad that we get the Ensign! On Sunday morning, it was a bit more calm, we let the kids play so we could get something out of conference. When the first session was done we called the kids into the room and explained to them that they were going to watch the second session with us quietly and revently. During the break this is how our kids entertained themselves!

Yep they got every shirt in their dressers and layered themselves up to the point that when they hit each other it didn't hurt! What? Why? I don't get it! Oh well they were playing quietly! That went on until conference started again and we called them in to watch! Or Sleep? Yea I think everyone fell asleep but Eli, I say I think because I did fall asleep! Man are we glad we get 2 copies of the Ensign! I always like General Conference the spirit that is in my home and the love that is shared! Hopefully in 6 months we get a little more out of it!

Umm...just for fun!

2009-04-05T21:10:00.000-07:00

Ok first of all I tried to post something earlier but blogger wouldn't upload my photos so I will go back to that post tomorrow (hopefully) and fill everyone in for the month of March...totally busy! I don't see April being so busy though so maybe I can get more things posted! Yea let's just see!

But I loved this e-mail when I got it years ago and I think of it often so I am posting it here so when I do think of it I can just easily find it and read it!

WAX is Not your Friend CAUTION: Be prepared to laugh out loud...I laughed till I almost cried as I could just see this happening! ( And feel it too! ) All hair removal methods have tricked women with their promises of easy, painless removal - The epilady, scissors, razors, Nair and now...the wax. My night began as any other normal weeknight. Come home, fix dinner, play with the kids. I then had the thought that would ring painfully in my mind for the next few hours: "Maybe I should pull the waxing kit out of the medicine cabinet." So I headed to the site of my demise: the bathroom. It was one of those "cold wax" kits. No melting a clump of hot wax, you just rub the strips together in your hand, they get warm and you peel them apart and press them to your leg (or wherever else) and you pull the hair right off. No muss, no fuss. How hard can it be? I mean, I'm not a genius, but I am mechanically inclined enough to figure this out.
(YA THINK!?!) So I pull one of the thin strips out. Its two strips facing each other stuck together. Instead of rubbing them together, my genius kicks in so I get out the hair dryer and heat it to 1000 degrees. ("Cold wax," yeah...right!) I lay the strip across my thigh. Hold the skin around it tight and pull. It works! OK, so it wasn't the best feeling, but it wasn't too bad. I can do this!
Hair removal no longer eludes me! I am She-rah, fighter of all wayward body hair and maker of smooth skin extraordinaire. With my next wax strip I move north. After checking on the kids, I sneak back into the bathroom, for the ultimate hair fighting championship. I drop my panties and place one foot on the toilet. Using the same procedure, I apply the one strip across the right side of my bikini line, covering the right half of my *hoo-hoo* and stretching down to the inside of my butt cheek .
(Yes, it was a long strip)
I inhale deeply and brace myself....RRRRIIIPPP!!!! I'm blind!!! Blinded from pain!!!!....OH MY GOD!!!!!!!!!
Vision returning, I notice that I've only managed to pull off half the strip. CRAP!!! Another deep breath and RRIIPP!!
Everything is swirly and spotted.
I think may pass out...must stay conscious..
Do I hear crashing drums???
Breathe, breathe...OK, back to normal. I want to see my trophy - a wax covered strip, the one that has caused me so much pain, with my hairy pelt sticking to it. I want to revel in the glory that is my triumph over body hair. I hold up the strip! There's no hair on it.
Where is the hair??? WHERE IS THE WAX??? Slowly I ease my head down, foot still perched on the toilet. I see the hair. The hair that should be on the strip. I touch. I am touching wax.
CRAP!
I run my fingers over the most sensitive part of my body, which is now covered in cold wax and matted hair. Then I make the next BIG mistake...remember my foot is still propped up on the toilet? I know I need to do something. So I put my foot down. DANG!!!!!!!!
I hear the slamming of a cell door. "hoo-hoo*? Sealed shut! Butt?? Sealed shut!
I penguin walk around the bathroom trying to figure out what to do and think to myself "Please don't let me get the urge to poop. My head may pop off!"
What can I do to melt the wax? Hot water!! Hot water melts wax!!! I'll run the hottest water I can stand into the bathtub, get in, immerse the wax-covered bits and the wax should melt and I can gently wipe it off, right???
WRONG!!!!!!! I get in the tub - the water is slightly hotter than that used to torture prisoners of war or sterilize surgical equipment - I sit. Now, the only thing worse than having your nether regions glued together is having them glued together and then glued to the bottom of the tub...in scalding hot water. Which, by the way, doesn't melt cold wax. So, now I'm stuck to the bottom of the tub as though I had cement-epoxied myself to the porcelain!! God bless the man who had convinced me a few months ago to have a phone put in the bathroom!!!!! I call my friend, thinking surely she has waxed before and has some secret of how to get me undone. It's a very good conversation starter - "So, my butt and who-ha are glued together to the bottom of the tub!" There is a slight pause. She doesn't know any secret tricks for removal but she does try to hide her laughter from me. She wants to know exactly where the wax is located, "Are we talking cheeks or who-ha?" She's laughing out loud by now...I can hear her. I give her the rundown and she suggests I call the number on the side of the box. YEAH!!!!! Right!! I should be the joke of someone else's night. While we go through various solutions. I resort to scraping the wax off with a razor. Nothing feels better then to have your girlie goodies covered in hot wax, glued shut, stuck to the tub in super hot water and then dry-shaving the sticky wax off!! By now the brain is not working, dignity has taken a major hike and I'm pretty sure I'm going to need Post-Traumatic Stress counseling for this event. My friend is still talking with me when I finally see my saving grace....the lotion they give you to remove the excess wax. What do I really have to lose at this point?
I rub some on and OH MY GOD!!!!!!! The scream probably woke the kids and scared the dickens out of my friend. It's sooo painful, but I really don't care.
"IT WORKS!! It works!!" I get a hearty congratulation from my friend and she hangs up.
I successfully remove the remainder of the wax and then notice to my grief and despair....THE HAIR IS STILL THERE.......ALL OF IT!!!!!!!!!! So I recklessly shave it off. Heck, I'm numb by now. Nothing hurts. I could have amputated my own leg at this point. Next week I'm going to try hair color...... Now thats funny ........ Notttttttttt

March Madness!

2009-04-05T12:29:00.000-07:00

March was, as I predicted, very busy. I started the month out with 2 day care kiddo's. PJ (3) gets to come on Monday's and Tuesday's for a few hours. And Jack (5 months) gets to come on Monday's, Tuesday's and Thursday's all day. This has kept me pretty busy so far, hardly time to blog let alone read others blogs. On March 5 Justin and I decided to celebrate our 12 year anniversary a little early! Yep 12 years who would have thought...look how young we are almost babies! We went up to scottsdale for the night before Justin had surgery. Oh did I forget to mention that. Yea Justin was getting shoulder surgery on March 6th that is why we dicided to celebrate early. We spent the night in scottsdale so we could be closer to the hospital (so I didn't have to wake up at 3:30 basically). Anyway, the hotel was so nice this is what I said to Justin as we walked in..."wow a hotel with the stairs on the inside" yea I know we are such hicks! It was so nice the guy at the counter as we checked in told us we should try out the "heated" swimking pool. Oh I didn't even think of that so we headed off to Marshall's to find swimming apperal. While we were out we dicided to eat out at Red Robin. Wow that was good! I liked the Guacamole Burger and Justin enjoyed the Peppercorn Burger. After finding the hospital (so I wouldn't get lost in the morning) we headed back to the hotel where we enjoyed the Hot Tub. The pool was heated but not enough for us Arizona Natives. The next morning we headed off the the hospital where I sat for a few hours and Justin had his surgery! It didn't last for too long and the pictures were really gross, I thought about posting those but I changed my mind! I also took pictures of him before he went in but with my cell phone, which stopped working about 3 weeks ago! Anyway the month was just busy with day care and Relief Society! We had our R.S Birthday Celebration. It was a Fiesta with a Pinata and everything! I heard several times it was good hopefully I can continue the good and not anything bad!
On March 25th Parker turned 5
He was soooo excited, he kept telling people days before the 25th I am five today is my birthday. He got a ton of loot and wants to spend all day building houses with his lego's, and going to the store to spend his money! He is so cute and smart. He will start Kindergarten next year and with any luck he will have all day, but if not I guess I will survive another half day year!

After we got the cement done in February I decided that the house couldn't go any longer without a coat of paint so we went though so may paint samples and finally picked one that worked and came home and found out it was a very very lime green color. YIKES! back to home depot we go with a different color and wow what a difference. The lime green would have fit into our neighborhood just fine but we really don't want the missionaries to tract us out on a monthly basis! So here is a before picture we have a LHOT of work to do!
Spring Break was this month too. We didn't do much because of the fact that my kids are rotten. But we did make it over to Safford to visit cousins and Grandma's and Grandad! The kids were so sure they could potty train Emie too. They didn't have much luck but tried. Emie is her own person no one will tell her what to do!
The month was so busy that I can't really remember what exactly what happened and when it happened so this is just what I can remember! I hope you didn't laugh to hard when you saw our wedding picture!

Cause There's Nothing Else To Do!

2009-03-06T05:52:00.000-08:00

So February has been an exciting and busy and insane month...it started out slow so I thought good I will be able to post things as they happen, well it didn't work out that well so here I am updating the whole month in one post!

Before it got real busy I was tired of looking at my ugly kitchen so I thought what can I do to make it look better or at least not as ugly so I found this desk on craigslist and brought it home...boy does it make the kitchen not so cluttered! That for me was a nice thing just because now it doesn't seem so make my house so blah! What do you think? The before picture doesn't even show the whole mess so in your head picture another table full of other crap!

Justin doesn't really believe in Valentines day but he always brings me flowers to let me know he loves me...Yea I know, I was surprised too. Anyway this is a picture of the flowers and the little craft Parker made for me in school! So cute!

On the weekend of Presidents day Justin had a long weekend and a new gun so we decided to make a trip to Safford. I had different reasons to go, the Gila Valley Temple grounds dedication was taking place on Feb 14th. It also was my nephews 4th birthday...So lots of reasons to take off! These are pictures of the kids digging in the dirt where the temple is going to be located. Actually I think they said where they were digging is where the Celestial room will be, so exciting. We actually put some dirt in a container and collected some rock for the memory!

After the digging fun, we decided to go visit "Old" Grandma. My Grandma is the best but she can't do things the way she used to so when we are there we always try to go over and visit. She loves to see the kids and see how big they are getting, she also loves it when Justin comes to visit so she can have a political discussion and be entertained by his opinions. Not that they are different but that she gets him to talk. Anyway I have a picture of Michelle with "Old" Grandad in this same outfit so I thought it fitting to get a picture of Emie with "Old" Grandma in the same outfit. I don't know why it's just me!

P.S. Grandma never looks at a camera so this is as close as she will come...with her eyes closed!

I didn't go shooting with Justin so I don't have any pictures of that but boy was he excited to get a few rounds through it. And I also didn't get any pictures of Bronson's birthday party but that was a fun evening. Poor kid had to wait all day for his party and he was so excited about getting batteries! Check it out here.

That brings us to our house...what can I say about our house. It's not the biggest, or the prettiest, or anything else. We knew it would be a work in progress, so this last week was a week of progress. We have wanted to cement in our side yard so that we would have a place to park the white car, and make the weeds go away. Plus we also got the step out the back door done so now officially our addition is DONE! We also got a patio done so we can put a Bar-Be-Que grill out there and never use it there either;). So here are the before and after pictures of the side yard and the while getting it done pictures of the back patio. I thought Kevin and Tressa would appreciate these photos of Kevin hard at work!

This picture is the before, Justin worked really hard to get it to this point. But this picture makes it look like Parker worked really hard on getting the dirt moved. He was this dirty after picking up a piece of wood to make a bike ramp. Finally they are using their heads on how to have "boy fun", thanks to Skyler!This Shirt is still dirty I am shouting it as we speak!

The kids all wanted to check out what was going on this is before we gave in and let them outside! This is a cute picture of (left to right) Madelyn, Kaitlyn, Emie, and Bronson.

That is what happened after we let the kids go outside. No Problem Kevin said and fixed it.

This is the after, doesn't it look great?

On February 27th Emie Turned the BIG 2

She is so cute! And not at all in the Terrible 2's (not yet). She is such a great baby a great way to end a large family, I hear having 4 kids makes you a large family now, I donno? Anyway Emie makes me laugh everyday her personality is fantastic and hilarious, she is so pretty and such a little princess. She loves her mom and dad and sister and brothers yep both of them! She is a tiny little thing and has all of us wrapped around her little finger. As the youngest should! I can't wait for her to get older and to see her personality grow! I am so grateful for her, I am grateful for my Heavenly Father for asking us to have her and I am so happy I listened! Here are some pictures of her on her Birthday... She is trying to hold out her I'm 2 fingers so cute!
Look at the AWESOME cake I made!

She wouldn't blow her candles out, I guess she figured that blowing Bronson's candles out on his birthday counted for hers too!

She saw this little chair at Wal-Mart and loved it so I thought why not I will go ahead and get this for her. She loves it still (I was a little worried) and gets upset when someone else wants to sit in it or touches it!

See she loves it and is so happy! And it is useful for naps too, so comfortable!

March is already starting off in a rush, maybe the next time you hear from me will be in another month! I will try to be better we will see with the time ever slows down!

Catching up!

2009-03-01T19:50:00.000-08:00

Wow has this month flown by...There is so much to blog about hopefully I can get all the pictures uploaded to my computer soon so I can tell you all how much fun we had this month! So stay tuned and I will get going on this stuff!

Malcolm in the Middle

2009-02-13T08:55:00.000-08:00

So I was sick and tired of my kids the other day, they kept fighting and yelling and being kids I guess. Anyway I was sick of it so I said "that's it come in here, kneel down, and put your hands on you head"! Let me tell you...that is the best form of punishment yet! The kids kept whining and saying how uncomfortable it was for them! Both Justin and I were like "good, it is supposed to be hard, not fun you guys were being rude and bad"! Anyway I got the idea off the show Malcolm in the Middle, good show I would watch it if you guys have some naughty kiddos'!

By the way Emie was joining in on the "fun" while the kids were in trouble. She is hilarious!

Emie the Klutz

2009-02-06T22:36:00.001-08:00

Well we all know Emie is a klutz...she finds trouble. She gets stuck in chairs, and gets black eyes before pictures and falls all the time. She is just trying to keep up with "the others" as I will refer to them in this post.

Well tonight while Emie was playing with a couple of "the others" she fell off the couch and hit her head pretty hard on the coffee table. My first thought was what happened what were you guys doing. When I went in to investigate "the others" were no where to be found? Umm...Hello what happened in here! We don't know we weren't in there. So off course I go in there and pick Emie up and see the GASH on her forehead. Oh CRAP! Justin!

Justin comes out we lay Emie on the table to get a good look and see this:

(WARNING: graphic pictures coming)

Yep a pretty bad gash in her head! Justin and I don't know where an Urgent Care is we haven't needed to know this so we get onto the BCBS website to see !Luckily Justin's brother Devon was here and he was kind enough to stay with "the others" while we took Emie on over to UC.

The wait wasn't so bad...Emie made a friend with a very nice woman and she had the nurses and Dr. wrapped around her fingers she was a brave little thing! She got 3 stitches in her head and a lot of love and stickers!

This is her messing around on the bed right

before the Dr. came in. P.S. she almost fell

off this bed!

This is right before the stitches!

all bundled up so she couldn't make it harder!

This is right after everything was all done!

I always knew I would be visiting the ER or UC I never thought it would be for Emie or Michelle I honestly always thought Parker would be "the one" you know to give me white hair when I am only 32 I guess in a way he has!! Anyway Emie is doing great now, I will be waking her in a couple of hours to check for signs of a concussion which means I won't get tons of sleep, which also means that "the others" better be really good tomorrow!

P.S. I tried to get a big space between the warning and the first picture but blogger kept fixing "my Mistake" sorry !

January in a Nut Shell

2009-02-02T06:38:00.000-08:00

WOW is it February already...I can't believe that I haven't really had a ton to post for the whole month of January. Stuff happened but nothing to bloggable so now that it is all over I will recap for you! School started again and my life went back to normal. I like the schedule that the school year sets for us I do wish that it wasn't so early in the morning though!

This month has been busy I guess when you look back on the month. We got to go to my new nephew's (baby Drew) baby blessing so we got to see a lot of family that weekend. Then nothing nothing nothing. and then Monica and Jeff came down to visit the next weekend which was fun for all...the kids loving playing with their cousins. The next weekend along with a few friend threw a baby shower for a good friend in the ward. She never found out what she was having so we waited until little Jack was born. That was a fun day filled with good friends. Then stared all the Birthday fun...the 19th was my little niece's birthday, the 21st was my brother-in-law's birthday the 26th is Justin's birthday and the 28th is my dad's birthday and my parent-in-laws anniversary...what a couple of weeks. In between all that my new car decided to die

so I had to call for a tow and get it fixed. It turns out it was just the battery but since the car is under warenty we decided to take advantage of that. Well since the car was out I got to walk to school and home 6 times that day. yep about a mile each way and I get to go to the school 3 times a day so I walked 6 miles that day. It was fun. If that possible!

Parker finally calmed down enough in karate to earn the next belt up. He was so proud of his achievment. So were me and Justin!

I think that is all...I hope!

So for this post January in a nut shell it worked if I decided to blog all this one at a time you would never read my blog again!

SnOw Fun!

2008-12-29T14:55:00.000-08:00

On Saturday Justin's Brother Jeremy called to invite us to go sleding in the snow that was dumped on the "high country". It was a so much fun. My kids are such whimps and well Emie just about slept the whole time we were there.
Parker started to cry about 2 minutes after he got out of the car (not kidding).

Then it was Eli crying because his hands were too cold, and yes, Michelle joined them in the crying game and was in the car at some point too. I decided that my kids would probably hate living in Utah! While one or two of the kids were playing I thought of taking some photos I slid down the little hill on a tub to get a few pictures of the kids comming down! I had fun! Justin had fun to we both like the snow I however just like to visit the snow! I don't know how I would do living in it all the time! Anyway... back to the subject of the snow fun, Emie finally woke up and we got her all layed up and took her down the hill a couple of times on the last run down she was pretty upset that her hands were so cold so Justin stuffed her arms inside his jacket. She really didn't like that but put up with it! At about 5:00 we all diecided that it was time to go get back to the valley...with a stop in Payson for dinner we headed home.

Christmas Memories!

2008-12-29T14:01:00.000-08:00

Emie opening her present She stopped and I thought she was done Then I saw her just cleaning up after herself!

Good Baby!

Today Christmas is just a memory. The decorations are all put away and the kids are all "board" and I am 5 pounds heavier. Christmas was such a fun day this year. We got to sleep in till about 8:00 when I decided I wanted to take a shower before letting the kids open their gifts, so I showered then Justin did and after I showered I wanted to get the turkey dinner roasting before it was to late to get it cooking so I took a few minutes to clean and prepare our dinner so around 9:00 we let the kids come out and start opening their gifts. The first ones they opened were their clothes...you know underwear, and socks. They were getting a little disappointed when their next presents were opened their faces said it all...This is going to be great! And it was...Justin got a few things he needed and I got a few things I wanted it was a great day I am sure that the kids enjoyed themselves.

Just for the Post of it!

2008-12-23T08:09:00.000-08:00

Well it has been a while since I have posted anything, and I am getting tired of seeing the same thing over and over. There has been a ton of stuff going on but the blogger in me was on vacation because I didn't take a single picture of anything! My family came over for our Christmas exchange on Saturday and not a single photo to remember it by:( Then on Sunday we went to Jeremy's house and had our Christmas "program" and still no pictures. What is wrong with me? So hopefully I will get some charity from my family and get a few e-mails soon otherwise I will have no memories of these events. We all know if it isn't on paper/computer, Megan can't remember anything!

So everyone have a MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Parker is so Funny!

2008-12-11T07:19:00.000-08:00

I have never done this before. I always think it is cute on other peoples blogs but have never had a really funny thing to post. Well this morning Parker said the funniest thing so I thought I would tell you all about it!

After dropping the older kids off at school I was flipping through the channels and I stopped to watch some of the "Today Show" they were of course talking about Obama. (or should I say kissing his ass). But...anyway... Parker turned to me and said:

"I don't like Obama, I like Jesus better!"

I laughed and said "we all do Parker"

He does say some funny things but this one is by far one of the funniest!

Birthday # 9

2008-12-08T05:56:00.000-08:00

Michelle is 9 Today!

She came to us 9 years ago although it seems like 30...:)

She is a great girl, fun, loving, spiritual, accepting, helpful, crazy, smart, beautiful, and emotional!

We love her and hope she has a great birthday!

These are just some pictures of her through the years!

I always forget how cute they were back when they were just little!

Introducing...Once Again The Dancing Elf's

2008-11-19T08:43:00.001-08:00

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHOUT OUT!!!

2008-11-18T08:42:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday To You!

Happy Birthday Dear "Mitch" (in quotes)

Happy Birthday TOOOOOO YOOOUUUU!!!

CHA CHA CHA

Happy 3...thst

(oops should I have kept that a secret)

"Mitch" We love ya'

THERE ARE NO WORDS...............

2008-11-14T06:00:00.000-08:00

BUT...Everyone Else is Reading it

2008-11-10T06:03:00.001-08:00

So after months of kicking and screaming I decided to just go ahead and jump on in and join the

"Twilight"

bandwagon! Yep...I gave in and I followed in ALL of my friends footsteps and borrowed the book. I am still only reading the first novel and still only on like the 7th chapter but so far it has been alright to read. I don't have a ton of time (I have discovered) that I can actually sit and read the book. So I try to read a chapter a day right before I go to sleep! I do indulge myself and read 2 chapters before Justin makes me go to sleep. I hope I can continue to read them and I continue to enjoy it!

Halloween Fun!

2008-11-03T05:58:00.000-08:00

This Halloween was a ton of fun! I always have more fun when I work hard on the kids costumes. Michelle wanted to be Princess Leia I immediately thought what? why? and how? then of course Eli says he wants to be either Iron Man or Bumblebee (transformer) What? How? I finally took him and talked him into Iron Man, It saw his costume at wal-mart and thought it would be easy to copy! Parker doesn't really care so I told Michelle to talk him into being Luke Skywalker that is easy! I mostly had the stuff. Then Monica brought down a cute clown costume for Emie months ago I have had what I was going to do with her for months...easy! Well it came down to October 29th that was the date of our ward's trunk of treat. That day I stayed home all day and put together all the costumes. Thanks to goodwill and wal-mart! Justin was a huge help too he actually made the pattern for the Princess Leia costume. I hate sewing but I actually got through the sewing parts with minimal cursing! Yea thumbs up! On Wednesday night we had fun at the trunk or treat and got lots of candy. The next day Parker had his class party where they painted pumpkins, frosted cookies, played games, and had a costume parade. That is always cute for the kiddos. Then it was Friday the actual day of Halloween, when did this holiday become a week long? In my opinion the only good thing about Halloween is that the next day it is November! Anyway we had all day to prepare and be ready for the evening but we didn't get anything done and the kids didn't get to go Trick or Treating until like 6:30 So here are the Pictures related to the three days of Halloween Fun! Enjoy I actually did this year!

Pumpkin Carving...and Picture Overload

2008-10-31T06:59:00.000-07:00

It's Halloween time and that means pumpkin carving. I am not a big fan of carving pumpkins I don't like all the gook and yuck and messy kids! However, this year we were invited to carve pumpkins with a few friends! It was so much fun, the kids had a blast Parker carved his pumpkin for at least 45 minutes without speaking a word. Now his pumpkin turned out a little smashed but he loved it and is sooo proud of it you will see it later in the bombardment of photos. Michelle decided to go at it herself and carved a real cute (if they can be cute) cat! She did it all herself and did a great job! Eli and Jennifer (the pregnant girl) carved a bat sitting on a pumpkin Eli really enjoyed helping Jennifer out and I think Jennifer liked having the help too. Adam (the teenager in the pictures) carved the hardest pumpkin, a hollow tree. It had a ton of little cuts but it turned out really good. I wanted our pumpkin to look cute, which I got a lot of heat about, because Halloween is supposed to be scary. I get scared easily so I went the cute route. So ours is the one with the BOO teeth, Justin carved it because I don't like to! Terry (the man in blue) carved the cutest little Casper it turned out really good. Beth (the lady in black) carved a vampire biting a woman's neck, in honor of her daughter loving the Twilight books. Matt ( the man in Yellow) I think took the cake when he came with a pattern of Sarah Palin's face to carve into his pumpkin, it looked really good too! We had so much fun, and the kids loved doing it and I don't think Justin hated it as much because he got to talk with adults while carving! Karrie doesn't like to carve pumpkins either but she loves the seeds so she collected all the seeds, I think she will have enough to last a while! I got to do what I do best and that would be to sit around and chat with friends and take pictures. Karrie didn't like that I wasn't in any pic's though so she talked me into at least one picture with Justin and Emie. Emie and Eli's pumpkins were so funny, I bought some potato head type of decorations for a couple of the kids just in case we didn't want all of the pumpkins to be carved, well Eli helped Emie with hers and they were too cute. All in all this was a great night now it is time to start planning for next year!

Mommy Daughter Movie!

2008-10-27T07:05:00.001-07:00

This post is long over due! Last weekend High School Musical 3 came to a theater near me. So I thought "what would a good mom do?", Along with my sister telling me I really should take Michelle to see the movie. I broke down and went to see the movie. It was really a good movie to complete the story. I enjoyed it and I am pretty sure Michelle did too. It was the first movie since Star Wars 1 that I had to wait in line to get into the theater.

While we were walking to the back of the line we passed this group of little girls who all had shirts that said "I "Heart" Troy" it was really cute, I am sure that their mothers (who had the same shirts on) got them made for them but I thought it would have been fun to have that for Michelle and maybe for me too! It was a lot of fun and Michelle actually used these words..."You're the Best!"... WOW I never thought she would say that but it was nice to hear! Well I think the movie did pretty good opening weekend...

High School Musical 3: Senior Year BV $42,000,000!

I think that would be considered a good opening weekend!

As for the movie I liked it. I thought in the earlier movies, Zach and Vanessa didn't seem like they had any kind of romantic chemistry, Finally they did, it seemed like they liked each other in this movie.

The movie made me think back many many years to when I was graduating from H.S. and I remembered how much fun it was to be with friends and laugh and have fun. The kind of fun you can have when you are that age anyway!!

So it was a fun movie for me to watch as much as it was for Michelle. I would definitely recommend the movie to see. Michelle has already requested it for a Christmas present but I informed her it probably will have to be next year.

We Had A Visitor!

2008-10-25T16:13:00.000-07:00

Last night a knock came at the door and the kids exclaimed it's...

Jack Sparrow!

Yep us and Jack Sparrow are like this ... well...we are close! He dropped in for a visit before crashing a late night party last night. The kids were so excited to see him and all of his Weapons. We got some pretty good pictures with him before he had to head off. here are the rest!

Thanks Captian for comming to see us!

Karate Testing

2008-10-24T22:03:00.000-07:00

Eli tested again in karate tonight! He has been doing a great job we are very proud of him! here are a few pictures of him at his testing and getting his new "Gold or Yellow (not orange) belt" as Justin so kindly corrected me tonight when they got home!

GREAT JOB ELI! KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!

Crazy Hair Day!

2008-10-23T08:19:00.000-07:00

This week has been "Red Ribbon Week" at school. This is the week they talk to the kids about not don't drugs and why and all that we have all been through it so you know what I am talking about! Well so everyday has been something fun to do like wear team jerseys or wear all red that type of "spirit week" stuff. Anyway, today is crazy hair day and this is what we came up with!

Eli wanted lots of little ponies in his hair and I was thinking are you kidding me that will never work your hair is like 1/2 an inch long. We this morning I thought I should at least try and look it worked. Eli, however, got all angry and stuff when he realized that having pony tails hurts. I made him go to school with his hair like this anyway he asked for it!

Michelle is making a weird face in this picture? I don't know why maybe to show how weird she is??? Anyway she didn't really have a "plan" for her hair today so I went ahead and just put pony tails all over and then combined the top ones into one big one with a wild pony tail holder. Michelle was very happy with what she got!

Wow talk about your roll reversals what am I going to do if my 7 year old son starts his period? Just Kidding!