Growing up I always felt close to my Dad. I loved seeing him come in from work in his army uniform and helping unlace his tall black boots, I loved that he would take the time to chat, or read a story with us. I have been married for 14 years, but this is the first time that I have had both my parents stay with me for an extended length of time!
My Dad was always ready at a moments notice to help do one of the "honey-dos" that have been on Rix list for EVER! He installed a fan/light fixture in my bathroom, took down all the blinds, so my mom and I could clean them. He fixed the sink drain in the boys bathroom! He replaced the garden hose in our hose box.
The biggest project he did was to help Rick put in our vinyl horse railing around the back of our property! If any of you know my husband, it was not as simple as digging a hole and putting in the posts. Everything was calculated, measured, triple checked, each hole was filled with concrete and each post was filled with concrete! Every morning while Rick was at UPS, Dad was digging holes trying to beat the 100 deg heat and be inside by 10 am! He was a trooper and the final project was complete and looks beautiful!
He and Rick were able to golf 3 times while he was here, and he found time to take my boys fishing. By the end of his visit Ashton caught 14 blue gill and Carter caught 9! He helped Parker with reading and spent time trying to get him to eat something other than wheat thins and milk! My favorite was watching him with Hunter. Hunter soaked up every minute of attention he could get. Hunter's favorite book is Go Dogs, Go. I would hear my Dad read to him 3-4 times a day as Hunter would repeat the words. I recorded it in hopes of saving it for years down the road as a keepsake for him and I.
So thanks Dad for all the memories you made with me and that you are now making with my children! No Empty Chairs. Love you forever.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Meet the Parents
SO....I can't even remember the last time I blogged! My parents were here for 3 weeks! It was so special and fun to have them here! The big things, the little things, all of it was so memorable! It is easiest to break this up into 3 different posts. One will be of my Dad and all he did, another will be of my mom and all she did! We enjoyed just having them around. Waking up and having the kids get to sit across from them at breakfast, and hug them on their way out the door. I loved having them around to see their relationships develop with each of our kids! I loved putting the kids to bed and staying up late watching movies, or old episodes of our favorite shows! I love having them in my home...I yell a lot less when they are here, too, I am sure my kids loved that! So, thanks mom and dad for taking the time to visit and for all the fun things we were able to do while you were here!
Friday, August 13, 2010
School Year 2010-2011
Well, here they are my kids, headed out into the lone and dreary world. Don't they look sad?! Hunter is NOT in school, he's just 2, but you know how they are, they have to be dressed, have their own backpack, and their own snacks, and make them "feel" like they are doing something special, too!
This is the traditional posed photo, and this is usually how it goes...
Me: "Kids time to leave, oh, wait, someone get the camera"
Them: "Mom, we're gonna be late!"
Me: "C'mon, it won't take but a second"
Them: "Grumble, grumble, grumble"
Me: "okay, now everyone stand together and act like you like each other"
6 pictures later.....
Them: "Are we done?!"
Now you know why I don't post many photos!
They all have survived the first 3 days and have loved it...I am still playing catchup from all the summer projects. My folks are coming in town for a few weeks, so I'm super excited. I will post pics of our projects!
This is the traditional posed photo, and this is usually how it goes...
Me: "Kids time to leave, oh, wait, someone get the camera"
Them: "Mom, we're gonna be late!"
Me: "C'mon, it won't take but a second"
Them: "Grumble, grumble, grumble"
Me: "okay, now everyone stand together and act like you like each other"
6 pictures later.....
Them: "Are we done?!"
Now you know why I don't post many photos!
They all have survived the first 3 days and have loved it...I am still playing catchup from all the summer projects. My folks are coming in town for a few weeks, so I'm super excited. I will post pics of our projects!
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Days of Summer
Well the time has come and the kids go back to school tomorrow! This has been a wonderful summer break, but I am looking forward to the schedule and routine that the school year brings! A few thing will be different this year...
Aubrey will be driving. She is in 11 th grade and besides her core classes she has medical terminology, medical anatomy, sports medicine and seminary.
Ashton will be in 8th at a new school and has theater and guitar. He also has a new haircut which makes Rick and my gma very happy!
Carter will be in 4th. He is excited about everything!
Parker will be in 1st and he loves school and his teacher is a great lady, however this year he will eat lunch at school and he is a picky eater and I worry that he will starve. He is more of a grazer when he eats so only eating once a day might be hard for him.
I thought I was going to have so much free time with just Hunter and me at home, but I was just called to serve as 2nd counselor in the Relief Society and will be over homemaking and humanitarian. We will have weekly mtgs and this week is training with the stake, so looks like that free time is now the Lords time :).
Tonight we have our annual family counsel about the school routine and the kids will each a get a fathers priesthood blessing...THEN I will be ready for them to go off into the world!
Aubrey will be driving. She is in 11 th grade and besides her core classes she has medical terminology, medical anatomy, sports medicine and seminary.
Ashton will be in 8th at a new school and has theater and guitar. He also has a new haircut which makes Rick and my gma very happy!
Carter will be in 4th. He is excited about everything!
Parker will be in 1st and he loves school and his teacher is a great lady, however this year he will eat lunch at school and he is a picky eater and I worry that he will starve. He is more of a grazer when he eats so only eating once a day might be hard for him.
I thought I was going to have so much free time with just Hunter and me at home, but I was just called to serve as 2nd counselor in the Relief Society and will be over homemaking and humanitarian. We will have weekly mtgs and this week is training with the stake, so looks like that free time is now the Lords time :).
Tonight we have our annual family counsel about the school routine and the kids will each a get a fathers priesthood blessing...THEN I will be ready for them to go off into the world!
Friday, July 30, 2010
Firsts.....
Our first child has experienced "3" of life's BIG firsts in 1 weeks time!
She took her first driving test and passed, getting her first license!
She was put under anesthesia for the first time, and had her wisdom teeth removed!
She bought her first car, (with help from us) and drove it all by herself!
I think Rick and I aged a lot this week....kind of weird watching her drive off for the first time by herself.
Makes me realize how grown up she really is and how much closer the time is coming that she won't be in our home for much longer...makes me want to roll back the clock to all the smaller firsts, first smile, first tooth, first laugh, first step, first word...
The $5 Tooth Fairy
This past week has been filled with teeth and more teeth! After most of the summer plans had come and gone it was time to get down to business! Aubrey (16) needed her wisdom teeth extracted and Ashton (12), in preparation for braces needed 4 healthy big permanent teeth removed!
Being the scheduler I am, I scheduled them for the same day, on a Thurs, so we had a long weekend for recovery. We decided to let Aubrey take a "nap" during her ordeal, and Ashton decided he was going to let the world's best dentist pull all his teeth on the same visit! Ouch!
The night before I could hear them both talking, and they came to Rick and I and made us "aware" of the fact that the tooth fairy that "comes" to our home brings $5 a tooth, and they did the math and figured out that they each get $20 from the tooth fairy! These kids know how to work the "system" and believe in anything that will truly benefit them!
Ashton's appt ended up being more difficult than Aubrey's and was upsetting for him. It was sad to see him hold back the tears through the whole appt only to let them ALL fall out as soon as he was in the van. I know what that's like, I still do that....
So, both kids came home, and took their pain medicine and went to sleep. As for their recovery, Aubrey literally slept in her cave for 4 days. Ashton bounced back after 1.5 days. They ate tons of the best pudding, Swiss Miss, Jello (the kind made with REAL sugar) ice cream and applesauce! On day 5 I ruined Aubrey's life by putting her on plain advil and real food!
I am happy this is over with for them and that they are now back to feeling 100%!
P.S.
For those of you who didn't know, YES, there IS a toothfairy and that next day they were smiling with a few less teeth and $20 extra bucks in their pockets!
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Blogging Failure 101
Note to self: Never start a blog just before summer vacation starts. You will feel like a complete blog failure after 4 weeks!
So this Summer has caught up with me and I haven't had enough hours in the day to make an entry. We made a quick trip to Cali to visit good friends, eat tons of fried foods at the Del Mar Fair (San Diego Fair~new name) and the beach!!!
We just returned from my first ever road trip without Rick to see my family in Colorado. Thanks to my folks for being my travel companions!
I love this photo of them. It is sincere, unposed and the parents "I" recognize.
We missed Rick tons, but enjoyed the layed back schedule and just hangin' out at my sister house with all of the family visiting! It was such a great trip and so many great memories. The best keepsake was these photos that my sister in law took of my kids (yes, Shauna Thompson, you are MY sister in law :0) I am a huge fan of her skills and talents and was so thrilled that she found the time to take us to the park and capture my cute kids! (Here is her blog) blog
We survived having our #1 helper, be gone for most of the summer, 1 week girls camp, 1 week pioneer trek, 1 week drivers ed classes, 1 weeks drivers training and now she is out for the count recovering from wisdom teeth extractions!
Ashton enjoyed his first ever week long scout trip! He earned 6 merit badges and had so many great adventures! I can never thank the scout leaders enough for giving up there week to spend with my child! He is recovering from 4 teeth extractions just in time to get braces the week before school starts!
Carter loved every minute of the Colorado trip hanging out with Tristan! His favorite boy cousin! Getting to have a full week of sleepovers was a real treat! We have chosen to not do sleepovers as a rule for our family and so this was a big bonus for all our kids! My sister has kids about the same ages so everyone got to have a sleepover buddy while we stayed with them! He has spent all summer riding bikes and playing the wii with his friends. He has loved keeping up on cub scouts and can't wait to be in 4th grade!
Parker has muddled through the summer always wanting to play with his best friend Merek and "surviving" his little vacations. He is a homebody, except when it comes to school! He loves school and our bus driver Moe and he can't wait to be in school all day and eat lunch at the cafeteria! (For those of you who know him, this will be a challenge, he doesn't like most foods and eats fewer....this kid makes me really question my validity as a mother!) He did love having his pictures taken and this is why I love him so much....
As for Hunter, my official 2 1/2 yr old, he is my baby. He loved Colorado and being able to have me all to himself. Without Dad around he didn't have to share snuggling at night and always made sure his hand or foot was touching me in the night. He doesn't like being alone. He likes to know you are there...reminds me a lot of the way I feel about the Savior, knowing He is always with me, IF I live my life righteously and do all that I ask. When I see Hunter I am constantly reminded of that knowledge. It brings me peace. Here is a group shot of the kids, and this is MY Hunter, 90% of the time....he brings so much joy to our home!
So this Summer has caught up with me and I haven't had enough hours in the day to make an entry. We made a quick trip to Cali to visit good friends, eat tons of fried foods at the Del Mar Fair (San Diego Fair~new name) and the beach!!!
We just returned from my first ever road trip without Rick to see my family in Colorado. Thanks to my folks for being my travel companions!
I love this photo of them. It is sincere, unposed and the parents "I" recognize.
We missed Rick tons, but enjoyed the layed back schedule and just hangin' out at my sister house with all of the family visiting! It was such a great trip and so many great memories. The best keepsake was these photos that my sister in law took of my kids (yes, Shauna Thompson, you are MY sister in law :0) I am a huge fan of her skills and talents and was so thrilled that she found the time to take us to the park and capture my cute kids! (Here is her blog) blog
We survived having our #1 helper, be gone for most of the summer, 1 week girls camp, 1 week pioneer trek, 1 week drivers ed classes, 1 weeks drivers training and now she is out for the count recovering from wisdom teeth extractions!
Ashton enjoyed his first ever week long scout trip! He earned 6 merit badges and had so many great adventures! I can never thank the scout leaders enough for giving up there week to spend with my child! He is recovering from 4 teeth extractions just in time to get braces the week before school starts!
Carter loved every minute of the Colorado trip hanging out with Tristan! His favorite boy cousin! Getting to have a full week of sleepovers was a real treat! We have chosen to not do sleepovers as a rule for our family and so this was a big bonus for all our kids! My sister has kids about the same ages so everyone got to have a sleepover buddy while we stayed with them! He has spent all summer riding bikes and playing the wii with his friends. He has loved keeping up on cub scouts and can't wait to be in 4th grade!
Parker has muddled through the summer always wanting to play with his best friend Merek and "surviving" his little vacations. He is a homebody, except when it comes to school! He loves school and our bus driver Moe and he can't wait to be in school all day and eat lunch at the cafeteria! (For those of you who know him, this will be a challenge, he doesn't like most foods and eats fewer....this kid makes me really question my validity as a mother!) He did love having his pictures taken and this is why I love him so much....
As for Hunter, my official 2 1/2 yr old, he is my baby. He loved Colorado and being able to have me all to himself. Without Dad around he didn't have to share snuggling at night and always made sure his hand or foot was touching me in the night. He doesn't like being alone. He likes to know you are there...reminds me a lot of the way I feel about the Savior, knowing He is always with me, IF I live my life righteously and do all that I ask. When I see Hunter I am constantly reminded of that knowledge. It brings me peace. Here is a group shot of the kids, and this is MY Hunter, 90% of the time....he brings so much joy to our home!
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