Winter Fun

Today I promised to take the kids sledding. I still had some last minute Christmas shopping, errands, and a doctors appt. before we could go. After taking care of all the above I realized that Emma, Taylor and myself actually needed clothes and or boots to sled in! So after spending a crap load of money on "warm clothes" we were finally off! Unfortunately at this point it was 4:30, so there was only 30 minutes left of daylight However, it turned out to be the best time to go. It was not super busy, we got to watch the sun set, we saw the Festival of Lights turn on and were able to hear the Christmas music playing, and to top it off it started to sprinkle snow. What else could you ask for to get you in the Christmas mood? Here are a few pictures I got before my camera died. Good times!!

Rick and EmmaEvie, Mason, JD, Bennett, Parker, Taylor R., Taylor H.Mason and JDDrew and I (yes, the white dots are snow!)

Until we meet again....

My Grandma Apodaca passed away on December 6, 2008. She was my mom's mom. When someone dies you tend to reflect on things you could have done differently while they were still here. She lived in California and we moved away when I was still small. Although I didn't live close to her the majority of my life, I wish I would have made more of an effort to really know her. The things I do remember about her were her happy smile, her genuine concern for her family, and her love for genealogy. Still, I feel I should have known more, been a better granddaughter, and treated her the way that I know she cared about me. She had a lot of history stored in her little brain. Even though she is not here anymore I hope to take the time to listen to the stories from the people that do know them.

I am glad I was able to attend the services and it gave me an opportunity to see family I hadn't seen in many years. It is always sad to me that it takes a death in the family for us all the make the effort to see one another.

Death is also a time when we contemplate what we are really grateful for. I am so thankful for my own mother and the example she has been to me. I am grateful that she has a testimony of the gospel and helped me build mine. I am thankful that she taught me to always put myself in the other person's shoes and to be of service to your fellow men.

Even though we are sad when we lose someone, I am thankful to know that we will see them again and that this is not the end.

My Baby is 3!!

On Friday December 5th Emma turned 3! I cannot believe how time flies! It has been so fun to experience a little girl in our family, however, Drew might disagree! She is feisty, sweet, very independent, a girly girl, but not afraid to get dirty or be tough like her brothers.

The very first present she opened was a new skirt. She was so excited that she put it on with her jammies..

Drew and I took her to lunch. Her request...Chili's. She likes their chips and salsa and queso! After that we took her to Build-A-Bear. That was our first experience there. Boy am I glad that Drew won $50 in gift certificates to the mall! I could seriously lay down some cash there! I want to build my own bear!

When we got there, Drew was trying to talk her into getting the Hello Kitty bear???cat?? whatever....that was his favorite. He skipped right over the Hannah Montana bear. When I showed her the bear, there was no going back. Her mind was set! I even let her put the little thing in the arm that sings "Best of Both Worlds". Emma was so nice to sing it for us all the way home! Poor Drew...

Later that night we celebrated with cake and ice cream. G&G Marshall, Shane & Kerri, Rick & Ali and G Ottesen all came. I think she had a great day! I feel so blessed to have her in my life. We love you Emma!

Girl's Trip 2008

Every year a group of me and my girlfriends have an overnighter. Usually we go to Park City, but this year we decided to go to St. George. What a memorable trip! I love that we have been friends for so long. I don't know what I would do without them.

We ate some good food, talked, laughed a lot, and shopped!! Here we are at the mall after a few hours. Yes, people were looking at us like we were crazy while we posed for this picture. That is the great thing about having such good friends, we don't care what other people think!

Part of what made this trip so memorable (besides all the pictures we took) was that we had a little furnace problem. It wasn't working! And let's face it, we are girls and girls get cold easy! So we were on a quest to fix the furnace...After all we are a group of talented young ladies..aren't we..?? We had searched almost everywhere to find the furnace with no luck, but we were not giving up!! The only place we had not looked was the attic. Well, what do a group of old cheerleaders do when we there is no ladder and 10 foot ceilings...we stunt of course! We were laughing so hard I am surprised that no one peed their pants or dropped Holly! She was such a good sport to be tossed in the attic.

We were so proud of ourselves.....however, we did not fix the furnace.....It was a little cold, but we survived and have a great story to remember now! Thanks for such a great time friends. I love ya!

Nothing New

I have no new news....everyone says I need to update this, but I have nothing to report on! I did however join facebook! You can find me there!

Halloween was fun! Here's some pics!

Conditioner or Soap???

Parker (my very intelligent child) was taking a shower the other night. He was taking a while so I went in and told him to hurry it up. I asked him if he had washed his body and he said he had with that (pointing to the shower floor). So I looked at that and it appeared to be my bottle of conditioner. I said "you washed it with that?" He said "yeah the conditioner". So I informed him that conditioner was to make your hair soft not your body clean. As I walked away I thought, I wonder how long he has used conditioner to clean his body. As I was thinking this, he called out to me, "Wait! Does that mean that the shampoo you bought me "with conditioner" isn't soap either?" "Yeah, that's what it means Parker. How long have you washed your body with conditioner?" I asked. Ever since you got me the "new" shampoo. So my child might stink, but at least he will be silky smooth!

Turbo Jam

So I finally started Turbo Jamming. I have only had the DVD's for about 3 months or so! I really think I will love it! I have to get back into shape. My body has really gone downhill the last few years and it depresses me. I miss being healthy. I love to work out, I just HATE healthy food. I'd rather be anorexic than eat vegetables. I do find that I have less time to snack now that I teach preschool. Hopefully these new workouts will do the trick! Trista swears by them! I will keep you posted...

Take me out to the ball game

So anyone who knows us, knows that our family plays ball. I don't really know if you can count me as one who plays though??? Anyway, Taylor and Parker are both on accelerated teams. Taylor plays for the Blaze and Parker plays for the Sugar Kings. We have a lot of fun going and watching them learn to succeed, but I must admit that by the time fall hits I am done with ball parks! Taylor had a great day Saturday and hit really well. Parker is trying to fix his swing so he is going through a "learning curve". Regardless of how they do, I am still proud of them for being dedicated enough to play for a teams that expect a lot.

Taylor (#6)

Parker (#9)

Monthly Update

OK, so I told most people to check back monthly for updates on my blog....as you can see, I was not kidding. I can't figure out if I am really busy or just terrible at managing my time? Anyway, there have been a few blog worthy things that have happened so bear with me as I explain them all.

Taylor decided to run for student council this year. The faculty nominated him as one of the 12. He was very excited! This meant that he would have to do a campaign with posters and give a 1 minute speech to the entire elementary school. We had a lot of fun doing this together. I am so thankful to live in a day where we have the Internet with so many ideas right at my fingertips!

Here he is with the posters we did.

Here he is showing the students how he has "enough strength" (notice the 20lb weight) to do all the things he talked about. During the "weight lift" we played "Eye of the Tiger"!!

The students voted right after the speeches but Taylor did not get enough votes for President, VP, or Secretary. However, he still gets to be a part of the student council. It was such a good experience and I was so proud of him! He is a great kid. One more little note about this experience.....While Taylor was practicing his speech Parker informed me that he would like to run for treasurer. I said "Why, because you want to control the money?" He says, " I want to make it so the cheerleaders don't have to ride the school bus with everyone else, I'll make it so they get a limo." Where in the heck did this child come from? He seriously keeps me laughing!

Next Item...The same day Taylor presented his speech it was Grandparents Day for Mason. Thank you mom for coming and supporting my child! Since it was Friday, I was able to go to. I love to see the look on my kids faces when they notice that we are there to support them. It makes me feel like I do something right!! He did such a good job singing his songs and doing his artwork.

Posing for the camera.

Showing Grandma Ottesen his art work and interviewing her

Mason with his teacher Ms. Powell. Taylor had her for 1st grade too and we love her!!

Last Item!! I promised the kids that I would let them have a sleepover last night with their cousins Taylor and Bennett. The night went a little something like this...Drew and I had a wedding to go to so we decided to make a little date night of it. We went to dinner and the wedding; meanwhile the kids were at Rick and Ali's. We got back around 9:00 or so. When we walked in Emma had literally pooped her pants (poor pregnant Ali) so she was in the tub. Drew took the older boys and went home. We got Emma and Ali's bathroom all cleaned up and I went to leave and my car had died (thank you for leaving the lights on children). Anyway, we get that all taken care of and we finally get home. Well the boys were already outside playing their favorite night game (Fugitive) so I get the other kids all set up with sleeping bags, movie, etc. Then I get a call from Taylor begging me to come play the game with them and the other mom who is so nice to take them all the time. At this point it is 10:45 or so Let me explain the game a little. We drive them to the school or nearby park and drop them off, we drive back to our house and then back to the drop off site. The goal is for them to make it back to "home base" with out getting caught, or else they have to jump in the car with us. How sad that I kept thinking, I wonder how much gas I am wasting?? I actually had a lot of fun with all the kids and the other mom. A few times we had some rough encounters with people getting angry that the kids were sneaking around their houses so late and I am sure it didn't help that we were screaming that there were caught! Then there was a few bratty teenage girls that I wanted to pop in the face. Why do they think they are so cool? Let's just say I didn't say some nice things to her and I told the kids in the car not to tell their parents what I had said or their parents wouldn't let them come any more. Then the last time we dropped them off at the school we see this sign

I really hope that someone else changed it because it makes me nervous that these people teach my children!

So we finally get done a little after midnight and I told the other boys that were with us that they could come sleep over too. They were all excited. So I had 8 children at my house last night. I could not imagine if they had all come out of my womb! I woke up this morning and made them pancakes and while I was doing it Taylor went to get the camera, because it was "so cool" that he had all his friends over. Here are some of his pics.

The "older" boys

Mason, Bennett and Emma (nice bed head!)

Me making my fabulous Bisquick pancakes!

All in all it was a good time. I will try really hard to update this a little more frequently so that you people who care to read this don't have to read a novel each time!

Back to School

So, like I said I am starting a preschool. It has been a lot of work to start from the ground up (finishing the basement, advertising, decorating, planning lessons, etc.). Drew has been very supportive and has helped out a lot. Thanks to Rick, Ali and Mike too! I love you guys! Classes will start this week. Needless to say I am a little nervous. Not because I don't have confidence in myself, but because it is something new. Back to school night was last week. It went really well. The kids are darling!! I am very excited to start this new adventure and hopefully my business will continue to grow.

Classroom angle 1

Classroom angle 2

Cubbies

The Reading Tree

They're all gone.....

OK, I am really new at this blogging thing, but here goes. I recently decided to quit my job and start a preschool out of my home. It has been so great to be home with Emma as well as getting the boys off to school and being here when they get home. Anyway, today I was downstairs and I could hear Emma and this little girl that I watch (Caylie) playing in her room. Everything sounded like they were being good little girls and then all the sudden I hear Emma say "Mom, they're all gone!" I got up to see what she was talking about and here she comes down the stairs with band aids all over her legs. She won't let me take them off either! I think I will give her a good long bath and then it won't be my fault when they come off! Lesson learned....Keep band aids of out of toddlers reach! That's all for now because the little darling just walked outside without her shirt on and told the neighbors she has her bobbies out! I love her!