CAN YOU SEE ME NOW??

Okay just a quick note -- to let everyone know that we arrived in St. Clairsville, Ohio yesturday evening. It's been FUN!! Lots of miles in the car. But the kids have been relatively good!! I can't believe how GREEN it is here and how many TREES there are everywhere!! I've been getting so excited about a lot of the sites that I've been seeing and will post more updates when I get back home after August 9th!! I'm able to check the blog while staying here at the America's Best Value Inn in St. Clairsville, Ohio. Even though I'm on vacation I still have to do LAUNDRY!! So I need to find out where we can do it at. So I'll keep you posted!! It's so nice to crack away from my shell in good ol Utah, I love how pretty it is here, but the humidity will take some getting used to. I've been keeping somewhat of a captains log, and will post notes and pictures in a few weeks. But we're safe and basically at our final destination, we just have about a 2 hour drive that we'll do sometime on Thursday and we'll be there for about 5 days. I do miss my house and being able to send my kids to their own room to go to sleep, I don't quite get that luxury right now. I'm here without my kids for the moment so I'd better get back to them and Chris who are back in the room, while I'm up in the lobby. I need some kind of SANITY TIME!!

What did you do today?

Do you ever get that question asked of you when your husband comes home? Well my husband didn't ask this of me but if he had he would have had a mouthful coming right at him, I didn't even put everything on here.

Okay so today .....

1. Rotate the tires. check
2. Buy a tripod. check
3. Get the oil changed. check
4. Get all the kids hair cut, CHECK, CHECK, CHECK, CHECK, CHECK (And I might add that the haircuts all look WAY CUTE!!! )
5. Find the last bag to use for clothes on the trip. check
6. Wash more laundry ..... C......H.......E......
7. Make dinner --- Check
8. Get kids to bed ----- oh yeah, I should be doing that anytime now.
9. Pack First Aid Kit. Check
10. Make reservations for our stay in Indiana. CHECK (took a lot of calling and checking but found something where we can all stay in the same room -- who cares if the kids will have to sleep on the floor.)
11. Finish packing the clothes for Heidi, Thomas, & Ethan. And make sure Katherine and Kaylee have all their stuff packed.
12. Take a breather and eat some ice cream after the kids go to bed.... oh wait -- I finished that off the other night maybe I'll be running to get some more when Chris is home from his class. Hopefully the kids will be in bed by then.


So as you can see -- I've been really busy today and I managed to get all this done while tending to the cuts and scrapes, and the fighting, and phone calls, and trying to make food, and cleaning out the laundry room shelf. I just always seem bombarded with kids while I'm really trying to get projects done. Somedays it just doesn't seem very FAIR!!! Yes, I know, not many things are but hey --- once in a while is that really too much to ask for??

I really am ready to get out of Utah !! A nice change of scenery will do me GOOD!!! Make me come home all refreshed and feeling like I can tackle a birthday a week later (Heidi will be 6!) and then school will start on August 20th!!! Then I'll get crazy busy with the school happenings again. I need this break away from my everyday happenings, even though I'll still be the MOM and have to do my motherly duties. aagghhh!! Someday I can take a vacation and not have little ones to totally tote around and change diapers on. I mean come on... I need to be patient he's growing up so FAST!! He's already almost 16 months old!!!!

Rabbit Fun

Josiah and Dayton were at my house and enjoyed being able to hold real live rabbits. And yes, my kids like to treat them like they are babies, so they wrap them up and everything. Okay well no they really wrap them to help prevent themselves from getting scratched, it works so I don't mess with it.
Don't you just love his face??

Cousin Fun Part 1

I've had so much fun, and then I've been burned out too!! My sister in law Shantil has been up visiting for two weeks from Arizona. We don't get to see her that often but at least when she comes we can have FUN!! We had a few get togethers with our husbands sister Amy who lives in Provo - like I do, so we had 12 kids in one location and the three of us trying to tame the wild beasts. Of the twelve kids we had 6 girls and 6 boys.

We had two little boys who are both 15 months now.
We had two bigger boys who are both 3 1/2 practically.

We had two girls and one boy who are 5-6 years old.

We had one girl who is 8

We had a girl who is 9 and one boy who is about to turn 9

We also had one girl who is 10!

One mom who is .... ( just kidding thought I would fess up the ages huh??)

Well forget it!! I won't cave in, you can't make me do it -- except that I'm the one in the middle at age 30 and I have the most kids of them all!! Okay it's only 5, and one has 4 and the other has 3.

We had fun trying to play games in between our "motherly refereeing" going on, and getting the monkeys off from the table, trying to prevent babies from sticking this or that in their mouths and trying to keep them "not hungry" and "not thirsty", and between the "trips to the bathroom" .

One day we got together and the little kids were playing with the light sabers that the oldest boy of the bunch had made at a scout camp. They were wacking each other pretty hard, and all we could do was laugh. Or at least I did. It was pretty funny to watch.

Dayton being a little "SILLY" -- I know it's only half of his face but hey, he moves quick. Here is Shantil playing on my piano and singing Christmas songs in JULY!! I loved it!! Kaylee and Katherine were singing with her. They really love how well she can play and that she sings good too, and really think she should try out for AI!!

TRIP UPDATES!!

Okay so I decided to make mention of our trip schedule in case I ever want to remember what was planned for versus what really happens.

1. Friday July 25th -- headed for Laramie, Wyoming.
2. Saturday July 26th --- heading towards Omaha to see the Temple, then onto Boone, Iowa to stay with friends till Monday morning.
3. Monday July 28th -- driving four hours towards Nauvoo, Illinois and seeing some of the historical sites around there. Then driving for an hour or so down the road and staying the night in Galesburg, Illinois
4. We'll head towards Ohio on I-70 and stop in Enon, so Chris can show the kids his child hood home. and then swing by the Columbus Ohio Temple. Then onto West Virginia!! Not sure where exactly we are staying there yet. But we will visit with his Uncle who is sick, and spend some time visiting with other distant relatives in Steubenville, Ohio.
5. On July 31st, We are headed to another place in West Virginia -- where some family reunions will take place on his mom's side of the family. We'll sleep at his Aunt's house for about 4 - 5 nights and then start heading back.
6. August 6th we will head back west and end up in Indianapolis and stay there for the night
7. August 7th drive back to Boone, Iowa and stay with our friends again.
8. August 8th drive across Nebraska, and most of Wyoming, and then head to Denver, Colorado - to see the Denver Temple.
9. August 9th -- ARRIVE BACK HOME!! (Hopefully - all in tact and in one piece and ready for my OWN BED AGAIN!)

My husband shocked me and came home from work on Friday the 18th of July and said he'd been pricing portable DVD players online and decided that we should invest in one for our trip. Something that I had mentioned to him weeks ago, but didn't listen right away. So after hearing it from numerous people, decided that maybe we should do it. So THANK YOU, to any who mentioned this to him, and helped persuade him to treat our family to this. So now we just need to figure out which of our DVD's we'll take with us, and gauge this trip on how many movies did you watch rather than how many hours did it take. We've tested it out driving to a family get together this weekend. And WOW!!! the kids were so quiet the entire time. So now if can really have something that keeps their attention we'll be doing GREAT!!! I'm slowly getting ready for this trip, all the kids need "hair cuts" so I have a friend coming by on Wednesday to take care of that -- and ETHAN will be getting his FIRST HAIRCUT!!! I'm kind of SAD!! Because he has these cute curls at the bottom that I don't really want to part with ---- but we also don't like how long his hair is getting. And yes, I know that minute that he gets the haircut -- he'll look more like a little boy than a baby!! So am I really ready for this??? OH HECK YES!!!! I want to be one more step further away from this darn baby phase!! I'll take pictures of his hair so I can always remember but hey, he'll still be the same obnoxious little boy while awake and the sweet peaceful one while he sleeps. But I'll still LOVE him.

TWO WEEKS UNTIL WE GET TO GO!!

Okay so really who else has made one of those crazy across the country kind of trips? And better yet, with five young kids?? I haven't !!! The longest trip we've taken with our kids is to California to my parents place, and that is like a 10 hour drive from here. But it's been nearly 3 1/2 years since we've all done that trip and Ethan wasn't even born and neither was Thomas. I did however make the trip by myself but I did have my sister and her two kids plus the four kids I had at the time. It was CRAZY!!! So in two weeks we will be leaving for West Virginia, driving in a car, with FIVE, got that FIVE KIDS!!! We're going all the way there which is around 2000 miles and then we have to come all the way home. We'll be gone for 2 weeks. AAAGGGHHHH!!!

But really I am excited for it but not quite sure what exactly will happen. I know how my kids can be, we'll be in the car for an hour and then I'll start hearing the are we there yet?? and the I'm hungry!!, and I have to go Potty!, and IT'S BORING!! And then by the time we reach each of our daily destinations, we'll be sick of the kids yelling and screaming, we'll just want to get them to bed to SLEEP!! But of course, after being in a car for several hours they won't want to SLEEP, because they will have so much pinned up and stored energy that they will need to release it all, but .... and on and on.

But some of the highlights, the kids are really excited that they will get to see the MISSISSIPPI RIVER!! They've been learning about in school and learning how to spell MISSISSIPPI that they are WAY EXCITED about that. They will venture into at least 6 new states and even more if we come home a different way but I'm not sure yet. Got to plan out the return trip home so we can figure out what will happen and go on.

The funniest thing, Kaylee just thought that she was taking 14 shirts because she was going to be gone for 14 days!! I had to quickly let her know that she could have 5 shirts, 1 to wear and 4 in the bag. We're going to be cramped for space, so next weekend I think we're going to have to go through a mock pack up and see how we are for space -- my oh my what will we EVER DO!!!

It's just at that point of getting ready for a trip that I'm getting STRESSED!!! It will be fun, because we'll meet up with Chris's parents that are taking a train out there, and so we'll get to be with them in West Virginia too!! It is also kind of crazy because I'll be meeting several of Chris's relativest that I've never met in the 10 years that we've been married. At least I can say he's met all my aunts and uncles that are still living. So this should prove to be quite the adventure and yes, all my in laws from here are saying "TAKE LOTS OF PICTURES!!" We're also going to see the place where my husband and siblings spent most of their years growing up. Which is in Ohio. So we'll be WAY BUSY!! But we've never taken a vacation like this the 10 years that we've been married. Some how we'll pull through it, have lots of fun!!

MY BRAGGING RIGHTS ??

Last night we had a fun Night!!! Heidi gave our lesson which is found in the June friend 2008. So Chris wanted me to pull out my white bag, and unzip it and pull out my WEDDING DRESS!! I decided to let the girls each try it on and let them have fun wearing it.

So here's Heidi: I tried to take a few different shots. Just for fun, and I'm surprised that they all said, they want to get married in my dress!!! Of course, I just had them "step into" the dress so you can see the clothes underneath. But hey, what a great way to get them excited about being married in the temple.




Katherine having FUN!! She thought it was great that I let her play dress up with my DRESS!!

Kaylee was so excited that she couldn't stand still at first.

It was so funny to watch her squirm as she put on such a

beautiful dress, of course, I am biased.

And here come the bragging rights!!!

So after the girls tried on the dress they asked if I would put it on. Of course, I wore this ten years ago, and I've since had 5 kids, so I told them I'd try and see if it would still fit. And Lo and behold ........


IT DOES !!!!

I started my family off wearing this dress and ten years later .....

look what beautiful kids I have.

The girls wanted to hold the train, so I let them do it.

Of course, I look like I've had a long day and wasn't prepared for real pictures, but hey we had a fun family home evening anyway. I do have to add, what a trip down memory lane.

Having fun in the sun !!

We had watered with the sprinkler and of course, it accumulates a puddle on the sidewalk and this is what Thomas had decided to do, on Thursday while the girls were at Achievement Days. He wanted to COOL off by playing on the sidewalk in the WATER!!

Ethan decided that he wanted to join in on the fun and started splashing in the puddles.
I just love watching my boys explore, play and be friends. Now that Ethan is mobile and kind of plays with Thomas -- they are so fun together. I'm going to MISS these days before TOO long, I can just feel it. That's why I love to take these pictures of the funny things that they like to do and the things that bring them laughter and cause me to have JOY!! I might not have a perfect, well kept house, but I sure do enjoy spending TIME with my children.

But don't get me wrong, after a while I do NEED some down time so I can recoop and get back on track and try to be a good MOMMY again.

Ethan is coming up on 15 months this week and I can hardly believe it. He's a little toddler now. And Thomas is almost 3 1/2 years old!! Let's not forget the fact that I am now 30 and have been for a few months. I used to think that 30 was OLD!! But now after having been this age for a short little while, I can gladly say that I'm not OLD!! I'm just getting to another station in life where things can be affordable, and kids are growing up, and I can spend more solo time with my husband, or by myself. Just a few years away from having freedom getting ready for church where they'll get themselves dressed, and shoes on and get out the door without MOM having to do EVERYTHING FOR THEM!! But for now, I'll just cherish these moments when they want to talk about simple things, or express their ideas and tell me stories. And just tell my cobwebs that they can wait. Because, my little kids will grow up and be out of my grasp before too long. CHERISH THEM WHILE THEY ARE YOUNG!! TELL THEM OFTEN THAT YOU LOVE THEM AND SHOW IT!! Don't ever forget how much they bless your life.

TO-Do List

I've decided that today I need to make an ongoing list of the things that I need to get done today and as I do them, cross them out. So here goes my list :

1. Call the car dealership and ask about the seatbelt.
2. Wash up the dishes and have the kids put them away.
3. Sweep my floor and then follow with a good MOPPING.
4. Make my own bed
5. Have the kids fold clothes and put them away or rather I'll fold them and then have the kids put them away.
6. I need to have my bathroom sink area scrubbed.
7. Need to get the VT report finished.
8. Keep on doing the laundry .
9. Have something made for dinner tonight
10. Get ready for FHE and make sure the kids are all ready with their parts.
11. Practice on the piano some more.
12. Make a list of things to take on our VACATION!

So I have a long list of things to do, but I don't always feel like doing it. So hopefully I can chart my progress, (Kind of how Alyssa made her tasks known.) and see if it really will help me be motivated to get things done.

I know that a lot of times people ask how I do it with 5 kids??? Well guess what, I often wonder that myself, because I don't think that I do it that well. I mean yeah, I try to keep my kids fed, clothed and get them bathed, play with them, read to them, and provide a place for them to sleep. But the state of the house, -- that is a whole different issue. My house is ALWAYS A MESS!!! Okay once in a while I'll get lucky and can manage to have the kitchen all clean and the living room picked up and nice too. But it doesn't last. I'm slowly trying to train my children to clean various rooms, and how to do them, but it takes time, and patience. Because yes, I could do it all by myself, but what will they really learn from it. There is a book out there called W.O.R.K by Debbie Bowen that helps with teaching our kids about working. I'm rereading this, since I own a copy and WOW!! What a refresher. It seems to help during the summer this year, because I'm having my children put in an hour everyday doing chores. It's difficult at first but now that they realize that they just have to do it, they just get busy. So speaking of which, we need to go and get busy with the house work, so I can feel like I accomplished something.

June 23rd - June 24th 2008

We Just Celebrated our 10TH Anniversary !! For our celebration we managed to get Chris's parents to kindly agree to watch our kids for two days. So we started off Monday morning and headed for the Family History Library to do some exploring and try to find some clues to help fill in our gaps. After we left the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, we grabbed some food from Wendy's so we could get driving on the road to get to our destination. The frosty's were the BEST part. It was quite the strange drive just being the two of us and not stopping the entire drive. We didn't hear " How much longer" " Are we there yet?" "I need to go POTTY!" and all the various other saying that kids like to screetch out during a ROAD TRIP. It was awesome to just enjoy the beauty and how green the hill sides were. It was so BEAUTIFUL. Upon arriving in Idaho Falls we wanted to eat dinner at a restaurant called Garcia's -- Mexican cuisine is what they serve and the food was delicious. Afterwhich we drove the backroads to get to the highway again, and drove the rest of the way to Archer -- which is about 7 miles away from Rexburg. We were able to stay with a friend, to whom we are very GRATEFUL!!! She has a cute little place, simple, but surrounded by such beauty and peace.

We then visited with her most of the evening where we played a MEAN hand of Mexican Train. It is so much FUN!! I forgot how fun that game can be -- and of course, it was her house so we had to play by HER RULES!! She was a great hostess with a tin of chocolates ready for us to indulge in, and then she brought out some ice cream crunch bars from the freezer. It was great.

In the morning -- we had our breakfast as promised and she made us, scrambled eggs with cheese, and sausage with a scone. GREAT STUFF there again, we just can't believe we weren't seved the potatoes as well -- I mean come on, we visiting IDAHO which is known for it's potatoes. But nonetheless it was all delightful, mainly because I didn't have whiny children to deal with and I didn't have to make breakfast! So who wouldn't enjoy that.

Chris and I left after breakfast and headed for the Rexburg Temple!! Just gorgeous on the outside and so peaceful on the inside. We can't wait to go back.

We got lucky that some passerby was coming and we asked if she could take a picture of the two of us together by the temple, I don't think she quite knew what to do because the picture was blurry but hey, beggars can't be choosers right??

After the temple we headed to her house again, and she was again KIND enough to pay for lunch at a favorite of ours called Big Judd's. We only do this everytime we go there but we're glad we only go at least once a year the last few years.

This place makes the best burgers and the biggest I've ever seen. We've even taken our kids there a few times too, and they like as well.

We were going to buy new rings for this anniversary but instead, for some other reasons -- surgery, a cross county trip, I told him, I would be Okay without one this year if we compromise and buy a new bed set for our bed. So this is a picture of it on our bed. And No, we aren't fancy or anything we've never had a headboard or footboard, but at least we have a mattress. It was a really fun getaway for us, but not quite long enough. So it's a glimpse into being empty nesters and not having to go with the kids all the time. BOY that will be a nice phase of life to experience after they have all grown. We had a great trip except that a rock landed on the windshield and caused a huge rockchip that immediately had 3 or 4 cracks start branching out from it, so on Wednesday I had to spend my time getting that fixed. FUN!! FUN!! NOT !! We have the worst luck with getting our windshields hit in his car or in the van. Some year I hope that we can go without that happening, but I'm just glad that they can be fixed to help needing a complete new windshield put into the car.