My Three Sons

Preston turns 7!

2010-02-26T17:03:00.004-07:00

Mr. Preston is now a big 7 year old. I can't believe it! He is getting so big.

For Preston's birthday this year he wanted to go Ice Skating. So we decided to take the boys on Friday night. But when we got there, the place was so packed. So we talked talked the boys into coming back the next day and we would be the first in line and then we would have longer to skate. So we ended up going to watch Papa and his group sing and a pizza place. Then we took Preston to the mall and let him pick out his own clothes and shoes for his birthday. He thought that was awesome. Then we came home and had cake and ice cream.

Then on Saturday we went Ice Skating. Which I should have taken pictures, but I didn't, but it was pretty darn funny. The boys couldn't stay up on their skates for anything. By the end they got the hang of it. But a lot of time was spent on the their behinds. :)

I also surprised Preston at school on his birthday with balloons and a treat. Mason and I delivered them to his classroom and he thought that was pretty cool. His teacher is in our ward so I talked to her the Sunday before to make sure she was ok with it. So she knew I was coming and let me take pictures.

I think he had a great birthday. No big party this year. But he got to have several fun things, so that was ok with him.

Here are some things that Preston is and loves at 7.

He is in 1st grade and absolutely loves it. He loves his teacher and is learning so much.

He now loves to read and is reading really well. He has improved so much this year.

He does not like waking up in the morning and wants to take 3o minute showers every morning. It's a constant battle.

He loves clothes and shoes. And always wants to be stylish.

He loves to run and is always trying to run faster and faster.

He has the most contageous laugh and smile. When he's smiling and laughing, you can't help yourself, you have to laugh too.

He is getting much better at doing his chores. He is now unloading the dishwasher among other things. And has done really well at keeping his room clean.

He doesn't like red sauce for anything, spaghetti, etc. He does however, love white sauce, aka Alfredo. :)

He does like onions, peppers, which the other boys can't stand. And we can get him to try just about any kind of food at least once.

He loves to jump rope. I mean LOVE LOVES! He can do it forever and just keeps jumping and jumping. Little energizer bunny.

He is most of all the sweetest, and best person to get a hug from.

We love you Preston!!!

Update on Sarah

2009-12-23T16:32:00.004-07:00

Just a quick update on my friend Sarah.

Her husband Matt posted this on Facebook today.

Jane Mendenhall was born on Sunday December 22nd at 7:01 pm. She weighed in at 1lb 9oz and was 13 1/2 inches long. She is beautiful girl and we hope and pray she will have a successful stay at the NICU.

I talked to Matt on IM today and he said tomorrow is Jane's big day where she has Heart and Brain Scans. So again, if you have a minute, please add Sarah and Jane to your prayers.

Thanks and Merry Christmas!

Reflections

2009-12-13T21:55:00.005-07:00

This week I got a call from the school and they told me that Tyson's reflections project won! He was so excited. That means that it is now on to the region to represent his school.

We are so proud of him. He colored a picture and the theme was Beautiful Is...
As soon as we get it back I will have to take some pictures and post them here. We went to his school on Friday where they had an assembly and recognized all the winners. Tyson got a balloon, a certificate, and a baggy with goodies and also a little gumball machine.

Good Job Tyson!!!

Please Pray for Sarah

2009-12-10T11:07:00.003-07:00

Hi Everyone,
Or at least the few of you who still read this blog. :)

I need a huge favor!!!!

I have the most amazing friend Sarah, we met as sophomores in high school when I moved down the street from her. We have been friends ever since. And her husband Matt, who was also my wonderful friend from High School. ( they married eachother, how cute is that )

Well Sarah is in the hospital on bed rest. She is 23 weeks pregnant and is trying to hold that baby girl in. She has VERY difficult pregnancies. She has lost another little girl, when she was born at 22 (i think) weeks. She has two little darlings at home, a darling daughter and and her little boy who was born at 24 weeks, he is happy and healthy. They have really struggled to get their family here.

She needs our prayers. Anything past 24 to 25 weeks is ideal and that is what they are trying for. She's hoping to be in the hospital for Christmas this year, because that means the baby hasn't come yet. She is in good spirits, but needs as many prayers and we can give.

Please if you have a minute today, tomorrow, the next day, next week, keep her and her family in your prayers. They are the most amazing people you will ever meet. Please pass it around to anyone you know.

Thanks!!

Cheryl

Fondue Night

2009-12-03T10:03:00.009-07:00

I think I may be back to blogging. I'm not going to hold my breath though. We'll see if it sticks. :) And I'm not going back. Maybe later, but for today, I'm just looking forward.

Well last night we did or annual "Decorate the Tree, Have Chocolate Fondue and watch The Forgotten Carols" night. It was yummy. We actually added cheese fondue to the line up, Tyler made it and it was awesome! That will be happening every year from now on.

We also started a new tradition last night. We usually give our kids their Christmas PJ's on Christmas Eve. But we decided to do it last night. I thought we would have a revolt on our hands, but the boys actually loved the idea and they now get to enjoy their Christmas PJ's all month. Tyler and I even got some. :)

We set up the camera to get a picture of all of us and one of them actually turned out so I think it's going to be our Christmas card this year. Now that would be amazing. It's only the 3rd of Dec and I may just get Christmas cards out this year. Shocker!!!

Enjoy some picture. I actually took some! I'm on a roll!

Starting the decorating

Mason getting it just right

Tyson adding the tinsel

All the boys

The final decorated tree

Starting the chocolate fondue. Yum!

Tyson, definitely excited about the chocolate ;)

Mason dipping ore0s

Everyone enjoying the chocolate. Shoveling may be a better term.

The boys getting ready to open their pj's, sorry no pic of the pj's. Waiting to get the cards out.

Sneak peek of Sophie! We couldn't forget her pj's. Too darn cute.

Our Uncle Leo

2009-11-30T19:53:00.008-07:00

I haven't posted in a very long time. But I need to post this.

We are all sad today because my wonderful Uncle Leo passed away yesterday.

I found this article on the local online newspaper site for his area.
http://www.noozhawk.com/local_news/article/113009_lionel_g._leo_trujillo_1933-2009/
It lists all of the amazing things he accomplished during his life.

But for us he was our amazing and wonderful uncle. Even though he lived in California, my boys were Uncle Leo fans.

He was a kind, sweet man who was gentle, soft spoken and generous. I have memories of visiting him and my Aunt Eileen (my dad's sister) in California when we would go on vacation there. He would show us the neighbors dog and how it wasn't scary to walk by the fence. (It was a Doberman Pinscher and we were always scared to walk by) Silly the memories you remember.
He would show us his telescope and we would look out to see Catalina Island from their back yard.

More recently he has sent my boys really cool silver dollars from his collection. With hand written notes to them. Treasures.

The most amazing treasure he sent to Mason. He found out Mason's love for stuffed animals. He was the councilman in Santa Maria California. He raised money for the new library there. And to help raise money he had a bear that he used to help. Library Bear. Well, he sent that bear to Mason. Mason loved it.That will be a treasure that we will always keep.

We will miss you Uncle Leo. We love you.

The D Word

2009-06-28T19:39:00.006-06:00

We have one child that is always saying swear words. Preston. He just whips them out into conversation like they are a normal part of our families vocabulary.

Well today Tyler told me this funny story about Mr. P-Dog.

All of the boys were helping Tyler clean up some tools and stuff. Preston started rubbing his neck and this was the conversation that happened.

Preston: oh, my damn neck is killing me.

Tyler looked over at Tyson and his eyes about bugged out of his head. (I don't think Tyson has said a swear word in his life)

Tyler tried not to laugh.

Tyler: oh really, your neck is hurting?

Preston: Yeah, my damn neck is really hurting.

Tyler: Hey Preston, did yo know that is a bad word?

Preston: What is?

Tyler: Damn.

Preston: It is? I had no idea.

Tyler: yeah you probably shouldn't say it anymore.

Preston: Ok.

What a funny kid. I don't know where he gets these things.
I think he must get it from his grandmas. ;)

New Favorite!

2009-06-04T16:12:00.005-06:00

I absolutely love the Tayl0r Sw1ft song, L0ve St0ry. I saw this on someone elses blog and had to have it here. It's amazing. It's arranged by J0hn Schmidt.

(it might take a second to load)

Enjoy!

A New Day

2009-05-15T10:54:00.005-06:00

My life has taken a new turn. One that was expected in a way, but not entirely unwelcome, but definitely scary.

Last week, the President of my company called and left a voicemail that he needed to talk to me. From the minute I heard his voice, I knew what he was going to talk to me about. He rarely calls. Which is unusual for a boss, but not this one. He's a very passive, let you do what you do, talk once a week in business meeting conference call, otherwise, leave me alone to do my work, kind of boss.

When I called him back he said he had some bad news for me. Since I was already expecting what he was about to say, I handled it pretty well. The company has been going down for quite some time and I was just trying to hold on as long as possible. I've made it through several layoffs and downsizing. But being in my business meetings every week, I could tell that the company wasn't doing so well. He felt really bad, he said it's hard to lay someone off when they are such an asset to the company and they just don't have the money.

I hung up the phone, took a deep breath. Almost a sigh of relief in a way. I went to out to finish helping the kids with their breakfast and kept going. When I had a small break, I went and found the phone and called Tyler. He took it much harder than I did. He immediately went to into the how are we going to survive mode. I've been at a place, where I've been wondering the last 6 months. How am I going to survive much longer doing this. So he was much more upset than me. He said he would finish what he was doing and then he was coming home for the day.

We were supposed to have friends over for dinner, but we decided that we wouldn't be the best hosts that night and we opted for not sharing our gloom with anyone else that night.

I tried to call my mom. She couldn't get a signal on her phone until the next afternoon.

We don't know what or where we are going from here. I do know that, I haven't had headaches since that day. I've been much happier. My house actually got cleaned the other day. I've been able to think a little clearer. I've been able to sleep a little better. Even though I have a new stress, my shoulders don't feel so heavy.

I've also noticed, that you create habits that are hard to break when you work from home for 3 years. I'm a little lost with what to do. I find myself on my computer and then have to remind myself that I can do whatever I want. I got to go run errands with my mom yesterday and I didn't have to stress that I was missing something, or needed to be back for a conference call or make up hours because I was taking time in the day to go somewhere.

We haven't said anything to the kids. They haven't really noticed, since Tysons at school all day, he thinks everything is just the same. I don't want to stress him out.

We are starting a new company, and hopefully I can get it up and running so I don't have to go back full time. But for now, while I am getting paid my severance and vacation pay, I'm enjoying not working.

Even though it is quite stressful trying to figure out what we are going to do. Cutting back every non-essential spending. My days are flying by. My week has flown by. Life is going to hit us pretty soon, and hard, but I'm hopeful that everything will work out. I have a wonderful husband and 3 amazing boys. And family and friends and the Lord. And I know we will be ok. I will be ok. I don't know how yet, but we will survive. And our New Day will hopefully bring us more joy then yesterday. I'm counting on it.

Sophie has a new best friend

2009-05-01T08:24:00.005-06:00

Sophie's new best friend is here for 2 weeks while my mom is in New York. Her name is Chloe and she is adorable. They play all day and then cuddle up next to each other and sleep. They share their food and bones and kisses.

(Sophie is really ragged looking. She got spayed last week and she wasn't supposed to have a bath. It is definitely time though)

It's Shorts Time

2009-04-21T11:18:00.004-06:00

It's finally time for the kids to wear shorts. And Mason is so happy. I told him he could go to the basement and finally bring up the summer basket that we put down there at the end of the season last year.

He is running around the house singing at the top of his lungs.

It's Shorts Time, It's Shorts Day!

He would wear shorts in the middle of winter. And that's why I had to put them in the basement. But now he is so excited to be reunited with his summer clothes. Funny Kid.

Bragging Rights or is it pride?.. what ever it is, I'm beaming!

2009-03-27T14:17:00.005-06:00

I don't like bragging. And this might sound like it is, but mostly, I'm just so dang proud.

Of Tyson.

He came home from school the other day. He'd missed a couple days from being sick and he said there was some papers in his cubby. His Teacher explained what they were to him and he was so excited to tell us when he got home.

At the beginning of the year they do the I0wa Testing. Well they just got the results back and Tyson got a certificate.
This is what it says.

The Utah State Board of Education
Certificate of Outstanding Performance
on the I0wa Tests
Tyson
Grade 3
is awarded this certificate in recognition of scoring in the top 10 percent nationally.
Your area(s) of outstanding performance:

Science
Total Composite

We are proud and the best part, was that he was so proud of himself. We didn't even know he was a science guy, but we now know who is going to support us when we get old. :)

Great Job Tyson!

Bean Museum

2009-03-19T17:34:00.004-06:00

My friend Sarah and I met up at the Bean Museum today. It was her little boy Luke's 3rd birthday. Preston didn't have Kindergarten and it wasn't preschool day for Mason. So we had the 4 kids and the ran around and had a great time.
We ran into Mason's preschool teacher with one of her older classes there. She invited us to join her in class with the reptile show. And the kids loved it. They got to pet a snake and a turtle and learn lots of new facts.

I remembered as we were leaving that I had my camera in my purse, so I snapped some pics.

Cute Kids.

Major Catch Up

2009-03-19T15:32:00.001-06:00

We've been busy and I'm once again doing a major catch up.

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No More Snow!

2009-03-09T17:21:00.001-06:00

We were just enjoying the sunshine when this happened.

The only reason I took pictures of this was my mom was in Vegas and when she left it was nice and sunny outside and I thought she just wouldn't believe it. So I sent her an email.

I AM SO READY FOR SPRING!!!!

Sophie's New Do

2009-03-04T17:08:00.003-07:00

Sophie's hair was getting so wispy and the puppy hair was very fine and was she was getting some major knots. So I took her and had her shaved.

When I went to pick her up, I couldn't stop laughing. It felt like I was taking home a different dog. I know when her hair grows back out, it will be much easier to take care of. But the most surprising thing was that she is spotted. She looks like a little dalmation. Her paws and tummy are all spotted. She has much more black that was hiding under all of that white puppy hair.

They put a bandanna on her too so she looks cute in her new do.

Preston's Birthday Party

2009-02-28T16:37:00.004-07:00

Preston has been telling us he was having a birthday party with his friends since he went to his friend's party back in October. He's never had a friend party, so we couldn't disappoint. I asked him who he wanted to invite and he started naming a ton of kids. We had to limit it to 5 friends and then his 2 brothers and his cousin Parker. I wanted to leave who was invited up to him. I am so paranoid about not hurting anyone's feelings, so if I was in charge, I would invite everyone, even though he doesn't play with them. But we needed to keep the numbers down, for sanity and for the budget. So we let him decide.

So we looked over his school class photo and pointed to the ones that HAD to come. It ended up being 6 or 7. I figured there was a chance that they all wouldn't come, so we would probably end up with the 5. That's about all I could handle. So we send the invites for the Saturday after his birthday.

He was really excited. We didn't really have anything planned. We just knew that that many boys would probably just run around in the basement and scream and that's basically what they did. We were going to do Pizza and cake and ice cream and who knows what else. I know. We are so prepared.

Well no one RSVP'd (is that not something people do anymore?) So I was stressing that no one was going to show up. Tyler and I had a plan that if no one came, we would take him to the movies. But they started showing up and everyone but 2 kids showed up, so we had the perfect amount.

We were going to do L C Pizza and Tyler went to pick up the pizza and decided to do homemade pizzas. I was a little upset about it, but it ended up being great and it took up time. Yeah. The kids got to pick their own toppings and then wait and hang out while they cooked.

All the boys had a blast in the basement. After the pizza, they all went back down to the basement and Tyler took over the entertainment and they did scooter races. Then we did cake and ice cream and opened presents. They all had so much energy and it was a little crazy. So when parents started picking up their kids, we were very happy that it turned out great and very happy it was over. We handed them goodie bags on their way out, phew, we survived!

(the incredibles 'jello' was a present from one of the kids. It was really cool and we served it up while the kids were waiting for their pizza's to cook)

Preston turns 6!

2009-02-26T15:24:00.008-07:00

Mr. Preston turned 6! I'm still in shock.

He is getting so darn big. His birthday was on a Thursday, so we had family over for chocolate cake with white frosting. His request. He was very excited to see his cousins and open presents. From the moment he woke up, he said that dad was getting him a skateboard for his birthday. I didn't think he would, but I thought I'd call Tyler and tell him what Preston had told me. Tyler said, little stinker, I never told him that, but that's what I'm giving him. :)

I went to the Parks and Rec office and signed him up for Soccer. And bought the soccer shirt. That was my present for him. We decided to go less on his birthday this year since we were going to let him have his first friend party on Saturday.

When Tyler came home from work, he made Preston his dinner request. Chicken Alfredo. He loves the white sauce. Preston was so excited to have something for dinner that he loves. All of the family started coming over and he was playing and running around and then we started having him open presents. Tyler disappeared into the back room and took forever to come out. When he came out he had a card for Preston. It was so cute, he had made up a scavenger hunt for his present and all of the kids started running around the house finding clues. And the final clue led him to the front porch and there was the SKATEBOARD!!! Wahoo, Preston was so excited. He couldn't find a helmet fast enough and try it out. He is surprisingly very coordinated.

Tyler also bought him some of his own hair putty and deodorant spray. Oh my boys smell good now.

We spent the rest of the evening watching Preston with his skateboard and then he went downstairs and tried it out on the concrete. He was in heaven. He had already mastered a trick that his cousin Jake taught him. When it was bed time, he said he couldn't wait to wake up and try his skateboard again.

Concert

2009-02-22T15:47:00.003-07:00

About a year and half ago, I bought tickets to the Celine Di0n concert on the early sale. We have been waiting and when the concert was rescheduled in November for February, I was a little ticked. Mostly because we had already been waiting a year and also because it was rescheduled for a Sunday. So we pretty much decided we weren't going to go. Well I put it on the back shelf in my brain and about a week before the concert, my mom reminded me about it. Because she had tickets and my two sisters had bought tickets too. Our seats were no where near them, but anyway, well, it was too late to sell the tickets, and to top it all off, Tyler had just booked a flight to CA to go look at a press. And he would be gone. So, I decided that I'd waited to long and since Tyler was going to CA with his dad, I called my MIL, Kris, and to see if she wanted to go with me. She does so much for us and I thought we deserved a night out. So we decided that we would go.

It turned out to be a great night. I missed sharing it with Tyler, but Kris and I had a great time, our seats were perfect and the concert was amazing!

Here are a few pictures that I took.

First Sign of the Sun

2009-02-21T16:10:00.007-07:00

We finally saw a little bit of the sun and it was wonderful. After school the boys got out the bikes and scooters and dusted them off and had a blast outside. We took Sophie out on the leash and it was her first time outside without snow. She was loving it.

The next day it was even nicer so we went over to my mom's back yard and let Sophie run her little heart out. She wore herself right out. She was so funny. She would chase me from one end of the grass to the other. And then she would run up and down this little strip of snow, back and forth, chasing and pouncing the snow. So cute. She even tried to take a dip in the river where it had some water from melted snow. I kept having to grab her. Tyson wanted to see if she could swim, but I wasn't ready for that, especially since the water was a little gross and very cold.
She finally crashed on the rocks, they must have been warm.
The boys even had fun soacking up the sun. They had tons of fun. Too bad the sun didn't last very long.

Sophie in the Sun

2009-02-20T16:29:00.002-07:00

Sophie has discovered the sun during the day and she loves to sleep in it.

She is a big time daytime sleeper. She knows that we are busy and I'm working, so she sleeps a lot during the day. At around 5 or 6 she wakes up and is hyper and plays until about 9 or 10 at night when she snoozes again. She is my little office companion during the day and the other day she was snoozin' away on the floor and I had to take some pictures.

It's Off

2009-02-20T09:27:00.011-07:00

Mason got his cast off on Wednesday. We went up to the fracture clinic and walked in and sat down. I'd been prepping Mason for the "saw" for a few days now. And when we sat down we could hear a faint saw and the scream of a little girl. He got a little nervous.

They took us back to the room and then the nurse came to take Mason to get X-rays. He was so brave. He went by himself, twice, to get them.

Then the doctor came in with her lap top and said everything looks AWESOME and he's grown new bone over the breaks and you can't even see them anymore. So he's done. Wahoo.

He just can swing on anything or jump off furniture and be extra careful for the next 4 weeks.
YIKES!

Then the crew came in with the saw. They were very sweet, two girls. She asked him if he knew what it was, he said, yep a saw. Then she said it kind of sounds like a vacuum. Well that was the right word to use. Mason's love for vacuum's is great. So she flipped the switch and then showed him that the blade wasn't scary and it wouldn't hurt him. She even touched the blade with her hand.

She started by making a line with the blade and then she went to the cutting. She kept asking if he was ok. And not only was he ok, he was giggling. He thought it was so cool. He just wanted to make sure that she didn't cut through his name.

It was off in a few minutes and revealed his arm. Flakey, gross stinky arm. She said to be very careful with the skin and also straightening it quickly, since it's been bent for so long. His eyes got so big when he saw his arm. It was really cute. He was so excited.

They let us keep the cast and Mason was so excited, he told the nurses, he was going to put it on his dresser. We'll have to see about that.

I totally spaced my camera at the doctors office. Dang it.

That night, Tyler finally got to cut his hair and he took a really long shower.

Tyler bought him a new shirt for being brave and he wore it yesterday. I was doing his hair and he was looking in the mirror and I asked him what he thought with his new hair cut and his cast off.

He said. "I think I look STINKIN' cute!"

And I agree! :)

Introducing the NEW AND CLEAN Mason!!!

And all of his NEW MOVES without the cast!

Tomorrow's the day

2009-02-17T14:50:00.004-07:00

Mason gets his cast off. I can't believe it's already been 4 weeks.

These are the things we are so excited for. You don't realize how much you take the little things for granted until you have to go back and do them again.

Mason is so excited to be able to buckle himself in his booster seat again.

We are all excited for Mason to be able to shower, his entire body. It's getting pretty smelly.

Mason needs a hair cut so bad, but he won't let Tyler cut his hair until his cast is off. So yeah, tomorrow he will not look like an orphan.

He will be able to put his own clothes on again, and take them off all by himself, especially socks shirts.

Put his own coat on by himself.

He will be able to get on the potty himself.

He will be able to wash his hands by himself.

Eat by himself, he's had problems when something requires two hands.

Carry things without dropping them.

We are all excited to not have Mason bonk us or hit us, accidentally or on purpose with that hard cast. It's painful.

And Ride his bike. Even though he hasn't been able to do this because of the snow, not the arm. But he is so excited to ride it when we get home tomorrow. :)

This cast hasn't stopped Mason from running and jumping and playing like he usually does. He still goes 100 miles an hour and does flips and bounds everywhere. I'm actually worried a little bit about getting the cast off. I'm really hoping it's completely healed because at least with the cast on, I know he won't break his arm.

Lucky 11

2009-02-04T09:49:00.009-07:00

I heard the best song today. I immediately got on iTunes and bought it.

Lucky

by Jason Mraz.

It says, "Lucky I'm in love with my best friend. Lucky to have been where I have been......... Lucky we are in love in every way."

That's how I feel today.

I feel not only lucky but blessed to have spent the last 11 years of marriage with my best friend.

Tyler, I love you, you are my best friend and you are the love of my life. Thank you for being what I've needed for the last 11 years. You are an incredible person and you amaze me every day.
I love you!
Happy Anniversary!

Here's the song so you can enjoy it too along with two of my other favorite songs.

Mr. Fix It

2009-01-31T21:05:00.004-07:00

My husband is seriously Mr. Fix-it. He can fix anything and everything. Even if he's never done it before he can figure it out. This amazes me.

Our washer broke on Tuesday. It just stopped spinning. And of course I was way behind on laundry, which I always am. But it's bad when you are way behind and then you don't have a washer for 5 days. We were all on our last pair of unders and we were being taken over by dirty laundry.

Tyler has been really busy with work so he didn't have a chance to start to figure out how to fix it until this morning. I did a little research on the internet and gave him several things it could be.

He's never fixed a washer before. Never taken one apart.

But he jumped in and started taking things apart. Reading stuff on the internet. I was off to buy new parts. And he had it put back together. He turned it on and it still didn't work. Ah crap.

So we thought it was the transmission. Like the most expensive part. So we called and the part wasn't in stock and we had to order it and it wouldn't be in until Friday. Seriously.
So I took a couple loads next door to my moms. I could have done that all week, but like I said, we've been busy.

I left to the grocery store with my mom and as we were leaving to come home, Tyler called and said he thought he figured out what was wrong and it's not the transmission. So we headed out for more parts.

When I got home, he took the whole thing apart again, and replaced the part and put it all back together. I walked in the laundry room as he was pushing it back into the wall. He said, well, I guess we'll have to wait until the transmission comes in. NOOOOO!!!

Then he turned it on and it WORKS!!! Tricker.

He's amazing. We would have had to pay several hundred dollars to get that fixed. With parts and labor, but instead, we have a new clutch, drive coupling and some other part. And it's in their washing my billions of loads right now for under a hundred bucks.

Thanks Tyler. I love my Mr. Fix it!

It's Blue, of course!

2009-01-24T20:58:00.011-07:00

We made an appointment up at Primary Childrens Hospital to have them re X-Ray Mason's arm and tell us what the plan was. The doctors in the ER said that it was most likely going to need surgery because of large break below his elbow, but they weren't sure.
So we went up on Wednesday to the Fracture Clinic.

The waiting room was packed with little kids with casts and slings and wrapped limbs. At least we weren't the only ones.

We waited and they took us back to a room. The nurse looked at the X-Rays that we had taken in the ER and said that we would definitely need more X-Rays and definitely need a cast and it would definitely be above the elbow. She wouldn't say whether of not she thought he would need surgery. She would leave that up to the doctor. But while she was in there, she let Mason pick out his favorite color for the cast.

He picked Blue, Of course. His favorite color.

Then he got new X-rays. They didn't even have to undo his wrapped arm. And they didn't even hurt.

Mason wasn't worried about going up to the hospital and one of the main reasons was because his arm has been itching SO bad, so I told him that they would take of the wrap and he would get to scratch his arm. He was very excited for that.

The doctor lady and two guys in scrubs walked in the room and my first thought was that they were coming to tell us that he needed surgery and they wanted to do it now.
Then she took her computer out and showed us that the bones hadn't moved so they were healing good and he would be great. We probably looked a little stunned. We clarified, no surgery? And she said nope. In adults they always have to do surgery if they break the bone below the elbow, but little kids heal just fine.

PHEWWWWW!!! Thank goodness! I'm so glad we went to Primary's!

So the two guys started taking Mason's soft cast off and I asked them if they could give him a minute to scratch his arm. They were really cool. The held his arm for him and let him scratch away! AHHHH!!!! Relief!

Then the put this sock on his arm and started wrapping it with the blue cast. It was cool, I've never seen a cast being put on.

He was mesmerized by what they were doing and he loved the color. They were done and then he told them thanks!

He has to have it on for 4 weeks. Not bad.

That was EASY!

After that we went to Grandma and Papa's to pick up the other boys and show off the Blue Cast. Grandma M asked if she could be the first one to sign his cast. He was a little confused. Grandma asked what he wanted her to say, should she say she loves him, etc. He said, Why don't you just put your name. :)
Then Tyson, Preston and Papa signed it. Then he wanted his name on it and then I wrote on it.

He was so proud of his new Blue cast.

Two Little Monkey's

2009-01-16T09:55:00.009-07:00

Two little monkey's swinging from the bunk bed.

One slipped off and broke his arm.

Mom drove fast to the ER and the doctor said.

Mason no more swinging from the bed.

Ok that's a bad song, but it was going through my head the whole time I was at the Hospital with Mason yesterday after he slipped from the bunk bed and broke his arm.

With 3 boys, it was only a matter of time that we would be in the emergency room with a broken bone.

This is what happened. Play by Play!

Yesterday Preston and a Mason were supposed to be in their room cleaning it before lunch. I was working and had just stood up and started walking to their room to tell them that it was time for lunch. When I heard a very loud thud and then a very loud scream. I opened the door and Preston was frantic and Mason was on the floor screaming.

Preston kept yelling, 'he fell off the bed!' Now, the boys have the very tall bunk beds from Ikea. The one that has the desk under it, only Mason's bed is under it, not a desk. This was my biggest fear when getting these beds. We have a very strict rule that the beds are only for sleeping, not playing. Well apparently, that rule doesn't apply on a Thursday, when mom isn't watching and they are supposed to be cleaning. Go figure.

Anyway, I kept asking Preston where he fell from, and he pointed to the top. My heart sank.
Mason was flaling on the floor and I tried to get him to calm down and tell me where it hurt. He said his arm and was holding his left arm. I laid him back for a second and felt his arm. I was frantic because if he fell that far, then I thought for sure, his arm wasn't going to be the only injury. He said nothing else hurt and so I grabbed the dog, and ran to my room to get my cell phone and put her in her bed and then dialed Tyler. I ran back to Mason and scooped him up and took him to my bed. I told Tyler that I thought Mason broke his arm. He said, k, I'll meet you at the ER.

Mason kept screaming and then asked where we were going. And Preston told him the Hospital. That freaked him out even more. He kept saying he didn't want a shot. I told him we just had to go have a doctor look at his arm. He was ok with that.

I called my mom and said, I'm sending Preston over, Mason fell off the bed and I think he's broken his arm, I'm meeting Tyler at the ER. Bye. And I told Preston to leave to Grandmas. Once again, I love having my mom live next door.

I had to put my contacts in and get dressed. I'd been up working early and hadn't gotten ready for the day yet. Of course.

So I was running around, making sure I had everything. I grabbed a Tylenol and scooped up Mason and ran to the car. I put him in his car seat. He kept asking me to hold him. I told him as soon as we got there I would hold him.

Then we were off. I reached back and handed him the Tylenol and told him to take it. I knew it probably wouldn't help much, but it made us both feel better. I was actually pretty calm. I kept talking to him and trying to calm him down. He would calm down for a minute and then tell me it hurt Super Bad. He doesn't use Super Bad very often so I knew it hurt. Then he said, Are we going to get back in time for lunch. :)

We arrived at the ER and Tyler was waiting, he was at lunch with his Dad just a few minutes away. I pulled up and Tyler took him in to check in.

I found a parking spot and then went in. He was just sitting on Tyler's lap, not crying, just a little sad look on his face. He was answering questions. And the nurses kept saying now, he fell off the bed. He's not crying, ususally kids are screaming if they arm is broken. So then I started feeling like I had overreacted. They asked him where it hurt and he pointed to his wrist.

Then they took us back to a room. No waiting, amazing!

He was still acting pretty normal. And we turned on a TV for him and he started watching the TV. Again, I thought, well, maybe I overreacted.

Then the guy came to wheel him to the Xray room. And they brought him a little stuffed bear, which he loved. He's getting quite the collection of hospital bears.

Tyler and I were cringing. The Xray's are the worst with broken arms. They have to twist the arm and it's painful.

He was being so brave. I held him on my lap and the got his arm posititioned. He flinched a little bit when the placed his arm where they wanted it. And then they took the first position. Then they had to bend his arm and twist it the other way. He was getting a little upset, and I just had to ask him what he wanted to name his bear. He totally stopped and said, um, Brown Bear.

And then the Xrays were done. The Xray technicians were amazed when the pictures came up on the screen and there were 2 possible 3 very good breaks.

He was still just sitting there, holding his bear. He even gave the guy a high five.

We went back into the room and we waited for the doctor to come in. He watched TV and chatted with us.

A lady in Tyler's moms ward is a Volunteer and she kept coming in and checking on us which was nice.

The doctor came in after he had looked at the Xrays. He showed us that he had broken a bone just below the elbo and then one break in the wrist and possibly another little one in the wrist.

He checked him everywhere else and the only thing Mason wouldn't do was wiggle his fingers.

He said we needed to wait for the bone specialist to look at the pics and see what the plan of action was. Apparently that was going to take awhile because there were a bunch of car accidents and open fractures he had to set in surgery first. So we would be there for a bit.

They thought at that point was that he was probably going to need surgery. And Mason was STARVING. And they wouldn't let us give him anything if he had to have surgery. So we waited.

He was starting to complain a little and was saying that he wanted to go home. That was his way of saying his arm was hurting. So we asked for some pain meds. They said they could give him a shot right now (which made him freak!), or they would have to order special one from the pharmacy since I already gave him Tylenol. It took quite a bit to get them and he was starting to get pretty upset. They came in and said, they could give him the shot. I asked him, and he was definitely fine waiting for one that wasn't a shot.

They finally got there with the meds and then tried to give them to him and they were nasty. So they said they could flavor it. Again I asked if he wanted the shot, or the liquid. He drank that down so fast.

Within about 15 minutes, he was getting loopy, his eyes were closing and he started itching his face. We asked the nurse if that was normal. She said sometime kids itch their nose when they get this narcotic. Well within a few minutes he was scratching his entire body. His eyes were closed, but he was scratching all over. The pain was gone, that was good. Then they came in and said he was probably having and allergic reaction and they would need to give him some Benedryl.

So we waited for that too. And he kept saying in a cute slurred voice that he was itchy. I called my mom to see how Preston was and to make sure that Tyson made it over there after school. She told me this cute story about Preston.
When Preston got to my moms house yesterday, my mom said he was pretty upset. He told her this.
Mason is my very very very best brother. And I love him so much. I've taught him everything I know. I was teaching him how to swing on the bed correctly and he did it backwards, that's why he fell.

I relayed the story to Tyler and in Mason's drugged stupor, he said, No I didn't, I didn't do it backwards, I did it right and I just slipped.

That actually made me feel better. I thought he was up on top of the bed and fell off. That could have been so much worse.

Anyway, the doctor came in and said that the bone doctor looked at the Xrays and said that they were such clean breaks, at this point, he's not convinced he needs surgery. So he wanted to send us home with a splint and then come back in a week for more Xrays and see how it is healing.

So they sent the splint team in. Tyler was again cringing and said this is so painful because they have to set the bone to splint it. Tyler's had enough breaks to know this first hand. We were really nervous.

They came in and we asked about setting the bone. He said, that the doctor said we didn't need to but that this would still be really painful.

They started working on his arm and he was more worried about his itching. He even lifted up his arm for them and they got it all done without one peep out of him. Pheww!

After that, we were ok to leave as soon as the itching stopped or improved. They didn't want us to leave and have his throat close. We told this to Mason so after a little while he said ok, I'm done itching. Oh wait, one more, oh just one more. We were even enlisted in reaching the spots he couldn't get too. I felt so bad, but at least he wasn't in pain.

So after about 2 hours of him itching and scratching. They said he would probably be fine and just to watch him closely. It would just have to wear off.

So we headed out and Mason wanted McD0nalds. So we went and got him a kids meal, and made it to the pharmacy to fill his prescription before he realized that he wanted to eat. He was really groggy. He ate while I ran in to the store.
We went to Grandmas and she'd made us dinner and we sat him on the couch. And he finally fell asleep and got a little break from the itching.

He was so brave and hasn't cried once since. He was really sleepy so he slept most of the time once we got home. Grandma and Papa M came over and brought him a card, a bear and a lolli pop. He was so groggy, he could barely open his eyes. Then he kind of snapped awake, then if no one talked to him for a few minutes he would go back to sleep.

He got more medicine and we made him a bed on the floor in our room. He slept really good all night. He had to get up to go to the bathroom twice, but he was just like, mom I need help. He went in, went, and went back to sleep. I was up all night watching him, making sure he wouldn't roll over on to his arm. He didn't have any medicine since 1:00 in the morning. Finally at 7, I woke him up and gave him some Ibuprofen. And then at 8:30 some Tylenol. He doesn't want the hard stuff with c0deine. So he's being brave on just those two.

We made him a cool bed on top of the couch with a twin blow up mattress. He kept sinking into the couch. So now he is high up and loves it.

He is such a strong kid. Tyler and I and all of the doctors and nurses were shocked at how brave he was. I think he has a very high pain tolerance. We were so proud of him. Even though what happened was a result of breaking the rules. I think he's learned why we have this rule and we asked him if he will ever swing on the bed again. He said a definite No. We'll see. :)

Here's some pictures of our adventure.

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Not Feeling Good

2009-01-15T11:42:00.007-07:00

Mason wasn't feeling good on Sunday night so he was in the tub.

Tyler was trying to cheer him up with some of this fun new molding foam soap I got from B&Body.

We finally got a smile out of him and he had fun playing.

Miss Sophie

2009-01-12T14:08:00.015-07:00

We are having so much fun with our new puppy Sophie. She is a Bichon Frise/Shih Tzu. And she is 11 weeks old.
These are some things that we already love about her.

• The boys love watching and playing with her. She has their number already. She knows if she bites their pant legs, or their toes, they will run away and then she chases them. She loves this game.
• She is so funny to watch and very entertaining. She loves to play with her toys and throw them down and then jump on them. She cracks us up.
• She is already a Mommy's (me) girl. She has to know where I am at all times. She knows when I walk in the room. And she follows me everywhere. If she is on the other side of the house and I call her. She will come running as fast as she can.
• She loves everyone she comes in contact with and acts like they are her long lost friend she hasn't seen in ages. Her whole body gets excited and she has to lick them all over. She bites their toes until they pick her up.

• She is so dang cute when she is sleepy. You can move her anywhere and hold her and she won't even open her eyes. She loves to snuggle next to me when she is tired. And if I hold her she will curl up in a ball and fall asleep on me. Even if she was just running around 2 minutes before. We keep teasing that she has Narcolepsy. She can be running and playing and then i will pick her up and hold her and she will fall asleep. She loves to sleep on her back, it's really cute.
• She loves all of the boys. When they come home from school she goes running to the front door and wants them to love on her. And when Tyler gets home from work she does the same thing.
• She loves her bed. We keep her in our play pen and she loves to sleep in there. She can see out, but the boys can't get to her.
• She watches TV. It's so funny. If the TV is on, she will turn and face it and then her head will go from side to side. Like she is taking it all in.• She is getting really good at going potty out in her "potty palace" that Tyler built for her. We are training her to ring a doorbell to go outside and she is starting to catch on. And she is finally sleeping all through the night and waiting til I take her out in the morning to do her business. So nice. She will even go back to bed until we are ready to wake up.
• She already knows to sit. She will sit to get a toy, get her food, get picked up out of her bed and just to get anything she wants from you. She knows how to use this one already.
There are so many other things. It's amazing what a little puppy can do for a family. She's adorable and we love her already. Even if she does bite our toes or have the occasional accident. She's just a cutie.

Happy 2009!!

2009-01-01T16:15:00.001-07:00

New Years turned out to be really fun this year.
We did a very casual night with munchies and family. We played games that Tracie and Austin put together. We laughed so HARD!!! They were really fun.

We also had Guitar Hero and Halo set up in the basement and movies set up in the office for the kids.

At about 2 minutes to midnight we turned off Mama Mia, and those that were playing games all came in and we watched the ball drop.

Then....

Tyler got his MASSIVE fireworks out and took them out front. They were amazing and up in the sky and slightly illegal. :)

As soon as it ended he was walking in side and a Policeman pulled up in front of our house. I was on the phone with my sister Michelle and I was freaking! I was looking out the window.
The policeman said, Are you guys done? And Tyler said Yes, and he said, That was a great show. Happy New Year! Tyler told him thanks and walked inside. PHEWWWW!!!

So we ended the night there with the thought that this year will hopefully be something like our night. Good Times, Good Friends and Family, And some good Luck.

Here's to a great 2009.

Christmas Day!

2008-12-25T09:00:00.003-07:00

Christmas Morning came very early. Not only did we stay up late, we couldn't sleep and then Tyson came in at 6:30. We told him to go back to sleep. We had to wait until everyone got there to start opening presents. Tyler's whole family (the ones in town) wanted to come over for Christmas morning.

I had to run over to my moms to help her with her morning pills at 7:40. So I went over and when I came back all 3 of the boys were in my bed anxiously waiting Grandma, Papa and Taylor and Trent and Jessica to come. HayLee and Justin were staying at our house.

We kept them on our bed until we got our surprise (that was staying with Kris and Alan) in the basement. I was a nervous wreck for some reason.

Then we let the boys out. We were all crammed in our front room. The smallest room, but that's where we have our tree. So we set up benches and our long ottoman out for everyone to sit on and we started opening presents. It was fun to have everyone there to open presents.

We didn't rush, even though Kris could hear the surprise in the basement. But the noise level was just high enough that no one else could hear, except Mocha, HayLee and Justin's dog.

After we were all done, Tyler stood up and said. Oh no, I totally forgot about a present that I hid in the basement a couple months ago. Let me go grab it. He grabbed the same box that we used the night before for the pj's. The boys were like, Dad, how could you forget a present in the basement.

When he came up, we had them all go into the living room and sit down around the box. I was videoing and ever camera in the room was out and ready, except mine. It wasn't cooperating.
Tyler made them say something nice about each other like we did the night before and then they took the lid off. All 3 of their faces immediately went in towards the box and Mason reached in the box to grab, what he thought was a stuffed animal. (He told me later that he thought it was a webkin) And then their new puppy surprise moved and all 3 of them jumped back. Mason was the first to realize what it was. He was so excited.Just a side note: We have a tradition on Christmas eve that we write our letters to Santa and then put them out next to their stockings. They write what they want, and thank you for last year. I helped Mason and I didn't give any help as to what he wanted on his list. The last thing on his list was a "REAL DOG". No Joke.
They were all so excited. She was shaking and a little traumatized. We let each of the boys hold her and then we wrapped her up and I held her until she calmed down. She was so cute though. As soon as she wasn't shaking anymore, Tyler took her out potty and she went. Then we put her down and she started playing Mocha. She was jumping him and chasing him and he was playing with her. They were really cute together.
Then we opened a few more gifts and then we all ate a yummy breakfast of Egg casserole a la Tyler, and pancakes with my homemade buttermilk pecan syrup.

Everyone left and we just hung out and played with the dog, and the boys opened a few of their gifts and played. We had to decide on a name for the puppy, so we got all of the boys together and started going over names. We had a list of names we liked. They really liked a few so we tried each one of them out and we checked off our list the ones we didn't like. We finally settled on Sophie. The boys even came up with a middle name for her. LeeAnn for both their grandmas.

Then we went over to my mom's to see her and show her the puppy and exchange gifts. She was downstairs for the first time and looked tired, but she hung in there. She loved the puppy and held her. She was excited we'd finally decided on a name.

We stayed over there for a little while and then went home to rest for a little bit. Well, everyone rested and I stayed up and played with Sophie.

That night we went over to Tyler's parents for a Christmas dinner of turkey and all sorts of yummy food.

When we went home, it was another blizzard and we got all inside and warm and hung out and played until bed.

It was a fun Christmas. It was so fun to have such a fun surprise that the boys absolutely love.
They just keep saying. We can't believe we have a dog and she is so cute.

Christmas Eve

2008-12-24T18:00:00.004-07:00

We had a nice Christmas Eve. We decided to have our annual Tyler's side family Christmas eve dinner at our house. We had tons of yummy food.

Kris also put together a nativity story. The boys and Taylor were the men and shepherds. They were very cute. Tyler narrated the story and I got to hold the flashlight on the star. We sang songs that went along with the story and Jessica played on the little keyboard and HayLee led the singing.

After that we gave the boys their Christmas PJ's. We put the in a box and told them before they could have their surprise, they had to say one nice thing about their brothers. They were cute and said, you are the best brother, I love you because you play with me, you help me with things. It was cute. Then they opened their jammies.

I tried to get pictures in their jammies and that was fun, they were too excited to hold still. But I got a couple.

Then we had bread pudding for dessert, yum.

After everyone left we got the boys settled in for bed. They had been playing in the basement all day and had built a fort. They wanted to sleep in there. Last year we let them all sleep out on the couch, and I wanted them to do that again, but Tyler said they could sleep in the basement. So who was I to spoil the fun. We got them all tucked in their tiny fort and headed upstairs to start our wrapping.
I realized earlier when I went to find the video camera to charge it that Tyler had taken it down to work so Justin and Tyler left to go get it.

HayLee was so nice to help me wrap Christmas. This year, I'd planned to have it all wrapped in time, but my mom had surgery the Monday before Christmas, so those plans went out the window. So I hadn't wrapped a single present and with HayLee's help and then when Tyler got home, we were able to get them done in a couple hours. Then Tyler got the Christmas eggs stuff ready for morning and we set everything up, took pictures and went to bed.

I was so excited and nervous (about our surprise the next morning) that I couldn't sleep and neither could Tyler. We probably didn't fall asleep until about 4 or 5.

Tyson's Teacher Gift

2008-12-19T22:00:00.000-07:00

I always struggle with what to get the boys' teachers for Christmas. This year we were talking about it in November and my sister mentioned that her son made his teacher a scarf a couple years back.

I told Tyson about the idea and he wasn't sure what he thought about it. So I told him he could just try it and at least it would be something fun to learn. He wasn't sure if boys knitted. I told him that it didn't matter. As long as you are enjoying it, who cares what everyone else thinks. If you don't like doing it, then you don't have to do it.

So we went to the dollar store because they have yarn sometimes. And we found some black yarn.
I taught Tyson how to knit on the long loom. It's really easy and he picked it up really fast. Before I knew it he had several inches and he was really having fun. So he decided that this would be cool for his teacher's Christmas gift.

He worked on it off and on until we ran out of the yarn and then we couldn't find anymore like it.
Oops, my bad. Oh well, we found something similar and he worked on it. He ended up finishing it the night before the last day of school before Christmas break. He was so proud of himself and we wrapped it up and he wrote a cute note to his Teacher. I really hope she liked it.

We had to take a picture before we wrapped it up, just to prove that Tyson knitted a scarf when he was 8.

Mason's Preschool Program

2008-12-18T18:30:00.002-07:00

We only had to go to one school Christmas program this year. Mason was so excited that he got to be in his first school program. He was so excited to learn his line and had it memorized in a couple days. He would repeat it all of the time.

Well the time came for the program. It was a snowy night and happen to fall on the same night as Tyler's company party. So we were in a rush. Luckily the program was short and sweet.

It was at a nearby church. We got there a few minutes before we started, so I was nervous because Mason hadn't had a chance to practice or even know where he was supposed to be. We found his seat and went and sat down. I thought for sure he would be done after a few minutes and want to come and sit with us. But oh was I wrong.

He sang the songs and we were almost to the back and we could hear him singing. He was belting it out. It was so cute. In all of the school programs for my kids, this was the first time I could actually hear them singing. Tyler and I were beaming.They did a bunch of different class songs and poems. But Mason was the first one up at the microphone by himself. I was so nervous. His teacher handed him the mic and he said in the clearest, loudest voice. "Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house, not a creature was sturring, not even a mouse." I was so proud. Parents all around us were shocked too. And we were rooting for him so they could tell he was our son, and a couple parents turned around and said Wow, he did awesome! Oh yeah, proud parents we are not! :)

Anyway, the program was cute and they sang all the classical songs. Mason loved all of the attention and is definitely not afraid of crowds. After it was over we grabbed a cookie and a present from his teacher and bolted.

Putting up the Tree

2008-12-05T13:51:00.006-07:00

Every year the kids look forward to our tradition to kick off the holidays.
DECORATING THE TREE.

Not because our tree is the most beautiful, in fact it is pretty charlie brownish. It's not because they are excited to get presents or Santa coming. Nope, they are excited because that means.

Chocolate Fondue Night!!!

Ahh, they are definitely my boys.

We had a yummy spread this year. When we had it all set out, Tyler asked me who we were inviting over because we had so much. It was just us and Grandma F.

Grandma showing Mason how to properly eat an 0reo

Cute little chocolate mug

Tyson and Grandma

We started our first round of eating, and then we had to pull the kids away from the fondue to decorate the tree. Luckily our tree is small and we don't have a lot of ornaments on it, just mostly homemade or ones from our childhood.

And we got a surprise this year. Grandma and Papa M. and Taylor dropped in and got to watch the boys decorate the tree and even partake of the yummy treats.
We ended up doing a second round (well Mason and Preston did) of Fondue and we watched our DVD of The F0rgotten Car0ls. It is my absolute favorite.

Heartbroken

2008-11-28T17:50:00.005-07:00

I didn't want to do this but I need to so I don't have to explain it or tell anyone who comments on my previous post.

Thanksgiving turned out to be a horribly sad day for our family. I'm not going to go into detail, but there was an accident at my moms house and little Lizzy got hurt and ended up at the emergency vet and the doctor on call said she wasn't going to recover, so we had to make the very heartbreaking decision to put her to sleep. :(

She was the sweetest, most amazing puppy I've ever been around. And even though we only knew her for a short 6 days, she made a huge impact on my mom, and all of our families.

It was a very emotional and draining day for everyone. We are trying to positive, but it is honestly hard. Sometimes life hands you things that you don't understand and feels like it's just not fair. This is one of those times. Hopefully someday we will understand why we have to go through such hard times in this life.

But for now we are just all very sad and heartbroken.

New Part Time Addition

2008-11-25T17:03:00.005-07:00

On Friday, my mom mentioned to me that she was really thinking about getting a dog. We've had dogs forever until the last couple of years and even then she's had my sister's dogs to love on. But now that she's been in her house, she thought it was time to get her own. I was so excited.

I suggested we should look on KSL and we started looking on Friday afternoon and before we knew it 2 hours had gone by and we found a bunch of cute puppies that we wanted to look at.
My mom is the type that if she sees a cute puppy, she will need to take it home. So on a few of the pictures, she said, oh no, we can't go see that one, it's too cute, I will come home with it and I don't want a male. So we kept looking for a female. We tried all kinds of breeds. We had poodles all growing up and my sister has a schnauzer and my other sister's dog was a silky terrier. My mom almost bought a Shihtzu when she lived in Florida several years ago. So she couldn't decide what kind she wanted. We found the darn cutest puppy named Love, but it was a male. It was a Shih-poo. A mixture between a Shihtzu and poodle. The picture was so stinkin' cute. She said I don't care if it's a male, that face is too cute.

So Saturday morning I called her up. I'd dreamed about dogs all night. And said, So are going to look at puppies today? She said sure, if your up to it. Did you have anything else to do today?
Oh, only clean my house, but I can do that anytime. Lets go look at puppies!

We had an appointment to see an older schnauzer at 3:30 and the little male Shih-poo wasn't answering and it was about an hour away. So I found a place that was just the town south of us and said lets just go look. They have a female and and a male Shih-poo and we can go look at 10:30. So we headed off to look at these little puppies. Mason had to come with us, he absolutely love dogs. My mom didn't bring her money (I didn't let her) so she could be objective and not just walk out with the puppy. We walked in and the house was oh my, stinky. We both looked at each other. And they opened the little homemade gate from their kitchen and out came the cutest little balls of black fur. Oh my. The were bounding everywhere, they came right up to us. I picked up the male and my mom picked up the female. The little boy was whimpering and shaking. The little girl was just so calm. My mom passed her to me and she didn't even budge. Just calm and so sweet. We put them down, watched them play, let Mason hold them. He thought they were so cute. He had brought his little Webkin dog and they were about the same size.

The little girl was just so calm. And then she jumped around and played with the other dogs.
We told them thanks, we were looking at other dogs today but we would call them when we decided.

We got in the car and started driving home. About 1/2 way there, my mom said. She is too cute, I think I have to have her. I said, ok, should we go to the bank? So we headed to the bank, got money and turned around and headed back to get the dog. My mom was so happy and excited. We were thinking of names and she was giddy. I loved it. We got talking about names that I completely missed our exit and ended up having to turn around.

We didn't have the people's phone number with us, so we just showed back up to there house and knocked on the door. The took awhile. We were a little worried. But they finally opened the door. We said, we decided we want the little female.

We found out that they have a little farm in the backyard and she hangs out with a bunch of other dogs and a pig and a goat. She smelled like it. She'd been cuddling up with a pig.
Anyway, we left with the little dog and named her Lizzy. She is a Shih-Poo and she is about 8 weeks old. She has the sweetest personality. We had to take her to my sisters and show them and then to my house to show my boys and Tyler.
Everyone loves her.
She is so good for my mom. She is so sweet and loving and so darn cute.

The boys love to run with her and she also lets anyone cuddle her and hold her. She's already doing so good at potty training. She's already attached to my mom and follows her everywhere.

The boys are constantly asking if they can go to Grandmas and play with Lizzy. When my mom goes on her trips, Lizzy will stay at our house or my sisters. The boys keep asking, is it the 9th yet, is Grandma leaving yet. :)

She is such a sweet little addition to the family. She will be so fun to have over when my mom takes trips and then she gets to go back to my moms. Now I know why Grandparents love being Grandparents. You get to play with them and love them and then give them back to there parents. So fun!!!

Here's some pictures that I took of her and Mason playing this afternoon.

I've Done Some Catching Up

2008-11-04T15:05:00.004-07:00

I've done a bunch of catch up posts. But since I put in the actual dates so they go back a few pages.

Enjoy!

Halloween Day

Snuggly Brothers

Haunted Houses

Costume Surprise

Picking Pumpkins

Tyson's Baptism

Mason Turns 4

Halloween Day

2008-10-31T13:54:00.001-06:00

This year, Halloween day was a little crazy. I should have dressed up like a chicken with my head cut of, because that's how I felt.

All the boys had costume parties at school, and I was trying to get our traditional sugar cookies baked, and they were flopping. And work which has been slow all week, got really busy, and getting the house cleaned for our Party, and the grade school has a parade outside where all of the kids parade around the play ground area for all of the parents. I was running non stop all day. Luckily Tyler was able to get off early and help me get everything pulled together.

Boys at the Parade.
I think I love the stuff leading up to Halloween, but the actual day is not my favorite. It's so hectic and all the kids want to do is eat candy. Ahhh! But we tried to make it fun for the boys.

I decided to make homemade rootbeer at the last minute. So I ran to the grocery store and got the stuff. The boys loved it. They usually don't get to see the part where the dry ice is really smoking and so I made sure they were all around when we put it in. Preston and Mason especially loved it.We had my family over and we did the traditional Navaho Tacos. Tyler made the scones and they were yummy. My nephew Spencer that is 14, and his friend, took my boys Trick or Treating. Which was so nice, we were trying to get everything done, and ready for dinner and they were being so patient. So it was nice to have an older cousin that could take them out. And they had lots of fun.As the night was winding down, we all ended up on the front porch, enjoying the unusually warm night. It was so perfect. Not cold, but not hot. I don't remember a Halloween like that ever.
After every one went home, the boys sorted their candy and we all watched J0urney to the Center of the Earth.
It turned out to be a great day.

Snuggly Brothers

2008-10-27T13:47:00.000-06:00

The other night Preston kept having bad dreams. He would come in and snuggle for a little bit and then I'd send him back to bed.

Well in the morning Tyson was laughing and told me to check out the boys.

Preston had gotten in bed with Mason and they were snuggling. They had all the covers up. They were awake when I went in and they were so happy. Hey, this could work.

Mason told me, Mom, we are so cute, Go get the camera and take our picture.

So I did.
Cuties.

Haunted Houses

2008-10-25T13:40:00.004-06:00

This year, I found some really fun Halloween Crafts for the boys.
They are foam haunted houses. They have everything already cut out and some of the little pieces are sticker backed.

They did have to be hot glued so we had to help, but the boys had a fun time putting them together and they turned out so cute.

Costume Surprise

2008-10-22T13:13:00.005-06:00

Back in the beginning of September, I was at Walmart and they had just put out their Halloween Costumes. I decided to buy one for each of the boys. I've never spent a lot of money on costumes before, but these were so perfect for each of the boys and I had my pick, for once.
So I put them in the cart and brought them home. I hung them up in my closet thinking that I would probably end up returning them another day. Buyer's remorse.

Over the next few weeks, as the boys discussed what they wanted to be for Halloween, surprisingly, not one of the boys picked the costumes I had tucked away in my closet. I was getting a little worried, because by now the selection was probably picked over and then what was I going to do. I kept trying to say, well don't you want to be so and so or this or that. But nope, they always had something else in mind.

Well, about a week before Halloween, we were all hanging out and I decided to pull out the costumes. I told them to close their eyes and that I had a surprise for them. I prefaced it by saying that sometimes we don't always get what we want, but we still need to be happy and grateful.

I had them open their eyes expecting them to say, but mom, I didn't want to be that. But instead, they all freaked out. They love them and started ripping off the tags and putting them on as fast as they could go. And surprisingly they all fit them perfectly. I thought they would be way to big.

So here they are.
Tyson is Darth Vader
Preston is BatmanMason is a Red Power Ranger - Jungle FuryWell worth the price to have it done and taken care of early. Even if I did pay full price. And they all loved them. Pheww. Now I've told them they can play dress ups when ever they want. I've got to get my money's worth.

My Favorite

2008-10-20T12:06:00.005-06:00

Right now I'm enjoying one of my favorite parts about working from home. Two of the kids are at school, and Preston is hangin' out with me in my office. He loves to climb behind me and stand in the back of my chair and do my hair.

He asks me.
Do you want it:

1. Messy
2. Regular
3. Fancy

I chose Fancy!

He is putting gel and hair spray in my hair (pretend) and brushing. With sound effects. This kid has talent.

Ahhh, this is so nice. Getting my hair combed is one of my favorite things.

Picking our Pumpkins

2008-10-18T12:16:00.004-06:00

The day we went to pick out our pumpkins, the weather was so nice, almost hot. We decided to go to a farm about 15 minutes south of us. The last time we went to this farm, we went with my family and Preston was 6 months old and there was hardly anyone there. So when we pulled up and all 3 parking lots were full, we were a little surprised. We waited in line for the hayride, which turned out to not have any hay. The boys kept asking where the hay was. A tractor pulls you out for a good 5 minute ride out to where you get to pick your pumpkins.

As we pulled up to where all of the pumpkins were, it's a huge open field. So even though it was crowded, everyone was spread out, so it wasn't the mad dash to get the best pumpkin that I thought it would be.

I spotted my pumpkin while we were driving up. I told Tyson, There's Mine! Sweet, that was easy. I kept my eye on "my" pumpkin and took a bunch of pics of the boys and Tyler walking all over trying to find their perfect pumpkin.Tyson would pick one up and say it was the one, and then walk a ways and say, nope HERE is the perfect one. Then about 10 steps further, he would declare. THIS one is good too. I can't decide.Preston found one he liked and was trying to haul it around. But it was too heavy. We told the boys when we started that they can only pick one out that they can carry. So if it was too heavy they would have to pick another one. Preston was trying to convince one of us to carry his perfect pumpkin. We ended up helping him find an even better one that wasn't as heavy.Mason was on the search for a green little pumpkin. He wasn't too happy when all of the little green ones were rotten. So we kept showing him ones that we thought were great, all the while he was saying that he was looking for a little green one. We ended up convincing him that they were all gross and to pick a cool orange one. Which he did.On our way back to the farm we actually got to ride and sit on real hay. So the boys were happy that they didn't miss out on their Hay Ride.

We paid for our pumpkins and then got some ice cream. Yum! It was a fun Saturday.

I'm Trying Really!

2008-10-17T13:33:00.003-06:00

I'm really trying to get my blog updated. But it's been a little crazy around here. Really! I think if anyone jumped into my life for just a moment, they would have a panic attack for me. Kids and house are enough to deal with, then throw in family in town, baptisms, family get togethers and the minor detail of working full time from home. I think I will have a panic attack for myself.

I can usually handle all of it when there isn't any added activities, but add anything else in and yikes! I also have a conference that I am in charge of for work that is usually out in California every year. Well, this year, with the economy the way it is, we opted for Webinars. So we stretched what is usually a 3 day conference out, into two weeks. The conference is usually stressfull, but then I am in CA working and am able to really focus, and its a lot of work, but fun. This is all over the internet, so it has a bunch more aspects of the stress. And then it's fall break for the boys so they are all here the last two days. Ahhhh!!! Keeping everything going and keeping the boys from killing each other has been real fun.

And to top it all off, I can't find my little camera. I have two. One that I've had for 5 years that is good, but a little big, so Tyler bought me this cute little pocket one. So I've been using both. And the pictures that I want to blog about are on the little one, and I can't find it. Now I haven't spent a heck of a lot of time looking for it, just thinking about looking for it. I'm hoping this weekend, I can take a breath and have a second to look for it.

In some fun news. I've signed up for a dance class......ok, enough laughing. I signed up for an 8 week class, one night a week. It's call Hip Hop for Moms! We've had 3 weeks so far and it's been so much fun. It's great exercise and I get a kick out of it. I seriously laughed so hard the first class. I have a problem with doing stuff like that, I get the uncontrollable giggles. I just kept cracking up.

It got me motivated to get on a better exercise program. I've been doing the treadmill off and on, but nothing consistent. They also do a Spin class. I went once and it was so hard but fun. I was going to sign up, but Tyler went to sign up for the gym the other day and he came home with two passes. So we are now going to the gym. It's actually turned out really nice. We've been going this week and we have the VIP pass so we get day care. It stresses me out putting my kids in there, but they have had so much fun. They made crafts Wednesday night. And they keep asking me when we are going to go to the gym. That's a motivation right there.

So no pictures yet, and no big posts about family happenings, but at least I've updated something. Life is crazy and I'm exhausted. But we are surviving and happy.

Tyson's Baptism

2008-10-11T14:29:00.013-06:00

Tyson's was baptized on Sat. October, 11th.

Since Tyson turned 8 in the beginning of August, this has been a long awaited day for Tyson. We were out of town on our cruise when the Stake did their baptisms for September. And since Heather and her family were coming into town that week, we asked the Bishop if we could have his baptism on a different Saturday than the Stake, and he said yes. We were really excited.

Leading up to Tyson's baptism, we were so busy. Getting ready for family and just our normal busy lives. So of course we were still trying to decide what to do only a few days before. We did plan the program and Tyson planned who he wanted to speak and say the prayers and what songs to sing.

We decided to have a luncheon afterwards at the church and the weather was supposed to be really cold, which it was, so we did soup and rolls.

Tyler made his Tomato Soup, from scratch, with no recipe, and it was delicious.
My mom made her famous Corn Chowder. Which everyone loved!
I made Broccoli Cheese Soup. Not my best. There was a lot going on when I was making it and I forgot a few ingredients. (I can't have distractions when I'm following a recipe) I remembered in the middle of the night, but a little late.

We ordered Shirley's rolls, which are the best, and I went early Saturday morning to pick them up.

We had Heather and Ryan and their 4 kids, Seth, Cade, Leah and Matthew staying with us, so we had a house full, but everything went off surprisingly well. Heather and I did our ironing at probably midnight. The morning was smooth and we all made it to the church on time. And Tyson was so lucky to have is cousins and Aunt Heather and Uncle Ryan from AZ there at his baptism. Plus all of both my family and Tyler's family there. We filled the room just with us.

Since Tyson was the only one getting baptized that day, we decided to do our own programs. I'd had in mind kind of what I wanted and I was going to have Tyler print them at work. So I designed the programs, with Tyson's input and we sent them off for Tyler to print. Only one problem. We sat down to start the Baptism and I started reading over the program, and everything wasn't in the right order. I guess you can tell how many things I was doing and how busy I was by the program, but oh well, it worked out and our Bishop took a few notes on his program and it turned out great.

Tyson looked so handsome in his white jumpsuit. He was beaming. He and Tyler had gotten up before everyone that morning and practiced. So he was ready to go.
The program turned out wonderful. Grandma M. gave a talk on Baptism which she talked to Tyson the whole time. It was perfect and just what he needed to hear.Grandma F. gave a talk on the Holy Ghost. It was emotional and wonderful and Tyson even got to help her hold a book while she read it, then she gave it to him after.We sang "Teach Me to Walk in the Light" for the Opening Song, and "I am a Child of God" for the closing song. And then the cutest part was all of the grandkids and Aunt HayLee, Tracie and Jessica (who also played the piano) sang "When I am Baptized" It was so precious.

All of the little kids gathered around and watched as Tyson was Baptized. It was so neat to see Preston and Mason as they watched their older brother was Baptized. They looked so proud.

Towards the end of the program, the power in the church went out. And even though we had soup that was going cold, it was kind of neat, because it kept the kids from getting really crazy, which was nice. And we had the windows in the room we were in, so it wasn't pitch black. We all ate the soup and treats and fruit and stuffed ourselves.

One of the best parts of Tyson's Baptism, was that I didn't have to take any pictures. Aunt Heather (Tyler's Sister) took all of the pictures for that day. It took a huge stress off of me. She had been planning on a special gift for Tyson and taking pictures was part of it. After the baptism, she fixed the photos in Phot0shop and then we sent them to be printed at a one hour place. Then once she got the pictures, she put them together in this AMAZING book for Tyson.

With pictures of Tyson with all of his family members and she had given little cards to everyone and had them write something about Tyson.Aunt Heather and Uncle Ryan

It was awesome and she had it done and ready to give to Tyson the evening of his baptism.

Tyson closing his eyes for his surprise.Tyson looking through his book for the first time.

Thank you Heather. This not only means so much to Tyson, it means so much to me. That you would do that for Tyson. We will treasure this forever. You are an amazing aunt and we love you!

The day turned out to be amazing and something that I hope Tyson will never forget. I hope he never forgets the feelings he had during his baptism and the spirit he felt.

We are so proud of you Tyson for your choice to be baptized. Because I know it was your choice and we hope that you will always strive to make right choices and follow our Heavenly Fathers commandments and Jesus' example.

Tagged

2008-10-06T11:28:00.004-06:00

Since I am the biggest procrastinator in the world at updating my blog, I thought I would keep doing what I'm good at and do this tag from my sis Michelle. Some day I will write about my kids starting school and Mason turning 4. Someday.

8 TV Shows I Love to Watch: Too many to pick. I love TV, what can I say.
1. Grey's Anatomy
2. 24
3. Fringe (new show, it's good)
4. American Idol
5. Food Network
6. Reruns of Gillmore Girls
7. Good Things Utah
8. Oprah

8 Things that happened yesterday:
1. Listened to conference
2. Made the fam breakfast. (only happens on the weekends)
3. Made banana bread
4. Cleaned more of my basement (spent all day Sat cleaning and organizing)
5. Ate dinner at my moms with Fam
6. Visited with my neighbor that had a cute little baby boy.
7. Cleaned the kitchen
8. Took a bath.(That was the best part)

8 Favorite Places to Eat: (not in order)
1. Bombay House
2. Thai Village
3. Chef's Table
4. Cafe Rio
5. Carabbas
6. Yamato
7. Tyler's Kitchen
8. Brick Oven

8 Things I'm Looking forward to:
1. Halloween
2. Tyson's Baptism
3. Spinning class (Yikes!)
4. The fall weather
5. Hanging out with Heather (Tyler's sis) and her fam
6. Any time off of work
7. The holidays
8. My mom feeling good and being able to do all the things she used to

8 Things on My Wish List
1. New Vacuum
2. Not having to work
3. No kids in my bed at night
4. A clean house for more than one day, or a maid would do :)
5. to be skinny
6. For my mom to be out of pain
7. More time with my husband
8. Time with my kids where everyone is getting along.

I tag anyone who is bored, or needing something to do. Or not needing something to do and procrastinating the things you should be doing, just like me.

Mason Turns 4!

2008-09-19T14:34:00.000-06:00

Mason is now a Four Year Old! He has been wanting to be 4 since he turned 3. He was so excited to have his birthday.

On his birthday, Tyler decided to take all 3 of the boys camping. It would be the last chance to go camping for the year. A friend from Tyler's work has a boat and so they all decided to go to Strawberry. I dropped them off at Tyler's work and they loaded up the truck and boat and left.

I was a little sad not spending Mason's birthday with him, but I knew he was going to have a good time. Tyler said that Mason told him that was his best birthday he's ever had.It left me with time to get his presents ready, and clean the house for his party and most importantly make his cake. We were doing a Buzz Light year theme. I'd found a picture of a cake that I was going to do. It didn't look too hard. I've made some pretty cool birthday cakes.Well this one was a mess. The cake was so crumbly and I thought I had more cakes in my pantry, so I had to use a yellow and a chocolate. They both were falling apart. Every time I would cut, big chunks would come off and so I said forget it and I started frosting. That was even worse. I was getting so frustrated. I was by myself and yelling at this cake. I had bought two of the huge cartons of frosting and I was almost finished with both of them and I hadn't even covered the cake. It was a totally disaster. I finally decided to just say, oh well, it's just going to have to be the ugliest cake I've ever done. The boys didn't even know what it was when they got home. How sad is that?
Tyler was wondering why I even took any pictures of it. But I told him, I had to. It was his birthday cake.
So here is the embarrassing cake. Don't judge me on this. ;)When the boys got home from Camping they all rested while I finished getting everything ready and making the cake that we were going to actually eat. That turned out really good, so I don't know what my problem was with the other cake.

All of our family came over and Mason opened all of his presents and played with his cousins.

Happy Birthday Mas. You have grown up so much this past year. You are getting so big and we are so proud of you. Love you tons!

Shots

2008-08-15T16:09:00.009-06:00

Preston and Mason had their yearly checkups last week. Preston, 5 months late and Mason, 1 month early. I am so not organized. At least they got their checkups right?

Preston hasn't been to a yearly check up since he was three and Mason hasn't been since he was two. I have a hard time going in and paying for a check up when they look at them check their ears and eyes and say well everything looks great. That'll be $25. Don't get me wrong, our Pediatrician is awesome. But when they aren't sick, it's hard for me to take them in once they are past all of the shot series.

Preston's main purpose for his check up was to get his Kindergarten shots. Which if you haven't heard, they should not be called Kindergarten Shots. Preston opted out of Kindergarten, and decided he no longer wanted to attend once he heard there were shots involved. Note to self, when Mason is ready for Kindergarten, they are called 5 year old shots. You can't opt out of being 5. At least I don't think so. It's been a long time argument for the last few months. I thought we had made a break through when I told him I would buy him a new back pack if he was brave for his shots. But apparently not.

Anyway, I didn't tell Preston and Mason that we were going to the doctors. And once they figured it out, Preston did fine when they checked his blood pressure, weight, height and even when the doctor was checking him out on the table. We found out that Mason needed one shot and so we had him done first. He was fine until they actually put the shot in and then he screamed. And then she was done and gave him a candy and he was fine. No big deal.

As soon as Preston heard Mason scream, he started to stress. He kept saying, I don't want to get a shot. The nurse was trying to explain to him that he needed to get shots so he won't get sick and he would be healthy. He wasn't having any of that. He was getting more and more panicked.

I lifted him up onto the table. The nurse was trying her hardest to explain that she would be fast and it would be ok. The longer we waited the worse he got. I tried to remind him that he was going to get a new backpack. He started to scream and tell me that he didn't want a new backpack and he didn't want to go to Kindergarten anymore. He was trying to leap off the table.

We decide to do the shots into his hip/bum. And we were trying to hold him down to get him in the position she needed him in. Oh my. He is SO strong. I was trying to hold him down and he was fighting me and screaming. She hadn't even started the shots yet. He was flailing and screaming. The nurse kept trying to talk to him. I told her, we just need to do it, he's not getting any better. (nice mom, huh) So we said ok here we go. It took all I could to hold him down. The poor kid had to get 4 shots. And the 4 shots seemed to go on forever, each one his screams got louder. And since I was holding him down, my ear was in the perfect place to get screamed into at the top of his lungs. It was SO loud!!! I seriously didn't know this child could scream that loud. And I have heard him scream plenty of times.

By the time we were done, he was sweating, I was sweating. And the poor nurse was traumatized. She had to put new band aids on him since he was moving so much they weren't on that great. Then she left and came back with a handful of candy. She had this shocked look on her face. I kept telling her that he would be fine. Even though he was still crying and limping and trying to walk. He was hugging Tyson. I was laughing. Again, I'm a mean mom. I just couldn't believe this scene we had just made and I'm sure the entire office heard him. In fact, I'm sure the entire town heard him. So all I could do was laugh. I don't know what it is when something like this happens to my kids. I laugh. I think something is wrong with me.

Anyway, I did tell him I was so proud of him and that he was going to get a new backpack. Even though I wouldn't call that bravery. But at least he got the shots. That counts for something.

We were in the car and Mason said, Preston do you wish dad was hear with us at the doctors. And Preston said, Yes, and Mason said, Me too. I chimed in. Me to. I'm never doing that by myself again.

We decided to stop at dad's work on the way home. Preston needed his dad. He was limping out of the van and went straight to Tyler and uncle Trent and told them about his shots. After a few minutes of walking around, he announced to everyone. I CAN WALK! But I can't run yet.

We finally got the backpacks on Saturday night and Preston is so excited. He wears it everywhere. And Mason got a Dieg0 lunch bag instead of a backpack and he gets Preston's hand me down backpack. They are both so happy and excited for school. Finally.

It's Great to be 8!

2008-08-11T09:35:00.003-06:00

It's unbelievable to me, but Tyson is 8 years old.

He is an amazing kid and we are so proud of him. As usual, he has been counting down the days until his birthday and he had high expectations. We have been so busy, so I was a little stressed, but I think we pulled it off and he had a great birthday. He said it was the best day ever. :)

He started his birthday Friday night. Tyler was going to take the boys camping, but since it was supposed to rain and he had some stuff come up at work so he was later than he thought, he took all of the boys to a hotel for the night. They went out to dinner and swam and watched movies. They had a blast. Then they got up and went to breakfast in the morning.

We had cousins and a few neighbor friends come over in the afternoon and we got out my moms huge water slide. The boys were so excited they could hardly contain themselves. As soon as everyone got here they played on that slide until they were all so tired. We gave them drinks and some treats and then they all went in the basement and played for awhile. They had a ton of fun.

After all of the kids left, we got ready for our family party. A few days prior I asked Tyson what kind of cake he wanted for his birthday and he told me Cheesecake. Well ok then. So I got out our favorite chocolate cheesecake recipe out and I made two of those for the family later that night that was coming over. And I decided to make Tyson's favorite meal. Macaroni and Cheese. I decided to find a homemade recipe and I found a great one that turned out awesome. Tyson was in heaven. He is a cheese lover. Funny kid.

Grand parents and aunts and uncles and cousins all came over late that night to wish him a happy birthday and he was spoiled with all of the gifts they gave him. It turned out to be a big Nerf birthday. He must have told everyone that he wanted a Nerf gun, so he ended up with 4, I think. But he had them all open and all of the guys joined in on the Nerf wars.

And to top the whole day off he finally pulled his tooth out just before he went to bed. This tooth has been loose for months and has been bugging him. He was so excited to finally get it out.

Tyson is such a special guy. We love him so much. He told Tyler that he was so happy that he has 2 best friends and they are his brothers and that he knows they love him. And that was something he was grateful for on his birthday. I don't know where we got him, but he is one of a kind.

Tyson also got to have his first meeting/interview with the Bishop yesterday. Tyler said that he was just amazed by how much he knew and how well he handled himself in the interview. He is definitely ready to be baptized. He also got to be the reverence child in sacrament meeting. We are so proud of Tyson and we love him so much. He also gets to start scouts and he is so excited about that. Here we go. I don't know anything about scouts, but I better learn quick.

Happy Birthday Mr. T, T-Dog! We love you so much!

The Final Count Down!

2008-08-05T10:57:00.003-06:00

We are in the home stretch of summer. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. We are going to survive.

The last couple of weeks have been crazy. Working, kids, helping my mom (she's doing great!), house projects, primary, registering for school, etc. It definitely hasn't been dull. But it's going to get even busier. We've got more appointments for me, my mom, the boys, Kindergarten shots for Preston, Open house for preschool, Tyson's birthday, school shopping, cruise shopping, house projects to finish (they never end, I swear) and trying to fit in work and play. It's going to fly by.

But the best thing of all is before I know it, school will have started and we will be off on our Cruise to Alaska and we will be in heaven. It's our reward for surviving the summer. If we can just hold on for 3 1/2 more weeks!

Lymph Nodes are CLEAR!!!!

2008-07-25T14:18:00.005-06:00

Huge relief and our first Wahoo!!!!

Thanks for all of your prayers!

Seriously Funny

2008-07-17T13:08:00.003-06:00

The other night when we were getting ready for bed and Tyson came in our room. This is our serious conversation that we had.

Tyson: "Mom, I think somethings wrong with my back."

Mom: "Really son, what's up.

Tyson: "Yeah, every time my back itches there is this huge bump back there."

Mom: "Let me see, lift up your shirt. I don't see anything"

Tyson: "Yes, see, it's right here and every time I scratch it, it's there"

Picture Tyson twisting his arm to reach his upper back. And me and Tyler about loosing it when we realized that the 'big bump' was his shoulder bone, or 'wing' as we call them, protruding out.

And yep Tyson's right, he does have a big bump, every time his back itches.

But man his poke out far, that kid is skin and bones.

Then I started to stress. Is that normal? For that bone to poke out so much. So we ripped Preston out of bed, almost asleep and had him come in our room and we took his shirt off and we said we had to look at his wings. He was very confused.

We decided that Tyson's were pretty big, but probably normal.

Very funny.

The "C" Word

2008-07-15T13:26:00.005-06:00

It was bound to happen, it's everywhere you turn. But somehow, we didn't think it would happen to us, or our family.

Cancer.

My mom found out last week that she has Breast Cancer. Stage 2.

I've debated whether or not to blog about such a personal and serious subject. But I decided since that's what's going on in our lives right now, so that's what I'm going to blog about.

We've been living with this knowledge for only 6 short days, but it seems like we have been doing it for years. Dr appointments. Late nights up researching on the internet. Reading as much as we can about this word that we have only had in our daily vocabulary until recently. Trying to figure out the best ways to help and support and love. Helping to make decisions, and pulling together. We are good at pulling together. We know how.

Every day we learn something new, a little bit more knowledge that helps to ease all of our fears. Everywhere we turn we find someone that knows someone who has dealt with this, or has a close family member who has. They are all like instant family. Giving their support and encouragement.

The biggest thing that I think my mom has going for her, is her strength. She doesn't think so, but I know she is the strongest woman that I know. She is tough and strong and stubborn and that is what is going to get her through this.

We are going to be there to help and support, but sadly she is the only one that can go through the pain and the sickness and the crap that she will most likely endure in the coming months.
It is crap. It's just plain not fair. But that's the part that I have to keep reminding myself, life isn't fair and we have trials that we have to go through. This just happens to be hers and our families right now. And we have to keep our heads up and get through it. Easier said than done.

We are given trials to make us stronger and closer to our Heavenly Father. And the Lord loves us. I know that he does because He has already given us several of his tender mercies this last week.
We are blessed.

Job 23:10 : “[God] knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.”

Boys are such an adventure

2008-07-03T08:51:00.008-06:00

Yesterday, Tyler was off work and took the boys on some errands. He bought them grab bags of candy at the drive through drink place. Tyler put them on the counter and told the boys they couldn't have any until they helped unload the van. We were out in the garage and all of a sudden we heard Preston screaming. He came running out into the garage screaming. He opened his mouth and we saw why.

Warning: If you are squemish, you may not want to look at it.

Preston thinks it's funny to show me, because it gives me the heeby geebies.

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Isn't that delightful. He was gushing blood and screaming and gagging. It was loads of fun. I called the doctors office and I passed it to Tyler so I could hold Preston. I finally got him calmed down and he was holding a wash cloth on it. He told us that he was climbing the counter to get his candy and slipped and bit his tongue.

We thought we might have to take him to get stitches. And when he heard that he started screaming again. Then Tyler came back in and said, Well, you don't have to get stitches and it will heal, but the doctor said only if you don't ever eat any more candy. Preston nodded his head so fast. :)

After a popsicle and some more loves and snuggles, he was back to his old self. Running and playing. But everyone he saw he had to stick out his tongue and show him what he did. Gross!

What We've Been Up To

2008-06-26T09:36:00.015-06:00

Well, we've survived the first 4 weeks of summer vacation. Only 8 more to go. Sigh......

It's been a long one, I'm tellin' ya. We've done pretty good. Better than I'd expected. Last year I was spoiled to have Tracie help with the kids 4 hours a day. Well this year I'm on my own. Luckily work hasn't been too crazy, so we've been able to fit in some fun stuff.

We've made it to the library a few times, the boys absolutely love that. We've gone to the park, out to lunch, to a Jumping place for Parker's party, Preston went to a birthday water party, sleepovers with Papa, and Grandma F.

We've also done some fun things at home.

We've made Gooey Gunk, we've made treats, and we've done several different crafts and the boys have had fun playing on the computer with their Webkinz.

The boys also keep busy with their chores, and they've gotten really good at them, Tyson especially. He has quite a few chores for a kid his age. And he does them without complaining. Most of the time. He doesn't like when I add ones on during the day though. But he's been a huge help.

Preston and Mason have also done pretty well with their chores. They take a little more reminding, but eventually they get theirs done. It's made for a much easier day to have them busy and not stuck in front of the TV.

Preston and Mason have also really enjoyed our cleaned up basement. At the start of the summer, we spent a weekend organizing and cleaning the play area in the basement. And now they spend hours down their playing and running and riding scooters. It's really cool down their so they rarely even ask to go out in the blazing heat. At night they like to ride their bikes outside, but thats pretty much the outside time we get during the summer. It's just way too hot.They've also had fun helping Grandma F. unpack and organize her house. We spent almost every night over their last week helping her unpack and put things away. Now they just can't wait until she moves in for real.

We have a few more fun things planned so we can hopefully get through the rest of the summer. Here's hopin'!

100 Things About Me

2008-06-10T17:20:00.009-06:00

Since there is a kind of blog tradition to do 100 things about me on the 100th post, I haven't really been looking forward to reaching this milestone. I really haven't been in the mood to think of 100 things. But alas, I need to get past this so I can post some new pics.

Beware, some may be lame, but hey, 100 things are hard to think of. I'm just going to type as they pop into my brain.
So here goes!

1. I'm a mom
2. I work full time from home.
3. I have 3 handsome boys
4. I like being a boy mom
5. Except sometimes I feel very out numbered
6. I need more girl time
7. My husband is handsome and I love him
8. We have been married for 10 years
9. I love being married to him
10. I love chocolate
11. I'm a procrastinator
12. I'm a perfectionist
13. Those two don't mix very well
14. I love to travel
15. I love to be at home
16. I'm very shy
17. People think I'm stuck up, But I'm not, I'm just shy
18. My dad died when I was 18. I miss him.
19. I love to laugh, I don't do it often enough
20. I love listening to Christmas music, but I can't even stand to hear until after Thanksgiving.
21. I'm a major germaphobe
22. I'm addicted to hand sanitizer
23. I love to shop online
24. I love my Bare Minerals Makeup.
25. I hate doing laundry
26. And cleaning in general
27. The only way I get in the mood to clean is if I blast music throughout the house. Lately, my choice has been Daughtry.
28. I love to read
29. I love the twilight series!
30. I'm currently reading The Host. It's good!
31. I love learning new things
32. I love my laptop
33. I love 24 - Jack Bauer Rocks!
34. I love Grey's Anatomy even More!
35. We watch a lot of Food Network
36. I think My husband should be the next Food Network Star!
37. He's an awesome cook!
38. I don't make dinner very much anymore, Tyler does most of the cooking
39. My favorite 'bad' word is Crap. I say it way too much. My kids say it now. I guess it could be worse.
40. I like to mow the lawn
41. We love to go on bike rides, We usually end up at the park by our house watching the kids play
42. I used to spend hours as a kid on the monkey bars. I could do the ones where you hook you leg on the bar and go around. I was awesome. :) I always had blisters on my hands though.
43. When I was young I was a clogger
44. I clogged from 2nd grade til 7th grade
45. I was the Free Style National Grand Champion Clogger
46. That's kind of embarrassing
47. I collect thimbles, Even though I haven't bought one in years
48. I used to have a ton of shoes, then my feet grew with each pregnancy and I had to give all my shoes away. I still like shoes, but now I buy cheep ones.
49. I wear contacts
50. I got glasses when I was in 2nd grade
51. I've never broken a bone
52. I've never had braces
53. I get lost very easily, I have absolutely no sense of direction. (Tyler makes fun of this all the time)
54. I've always wanted to play the piano
55. I love my van. I never thought I would own a mini van. But its the best!
56. I'm not a scrapbooker, I may do digital scrap booking someday. But for now, I just blog
57. I took a Ph0toshop class recently. I really enjoyed it.
58. I rarely cry. I can't remember the last time I cried
59. I used to bite my nails, but it grosses me out now so I occasionally pick at them but they grow long now. (see number 21 and 22)
60. I hate waking up in the morning. I'm not an early bird
61. I like staying up late
62. My kids stay up late alot
63. We don't have a schedule
64. I may change that when they are all in school next year
65. But it probably won't stick, because we like to do stuff at night
66. My kids just adjust
67. I don't ever want to move again
68. I love living here
69. I can't remember peoples names. I used to be so good at that.
70. I have a major brain fog, my brain and mouth don't connect very well
71. I like country music
72. I'm a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
73. Tyler and I teach the 7 and 8 year olds in Primary
74. I love singing and learning all of the primary songs
75. I like to bake and make treats
76. I like to bake bread. Whole wheat is my favorite
77. I don't have any real standbys for meals or treats
78. I'm always looking for new recipes to try
79. I hate green olives
80. I can't eat the same food every week. Drives me crazy.
81. Some of my favorite shows that I watch in re-runs are: Friends, Reba, and Gilmore Girls
82. I'm the spider getter in our house
83. I love watching fireworks
84. I like the fall and spring the best
85. I don't like the hot hot months
86. I love the snow
87. I used to be a great skier. But I haven't skied in years. I miss it.
88. I love the beach.
89. I rarely drink soda, it's water for me.
90. I'm a blog stalker. I once saw someone I blog stalk. I couldn't figure out where I knew her from until I saw one of her kids. Then it hit me. I read her blog. Kind a scary, good thing I'm not a freak.
91. I can make awesome scrambled eggs. (at least that's what I'm told)
92. I like making people laugh
93 I don't like to be serious
94. I love to take baths
95. I am very stubborn and I don't give in easily at all
96. I can't sleep when their is any noise
97. I've given up hope on getting a consistent nights sleep
98. I love musicals. Especially Mama Mia, Les Miserables, Cats, Phantom
99. I wish I could sing in a musical one day. I don't have the voice, but would love it. I just sing really loud at home. Aren't my kids lucky.
100. I love the Internet. And I research stuff all of the time. I can usually find what ever I'm looking for.

Holy cow. I made it. That actually took me a few days to finish. It was hard thinking up stuff. Anyway. At least I'm done. Phewww!!!

Silly Slumber

2008-05-30T10:16:00.005-06:00

Yesterday, Mason fell asleep. Which is unusual anyway because he doesn't take regular naps.

But... this is how I found him.

Cute-ie-pie!

Last Day of 2nd Grade

2008-05-30T09:23:00.009-06:00

(Kind of a random and long post, but I wanted to highlight this year.)

Yesterday was Tyson's last day of 2nd grade. He was actually very sad for school to end. He told Tyler that everyone was so excited for school to be out, but he wasn't. He loves school and is going to miss his teacher and all of the fun he has every day.

This year has been great for Tyson. At the beginning of the school they had too many 2nd graders so they brought in another teacher. They sent home a note that asked if anyone was willing to move their child out of their class and into this new class. I wasn't sure what to do. Tyson didn't really want to move, they had been in school for about 2 weeks and he had already made some friends. I decided to put on the note that I was ok either way, move or not.

Well, apparently only a few kids were even slightly willing to change so we got the letter that Tyson was one that was moving. He was a little upset, until he found out that a few of the friends that he'd already made were also moving.

His new class was very small, which was great, only 17 kids. And his teacher was an older lady they had brought in from a different school. She had always taught 3rd grade but had been teaching for a very long time. Compared to his original teacher who this was her first official year teaching.

Well, Tyson ended up absolutely loving his teacher. Mrs. Condie. She was the most gentle, amazing teacher. She had such a great influence on Tyson this year. She loves the Magic Tree H0use books and those were Tyson's favorites. She would read them in class and she had all of them. Tyson was always coming home talking about how much he loved to read. Tyson actually ended up getting the entire set of Magic Tree House, minus a few of the Merlin Mission books, for Christmas. About 30 chapter books. He had every single one read by the beginning of March. At his Parent Teacher conference, his teacher new that he had finished all of them that he had and she let him borrow one of her books and he had it read in a couple days and back to her.

He was very sad when he found out that she would be retiring this year. The school had a open house for her and Tyson begged to go. He made her a card and we stopped and got her some chocolate. Her favorite, as Tyson told me. He gave her a big hug and gave her the chocolate. Every time I saw her or met with her she would tell me, "you know you have a really special kid here." What a great teacher.

At one of the parent teacher conferences, we were sitting there and chatting and she asked Tyson if he had any questions. He thought for a second, and said yes, we never did our math today. And that word that you have up we already did. She looked around, and said, are you sure. He said yep, positive. She got our her sticky notes and started making notes for Monday. She asked him if he had anything else. He looked around the room. And found something else that wasn't right on the walls. It was pretty funny. He is very observant.

Tyson loved all of the activities he did this year. This was the first year of his School so everything wasn't organized really well, but they did some fun things. They had a carnival, a walk a thon, a good citizenship swimming party, nature walks, they went to Cabellas, went to the movies and lots of fun in class parties.

They had contests through out the year between all of the classes, Tyson was always frustrated that his class never one because they were the smallest class in the school. So the last contest was a penny war. The class with the most pennies would win. And if you put any silver coins in other classes jars, it would deduct from their total. Tyson told Tyler about the contest and Tyler gave Tyson a bunch of our penny rolls. And some dime and nickle rolls. Tyson took them to school and put them in the classes that were winning. They ended up taking 2nd place, it was so close. Tyson was a little disappointed because his class didn't get the banana split party. But one of the moms in his class decided to throw a banana split party for his class. He was so excited and thought that was the best day.

The best part of this year, for me, was how independent Tyson has been. We haven't struggled at all, at least it was rare enough that I don't remember. Every morning, Tyson would get up on his own, shower, get dressed, get his own breakfast, get his homework in his backpack, and be out the door right on time. If he needed lunch money or something signed, he would come and ask, he would always come and tell me bye in the morning and would a make sure he would tell the boys bye and that he loved them.
Mornings were so pleasant and non stressful. He was Great! Thanks Tyson.

So 2nd grade is over and Tyson is looking forward to being a 3rd grader next year. He's also excited to have Preston at school so he can walk home with him every day.

Summer is going to be a challenge with all 3 kids home all day, but hopefully we will get into a groove and school will start before we know it.

Last day of school pictures of Tyson coming home from school. I can see him out of my kitchen window every day and watch him. So I took a picture of that. And also the boys greeting him when he got home. They are always excited when Tyson gets home from school.

Discovering Vernal

2008-05-27T17:14:00.010-06:00

Saturday morning we woke up and headed to Walmar+. We needed some new floaties and the boys needed some new shoes. We got back to the hotel and hung out for a little bit. Tyson brought the playstati0n and was playing games. We were planning on going and hanging out with HayLee and Justin but we were waiting or Justin's family. They had been staying the weekend in Starvation just about an hour from Vernal.
We decided to go to go see the model home where Justin is working. Then we went to the Dinosaur museum. We had a great time. The boys really enjoyed all of the full sized dinosaurs and seeing all of the bones. They had some games and puzzles that the boys also enjoyed. We spent most of the time outside checking out each of the dinosaurs and there was a big coy pond with a bunch of fish. It was fun visiting and chatting with Justin's family and HayLee and Justin. The boys had fun posing in front of each of the dinosaurs and jumping on the rocks.

After the Museum, we went to lunch at the restaurant at our hotel, which happens to be one of the most popular places to eat in Vernal. It was good all american food. We went back to the hotel and rested for a few minutes and to let our food settle before we were off to go on our hike and see the petroglyphs. The weather was perfect, warm but with a cool breeze. The hike was mostly uphill and there were lots of rocks. We were a little nervous with the boys, but they did awesome. They loved it too. Other than the fact that Preston and Mason had to hold someones hand, they had a lot of fun. Tyson kept saying, it was the coolest thing he'd ever seen. And he just loved looking at how high we were and just loved it.
At the bottom of the trail, there is a little shed that has a fridge full of water and sodas. They have a money box that is chained that you put your dollar in if you take a drink. They also have a book to sign in and post it notes to write on, and those notes are covering the entire shed with peoples thanks and notes. Pretty cool.

After the hike we went back to the hotel and the boys couldn't wait any longer. They wanted to swim. We got them all ready and headed to the pool. They had tons of fun. Tyler and Justin went fishing and HayLee came to swim and so we both got our suits on and went swimming which made the boys even more excited. Tyson and I practiced swimming and Mason hung on my back like a little monkey. We had fun.

After swimming we went back to the hotel room and all showered and got jammies on and the boys ate left overs for dinner and played. I ran and got some treats at the store and we hung out and chatted til late when the guys got home. Then they both crashed and HayLee and I continued to chat until we were both yawning. We said our good byes. We have such a great time with HayLee and Justin. We miss them since they've been in Vernal so it was good to visit and catch up.

The boys were all exhausted from the day and all we all crashed.

The next morning, Tyler took the boys swimming while I got the room packed. They swam until right before we had to check out and we all got ready and loaded up and head out of Vernal. We couldn't leave before we stopped by the pink dinosaur and took pictures.

The ride home was great. We decided to stop in about an hour outside of Vernal for lunch and Tyler took the boys fishing on the Strawberry river. They had a great time. Tyler was so proud that Tyson caught (well, hooked, but he got away) a huge German Brown. Very proud daddy moment.

We all, minus Tyler who was driving, took a great nap the rest of the way home. We decided to stop at Tyler's parents and we hung out and at dinner and watched a movie. The boys loved that.

We had a great little trip.

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Ready, Set, Pack!

2008-05-27T16:10:00.004-06:00

After Preston's Preschool graduation, we decided we needed a break and we needed a vacation. The boys had been begging us to take the to a hotel so they could go swimming. We were trying to decide if we should really go out of town, we didn't have a hotel room, we didn't have plans, we didn't even know exactly where we were going. But after Tyson got home from school, we decided, we were leaving for the weekend and we were going to go to Vernal. Yes, not the most exciting place in Utah to visit, but we wanted to go visit HayLee and Justin.

We searched on the Internet and called a bunch of different hotels. And it sounded like there were at least rooms available in the town. Justin knew we were thinking about coming, and we had him check out a couple different hotels, with HayLee's help, but she thought she was checking it out for one of Justin's clients. :)

Tyler said, OK boys, can we be ready in 15 minutes? Everybody, ready, set, PACK! Everyone raced around getting their clothes, swimming suits, shoes, jackets and shoved them in backpacks. We took a little bit longer than 15 minutes, but I think we did pretty good packing 5 people for the weekend. We filled up our cooler with yogurts, snacks, and drinks. We all piled in and headed out. Tyler and I looked at each other, do you know how to get there? No, do you? No, I guess we just follow the signs.

Well, we drove through rain storms and saw beautiful areas that Tyler's never seen. We drove through the town that my mom lived in until she was in the 6th grade. The boys watched Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles dvd and other than Mason singing, Ba na na nat Ninja Turtles about every 30 minutes, it was a very smooth trip. About 3 hours after leaving our house, we pulled into Vernal.

We drove through the town and past the famous dinosaurs and the boys were excited to go to see those the next day. We stopped at a couple hotels and motels and ended up at the one that HayLee and Justin checked out for us. We couldn't believe the price of hotels in that town. Goodness, it is a little town and nothing much around, and the hotel rooms are more expensive than in some big cities. Crazy. Anyway, we checked in and it was about 8:30 pm. We called Justin and said, well, we are in Vernal, how do we get to your trailer? HayLee had no idea we were even coming. Justin was very sneaky about the whole thing. We drove and found their trailer and parked. We quietly got out and we told the boys to be silent, we were going to surprise HayLee.

We tiptoed up to the door and knocked. And when HayLee opened the door we all yelled Surprise!!! She was so surprised. It was really fun. We all made ourselves comfy in their cute trailer and visited for awhile. HayLee asked us where we were staying and I told her the hotel name, and she said, Oh, we were just there checking it out for a client. I laughed, and said that we were the client. It was pretty funny.

Anyway, none of us had eaten so we all went out to dinner. It was great to visit and the boys love Justin and HayLee. They all wanted to sit by them. Mason fell asleep on the bench at the restaurant. It was really cute. We went to the hotel and got everyone for bed.

Oh He's Off to Kindergarten, Yes he is!

2008-05-27T13:15:00.006-06:00

Preston graduated from Preschool on Friday. It was the cutest darn graduation I've been to yet. They all came out in Red cap and gowns. They looked so grown up and so dang cute. It was pouring rain just a few minutes before it started and the graduation was in his teachers backyard. So they did a speed graduation. The rain actually stopped a couple minutes before the kids came out and and it was about to start again, so they sang there cute little songs so fast. But it was darling. We have heard the songs for weeks around our house from Preston. They sang - A Jelly Fish, I'm Being Eaten by a Boa constrictor, Glump Glump went the little green frog and many more.

My favorite was this song.

"Oh, we're off to Kindergarten yes we are, Oh we're off to Kindergarten yes we are, Oh we're off to Kindergarten, we're off to Kindergarten, oh we're off to Kindergarten yes we are.

Oh, we won't be here in Preschool anymore, Oh we won't be here in Preschool anymore, oh we won't be here in Preschool, no we won't be here in Preschool, oh we won't be here in Preschool anymore!"

I loved watching all of the kids say their parts for the programs. Preston had actually memorized a couple of the other kids parts too (from their practices) and so he had prepared me. Mom, when Megan says this, and he would rattle off her part, then you know that that is Megan. And Ryan is the one who says this part, and he says that part too. It was really funny.

Preston's part for the program was this.
Beware of the terrible tiger
You don't always know when he's near
But his eyes shine like lights
In the blackest of nights
And his growl makes you tremble with fear

He did it perfectly.

Just a funny side note. When we were practicing Preston's part for the program. We did most of it while Tyson was at his track practice one afternoon. He can memorize things really fast, so we only practiced it basically that 30 minutes in the car for the first half and the the other half the next day. I would randomly ask Preston what his part was and he would tell it to me. One afternoon, I asked him to tell me his part. He looked at me and said, how does it start? Mason was standing next to him. And Mason said Preston it starts like this....Beware of the terrible tiger. And he proceeded to say the entire thing. Preston and I looked at him and I was in shock. He had been listening and had memorized it at the same time. It was so cute. And he still knows it. Smarty pants. He also know all of the songs that Preston has been singing around the house. He's definetly ready for preschool this fall.

Preston loved it that his Grandma F, and Grandma and Grandpa M we able to make it to his graduation. But the best part for Preston was that his dad was there. Tyler got there just as they came out and lined up in their spots. Preston yelled out to Tyler and waved. His smile doubled in size. And after it was over he came up to Tyler and gave him a hug and said, "Dad, I'm so glad you could make it to my graduation!" So cute.

After the program, Preston's teacher Mrs. Sheppard handed each of the kids their diplomas and they had treat bags and pictures and a dvd of the year. Such wonderful memories. We watched Preston's dvd this morning and he loved watching all of his friends and reliving all of the field trips and fun things they have done throughout this year.

He learned so much this year and has grown so much. He started out the year as a shy, quiet kid and now he is a singing, learning, independent boy, who is so excited to go to kindergarten this fall and can't wait to be at the same school as Tyson.

Great Job Preston, We are so proud of you!

Pictures to come. My camera died so I only got video, but Grandma M. got pics, so as soon as I get them I will add them to this post.

Can you feel it?

2008-05-27T13:01:00.005-06:00

With the end of the school year coming to an end, I can feel it in the air. What can I feel? Time flying by me! It's crazy.

We were at my oldest nephew Devin's farewell on Sunday the 18th. It was crazy to think he is going on a mission. (to Chicago) Josh, who is just younger than him was graduating from Highschool. Time is absolutely flying by.

I remember when I was in Junior high and I got to stay home from school to babysit Devin all day while Julie was having Josh. And now they are adults. It's just absolutely crazy.

Devin's farewell was probably one of the best I've been to in years. He is such a smart kid and so amazing. His talk was just perfect, and it's one that I wish I could have a copy of to re-read. Seriously that good. I know he will be such an awesome missionary.

Hopefully time will slow down a little so I don't turn around and I'm sending Tyson off on his mission.

Today I'm Remembering...

2008-05-19T10:32:00.005-06:00

My Dad.

It's his birthday today. And even though I think of him almost every day, I especially remember him on this day. His laugh, his smile, his love. I am constantly thinking of things I wish I could ask him, or get his advise on. I had the best dad and was the luckiest person to be his daughter.

His birthday brings back a lot of memories and on this day I wish the world to stop so I can just sit and close my eyes and remember all of the wonderful times with him. I will have to do that in between kids and work, but I will.

My dad was the best and I love him and miss him.

Happy Birthday Dad!

Excellent News

2008-05-08T22:30:00.012-06:00

Mason had his yearly check up for his heart today. His cardiologist said everything looks and sounds Excellent!

Mason was very brave and held still for the blood pressure test, and the EKG. He chatted with the nurses about his Mickey shirt he had on and they all thought he was too cute. The doctor asked me if he is an active boy. Um, Very!
Preston was with us and made sure that Mason was being brave. He was a very good big brother.

I haven't taken any pictures of these checkups before, and for today's appointment I thought maybe I would take some pictures. Usually I have to help make sure he stays still. But he was so big and brave that he didn't need me. So I got to take some pictures. Now he can look back and see what he got to do every year.

Since everything checked out so good, he doesn't have to have another check up for 2 years. Wahoo! So I'm glad I took some pictures.

Another good thing that we found out is that he doesn't have to have antibiotics anymore. Since his surgery, the doctors have told us that he has to have antibiotics before any stitches, dental work, surgery, etc. So we have been worried about this especially with him starting schools this fall. But now they have changed the regulations and it's not necessary anymore. Yeah!

Getting the EKG stickers on

Holding Very Still for the EKG

Heart Monitor

Waiting for the Doctor

Great Job Mason! We love the Excellent News of your check up and you are such a big boy!

I Can See Clearly Now

2008-05-05T10:41:00.006-06:00

Tyson came to us a few weeks ago and told us that he couldn't see the board in school. I told him sorry, you have two bad genes with me and your dad. Both Tyler and I have glasses and I am very blind. Our kids have no chance.

Tyson said he didn't want glasses he just wanted to go to the eye doctor and see what's wrong with him. He is so funny. I told him that I got glasses in the 2nd grade, so he is probably following in my footsteps.

We took him to the eye doctor and 2 weeks ago and sure enough, he needed glasses. He kept telling his brothers, Well, you guys are next. Everyone in our family will need glasses. :)

So we ordered them and it took 2 weeks. It's been the count down every day. And he has told everyone. I'm getting glasses in 1 week......5 days..... 2 days.

Well, Saturday was the day. He was so excited, we got his glasses and he looks so handsome. He keeps making the cutest comments. Like...
I don't recognize myself without my glasses anymore.

Can you say HD TV! (He's enjoying our HD TV for the first time with his glasses)

I feel like I'm walking off a cliff (if you have glasses you know what he's talking about)

He is too funny. He saw a boy from his class at the store and he said, Well, he was the first person from my class to see me with my glasses.

Tyler and I keep looking at him and saying how handsome he is. He looks so smart and cute in his new glasses.

I had to take pictures of him all dressed up for church. He looks so grown up.

No More Wheels!

2008-05-05T10:34:00.005-06:00

Training wheels that is.
A week ago Friday, Preston learned how to ride his bike without training wheels. We were outside waiting for Tyler to come home on a Friday night. He was a couple hours late and we got bored. I asked Preston if he wanted to learn how to ride his bike without training wheels. He said, sure!

So we started up and down the side walk and had a great time practicing. He had me laughing so hard. Instead of stopping he would dive off the bike, no matter where he was. He would just leap off. I couldn't help myself, I was cracking up. He kept asking me why I was laughing. And then he would start to laugh and say, it is pretty funny.

So we worked on just putting his feet down and stopping with his breaks. So he got that down and he started doing really good. I ran up and down the side walk for about an hour. I took a break to chat with our neighbors and he continued to practice.

Then Tyler got home and I was still visiting and I turned around and Preston was riding down the middle of the street. All by himself, with no training wheels.
I have to take credit for that one. I did most of the work and then Tyler comes in and finishes it off and gets all the glory. No way. :)

Actually Preston gets all the credit. He was determined to ride his bike. And I was so shocked that he learned it so fast. He loves it now and goes out to practice every chance he gets. He is all over the place and is loving the freedom of no training wheels.

He keeps asking us, Are you so proud of me?

Yes, Preston, We are so proud of you!!!

(I took a video with my new camera and I can't figure out how to view it, so if I ever do, I will add it)

I'm Back

2008-05-05T10:24:00.002-06:00

I took a small blog break and now I'm back. Tyler and I have been watching 24 the last week or so and when we start that, everything else goes to pot. Yes, to Pot!
We finished season 5 last night (at 1:30 in the morning). So now I can move on with my life. We get sucked in and can't get out until the season is over. Then we catch up on our sleep and a few months later, when we need to just tune out of life and veg, we watch the next season.

So we are back to reality and life and I have a lot to report. So see the next two posts!

To the Dentist we went

2008-04-24T10:10:00.003-06:00

Well yesterday I took all three boys to the dentist for their cleaning. Tyson and Preston have been before, but it was Mason's first time. I figured we would at least attempt it with Mason, but I wasn't sure we would make it through. Plus he fell asleep in the car on the way home from picking up Preston from school, and I had to wake him up when before we walked out the door and brush his teeth. It was not going too great. He was tired and not in the mood.

We got there and before we got out of the van, I was talking on the phone so the boys were all unbuckled and waiting for me to open the door. I could hear them giving each other little pep talks. I could hear them getting excited and saying that Aunt HayLee would be in there and they would get a prize when they were done. By the time I got off the phone they were ready.

We got out and went in. They were excited to see HayLee. We split them all up and they all went to separate rooms, HayLee took Mason and two other nurses took the other two boys. It's hard when you have 3 kids getting worked on at the same time. I had to stay with Mason. He was a little nervous, but HayLee let him ride up and down on the chair and he thought that was pretty cool.

I was in shock, Mason did awesome. He didn't cry once, he just kept asking "Am I done yet?" And HayLee patiently kept saying, not yet. He didn't really like trying to put the piece in his mouth to take the pictures, but HayLee figured out a way that he could deal with and he did great. He let her floss, clean and flouride all of his teeth. He even got to hold the little spit sucker and he loved that. Again, I thought as I was looking at how cute he looked in that huge chair, dang, I forgot my camera. Oh well. He was cute though.

I went and checked on the other boys, the were doing great and Preston was already done with his cleaning and did awesome.

Then I moved around to each of the rooms when the dentist came in to check their teeth. Preston did awesome. No cavities. Whewww!

Mason was next. I was a little worried when the dentist came to look at his teeth, but he did awesome again. He has one little cavity that he will get fixed in June, but luckily it is tiny and he won't have to have any numbing, just a quick little fix. Double Wheww!

Tyson always does great at the dentist, but he definitely got the bad luck when it came to his teeth. Tyler and papa both have really soft teeth and it looks like Tyson is following in their footsteps. He's our best brusher and his teeth are terrible. Poor kid. Luckily the problems are all on baby teeth and some of them are almost ready to come out. So he gets to go back and have some work done. But we are going to seal the new adult teeth to hopefully help protect those. Also the dentist told us that his mouth is really small and he's not going to have enough room for his adult teeth. So we will be visiting the 0rthodontist in the coming years. Fun.

All in all it was the easiest dentist visit we've ever had. We were all done in an hour and all the boys were happy with their prizes and proud of themselves for being so brave. It also helped a ton to have HayLee there and we are sad she is leaving. :(

Good Job Boys!

How fast can you type?

2008-04-22T17:24:00.001-06:00

Ok, I saw this on someones blog and thought I would try it out. This was pretty fun, I haven't done a type test forever.

80 words

Speed test

Spring Break

2008-04-19T18:44:00.006-06:00

Well this past week has been Spring Break. No school for Tyson and Preston. Mason got to enjoy his brothers home all week. Work was very slow, so I took advantage of the it and did some fun things with the boys so they weren't stuck in front of the TV all week. Especially since the weather didn't want to cooperate with us. We had maybe 2 days this entire week that were nice enough to be outside.

So this has been our week. And, the organized person that I am, didn't take any pictures of any of our adventures this week. Oh well...at least we all had fun.

Monday - We went to get our flat tire fixed on the van and decided to walk over to H0gie Y0gie to get lunch while we waited. We then went to the store and picked out a birthday present for Michelle's little girl Paisley. On our way home we stopped at a Red B0x and got A1vin and the Ch1pmunks and the boys watched that until we left for Michelle's. That night we went over to Michelle's for hot dogs and hanging out for Paisley's birthday. We were going to have it at the Park, but the weather again, didn't cooperate. The boys rode bikes and scooters and played for a few hours and then we went home.

Tuesday - I took the boys to see the movie Nims Isl@and. It was ok. It was Free Popcorn Tuesdays so that was great. The wind was blowing so hard, we barely made it back to the van. Tuesday night, we went out for Pizza with Michelle and her fam for Paisley's actually birthday. After, we went to the store and walked around and got a few things and then went home.

Wednesday - Michelle and I took our kids to a local indoor place where they have a bunch of blow-up slides and jumping things. The kids had a blast. They didn't stop the entire 2 1/2 hours we were there. They ran over for drinks and then off they were to jump. Afterwards, we went back to our house and fed the kids lunch and hung out while they all played in the basement. My sister Sheri's kids came over and played too, so all of the kids had tons of fun and you could tell by the noise level. So glad we have the basement.

Thursday - The boys just hung out during the day. Around lunch Sheri's kids came over and they played and played. They played the Wii, and dug in the dirt outside, rode bikes, scooters, found rocks, came inside and played in the basement and in games and finally settled in to watch Backyardig@ns. Preston's request. He wanted Walker to watch it with him. Walker abliged. Preston was very happy.

Friday - It was finally a nice day outside, perfect weather. The boys went outside and played baseball, zimzam, rode their bikes and scooters, dug in the dirt again. Tyson and I played several games zimzam and it was really fun to be able to play a game that we both enjoyed. He is getting really good at it which made it even more fun. Then I played baseball with Preston. He's getting better and better at that. He doesn't hit it every time, but when he connects, he can knock it all the way to my moms yard. Mason and I played a few hits of zimzam, he wasn't in the mood for anything. So we decided to do lunch. We set up a blanket on the front lawn and the boys at their lunch outside for a picnic. They really loved that. Walker, Jake and Kacie came over again or a few hours and they played outside and in the basement.
Friday Night - We went miniature golfing with Michelle and Jared and the kids. We tried out a new mini g0lf place about 20 minutes away. It was such a nice night and the kids had a great time. We went to a local hamburger and fries place for dinner. The kids all sat together and we adults all sat together. It was so cute to see the kids all being so big and sitting. Mason and Paisley sat together. They were too cute.

I think my kids have had so much going on this week and so much fun. Today, we ran errands and went to Tyler's work. After we got home, Mason kept asking me to do something FUN. We haven't had done anything FUN today. What can we do thats FUN.
Oh boy. I might be in trouble.

Oh well, they've had such a great week and it was fun they got to be on Spring Break with their cousins and we are so close now that they can play and do things together.

Hey mom, I have a question

2008-04-17T09:47:00.004-06:00

Tyson asked me this last night.

Mom...were you growing up during 1958? That's when A1vin and the chipmunks started.

Thanks Tyson. And, um no, I wasn't growing up in the 50's. Close, but no.

Tyler's Birthday Surprise

2008-04-16T10:12:00.010-06:00

Well I tried to have a surprise birthday party for Tyler on Friday night. I had sent out an email to everyone and I didn't tell the boys. As soon as Tyler walked out the door on Friday morning, I said, OK Boys, we are having a surprise party for dad tonight! They were so excited!

I had a slow day at work, so I spent the day cleaning, running errands, preschool chauffer, making food, trying to hide the food. The boys were helping by making messes, helping to clean them up. When Tyson got home from school he was a big help. He said he had been waiting all day to have the party.

I bought a bunch of 30 decorations and a big blow up birthday cake that was like 6' tall. And a sign to go on the front of our house. (thanks to that sign, just about everyone at church on Sunday wished him a happy birthday, ha ha)

I couldn't get the cake to blow up, and my electric pump died, I tried the blow dryer. It still wasn't working. I ended up trying to blow it up until I just about passed out. Luckily when Tyler's dad came, he keeps a pump in his car and Taylor pumped it up for me. Thanks!)

Everything was on track. Tyler was going to be home about 30 minutes before everyone got there. He was getting his grill ready for the burgers and then Tyson was going to go on a bike ride with him. Everyone would hopefully be there and we would quickly get all of the decorations up and when thy got back we would all surprise him.We were about 5 minutes away from him going on the ride and my sister came, they were very quiet and wanted to see if they should drive around or park farther away. Well, Tyson got a little over excited and ran through the house screaming, Parker, Paisley are here for the Party!

Well, that was the end of the surprise. I went into the kitchen and Tyler looked at me, what's going on?

Surprise, we have 20 people coming over for your birthday and dinner.

So we made everyone as they came, walk in the kitchen and yell surprise.

Tyson felt really bad that he had ruined the surprise. I was a little upset at first, but we all got over it, and Tyler had no idea that any of it was planned, so it was still a surprise. Just not how we had planned.Anyway, it was fun. Tyler made all of the burgers and Jared and Tyler cooked them.

And we hung out and ate lots of food and dessert. It was the fun and relaxing night that Tyler had wanted, with just a few more people.

Happy Birthday Tyler!

2008-04-11T09:34:00.004-06:00

Happy 30th Birthday to my hubby Tyler.

30 Reason's Why I Love You!

1. You are my best friend
2. You are are an awesome dad!
3. Tyson
4. Preston
5. Mason
6. You are always working hard for our family
7. You are teaching our boys how to be great men
8. You are so smart and can learn anything
9. You can fix ANYTHING
10. You are an awesome cook and you cook alot for our family. Thanks!
11. You are romantic
12. You are my eternal companion.
13. You are handsome
14. You always make me feel good about myself
15. We can talk for hours and I love it
16. We are on the same team
17. You care about how I feel
18. You still love to go on dates
19. You are funny
20. You love to watch the same shows as I do and get excited about them
21. You take our boys fishing
22. You listen to the spirit
23. You know all (or at least most) of the primary songs and you sing them during primary
24. You can talk to anyone and know all about them and be their friends instantly
25. You take care of your home teaching families
26. You love all of your brothers and sisters
27. Your best friends with your dad
28. You love me and you tell me often
29. Every day with you is a blessing to me
30. You cry at commercials

Happy Birthday. I love you so much. You are the best husband and friend I could ever ask for.

love,
me :)

Thanks Dad!

2008-04-02T13:34:00.007-06:00

Thanks Dad...for fixing my bike and putting new tubes in and fixing the seat and putting pegs on the back wheels.

Thanks Dad...for surprising me with my fixed bike when I got home from school!

Thanks Dad...for going on a bike ride with me and hanging out with me.

Thanks Dad! I love you!

Tyson

Decorating Eggs After Easter?

2008-03-29T21:26:00.010-06:00

We didn't quite make it to decorating our eggs before Easter, and the boys got some fun egg decorating kits for Easter. So we decided to color and decorate them for Family night on Monday. After dinner, we got all of the colors going in glasses. A couple of the colors weren't working very well, so I decided to read the instructions. A little backwards I know, but oh well. One of the kits needed lemon juice and one needed vinegar. I couldn't remember which colors were which, so we just started adding the vinegar and lemon juice to the ones that weren't working. Some started foaming and sizzling. Tyson was stressing, it was funny. Mason kept saying over and over, "this is so exciting!"

We worked on coloring the eggs and Tyler got home just in time to color the last egg. We let them dry and then we added the tatt0os and the spiderm@n rub ons. The boys really had a fun time adding these. Mason really got the hang of the tatt0os and was going to town on his eggs.
We haven't been big on coloring eggs in the past, but I think this is now a re-born tradition in our family. We had a good time.

Easter 2008 Update

2008-03-28T20:48:00.018-06:00

Easter came so fast this year. We weren't really prepared for it, but we still had a great Easter. It wasn't very exciting or busy. But it was relaxing and nice. We didn't stress over parties or huge city Easter egg hunts or matching clothes for the boys. We didn't even overload on candy or chocolate. (which is amazing in itself)

We went to a nice small neighborhood egg hunt on my sister's street a few blocks away. The little kids went on one side of the street and the older kids the other side. They had such a fun time filling up their buckets with eggs. It wasn't crazy and they all got a ton of eggs. Preston and Mason cruised up and down the street and all over the grass and found eggs with the other kids. Tyson was on the other side of the street and he searched every crack and crevise of the street until he was satisfied that all of the eggs were found. Well, he was never satisfied, we stayed and visited for a little while and when it was time to go, I had to pick him up from the street. He was sure there were still eggs out there to be found.

Getting ready to hunt eggs

The little kids

The big kids

Mason's loot
Preston's on the look for eggs

Tyson's searching

Preston playing at Michelle's

We went home for awhile and then went back to Michelle's to have our family party. The boys rode there scooters and I walked.
It was a small party. Just my mom, Michelle and Jared's fam and me and the boys. Tyler missed all of this fun day because he had to work. :(
The boys had a great time though. They played upstairs in the toy room and with the new zim zam toy that Grandma gave them and then they went and rode bikes and scooters outsite. They were outsite playing just about the entire time we were there. They came in to eat and then were back out to play. They also played at the neighbors who had a trampoline and swingset and sand box. They had so much fun and it was nice for us to have all the kids outside playing.

When it was time to go, we had to walk and ride home. And the boys were really tired. Luckily we only live a few blocks away and on the way home there is a lot downhill.

When we got home, the boys all crashed and slept for a few hours. Tyler came home later and we just hung out. Relaxing.

Sunday we woke up to the Easter Bunny who had brought the boys fun things. Tyson got a bunch of Cray0la craft tools, Preston got project to make shapes with little wax bead things and then you iron them and some writing practicing pad, Mason got sidewalk chalk and chalk tools. They also got a few eggs. Luckily the Easter Bunny didn't overdue it on the candy, so the kids weren't out of control all day. Thanks!

Mason checking out his bucket

Preston and his movie

Tyson on Easter morning

We had a nice day at church and then came home and got ready to go to Tyler's parents for dinner. We were the only family to eat dinner over there, and it was nice and calm. After dinner we decided to go on a walk. We took the boys scooters, so we walked over to the park near their house and the boys and Taylor played on the park while Kris and Alan and Tyler and I walked around the track and chatted. The best part was when we were walking, they had all of these markers and one of them said to run to the next marker. So Tyler and I looked at each other and took off running, we raced to the first and we decided to keep going, so we went to the next. We were about dying, but it was funny. Tyler picked up the pace and beat me. Darn it. I ran farther though. Ha!

Anyway we ended the day with Grandma's banana pudding wafer trifle. Yum. We had to make a stop at Tyler's work and then at my moms on our way home so the boys watched Enchanted that they got for Easter. Such a cute movie. Preston loves the part, You've Got to Show Her you Love her. It is so funny.

We really enjoyed this Easter. Not too crazy, and very relaxing. The way it should be.

We've Been Decorating

2008-03-17T11:36:00.006-06:00

We are slowly working on decorating our house. Since we took 2 years to decorate our other house, we thought we would get started a little earlier this time. We decided to work on our entry and our front room and it was a fun and fast project. We had picked out our paint for the entry a few months ago but never got around to painting it. Well one night Tyler got the painting bug and got out the paint and did a big test right in our entry. Well that started our project. We worked on painting the entry and then we decided to do the front room also. It was just basically a place where all of our mis matched furniture without a home when to stay. So we started out looking at couches to see where we wanted to take the room. Once we found the couch we wanted we decided on paint and accents. We started painting and had a couple colors going at the same time. We basically finished the entry and front room in about a week.
It was a fun project and Tyler and I really like how it turned out.

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Next Project...The Kitchen.

We Officially Get a Raise!

2008-03-11T11:23:00.003-06:00

No more diapers or pull ups! Yeah. Mason is finally fully potty trained. He is no longer using pullups at night or during the day. It's underwear all the way baby! Wahoo!!!

I'm sure the boys will find something to replace the money we have spent on diapers and wipes, but at least we don't have to spend it on something that covers their hineys!

Now with no diapers or pullups to add padding to Mason's little behind, his pants that wouldn't stay up before, are really falling down. Belts are a must with him. But he does look so darn cute in his little Mickey Mouse unders. I don't think I will post a picture, so you'll just have to take my word for it.

When Mason started going potty in the potty, Tyler took Mason on a daddy-son date and they went to the Di$ney St0re and bought him a Mickey Mouse stuffed animal, a mickey Shirt, Buzz shirt and a Mickey Mouse Club House Bowl, Spoon and Fork. Mason sleeps with his Mickey every night and he loves them.Good Job Mason! We are so proud of you.

Catching Some ZZZZ's

2008-03-04T14:42:00.010-07:00

I just can't catch a break. More like, a good nights sleep. I was figuring the other night, as I was awake in the middle of the night. I haven't slept through the night consistently for, um....almost 6 years. 6 YEARS!!! That is back before I got pregnant with Preston. I'm sure there are moms out there that have the same problem. But I'm not a super mom, and I'm tired.

Mason is 3 1/2 and he FINALLY started sleeping better a few months ago. Sleeping better for him is staying in his bed for most of the night a few nights a week, sleeping the whole night in his bed maybe 1 night a week and the rest of the week sleeping next to me in my bed. I was feeling energized and hopeful that I would start to get some sleep.

Well, since we have been doing the potty training stuff, Mason has started waking up in the night to go to the bathroom. Which is great for him, because he won't pee the bed, but he doesn't just wake up, he wakes up screaming and in a panic. I didn't realize the first couple nights what was going on, he's half asleep and he finally yells, I have to go pee! So I'm rushing him to the potty in the dark, forgetting my glasses, can't see where we are aiming. So Fun.

Nights like last night seem to be the norm also. Mason woke up to go potty soon after we went to bed and Tyler was still up. So he slept great the rest of the night. But no, I didn't sleep good because, Preston, who rarely wakes up in the night, had a bad dream last night and climbed in bed for a couple hours. So Close!

If all of the above doesn't keep me up and you'd think I could get some good shut eye, I lay in bed or wake up in the night because, well, my body is in this great habit of not sleeping well.

For fun, here are some cute pictures of my boys when they have fallen asleep unexpectadly. Maybe I can get an unexpected night of sleep. Here's hoping!

More on Preston

2008-02-28T11:17:00.004-07:00

I thought this would be fun to post. This was Preston's birth announcement. We decided to create an electronic version and we were going to burn it on those mini disks and send it out.
Well, it never made it out. Preston had some problems when he was a baby and was back in the hospital a couple days after we brought him home and then he was on oxygen and heart monitor for 6 weeks. It was a scary and hard time and the birth announcement just never made it out. I have always felt so bad that we never sent this out.
So I thought this would be a perfect place to put it.

Preston's Five!

2008-02-25T14:53:00.007-07:00

I can't believe that today Preston is FIVE years old. He has been so excited to be five and has been talking about his birthday for months. We put together a poster that they put up at school during the week of their birthday. I have been taking a Ph0toshop class so we decided to do it in PS and then have Tyler print it. It turned out so cute and Preston loves looking at all of the pictures of things he has done this past year.
Preston has grown up so much this year. He has such a soft sweet side and he is a tough kid. He is always getting hurt, falling, banging and scraping something. He is our teddy bear. He loves hugs and he loves to be tucked into bed so only his head is showing and he is all snuggly. He is our child that requires the most sleep. He will fall asleep anywhere, and is always the last one up in the morning.

Tyler and I were talking a couple days. We can't believe we've survived to five with Preston. When he was little and up until he was about 2 1/2 he was not only crying about something most of the time, he was the absolute worst sleeper ever. We thought we would never make it through it. Jump to when he is five. He is our best sleeper. Doesn't complain when it's time for bed. He will even go get in bed sometimes when he is tired and we will find him asleep and all cuddled in his bed. He RARELY wakes up in the night and when he does, he quietly comes in our room to tell us he had a nightmare and snuggles for a few minutes and then goes back in his bed. Who would have guessed.

He loves to run and flip and jump around. He loves to kick a ball and love splaying soccer. He has a great imagination and can play and pretend for hours. He loves going to school and has grown up so much this year in school. Last year, I had to walk him in every day. This year he no longer needs me to walk him in. He has learned so much at school and is getting excited for Kindergarten in the fall.

Preston has a smile that will melt your heart. He has the cutest little face and loves to smile for pictures. He is shy but starting more and more to be more outgoing. He would never talk to anyone, especially strangers. He always has people saying hi to him where ever he goes. And he is now saying hi back and if they stay there long enough, he will tell him all about himself, including spelling his name for them, and telling them about his older brother and little brother. (He calls Mason his baby brother). Just a funny story. When he was 7 months old we went to Florida as a family. He was the cutest, rolly polly baby you ever saw. Every where we went, the airport, the airplane, restaurants, museums, etc. people stopped us and commented on what a cute little girl we had. At first we didn't know what to say. One lady stopped us in the airport and was just chatting with him saying what a darling little princess with the big brown eyes. By the end of our trip we called him our princess. At least he was young and didn't understand.

Preston is a CTR 5 at church and really loves going to primary. He comes home singing all of the songs and talks about Jesus. He is always asking questions about Jesus and tells us that Jesus is watching over Tyson while he is at school so he doesn't get hurt. He gives the sweetest little prayers. Every time we pick him up from class at church, and ask him how it was, he says with a loud excited voice. It was AWESOME! I wish we could all be that excited.
We love Preston in our home. He brings a special spirit and we love that he is our middle child. He loves having and older and a younger brother and that makes him special. He loves his brothers.

We hope you have a great year Preston and we love you so much.

Happy Birthday Son!

Here are some of my favorite pics of Preston.

Silly Sock Day

2008-02-22T10:58:00.007-07:00

Today is Silly Sock Day at Preston's preschool.

What a cutie!

(oh, and he finally got his much needed haircut. Thanks Tyler)

Valentine Fun

2008-02-18T10:44:00.015-07:00

We had a fun Valentines this year. We picked up the boys valentines for their classes way back in January so they all got the ones they wanted. Since Mason doesn't go to school yet, Tyler told him that he could pass his out at his work. So the boys have been excited for quite some time waiting for the day they could hand out their treats and cards.

So a few days before Valentines we worked on writing names on their cards. Tyson had his done with all of them ready to go without me even knowing. He did Transformer 3D cards this year.
Preston chose Power Rangers. He wrote his name on all of the cards and then I helped him write the names of all his class mates. And we stapled the treats to the cards. Preston had his school party the day before Valentine's and he was beyond excited to open all of his treats and prizes that he got from school.
Mason got Mickey Mouse Club House cards and he colored on them and he also helped me make our traditional sugar cookie dough.

The boys were excited to wake up on Valentines to see some little treats and toys and a card from mom and dad. I also made them our traditional heart shaped pancakes for breakfast.
During the day, we put together Tyler's little gift and frosted him some cookies and went to his work. Preston and Mason handed out their Valentine cards and passed out candy to everyone at Tyler's work.

That night after dinner, we let the boys decorate a cookie. And they had all had their fill of candy and treats by then so we didn't go all out on dinner. Just boring left overs. Oh well.

I am taking a Ph0toshop class and it was that night from 8-10. So I kissed the boys good bye and they were all in bed when I got home. So nice.

Conversations with Preston

2008-02-11T13:24:00.001-07:00

Last Night
Preston: Mom....pinky promise me.....when the dishwasher is done, I get to unload it.

Mom: Oh yeah, I promise, it's a deal!

This Morning
Preston: (with a sad and worried look on his face) Mom....I don't ever want to get married.

Mom: Why sweetheart?

Preston: I hate the kissing part. It's gross.

Mom: Ok, Pres, you don't have to, but I'm sure you will change your mind when you get older.

Preston: No way.

Funny Kid.

Prayers of Little Ones

2008-02-06T10:21:00.000-07:00

Tyler and I have had a hard time not laughing during dinner prayer lately. Preston has been so darn cute. He is always blessing everyone that he loves them very much. And Mason and Preston have been blessing them that they can find their toys that they've lost.

Well last night was no exception. It was Preston's turn to say the prayer on the food. About 20 minutes before dinner, he slipped on the chair and landed hard on the tile.

Well his prayer started out...Dear Heavenly Father, please bless my bum, that it will feel better...

A few minutes after the prayer and we had started eating. He got off his chair and started walking around. He was so excited..."Mom, Dad, I can walk and my bum doesn't hurt!"

My Sweetheart for 10 years!

2008-02-04T12:25:00.000-07:00

Today is Tyler and my 10 year wedding anniversary. Tyler surprised me and had arranged Saturday night at a bed and breakfast up in Midway. A cute little swiss town up in the mountains. It was so beautiful, we left on Saturday, dropped the kids off at Trent and Jessica's (thanks!) and made our way up the canyon. The sun was out and it was such a nice day. We got to the Inn and checked in. They had a sun room with magazines, games, a cute little bird that talked and sang and whistled. They did appetizers in the afternoon and we played UNO. Very nice and relaxing day. We went out to dinner at Zermott, a very nice resturaunt nearby. After we stuffed ourselves we went back and watched movies and enjoyed the rest of the evening.
The next morning, I was getting ready to go down to breakfast and I looked out the window. Oh boy. It had snowed at least 2 feet overnight. Our van was buried and the little man that owned the inn was trying to uncover the driveway with a snow blower. We enjoyed a homemade German pancake, fruit and sausage breakfast and went to gather our stuff to leave. It had already snowed another 4 or 5 inches during breakfast.
We tried to get out and the snow was still so deep around our van we had to snow blow a path to get out onto the road. It was a scary ride into town and onto the main road. Once we got to the turn where you can go down the canyon or left to Heber, there was a road block and they said the canyon was closed for a couple hours. So we drove in a massive blizzard to Heber. We hung out in Heber, checked the weather, the road closure hotline every hour or so until we finally got the notice that the canyon would be closed all night and wouldn't be open again until morning. So we went to the only hotel in town and checked in, along with just about everyone else that was stranded. We went to the little store in town and got us some treats and snacks and went back to the hotel and had our own Superbowl party. Hey one good thing about having the Superbowl party in a hotel room, is when your team wins, you can jump up and down on the beds!!!! :)
We made it home this morning, picked up the kids, who slept the second night and Grandma and Grandpas (thanks!) and came home.
So we had a wonderful and very eventful Anniversary weekend. And the best part of it was that I got to spend it with my very most favorite person. My sweetheart, Tyler.
I just want Tyler to know that I love you very much and I am so lucky and blessed to have found you and to be your wife. The last 10 years have been the best 10 years of my life. I'm such a lucky girl to have my best friend for my husband.

Thanks for all of the adventures of the last 10 years and I look forward to the next 10 years and more.

Love you tons!

We thank thee, Oh God for our Prophet

2008-01-28T16:43:00.000-07:00

I wanted to pay tribute to such a wonderful man. He was such an example to us all.
Last night when we heard the news of his passing. The entire house seemed to go silent. Tyson's face said it all. As soon has he read the caption on the tv, he turned and looked at me with the saddest face.
We will all miss President Hinckley. He gave us hope and taught us to BE the best we can be. He also showed us that he loves us and we are all loved by our Heavenly Father. We are going to miss him, but we are very happy that he is with his wife again.

Jesus Wants Me For a Sunbeam

2008-01-27T15:17:00.000-07:00

With the coming of the new year, we had another change, in church. Since all of the kids move up a class at the beginning of the year, we reached a big milestone in our family. No more kids in Nursery. Mason is now out of Nursery and moved up to be a Sunbeam. Now he gets to go to the big room for sharing time and then to class. He's only been once, with sickness and Stake Conference last week. He was very nervous the first time and didn't want to sit down. He also missed the toys and snacks in Nursery. But when he came out, he was waving the picture he colored and was so proud that he made it through without crying.
He is getting so big and I am proud that he is a Sunbeam. He is so sweet and even loves to sing the song.
Jesus wants me for a Sunbeam, to shine for him each day.
In every way try to please him, at home, at school, at play.
A Sunbeam, a Sunbeam, Jesus wants me for a Sunbeam.
A Sunbeam, a Sunbeam, I'll be a a Sunbeam for Him.

In Stitches

2008-01-18T15:34:00.001-07:00

We have had lots of scrapes and bruises and falls and blood and all of the fun that comes with having 3 energetic boys.
Well on Thursday night Tyson became the first one to have stitches. I was at the grocery store and Tyler was cleaning the kitchen. The boys were at the table and Tyson decided to get up and do a little dance to the music. Well slippery socks on the tile and dancing and whoop, his feet slipped out from under him and he hit is head on the kitchen chair. Tyler said it was the hardest he's ever heard one of our kids hit their heads. He knew instantly that he was really hurt. He scooped him up and ran into the bathroom. Tyson was screaming and blood was gushing.
Just then I walked in the door and Tyler came out of the bathroom and calmly said, I have to take Tyson to the hospital. I had just been on the phone with him, not two minutes before and everything was just fine. I ran in the bathroom and Tyson was crying and holding his head with a wash cloth. He took the towel off his head and oh boy a big open gash.
So I called the doctors and the told us to come into the office, they do stitches there. By the time we were getting our shoes on and putting our coats on, Tyson was in shock. He was shaking and wimpering. I felt so bad. He was trying to be brave. He wanted me to come with him to the doctors, so we all piled in the car and headed to the doctors. It takes us about 20 minutes to get to the doctors from our house. Tyson kept almost drifting off to sleep, so we were worried that he might have a concussion. So we put a movie on in the van and we kept the light on and kept talking to him. When we got to the doctors, I didn't want to take the other boys into the doctors office, (germ city) So I gave Tyson a pep talk and told him that dad was going to take good care of him and he was going to do great.
Well, we went and got some dinner while we waited. After about 45 minutes, I decided to go in and check on him, so I ran in and when I walked in the room, the doctor was in the middle of stitching up his head. He was laying on the table with a cover that covered his eyes and it had a hole where the doctor was working. They were all chatting. I asked him how he was doing. He said, Great, I can't feel a thing. I went back out to the van and waited for them to finish. When he came out, he was skipping, and laughing. He kept saying, I don't know why I'm so happy, I just got 5 stitches in my head. It was funny. We left and went to show Grandma and Taylor his wound. Brave Boy.
So we survived our first of I'm sure many, trips to the doctors for stitches.
I took Tyson's picture and he made the sign to make sure everyone knows that under the bandaid there are 5 stitches. And when ever there is a camera out everyone has to get in on the action.
Some day I will get to posting about Christmas, promise.

Preston's Christmas Program

2008-01-11T17:29:00.000-07:00

Preston had his Preschool Christmas program on December 20th. Tyler was out of town at the BYU game in Vegas. And about an hour before the program a blizzard started outside. The streets were completely covered and the wind and snow and the wind and snow were so bad, both Grandma's decided not to come. So the boys and I were the only one that made it to the program. So Tyson manned the camera while I tried to video the program, to show it to Tyler when he got home. Mason kept trying to sit on my lap and hold onto my arm during the program, so the video is pretty shaky.
Preston did such a good job with all of the songs. He loves to sing and knows all of the words to the songs and all of the actions. He has been walking around since the beginning of December singing all of the songs that he had been learning. He loves to sing and is so darn cute when he sings. Sometimes he doesn't know the exact words, and sings how he hears the words. And they are pretty funny. His favorite was Here Comes Suzy Snowflake. For awhile it was Snoozy Snowflake.
He also had a part for the program and he said it in the microphone so good. I was so proud of him. It is such a difference from last years program where he basically stood there.

Taking Care of Me Already

2008-01-07T15:02:00.000-07:00

I just had to write a quick note about something Mason did today.

I was sitting at my desk. Mason and Preston have been playing Hungy Hungry Hipp0 right outside my office door. They left for a little bit and then Mason came into my office and handed me a yogurt and spoon. He said, "Here mom, you like these, eat it. It's for you."
So cute. He got in the fridge, got me a yogurt and got a spoon out of the drawer and brought it to me for a snack.
Love that kid.

Happy New Year

2008-01-02T12:39:00.000-07:00

Happy 2008!!!!

We had a great Christmas Holiday are excited for what the New Year brings. I have lots of great pictures from Preston's Christmas program, family get togethers, Christmas, parties etc. But right now I have a sick little one, Mason, who I'm going to be taking to the doctors this afternoon. AND I hurt my back over the weekend. So I am working on my laptop from my bed.
So after all of this passes, I'll have to play catch up once again.

Cookies, Cookies and More Cookies!

2007-12-18T10:13:00.000-07:00

Well, I started our annual making of the Christmas Cookies. I made 4 different doughs on Sunday and started baking them yesterday afternoon. I've made all but one of the doughs. I made Soft Gingerbread Cookies, Holiday Mint Cookies, and my Aunt Winnie's Old Fashioned Sugar Cookies (tradition). The last ones I have to bake are another version of Gingerbread cookies, but these ones I will roll out and use cookie cutters to make cute little gingerbread people.
Mason was helping Tyler with the sugar cookies and Tyler asked Mason for a kiss and I caught this perfect kiss on camera. Eye's closed and everything. Cute!

The sugar cookies are a cookie that we make every Christmas. I made them as a child with my mom. And they have become our families favorite this time of year. It isn't Christmas until we make those cookies.The kids love to help, Preston helped press down the sugar cookies with the colored sugar and Mason helped with all of the dough making by turning off and on the mixer and adding the flour. Tyson helped by eating the cookies! :)

Now tonight we have to put them all together on plates and take them to the neighbors.

Playing Catch Up

2007-12-12T16:40:00.000-07:00

Well since I haven't blogged in almost a month, it's time to play catch up. And I have been officially called out by Tracie to get my blog on. So here you go.
See below for a bunch of new posts all the way back to Thanksgiving.
Enjoy!

Fiesta Friday

2007-12-12T16:31:00.000-07:00

We've started a new weekly tradition. Our family loves mexican food. And we end up eating it at least once a week. So we decided to make it something we do every Friday. And we call it Fiesta Friday!!!

We did our first official Fiesta Friday this last Friday. We invited HayLee and Justin over. Tyler went all out. He got us hats and cute Fiesta plates. Tyler made amazing carne asada steak tacos with homemade salsa and guacamole and homemade chips. We did our left over chocolate fondue for dessert. Yummy!
Fiesta!

Fondue and Decorating the Tree

2007-12-12T16:07:00.000-07:00

On December 1st we had our annual chocolate fondue night. This is the night that we have chocolate fondue with tons of fun and yummy things to dip into the chocolate and we decorate our Christmas tree. The boys love this tradition and so do Tyler and I. The chocolate fondue was so good and we dipped 0reo's, gingerbread cookies, apples, pineapple, manderine oranges, coconut marshmellos, pretzels and I'm sure I'm missing something, but it was yum-o.

We invited my mom and Joe over. My mom had just flown in from New Y0rk and stopped by on her way home. The boys loved sharing this experience with my mom. This tradition is one that my family used to do when I was young and since I am a die hard chocolate fan, this was one that I made sure we continued.

The boys each took turns putting the ornaments on the tree. We don't have a lot of ornaments, but they ones we have are special. And we supplement with silver and red bulbs. Tyler put the star on the tree. This is the star we bought when we first got married. Almost 10 years ago. It is a pretty sad star and is barely holding together. I think it will be retired after this year.

Tyson disappeared into his room and came out with presents for the boys. He is so thoughtful. They opened the presents and gave their brother a big hug. It was really sweet.

Then when we were done decorating, we read from our 24 days of Christmas book. You start on December 1st. It has a scripture, song and a story for every night up until Christmas Eve.

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow

2007-12-12T15:59:00.000-07:00

On December 1st we woke up to the best thing ever. SNOW. I love the first real snow of the season. It was snowing all day. We found all of the snow pants, gloves, hats, and coats and as soon as we got our chores done, the boys went out to play. They had so much fun. They were making snow angels and throwing snow balls at each other and diving in the snow.
We went to watch the BYU football game after this and Tyson played in the snow at Grandma and Papa's house with uncle Taylor.
They love the snow and it's so fun that they can play in it now and actually stay outside for more than a few minutes. We have already seen more snow here than in the town we used to live in. There was rarely snow there. And we have had so much snow that the boys have already made their first snowman. I'll have to post later of more pictures of them playing outside when it isn't snowing.

Handsome Boys

2007-12-12T15:56:00.000-07:00

A couple Sunday's ago, Tyler took these pictures of the boys right before church. They look so handsome with their church clothes on. Tyson hadn't had his hair combed yet, but he still looks very grown up. Preston loves getting dressed up nice and getting his hair combed. Very handsome.

Fun in the Tub

2007-12-12T15:52:00.000-07:00

The boys finally talked me into letting them use the tub crayons. They had a blast. It came with a sponge duck that cleaned the crayon off. So they were coloring all over and then cleaning it off. They were in the tub until the water went cold. Very entertaining. I wrote their names on the side of the tub and they thought that was so cool. I also put color tablets in the water so they were swimming in orange water.