Diamond Fork. Day by the river.

The river called today and we answered! We picked up Tara and her dog Kona and went up the canyon to a day use area. We climbed down a set of stairs, walked along the path for a bit, crossed the bridge and parked ourselves under the closest patch of trees. The kids walked around and made hot tubs in the river. It was the perfect afternoon. We had a nice picnic too. When we finally got back to town it was almost 100 degrees. Wish I could have stayed up the canyon by the river!!!

4th of July Weekend.

We went to the resevoir with my sister for the 4th. We had a fun time in the water and on the beach. Then we went to Brad's house for a BBQ and fireworks. Chicken and corn on the cob!!! He is the best cook. I don't cook when he is around, and I love it.

Mother's Day from the dollar store!!!

I had a great mother's day. I took the kids to the dollar store the day before and they all were very sneaky about getting me some gifts picked out. Yesterday Morning they woke me up and started bringing me presents. Zoe made me a card and bought me a coffee mug that says " My mom always said beans were good for me". I thought this was so funny because I am always telling her that!!! Alexis bought me a card and a pink trinket box with little pink rose buds on it. She bought me two things because she decided to use her toy dollar ( I gave them each a dollar for a toy for themselves) for me. How sweet! Then she had also made me a card at school too! Garrett had picked out a stamp, bubble wand, pen. All-in-one thing. He thought it was pretty fun to play with too. Scarlett bought me two large tootsie rolls. Then she ate one! Brad and his kids brought me some yellow silk flowers ( so they don't die) and a really cute card. He made me breakfast and then BBQ'd for me later for dinner too! It was a fun day. One of the best Mother's Days that I have had.

Saturday at home.

We started our morning by going to the Primary activity. It was on service so we spent time picking garbage up around the church and writing letters to missionaries and servicemen in the ward. Then we got to do fingerprints and ID kits for each kid as part of an Eagle project for a young man in the ward.
Then we came home and did a few chores. I got the kids fed and started on a painting project in my front room that has needed to be finished for months. Still isn't done, but getting closer. Then Brad came over and helped me clean the garage out. It was disgusting, junk and stuff just stashed anywhere and everywhere. It looks tons better now.
Zoe made a cheesecake from the box for dessert. We are going to go have some now, so I will have to post again later.

Spring Break!!!

Garrett and Scarlett went this last week with their dad and his new wife Melanie to visit family in Oregon. They left Tuesday night. We called them and chatted for a few minutes on Wednesday night. Scarlett was excited because she was at Grandpa Gary's and she was talking to me from Aunt Stephanie's room. Garrett was having a great time with all the cousins and actually gave the phone to one of the little boys because he wanted me to talk to his friends!

Alexis left for San Diego for a week long trip on Wednesday night. She was pretty nervous about flying. She kept coming back for extra hugs before I was able to leave her that night. They flew out Thursday morning and I asked them to call me when they landed. Naughty Grandma forgot and I finally got a phone call around 6pm that night. They had been to the zoo and already had seen the panda and some koala bears. They were on a tour bus and were having a hard time hearing so she called me back later and told us how much fun she was having!

Zoe was stuck at home with poor old boring mom! We had fun! Thursday we went to my work for a couple hours, then we came home, picked up our roommate AnnaLisa and went out for chinese for lunch. Then we all headed to the movie theater to watch Hannah Montana. It was a cute movie! Much better than what I had expected. After that we came home and just did our own thing. I read a book, she read and played on the computer without the hassle of three younger siblings. Friday my friend called and we went with her and her family to the George S Eccles Dino Park. It was cool, but she was bored after two hours. When we were getting ready to leave Brad let me know that he had gotten the trailer ready and we were going camping! We had tons of fun up there too. His kids were home too so they had a blast riding around on bikes and scooters and constantly fought over the tricycle ( that they are all too big for). They played with their Littlest Pet Shop toys too. Big G would be so embarrassed if he knew I told people that! We came home today ( Sunday) and got my front flowerbed all planted. It looks so cute. I will try and get my camera working again so I can take pics again. So, that was our spring break. I can't wait to have all my little ones back home. I miss my babies. They will all be here tomorrow. But it was such a neat time to spend with just Zoe. She is so much fun to be with and has the best sense of humor. I sure love her! XOXO

Continuation of Time Flies

Ok, so back to Garrett. The ears, nose, and throat specialist we went to said they wanted to do a CT Scan just to make sure there wasn't anything abnormal with his ears inside. We got the results back and everything in his ears were normal. But they did find a healing fracture in his jaw bone. From what we can figure out, this last end of summe, beginning of fall, he was playing on a big wheel bike and tripped. He hit his front two teeth hard enough on the steering wheel of it that we had to go to the dentist and have them taken out. Apparently he also fractured his jaw! Never complained once. What a brave kid. And talk about guilt for mom!
Scarlett has been just going along with the rest of us with all of our chaos. She is such an easy going little girl and she makes friends everywhere we go. Everyone is always telling us how cute she is. We agree!

Time flies!

Just noticed how long since it has been since I blogged last. Wow! Times flies when you are having fun! Lets see, we went on a field trip with Lexi and her class to a history museum in Lehi. One of the areas we were learning about was Native Americans. The man was telling them about frowing up a child as a Ute Indian. He had brought some "candy" from his youth. Grasshoppers! Alexis volunteered to eat a dried one in front of the other kids, so when the guy asked if I wanted one, how was I supposed to respond? My kid would think I was chicken!!! So we both tried one. Little crunchy, but tasted mostly like sunflower seeds.
Zoe had to work on a project they called a Wax Museum for her class. She had to research and then dress up and present herself as Edith Roosevelt (Teddy's wife). It was fun. Grandma Mary helped us get her costume all ready. We went and watched them and got to see a lot of other kids present theirs too. Then Grandma and Zoe went and got banana split makings and we came home and had them for dessert with Brad and his kids too.
Garrett has had a rough month. He failed his hearing test in preschool and they finally told me that he had failed another one too. I waited almost 6 weeks for the referral to the hearing specialist in the school district. We went and they tested him for over an hour (he was so good). The outcome they gave us was not pretty. His hearing was gone completely in his right ear. Come to find out, he has been that way since birth. Way to go mom!
I have to get to work, but will continue this tonight!

Hey, sorry for no pictures this week. Its been a busy one that flew by super fast. On Tuesday Zoe and I got to go on another field trip. This time we went to Abravanel Hall and got to see the symphony perform. It was neat! Kinda boring after awhile, but neat. Most of the rest of the week was just a normal week, work, school, kids stuff, etc. Thursday was moms and muffins for Garrett so Scarlett and I went to read books with him and played at preschool for a little bit before I had to go to work. Friday like all Fridays when the kids go away was total chaos. We got the girls packed and ready to go, then I got packed because Brad and I were going away for the weekend, I didn't know where, just away. Got everyone to school and back, then dropped girls off to Brandon, dropped the little ones off with Kevin and came home in time for Brad to pick me up. He suprised me with a trip to Wendover for the weekend. I had never been there before and had never gambled either. We got there later in the evening and they said they only had suites left, so I was ready to walk out, when he said we would take a jacuzzi suite! I was shocked! The room was awesome. Anyway, we had a great time and I came home with more money than I left with, so it was a fun new experience for me. And talk about getting spoiled rotten, what a sweetheart!!! We came home the next day and just watched movies and chilled at home. Great ending for a great weekend. Better sign off, need to get kids to bed and start a new week. I will try and update at least twice this week! Wish me luck!

Saturday with the kids. My Favorite day of the week.

Today the kids wanted to go to the park a couple of blocks from the house. They all (except Lexi, she was at Grandma Mary's) loaded up on their bikes and scooters and rode to the park. Brad and I gave them about half an hour before we headed to Little Ceasars for some lunch for a picnic. They are so cute playing on all the toys. I tried to get at least on picture of each of them. Then they started posing for me. Funny kids! Big G was having the most fun helping some little kid with a tiny 4-wheeler. Just like his dad!

Day at the Zoo!

We had so much fun on Wednesday. It was free day at the Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake City. I ditched work for the day( not hard, the family was on vacation) and took the kids out of school for a day of fun with the family. We got there about 10am and it was total chaos!!! After the initial mess of people and kids everywhere we headed for the far end and worked our way back to the start. We had so much fun. Zoe loved the turtles and would have stayed by them all day if we could have had nose plugs. IThe smell was so bad! Alexis begged to pull the wagon all day and was happy when she finally got a turn. Garrett was my buddy all day, we had such a fun time laughing and playing together. Scarlett met a new friend from the group we were with and had a good time in the wagon with her. She also used the bread from lunch as her pillow! Talk about squished. We stayed a little longer than most of the group with my brother, his wonderful wife Jessie and their boys. It was a great day all around. Crystina went as the best helper in the world. She is awesome to have around!

Valentines Day

I think this has been the best Valentine's day I have every had. Earlier in the week, Brad and I celebrated our year anniversary. He sent me red roses! They were for our anniversary and Valentines. I LOVED them! Saturday was the best day ever though. I had gotten all the kids a valentine. The girls got stuffed puppies except for Zoe, she got a grow your own turtle. The boys got some put together race cars. Brad spent an hour putting together cars. Then we had a school project for Zoe that needed to be worked on. She had already written the report on the state of Alaska and she still needed to make a salt dough model of the state. Brad once again stepped up to the plate and helped her finish it while I sat back in amazement. He is so patient! It would have had me so stressed out in minutes. Then when we were finished with Alaska he told us he had gotten some heart shaped pizzas for dinner. We went to his house and had dinner. Crystina was with us and we had an awesome coming of age chat that night with her. ( she will probably hurt me for mentioning this part) Anyway, the chat got emotional and Brad pulled her up out of her chair and just held her while she cried. I tried to distract the other kids until he pulled me into the hug too. So long story short... My Valentine's day was the best because he showed me how much he loves me by the way he is with the kids and with Crystina, the ones who mean the most in my life. He is such a great guy!
Happy Valentines to all of you! Hope yours was as great as mine.

My kids are the BEST!

I am just starting out on this blogging thing, so here goes... Zoe is 10 years old now. Alexis is 9 going on 21, Garrett is 5, and Scarlett is 3. We have kind of a crazy hectic life, but these days, who doesn't.