8 Years!

I may not always choose the right line in the grocery store, and I may always get lost because I choose the wrong shortcut to take when i am driving, but at least I got this one right!



Happy Anniversary Honey, you're the best decision i have ever made!

Kyler's Birthday

Kyler turned 2 yesterday so we invited a few friends over to sing him happy birthday, he is still a little young to know what was going on, but he loved all the attention and presents.




His favorite gift was his little motorcycle that came on his cake, he is his Daddy's little clone, he loves motorcycles. He played with that thing all night and couldn't wipe the smile off of his face, I had to take it out of his room because he kept getting out of bed to play with it. My little boy is growing up so fast! He has been such a joy in our lives. Every day he runs to the door yelling "daddy!" when Justin comes home, he loves to be around Justin every minute he can. He always has a smile for me, even when i yell at him, he just smiles at me and it melts my heart. We love you Kyler, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Halloween

In the morning me and the kids went down on main street. They have games to play for the kids, and lots of free stuff. I tried to talk them into just focusing on getting candy but all they wanted to do was play games, they really haven't figured out the point of Halloween I guess




Then in the afternoon we went with Mike and Colette and did a little shooting practice. See what Price has done to me, I know how to shoot a gun now! Then after we got home Justin took the kids around the neighborhood and finally they all got loaded up with candy for me to eat.

Happy birthday to me :)

Well i am officially 28! i had a great birthday this year. I asked for a sandbox for my birthday and Justin of course built me an awesome one. Me and Justin went to lunch alone which was great because that doesn't happen often, and the girls picked me out a cute little cake and all day they were trying to plan me a party and they kept inviting neighbor kids to my "party" so i finally had to tell them to stop so i wouldn't have 20 kids at my house. It was so cute though, the whole day they were so excited about my birthday, they even decorated their room for me. So here is the sand box, the kids couldn't wait to get in it.

First day of school and Kylers new blanket

Well my little Sydney started school(two weeks ago, but i am a slacker).I can't believe she is in kindergarten already. She has been doing great so far. They do all day kindergarten and the first week she told me school was too long, but now she seems to be doing fine. Every night she get's so excited to do her homework and I can't believe how much she has learned so far. Madi started preschool too. She did half a year last year so she is a pro at it already, she insists on doing homework too when Sydney is doing hers. They are so fun and I love being their mom. I feel like life is already going too fast for me though, my little ones are not so little anymore and it makes me sad. Here are some pictures though.





I also moved Kyler in to a toddler bed and I didn't want to use his crib bedding anymore so I decided to make him a blanket. I get a little out of control when I make things, it is too fun to have endless possibilities with all my fabric samples. I had a little left over so I made a matching valance too. I love it and Kyler loves his new found freedom of being able to get in and out of bed when he wants. Now if I only had some artistic ability I would paint a giraffe on his brown wall but we all know that isn't possible for me to do so I will have to think of something else.

what would you do?

So i have always tried to be an honest person, but last week I ran into a little bit of trouble. The house next to me isn't sold yet and the guy that is building it decided to do a stamped concrete deck on the back of it. So they had been working on it and it was his first time doing a stamped concrete so he was experimenting i guess. He finishes up and comes over and tells me that they just finished so to make sure i keep the kids off and i told him "oh sure, no problem". there is no fence between us and the house so the kids kind of just wander around all the houses. So we go in and eat lunch and I put Kyler down for his nap and i start wondering where the kids are. Just then I hear loud, excited voices coming from outside and i think- oh no... I go outside and sydney is out there with four other neighbor kids JUMPING ON THE CONCRETE DECK! I lost it- I start yelling for all the kids to go home and I am pretty sure I scared all of them pretty bad and all i can think about is how this is going to cost me thousands of dollars and plus humiliate me for not being able to keep track of my kids for longer than ten minutes. So i am just in panic mode and so i go get my little swiffer broom and start sweeping off the dust and i really don't see any footprints, but it is hard to tell with the texture. So i go inside ready to just die and a while later i see some guys out there so i go out to confess to them. It is just the concrete guys and they pretty much say to keep my mouth shut. So I go back inside my shop and then the contracter pulls up. So i am hiding in my shop looking through the window trying to read his body language and I decide I need to just go talk to him and quite acting like a kid. So I march out there all ready to confess and he says "it looks great, don't you think" and i just smile and say "yah it looks great!" and I walk away feeling like a coward, yet somewhat relieved. So what would you have done is my question. I really couldn't see any footprints so there didn't seem to be any damage, but if i was on a hidden camera show I totally would have failed the test. So coward or maybe I just got lucky, call it what you want but I think i got pretty lucky.

Ok, now a bat

As if weird spiders that look like scorpions, large snakes and tons of other insects were not scary enough, Justin finally found out what has been leaving strange droppings in front of my door.... seriously could the creepy animals just leave me alone! Justin hunted it and killed it though, so I can rest in peace now.

just a little snake...

Our neighbor found this snake in her yard and asked Justin to come kill it. It was a little bigger than your normal snake that is hiding in your garden, kyler didn't seem to be too bothered by it, that's a boy for you i guess.

I need help

So as most of you know I am in charge of planning enrichment activities for our ward. We are planning a super saturday for october and the only problem with that is I have never even been to a super saturday. I guess avoiding extra church activities for my whole life has come back to bite me in the bum. So if any of you have any great ideas for me I would love to hear them. I need help... what is the funnest or most useful thing you have done at one of these shindigs?

How I got Sydney to eat pea's

So parenting is kind of one big guessing game for me. You have to pretty much try to outsmart your kids or they outsmart you. Getting my kids to eat has always been a challenge, especially foods they say they don't like even they have never tried them. So one day we had pea's with our dinner and Sydney refused to eat them. She told me she hates peas and she doesn't want to eat them. So I say- Ok that's fine, but I want to tell you a story about a princess who didn't like peas. She kind of perks up and says she wants to hear it. So I proceed to tell her about a princess that didn't like pea's and one day she decided to try them and she noticed her hair grew just a little bit. So she ate another pea and her hair grew a little more. And pretty soon the little princess had ate so many pea's that her hair grew all the way to the ground. THE END I look at Sydney and she say's "I think I like peas mom" and ever since then she begs me to have peas with our dinner. I would have to say I won that fight and she didn't even know it. The funny part is now she wants to know what every food "does". So I have to think of something new with every meal, Carrots make our eyes sparkle, noodles make us strong, spinach makes us run fast.... etc. They are really funny about it though, and they always remember what I tell them so that when a food overlaps with another foods super power they know it and they tell me- no mom, that's not what it does.When they eat their carrots they close there eyes while they are chewing so I can see how sparkly they are when they open them, it is hilarious. But I have to say it worked. I also told them that junk food just tastes good but it doesn't do anything for our bodies. I have to admit that most the time as a parent I don't have a clue what I am doing, so it is great when a crazy idea actually works! It will just be so sad one day when they are sitting at the lunch table with their friends telling them how there hair grows because they eat their peas and all their friends start laughing, and they will realize that I am a liar....

Don't look if pins sticking out of a finger make you faint

Justin went up to the Surgeon today and they took his hard cast off and put him in a removable one. He took it off when he got home and showed it to me, let's just say I felt a little queasy looking at it. Those little balls are the pin heads, so he has three pins sticking into him. I know it is gross, and he thinks I am going to be able to clean them and pull back the skin around the pin without fainting, yah right- that's why I never became a nurse!

Justin's Birthday party and 4 wheeling

Justin's Bday

It was quite the eventful weekend! Saturday Justin's brothers came down early and went riding. Justin had a little crash and broke his pointer finger and has to go have surgery on it this week. So we had a little detour to the ER, but like they say- the show must go on! So we went home and had his party with some friends and Justin's family. All the little girls had on their "High school musical" costumes that Karrie had bought. Then Sunday Mom, dad, Johnny's family, Rochelle's family, and Davey's family all came down for dinner and a little ATV riding on the back yard hill. I am sure the orgill blog will have detailed video and pictures of the event soon. We managed to make it through the day with no injuries. We had so much fun!

Memorial Day at the Cabin

Last weekend we went to the cabin in Tabiona. When we got there we discovered that the water had been shut off for repairs and we weren't going to have any water the whole weekend. I was pretty much ready to go home right then, I just imagined holding the kids in squatting positions outside at two in the morning and it was just not sounding fun. But it worked out ok. Right when we got there Justin and Josh saved the day by finding us water near by to fill buckets up to use to pour in the toilets so we could use them. Then we called justin's brothers and had them bring up extra water to cook and clean with. I don't even think the kids noticed the water wasn't working- they don't really like to flush, wash hands or take a bath anyways, so they felt right at home. We tried to go fishing on Saturday but it kind of rained the whole time and the fish weren't biting which makes for a boring fishing trip. But other than that we had a blast watching movies and playing games. The kids just ran around and played with the other kids and they thought it was great. They always have so much fun when we go there. Then of course the day we come home it is just beautiful weather, but oh well, we still managed to have a ton of fun, and Tabiona is such a beautiful place it is hard not to enjoy just being there.

Bunny Foo foo and bunny sparkles

Ever since our bunny "went to heaven" last year, the girls have been begging us for another one, so friday we went to manti and got us two New Zealand white bunnies. Sydney named hers bunny foo foo and madi decided on sparkles, ( which is also what she wanted Ali to name her baby, but oh well) Then saturday justin built a new bunny cage for them. The girls are pretty excited.

a mom is worth $ 100,000 a year (or more)

So I was watching Oprah yesterday while making dinner and it had couples on there trying to get through financial distress. There was a mom on there who had a three year old little girl. She used to be a high executive i guess and was make six figures a year and then got laid off. She was complaining on national television how all she does is cook and clean and do laundry, and before she had a housemaid do all of this stuff. She told the audience that it would be easier to just go back to her job than stay home with her ONE child! It just made me sad that she didn't even value the fact that she was at home with her child watching her experience life and raising her to be a good human being with morals and values. The therapist on the show tried to tell her how important it was to be with her child and all she had to say was, "well, I gotta hand it to stay at home moms, but it is just hard when you don't want to be and you have to." So to all the mom's out there I guess you could say that you are worth more than a six figure income, because making that kind of money would be easier. Motherhood is the hardest job I have ever had, but i wouldn't give it up for the all the money in the world!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SYDNEY

Sydney celebrated her 5th birthday today!!! I can't believe she is so big already. She is a party animal, so she has been sooo excited for the last couple weeks for this day, so i hope the party was everything she wanted it to be. She had about 8 friends show up for the party, so it was a little crazy, but with the help of Ali we made it through. Notice the new hair-do too, last thursday while I was having my meeting she went into the office and started cutting her own hair, thanks to April for finishing though!

2nd place is the first loser

Carbon county rec volleyball ended last night and yes, we are officially the first losers. that isn't too bad though, the competition was actually pretty good this year. We even had Ali on the team this year and she hasn't played since good old church ball, but she held her own. Me and colette try and put a team together every year, and we had a lot of fun this year once again. I have always loved sports and I don't get many opportunities to play anymore so we look forward to this every year. So if any sister in laws, or sisters move to price, you could have a spot on the team next year, we have already started recruiting though so you better reserve your spot now!

Justin jumpin

Collision at Grandma O's

Kyler started walking..

Kyler's pink Harley

This is what happens when you have two older sisters... you get stuck riding a pink bike with pink polka dot glasses on.

old people

I hope I never get old, even though i know it is inevitable. Since i am in the relief society presidency it pretty much means that I have to do things that nobody else wants to do, or is able to do. So I got roped into putting on relief society today at the local retirement center. luckily my neighbor came and played the piano and ali watched my kids, but it was just sad. I had 45 min to fill up and I made it for like 35, but close enough i guess. I did remember from mom that i should go up and shake their hand and so we did that, and I think they liked that the best. I just don't want anyone to have to change my diapers and yell at me just so i can hear them talk because I am so deaf. So can I get any volunteers to change my diapers so I don't have to be in a rest home... well I guess you will all be in diapers too, maybe I will take this one up with my kids. mom and dad.... can you guys just not get old, I don't think that I can handle that!

goodbye appendix, hello esophagus

So yes, it is true, Justin went into the ER yesterday morning because he was having pains in his stomach and they decided he needed his appendix out. Ali was nice enough to come take care of the kids all day while we waited for our turn, since the surgeon already was booked up, it took us a while for them to fit us in. I was a little concerned about them intubating justin because of his small esophagus so i mentioned it and they said that maybe the doctor could take a look down his throat with the scope and see if he thought it needed to be stretched. Justin has had a small esophagus his whole life but the last 5 years it has been getting worse and worse- his food would get stuck almost every time he ate, we knew he needed the surgery, but kept putting it off. The surgeon said he would take a look. So the appendectomy went good, and they said that his esophagus near the end before it enters the stomach was so small it was almost closed off, he stretched it out a bit but it started to bleed so he had to stop. it still isn't the size of a normal person's, but it feels great for Justin. He also had two ulcers in his stomach and a lot of inflammation from the acid. So I guess we kind of got a two for one deal. He is home and is pretty sore, they put him on an all liquid diet for a week too, Justin will probably be much skinnier next time you see him. We are glad it all went well, not the way we planned on spending our tuesday but what can you do!

25 random things

So this is the second time i wrote this. I didn't do it right the first time and it erased it, so i should be in bed, but i am mad that I went to all that work and it got erased, so i wrote it again, but it is shorter and I think i wrote different stuff, but oh well.


1. I just wrote this, and accidentaly erased it.I am so mad
2. Davey used to call me stinky anne, that name still infuriates me...
3 My best friend in high school was shara parker. we became friends after we ran against each other for class president. I thought she hated me, then she invited me to her birthday party. we were inseperable after that.
4. In high school I scored 33 points on a sprained ankle
5. When I was eight I had a paper route with rochelle and she would pay me one dollar every time we went
6. I bought my upholstery business when I was 22, 2 months after sydney was born
7. I kissed justin on our first date. He was staring at me in the eyes and I panicked and just kissed him. It wasn't until a week later we both really fell for each other.
8. I have had three kids but never gone into labor on my own
9. some of my best memories are going country dancing when I was in high school. we had so much fun!
10. when me and justin first met I died my hair 5 times in a week. Justin's mom thought I was a different girl every time I came over
11. My feet get bigger every time I have a baby
12 Me and justin both love basketball, but I won't play him because he likes to tease me and it makes me mad.
13 when me and justin were first married i spent $25 a week on groceries.
14. I have never been on a diet
15. I love to shop, if I could wear a new shirt every day, I would!
16. I always hated running, but I always did it because my coaches made me.
17. in elementery I would give lavinia liti airheads to beat up boys for me.
16 I don't really like animals, but I always had some sort of pet.
17. when sydney was born justin had to teach me how to hold her and change her... he was born to be a dad, I had to be taught to be a mom!
18 I love ice cream, I eat it 2 or 3 times a week, sometimes more.
19. I have really really thick hair. I use a bottle of conditioner every four to five washes.
20. i like to have my feet touching justin at all times when we are in bed, or even just sitting by each other on the couch.
21. when I was little I would sweep the dirt from the kitchen under the living room rug so i didn't have to go get the dustpan
22 i hide chocolate from my kids so I don't have to share.
23 I always delete forwards that try and tell you not to delete them, it makes me feel rebellious
24 I tried out for Mrs West Valley and lost my voice cheering at one of amanda's games the day before the pageant. I sounded like a cow.
25 My husband can make me laugh so hard I almost pee my pants, the only other people that I remember making me laugh that hard is my brothers

Madi, Australia

So every time sydney says prayers she always says that she is thankful for daddy going on a mission to Sydney, Australia. Me and Madi were eating lunch and she said, "mom, we need to say a prayer" and so I said ok go ahead. "Heavenly Father, thank you for this day, thank you for the food, thank you for daddy's mission in Sydney Australia.... and Madi, australia, in the name of Jesus Christ AMEN." I was laughing so hard, and I was the only one there to hear it, I thought it was hilarious though.

First steps

I think that Kyler finally took his first steps. I say that I think he did because he is determined to do it on his own, which means if I try to make him, he just bends his legs to try and sit down and whines. So I have to secretly watch him. He likes to just stand up in the middle of the floor and put his arms up pretty much saying "look at me!" but he refuses to try and walk. BUT- today while he didn't know I was watching I saw him let go of a chair and take three baby steps to the desk! wow! I guess with some kids you need to just let them do it on their own time. Well anyways GO KYLER!

1 Year Ago

Do you remember this? It has been 1 year ago today that Kyler was taken to Primary Children's. I know you guys are probably sick of me talking about this, but honestly- I think it has taken me an entire year to get over it. It is amazing how something like this affects you for the rest of your life. I can only imagine if we would have actually lost him. I still have images of him there and I think of all the scary things that happened, almost daily still. I just don't know how people ever get through worse things than this. Ya know, I don't know if I didn't realize how bad things were at the time, or if I didn't want to believe that they were as bad as they were at the time. With kids, I think we all have thought about what we would do if something horrible happened to our kid, and then all of the sudden I found myself right in the middle of it, almost as if I was watching an episode of ER, so detached from the situation. Does that sound cold? Or is it normal? Well I still remember in the ER when they started telling me he was really really sick, and they were going to take him to Primary's. I just kept thinking "well, it is just because he is so little and they want to be careful". Then I start seeing my nurse who has been a nurse for 20 years fumbling over her fingers. And then they tell me, we are going to intubate him (which by the way, I thought that meant sedate him... it doesn't, it means stick a tube down his throat because he can no longer breath on his own) So they say... Do you want to give him a kiss and leave the room. I think that is when I really thought- what is going on? So I leave the room and I start hearing the monitors beep saying that his oxygen levels are plummeting and I am standing there alone in the ER thinking "Is my baby dying..." That is when I felt like I was in ER, but it was a lot more sickening feeling, but still very detached. Kyler gave me many more scares like that. Two more while we were on lifeflight, and the nurses who are the best of the best in babies and babies with RSV look at each other and say "wow, that really got my heart going, he scared me!" and I just look out the window and say- oh wow. Needless to say I think I was in a state of shock for at least the next 2 days. That following tuesday I think I cried for almost two hours that morning after seeing him. The only way I can describe it is he looked like he had been beaten up the night before, he looked horrible. They had changed ventilators and put in his picc line and from what I found out later, they had doctors around his bed the entire night. I think after that I finally let myself start to realize what was going on. I never let myself think that he wasn't going to make it though, it was almost like if I thought it, then it might actually happen. Mom asked one of our nurses after Kyler had been there for two weeks and had a really rough day, she said to him "well he is going to make it, right?" and he just said "We don't know" and walked away. I kind of just brushed it off and said, "well mom- they have to say that" The wierd part is, I think I cried 10 times more after it was over then when it was all happening. I guess if you were a psychologist you could tell me why that is, especially since I am someone that cries over everything. I guess you never know until something like this happens to you though.
I could probably write 20 pages on everything I went through. But I am glad today is Jan 27, 2009 and not 2008. It really does help for me to write about my experiences though, It makes me feel grateful for what I have today and be grateful for miracles in my life.

While cleaning up...

While cleaning up the basement after some little kids had decided to pull a bunch of my things out of the boxes downstairs I came across a folded piece of paper with Justin's writing on it, and it was "notes" from when Justin proposed to me. So I thought I would share it with you because we got such a kick out of it.

-Drive by Buzz field
-Go to PF CHANG's
-Walk by temple
-go get iceburg
-drive by the bay and country dance in parking lot!!
-Go to Special Spot
Blind fold her
Have a blanket, Martinelli's, candles, and blue boar glasses
Roses, Poem

Roses are Red Violets are blue
and when I look into eternity
all I see is you
And when I first saw you,
I knew that my dreams had
come true, that there was a
girl out there as beautiful as you.
I never met a girl
who has such high integrity
and thinks about basketball
just as much as me!!
and although I'm not
perfect, I want you to know,
there is no one else out there
that I want to be married to.
And so with those few words,
I want you to know-
you made my wish come true
there is something special I want to give to you...


All the places he listed had special meaning in our relationship, so that is why he chose all of those. I thought it was so cute though that he wrote notes so he wouldn't forget anything.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MADISON

Today my little Madison is turning 3! I can't believe it, of course everyone thinks she is older than she is because she is so big, but she is finally three now! I get such a kick out of madison, she loves just to giggle. She loves wrestling and dressing up as a princess. I still fight her every day to put on real clothes and not a dress. She is such a joy to have around, she has the cutest smile and personality. She gives the best hugs too, she loves to wrap her little arms around you and lay her head on your shoulder. We love you Madi! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Happy New Year!

So I have never been a big fan of New Years resolutions, but last night me and Justin were talking and he asked me what my goals are for this year, I couldn't really think of anything and justin wasn't too impressed so I have been thinking all day about what I want to accomplish this year and I came up with a few things.
1- finish house projects (put in yard and deck, clean basement, finish basement, organize my food storage)
2- Add more to my food storage and learn to cook with what i store
3- Smile more and get mad less
4- Give as much as I can to my church calling
5- Read scriptures with the kids more
6- Make dinner time more special for my family, by eating together at the table, and eating healthy home-cooked meals
7- Work out more(which should be easy to do since I can count on one hand the number of times i actually made it to aerobics)
8- Cut down my ice cream intake to only one half gallon per week (I doubt this one will happen but i can act like i am trying)
9- Work less and play more!!

Hopefully I can accomplish most of these this year, Justin's goals consisted of working out more and buying a motorcycle and I am sure that he will have no problem doing both of those!