a lot of nothing

Well I don't have anything fun to post, all we've done lately is have sickies at our house. 

I did get a new vacuum and that has been the highlight! how sad is that? But I do have to say..... it is awesome. The part I love the most is it has a red and green light and the green light comes on when it doesn't sense anymore dirt being sucked up. Well..... after having it for exactly one week i have totally filled up the vacuum bag!!! can you say GROSS. did none of the people who lived here before vacuum. I know they didn't "own" the house but seriously!  I seriously vacuumed for hours everyday the past week just TRYING to get a green light, but you can only vacuum for so long even if it is a new toy :) Some areas have been successful in getting the light to turn green, so each time I vacuum I start somewhere new and still do the whole house but at least the beginning seems to get more attention by the end I can't stand doing more than 4 passes on the same part. So I hope I didn't just gross you all out! who would have thought that one or two times in each spot wasn't enough to clean the carpet.

I can't believe November is half over and I have Christmas (as do all of you) AND 2 birthdays coming up! AHHH and I'm so not prepared this year! 

hopefully my next post will be more exciting!

HalLoWeeN weekend

Halloween started the night before for us with a ward party. The kids were so excited to dress up and go to church in thier costumes. They even kept them clean! Porter won a prize for his cute little costume!

I would have added pics of them at school too but it's just more pics of them in the same stuff LOL. but Poor Porter had to wait through 9 different stops before he actually got to his destination of choice which was Uncle John's house (my oldest brother). So first we went to the parade at the school, then back to get the kids early, then we stopped at Grandma Jenkins' house to have some lunch and give her some tech support, then off to Alice Ann's (Tim's oldest sis) or San as Porter says, to drop off a washing machine for her. We only got to see her for a second since she was at work, but she looked good. Then we FINALLY got to Uncle John's. porter just loves him! and he looks like John when John was little, kinda SCARY :).

Tim and John went out with the kids, here's a few pics I got.

Tucker didn't want his picture taken, he thinks he's getting to old.

After the treating the adults went out to dinner at John and Bev's favorite Indian restaurant. I actually enjoyed it, I'll admit I was nervous since I don't like curry but luckily not everything had curry in it.

We spent the night at their house since it is 2 hours away.

The next day our plans had changed and we didn't need to leave right away so John had a brilliant idea to go to Willow Park. It's the closest thing Logan has to a zoo.

John, Abbey, Porter, Mason

Here's an afro duck I had to unclud we just thought he was funny looking.

Porter and Maddi

Maddi, John, Abbey


Porter.

Tucker climbed on the outside of this slide and fell from the top to the ground. Bev watched it and thought his arm was broken, luckily just bruised!

Daddy holding his owie boy. Porter biffed it right after Tuck, and Abbey had biffed it right at first so we were 3 for 3!

The day didn't end there!

The kids spent the evening at Grandma and Grandpa Sanders house while Tim and I went to the Jazz game. We had great seats!!!

It was a fun busy weekend end and Abbey topped it off by getting sick on Sunday. She's fine now and hopefully Porter avoids it since Tuck had it last week.

Our little Dinosaur

Porter is our LITTLE dinosaur these days and we just had a whole slew of tests run because he is so little. They all came back fine. His growth plate was small for his age but they hope that when his peers stop growing that he will continue to grow. So his IUGR (intra-uterine growth retardation) has followed him to toddler hood. hopefully someday he will be taller than me! (He better be!)

I LOVE fall

On Sunday we went up into the mountains and it was gorgeous!!!!!!!!! I had so much fun watching my kids exploring and capturing the moments. It was hard to catch any candid moments of the big kids they had their camera radar on and when I would go to snap a picture they'd flash me a smile, don't get me wrong I love their cute faces but I love capturing the moment. Maybe with my new camera that I'm getting SOMEDAY I'll be faster.

My baby girl is six!!!!!!!

Abbey turned 6 on Oct 24th! I can't believe she is getting so OLD. I was okay with Tucker turning six (he was born an adult) so I was fine with it. But my little girl NO WAY. Tim and I tried to convince her to stay 5 but she just wouldn't. Then she went on to tell me how she'll grow up and have babies and bring them to visit me. UGH stop already!!!!

All Abbey wanted for her birthday was the latest barbie and movie, Barbie and the diamond castle. Now we are serenaded by her singing barbie and her of course singing right along with it. She also got some new paints and paint brushes which she loves and spends HOURS doing. My kitchen table is constantly COVERED in paper! (I don't know where she gets it from)

Here she is already for the presents from her friends. We had 6 little princesses in crowns and necklaces with wands running around the house. They had so much fun just being girls. Tim and the boy vacated after watching her open her gifts. The girls had fun eating, and eating did I mention eating? and watching the new barbie show while dancing around and singing!

Here's an attempt at making a cake look like the barbie she got. I'll get good as soon as she doesn't want princess cakes anymore. She liked it and that's all that matters.

President?

Tuck "Mom did the president make a rule 'finders keepers losers weepers'?"

Me (without laughing) "no"

Tuck "then who made it up?"

okay my answer doesn't really matter, I just thought it was too funny that he thought the President made this awful rule up!

Cousins and Pizza

So for our little break from school the kids and I headed up north for a visit. We left Friday morning and when we got there us girls were off a shoppin. The little boys went to G'pa's to hang out and he spoiled them with happy meals, I think he had more fun than them. Us girls went craft shopping, I was in NEED of revamping Abbey's bows and Jo was getting supplies for a bow class for church and Grandma came along for the company! We had lunch outside on the patio of Rumby Grill, it was so nice to sit outside to eat, probably the last time. The girls complained a little about it being too hot and we laughed and said enjoy it, it's almost gone.

When we got home it was bow and flower making time. The kids played with clay while Jo and I played with ribbons. We made sooo many cute bows and Abbey even kept them in her hair today. She usually comes home with them in her school bag saying, "I'm afraid they will fall out" well that's just fine at least they won't be rotting in a drawer! I made sure to tell her that aunt Jo made ALL of her bows hoping that will make them that much cooler.

Tim arrived on his bike (someone dropped he and his bike off near by) and then we were soon off to Chucky Cheese. Jo has 3 kids with birthdays in the last month and Abbey's is this Friday so it was a party. Although Spencer her 14 year old son didn't want to come...... why not? The kids had so much fun I think they all forgot to eat! Abbey got a new Cinderella doll from G'ma and G'pa and her cute cousin McKenna bought her a fairy barbie with her own money, which she loves!!

(those bows in her hair are some of the new ones)

There was an awesome game that Tim came to show me, you stood on a pad and and oval shaped thing was in front of you about 6 feet tall, it had lights going around it. When the light came by your feet you jumped like it was jump rope. Tony and Tim had tried it out and Tim thought I'd like it. He warned me that it was really hard. Well I did and my first try I beat it. He was dumb founded so he had me go again and try a harder level.... beat it again! WAHOO I was better at a game YEAH! I got 36 tickets each time I won. If I'd had more energy and more tokens the kids could have gotten COOL prizes. Skylee was so cute and asked me to do it for her so she could have a lot of tickets.

We went back to Jo's house and the guys watched a movie while we finished up our craft. We then ended up talking until 2 AM, we are getting to old for that! And half the kids were still awake. So we just slept over and Tim helped Tony do some stuff on their house. We were back in time for Abbey to go to her friends B-day party.

Kreative Blooger

Mindy gave me the Kreative Blogger award. Not sure how deserving I've been of it recently but now with my Internet card up and running I hope to live up to it better. I'm supposed to list 6 things about myself and name 6 people to receive the award.



1. I love exploring with my little family

2. I enjoy blogging, reading them or posting

3. crafting is one of my fave things to do.

4. I love reading

5. I really love to eat, I'm trying to convince myself I don't "NEED" a Reese's peanut butter cup right now!

6. I'm trying to learn that life is a journey and not a destination!



So I give this award tooo.... drum roll please.



Sarah- the most amazing blogger who has 2 toddlers and works full time from home.

Emily- because I miss her and want her to post again (hehehe)

Kris- she's been in such a good bloggin groove, I must keep her there

Brooke- She is such a FUN mom and sooo patient

Tracey-so amazing to raise 4 little ones and home school and start theri own business

Amy-oh she puts anything I craft to shame, ah to live in her craft room what a dream that would be! oh and she ltes me come play in it, so fun!

Taggily daggily do

I’ve been tagged by Mindy. The few times I've been tagged by people I like I realize that I could almost just re post theirs and be done, it's fun to see the things that you have in common with other people.
5 fears, 5 joys, 5 obsessions/collections, 5 surprising facts about you. Tag 5 people.

5 fears

1- Losing Tim
2- Fire
3- not knowing where my kids are
4- not having a wal-mart ( now Dani please don’t pass out. My wal-mart is how you described your Target and my Target sucks rocks, the one in Sandy is nice but it’s so far)
5- no chocolate (okay so I guess I don’t have many REAL fears, that’s a good thing though)

5 joys-
1- Family
2- Gospel
3- Friends
4- food- salty, sweet, you name it, depends on my mood.
5- a clean house (well I think that would make me happy, I’ll let you know if it EVER happens)

5 obsessions/collections

1-Paper, I LOVE paper and I love buying it, that’s why I’m on a ban right now.
2- Lately I’ve been into crocheting, I know it sounds nerdy but it’s relaxing and I’ve made some cute hats, I’ll have to post a pic.
3- reading
4- eating
5- trying to get my body into better shape

5 surprising this about me

1- I am the QUEEN of bargain shopping, love love love it. Mindy tried to claim this one but I’m just not sure about that :)
2-I want a house of my own (ha bet that didn’t surprise anyone)
3- I’ve know Tim almost as long as my sister has known her husband and they have a 14 year old son.
4-my nieces and nephews are now older than I was when they were born, this is sooo weird for me.
5-I'm trying to get in better shape (this should surprise ANYONE I know)

I tag Sarah, Kris, Emily, Brooke, Amy & Tracey

Halloween costumes

So I finally pulled out the Halloween box today. Porter was soooo excited helping me pull out the pumpkins and ghosts. For a kid who was so behind he sure has surprised me lately. So we found our beloved little green monster costume that Tucker wore when he was 1 and 2, it is soooo cute. Porter wore it when he was 1 also but wouldn't have anything to do with it last year.

When he saw it he gasped whith excitement and said "my monster!"

I looked at him and said "you wouldn't wear it last year."

"I meant to." he said what did my 3 year old just say? he meant to.

"What did you say?" I asked, sure that I heard him wrong.

"I meant to." he replied like duh mom didn't you hear me the first time.

This little guy has come a long way from speech therapy last Dec. I think he's been observing us and now he's strutting his stuff.

I didn't think it would fit him this year since it's a 12-18 month costume but he insisted on trying it on and I was picking my battles. Well he's so small it still fits, guess we didn't need the dragon after all, who knows what he'll decidde to be, maybe both! He's been wearing it all day!!! even to the bus stop to get Abbey. now he says he's doesn't want his dragon. WHAT? I spend half my day taking the dragon on and off, and the day I hid it (I know I'm mean) I spent all day distracting him from asking about it.

What a kid!

School

Last night I went to parent teachers conferences. I have to admit it was not what I was expecting. I didn't have the best first few impressions of Tucker's teacher. So when the first thing out of her mouth was that Tucker was the most conscientious second grader she had ever known I was shocked to hear her say it. She said he is constatly holding the door, picking up things that girls have dropped and they look at him like what are you doing I can pick it up myself, and wanting to help people with their jobs. He also does give suggestions and the teacher said smiling Itold the class once that Tucker would be teachig the class next week.

I need to fill in some background info before the story begins.... there is a little girl at their school with cancer and they have been selling wrist bands to earn money for her hospital bills. Now the story. His teacher was telling me how their is another little girl in the class next to Tucker's who is in a wheel chair to get to the bus because she has had surgery on her feet and it takes her to long to walk. She has had many surgery's for her carpenters syndrome which causes her bones to be fused together. Well My little Tucker has made it his mission, without being asked, to get her backpack and take it to the bus and then put it where she is going to sit. Then he helps her out of her wheel chair and up the bus into her seat. He waits for her everyday and does it daily. It has just become normal routine now. He also asked her teacher "why aren't they doing wrist bands for her?" It seemed so obvious to him that if they did it for one little girl to do it for the other. This teacher explained the differences in the monetary costs and that her surgery's weren't as long and what not. I also got a chance to hear from the other teacher who said what really impressed her was that Tucker made the connection. She said her whole class watches out for this little girl and none of them made that connection.

Anyway I just had to share what a special little guy I had. It's amazing what happens at school that you don't have any clue about. I had never even heard about this little girl until last night. So I know my little guy can be as good of a stink as any 7 year old but he's pretty special. Glad I was reminded :-)

4 Wheels and mud

We went up to Star Valley for the weekend with Tim's parents.

Here is geiser in Soda Springs we stopped to see. It was shooting off and Abbey, Porter and I had to run past it to get to where you could see it better, we got soaked and as soon as we got past it it stopped shooting. It would have been really funny if it hadn't been so cold.

For a 7 yr old it doesn't get much better than 4 wheels and LOTS of mud!!! Tim and Tucker had sooo much fun. They only road for about an hour but they loved every minute of it! Abbey enjoyed herself painting all afternoon and playing with her dollies. Porter... well Porter is satisfied with his dinosaurs and cars, and the fact that Grandpa was around was a bonus too.

Look at all that mud on the back!!!
Poter is somewhere under that helmet

Abbey next to all her art

When the boys headed out to ride in the morning the tire goop hadn't worked to fix the leak in one of the tires so they headed off to get a new tube for the tire. Porter went with them and loved being one of the big guys. Abbey and I soaked in the tub which she loved since she is a little mermaid.

The weather wasn't super cooperative but I hear it wasn't great at home either. We all had a good time in spite of the weather.


Sat afternoon I took the little kids out for a walk they were getting a little stir crazy. We didn't get far when this HUGE black dog came to say hello to us. He was a nice dog but he was so big that he scared the crap out of my little people that barely came to it's shoulders. I had to hold porter and try to get it to leave Abbey alone. It finally sat down and I told it to stay and we headed back home. We were so close to the farm with cows I was bummed out that our walk was shortened. Tim took them all later on the 4 wheeler to see the place he used to watch them milk the cows. Tucker wanted to know all of the technical stuff of course.


On the way home we stopped at Hooper Springs park one of our favorite places to visit on our drive. It has a fun playground and a spring with natural soda water. If you mix tang with it it is really good. Tucker LOVES it!!!

WARNING tons of pics! I love seesaw pictures!

My cute kids!!

Tuck and porter looking down 1 of those HUGE tires that is balance on 2 others. they are the ladder to get to the slide. Poor Porter was barely as tall as them.