Where were we during October and November

Since I didn't post most of October and November I thought I would give a recap of those missing months.

October was the annual Boys and Jill Deer Hunt. Each year my dad takes all the boys and Jill somewhere in Northern Nevada for a weekend of camping and deer hunting. They came home deerless but had a great time just hangin with the boys doin there boy thing.

So while the boys were away the girls did play. Me and my sister had sleepovers together with our girls. We did a little beauty parlor night with our little girls, which my mom, my Aunt Annette, and sister-in-law Wendy joined us for. We took them out to dinner, and made them some new hair bows, and ate lots and lots of treats.

Next was Jaden's 8th birthday. I can't believe it has been 8 years since he joined our family. For his party he took 2 of his cousins bowling, and to Chuck E. Cheese for dinner. Along with turning 8 comes getting baptized. I was very proud of Jaden for wanting to get baptized. I believe that he really really understood what he was doing. I have always been impressed with the giant testimony that Jaden has.

One of the very bitter sweet days in October was when my Grandma passed away. She had been sick for awhile and was ready to go. She had been asking my grandpa if it was OK if she went. So my grandpa gave her a priesthood blessing and told Heavenly Father that if he was ready for her to come home than he could take her. A few moments later she very peacefully left to join her parents, 13 siblings and 2 of her own children. I am going to miss her but am especially grateful for my knowledge of Heavenly Fathers plan. Me, Mindie, Kirk, Jill and my Dad travel to Utah together for the funeral and really enjoyed some time with Grandpa.

Just before Halloween we celebrated Jason's 31st birthday. We went out to our favorite restaurant Carraba's and also caught a movie. I guess that is all you do when your getting old.

Halloween. That just seems like forever ago. We celebrated the holiday by attending a ward truck-or-treat a few days before, then on Halloween we went to Tyler and Sarah Barlow's for a chili cook off and trick-or-treating. I got the biggest kick out of Troy as he darted from house to house almost knocking the people over as they answered their door and he charged INSIDE. He wanted to see every one's Halloween decorations inside their house and carried on 2 minute conversations with any stranger who would listen.

November began with Macy's 5th Birthday. All she wanted to do to celebrate her special day was go to Krispy Kreams. Since she doesn't have any friends yet, we had to rely on family to come celebrate with us so she would feel like she had a real party. And for her very special present from her dad she got her very own SNAKE. Yes that make 3 snakes for us. "Tinkerbell" is her name. She is florescent green, I guess that is why Macy named her Tink.

Why oh Why?

On the very exact day of Macy's birthday is mine and Jason's anniversary. This year we celebrated 9 years. And actually we were married on the exact day of our 5 year anniversary from the day we first kissed. Didn't you just love those days were you counted everything? Maybe we were the only nerds. So technical I have been kissing that boy for 14 years.

4 days after that our family along with the whole Mohler clan went on the Disney Cruise for the week of Thanksgiving. We spent 7 nights cruising the Caribbean Disney style. This trip deserves it's own blog so for now I will leave you with a picture of all 64 of us.

And last but not least for November was the ending of soccer season. Jaden has really enjoyed playing on his new team. This year he played up a level with the 9-10 year olds. I was a little worried about that, but the boy can totally hang with the big boys. His athletic ability definitely doesn't come from me. His team played in the end of the season Tournament and made it to the Championship. The Championship game was supposed to be on a Friday night, but got rained out and was rescheduled for Sunday. Jaden's team forfeited to keep the sabbath day holy, and once again I was so impressed with his attitude to Choose the Right!

Double the Trouble

For all of you who have ever wondered what it would be like to have two mischievous 3 years olds, and if they really would be double the trouble, then here is a picture for you.

Tagged by Debbi

6 interesting things about me................


1. I am very much a HomeBody. I love to just be at home. I can stay at home for days and days and never leave, or even go outside. To bad for me that my kids do have to go to school, and we do need groceries periodically, but if I could I would stay at home most of the time.


2. I have STUFF issues. I just don't like a lot of stuff around me. I don't like tons of decorations, I don't let my kids have more than 1 box each of toys, I don't collect anything, I throw away all paper except for the very very very important ones if I can't get the information online. I just don't like STUFF.


3. I am scared of the dark!! I always have been. Even know I sleep with a night light. I am just very scared of not being able to see what is around me. I also am scared of the water like in the Lake or Ocean if I can't see all the way to the bottom.


4. I have always wanted to live in a tiny town out in the country somewhere and have a house with a picket fence, and a huge garden, and just have everything quiet and peaceful around me. You know the "simple life".


5. I like the food I eat to be dry. I hate mayo, mustard, ketchup, and most sauces.

6. And for the last one I will end on a positive note. I have always wanted to be married and have kids. Ever since I can remember that is all I ever wanted to do with my life. I have never had the desire to go to college or do anything but be a good wife and mommy.

Family Photo Shoot

Here is just a peek at our Family Pictures we took last week.

WANTED: Baby Alive

Since just after Christmas last year Macy has wanted the Baby Alive doll. She has attempted to save her money for the doll but it just hasn't been working out to well for her. Each time she is at the store with me I have to take her over to the doll aisle just so that she can see the Baby Alive doll. Well... Cloey got Baby Alive from Nana for her birthday. I wasn't quite sure how Macy was going to handle this, but I have decided to just let Macy take this matter into her own hands since Cloey is going along with Macy's plan with no complaints. Macy is the Babysitter. She has convinced Cloey that Cloey is the mom, Macy is just the babysitter. So Cloey drops Baby Alive off at the babysitters house (Macy's Room), and Cloey leaves for a little while (doing her errands) and when she comes back to pick up her baby Macy gives Cloey some idea of something she should go do. All the while Macy is playing (babysitting) the doll.

95 Minutes of Pure Heaven

Preschool has begun for Macy, Troy and Cloey. That means 95 minutes twice a week all to myself. I just can't describe the feeling. This was no sad day for me just pure celebration. I dropped off the kids and I went to Target all by myself. I didn't even have anything to buy, I just wanted to experience walking around Target in complete silence, no whining, no crying, no can i get this, and no one to rush me along. I soon found out that Target was the happening place during preschool hours. I ran into my sister, sister-in-law, my sisters sister-in-law, and my sisters friend. I'm wondering what else I have been missing out on. What a wonderful day!!!

M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E

One of our families favorite things about this past year has been the many, many trips to Disneyland we have enjoyed with our season passes. So part of Troy & Cloey's birthday they wanted to go see Mickey which was probably the last time we will get there before they expire November 1st. It was our first time riding on NEMO which is well worth the 45 minute wait. It is so cool. We also love going when Disneyland is decorated for the Holidays. The Halloween decor was so dang cute. I wish that I had taken more pictures of the pumpkins. They has ones of Mickey & Minnie complete with ears made out of small pumpkins, Goofy with pumpkins stacked to make his tall hat, and even Pluto. So cute. The Mickey flower patch at the entrance was made out of thousands of tiny pumpkins. Everything was just adorable. I just love Disneyland.



Click on the link to see some pics:



DISNEY LAND

P.S. Some of the pictures are cut off, and I couldn't figure out how to change that!

Happy 3rd Birthday Troy & Cloey

3 ALREADY...... Where has time gone? What a ride it has been. One of the most vivid memories that I have is the moment that I found out that I was not only pregnant with a surprise pregnancy but that I was having twins. Not 1 baby but 2 babies at the same time. My first thought was "I already have a baby" this would mean that when the twins were born I would now have 3 babies, since Macy (the baby I already had) would still be 1. Though other mothers of twins tried to prepare me, I don't think that you could ever be totally prepared for something like this. Now that our twins have turned 3 I have heard that it is uphill from here, and I have already noticed a HUGE difference in them and me for the past couple months. Although I am very sad not to have a little baby or babies around anymore I would have to say that there are a few things that I will not miss about having twin babies .....

* Changing anywhere from 10-15 diapers each day

* The scheduled 4-8-12 o'clock feeding times that would last 45 minutes to 1 hour. That would included breast feeding a baby for about 15 to 20 minutes (only once did I feed them at the same time because that was the only time that I got alone with that baby), burping, and then changing the babies diaper. REPEAT

* Going to the doctors 3 to 4 times each week for the last 6 weeks of my pregnancy. That was 3 visits to the Paranaytologist (don't know how to spell that one) for monitoring and ultra sounds to check fluid levels. And 4-real the doctors would bill for 2 visits and 2 ultra sounds (I did love the 3D ultra sounds). Even the hospital billed for 2. And 1 visit to my regular doctor Dr. Swainston who only billed for 1 visit and 1 delivery.

* The kind of physical and mental exhaustion that I did not know existed. Both during the pregnancy and after. Night after night of zero sleep because either I was so freak en uncomfortable and thought that my if my lungs any more smashed I was seriously going to pass out, or because right when one baby would fall asleep the other would wake up. And back and forth they would go taking turns being awake while the other slept.

* The hunger that I experienced. In the beginning through the middle of being pregnant I was starving. I would eat a big meal and literally 20 or 30 minutes later feel like I hadn't eaten in days. My hands would shake because I was so hungry yet I had just eaten. I can not believe that I didn't gain like 100 pounds. In the very beginning when I was eating like this I LOST 15 pounds in 2 months, to bad that doesn't happen now. But it was all normal stuff the Dr. would say.

* The looks that I would get from the other moms at Walmart when I would not just take a few jars of the baby food that they also wanted, but the whole case. I went once each month to stock up and I would get 1 box each of peas, green beans, squash, sweet potatoes, carrots, bananas, apples, pears & peaches. I also got 4 boxes of baby oatmeal and once they were bottle fed 8 large cans of formula. Then I would hit Sams for diapers and wipes. Definitely don't miss that bill!

With that said, Happy 3rd Birthday to my little sweeties.

Then & Now

Where Did The Last Week Go?

Last weekend (Thursday, Friday, Saturday & Sunday) which I really can't believe was already a week ago we went camping to Coral Pink. Can I just tell you how NICE it was to just get away. I feel like my days have been so full for the past few months that it just felt so good to just sit and have nothing To Do. The weather was just gorgeous. The kids just played and dug in the sand all day. Jaden was able to get his license to ride his 50 even though he won't be 8 for a couple more weeks, which he was way excited about. And the excitement on Jason's face from getting to ride his dirt bike which he hasn't rode in forever made the trip for me. He works so hard for us and rarely gets to do anything for himself. I was glad that we were able to go for him. WELL ....not much more to say about that trip. We just really relaxed and enjoyed doing nothing. I did get to watch my nephew Ryker a few times while his mom and dad went on rides together which was a highlight for me. Sometimes I miss having a baby around (but not enough to have another one) so it was fun to get to play with him. I don't know who loved having him around more Me or My Girls.



P.S. I will have to post pictures on a later date because our computer broke during our move and we have our old one hooked up and I don't know how to load my pictures on it.

We are still alive....

Well Troy & Cloey almost were NOT after the episode we had the other day. I was just going about my usual business unpacking and such when I went to go check on the twins just to make sure they were nicely playing in their rooms like all 2 (almost 3) year old kids do. I walked into Macy's room and found them just as they had dumped an entire bottle of bubble bath onto the brand new carpet. I really had to restrain myself from killing them as I tried to think of the best way to clean this up. I decided that this was a job for the Wet/Dry Vac. So I gathered the Wet/Dry Vac an a couple gallon pitchers of water. I first sucked up all the bubble bath that I could and then just kept dumping water onto the carpet and sucking it up. Meanwhile the twins were sitting on Macy's bed crying (so I thought) because they were in so much trouble. The carpet was looking great, not a single drop of bubbles left and I was so relieved. So I stand up, turn around just to find an enormous mountain (taller than Troy and Cloey) of BUBBLES. Apparently they had been coming out of the Wet/Dry Vac as I was cleaning it all up. And the twins had not been crying, they had been LAUGHING. I guess that I was so focused on getting the carpet clean that I never looked behind me at the steadily growing bubbles I was producing, and the sound of the Vacuum muffled my ability to tell the difference between crying and laughing.
Cloey giggled to me "mom, you are funny your making LOTS of bubbles". So after I stopped laughing myself I scooped up all the bubbles with a beach towel and armful at a time and put the in the bathtub. Wiped the area where mountain once stood and you would never know that anything ever happened. That will definatly be the last time bubble bath will ever enter our house.

Sad Weekend for Us

This weekend was pretty sad for our family. Some of our good friends The Wirig's moved away to Mountain Home Idaho. We are going to miss them so much. Our families met about 4 1/2 years ago when they moved into our ward. Right away we became good friends. We have kids the same ages so we did lots together. Justin & Marissa have been Jaden & Macy's best friends. The boys have played on the same Soccer Team for the last at least 5 seasons, done carpool together and have been in the same kindergarten and 1st grade class. They have spent lots and lots of days playing together and having sleepovers. Macy and Marissa have been in gymnastics together the past few years and also have spent countless days playing including their weekly Friday playgroup. We together as families have gone camping and the dad's have went dirt bike riding countless times. Me and Andrea have taken many trips shopping together, spent lots of time chatting on the phone, visited while are kids played in the park, served together in Beehives for a couple years, and enjoyed many other memories. What a great family they are and we are going to miss them so much. They are wonderful people who I strive to be more like. I am not only going to miss Andrea but I along with my kids am going to miss having their kids around. They are sweet little kids and I just love them.


The night before they left we had Justin and Marissa spend the night so that their parents could finish what they needed to in order to leave the next day. The kids really had a great time but I was crying half the time that they were there because I felt so sad for my kids having to loose their friends and because I was going to miss them also. We took them home when their parents were ready for them and said our good-bye's, well actually said we will see you guys later. When we got back into our car Jaden just started balling. We had to go to Wal-mart so we sat in the car in the Wal-mart parking lot and just hugged each other and cried and cried. I hope that when we finally move into our new house that we will again be able to find some new friends that we love as much as we have loved the Wirigs.


I seem to have this pattern going in my life that when I have a really good friend they eventually move away (Debbi, Noel, now Andrea). But I do feel very blessed for the time that each of our paths have crossed. These women are amazing people that I admire so much and their influence has helped to make me a better person. I just love you guys.

Baby Cloey

Today as I was checking on my girls this is what I found... Cloey stuffed into the doll highchair being fed by Macy and her friend Marissa and she was loving it. Cloey always LOVES to be babied.

MATCHING

I just thought that this was funny. Today Jaden and Troy came racing downstairs so excited to show me their matching outfits I just had to take a picture. They thought that it was so cool that they were matching.

Just Some Play Time

Seems that latley all we ever do is work on our house. I knew it was going to be alot of work but not quite as much as it has been....and we still are not finished. I have felt bad for my kids having to spend alot of days at the house being bored, watching me work. So we took a little break to let them have some play time. We picked up a couple friends and went for a swim at my dad's.

Happy Birthday America

Today our day started out rather early considering our sleeping schedule is all crazy from many late nights working on our house. We got up at 7:30 to get ready for the parade. We went to the Summerlin Parade along with Jim, My Mom and Jill. I haven't been to a 4th of July Parade since I was really little, and my kids have never been. It was a fun time. I normally am not as Patriotic during the rest of the year as I should be, but yesterday watching the parade many emotions came rolling in as I took a moment to realize what a wonderful country we are privileged to live in. I am thankful that I live in America and get to enjoy the many privileges and opportunities that I have. I also am grateful for the many men and women who have fought and are still fighting to protect this country so that me and my family can continue to enjoy this wonderful place. Later that evening we went to Hills Park to watch the Firework Show "from the car". After we went and got ice cream and called it a night.

Milestone for Mom

So yesterday I reached a little milestone for myself. I for the first time took ALL 4 of my kids with me to do the big Walmart/Sam's Club grocery run. I don't know why it has taken me almost 3 years since having 4 kids to take them grocery shopping but it has..... Probably because after having twins I had 2 babies with car seats and bringing them both would have left no room for groceries, so I guess I just got accustom to shopping with NO kids. I do have to say I like shopping alone much better but I thought I was finally time for me to GROW-UP!!!

It's Offical

After much anticipation we finally closed on our very first home. We are so thrilled to have a place to call Our Home and to finally feel like we can plant our roots. Are kids are so excited to have a backyard to play in and their very own rooms. I am ecstatic to have more space for all of our stuff and feel like we are not all on top of each other. I am going to miss our ward, the school, and the friends that we have made here this past 7 1/2 years, but at least we are only going across town. I will post pictures of the inside after we have done some work to it (it is pretty yucky inside right now). We are just so EXCITED!!!

Our Family Pets

We have 2 new family pets (Jason's idea of course) Sam & Sally. They are Ball Pythons, and the kids just LOVE them. I am warming up to them, but it was not love at first sight for me.

A Bright and Sunny Day

I just LOVE summertime. We decided to spend the afternoon getting wet and soaking up the warm summer sun.