Jaylah

Tonight was a special night because we babysat Jaylah. Jaylah is my nephew's daughter. She is almost two and is the sweetest thing. She was named after her grandpa (my brother), Jay Lynn. Her presence means so much to me. She is the little reminder of what means the most in our lives and that is... family. Each time I say her name, I think of Jay. We miss him so much. I wish he could have been on the earth when she was born and enjoy her as much as we do. Jaylah's parents love her so much and do everything they can to give her a great life. I hope sweet little Jaylah will always know how much we love her. She is always welcomed in our home. I look forward to many days with Jaylah! xoxoxo

MAX MOMENTS:

• I walked into Max's room while Kyle was changing Max's diaper and Max looks up at me and says, "Get out of my room Mom." UMM, you're two Max, not 16 yrs.

• Lilly asked Max for a hug and he gave her one. Then she asked for another one and Max said, "ENOUGH!"

• Kyle asked me if I knew where his phone was and before I could reply, Max screamed. "I don't have it!

• Max let a fart and said, "oh, noise!"

Family Christmas Photos 2009

Stacie took some awesome photos of the family. She is doing such a good job as a photographer. She also makes amazing cards for Christmas.

10 Things I am grateful for this Thanksgiving

10 things I am thankful for…

1. good restaurants. I love to eat out! I absolutely love to eat out. It is the highlight of my week. If the restaurant has Coke instead of Pepsi then I am even happier.

2. Hair - it looks weird to have “hair” at the top of my list, but it’s true. I finally feel like I am back to normal. 2 years ago, I was totally bald. Last year, my hair was short and curly. This year, its right where I want it. Who knows, maybe I will let it keep growing-why? Because I can. I have hair that grows. If someone told me years ago that I would be grateful for my hair, I wouldn’t believe them. If someone said I would be wearing flowers in my hair too, I wouldn’t believe them either!

3. A washer and dryer. Like many moms out there, laundry can consume our entire week. If I had to wash everything by hand with a washboard and then hang it out to dry; I think I would break down so badly that Kyle would have to institutionalize me. I break down a lot over laundry- it could be worse.

4. A sink disposal. A few weeks ago, our sink disposal broke. This mishap turned our lives upside down. Okay, that statement might be a slight exaggeration; but man, oh, man, life was not pretty. We could not keep up on the dishes. Washing them by hand felt so foreign and old-fashioned.

5. air-freshners. Have you smelled my sons lately? Not pretty. Just pretty smelly. Awhile back, Conner came home from school smelling really funky. I couldn’t pin point where the smell was coming from. This bad odor continued on for nearly a week. He smelled like cat pooh. No joke! It smelled like cat crap. I finally found where the smell was coming from- his shoes. I nearly passed out when I took a whiff of them. A little bleach and the washing machine corrected the problem. The ironic thing about this was that at the time Conner was in Mr. Zani’s class. If you know Mr. Zani, you know that he likes air-freshners (an uderstatement). Could it be possible that he was just covering up my kid’s bad odor? Ha ha.

6. Text messaging. If you text, then you know why I am grateful for texting.

7. Harmons. I love Harmons. Someone once said that Harmons is like the Nordstroms of grocery stores. Going to Harmons is not a task but an experience. Love it!

8. My family. Of course, I am thankful for my family. I have such a loving and supportive family. This also includes extended family and in-laws. For the past few years on fathers’ day and mothers’ day, Kyle’s parents and mine combine for Sunday dinner. Its not common to hear of this arrangement. But I’m sure more people would do it if their family was as small as ours.

9. My friends. Some of my dear friends I consider as my sisters. They are the sisters I never had.

10. The gospel. Sounds so cliché, but its true. The church rocks!

Halloween Night: Trick or Treat and Ute Game

While Kyle, Conner and I were at the game, Lilly trick or treated with her friend Elizabeth. Max went with Grandma Gum and with his friend Isaac. After he came home from trick or treating, he decided that he should go again-but without grandma. Grandma was so scared that she lost Max, but luckily he was just across the street.

Utah Game!

We had a blast at the UTE game last night- Halloween night. Conner had an especially great time. He's been begging us to go to a game for the longest time. Lucky for us we have great friends who gave us some of their tickets. Thanks Jill and Brandon! We had 4th ROW seats by the end zone. It was so cool to see the players up close. The UTES won!

A FUNNY:

We were very lucky and not so lucky that night too! We found a parking spot close to trax but not so lucky because we didn't have cash to buy a trax ticket. We were lucky when we asked the security guard where the nearest ATM was and he said we could just get on without paying. We were lucky to arrive just in time for kick-off but not so lucky when we had no cash to buy a churro for Conner. We were lucky to find our Discover card to buy popcorn and a drink. When I handed the card to the employee she went to the back to swipe the card, while Conner and I started EATING THE POPCORN. When she came back, she said, "sorry, we don't take Discover Card". Sorry for her, we already started eating the popcorn. It was so sad to see Conner's face when the gal dragged the popcorn bucket away from him. When we returned to our seats to tell Kyle the embarrassing news, our good friend friend, Brandon dropped us a $20 and saved the day! Conner got popcorn (not the same bucket), a drink and a CHURRRRRRO !!!

Psycho Girl and Carving Pumpkins

Look what happens when you turn your back for a second! Max has a knife and lipstick.

Lilly's Halloween Party

This year I agreed to throwing a little party for Lilly and her kindergarten friends. We did a spider hunt (hunt for spider rings in the backyard), bob for apples, doughnut game and make paper ghosts. It was simple and fun. Hopefully they all had fun! Their costumes were sooo cute!!!! Way to go moms!

Flag Football

Another year playing flag football, but this year was extra fun because of the coach! Guess who Conner's coach was????? Kyle! He loved having kyle as the coach. Kyle wasn't sure what he was getting himself into by volunteering but he really liked it. He had never coached anything before so he was a little nervous. Luckily, his good friend, Matt Bench was there to help him along.

Princesses Brooke and Lilly

Youth Activity (a few months ago)

I just found these photos. Kaipo Hurtt, Jace Rozsa, Anson Call

First day of School

The Garden

Ward Party: Shin Dig

Max and Me on Major- (Quinn's horse). It was awesome. Bro. Woolsley told me to get on but I didn't think he was serious because the rides were only for the kids. He told me to jump the fence and get on! Yahoo! I've been on a horse before but the horse knew the trail and I didn't have to steer. This time I did all the work. Then he said to put Max on with me. We had a fun time.

Conner Wakeboarding

Conner got up on the wakeboard on his first try for the first time ever. He was able to go down half the lake. He loved it so much. Daddy is not too happy with Conner's new love of wake boarding. He wants him to ski as much as he does!!

A Lilly Funny

Lilly asked me to get her some yogurt from the fridge. It was plain flavor; a flavor she's never had before. I was pretty sure she wouldn't like it but I let her have a bowl. When she put the first bite in her mouth, her face didn't have much expression but then she said, "Hair tastes better than this stuff"

Conner's Baptism

Conner was baptized August 8th by his dad in the Draper Utah Mountain Point Stake. People in attendance: grandparents, kevin, nicole, beth, carrie, vanya, kate, anne, kathleen, and Liane. We invited our neighbors, the Palayos, who are non-members. They asked me to give a talk on the Holy Ghost. I made it pretty simple and focused on how to identify the whisperings of the Holy Ghost. Just as I was closing my talk. I looked down toward Conner and he was wiping tears from his eyes. I couldn't believe it. He felt the spirit and it touched him. I didn't cry until then. Good thing it was at the end of the talk.

Max was very wild during the meeting. I took him out in the hall while the other kids were being baptized. I didn't notice that they called Conners name to go to the font. Everyone gathered at the font- but not me, Max and Lilly. My neighbor Cheri noticed that I wasn't there and stopped the ordinance from taking place so someone could come get us. That would have been TERRIBLE if i missed conners baptism.

After the baptism we made the move to CHUCK-A -RAMA. One of Conner's favorite places to eat. It was perfect. Since the day before the baptism was busy (Lagoon), and there aren't very many people in our family- going out to eat was perfect.

Cub Scouts

Conner went to Scout Camp. He loved it. He loved the trading post- he loved it so much that he spent all of his birthday money on toys, $23 dollars worth of toys! I had no idea that he took his money. Hopefully he won't regret his decision.

The highlights: race water, archery, sling shooting, tent holding, mask making and being with friends.

Family Favorite Photos

Jeff and Jess

Today the Christiansen's came with us. Jeff got right up on the wakeboard and "killed it" He is good. Jess was awesome! She got up on her first try. Grace also skiied. She got up her first time. She was so brave to try something new. Kyle is a good ski instructor.

At the Lake with the Bairds

Today the Bairds came with us to the lake. We weren't sure how Mike would do on the wakeboard but whatever happens all he needs is some icyhot. The girls loved making sculptures with the clay they found under the dock. Andrew came with us and the boys loved going on adventures. They swam across the lake to see what was on the other side. They played with clay, found baby birds and teased mom. One funny thing that Elizabeth said about her dad: After Mike took a spill from trying to slolam, Liz said., " See, my dad just fell- that's how good he is!"