Summer's Over???

Anybody ready for the longest post ever? Apparently I am not capable of posting on a regular basis, so here is our life at a glance for the last six months :) We enjoyed the 4th of July celebration. The kids loved the parade and were the most excited when they got to see Papa Roger in the Fireman's Pipes and Drums, and when they got a plastic fireman hat. Grandpa Roger played the drums. My sweet Great Grandmother on my mom's side passed away earlier that morning. We were sad to hear of her passing, but happy for her that she was able to reunite with her eternal companion that had passed a few years earlier.

Here is Chaz waiting patiently for Grandpa Roger and the Fireman, and also waiting for any candy to come his way. None ever did :) Poor guy--

Smile pretty baby. That one was a little forced :) We had a hard time getting this one to sit still. She loved the parade though.

There is Grandpa Roger. Jared likes to give him a hard time for wearing "a dress" in public. The rest of us know otherwise though and approve of the traditional wardrobe :)

Aspen got to meet her new baby cousin Shelby this summer. She was gloating when she got to hold her. It was precious.

Joe and Meranda were married. My pictures for the wedding are on my other camera. I will show them all later. We had my great grandmother's funeral and Joe's wedding in the same week, so we ran the kids ragged. Here is Chaz catching up on his Zzzzz.

Still asleep while his cousin Gage plays his DS.

We did lots of swimming and some roller skating in the kitchen this summer, well, not intentionally swimming in the kitchen, unless you can count the egg throwing contest Aspen, Treyce, and Chaz had in my kitchen one afternoon (four dozen eggs, one gallon of milk, a pack of hot dogs, and lunch meat)--PRICELESS--or not :)---no pictures of that one though :)

We also did some cooking this summer-or should I say Aspen did some cooking with Grandma Jody? I tried not to do too much cooking over the summer. I left it up to the professionals at McDonalds to cook our family a full course well balanced meal :)

We did some boating this summer, and took a trip to Bear Lake. Here is Chaz enjoying the tide.

Aspen Jo had a great time at Bear Lake and built many sand castles.

Here are all of us chicas. We tried to catch as much sun as we could and soak up the rays.

Here are the boyz being---well boyz :)

Chaz---worn out on another summer afternoon. He had a hard time keeping up with Mommy this summer. It was a busy one!!!

A sideways picture of the kids enjoying a hot summer day.

Aspen posing :)

We took lots of visits to the zoo. Here is one of Aspen, Chaz, Alley, Jayden, and Gunnar.

Bathtime! Lots of playing to be done, and lots of baths to be taken. Here is Aspen, Treyce, and Chaz having a great time in the bubbles.

Nice mustache sis!!

Here is my baby doll at preschool registration in August. I can't believe how fast she is growing!! Not fair!

Aspen's first day of school. So, I know it is just preschool, but I still got a little teary eyed when Sommer came to pick her up.

Here is Aspen headed to school with her best friend, future husband, and partner in crime--Treyce. Have fun kids!!

More visits to the zoo. This time with cousin Maddy Moo Moo!!

Joe and Meranda on the tiger-----Newly Weds--:) Sigh--- :)

Jen and I on the tiger--no husbands to be found :)

We did lots of driving to here and there over the summer. The kids were good as long as we had a movie playing in the back.

Smile Aspen Jo!!

Even the baby dolls had to come on the trips to town, and of course, Aspen insisted that they wear their seatbelts.

We had Sponge Bob pajama parties. . .

Wow--I really must have worn him out this summer. Here is Chaz zonked out again with a baby doll while watching Dora. We ran and ran and ran all summer----and just when we thought we couldn't keep up any more---

We found our good friend Diet Coke, and Chaz and Mommy couldn't be happier!!!

Cheers!!!!!!!

Easter Egg Hunt

We had a good Easter. I am still having issues with my camera and computer, so I can only use the pictures off my cell phone, which is highly irritating! I have the cutest pictures on my camera, and I can't post them right now, or in other words, I don't want to walk my happy bottom down stairs to the other computer to download them :)

Back on track--let's see---where were we? Yes--Easter. So on Saturday, we went to the Easter egg hunt. I ended up having to meet Jared there. He brought the kids with him. It took forever for me to find a parking spot (no I didn't come from home, so I couldn't walk), and I ran a marathon in order to get to the park by 10:00AM. Okay--so it was more like a 1/2 mile sprint, but it felt like a marathon--sympathy is what I am looking for people :)

So the fire horn goes off just as I round the corner. The kids at the hunt all start running buck wild. It took me about two minutes to find Jared and the kids. By the time I found the kids, the hunt was about over. Aspen ended up with seven smarties and Chaz got four or five. We must not have been interested in the eggs, because we ended up O for O in the egg department. Aunt Katie took pity on us, and gave Chaz an egg afterwards. Thanks Katie!! LOL--Wow, so I guess we didn't have it quite figured out. The good news is that the kids had a great time :) I snapped a couple quick pictures on my phone.

We had a great Easter. The kids got to wear their new outfits, the choir sounded awesome, we had dinner at Roger's house, the kids enjoyed an Easter egg hunt there, and then we flew kites after the hunt. It was awesome. I would love to post pictures of the kids in their outfits and the kite flying, but unfortunately I am in a fight with my computer and camera still :) They don't like each other. (Can you tell I am not bitter at all?)

Anyways--more pictures later :) Here is what I have for now, until I get the energy to go downstairs and work on that computer (and my basement is freezing--so not enticing)

Back To Earth

Alright--so I basically fell off the face of the earth around Thanksgiving time. C'mon don't lie to me--you all enjoyed the festivity of a warm colorful turkey background for the better part of five months. It has been crazy, and we have had a lot going on alright? Does that count as an excuse? I don't even know how to catch up on the last five months, so how about I start with now, and then I will fill you in on later as we go?

Last weekend we went to Utah--Tooele to be exact for a baby blessing. O yeah, backup-- my little sister Jen was pregnant, and she had a beautiful baby girl on New Year's Eve. They named her Maddy. We stayed at Liz's house the night before, stayed up late, got up early, got everyone dressed, and headed to Tooele (also known as BFE). Just as we pulled into town, we learned that the power was out in the entire town, so there was no electricity, and church was canceled. Some phone calls were made, and it was decided to have the baby blessing at Jen's house. It actually was such a neat, spiritual, and powerful experience.

Liz, Jen, and I all coordinated matching Easter outfits, so the kids were all matching that day. We had to take pictures of course. It was priceless :) Joe was missing Meranda the whole time---okay back up again---my little brother is engaged to Meranda Giles!!! Yeah!!! More on all that later w/ pictures.

Anyway---here are the pictures from that day, and I am back, so ya'll can quit pestering me about updating my blog! :) Actually, I am glad you all are, so now I can get back into it.

Pooper Scooper. . .

Sunday morning--home with the kids. Aspen had a pretty nasty cough. I decided not to share it with the entire nursery, so we stayed home and watched Dora. Both kids had been up the night before, so I was on the couch watching the kids with one eye open and one eye closed. I started to drift off. In the distance I heard Aspen say "Chaz took his diaper off". "O"---I said. Two options---get up and put the dang diaper back on my son, or lay on the couch with my eyes closed. Option two was sounding pretty nice. Just one more minute, and then I would get up. "Chaz took his diaper off Mom"-----I know---I know---one more minute. "MOM!" I know---I know--- "the diaper"---I know---I know---. I was imagining Chaz walking close enough to me that I could snag him and reattach his diaper. In a perfect world, he would have it in his cute little hands and would literally bring it to me. "MOM!!! Chaz took his diaper off!" "I know!" I yelled back. "Chaz pooped his pants!" WHAT!!!!

I was on my feet in an instant. Then I caught a glimpse of my poop monster across the room. O NO!!!! He was completely naked, minus the nice brown coat he had self applied to his face, his hands, his waist, his thighs, his knees, and his feet. It was not possible. I did manage to grab a hold of him(while dry heaving), stampede down the hallway, dodge the poopy diaper, wipe him down with baby wipes, and throw him in the tub. Normally Aspen would be screaming that she wanted to get in the tub with her brother, but she watched in disgust, and did not make one attempt to climb into the tub (not that I blame her).

Long story short--the things we do for our children... and I decided to take pictures of a clean little blue eyed baby instead of a brown eyed chocolate covered monster:) You can thank me for sparing you--



Later that evening, Christi and Tyson came over. We cooked cookies and marshmellow popcorn. It was delicious. The kids sat by the oven watching the cookies bake and would blow on the glass to "cool the cookies down". It was adorable.

Trick or Treat

Like I always say--better late than never right? Yes, I have been a slacker and haven't updated my blogs in weeks, but better late than never :) Let's pretend that Halloween just ended. I can't believe we are halfway into November. Where are the days, weeks, and months going?

Enough about that. Here was our October:

We took Aspen and Chaz to the Halloween Carnival. Aspen had a great time, and Chaz slept halfway through the carnival, so I guess he had a great time too. Every game Aspen played, I swear she won! Either every kid won, or I am taking Aspen to Vegas, and we are gambling away our fortune! The highlight for Aspen was of course seeing Treyce (Chris and Sommer's little boy).

For Halloween, we took Aspen and Chaz to the Trunk or Treat at the church parking lot. I handed out candy to the kids and Jared took our kids around to all the other cars. After the Trunk or Treat, we took our kids to see all the grandmas and grandpas. It was such an enjoyable night. We didn't get to bed until late.

The night after Halloween, Jared and I went to a Halloween party at the Kirkham's house. We had such a great time!! My husband dressed up as a drag queen, and I went as Cruella Deville. We ate food, played games (Spoons and Bonco--did I say that right?), and then played Rock Band.