this sweet life

Gone.

2011-09-14T17:38:00.000-07:00

So, it's September. Summer had to end. It was such a good one. School started up. Ava is gone. Like, 8:30-3 gone. She had a play date last week and was gone until 5. I fed her, chatted with her, read with her, then squeezed her and she was off to sleep, just to wake up and be gone again. She loves it, of course. I have really enjoyed just being with the boys, but I miss her.

The few days before school got quite crazy with the hurricane clean up and what not, but we were able to squeeze in a tradition that we decided to start this year. Yes, we stole this tradition from NieNie. But, I'm sorry, how can I not copy such a great tradition. It totally puts the focus off of the new clothes and backpack and on to how to be better. The back to school feast! The main part of the tradition that I love is giving your family a theme for the year. We settled on this:

It seemed very applicable since we had spent the last two days serving. Plus, we really hope that our kids will learn to serve, both small and large. We hope that they learn to look for those in need, on the playground or in class and choose to help them, because by doing so they are also serving God. So we talked about this and now every night we talk about what we did for someone that day. In my ambitious spirit I thought I would embroider each theme on a quilt square each year, then when they graduate I would have a quilt to send away with them...I hope I do this. I like the idea :)
So I made them each a crown to let them know how special they were and how important their new "roles" in the family were going to be.

The crowns were most definitely a hit. (No Bennett doesn't have something on his nose- just another scrape...have you ever seen him without?)

Now here is Ava's first day of school. She was thrilled about her new shoes mainly. I was thrilled that we both liked the same pair of jeans, her because they are comfortable leggings, me because they don't show the girl's crack...thank you GAP.

It rained the entire first week of school. It was a real downer.

Here are both of their true feelings...

We miss you at home Ava. But we know you are such an awesome first grader!

Miss Irene

2011-09-09T18:23:00.000-07:00

Miss Irene was a nasty one. Here is our story of the crabby ole lady visiting our house. We returned home from OBX just as Irene was hitting there in NC. We immediately went to the store (at 11:30 pm) to fill the fridge that we left fairly empty before vacation. The stores were practically empty...well, if you were looking for water, bread, soda and beer. Lucky for us, we weren't really. So we grabbed some basics and made it home. Saturday morning we had to quickly prep the house for the storm. Neighbors, who had already prepped their houses came to help us, which was super nice. Ty noticed a rain gutter that was clogged right before we left...on the top floor. So he and Joe took turns climbing the creakity ladder to get to the third floor. I thought for sure he would fall to his death, so I took a picture.

Later on Saturday the rain started to come. It came, and came, and came. Seriously, through the night we could see rivers flowing down our street. We woke up Sunday to more rain. Our house was holding up really well with a pretty dry basement. So we started to check on our neighbors. They weren't so lucky. Most of them had water in their basements and a lot of it. Tyler took his wet vac up and started helping a neighbor keep the water out. We heard from people at church, many also had water in their basements. Some had lost power and so they couldn't even get the water out. So Sunday morning the Kearl house soon turned into a daycare. Two of the families in our neighborhood had water in their basements so we brought their kids to our house to hopefully relieve the stress. By this point we had a couple cracks in the foundation in our basement that were beading water, but we put a towel over it and were good to go. Here are most of the kids, having a dance party in my front room.

Before 2 of the kids came over the rain had finally stopped and my friend told me she was going to let her kids play outside for a bit since they were restless. I told her I didn't feel comfortable with that since the wind was still pretty strong out there so to just send her kids over here. Not 15 minutes later we heard the loudest crack. We looked out the window to see this.

This view is from our yard to our neighbors house. This tree was probably 100 feet tall. It took out three trees on it's way down. Sad for us it took out a beautiful tree of ours that has gorgeous blossoms in the spring. It basically has one branch left standing, so it will likely die. It also fell onto their unfinished fence...minor setback on that job.

Not too long after the first tree fell, we heard another crack. This time across the street. It is hard to tell in the picture below, but the tree on the right had a couple huge branches break and get blown into the tree on the left. They were stuck in the tree.

What we didn't realize is that it was also stuck on the power line. So I am talking to my mom on the phone, explaining to her that we are all fine, when suddenly I see flames (small flames, but flames nonetheless) in the tree. So I had to call the ole 911 and let them know.
The neighbors all gathered around to wait for the firetruck. By this time the winds had died down and weather was very mild.

I had a really hard time getting a picture that justified the flames, but you can at least see fire in this one below.

A police car came.

A firetruck came.

And another firetruck came. It was quite the show.

They informed us that the power line would soon blow and then it would be a live wire so we should stay clear and we would lose power. So we waited, enjoyed our last bit of power, made cheese dip, grabbed the chips and headed for our porch to watch it burn. Our neighbors grabbed drinks and joined us for the show. Soon, just as they predicted "BOOM". And we went dark.

Firemen came back. Told us it could be weeks until we get power...haha...silly firemen. Then they made us prisoners in our own homes, they taped us in with yellow tape, reminding us that the wire across the road was indeed live and would kill us if we got near. Yay! Kids, we don't get to leave the house for 2 more weeks!!!

Mr Pete, drinking his morning coffee, confined to his front porch. But alas, the firemen were wrong, we had power withing a few days. It wasn't all that bad until 6:30 when it got dark and we got bored.

So that was our relationship with miss irene. Unfortunately, being without TV, I assumed it was about the same for most people around us. That was until Saturday morning when we found out that our church service would be cancelled except for a 30 min. meeting, which we attended in work clothes so we could all spend the rest of the day in areas that had complete devastation. President Obama flew into a town called Patterson which is about 20 minutes from us and within the boundaries of our church group (stake). This was very close to where we were heading to serve. So we put on our bright yellow helping hands shirts and headed to help.

The first neighborhood we went to were nicer homes and had a lot of damage, however, as the day went on and we were moved closer to the river where water was just descending (a week after the storm) conditions were horrible. It was amazing to see a group of 10 people go into a house and clear everything and gut it (drywall and all) in a 45 minute span. This is something that would have taken the individuals days or weeks. There was unbelievable mold and mildew. The smells were horrific. The people who only a week before had called these houses their homes were completely devastated. It was sad to see. The next day was labor day and a lot of men went out to help again.

This week we again had serious rain. Bad news for many of these people. Our weekend is the same, Saturday and Sunday we will go help these people that live so close to us completely devastated while we start our first week of school like it's no big deal. I am sad for them. I am sad for the complete towns that are condemned in Upstate NY. It is very eye opening to see a disaster first hand. It is humbling. I am happy I can help, though little it may be.

OBX

2011-09-01T20:41:00.000-07:00

We took a week off from life and headed down to Outer Banks, North Carolina to rent a house with friends for a week. Little did we know Hurricane Irene was headed our way, but not before the house got shaken up by the earthquake.

So we got to the beach quick to do a little surfing...wait for it, wait for it...

Christian could ride the tiniest wave forever...I guess it helps to weigh 35 lbs...go figure.

If we weren't at the beach then the kids were in the pool.

The boys did some deep sea fishing...check out the massive fish they caught...

We did very few things other than play at the beach. It was awesome.

Ava had so much fun playing with Jenna. Jenna is autistic, so their "play" is different than Ava's other friends. Ava adores her. She would follow Jenna around waiting for her to want to play with her for a few minutes.

They were cute together. I was so proud of Ava. She was a really good friend and so was Jenna.

Ryan and Jenna, my two adorable pregnant friends.

The kids did this for hours. At least until most of them had been stung by jelly fish.

Let me have bennett tell you how he felt about the beach...

Yes, he liked it.

So, by mid week they started ordering evacuations due to the hurricane. Much to my dismay, we still hung around until Friday (looking back, it was worth it, but at the time I had total anxiety). Tyler and Bennett walked along a completely empty beach Friday morning before we left. Irene hit OBX late Friday early Saturday, then she slowly followed our path to our house. But THAT is for another post!

Summer Description

2011-08-17T20:00:00.000-07:00

Our summer can pretty much be described by two things.

The lake.

The Shutes.

I may have mentioned our lake before :) The lake is an AMAZING part of NJ. It has the beach. It has diving boards- high, low and medium (which now even my 2 year old will jump off all three). It has shallow water for my kids to play safely in and deeper water for them to become awesome swimmers in. It has docks for them to jump off of. It is has gorgeous scenery. It is 2 minutes from our house. And it always has friends there to play with. In this case, it wasn't just any friends, it was the Shutes. Who, despite living directly behind us and spending every waking hour that we allow them together, still make even the lake more fun.

We pretty much head to the lake every Saturday after the house chores. Daddy ends up throwing at least one of the kids around, in this case, Ava.

Bless you Crestwood Lake. Bless you. May Labor Day stay far, far away.

Overload of Us

2011-08-17T19:42:00.000-07:00

Prepare yourselves. This is going to be serious Kearl overload. Just so you know, I narrowed the favorites down...drastically. We had two photo shoots in Utah, one with our own little family and one with the whole Kearl fam. This first slew of pics were taken by my lovely friend that I played Volleyball with, Lauren Evans. It was so much fun.

We did the pictures at StarMill Antique shop and it had amazing props for the shoot, like these stop signs.

Isn't this old bike the coolest...love it.

Now we are moving on to the Kearl family photo shoot which were done by an old high school friend of mine, Hayley Anderson Kase. Do mind that we are all wearing the same thing except Bennett. It is hard enough to come up with something for all 5 of us one time, not to mention two.

I am dying over this picture. His little hands in his pockets is soo cute to me.

oops, this one's not mine...but I'll take her.

The gang. Dang that is a lot of kids all about the same age...photographers nightmare, but Hayley was soo good with them all.

Grandma K spent sooo much time sewing these darling shorts for all the grandkids and my kids love them. I think this picture is adorable.

What's that you say? You want to see more? Well, if you must...

http://www.kearlfamily.smugmug.com/

July the Fourth

2011-07-27T14:27:00.000-07:00

We celebrated. Probably one of my favorite pics.

Water balloons.

Then we went to the parade the morning of the fourth. Oh, the excitement.

Fireworks at night. It was fun that the big fireworks were legal in Utah. We let off the BRUNO.

Happy Fourth.

Bear Lake 2011

2011-07-27T14:12:00.000-07:00

While we were in Utah the Kearl's decided to all party at Bear Lake for a few days. All the cousins were together. All the parents were making their kids do all the things they did as children at the cabin. For example: throwing the extra pancakes off the deck of the cabin.

Going on the Hike and sitting on the bent tree.

This year there were flowers...

and snow.

Here are all the cousins, minus the 2 babies.

Ava and her only mobile girl cousin.

Ava got buried in the Vball court, folowed by her cousin telling her that this was how pirates killed people, burying them in the sand and letting the tide come in...lovely.

Grandma created a cute craft for the kids and they loved it.

Then we went to the lake. Joce and Lisa brought a paddle board. I'm addicted. They are really fun. I wish I had one to use on our lake for a little workout ever morning.

Remember Kate and Bennett last time they were together? It involved a lot of teeth and fingernails. Well, their relationship has come full circle. Kate's teeth and nails may have been sharpened for the occasion, but they were never used on Bennett. They were friends the whole time.

Here they are mid convo.

paddle boarding.

The lake was a little chilly.

Grandma Kearl looking great and dry doing her grandma duties with the new babe.

Candace made these cute towels for everyone. I love them! We take them to our lake everyday!

B man likes the paddle board too.

Kate, squeezed in between Jon and Sara for her first ride on a Seadoo.

See what I mean. Lovely.

Random Utah Festivities

2011-07-19T08:38:00.000-07:00

So we went to Utah for a month. It was SO nice. I often get worn out when we go there for too long, but not this time. It was wonderful. Here are a few of the random things we filled our time with.

Ava and some girl cousins loved to dig into the box of old formal dresses. When you have a former Beauty queen sister this box contains some real gems!

I got to do some good cuddles with my new niece, Hannah Louise (or Hannah Wa-lise as her sister calls her).

My BIL Clark is in the American Fork Symphony (I believe that is the name) and they did a concert at the AF amphitheater. It was good times.

Ava attended a neighborhood princess camp. She loved it.

We spent our fair share of days at the Lindon pool. That pool is awesome.

After the pool we we usually come home to make some sort of treat with grandma. My kids loved helping her...especially licking the spoon of frosting or batter.

Ty didn't come until 2 weeks after us. The night he came home Christian was really excited and kept sneaking out of bed. I finally found him asleep in the front room.

The Arts Festival is always fun for my kids. Here they are with cousins in front of auntie Joce's car that had a sweater knitted onto it.

Then they got to make all sorts of crafts and try all sorts of instruments.

good times.

Kitchen-before and after

2011-05-25T18:04:00.000-07:00

So this (above) is what my kitchen looked like when we bought the house. It had some good qualities, but not my style at all. We new it would be easy to work with, especially once we got that wall paper down. It. was. BAD. So when we first moved in we took it down and painted, in fact that was one of the first things we did. Then it was until last month that we decided to finish it up. Tyler nearly single handedly remodeled the kitchen. He ripped up the floor (which was an ugly orangy-brown color) and retiled. Then he ripped out the backsplash and re-did it as well. As for me, I picked out the tile, backsplash, and appliances and decorated :) So here are the afters. I were I were better with photography so you could really see how good it looks, but use your imagination.

I love the backsplash, it turned out beautiful. Tyler also put in recessed lighting under the cabinets which looks awesome.

We haven't switched to the stainless fridge yet, mostly because it will cause a huge headache. They don't really make refridgerators to fit in the current space we have. They are all too tall, so we would have to take out the cabinet above the fridge...pain.

Below you can kind of see some of the layout of the house. The door on the left goes to the basement, the door on the right goes to the family/living room/main entry.

Then the door on the right in the pic below goes to the dining room (which then opens up to the family/living room).

So, here's to an awesome husnband that gave me an awesome kitchen!

Kate visits...and Sara too!

2011-05-17T19:09:00.000-07:00

Oh how we loved having them here. My kids totally bombarded Kate, all day, everyday. She took it pretty well. And then she released all her frustration on Bennett. Lucky for her, we have taught him very well how to treat a lady, particularly a younger one. We will show only the good times in pictures :)

Looking out the window from Ava's bed.

Taking turns pushing each other down the ramp on the driveway.

We went to a little zoo.

and a little play place.

Ava LOVED Kate, and I think Kate rather like Ava too. I'm not sure what Ava liked more, Kate or the fact that Kate liked her :) Either way, it worked. They are each other's only girl counsins on the Kearl side.

Christian was a pretty good older brother to Kate too.

We went to a petting zoo, too.

Just to make you all jealous of how awesome our neighborhood is, an older neighbor across the street came home from work one day and stopped in front of our house. He hopped out of his car, opened his trunk and pulled out these little bubble shooters for our kids. He had seen some kids with them and thought our kids would love them, so he went and bought them some. This, my friends, is NOT an uncommon occurrance. Mr. Pete, across the street takes them for ice cream and buys them Christmas presents to give while inviting us all over for Charlie Brown. We really live in an amazing neighborhood. (sorry for the side tangent).

Kate was perfectly happy playing in our backyard all week.

It really was so fun to have them here. Sara and I just chatted while the kids played. We had a glimpse of what it would be like if we lived close to each other. Ahhh, maybe someday.

ps. i stole every picture from this post off of sara's blog. :)

Niagara Falls

2011-05-17T18:49:00.000-07:00

We went to the Canadian side of the falls and stay at the Great Wolf Lodge. After two days of seeing church sites it was a good energy release to have a day at their indoor water park.

The we headed to the falls. Good thing we all had passports, I think the US side would have been lame.

So here is an overload of pictures for you, or rather for me, but feel free to browse or skip.

They don't look that big in the picture below, but that is only half of them.

Cutest picture ever of my boy in his dad's hat.

It was rainy all morning, but the kids were loving be able to use their new umbrellas.

This is where you go behind the falls. It's amazing how loud it was.

This is the other half of the falls, from the top of them. It is crazy to read the story of people who went over the falls. One kid went over the falls with nothing but a life vest (not intentional) and survived. Amazing.

By about lunch time the sun came out. It was Eater miracle number 25...seriously.

We had to make a quick stop while Bennett a couple of business calls...

and grabbed a coke. He is high maintenance.

Christian loves my dad. He would be his shadow all the time if he could. If my dad is ever running an errand, doesn't matter where, Christian wants to go.

Ava might like him a little too.

I think those are the only pics I have from the month my parents were here. It was so nice having them, as always. Even more fun actually getting out and seeing things this time.

Hill Camorah- Easter Day

2011-05-17T18:20:00.000-07:00

Easter day we went to church then did the Hill Cumorah with a little Easter activity. While we were at the visitor center we watched the Restoration video. After watching it, I realized that we had it at home. It is seriously one of Ava's favorite shows to watch. It's always a toss up, that or Tangled.

Bennett, his usual filthy mess, at the top of the hill.

Another cool place and another cool reason to come visit us! :)

Bennett and the Sacred Grove

2011-05-17T18:13:00.000-07:00

Okay so this post might seem a little Bennett-indulgent, so sorry.

Bennet has personality bubbling out his ears. So while we were at the Sacred Grove I wanted my parents to have a, well, Sacred experience. So I stayed outside with Bennett while they all went into one of the houses. So I pulled out my camera and this is what he gave me. None was prompted. It was like he went through every emotion in a 2 minute period.

Sneaky, then perhaps "don't snap that picture at me."

Calm (or taking care of business??) and silly.

Clearly cracking himself up, because I wasn't sharing any jokes.

"Okay, I'm totally bored. When are they coming out?"

"Hmmm, not coming? I'll sit down and laugh at myself some more."

Easter and the Sacred Grove

2011-05-17T18:01:00.000-07:00

My parents cam into town right before Easter. We woke up the Saturday morning before Easter and the Easter Bunny had come.

Candy, swim suits and rain boots...perfect combination.

Right after the baskets we hopped in the car to head up to Palmyra. My dad had never seen the church sites in upstate New York and my mom hadn't seen them since she was a teenager. About 20 minutes from the Peter Whitmer farm the sun broke through and the rain stopped...Easter miracle.

I love the picture below of my boys far in the field next to that huge tree.

What's even better is what we realized they were doing way out there. He has mud up to his forehead.

The contemplation.

We then drove through more rain to get to the Sacred Grove which was completely clear. Easter miracle number 2.

They were cetain there was a snake in those logs.

I love that my kids have been able to go to the Sacred Grove twice now, and I would imagine they will go a few more times before we leave here. Very cool place.

Here and There

2011-05-17T17:35:00.000-07:00

Since the weather is finally warming up, we've been able to go out...as in outside. Amazing.

We went to a little zoo. Ava may or may not have a slight crush on the boy in the orange. They tend to right very nice notes to each other during church on Sunday. Some of them mention "love", others, "really like".

Then Christian had an Easter program. His programs are the cutest thing in the world. I love them.

Maria

2011-05-17T17:26:00.000-07:00

This is Maria. She is awesome. I first met her a few months ago when our church missionaries brought her to our house for a discussion. She was interested in our church at the time, but still didn't know very much. From that time Maria and various friends or family members came to our house every Thursday night for discussions. They were mostly in Spanish, so I did my best to understand everything that was going on and had Tyler fill me in on what I had missed.

During the time we were teaching Maria, she taught me instead. She had/has a lot of faith. She had a lot of hard things happen while she was learning about the gospel of Jesus Christ, but she stayed very strong. Anyway, Maria prayed to find out if the Book of Mormon was true and if our church is true. She decided to be baptized. She asked Tyler to do it. It was a really great night.

I'm happy to have the joy that the gospel brings to my life and I am happy Maria now has it as well. Congrats Maria!

The chaos of my life

2011-03-13T13:25:00.000-07:00

1. The foot. The blasted foot. Well, it is healing. We said "goodbye" to the hard cast and crutches and "hello" to the walking cast. Tyler had high hopes of also saying goodbye to the walking cast at his appointment yesterday, but instead he gets to enjoy 5-6 more weeks of it. What a joy :)

Here is a lovely piece of stapled meat for you (sorry phone pic).

2. Christian turned 4. He is turning into a boy. I think 4 is going to be a good age for this kid. He took a few friends bowling and had a blast. He called uncle Gog to thank him for his cool birthday card. After thanking him, he immediately asked him to send him a present. :)

3. Ava turned 6. She had SPA party. Since she is incapable of keeping her mouth shut about such a party, we had 15 six year olds at our house for the party. Seriously. 15 screaming six year olds...wow.

The facial station. So, six year olds don't care for facials much. After the first two girls went and one almost dry-heaved and the second (Ava) started crying with it on her face, we quickly switched to foot rubs...which they loved and they still got to put cucumbers on their eyes.

The party crew in their jammies.

mid facial...relaxing.

I can't believe I didn't get a picture of the nail salon...but it was dang cute!

Below were the two boys that the girls tried to scare away by yelling "make up" and teasing that they would put make up on them.

4. Haircuts. We were all due for a haircut. We took Ava in on her birthday and she chopped off nearly 5 inches. Tyler cut both boys hair. This was Bennett's first time getting a cut on the top of his head.

He looks so handsome with it short. I love it.

5. Charlie. Our newest family member. Tyler has informed me that he counts as my 4th.

We have been thinking about getting a puppy for a long time and the kids birthday seemed like a good excuse. So we loaded up on a Friday night and drove to Brooklyn to Puppy City. Once we got there there was no turning back. We found this little Shih-Tzu. He is a golden color all over rather than being two different colors (like normal). We found that very cute. He has such a great demeanor for kids. He gets tortured by my kids and still just loves them and plays with them. He lets Bennett carry him by his neck and even do the wheelbarrow with him (we try to discourage both).

Besides these minor things, we've been working a little on the house and yard, which I hope to show someday. But that's all for now.

Eventful month of love

2011-02-14T18:01:00.000-08:00

It's been eventful around here. Mostly because of this...

To make a long story short...Ty went to play basketball at the church one night (much to my dismay). In the last 5 minutes of play, he ruptured his achilles tendon. We spend the rest of the night in the ER (with a saint-of-a-friend at home with my kids) but only after Ty took the missionaries to Wendy's then to their house, 25 minutes from us. A few days later he had to have surgery to sew the tendon back together and he has pretty much been in bed ever since.

So while he is out of commission Bennett fell into the corner of our coffee table to give him a nice bruise on his forehead and two black eyes. You can't really see the bruising in this picture, but you can see that it is swollen by the space between his eyes.

Well, those nice shiners were followed by a real doozy. You can find it here if you haven't already read Tyler's blog.

Lastly, and likely the most eventful part...this independent, busy, into-everything, happy-if-he-gets-what-he-wants, sometimes naughty, little boy is now "sleeping" in a toddler bed. Due to the unsafe nature he was catapulting himself out of his crib, we decided to avoid another trip to the ER and just put him into a toddler bed.

He thinks it's awesome. Mostly because his effort to be free just reduced immensly. For his first nap he fell asleep right by the door. I didn't have a childproof door knob and so I had to jimmy-rig it with twine. But that night he laid in his bed and went right to sleep. I thought we were golden...ha!

The kid is real persistant. So at his nap today I took everything out of his room and closed the door (with a childproof doorknob this time). It took a little bit, but after he'd been quite for a few minutes I went upstairs to open his door and this is how I found him.

I had forgotten to take a basket of dirty clothes out of his room...I told you he is into everything.

Mr. B man Celebrates

2011-02-14T17:28:00.000-08:00

He had a birthday.

Numero Dos.

We partied.

We blew out the candles and ate some yummy cake.

Then we headed to the alley where the real party started.

It was serious folks, real serious!

Mr. Independant takes his ball to the lane.

and...CELEBRATES!

Oh, and the neighbors came to help eat the cake.

...and it fell

2011-02-14T17:04:00.000-08:00

Starting in late Decemeber, snow started to fall. It was white and heavy and beautiful. With the first snowfall we received a good two feet.

Which actually piles up to be about 6 feet after we shoveled our driveway.

The kids went out and played in the snow.

Then came in,

cried because their hands were so cold,

had some hot chocolate,

and asked to go back outside.

Repeat.

It was awesome.

Then it snowed again.

And again.

Oh, then came the "ice storm", which basically just put a good 2-3 inches of ice on top of the 2-3 feet of snow we had in our yard and on top of our driveway. Pure kill-yourself-if-you-try-to-walk-on-it awesomeness (or crutch on it, if you're Tyler).

But alas, this story has a good ending...today was a beautiful 45 degrees. The sun was shining and I was happy (and I did not wear a coat in my house all day). I think we are down to a foot and a half of snow. Spring can't come soon enough! Pretty sure I will appreciate it a little more this year!

Ty has a man-blog

2011-02-14T08:12:00.000-08:00

I have been trying to get Tyler to start a blog for a long time... While he was down with his surgery and had some time on his hands, I finally convinced him. Anyway, if you want to know why he believes he will not be getting "father of the year" in 2011, check out his post... :)

www.tykearl.blogspot.com

Cute Jams and Excited Faces

2011-02-09T17:48:00.000-08:00

I love the jammies my mom makes for the kiddos every year. They end up being favorite jammies all year long...and even as hand-me-downs.

This is where the excitement began and unfortunately where my camera was set down in order to handle the chaos!

They got spoiled...as usual.

Christmas In February!

2011-02-09T17:16:00.000-08:00

Seriously. I've gotta catch up at some point. Here's how Christmas Eve played out at the Kearl house.

Dinner. Complete with Slush.

Next the Nativity.

Here we have an angel, the narrator, Joseph, Mary, and a wiseman.

Grandpa was such a good, but sleepy-jet-lagged-star!

Then came the Yule log. Lots of sitting, lots of salt and lots of kissing.

And if you're Bennett, lots of licking.

But mostly there was a lot of this...chilaxin by the fire.

Our Euro Visitors

2011-01-18T17:34:00.000-08:00

My sister Amber and her family came from Prague to visit. Our kids are really close in age and so it is so fun when they get together. Most of the visit was spent to hanging out and playing at the house, with frequent trips to the AB&G (Allendale Bar and Grill). We had a blast though.

The girls insisted on all sleep in Ava's bed.

We made cookies and went caroling to some neighbors. Our neighborhood is SOOO great. Ava was leading the singing at the doors and on the third stop she decided she had had enough of jingle bells and started singing "I like to look for rainbows" (a church song). It was awesome.

Umm, Christian you are looking fierce with that frosting on your cheek!

Baby Livs. Oh, how I love you. And she even let me hold her before they were leaving!

Such a superb visit. Come back soon!

Projects

2011-01-18T17:22:00.000-08:00

As I hope to illustrate in a later post, we have STILL been working on a lot of projects.

ALL of us...

November's Nutshell

2011-01-18T17:19:00.000-08:00

November was nice. Pretty good weather and my parents came to visit, which was great. While they were here we went into the city to see The Rockettes at Radio City. It was fun and kept the kids pretty entertained (except Christian).

We walked the kids like crazy, but they were champs!

Mom and Pops

The Fam

Later that day, which was the day before Thanksgiving we went to see the pre-parade fun. They blow-up all the balloons and you can walk around and see them all. I was told it was "magical". Umm...not so much. The balloons were netted down and figuring out what they even were was sometimes a challenge. I don't know why I expected different. But, we met some friends there and had a blast losing each other in the crowd.

Ty carried this 33 lb chunk on his back all day. Bless you Ty, bless you.

Ty and Christian in front of what we think to be Buzz, hold all $22 of M&Ms that we purchased at the M&M store. Why are they better from that store?

We did celebrate Thanksgiving with my parents, but I cannot find any pictures. I swear I at least took one of the table.

This year we were grateful for:

New/old friends and family

Our house

Dead chipmonks

hello again.

2011-01-18T17:02:00.000-08:00

hello again. I have had quite the hiatus. In fact, I typed in my URL only to find that my computer did not remember it. Wow.

So. We are going back, way back...for record sake.

Mr. B Man as...Yoda

Luke and Yoda waiting for princess Leia to parade out of her school.

The Gang. We later found out that we had princess Leia's costume all wrong...that crown, is a belt. I didn't think she ever wore a crown. :)

Loving Fall

2010-10-27T16:53:00.000-07:00

We having been loving Fall. Perhaps because it has been in the 70's lately. Not bad, huh?

Try to tell me he is not having a good time.

Below are a couple pictures of what the kids do every chance they get.

Christian and I went on a hayride to the pumpkin patch with his class. He's thrilled.

"Wait, I only get a small pumpkin?"

This is a pic of our street. About the day after I took this picture the leaves became so bright and vivid down our street, but they are still pretty here. i think the trees down our street are dreamy!

Twitter-pated

2010-10-27T16:36:00.000-07:00

So Christian has had is way with the ladies for quite some time. He has always had is eye on this particular lady.

The one on the right, that is. Kidding, but not really.

(thanks for the pic that I stole, H :))

At our house, every time we are deciding who everyone will marry (which is often), Christian always ends up saying Avy. Occasionally there are other girls mentioned up, such as Hayley (yes, that would be the mom pictured above) which is followed by explanations about how she is indeed already taken, then he settles on Avy. Frankly, why wouldn't he, she's adorable.

(no, his hair was not round-brushed...I've got to do something about the poof!)

Well, the other day he came home from school and said,

"Mom, there is a girl in my class and she is beautiful!"

First of all, seriously??? Then I asked him why he thought she was beautiful.

"She has brown hair."

Now, again, seriously??? We have come to find a little more about this brown haired beauty. Her name is Ashley. Sometimes she wears a pink bow in her hair. He smiles every time he talks about her.

So, watch out Avy. I don't think you've been pushed aside (I'm not about to let that happen) but someone is in your territory!

Animal Friends

2010-10-10T18:15:00.000-07:00

There are 2 types of people in this world, animal lovers and NON animal lovers. I have never known where I fit into those classes...until tonight. I once saw a remodel show on HGTV. A couple was finishing their attic. During this process they found out they had bats somewhere up there. This particular woman went to all extremes and all expenses to make sure the bats were not harmed in anyway. They ended up having some sort of bat house made for them.

I distinctly remember thinking, I like animals like the rest of them, but would I really build them a house. And further more, would I care if they die...they're bats???

Well, my eyes are clearer now. You see, we live in the forest. No, literally in the woods. We are in the more suburb part of town, but still there are all sorts of forest creatures around. I thought we had squirrels in California, but it is nothing compared to this place. I can look out any window of my house at any time of DAY and see a good 10 squirrels or chipmunks. In fact, I am quite confident that they throw acorns at me at times. But that is definitely not all. We've seen deer prints in our yard. The other day I opened my garbage lid to toss another bag in there when I noticed that the bag currently IN the garbage had holes in it from some animal that had weaseled his way into our garbage can. And gratefully we have only heard, not seen the bears that apparently frequent the celery farm that is less than a mile up the street. (this is where I say, holy crap what would I do if I saw a bear!!! Hey Bennett, play dead, buddy!)

So now to tonight when I find out what side of the fence I am on, animals or no animals. As you can see our house has trees coming up all around it, pretty close to it...within a chipmunk's small jump.

Our office is on the second floor, window facing the back, but it has a similar roof landing below it. The other day I told Ty that as I was on the computer at night I could hear the chipmunks' pitter-patter on our roof. I didn't mind, they are outside. It's not surprising with the trees so close.

So tonight, Ty is at work. I am in the same place, in the office. Lights are off, except the computer screen shining in my face and I am checking out your blogs when I hear the same pitter-patter. Now, directly in front of me is a closet that oddly enough didn't have doors when we purchased the home. However, this closet does have a "black hole" or "black abyss" that was left (along with all it's charm). This is a hole in the ceiling of the closet where heating pipes are going up to our room. It is hidden, but I'll admit it is creepy. It has an opening about a foot wide. So I stop and listen for a second.

That is weird, that time it sounded like it was above me? But, the only thing above me is MY bedroom. There's the noise again. It sounds like it is on pipes. I look up into the closet...HOLY CRAP!! I am squinting to see into the darkness and a flippin chipmunk is in my closet scurrying around my cleaning rags! It was a little one. He thought he was all alone in the house. And so did I! HELLO, anyone ever seen Over the Hedge. Well, that is my current life!

We had a short stare-down then I had to make a little noise to get him out of here. Not 20 seconds later he came back. That meant it was my turn to leave. I made a run for it, closed the door and called Tyler, scared to death. Of course, being at work his hands were tied. (If I had a nickle for every time he were at work in the night when emergencies happen, yes emergencies like a chipmunk in the house, but unfortunately accounting firms pay in pennies, not nickles.) So it is just me and the chipmunk. Luckily, Christian had been playing with a handheld mesh strainer that I saw just before I opened the door and grabbed it, just in case. I slowly opened the door, making as much noise as possible hoping I wouldn't really have to face it. It worked. Alvin was no where to be seen, or heard. Phew.

So I braved the walk to the computer. Turned on i-tunes as loudly as possible without waking up the kids and only yelled at the closet twice, "You stay in there, you dirty rat!"

So. Now I am just wondering if this is going on in my basement...

Where do you think I am? On the animal side or non-animal side? Where would you be?

New Groove

2010-10-07T18:35:00.000-07:00

Summer of 2010 was full of change. Mostly good, but mostly hard too.

But here we are trying to get into a new groove of life. New Jersey style.

The kids have felt the change for sure. I think everyday of summer Ava brought up something related to California or her friends. Usually something to the effect of, "When I am 7 (or 8) and we are back in California can/will we...(enter expectation here)?" Ava has been a total champ though. You'd think that starting Kindergarten is perfect, because everyone is new. Not so in Allendale. It's not a big town. People know you. You know, like CHEERS, where everybody knows YOUR name! (not quite, but still). She is making friends very easily, surprise, surprise! She even told me the other day, "Mom, I'm glad we moved to New Jersey, because I have lots of new friends and I like them." Phew! Thank goodness. I have been waiting 4 months to hear her say that!

Change has probably had the biggest toll on Christian. Things were all mixed up in his life and he just didn't know what to do about it. Thanks to the neighbors behind us, Christian now thinks we live in paradise. There is a little boy Ava's age and a girl Christian's age. The boys play together and the girls play together and Bennett follows along with whichever group he can. The girls are usually chanting, "we are girls!" to the boys while they play. If there is no rain, you can count on our kids being out together. It is fantastic. Thus I am happy to report that when this little man's life is in order he returns to his charming, lovable self! Bigtime phew on that one.

This kid is just pleased as punch to be anywhere his brother and sister are. Okay and probably mom and dad, too.

Ava and Christian, although they fight at times and one tries to manipulate the other every chance she gets, they really love each other and it makes me so happy.

With all the crazy change we've had, it is real nice to have these people around.

Pictures taken last April in California by Ivan and he did an awesome job! I highly suggest you give him a jingle if you're looking for fab pics that are easy on the pocketbook! You can see all that he did for us here.

Upstate

2010-10-02T16:33:00.000-07:00

We headed to Upstate New York last weekend to visit some friends of ours that are in school at Cornell. We had SOOO much fun, mostly just being with them. We did go apple picking and to Palmyra. With Fall scenery like this, we couldn't help but take pictures...LOTS of pics. (consider that your warning)

I know this picture is blurry, but I love his expression.

Here is a better pic, with an equally cute expression.
Christian, climbing the fence at Joseph Smith's Farm. It was clear Christian would have loved life there.

One word to describe Palmyra: AMAZING.

We loved it. We just couldn't believe that we were where the church was restored. It was a perfect trip to take after our Jerusalem trip and every bit as neat.

The Sacred Grove.

The kids waiting outside the farmhouse.

This was Joseph Smith's second house that was essentially sold out from under them. There were places shown in the house where Joseph hid the plates.

Hill Cumorah and the Temple. You drive back behind the Temple to get to the Hill Cumorah memorial site. It is a beautiful view, but all I could think about was who risks their life each week to mow the lawn on the hill in front of it. Seriously the steepest hill of groomed grass I have EVER seen.

This is Joseph's first house. It was so small. In Joseph's room there were two double beds, three boys in each bed. Joseph was seventeen at the time. That would have been one squished bed! There was also a bible on their kitchen table that they studied and it struck me how naturally spiritual they were. They really were seeking rightousness and truth.

This would be my little angel in between activities. :)

Corn feild off of the church and Peter Whitmer's house.

Apple and pumpkin picking

That would be the same big bertha previously posted about.

Bennett literally ate about 7 apples that day. They were so good though.

Not much cuter than these last two...

Thanks so much Chad and Melissa! We had so much fun and can't wait until we get to visit with you guys again!

A Peek.

2010-09-27T18:02:00.000-07:00

Here is just a peek into our weekend...

Just hanging out, balancing 40 lb. pumpkins on our heads...

Compare the Hair

2010-09-22T18:08:00.000-07:00

Bennett is one stinkin cute kiddo. No disputing that. He is just hair-less. He's bald. He has had 2 haircuts in his life and they both included only removing the mullet growing slightly longer in the back and on the sides.
I don't mind all that much. Less upkeep, right? But, I was fairly certain my other two kids had quite a bit of hair at his age. So I looked back at some old pics. Bennett is just about 21 months.

Ava at 21 months

ummm...to her shoulders.

Christian 21 months

A nice thick, full head of hair. AND only a few weeks earlier it looked like this...
and that was with haircuts (even on the top).

Point proven. Thus he is our hair-less wonder. But I love that hair-less kid!

Love-Hate

2010-09-22T17:45:00.001-07:00

Christian has a love-hate relationship with preschool. Last week was his first. He was so excited. I heard his little feet coming running down the stairs Tuesday morning followed by, "we godda huwwy. i got school today." He insisted on wearing his soccer jersey, which made is daddy proud. I wasn't about to ruffle any feathers, so I let him.

The picture below is technically his second day, but he is wearing normal clothes.

Unfortunately, the excitement lasted until we actually got to the school and he saw another little girl crying and realized that we were leaving. It didn't help that I got parent of the year by showing up at 9:20, which is early enough for him to get settled before a 9:30 class, of course his is a 9:00 class. Good one mom!

So drop off is getting better. There haven't been tears since the first day. He is happy as a clam when we pick him up and thrilled to teach us his new songs and show us his art.

On another note. I headed to a little farm close by with some friends and snapped a few of the boys.

There has been a request for a few of our hair-less wonder. So here you go...

(don't be deceived by that smile.)

2010-09-10T17:50:00.000-07:00

Tuesday was Ava's first day of Kindergarten. I cried. Her preschool was a co-op so I was more than involved. I would walk into her classroom everyday, I saw how everything worked, I even got to see how Ava listened to directions (or didn't ;)). I loved it.
Ava was so excited to go. As you can see...

Here she is infront of her new school...all smiles.

Things changed slightly when we got inside and she realized she didn't know anyone.

So, unlike preschool, the kids lined up in the hall (with an aid mind you, not the teacher) until it was time for class to start. The teacher came out and asked the kids to come in and off they walked. I didn't even get to say, "Hi Ms. Perillo, I am Ava's mom...blah, blah, blah." I tried to peek into the room through the window with a few other teary-eyed mom's, but we were soon sent away.

So there you have it. She is practically grown up now. She even told me today that she knew her way in...and I didn't need to walk her to her line-up spot. So I sadly let her. Then Christian, Bennett and I walked in and peeked on her to make sure she made it. It satisfied both myself and Christian. It has definitely made me think of whether I have taught her well enough to make good choices on her own when most other kids might not be making good choices. My full-time teaching job is over for her. Now I am down to part-time and next year will even be less. I guess you just have to make the time more important now.
With all this said and all the sadness I've had this week, 3 hours can go by pretty quick. It is really nice to have one-on-one time with Christian since Bennett naps. Christian starts school on Tuesday and is very excited. Although, he and Bennett were both ready to follow Ava right into class.

Oh, and in case you were worried, Ava made friends right away and LOVES school. They had Thursday off for the Jewish Holiday and she was very upset. ...Hope it lasts :)

Reasons

2010-08-10T17:31:00.000-07:00

I really try to live life for the time being, not always waiting for the next great thing to happen. You know, like a vacation or big plans or whatever you are excited about. You know, carpe diem. Don't get me wrong, I love anticipating such things, but I try to keep an everyday focus on reality and to be happy with life as it is. With that said, I am so ECSTATIC to move. Here are a few reasons why.

Reason Number 1:

To escape the ghetto. Okay, Okay, we don't really live in the ghetto (or at least the ghetto of Hackensack) but it is not the part of New Jersey that is easy to fall in love with.

Reason Number 2:

To have the sweet, sweet reunion to all of our belongings. Camera chargers (which will lead to a working camera, which will lead to pictures), kids outdoor toys, our own furniture (so I don't have to go ballistic every time our kids put grubby hands on the couch), oh, and of course our own pots and pans (although I have finally figured out how to cook an egg on them and more importantly I'm able to get the egg off).

Reason Number 3:

Although it goes along with number 2 it definitely deserves it's own spotlight. Food. Our current weekly menu goes something like this: salad, chicken salad lettuce wraps, tacos, spaghetti, vegetable pasta. repeat. repeat. repeat. It will be a good day when I get to see my spices again. I know, I could have bought more, but who wants to spend the money and end up with 2 bottles of cumin?

Reason Number 4:

To get down from the 10th floor of a high-rise. We do have a decent view of Manhattan, but the claustrophobia that I feel trumps that, big time. I probably wouldn't do well in the city itself...at least with kids. It is a serious pain to get out of this building with three kids, especially if I want to carry something else with me. I will say, I think we have mastered it though. Bennett even knows right where to turn, which stairs he needs me to hold him for, which elevator buttons to push, and where to stop and watch for cars.
Reason Number 5:

My kids are far too familiar with word world, mickey mouse clubhouse and dinosaur train, to name a few. Far too familiar.

Reason Number 6:

Okay, all this complaining is getting old so I'm going to get to the point. About 45 days ago we decided to buy a house. Unfortunately, they then make you wait until you are completely insane before they allow you to step foot in this said house. Therefore all decorating ideas I have come up with, and there have been many, will probably change once we are actually in the house. But, we are SOOO ready to move into our new house, paint the walls, unload our stuff and make it our own. We close on Thursday. Then, of course we are refinishing the floors and therefore have another week before we move in, but at least we can visit and do a few things here and there. Here are some shots of the backyard. It is a little over grown and the grass is a little clovery, but very quaint. We probably have 30+ different types of trees in our yard. I love it.

I clearly have not been very good at my CARPE DIEM idea, right?

(witty title here)

2010-08-02T09:42:00.000-07:00

I just sat for a good minute thinking of a witty title for this post, but alas, nothing. Man, I am rusty.

Things have been slow lately. It has seemed like we will never close on our house. But we are finally only 10 days from closing. Jon, Sara and Kate came from London to help us pass time. It was beyond great. I did my very best to convince them to move here with us, unsuccessfully I believe.

Here is a glance at some of our lazy days...

What are they looking at?

...this.
Once Jon got here there was a LOT of this...

Showing off their new bedding, or something?

Heading to the lake

Bennett was so nice to Kate the whole time. He would just pat her head. He was trying to let me know he is ready for a sibling. It didn't work.

Kate could have played in the sand hours. Actually I think she did.

Swimming with daddy.

With a little motivation from having a new audience Christian mastered the HIGH-DIVE. Seriously? He's barely 3.5. I love how he has to put his hands in diving position and keep them together until he lands in the water.

Ava also got up the guts to go off the diving board. No high-dive for this smart cookie. She is swimming SO well. Who would have guessed that a year ago? Not me!

So Jon, Sara and Kate remember all these good times?...please oh please come back...for good.

Our new house

2010-07-07T06:03:00.000-07:00

After debating back and forth about whether to rent or buy while we are here in NJ, we finally settled on buying this...(drum roll please)
We absolutely love this little colonial for our first house. It is super old, built in 1922, which makes it very charming, but the inspection went pretty well too. We don't get in for about a month so I will show you all around then!

Good Times

2010-06-06T18:28:00.000-07:00

We spent the last month and a half before we moved in Utah. Summer is great in Utah, the kids run throughout the neighborhood, the temperature is perfect (besides the few snow storms that occurred while we were there), and there is super company. Here are some of the best times.

We rarely see rainbows like this in California.

Christian was playing under my dad's desk and next thing I knew...
My mom and I were doing stuff when we realized we didn't know where the B man was. We walked into the kitchen to find him sitting on the counter, pointing at my mom's coke saying, "Dat" as if to inform us of what he just drank.

I am pretty confident that some of Christian's favorite times were "working with papa". Every Saturday he would work with papa. He went with him to the nursery to buy plants, went to the store with him, but I think his favorite was working in the yard with him. He chose "working with papa" over a lot of other fun activities. Once Ava and Bennett saw how much fun he was having, they wanted to join in.

I finally got to meet baby Stephen. I have been best of friends with Emily for 25 years. We now both have kids. My kids loved Stephen.

He is super cute and I loved seeing Em!

We miss our time in Utah already!

A while back...

2010-06-06T18:01:00.000-07:00

We came to visit our area in NJ (before the move). So went into the city.

We brought Grandma Nancy to help us out. It was great.

The kids thought the big buildings were the coolest thing in the world.

I thought these kids were the cutest thing in the world.

The end.

The Twins are 30!

2010-06-01T06:40:00.000-07:00

Ty is doing all these things to do with 30 to go along with his new age. So here are 30 of my favorite things about Ty.
1. He's anal. "Did you check this, did you call her..." Although this can be incredibly annoying at times, it has save us more times than not.
2. He is very self motivated.
3. He is a lover of cheese and is convinced he would also be a lover of wine, if he ever tasted it. So he substitutes with Newman's Own grape juice.
4. He prides himself on being a good driver, which he is (except for the time he made my mom so carsick she threw up upon arrival :)).
5. He is a great dad and has the sweetest relationship with each of his kids.
6. He is genuinely excited to get Bennett out of his crib after every nap or every morning.
7. He used to sleep lying flat on his back with no pillow, until he claims that Jon and I ridiculed him enough to make him change. Every bad night of him sleeping on his side is blamed on us :) He is trying to return to his old ways.
8. He talks to his twin everyday. At least they did when they were in the same country and I believe they still would. They are best friends.
9. He doesn't LOVE his job, but still works really hard to be good at it.
10. He is very creative and usually is the genius behind my products.
11. He aspires to be a handy man and fix up his house or maybe just finish the basement of that house (the house that we will own one day).
12. He is not very prideful, but VERY prideful about his kids.
13. And maybe his title as winner of the dance-off at the 80's Prom we went to a few years back.
14. Tyler would prefer a steak at my dad's over going to almost any restaurant.
15. He thinks one of the funniest words in the English language is "Bastard".
16. He doesn't say it a whole lot...only on special occasions.
17. He cuts our boys hair, and is pretty good at it. I let him cut mine once. He was not good at it.
18. Tyler is a very committed person.
19. He loves to cook out, particularly in a dutch oven.
20. He loves a good game of cards and resents that the last two trips to Utah cards have not been played.
21. He loves to shop at Costco. He'll even take the kids with him if it means he'll get to Costco.
22. He played the clarinet as a kid. He once practiced so much for his recital and when his performance time came he would try to blow no sound came out.
23. He loves me.
24. He is solid in his beliefs.
25. He is not judgemental, but rather very respectful and intrigued by others views, opinions, beliefs.
26. Tyler is a wonderful teacher and enjoys doing it. I think he should be a professor. He favorite job was teaching in the MTC.
27. Of all the bodily fluids and what not that children release, he hate boogers the worst.
28. He will watch the Bachelor/Bachelorette with me. He only comments on how stupid the show is for the first half of the season AND during the finale.
29. He is so supportive to me. He allows me to grow and develop, doing the things that I want to.
30. He is a rock star dad. Our kids love him.
I asked the kids their favorites things about daddy:
He loves us
He makes us special birthday parties
He takes us to the park
His kisses. I second that one ;)
He saves us from bad guys.

Happy 30th Birthday Ty! We love you!

Ode to the twin
Jon is pretty great, too. So here's to you.
Uncle Gog, Uncle Dog (depending on the child you ask)
He is not anal.
He is equally as prideful about his daughter.
He also loves us (in a very brother-in-law/uncle sort of way) and has worked as a "stand-in husband/father" for us.
He understands Ty and helps him a lot and visa-versa.
He plays name calling with my kids and they love it. (Christian favorite thing about gog is that he calls him pumpkin head. Ava's is that he says funny things.)
Christian still wonders why he has two dads.
When he comes to visit he spends all his time focusing on the kids.
We would be perfectly happy living next to them our whole lives.
We are glad to have uncle dog.

Happy Birthday Uncle Gog!

Camel Friends

2010-05-28T16:10:00.000-07:00

There are a few classic Egypt pictures that I didn't have in my last Egypt post. Funny how they all include camels. Not only is it weird to be driving down the street and see a camel as the passenger in the car over...

but it is even weirder to see how they transport them. Yes, in the back of a pick up truck, tied down, because if they stood up they would be three times the size of that puny truck.

Tyler's great friend, the gimpy camel. Every third step of our 15 minute ride Tyler almost fell off the front of this camel due to the camel's leg almost giving out. This picture was obviously taken before he knew this fact.

And this one is just a great picture of all of us.

Oh, and I forgot to mention throughout my sulking from my last post, we can see the Empire State Building from our apt.

A week

2010-05-28T06:33:00.000-07:00

We have almost been in NJ for a week. It has been an interesting week. Here are a few details.

Plane ride over...

No TV's for kids.

I was using the nice little "get sick" bags they provide in your front seat pocket. Therefore, Ty had all 3 kids without a movie. They were actually pretty good, right Ty?

Got here Saturday night...

Our apt is actually pretty big, which is nice, but with a few little problems. No bakeware, balcony door doesn't open, leaky toilet, and NO HIGHCHAIR. (all of which have been taken care of).

They had to search for a corporate housing apt with 3 bedrooms for us and the only one they could find is not in the greatest of towns. We also had no food and no car. We had to walk to a market (if you want to call it that-more like a 7-11)...we were slightly nervous during our walk. Ty was ready to get us moved the next day. But we woke up and things seemed a ton better so we will deal with not walking the neighborhood at night for the next couple months.

We got ready for church and called about our rental car reservation, which they had not reserved until Monday. After getting the car re-set-up church was half over. We got out of our church clothes and went to Costco. We then had to explain to the kids why were shopping on Sunday.

We drove around and saw how beautiful the area we will be living in and it made us feel tons better.

So Monday came. Ty headed to work. Ty found out that he entered during a "busy" week. Most weeks he will have very normal hours. But every couple months he will have a busy week. He got home at 1am last night. awesome.

All our temporary housing boxes arrive Monday as well. Not exactly all of them. We didn't get any of our spices, sauces and baking good that were supposed to be sent to us. Hmmm...what to make for dinner? Anyone with simple recipes calling for salt and pepper only? Although, what difference does it make, I don't have anything to bake it in.

I've been at home taking the kids swimming and to the park. We have had only minor problems...

Ava opened a door at the pool and her entire big toenail came off.

Lots of blood and tears.

Then the B man has the big D to all extremes.

No one wants to deal with this...Then, an hour later, find this
That same day, we were headed to the park. On our way to the parking garage, which is a quick 3 elevator rides away (usually done with 3 kids and a mountain of stuff to carry), we met this door. Ava met the door more personally as she tried to run through the side window.
More blood and tears.

We did go to the park and I met a friend. Of course, I may have talked to a tree at that point. :)

Before Ty left for work today, he mentioned that we wouldn't be able to celebrate his 30th birthday on Tuesday, his actual birthday. He has a banquet to go to that night. Sweet. It is not like his party is the only thing I have on my look-forward-to list.

This sounds like a downer post. In reality, I have been laughing the whole time. It is going to be great here. We just need to get in the groove and what not. Anyway,

What a week!

Egypt

2010-05-14T22:21:00.001-07:00

We just returned from an amazing and exhausting trip to the Middle East with our good friends, the Picketts. It was seriously NON-STOP! We saw Egypt in 2 1/2 days, which, as wonderful as Egypt is, was enough for me. That may have had something to do with the fact that I was hungry the entire 2 1/2 days because I didn't dare eat anything. We did see all the things we learned about Egypt in Elementary school. Here is a brief (only compared to the total pics I have on smugmug) summary of those short days.

The Pyramids

I am pretty sure I sang "Arabian Nights" from Alladin and "Walk like and Egyptian" the entire time I was there. Which is exactly what we were doing below.

Amazing view as we rode camels across sand dune hills.

We did go into one of the pyramids. The pyramids are definitely cooler from the outside, but I am glad I did it. ;)

Pretty cool spot. This was before we really got to know the Sphinx...

This was after...

and, as always, Jeff takes it to a whole new level.

The step pyramid, and as we establish, the oldest building.

We headed down to Luxor to the Valley of the Kings, where King Tut's tomb is and TONS of other king's tombs are as well. King Tut's mummy is actually being kept inside his tomb so we got to see him. Then we went to Queen Hatshepsut's Temple. This was one of my favorite things because of the story behind it, but I won't give you a history lesson. It is pretty cool that the walls of the tombs and the temples still had original painted colors, which is crazy. We are talking like 3500 years ago.

Then at the Temple at Karnak, we became one with the sphinx.

The Luxor Temple

The Citadel and the Mosque. We were able to sit in the famous mosque and ask any questions to our Muslim tour guide. It was really great to hear all about their religion. There are actually a lot of similarities in our religions.

View from the Mosque. If it weren't so hazy you could see the pyramids in the distance.

So Egypt was amazing.

Lessons from a Boy

2010-05-08T20:27:00.000-07:00

This particular post has been on my mind for about three months now. Oooo, it's gonna be a good one, right. Truth is, I've sat down to do this post about three times now and am finally getting any words out. I guess there is just a lot of emotion behind it, that is all. So here goes...

I believe I have mentioned once or twice that I really enjoy the work that I choose to do. My business has been wonderful for the past 5 years, although there have been many times I have discredited it, putting myself in the "stay-at-home-mom-making-crafts-into-business" category (the successful side at least). Well, it wasn't until the beginning of this year that I began to see it all a little different.

When we decided to move, Tyler and I debated for a long time about how to deal with the business. I really felt like I wanted someone to have someone run the business for me while I was gone, but I didn't want to sell the whole thing.

During this time, my friend, Lindsay's little boy suddenly got very sick and passed away within a days time. Her little Cooper was only 19 months old. It was tragic, a little boy so full of life taken back to his Heavenly Father at such a young age. After hearing the shocking news I mentioned to Lindsay that I would be happy to do imprints for Cooper. I had done his imprints once before when he was a newborn and even featured them here on the blog. I had never done a deceased child before, yet alone a child of someone I care about. Lindsay gratefully accepted and I was able to join them at the mortuary as they said goodbye to Cooper's little body. I felt privileged to be with them on that day. To be able to feel of the love of parents for their only son. To be able to feel the strong spirit of one righteous little boy. And to feel the witness of the spirit teaching me many things, one of which is the body's complete insignificance without our spirits. Lindsay and Patrick amazed me that day and many of the days following.

(Is that the perfect background for Cooper's print or what???)

During the week following Cooper's death while I was trying to keep my mind focused on the figuring out what to do with my business, Lindsay kept coming to my mind. I couldn't possibly mention anything to her at such a time in her life, yet at the same time, it was a just the right time to do so. Luckily for me, Lindsay mentioned one day that if I needed any help with business stuff, she had plenty of time on her hands. She opened the door and I knew that she would be perfect for it. Within the next two weeks we had both, Lindsay and I determined that she would be the person to take over my business and become my "partner" (that sounds so official).

I spent a TON of time with her over the next couple months, teaching her all the ins and outs of the business. I am so grateful for this time. Not because I was able to successfully pass off my business, but because I learned and grew, and I made a wonderful friend. Lindsay is a strong and faithful person and the way she dealt/deals with such a tragedy leaves me in awe. Really.

A couple weeks after Cooper passed away another friend of ours, Jen, delivered a baby that she knew would only have a short life here on this earth. I was able to do imprints for baby Corinne before she passed away. I received a similar witness as I did imprints of that baby girl. Her spirit was so big. I didn't want to leave that hospital room. It felt so good to be near her.

After 5 years of doing imprints I realized that I really have a wonderful job. I create something that allows people to cherish a moment. Even though I am blessed with believing in eternal life, remembering these little hands and feet bring joy, and that is pretty cool.

Lindsay is doing fabulous things with the business already. We had a photo shoot for our products recently. Here is my head shot and a "partners" photo :)

As we were saying goodbye to some good friends from California the other day I asked Tyler, "Why are we moving away for a few years??" As I thought about it, I really believe that this was one of the reasons already portraying itself.

Forbes Avenue

2010-04-13T13:16:00.000-07:00

We said goodbye to our life on Forbes Avenue last Friday. What a sad day. We sent all our belongings in this...

to be reunited with us across the country in a few months.

We are going to miss California SO much. I shed many tears as we left this place, for many reasons.

The weather, oh, the weather.

The beauty. So green, so many trees. Just beautiful.

The convenience. Any store I want, so close.

This list could go on and on, but the real reason I shed tears...

The people.

Hands down the most wonderful friends. We have experienced a lot the last five years and these "people" are who have been there with us.

Helped us,

Laughed with us/cried with us,

Raised our children with us,

Taught us,

Partied with us (I have pictures to prove it coming soon),

They have been our family and I LOVE them.

The only comfort I have is knowing I will be back with them in a few years. So no one go moving on me! Oh, and the visits (a 5 hour flight isn't too bad).

We did a visit to NJ this week. I felt like I went to another country...so different! more to come on that!

For Him.

2010-03-12T15:21:00.000-08:00

Christian is 3.

Wow. We did some serious celebrating. Cousins, Courtney and Carter came with Grandma Nancy for their big days. We were happy to have them and the kids were sad to see them go. The kids were really sad to see grandma go. Sometimes it takes Christian awhile to realize that someone has left. So the day after grandma left, he was a little sad. He insisted on calling her. So we called. The conversation went something like this:

Christian: Damma, did you go home?

Gma: Yes, I had to come back to Papa.

Christian: I miss you. I want you to come back.

Gma: Why do you want me to come back Christian?

Christian: Because I love you Damma, and you forgot your bra.

It was pretty funny. Humor aside, he did indeed miss his damma (not to be confused with damn-ma).

He is a sweet boy.

Though, he has not been only sweet lately.

He has had some..."moments". You know, the times when you have to stop and tell yourself all the reasons you don't want to sell him to the gypsies. But the other night he was the last to fall asleep (which his sister has on him 90% of the time). He snuck to the edge of him room and asked me to come tickle his back. Yes, I have created a monster. His preferred way of falling asleep is, like his dad with soft tickles on the skin, not over clothes of his back.

There are a handful of nights that I promise to return after a minute to conclude the tickles, knowing he will be fast asleep when the dishes are done. Not this night. I laid down on his toddler bed with him and tickled his back while he jabbered off never-ending stories to me. He finally finished his elaborate tale and said, "I wuv you mom."

Well, Christian, I love you too. I get sad thinking about the days this kid won't be a toddler anymore. I am sure his life to come will be wonderful. I just want to freeze him as he is right now, because I love him.

The sweet sound of his voice brings a smile to any strangers face. I am tempted to keep a voice recorder on him. He shows the most genuine joy over simple things. We could have given him a piece of paper for his birthday, with nothing on it and there would have been joy. He has a friend with a nickname of BoBo, which has now turned into a term of endearment at our house. It is completely promoted by his uncle dog as together they call each other bobo-heads. There is always at least two pairs of shoes in our car due to his dislike for having them on his feet. He is brave and daring. When he does something wrong, the first thing he does is comes to me and says sorry (before he tells me what he's done). While I was writing this he did that exact thing. It is impossible for him to tell a lie if you sing the song, "I told the TRUTH". What a boy. He's hard not to love.

So here's to you buddy. Happy Birthday!

Sink or Swim

2010-02-15T16:23:00.001-08:00

Christian's now in swim lessons.

It has been an anticipated day since he watched Ava throughout her last session.

He watched her cry.

He said, "You can do it" and "Good Job" with a little brother thumbs up.

He nearly fell/jumped in the pool on a regular basis.

He knew his turn was coming when he was almost 3.

So the time came.

First lesson: Super excited.

No tears, despite his 3 classmates screams...

until the 2nd lesson. Now, instead of 3 screaming kids, there are 4.

For about the first 2-5 minutes then he calms down and rather enjoys himself.

It is weird, I don't get it. Oh well, it'll pass (after many torturous days of throwing him in the pool). Ava, on the other hand is swimming like a champ. Who would have known that last session she was just like Christian's class.

Thanks for the pictures Alie!

Change-is-a-coming

2010-01-25T15:28:00.000-08:00

I was just about to purchase myself a pair of these.

Now, I'm thinking I might purchase these instead.

Why the change of heart you might ask? Just prepping for a slight change.

Instead of frequent trips to this "gate" into the US,

we just might make more frequent trips to this "gate" into the US.

Our "sign" will be changing from this

to this

Oh, yes folks. We are heading 3,000 miles across the country. Ty was offered a position at KPMG's National Office in New Jersey, essentially right across the Hudson from NYC (here is a visual for you). We couldn't help but accept the opportunity for adventure for the next 2-3 years.

We are sad. We really love our life here in California, which made the decision really hard for us. But, we are also really looking forward to what the future holds. I am SO NOT excited for the weather, but I figure I'll manage (with a few tropical vacations in between).

B-Man is growing up

2010-01-25T14:59:00.000-08:00

It's true. Bennett turned one. Since we were all enduring on and off sickness, we had zero energy to exert on this boy's party. Good thing he was turning one and therefore we avoided any expectations. So we whipped up a mickey cake, grabbed some ears and called it a party.

Double fisting it. My other kids played in their cakes. Not this kid. He didn't stop until it was gone, then he cried.

Happy Birthday, my big boy!

So we might call him Ezra.

2010-01-21T08:59:00.000-08:00

Any idea what these two people have in common?

Other than their deep spirituality, of course.
(hint: take a look at their left ears)

notice a tomato in his hand-no surprise.

I know this is a repeat picture, but it may be the best indicator of our little Ezra.

So what if his left ear sticks out. So did Ezra Taft Benson's. I think it is pretty cool (along with vampire teeth...and a bald head).

Meet Ruby

2010-01-18T17:26:00.000-08:00

I had a couple favorite gifts that I gave this year. They happened to be given to the same two little girls.

Meet Ru by Stitch, which happens to be in the form of Ava and Anna. I gave one of these handmade dolls to Ava and her cousin Anna. They were made to look like them by my good friend Abby. Ava's even has a few freckles in just the right spots. Really, you should check these out. Don't worry, she makes boys too, complete with masks and capes.

Aren't they cute.

My other favorite gift was to my boys and Ava and Anna. I see me books are awesome. They are custom books all about your children. Ava's is about finding the fairy princess and each fairy brings a letter to make her name and crown her the princess. The boys are about a baby that was born with all the animals to name it. Another item you really should check out.

The Joys

2010-01-06T16:28:00.000-08:00

December is always a joy with the fun things going on. Here were a few of our joys as well as a few not so joyous moments.

Taking my YW ice skating was great.

I was waiting all night for someone to eat it...it was me. I was trying to do things like I was 15 again. I should have expected this result. It was surprisingly painful to fall on the ice.

Tyler's last week of work before we went to Utah for Christmas was absolutely horrible. He worked Mon-Thursday and racked up 75 hours. That means he was home 21 hours in 4 days. Awesome. But it is over, YAY! During that week everything went perfect at home, as usual. After falling out of the van, head first on the curb, Christian recorded another trip to the ER, this time the real thing (not just urgent care) since it was 3:00 in the morning. No, I didn't intentionally let him sit around with a concussion. He seemed fine after the initial spill, until he woke up in the night and wouldn't stop throwing up. Finally Tyler got home around 3 and I headed to the ER for some CAT Scans and Zofran.

Surprisingly cheery at this point.

Five days later, Ava woke up sick and also threw up all night long. Tyler got home around 4:30 after her throwing up was complete. She woke up feeling better, so we packed up and headed to Utah, only to find out that we spread the worst stomach bug I have ever seen. We watched as it passed through well over 30 people. Every adult in the house got sick. Lovely.

We were, however, able to enjoy ourselves here and there.

Salt Lake Temple Lights:

Freez-ing! How do people live like that?
Little ms. happy.

There we go, that's better.

Noah and Christian

Bundled like we've never been bundled before. Ava came to a consensus, "California is WAY better than Utah. It is too cold here." Christian, on the other hand could not have cared less about the cold. After sledding for a long while we came in and found that every extremity was frozen and he hadn't complained once. Typical Christian.

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were part of my time being sick, so our pictures are few. Here you go.

Christian has known for awhile that right before his birthday he gets to start swim lessons (he's finally old enough to do it without me). The goggles were a huge hit from Santa. He wears them to ALL of Ava's swim lessons, the entire time.

This darling picture was when the vicious stomach bug was getting passed from Ava and Christian to Papa Jim, Noah and Luke. Sorry guys!

While in Utah we went bowling a couple times. Our kids loved it. They ask to go all the time now.

It seriously took Christian ball 30 seconds to get to the pins and honestly we kind of expected it to stop at the pins, Uncle Buck style.

Aww, it was fun to spend time together in Utah.

Bennett's 1st birthday to come.

A Stand-In

2009-12-13T13:52:00.000-08:00

Tyler is working.
Today and everyday.
Yes, it is Sunday and no, accounting firms don't understand that a month without any weekend days off is not good for anyone. So while he is off working insane hours, his twin brother, Jon came to visit. He got to hang out with us a ton. It was awesome. I can't wait for them to get off the large island they are living on and move back to us.

Jon went to our ward Christmas party with me...without Tyler. It was the entertainment for the night. Jokes were attempted, people were fooled, and many laughs were had. Tyler made it to the end of the party...in the same hat :)

Jon was a big help to me while Ty was working. People even commented, "I thought he was Tyler, he was totally helping with the kids. Brother-in-laws don't help with kids." Well, folks, Jon does...I think he knew I needed it :)

Last year Christian got really attached to Jon while he was in town, being quite confused who was his dad. This year he had a little more confidence in who his dad was, but not quite enough. EAch time Tyler or Jon walked in he looked at me and said, "Mommy, is that uncle dog or daddy?" The second day we came into our room first thing in the morning, jumped up on our bed (seeing Tyler) and said, "hey, it's uncle dog!" When I replied that it was daddy he said, "Me have two daddies!" Awesome.

Another weekend activity was Santa.

We tried Santa last year.

This was the result.

My kids weren't fans of him. This year I knew it was going to be good when Ava started into one of her usual anxiety fits when she heard we were going to see him. She had absolutely no interest in sitting on his lap, or even seeing him for that matter.

Well it went better than expected. I had to start in the picture, but was able to sneak out for a few. After Ava had kept as much distance from Old Kris Kringle as possible she walked away and whispered in my ear, "Mom, does he know I want some Littlest Pet shop and a 2 wheeled scooter?" I assured her he did and she was satisfied.

Christian, on the other hand was thrilled to tell Santa what he wanted.

Not bad. Is that a smile I see on her face?

Anyone notice anything about our cute little "family" Santa Claus picture.

Thanks Sara and Kate for lending us your husband and father!

Vampires are in, right?

2009-12-11T15:24:00.000-08:00

Bennett finally broke two teeth.
At 11 months.
They happen to be these two teeth.

Sweet.

So what does he do with those two teeth?
Crawls around our back yard eating every tomato he can possibly get his hands on.

Love this kid!

ps. he is currently breaking 3-4 more teeth...fun nights.

Joy of the Season

2009-12-11T14:32:00.000-08:00

This could apply to many things in my life, but right now it is exclusively these delightful things:

I found these last year during Christmas and after I had Bennett I made my way out to find more and they were gone.
A Holiday Exclusive treat.
I learned this year.
I nearly bought Target out of them :)
I'll be eating these all year long in 2010.

Before I move on

2009-12-08T22:50:00.000-08:00

Pretty sure I should document this before I move on with my life.

I had a pretty sweet Halloween costume this year (you know, Halloween-the holiday we celebrated about 2 months ago).

I was...a jar of hunny...Winnie the Pooh's jar of hunny to be exact. We all know he goes nowhere without his hunny.

So where did I find such an awesome costume? Tyler made it. Which really is no surprise to me, but apparently a very big surprise to most people we saw.

He happened to come across this on a friends blog (when I say happened to come across, I mean it popped up on his google reader-yes ashley, he is a follower, religiously.) I'm pretty sure it opened up a whole world of competition.

I went to bed that night to this...

And I woke up to this...

genius.

Out of Hibernation...

2009-11-11T21:47:00.000-08:00

I haven't been hibernating.
But I do wish I had.
It has been 2 months without a post from me. I'm sure that is sad for you. What can I say, I've been busy. I thought about hiring someone to blog for me, but I couldn't even get around to doing that. So I am finally here. Tired, but here.
There have been many fun occasions in the last month. Let's see if we can create a sufficient recap...

meet kate:

After Tyler went to Spain, he stopped in London to meet his newest niece. While there he and Jon put their miles together to make each wife happy by sending me (and the attached child) to London. It was so fun to see Sara, Jon and Kate. We just relaxed, shopped, ate and saw a little of London while doing so!

Jon blessed Kate while we were there. Bennett was happy to be there and share in her day. He really enjoyed their first meeting and felt right at home with uncle gog, not to mention Kate let him sleep in her bed, what a nice hostess.

What a little gentleman.

We had a great time. Thanks for letting us come and visit. AND thank you, thank you, thank you for all the help I got with my 2 little ones at home/Utah. You know you are friends when someone will freely offer and take your 4 year old girl on a 14 hour road trip to get to her grandmas. Bless you Abby, bless you. AND when your 8.5 month pregnant friend or your mother-of-6-other-kids friend will gladly take your kid ALL DAY LONG.

Man, I have good people in my life!

Some recap-er I am. I got through one thing and I am pooped. I'll try again another time. Stay tuned, I'm sure there is some good stuff coming.

What I Know Now

2009-09-06T20:41:00.000-07:00

Thanks for the birthday wishes. Ty is great, except for the fact that I feel...exposed. Very exposed. And slightly embarrassed, but heck, we're all friends right ;).

The week was crazy, so I was really looking forward to my b-day, but even more so to a 4 day weekend to spend with Ty. Well, expectations are Satan's tool. Satan's tool for making me one ornery chica. Does anyone recall this? Tyler's company managed to do it again, without me this time (not nearly as cool). Thursday evening Tyler called to "ask" if he could head to Madrid for 2 weeks for work...on Monday. He was super excited so I tried to be too (I love 2 weeks alone with my kiddos without the husb each night. really.) So at about 10pm that night we find out that his passport somehow expired a couple months ago (we both swear we checked this recently). So we then found out that Tyler would be spending all of Friday (my bday and the first day of our 4 day weekend) in San Francisco at the passport agency. But we did get to go out that night thanks to my AWESOME friends J&J and H&J for helping with our kids and for making me a cake. Ava was VERY concerned who was going to be making my cake. So the weekend continued with a jam packed saturday of preparing for international travel and a BYU football game, of course. Then I dropped Ty off at the airport early this afternoon. What an awesome 4 day weekend with Ty, thus I say, "expectations are Satan's tool!"

K- done with that. And my birthday wasn't so bad Ty gave me the cutest necklace that you can see in the pic below. Each charm has one of our kids names on it. i love it.

(phone pic)

Now, after a post like that I realized that thank heavens I have learned A LOT through those memories. Here are just a few things I have learned...
1. I really was a cute 4 year old.

2. Boyfriends are lame in high school. No one could have told me this then, of course. Uh, no offense, Mike and Skyler, since I am sure I am on your google reader, we had good times.

3. If you do have a boyfriend in HS (or not, for that matter) don't be so scantly clad.

4. Volleyball is not life, but it is REALLY cool. It did a lot for me:

kept me out of trouble
taught awesome lessons like commitment, work ethic, how to be a good competitor
made me experience a smorgasbord of feelings: pain (physical and emotional), pressure, pride, success, nerves, stress, joy, excitement, accomplishment and it made me work through all of those feelings.
it pushed me to my limits and when i got there it pushed me to find new ones.
it gave me some of my greatest friendships. experiencing those feelings with other people can really bring you together.
it is still a part of who I am. A part that I would like to find again.

5. Just because you are 18 and free does NOT mean you should wear a bikini. Next time around, listen to your mom when she kindly tells you that she thinks you look better in a one piece. (Note: Ava) But BTW mom, thanks for letting me make that decision, because even though I don't like the choice I made, I'm not sure I would have known that without making the decision for myself.

6. If you do decide to wear a bikini...BURN all evidence, unless you look REAL good, better keep those for your after baby goal pics.

7. Who came up with Glamour shots for your Senior pictures? This was never a good idea.

8. My wedding was complete awesomeness. I loved it.

9. My kids ARE beautiful.

10. I'm happy with where this life has brought me. I guess there were some good decisions along the way.

Blog hijacking by Ty - HAPPY B-DAY Lindsey!!

2009-09-04T01:36:00.000-07:00

Today Lindsey turns 27 years old...two years past the blessed age of 25 and 2 years away from the immortal age of 29. Enjoy a walk down memory lane...

Lindsey has always been super cute

She has been through some boy years...

Some volleyball years (UVSC and BYU)...

Some scandalous years...

Some glamorous years...

She finally settled down...

Had some beautiful kids...

Started her own successful business...

http://www.ittybittyimprints.com/

and on and on!

Happy Birthday Lindsey!

Love, Ty

Too Early?

2009-09-02T20:24:00.000-07:00

...for some Little Caesars??

Hey, I started with some crazy bread, but the next day Christian shared a whole cold slice. He loved it!
so many faces...one cute boy!

While the older two kids run amuck, Bennett and I have some nice bonding time every Friday night at Daddy's soccer games. Good times.

Dialogue:

2009-08-25T15:00:00.000-07:00

Me: "Oh crap!"

Ava: "Mom, why is the police man stopping us?"

me: "Uh, mommy did something wrong."

Ava: "Is that why you said 'oh crap'?"

me: "yeah, i shouldn't have said that, huh."

Ava: "What did you do wrong, mommy?"

me: "I was talking on the phone while I was driving."

Ava: "But mom, you always do that."

me: "yeah, let's not mention that."

Ava: "okay. Next time he comes is he going to take you to jail?"

me: "Likely."

Hurdle: Cleared.

2009-08-17T14:59:00.000-07:00

You may remember months ago when we attempted a little potty training with Christian. I wasn't ready. So we went back to diapers and finally mustered up the energy to attempt one last time. He was so ready, but still tested my patience for a while. As of the last week he has essentially been accident free. YAY! It is a day to celebrate!

Continuing on.

We spent the last week with my sister and her 2 girls in town. We had a lot of fun.

We had a few of these moments...

But mostly these moments...

And I can't get enough of these moments...

My type of Fireman

This picture makes me think of summer parties, which I Love . Nice pic Ty.

And my 3 favorite faces

We've been doing some serious scooter rides lately.

Now THIS is ART!

2009-08-04T22:20:00.000-07:00

Ava's artistic abilities are really shining through lately. Not only does she ask to draw ALL-THE-TIME, but she comes up with some great wall art. Following each depiction of a family member, and a promise to give/mail it to them she continuously questions whether or not it is hanging on their fridge. So, jon, sara and "baby" is this hanging yet???

A few faves

2009-07-31T23:45:00.000-07:00

Our month in Utah was fun, of course. The kids loved it. It is such a different life for them there. I didn't think Ava would notice. This comment tells me otherwise. "Mom, how come Heavenly Father and Jesus let Grandma and Papa live in Utah and not us?" Hmm. Answer that.

Here are a few of my favorite pics.

At the cabin:

I'm pretty sure I have a picture of me as a kid making this exact same face. Mom, what do you think??

I wish knew more about editing my photos or actually did it, because this one could be real cool with a good action. I just think it looks so old school. Love it.

The Arts Festival. Always a highlight.

I hope my kids stay good friends forever.

And giving Papa Jim his Father's Day present.

2009-07-31T22:45:00.000-07:00

So I am back. What might bring such sudden motivation at 10:46pm on a Friday night? Hmmm...not sure. Maybe it's that Ty is out of town and I would hate to actually get a good nights rest, that would be silly. He's at "man week", doing all things manly...with a bunch of 14 year old boys :) As he rattled off a few of the manly activities for the week; boating, biking, hiking, "camping" (in a cabin) I came to one giant conclusion. I would like to be a man. Send me away to the great outdoors.
Speaking of, I was reminded of a story the other day that is worth documenting, for posterity's sake. I was young and spontaneous, in college and engaged to Tyler. The "white house" boys, aka tyler and his roommates decided to head to southern Utah for a camping trip. Tyler had a big test or paper or something that kept him home, but that didn't bother me. I went nonetheless. I ended up driving down with Jon (ty's twin bro) and matty j. We had plans to meet the rest of the group (guys AND girls) who had gone earlier at our campsite. Apparently cell phones don't have great service on the top of a big red rock. Well, jon, matty j. and I never found our little "group". We pitched our tent and I slept right in between the two, only waking up to Jon's face inches from mine a number of times. The point: I slept with ty's twin brother before I slept with him. ;) And that night he even dug through the Wendy's garbage can to find my wallet and proceeded to wipe all the stinky ketchup off it for me...I think I still owe him for this one! That was seriously nasty. Jon, we sure started our relationship off on the right foot! Ahh, what a trip down memory lane. I should do this more often. I digress.

On to something even remotely relevant. Bennett. He is the coolest little guy. He does all sorts of things now.

He Eats. LOTS!

He sits up. And as this picture shows, he sucks his bottom lip.

He doesn't crawl...it's still a little too much to lug around.

He took his first bath with the big kids. And likely won't be doing this again soon.

And in case you couldn't tell in the above pictures. He is still bald. Very bald.

Oh and apparently you will see this little guy gracing the walls of the Picture People in Valley Fair. I gotta figure out how to go in and hide my Flip so I can get record of where is modeling career started. It helped that it was the best photo shoot ever. I had to wake him up, then I set him on the floor and he totally turned on the charm. Way to go little man!

Overwhelmed...

2009-07-17T15:27:00.000-07:00

by the thought of updating this thing.

I'll try again later!

Memorial Weekend Getaway

2009-05-31T20:17:00.000-07:00

Tyler had to go to New Jersey for work the week before Memorial Day, but got done on Thursday. We decided it was a perfect opportunity to vacay to NY. So my parents came out to watch Ava and Christian and Bennett and I head out to meet up with Ty. It was fantastic. We had some VERY generous friends that allowed us to stay in their "apartment" for the weekend, while they were gone. It was hard, but we made it work. When we first walked in we saw this:

you know, the Hudson and the upper west side.

Then we turned our heads left and saw this:

the sunset over the Hudson.

When we could finally take our eyes off of the view we went into our bedroom to see this:

the other side of the upper west side and Central Park. If we looked to the right from our bedroom window we could see into midtown, but we didn't get a pic of that.

So we woke up to this:

And fell asleep to this:

I know, it was rough.

When we weren't gazing out the window or searching the building for Kenneth (from 30Rock) and Gayle (AKA Oprah's BFF) we did a ton and ate some seriously tasty food!

The Pier on the Hudson about 2 blocks from our place (real close to where the plane landed awhile back).

Yankee Stadium. Note, I said stadium, not game. $375 for the cheapest seat we could get. We're not that big of baseball fans!

The Temple wasn't far so we did some walk by's.

We had to, we're 30 Rock fans!

A few strolls through Central Park. I love it there. I think I would run a lot if it were my track. Apparently we totally failed our hosts by not riding on the carousel...who knew it was a must do.

There is just no other place like Times Square. Bennett was wide eyed.

Like Father...

Like Son. Ride it boys!
Out to Lady Liberty and Ellis Island.

I just put this pic in because Ty looks hot ;)

We obviously did a little more than this, but you can't capture everything:) My fave eats were definitely Norma's (again...almost twice), Cafe Habana (yummiest grilled corn. ever.), Telepan (worth the $$$$), and not enough pinkberry (which was right around the corner).

Oh and by the way, this boy was awesome.

It was such a nice trip. We have a huge THANK YOU to send to grandma and papa and of course to p and j for letting us crash at their place!

Life's a Beach...

2009-05-16T21:36:00.000-07:00

...especially on a day like this. Here is what it involved.

A little, or rather a lot of chillaxin'.

Digging a pit to play in. (I love Christian's face in this pic.) I mocked Tyler as he brought a full sized shovel to the beach with us, but I'll admit the kids loved their little play place.

Walking/running our friends' dogs. Ava and Alexa were in heaven with these little guys.

More pit fun.

What beach trip is complete without a little burying.

More chillaxin', and Logan looking real cute!

Great day, besides the fact that I am a strawberry :) Got to love the first trips out for the season.

How did this happen?

2009-05-14T22:07:00.000-07:00

So how come I feel like this was just last week?

When in all actuality last week I was here, at a mother's day brunch at Ava's preschool.

Not a day has gone by that this little girl hasn't made me smile! She is full of life. She has all the feelings of DRAMA QUEEN and likes to share them with anyone and everyone, regularly. She gets a certain thrill from teasing her brother, but then makes up for it by giving him her Trader Joe's balloon after he releases his into the sky and bursts into hysterics. She is determined and oh so persistant, I am patiently awaiting the day I will enjoy and encourage these qualities. No, today is not her birthday. I just think she is special and wanted to share. Love you sis!

Documentation

2009-05-14T21:50:00.000-07:00

Bennett had his first trip to Disneyland.

The other kids enjoyed it as well. Christian didn't seem to mind meeting all the princesses. He even tried to hand Ariel a boogie...nice. Luckily for us she didn't understand his 2 year old talk, lucky for her he didn't wipe it on her.

What a good little Mommy!

2009-05-08T21:33:00.000-07:00

Here is a pic of Mr. Bennett Man. He's barely 4 months and 17 pounds and almost 26 inches. What can I say, we build 'em tough!

(Thanks to the real mr. bennett for the pic.)

So my little man is a sleeping champ. A good 11 hours will do the kid. I'm lovin it. On the other hand, my other, little-mr. number one has been taking his turn in the wee hours of night. Apparently he just wants a little extra attention (and moc...or milk) at 2:00am. Not so great. So he would wake up, scream out and wake up my little pro sleeper. The only thing worse than one child awake at 2am is 2 children awake at 2am. So we did what all loving parents do. We turn the door knob around and locked him in his room. We then popped up the port-o-crib into our dead-to-the-world sleeper girl's room to let the C man work it out for a couple nights and get back into a good routine.

So we were a couple nights into it, and it is working great. All kids sleeping. 7:30am rolls around and I start to hear Bennett making his morning coo's accompanied by miss ava jabbering away to him. At this point I am well aware that she is in the port-a-crib with him (a common occurrence). Eventually Bennett starts fussing for a minute, followed by reassurance from ava that she is there. Tyler hops out of bed to go intervene when suddenly bennett stops crying. Tyler soon comes to get me to come see. I walk in the room to see ava holding bennett in a cradle position, her shirt pulled up and bennett LATCHED ON to her umm...upper stomach. Ava was gently saying, "It's okay, I'll feed you."

Ha!

My Lack of Responsibility

2009-04-30T20:30:00.000-07:00

So I am miss slacker on the blog. Quick Update: We ventured to AZ for a family reunion, which was a blast. Then on to Disneyland with cousins from Prague, totally fun as well. Then those Prague cousins came to our house to stay for a few days. SOOO nice to hang out with my sis for awhile. And the girls really had fun...most of the time, especially all the half naked days in the backyard!

So back to here and now. Today. Do you ever have those days where you feel carefree, your calendar is empty and you can just lounge around, let your kids get out toy after toy without cleaning up while you carry on mind numbing activities of your own? Those days are great when your calendar is really empty. Today, mine was not. I made a home appointment at my "studio", aka the odd detached room in our backyard that some previous owner built, that I am convinced there is no use for except my current business. So I made this appointment a week ago, certain I would remember to put it on my calendar. I did not. It's 4pm and there is a knock at the door. Honestly, I am thinking, Jehovah's Witness, didn't I tell them to come Saturdays. Tyler is the one that likes to talk to them. I open the door to see only one woman and so my mind draws a blank. She proceeds to tell me that she is my appointment. Ahh!

Fortunately...
I was dressed for the day.

Unfortunately...
I had been doing laundry, which at my house means clean clothes from the week's 8 loads are strewn about the front room. My kids had been playing which means a good chunk of all their toys were spread from the kitchen to the garage.

Fortunately...
There was a small path to walk by, she didn't trip on a single toy AND she had no idea what the big pile of silky whites were.

Unfortunately...
We just rearranged and put a queen size bed in the back "studio" with plans to separate it off(which has not happened) and therefore my entire display was taken down. So not only when the poor lady walked in the room did she see NO imprints, but she saw a large bed (without sheets of course) and a lot of oddly placed furniture.

Fortunately...
I had all the imprints tucked nicely in a box to let my customer dig through.

Unfotunately...
Christian had gotten into the dress up box and found his favorite combo, purple dress with the cowboy hat. When I tried to explain that he has an older sister, she stopped me and said, "He? I thought this was a little girl."

Fortunately...
I'm not really sure.

Unfortunately...
Bennett, who I would have arranged to be sound asleep during this appointment was awake, but half way through the appointment was ready for a nap and cried on the large bed previously mentioned.

Fortunately...
I am completely out of the fortunates!

I'm professional. Real professional!

Something to smile about...

2009-04-07T15:11:00.000-07:00

This little guy slept eleven hours last night...eleven! That is all flippin night folks...love it.

Please do it again real soon little buddy!

Alone...with wipes.

2009-03-31T21:19:00.000-07:00

I left a pack of wipes by the side of Ava's bed the other night. Every morning since there have been wipes strewn about in the morning. Tonight I figured out one, of the many I'm sure, uses for those wipes each night.

AHHH! Relaxing!

I totally thought she was pretending to sleep...oh no. She was sound asleep.

AND...here is Bennett now a days...cute, and 3 months old btw.

My little Blessing

2009-03-19T08:18:00.000-07:00

I love this little guy! I somehow forgot to post a few pics from his Blessing on March 1st. He was so cute in his little tie. Christian was so proud to be wearing the same tie as Bennett. Bennett was good through the whole blessing until about the last line when he let his daddy know that he was done. Here is a pic of Bennett with just about everyone.

Did the Leprechauns come to your house?

2009-03-17T08:40:00.000-07:00

In case we missed you...

2009-03-15T19:01:00.000-07:00

Here is the front and back of Bennett's announcement. The talented Becky created them for me and the also talented Meghan took the pics for me. Thanks to both of them!

Everybody was...

2009-03-10T14:56:00.000-07:00

...Kung Fu Fighting!
A couple weeks ago we partied for the kids birthday's- Kung Fu Style! It was loads of fun. I have to give credit to my creative husband, he came up with most of the ideas. He even made all the costumes himself. The kids came in, grabbed their ninja attire, with matching chinese hat, then headed out back for games. The games were seriously a riot! We had noodle throwing, puzzels, chinese star throwing and of course, the karate chop where the kids had to bow to their master and "hee-ya" through some 2=ply toilet paper. The kids really loved it. Then we let the kids dance around to none other than "Kung Fu Fighting". Lastly we let them all take a wack at the panda pinata and enjoyed cupcakes and juice boxes. We had a great time and hope everyone else did too.

The outfits ready to be pick up by mini ninjas.

My 2 favorite ninjas.

The cupcakes.

A few participating ninjas.

Tyler's boss "bowing to her master."

The Pinata.

The loot.

Singing to the birthday boy and girl.
Blowing out the candle.

Some of the guests.
Logan

Austin- this party was made for this kid!

My two helpers- Taylor and Julia

Aaron

Thanks to all of Ava and Christian's friends for coming to celebrate.

For those who only see pics

2009-03-03T18:32:00.000-08:00

This might help you get to know our little Bennett man.

Feeling Ambitious

2009-03-02T15:50:00.000-08:00

We've had a busy week of birthday fun, but today this is what we are doing...

wish me luck!