THE YATES FAMILY

What do you do in the summer time.......

2010-07-23T20:49:00.000-07:00

Man I sure stink at blogging these days!! I haven't completely given up YET!! I wrote this one sometime during the summer just never quite got around to publishing it!

Here is what we have been up to this summer!

The first week the kids were out of school we went to Grandma's house!! What a great way to spend the first week of summer break! We had a fun time catching up and meeting a brand new cousin Kraiden!

We came home and started some of our fun summer activities:

Kaitlyn finished summer musical theatre camp and had a blast! She did great and even had a small solo part. At the end of the week they put on the production for families very fun!

Jenna is finishing swimming lessons she informed me that she was really good at SINKING and needed some help! I am hoping this will do it!

Madelyn is loving gymnastics I think her favorite is forward rolls! I wish I could say it how she does, it is so darn cute!

We headed back home for a second family get together on the Yates side. We went to LAGOON, and spent the fourth of July holiday in Utah with family. We had a great time!

Back at home we are working on the never ending landscaping job we started at the beginning of the summer. We might have bit off a it more than we can chew with this one. We will see if we can finish it before the snow flies......

We just had some visitors from Kentucky the Harp family! So fun, I am so glad they stopped by on there way to visit family.

Other than that we are just trying to keep up with our life as we know it. It can be a bit overwhelming at times. It is certainly busy around here.

To name a few..... crash course in city politics as we try to take a stand against Medical Marijuana. We currently have over 90 businesses in Billings alone!! It is completely out of control.

Chaperoning white water rafting youth trips.

Gardening, or atleast trying my pepper plants are still only 6 inches high!

Had a Yard sale, Huge flop!!

Chasing 4 kiddo's........

Madelyn asked me the other day "How many I was" I told her 31! She paused a minute and then said, "I can't believe your that many and your STILL ALIVE!!"

Hilarious!!

Dallin is into everything! Somehow I always forget how busy they get, and the trouble they find. We are to the baracade stage. Only it doesn't keep him in! He can get the outlet covers out of the outlets, climbs stairs, and anything else he can!! I have decided the only real difference I have noticed between girls and boys is that he loves FOOD! He also throws everthing toys, balls, shoes, etc. We love him, and hope he gets some hair soon!

Random Photos

2010-01-17T19:37:00.000-08:00

Jenna's Snow Woman! Started out as a group project and then she was left behind to finish. Did I mention it was only about 5 degrees out! brrrrrr

Madelyn in her own little world of dress-ups! She was playing school and she was the teacher. She has a fabulous imagination! I love these glasses they have no lenses in them. My kids LOVE them.

Kaitlyn for some reason you are never too old to eat snow!

I can only hope that they abide by the "don't eat yellow snow rule" !

It must be good! I love Madelyn's face! Yummy:)

Our handsome little man. Dallin 2 Months old getting ready for church.

Pam this one's for you!! GO CARDS!! I found this outfit before madelyn was born at a yard sale in Kentucky. Finally someone to wear it. Although he is so slippery in it you can hardly hang on to him, kind of like the football this year.........

1 Month picture

2010-01-04T15:28:00.000-08:00

Dallin at 1 Month.

We sure love this little guy!

Dallin Joseph

2009-11-14T21:17:00.000-08:00

Dallin Joseph born 11-10-09 at 7:01pm,

7lbs 10 oz and 20 1/2 inches long

A Proud DADDY!!

Baby Update

2009-10-19T14:47:00.000-07:00

So you might have noticed I took my baby ticker off. I have a weird phobia! I will post pictures after we have had our not so little guy!

By these pictures of our ultrasound you can tell he is quite a chunk!! Weighing in at 5lbs 15 oz already!

I just love how full his cheeks are, and look at those sausage fingers! He would't put his hand down.

The things they say.....

2009-09-22T14:27:00.000-07:00

So the other night the girls were all tucked into ONE room. (No one wants to share a room with a BOY!) The conversation went like this:

Kaitlyn: Holding your middle finger up is so bad! It is like the worst bad word ever.

Jenna: Is it worse than littering? (WHAT?)

Kaitlyn : Yeah, way worse....

Long pause

Jenna: Is it worse than tattoos that are permanent?

Kaitlyn: (getting slightly annoyed) YES Jenna

Pause again

Jenna: I bet it isn't worse than getting surgery on your neck!!

Kaitlyn: (really annoyed this time!) Jenna I don't know.......

Apparently we take littering VERY serious around here, but not as serious as surgery on your neck!!! I couldn't stop laughing it was such a random conversation! I love my girls.

As were driving the other day we had just left one of the hospitals. We were trying to decide which hospital we are delivering our baby at. Madelyn asked if they had a toy room at the other hospital. I told her I didn't know if there was a toy room or not. Then she said " Well Toys just make me comfortable!" WOW that is a big word. It was so cute and so funny.

Surprises

2009-07-28T07:00:00.000-07:00

Surprise!! We are having a BABY! We waited until we knew what we were having to tell our families. (Thinking another girl was on the way, and we would draw out to the excitement that way!)

Surprise it's a BOY!

We are still a little unsure how to coordinate the color BLUE with all the pink we have going on but I think we will manage.

The girls have been cute no one wanted to share a room with a BOY! So we have piled them all into one room and they LOVE it! They are all very excited, and can't wait to put those little maternal instincts to work.(poor little guy doesn't stand a chance with all the little mommy's we have in this house.) Fortunately they will be back in school when he arrives. Whew!

Family Reunion

2009-06-29T18:04:00.000-07:00

We just got back from a camping trip to Palisades Reservoir with my family. It is on the border of Idaho and Wyoming and about an hour from Jackson hole!
It was so beautiful I am hoping to get some pictures soon. For some reason our camera is not wanting to share what it has inside!
It was a long drive (about 6 1/2 hours) but well worth it. We stayed 3 nights and about 2 1/2 days. the first Day it rained. No wait it POURED! Just as we thought the rain was done it poured some more and then began to HAIL!! Fortunate for us we purchased our tent in Kentucky where rain is normal. So I think our tent was the only one completely DRY!! My poor brother duck taped, tarp ed and duck taped some more, just in time for it to be dry the rest of the trip! While it was raining we decided to run up to Jackson Hole just to escape the rain for a while! (Not much to do in the rain with 26 people.)
Saturday was gorgeous! So much so, we all came home sun burnt, I think we were just trying to dry out. The reservoir was so high from all the rain there wasn't any beach at all to play on. We played on loose boat docks, caught minnows, and rode on Grandma's boat. Followed by more boat rides, playing with cousins and just hanging out.
The nights got pretty chilly in the 40's, (either that or I got spoiled in Kentucky) I spent my night covering kids and putting them back on air mattresses, along with listening to all the nocturnal THINGS bustling through our camp! The last night we were there our air mattress popped at 4:00am! Our Tent was on a very rocky surface mixed with 2 large bodies and the cheapest air mattress you can buy! (A Lethal Combination!) Joe leaned over after I just crawled in bed again after covering up kiddo's to say he "wouldn't make a very good pioneer." It was freezing out! Just as he rolled over the whole seam broke and we found ourselves on the ground, with the rocks, within seconds. It was hard not to laugh, but extremely hard to get comfy too!!
Sunday was pack up day and heading home. We decided to drive through Yellowstone since it was on the way. We didn't see a whole lot since it was the middle of the day. Most of the animals are out early in the morning or at dusk. We did see buffalo, trumpeter swans, deer, bald eagle's and pelican's! unfortunately we had to cruise on through so we could get home. As it was we got in about 9:30 pm. Just in time to throw our kiddos in the shower and take one ourselves. You can see where my priorities are, since my car is still unpacked and I am blogging! Thanks family for a great weekend and lots of fun memories!!

Whew, time to catch up!

2009-05-26T16:03:00.000-07:00

Well I officially have a portion of my life back! ) I am 2 days in a row making dinner!! We enrolled both Kaitlyn and Jenna into soccer not knowing fully what that meant. We had soccer every single night of the week. We have froze to death watching "Spring soccer" and had many many tears shed over canceled games and practices. Now that soccer is over the weather is BEAUTIFUL! It has been fun to see the girls progress from knowing nothing, to being able to score goals during their games.
Madelyn turned 3. There is something magic about the number 3 as soon as they turn, they become little people with opinions!! She has loved the warmer weather, but is still a bit hesitant to leave the house without her "long sleeves" !
Sadly I am so behind in blogging, I am not really even sure where to start!!

April marked our 1st anniversary of owning our own practice. I must say it is nice to have a month of learning under our belt. Things have gone pretty well so far.

May my Mom cam eto visit for time out for women. It was here in Billings MT (who would have guessed!) It was a bit surreal for me. The only times I have gone have been in Kentucky with friends from there. So I found myself constantly looking around hoping to see Kentucky friends. It was a fun 2 days, and so nice to spend it with my Mom!

We finished several projects in the last month or 2 including; redecorating the office, finishing the kids playset, having a yard sale, removing trees, power raking our 3/4 acre yard (That was FuN!) and almost have a raised bed garden ready to plant. We have several more projects on our never ending to do list, I am sure we will get around to them sooner or later.

Over Memorial day weekend we decided to take the kids fishing. You have never been fishing until you take 3 sqealy girls that don't like bugs fishing!! It turned out to be a lot of fun! I am affraid no one around us could catch anything we were so loud. We mostly caught and let go but we kept 3 small little fish that swalowed the hook. Madelyn named one Nemo and was so confused as to why we would eat it!! Madelyn caught the first fish of the day, and Kailtyn caught the biggest fish!! Joe and I spent most of the day untangling fishing poles and dodging stray fish hooks flying through the air. By the end of the day they were doing pretty well.

Well it is time for dinner and our first night of beautiful weather and no soccer! We off to enjoy our evening!!

RODENTS....

2009-03-29T17:44:00.000-07:00

Some of you may remember a post way back of a cute little field mouse on my back step. Well apparently that cute little field mouse called up his WHOLE family, and decided to be permanent residence of our yard this winter. (I know it could be worse, my garage or my house!)

We were playing in the yard when we found a few small piles of dirt. Upon further investigation there were tons of tunnels and grooves in the yard just under all the dead grass they were using to hide under. (At least 6ftx6ft square of our yard) We found 5 holes that led into the tunnels. At this point we were unsure what in the world had done this to our yard. But we had a brilliant idea to pull out the hose and give our neighbors something to talk about.(That would be US!) The whole family was out each watching a hole not knowing what might come out. First one little mouse. Then 8 more little furry friends made their way to the soggy surface. We caught each one in random snow/sand buckets and eventually had to pull out a tupperware container to hold them all! Each time was accompanied by several shrill screams followed by mass chaos while we tried to catch each one.WE couldn't kill them, the girls the whole time are yelling don't HURT them. So we were kind and took them into the middle of a field and let them go. I am going to be kicking myself if I find them in my yard again or in my garage! If this is the case we may be the proud new owners of a large snake, or maybe just a nice kitty that like to eat cute furry things.....

AMENDMENT TO BELOW

2009-03-29T17:40:00.000-07:00

I swear a barely finished typing this before I completely jinxed myself!! Apparently we have taken a step or 2 backwards. Arghhh, It is hard for me not to make a big deal about it when you know they know!!

Success!

2009-03-28T08:30:00.000-07:00

So Madelyn and I are certainly NOT on the same time table. I have wanted for several months to be diaper free! In fact my big push was after Christmas thinking we could go to Disneyland, Potty trained. Obviously that didn't happen!

So 4 days before we had to ride in the car for 8 hours to my youngest brothers wedding in Utah. Madelyn decides she wants to be BIG, and wear underwear! (GREAT TIMING) I thought about discouraging it, but then figured it wouldn't last, since we have been down this rode a time or two already this year. Well Guess what she is potty trained!

I was totally shocked that she did it! In the 4 days before we left she had 1 accident. I did however convince her (not really sure how still) to wear pull ups in the car and at the wedding.

It is so funny though she doesn't say I need to go potty she simply exclaims " I am PEEING"! Not exactly what you want to hear in the middle of the isle in TARGET! We'll be working on that.....

St. Patrick's day surprises

2009-03-25T08:34:00.001-07:00

So I am not always on the ball when it comes to holidays. In fact I guess I kind of thought that St. Patrick's day was one we wore green and let go. Well a sneaky "last minute" Leprechaun made it to our house. He left lucky charms, turned our milk green and left little tiny shamrocks that I will forever be cleaning up!! ( darn leprechaun) Madelyn was a bit disturbed that the milk was green and kept saying eww eww double eww!! I have no idea where she got this, but it is quite funny to hear her say it. Needless to say she was pretty glad when we finished the green milk and had white milk again!! For some reason I am not able to download my pictures. I will try adding them later.

It is great to be 8

2009-02-27T08:56:00.000-08:00

Kaitlyn turned eight this weekend. We had such a fun weekend. She has been waiting and waiting to get her ears pierced the rule at the Yates house is when you turn 8. That was exciting for her. (I really didn't think she was going to go through with it, but she did great! Not a single tear.)

Grandma and Grandpa Turner came to visit for her baptism. She was baptised on her birthday which is funny because she has always talked about it being that way. The odds of it being able to happen though are few and far between. It just so happened that her birthday was on a Sunday this year. She asked a friend to sing a song with her "I come to the water" by Janice Kapp Perry. They did a beautiful job.

She is growing up so fast. I love her so much! It has been fun to watch her understanding, and testimony grow these past few weeks as she has prepared for her baptism.

I also had Joe's family send letters to her with there testimony's since they were unable to attend. What a special book that is turning out to be. She absolutely loves it.

Family Vacation

2009-02-25T08:20:00.000-08:00

Joe has been wanting to go to the "Happiest Place on Earth" (AKA: Disneyland) for a long time. Some friends of ours gave us a heads up about airline tickets out of Billings to Las Vegas for $29.00 each way! We then rented a car in Vegas and drove the rest of the way. (about 4 hours)

A picture is worth a thousand words.

Every day we were there it rained. These were no little showers either. One might think this would ruin your trip..... Not us we sported our rain coats everywhere! The rain did make the lines very short. We literally walked onto any ride we wanted. The longest we waited was to see the princesses. (a MUST with 3 little girls) about 25 minutes. The water rides were great because we were already soaked.!The kids feet looked like little raisins at night when we went back to our hotel!! There was only one day that it was cool enough that we were a bit miserable. Nothing a little hot cocoa couldn't fix!

I think Joe and I are a little more use to rain than we are COLD!! We thought it was funny that every morning we would get up and look outside. The sun would be shining. We would go eat breakfast and just as we were ready to walk to Disney the showers began!

We were also there for my 30th birthday!(I am officially a BIG girl now.) I think I took on Sophie Shipp's attitude of "Disneyland is nothing." When all she wanted, was to swim in the hotel pool!! I remember long lines and TONS of people at Disneyland, and I wasn't crazy about the thought of going. But it turned out really great. Disneyland is running a promotion this year you can get in free on your birthday. We already had park hopper tickets so they gave us the equivalent of a ticket($69.00) to spend in the park!! The only catch was you couldn't spend it on food. We (I better say I) got suckered into listening to this time share sales pitch, for an additional $100.00 to spend at Disney. We stuck to our guns and declined the time share and left with $100.00 to spend. (Not sure I would recommend this to anyone.) It took a bit longer than they said but we did miss the big rain storm of the day. We actually made it back almost dry that night! We ended the day with Fantasmic and fire works.

We spent the majority of our time at Disneyland. We did make it to sea world one day. I think we all agree that was the grumpy day! The 3rd day Madelyn was exhausted! We actually left at noon and drove until she fell asleep. We ate lunch next to the ocean and let her get a little nap. Then we went back. Ahhhhh life was a lot better after her nap!! We fed and pet dolphins, caught a few of the shows, and touched some sting rays.

Our highlights

Kaitlyn and Jenna loved the Star wars ride! (the boy cousins introduced them this summer to star wars. They totally love it and so does their DAD. Finally something semi masculine they can do together!)

The highschool musical parade1 we had front row seats!

Madelyn loved Toy story, the shooting one!

Joe and I went on the tower of terror! A total bust in my book! I hate those rides that drop you over and over again!!

I Loved seeing the girls see the princesses, and the fairies. Tink was so cute she had a jacket on so she didn't catch the "fairly flu".

The girls getting there hair done. This is ALL Jenna wanted to do. We kept putting it off because of the rain. We finally gave in the last night. Once Jenna got hers done, ALL the girls wanted it done. The lady was so nice she stayed late to do it.

My new best friend....

2009-01-26T20:17:00.001-08:00

I LOVE THIS STUFF!! When Joe bought the office the ladies that clean used pledge on everything. The vinyl chairs, sinks, counters everything!! It really is awesome, it polishes sinks great and keeps water spots off. It also protects vinyl and counter tops from scratches etc. My TRUE love came when we bought our house. We have clear glass shower doors in the master bathroom. ( NOT my Favorite!) It WAS beautiful when we moved in. I have no idea what the lady cleaned with. After a week my shower looked awful. I was so sad. I have tried everything rain-X, Vinegar, tilex, the list goes on. I have even resealed the tile! We try to squeegee the water off each time but it still just looked bad. Well a week ago I scrubbed the daylights out of my shower. I used a magic eraser on the glass doors to remove the water spots and then I used pledge. I sprayed it on and wiped it off. Every time I shower I squeegee the water off and spray a thin layer of pledge,most of the time I don't even wipe it off! Behold NATURAL BEAUTY!! I love it.

What's Your Favorite Cleaning Product???

December Already???

2008-12-21T16:21:00.000-08:00

I have really been bad at keeping up with this lately. With all the Christmas commotion I just haven't found the time to add to this. Here is a quick run down of what we have been up to.

I guess I will start with Thanksgiving: During the Thanksgiving break we tackled yet another painting project. We decided since Joe's office would be closed for a few days we would paint 4 rooms. However it turned out to be a little bigger project than we had anticipated. We ate drank and slept paint for 5 days straight. We peeled wallpaper and washed walls and then painted our little hearts out. The kids were so good they made tents played games watched movies with popcorn and just hung out in the lobby while we painted. All in all I think we may have chosen a color that is a little too dark. We will see after Christmas. They are putting in some different flooring. I am hoping that will lighten it up a bit. ( I don't have a before picture but think floor to ceiling 80's wall paper and you will have a good idea of what it was before.)

We shared Thanksgiving dinner with a family from our Church. We had all the usual yummy holiday food. Complete with the fabulous turkey that Joe cooks every year. And we had a large variety of yummy pies. And to think I wonder where those extra pounds I am adding to myself come from during this time of year! We have a lot to be thankful for this year. It was nice to spend a day and reflect on the many blessing we have received this year.

We put together a work Christmas dinner. Which turned out well. We served a nice dinner for Joe's employee's. I bit off a bit more than I could chew with sick kids, and lots of holiday things to attend. I was so grateful to have my friend Lori help me out. She made the rolls and some fabulous Christmas cookies for me as well as letting me borrow all of her bowls and platters etc. She also had the cutest idea for a hot cocoa bar for dessert. It turned out really fun with ALL of the fun things you can add to hot cocoa. We found a very tasty homemade cocoa recipe online that was so yummy!

I have to say I think my blood got nice and thin in Kentucky. It has been in the negative numbers for over a week and is going to continue. Brrrrrr, I thought for sure at -20 the kids would not have school. ( Not the case! We got spoiled in Kentucky. At the thought of snow they would cancel. Needless to say the girls were quite disappointed they had to go. I felt bad about sending them on the cold bus, so I took them to school. I don't think I will make that mistake again. It is darn cold out!! Plus they huddle on the bus right???? Due to this awesome weather we now have a permanent pet rabbit in the HOUSE! We felt so sorry for her outside plus we couldn't keep her water from freezing! She thinks she has won the lottery and the kids actually do interact with her a lot more.

I had a bit of a run in with the garage door! It hasn't been working properly and we had already had one ordered. ( apparently a week too late!) It didn't go up all the way but it did go above the back window. I no longer have this piece on the back of my van! Maybe SANTA can bring me this for Christmas!

So in review of what I have written it doesn't sound like I have been all that busy. But somehow my time gets whittled away. We are officially done Christmas shopping. ( It is a good thing too, since Christmas is only 4 days away!) We are anxiously awaiting the arrival of SANTA. The girls ask daily (almost hourly) if they can open just ONE present. We are also excited to go home and visit family. Hopefully the weather will cooperate enough that we can do that.

Well with my recent "Lack of Blogging" I highly doubt there will be another update before Christmas!
I hope you all have a safe and happy holiday. MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Random Mommy Moments

2008-11-03T20:11:00.000-08:00

In lou of the up coming election Kaitlyn has been hearing the voting chatter from school and such. She came home and said " Mom if Obama wins he is going to MAKE us go to school at night AND on Saturdays!"
I haven't heard that one yet!

Today I was at shop-ko and I lost Madelyn, or at least I thought I had. My cart was piled high with paper towel diapers and T.P. And I had my phone glued to my ear. I was frantically calling her name and searching clothing racks, looking everywhere EXCEPT for the front of the cart where she was hanging on obediently wondering what the fuss was all about.

Jenna has been extremely caught up in a small discovery she found today. "MOM I have a space between my teeth!" Mom:" We all have space between are teeth. Jenna:" But I have NEVER had space between my teeth before......"

I sure love these little munchkins!!

I had just finished telling my Visiting teachers how good Madelyn was. That she doesn't really destroy things like my others did. I came down stairs to see SOFA ART!! Yup with a pen! I think while the words were coming from my mouth she was happily scribbling all over my couch!! ( Thankfully it is brown and most of it has come out.....or at least it blends in with the dirty spots!)

Madelyn's new haircut

2008-10-21T15:50:00.000-07:00

Madelyn got her first official haircut last week. I think it turned out cute and the "Say Cheese" face is an added bonus!

Fit for a Queen

2008-10-21T15:27:00.000-07:00

So with all of that snow we got, Joe and the girls were busy. Or should I say mostly Joe and the girls were busy playing. They spent several hours working on it. What a great Daddy! He even has to make girlie snow forts! Poor guy!

I must also add that this was my kind of snow storm. I was so bummed that it snowed that much so early in the year. It was perfect though. It snowed over the weekend, we played in it, and by Thursday the next week it was gone! Apparently that much snow is not a common occurrence here in Billings. So Jamie S. you could totally live here!!

Snow, Snow and more SNOW

2008-10-12T09:01:00.000-07:00

So on Friday it started to snow, by the end of the day this is what we had.

By Saturday we had a little more snow and it just kept on snowing.

By this morning we woke up to THIS! They even canceled church this morning.

Joe and the girls had fun making a sledding hill in our yard to go down. They played outside for nearly 2 hours. And it is still snowing. We could see up to 9 more inches today. Apparently my idea of a MILD winter is a bit different than those that live here in Montana. This is nuts! The kids have loved it though. It seems a bit early for me. Now that there is snow I am ready for Christmas decorations and the new year! It might be a long 3 months till Christmas!

And to think just one week ago this is what we were enjoying!

More random thoughts

2008-10-12T08:45:00.000-07:00

I have been meaning to post this for a while. Joe built a little playhouse for Madelyn out of her closet. It turned out so cute, and she really loves it. I have a video of her dancing circles in the play house singing "My playhouse, My playhouse... too cute.Joe is getting quite handy at making things. In fact we felt sorry for our poor rabbit when it started to snow. She didn't have anywhere to get out of the weather. So Joe built her a nesting box so she could get out of the wet and cold. Meanwhile Sally the bunny got to hang out in the house and be spoiled in this container. I kind of felt bad sending her back outside.
And while it was getting chilly outside many little critters were trying to find a warm spot to hide. This is what I found on my back step.

The girls took bowls out side to make "Ice cream snow sundae's". What kid doesn't eat snow! I am hoping after seeing a mouse run all over their sundae maybe they will change their minds.

Random thoughts......

2008-10-04T19:27:00.000-07:00

It is official I am getting worse and worse at blogging. I am now so behind and have so many things I wish I would have recorded.

I guess I will start with the highlight of my day. As many of you are aware it is general conference weekend. A time to hear the words of our beloved prophet, and spend time with your family. As the Saturday afternoon session started the primary children's choir started singing I am a child of God. The girls were upstairs playing and had sat through most of the first session. As they started to sing Madelyn came running out of her room and almost forgot to stop at the top of the stairs. Grinning from ear to ear saying "dats my song"!! She came down and did not move while the kids sang that song. Kaitlyn and Jenna weren't far behind.

I guess I just found myself really loving my family this weekend. We went on a little family outing last night with some friends. We thought it was A corn maze, turned out there were 3. They had so many fun things a big slide, a train pulled by a 4 wheeler, these Go cart/bikes and a petting zoo. I remember sitting on the train holding Madelyn and hearing all of the little kiddos laughing hysterically from all of the bumps. the sound of laughter filled the sky. (It really was a lot of fun!) I honestly don't remember the last time I laughed like that, and really just enjoyed myself. My kids are growing up so fast, it makes me so sad.

I realized today that I think we have reached the next phase in things. As Joe headed off to the priesthood session, ALL us girls went shopping! (Well window shopping at Toys r us!) My 2 oldest girls have left the dolly and make believe phase for make up, Hannah Montana, and electronics I know nothing about! I kept saying this is fun.... and they would reply "yeah Madelyn would really like that Mom"! Just the other day Kaitlyn said with a look of disgust "Mom... Your WEIRD"! I am sure it isn't the last time I will hear that, but it stung just a little. I realized I only have a few more years before I won't KNOW anything, and won't be COOL enough to hang out with them anymore. So for now I am trying to savor every moment I have.....

I'm MOVING....

2008-09-20T07:35:00.000-07:00

Okay not really but if the bugs in this state get any bigger, I am moving!!The giant caterpiller like thing the kids found. I think it might be a tomato worm, or at least that is what we called them as kids. The spider, I had the priviledge of finding in my garage! It was huge. I think it is a wolf spider. Whatever kind of spider it is it is huge and creepy. By far the largest spider I have ever seen in nature. The funny things is that Joe has been telling the girls that if they kill bugs outside, they will have to eat them. (of course not really) So he let it go!! Can you say NIGHTMARES..... I really hate bugs. Especially HUGE ONES!!!

School Already.....

2008-08-26T15:26:00.000-07:00

Where did the summer go! I cannot believe it is over. School started today for Kaitlyn and Jenna. That just leaves little Madelyn at home with me. We had a great day. I couldn't help but to get a little teary eyed as I said good bye on the playground this morning. My kids are growing up so fast! They both kind of had that deer in the headlights look too, as they turned and looked at me before they went in. It was a little different this year. Kaitlyn started in yet another school. Because of our move we were not able to register them until just a weeks ago. We found out who her teacher was the day before school started. Fortunately, we did not miss the kindergarten open house for Jenna. That was really good for her to see where she was going, and who her teacher was. To our surprise there are 2 little girls that she already knows in her class. YEAH!

I remember when I picked Kaitlyn up from Kindergarten her first day. She climbed in the car and said "That was the best day ever", and then she broke into tears.(Is she my kid or what!) She was so overwhelmed. Jenna was much the same only she fought it a little harder. She saw me and gave me a huge hug. I thought I was going to have to carry her on my leg to the car! She was a little teary but did great!

We will be adding the bus to our school adventure soon. But for now School was overwhelming enough for both of them without worrying about the bus too.

My little Kindergartner

My 2nd Grader

And my Future Kindergartner

Aren't they cute!

** Notice Kentuckians: it is already jacket weather here!!

Celebrating Kindergarten

2008-08-26T12:03:00.001-07:00

We started somewhat of a tradition when Kaitlyn was getting ready to go to Kindergarten. We "celebrate" by going out to dinner. With Kaitlyn we had Wicks pizza and celebrated with the Borders. This year we went to Red Robin to celebrate kindergarten with Jenna. Red Robin is a yummy hamburger place here in billings. It was a tasty treat complete with milkshakes, and Jenna was thrilled. It was yummy that is until they brought us a basket of fries with a fried grasshopper on top of it!!! Gross!!
The things that really grosses me out is that I know they DIDN'T run right back and drain the grease that apparently they are cooking bugs in. So that means they continued to serve fries cooked in bug infested grease! Yes, I am sure the temperature is hot enough that any creepy little germs would be killed, but it's still very gross! The Manager was nice enough to buy our family one persons meal. He also seemed very impressed that we were not furious and yelling at him! Even though this was pretty gross, I was more grossed out and furious with McDonald's when they served me a RAW chicken club sandwich and I took a bite!! They were completely rude in dealing with it too! So my question is what is the grossest thing you have found in your FOOD!!!

I am so behind....

2008-08-18T07:33:00.000-07:00

So I am not sure what happens to my time. I have good intentions and the next thing I know a whole month has gone by again!

We are all moved in! I am afraid my house pictures are pretty boring. The color doesn't show up nearly as well as the magenta! We painted mostly white ( I am pretty plain I know, but it looks so clean!) The wall that was Magenta we painted a "Smokey oyster" which turned out somewhat of a taupe color. We still have no decor up. After feverishly painting for every minute of the day for a solid 7 days, I can't bring myself to put holes in my pretty walls just yet.

I got a sweet deal that only a Mom could really appreciate! This LG Tromm washer and dryer set sells for $1700. I got this for a total price of $963.00!! Thank you HOME DEPOT!
Home depot has a price match guarantee which they will match the price and then take an additional 10% off. Well Sears had this set on sale for 15 % off . Home depot matched it and gave me another 10% off. Then I opened a home depot card which saved me another 10%!! Can I just say I love them!! I washed all 3 of my girls beds in 1 load!! Amazing!

This post would not be complete without adding a picture of Joe's "Man Cave"!

Right now it is also fully furnished with yard sale furniture ( Bye bye Mauve couch! The coke machine came with the house and Joe was so bummed that it didn't work! As luck would have it the day we closed on our house, as we were picking up our babysitter, we saw the Pepsi machine at a yard sale! Needless to say it goes quite nicely in the "Man Cave"!

A sneak peek....

2008-07-30T20:35:00.000-07:00

We are moved in and starting to see beyond the cardboard! I love NOT hauling groceries and 3 children up 3 flights of stairs! In fact I turned in the keys today and I was so excited to say good bye forever (I hope) to apartment living. I can't help but to think how very blessed I am! It was quite a chore to move out of the 3rd floor, mostly just time consuming wating for the elevator! We are so blessed with great friends that came and helped us. THANK YOU GUYS!!

Last week we painted almost our entire house! The people that lived here before us patched the walls with the wrong color of paint in almost every room! ( Very Annoying) And yes they really did have one wall that was magenta. The entire living room was grey! Did I mention they loved sponge painting as well.... Needless to say I have had my fill of painting for quite a while, we even painted the vaulted ceiling!! I can say this is one of the few homes that we looked at, that didn't have "MT" blue paint, somewhere on the premises. Can you guess what color we painted......just kidding.

Here are some of the before pictures. And again my camera doesn't do them justice, you will just have to believe me it really was magenta!

Our new house!

Bad news grey walls and sponge paint job (yuck)

Magenta Be GONE!! ( the primer)

I will post some "After" pictures as soon as I find the camera.......

Can't catch my breath

2008-07-22T07:46:00.000-07:00

We are still alive in "Hannah Montana" ! I can't believe I have posted nothing since Father's Day! Life has been so crazy, more details to come, but we just purchased our very FIRST home on Friday!! We are so excited and I promise I will post more. But for now we are frantically trying to get the ENTIRE inside of the house painted by this Friday. (Magenta just wasn't working for me!:) Anyway I promise to catch up on all our crazy adventures very soon! But for now visions of paint and empty boxes that need to be filled are taking over my thoughts!!!

Fathers Day

2008-06-24T21:27:00.001-07:00

I guess I better update just a little. I am getting so bad about blogging!! Whenever I get a minute I try to catch up on all of your blogs, and the next thing you know it's midnight!!

Fathers day was unbeatable this year! We put an offer in on another home (offender free this time!) They accepted it on Father's day. The funniest thing is that after countering a few times Joe decided to ask if they would throw in this old Coke machine in the garage. I am not even sure if it works. But he was so excited about it, especially since that was the offer that finally sealed the deal!

Anyway more details to come we are still doing inspections, blah blah blah. But hopefully it will be official by the end of July. Our favorite part is that it is on a .5 acre lot. Most of the homes in billings our on about .16 of an acre. It also has a lot behind it that has been designated for a park. It isn't, and probably won't be developed. But it means no one can build in your backyard, which we like that idea. Lots of space to RUN which we spend nearly every day at the park right now and sometimes twice a day!! I swear kids are like walking dogs! Let's just say it is in every ones best interest if the kids get out and run for a few minutes! I think the people that live below us might throw a party when we leave!!

On that note another fun Father's day activity was to go hiking!! Joe has really been excited to get out into the Mountains and do some hiking. The girls loved it and I have to admit it was pretty fun. I was not so excited about the idea, I was envisioning CARRYING 3 kids back down the mountain! That didn't sound to exciting to me. But they all did great, and it was a beautiful day to be enjoying nature. After hiking we stopped in Red Lodge where there is a fun candy store called the "Candy emporium." They have tons of bushel baskets full of all different kinds of candy. You can get a bag and pick what you want. The kids love it but it is $6.00 a pound. We told the girls they could pick 10 pieces each. Well we had a little trouble counting....OOPS, and ended up spending $15.00 on CANDY! I guess we will chalk that one up to making memories....

Blessings in disguise

2008-06-10T12:00:00.000-07:00

There have been so many things lately that I feel so blessed. One of the biggest things I have to be thankful for happened just last week. Joe and I put an offer in on a house! The next morning Joe and I woke up with the worst feeling about it. We started doing more research, to find that directly across the street a registered S. Offender resides. There was a park right behind that house that my children would have walked nearly in there backyard to get too. We were able to cancel our offer immediately. We felt so blessed to be able to have found out this information before it was to late. We have both decided to be in less of a hurry to find a home and to research it to it's fullest extent before our next offer goes in!

Then on our trip over memorial day, Madelyn had been complaining of her nose hurting. I figured with the dry air, and change of altitude it was probably nothing and left it at that. WELL after probably 2 weeks of this off and on occasional "a nose hurt". Kaitlyn was getting her dressed for church when she came and said "Madelyn has a pink thing in her nose". WHAT? Joe and I went to investigate and sure enough there was a pink thing in her nose......

Fortunately we were able to pull it out with tweezers. Poor kid. I am starting to wonder about my mothering skills. This little one is all of a sudden giving me a run for my money.

A day in the life of Madelyn:

1. Poor a whole box of rice krispies on the floor because they taste better off the floor.

2. Stick a paper clip up your nose!

3. Help set the table and grab an entire pitcher full of grape cool aid off the counter onto my head and all over the floor.

4. While bathing and taking care of the grape cool aid she grabbed the towel out of my hand I thought to dry her face, Nope just to put it in the bath tub to "wash" with.

5. Other misc. "FUN" things to do when mommy has her back turned. Take out all the wipes one by one and scatter everywhere. Climb on everything! We love to rip paper right now too. (that is fun especially when they are Mommy's bills! Oh yes and bathroom fun we love water, and somehow can manage to climb onto the sink and help our self whenever we want. She also helps her self to the fridge often. Can 3 go gurts be considered dinner....

I love this little munchkin and I am so grateful that the paper clip ordeal didn't end up being worse. I feel blessed it was only coolaid and not hot soup. And well, her climbing and water skills should come in handy at a later time in life right??

Madelyn's TWO

2008-06-10T08:50:00.000-07:00

Madelyn had her second birthday. I can hardly believe that she is 2. It has gone so fast and she is getting so big. I love hearing her talk and start trying to put sentences together. She absolutely adores her sisters. She is a great little helper and loves doing laundry and wiping things with a cloth. She can also be quite messy, mixing all sorts of things into cups, or helping herself to an entire box of apple jacks, by dumping it in the middle of the floor. ( somehow it tastes better all dumped out.) I think they know when they turn two though. She said just days after turning two, " I want juice......NOW!" We love her and are so glad that she is a part of our family.

For her birthday we had a small little get together with some friends in the park. It was a fabulous Saturday afternoon (minus the wind). When all of a sudden the sprinklers turned on! 3 o' clock on a Saturday afternoon and the sprinklers turn on! The kids had a ball! We had bubbles, cake and ice cream and a water party all at once. The kids were a complete mess when we left, soaked with sand everywhere, but happy!

I can't seem to locate my pictures of her party! I will post them later when I find them.

Memorial Day Weekend

2008-06-10T08:15:00.000-07:00

Over Memorial Day we thought we would try out the trip back home. I realize now, ( which is a little late) we are not as "close" as I thought we were! But there is something to be said for being able to drive, and stop when you want(or NEED) to stop. We went to Pocatello to visit Joe's family. This will probably be the last time we are all able to get together for a few years. Joe's brother is headed off to dental school!
We had a great time spending time with everyone! We had a lot of fun in fact maybe a little to much. It took us a week to recover from our vacation. We couldn't stop talking, and each night got later and later! It was so fun to catch up on everyone and the goings on in each of there lives. We had a wonderful visit and can't wait to come back . Big thanks to Dan and Julie for letting us stay with you! Here are a few pictures of all the girls in their dresses Grandma Yates gave them for Christmas.

The Yates Paparazzi catching it all in action!

Mother's Day gifts

2008-06-01T21:09:00.000-07:00

I can finally post this, because I finally delivered them. I found this cute idea on sugardoodle. (I am an idea thief) These were so easy and turned out so cute. I couldn't help but post them. To make our mothers appreciate it even more. My friend Carrie and I made them while our husbands were at her house for an Elders Quorum activity. We had 5 kids here 4 under the age of 5. The kids painted little animals, and we tried to paint. We did pretty well I thought. It was a fun night, and considering all things pretty productive too. Thanks Carrie for the idea!!

Okay drum roll please it only took me over a month to finally post the site where we got the directions from. (sorry guys I'm a little slow these days!) THE PROJECT

Mother's Day

2008-06-01T20:53:00.001-07:00

I am a little behind in blogging land and am trying to get caught back up.

I can't go without putting a little note for Mother's day though. My girls and hubby are too cute! Kaitlyn and Jenna were so excited about Mother's day. It is fun to see them so excited. I think the little plants and trinkets from school started a week before Mother's day. Kaitlyn made a "list" of things she wanted to do. I indulged some but quickly took "Chucke Cheese" for Mother's day off her list! She did request some frosting and cookies with strawberry's so she could whip up her "special recipe". A little scary coming from a 7 year old! This is her masterpiece. She calls it her Volcano recipe...

Chocolate chip cookies, with lots and lots of frosting in between, stacked together, with a strawberry on top!

Joe made me a fabulous dinner the night before flat bread fajitas. They were really good. Then Jenna's idea was to make breakfast in bed with tulips. (I think she thinks tulips are roses.) That was also yummy cold cereal with muffins, and roses! She was so sweet the roses lasted about a week, and she was so sad when they started to wilt. She took it very personal. Madelyn joined in by being the entertainment. She was so wound up and being so silly all morning. I just love my little family, they are so darn cute!!

Is this child abuse?

2008-05-27T20:29:00.001-07:00

Kaitlyn wrote a paper today in school about 3 wishes....

I wish for a small puppy, because I love pets and animals.

I wish for a kitten that is cute, because they are nice animals.

I wish that I can stop sucking my thumb so I can get a toy, because I don't want my DAD to break all the bones in my mouth!

( We have really been trying to help her understand why it is important to stop sucking her thumb. It is starting to affect the bone structure in her mouth. This comes from a conversation about why her teeth don't touch together like other peoples, and why her jaw hurts when she wakes up after sucking her thumb all night!) Poor Kid, I think I scared her to death. But she is still sucking her thumb!

Beautiful Girls

2008-05-04T23:32:00.000-07:00

Today was a first in our family. We actually got ready for church and had a half an hour to spare! We decided to take a few pictures of the kids. I cannot believe how fast they grow up. It really dawned on me tonight when I put Madelyn in her pajamas. They were the pajamas that Kaitlyn wore when she was 2. Yes it is sad, my baby turns 2 in 2 weeks! Where does the time go!

Kaitlyn: I cannot believe she is 7. Today she has been very concerned about a family in our ward that was not at church today. I thought it was because the lady teaches her class, but it turns out she has a bit of a CRUSH on her oldest SON! ( I am sooo not ready for this!)She was saying her prayers and asked that Heavenly Father would help this family that they could be at church next week. She ended her prayer with the biggest grin on her face! We all just started laughing. I wish I had a better relationship with Kaitlyn. She has been a demanding little sole ever since she wanted to come to earth! I think she is 7 going on 17, and isn't afraid to step up and speak her mind. However there are always those precious Mommy moments that make you realize that it is all worth while. A hug, an I love you, or moments where we are on the same page. She is a great big sister and a good helper. She is still always singing a song. Her new favorite thing is to take a shower, because I can turn on the bathroom fan and she can sing her little heart out, without having to worry about bothering the neighbors! She is struggling so much right now with sucking her thumb. It is such a habit for her, and has gotten even worse since we moved. We have tried to set goals for 1 week. She flat out can't do it. Even if she makes it all day, at night it goes right in. I have tried everything I can think of. It is so hard to watch her struggle with this and know that my options are limited. We are in the process of fitting her for a mouth appliance that will hopefully help her.

Jenna: (Notice her very long straight hair) She loves to straighten her hair! It is the only time the poor kiddo gets to BRUSH her hair. We don't do it very often but when we do, she combs and combs her hair! She is getting so grown up. I am going to have a hard time parting with Jenna next year when she goes to Kindergarten. She has been so sad because Madelyn couldn't say her name. Finally Madelyn came up with something that resembled enough of her name for her satisfaction. She calls her "Nanny", and Kaitlyn "Cake". That was a great day! We had tears after every prayer that Madelyn said, and couldn't say her name.

They are finally becoming pretty good buddies!
Jenna helped her make a laundry basket bed while Mommy was sick, so they could make vegging out in front of the t.v. just a little more fun! I have an awesome friend that has been so willing to watch my girls while I help out at the office a few hours a week. Jenna LOVES going there. It has been such a blessing for me. I think Jenna had the hardest time adjusting without any friends. So it makes her day to go play with 2 darling little girls, and be the " BIG SISTER" for the day to all of them! (Thank you so much Carrie!)

Madelyn: She has grown so much lately. She is really loving singing songs. Her favorites are twinkle twinkle"Inky", wheels on the bus, and the 2 songs daddy always teaches them sneaky snake, and the bee. There isn't much that gets by her. She has discovered after climbing 3 flights of stairs 3 times a day it is much easier to hitch a ride with Mom. It doesn't matter how full my hands are she insists on being carried! I can't seem to let this one grow up though. I still rock her every night for a few minutes. ( she calls it bocky bye) I so love that time with her. I am a little frustrated with her sisters who have so rudely taught her to burp! I keep trying to remind them that princesses do not burp! But with a 7 year old in the house, bodily noises are the funniest thing on the planet hands down! At least she will say excuse me now! She also picked up this disgusting little habit......

Oh we love her! I think she knows she is about to turn two! Just last week she tried out the drop down roll around, kick em tantrum thing! You gotta love the terrible 2's, however I think the 3's are worse! Here is another funny picture, she certainly takes after Jenna in the fashion world. She loves SHOES, and picking out her clothes herself. Here she is sporting Capri's with her Winter BOOTS.

Colors and more colors....

2008-05-04T21:29:00.000-07:00

So I only wish my camera could capture the true colors. We have since found a true fuchsia colored home, lime green (borderline florescent) Pam you would love this! Rust orange seems to be a newer color of choice. And there is one street that reminds me of Easter eggs, bold Easter pastels!
I just wanted to add that the pictures of the blue houses, I didn't have to drive far. They are literally everywhere! I think we will make a "Montana Blue" scrapbook, for all of you to view when you come visit me! And of course we will give you the LIVE tour as well, it is much better in person!

Oh yes, and the pink blazer is classic! It actually has a black and white picture of someone that takes up nearly the entire back window!!

Church

2008-04-27T21:47:00.000-07:00

So today was our 3rd Sunday at our ward. The first Sunday we were here was stake conference. The second Sunday we went to our ward and then it was general conference. The 2nd Sunday we were in our ward we spoke in sacrament meeting. And today Joe was called to be the 2nd councilor in the Elders Quorum Presidency, and I was called to be the first councilor in the Young Women's organization. ( Those were some talks don't you think!) Our ward is made up of a lot of elderly people and a lot of widows. We are one of very few younger couples in our ward. We are both excited about getting involved in the ward, and apparently we are needed!

The Montana "BLUES"

2008-04-25T22:53:00.000-07:00

We have been doing a lot of driving around getting to know the area. We have also been looking at homes for sale and in doing so, have found an interesting little trend. My camera does not do some of these pictures the justice they deserve! If you like the color of blue, we are talking true "OUT HOUSE" blue, do I have a place for you! Joe and I have nicknamed it M.T. blue for "Montana Blue", seriously, it is everywhere!

There are the ALL BLUE houses.....

And then there is blue as an accent, and 2 toned blue

And my personal favorite.....

And if blue isn't your thing, don't worry there is something for you too!

Perhaps something in PINK.....

Montana-itis

2008-04-21T19:12:00.000-07:00

Okay so is it me or does it seem like the first 3 months you live somewhere new you can pretty much count on being sick! I am having flashbacks of when I first moved to Kentucky and ended up with Whooping cough! Who knows how I picked that one up, It was awful though!
Sorry, I am going to whine for just a minute.... There is one nice thing about humidity in Kentucky. My sinuses are cracking in half and I feel like my head is stuck in a watermelon here! It has been a long time since I have felt this miserable being sick, (years in fact) and all I have is a COLD! Seriously Moms don't have time to be sick. And when they are life just goes on as normal. There is no napping, no extra hot shower to breath, no one making hot cider etc... sigh. Life goes on with hot dinner on the table, laundry done, toilets sparkling etc. I guess I should be grateful I am still capable of doing all those things, because if I wasn't I would most likely be DEAD!

Big Sky Country

2008-04-11T20:39:00.000-07:00

I am pretty sure this is why they call it Big Sky Country! The sky is beautiful. I love how often it changes and I feel like I can see forever.

And here it really is the whole reason we now live in Montana!

We closed on March 31st, and Joe took over April 1st. Dr. Sullivans name will come off in a few months, after the patients have gotten use to the transition.

So far things are going well. It has been quite an adjustment for us learning to run a new business, but think we are getting the hang of it.

Other than that Kaitlyn has adjusted well to school and loves the more laid back environment. She is a totally different person when she gets home after having a recess!

Jenna is bored, she misses her preschool and her friends. We have only been to church once between stake conference and general conference. But I am hoping she will find a little friend soon.

Madelyn is growing like a weed, and talking up a storm. She tries to say and repeat everything. She is starting to sing, it's so cute.

I miss my freezer meals, and feel frazzled most of the time. I think we are getting it together though. I feel like I just gained another household to run. The office has bills to pay, things to clean, errands to run, papers to file etc. We spend most of our evenings going over mile long lists of things we still need to do. But all in all this week has gone much better than last, and I think it will only get better from here! ( I hope)

A Few Memories From Our Trip

2008-04-11T20:07:00.000-07:00

You can't see this very well, but it says World's Largest Truck stop. Can I just say the girls thought this place was awesome! It had full size Semi Trucks inside the truck stop. The truck they are standing by was on a huge turn table that spun the truck in a circle, very SLOWLY of course. Madelyn couldn't figure it out, it was fun to watch her. It was a much needed break for us. We also found a small game room that we sunk a few quarters into for a few minutes of sanity!

And HERE we are Joe's Practice!

Just kidding this sign was posted outside of the World's Largest Truck Stop. It says Dentist second floor, next to barber shop open 9 a.m.

We made it to Mount Rushmore. Something I have always wanted to see. The girls really liked it, especially Kaitlyn. She has learned a little bit about George Washington and Abe Lincoln over the last year, and loved reading all the facts about their lives.

My All time favorite was this cute little Taffy Shop! My picture didn't turn out , but they made and pulled their own taffy right in front of you. It was fun to watch, And yummy to eat.

Playing Catch-Up

2008-04-11T19:20:00.000-07:00

So I finally found the camera, and the pictures from our move. Here is our truck. I almost passed out when it pulled up! I wasn't expecting it o be quite that big! However we only purchased a small portion of it. The driver was in such a hurry Joe loaded most of the truck by himself. We had lots of friends lined up to help but he showed up at 1:00 and wasn't about to wait. He was well on his way by 4:00.

At 5:00 our friends began coming to help. I am kind of glad that we were as far along as we were, it gave us a few minutes for our last good byes to those that stopped by.

We LOVE the Hans family!! They started out as neighbors and became forever friends!

One last picture of "Old Kentucky Home". We moved into this house without ever seeing it. Deanna found it for us. It was so perfect for our family. We are missing the yard terribly right now.

Here is our last pathetic picture in Kentucky. We both found each other wondering in our empty house with tears rolling down our cheeks, as we were getting ready to lock it for the last time. It was such a long, stressful, emotional day. We were both exhausted, physically and emotionally.

So much change, so little time...

2008-03-26T19:56:00.000-07:00

These last few weeks have really been a trip!! We went to Montana and interviewed with 3 dentist the last week in February. We came home and put in an offer to one on the 5th of March and by the 7th we were Moving to Billings Montana and starting April 1st! The Moving truck showed upon the 17th at 1: 30pm and was gone by 4:30, by 7:00 we were on our way in the van pulling the Malibu behind!
(Monday the 17th)The first night we didn't get to far we made it to Indianapolis! We were so exhausted from our day of moving and cleaning.
(Tuesday the 18th)The second day we made it quite a bit farther all the way to Sioux falls Iowa! I was so sad we didn't get to go to Nauvoo. Towing the car slowed us down quite a bit, not to mention all the stops for our carnivorous children. I swear they were hungry every minute of every day! As it turned out we would have hit some of the terrible flooding that was there had we have gone.
(Wednesday the 19th)The next day somewhere in South Dakota the transmission in the van decided it had had enough! We are so fortunate we back tracked about 20 miles to this little place that seriously had a mechanic, a u-haul drop, a truck stop and a car wash! The people were so nice. They flushed our transmission, took the U-haul dolly back, we washed the transmission fluid off the vehicles, and ate at the truck stop! ( which by the way was the BEST meal we ate!) And we were off now in 2 vehicles driving separately! ( The mechanic was so awesome he actually called us about 2 hours after we left to see if we were stranded or if the transmission was going to hold out! )
We are so frustrated at the U-haul company. When we moved to Kentucky the truck broke down 3 times and we ended up completely unloading and loading our stuff onto a new truck! And then had to beg for reimbursement for the days it took to get us a different truck. This time we just rented a dolly from them to pull the car. After they told me the full trailer that you pull your car completely onto was to heavy for our van, they tried to give it to us for the same price as a favor, because they didn't have a dolly on the lot. We went to a different store and got the dolly that was within the weight limit for our van. But the hitch they put on rubs against the muffler and makes a terrible noise and we feel like the problems we had on this trip could have been avoided. Come to find out we were maxed out on the weight limit, especially with 5 people in the car too.( They failed to mention that small detail too) The moral of the story is avoid using u-haul at all costs, I promise it is worth the extra bucks to go with a different company!
We made it all the way to Rapid City, South Dakota! ( And did I mention our truck was already in billings Montana!) We got up and went to Mount Rushmore,and stopped at an old time taffy shoppe, that pulled their own taffy. Then we hit the road again!
Finally, Thursday night we made it to Billings and in time to swim in the hotel pool too!!
Friday morning we met our truck driver and began the dreaded process of unloading the truck we had just loaded, and up to the 3rd floor too!! We were so blessed to have a few missionaries stop by to help us unload. The elevator was a huge help too!
My parents came over Easter, to help with the kiddo's and to unload boxes. Thanks Mom and Dad! The Easter bunny did find us the kids were very concerned! We are moved in and almost box free! (Almost)
Now I just have to keep my kids quiet for the next 6 months. The hallways outside our apartment door looks like a big race track and there are 3 flights of stairs to race down. We also have a nice round about inside the apartment that you can run around in a circle! Not to mention the singing, fighting, giggling, crying, stomping, and slamming that happens with 3 little girls!
Kailtyn loves school, who wouldn't it is an hour and 15 minutes shorter they have 3 recesses, no uniforms and NO homework. She has died and gone to heaven!! The girls ( Kaitlyn and Jenna) also got haircuts to their shoulders! A fun spring thing to do ! I will post pictures as soon as I can find them....
For now we are safe and sound in Billings, and looking forward to closing on the biggest purchase of our life on March 31st! This last month has been so crazy and I think I finally had enough time to absorb it all today. My tear ducts have been a bit over active today as I realize our families are not as close as they seemed( still 8 hours away) And our "Fill in" family ( our dear friends) are even farther, now that I have made that drive! I am feeling like a fish out of water. But we are excited for what the future will bring to our family.

WE MADE IT!!

2008-03-26T10:38:00.000-07:00

Wow that is quite the drive, but we made it to the "Big Sky Country", Montana! I am afraid I don't have much time to update right now. We have missed our Internet terribly, and now that it is hooked up we have a lot of things to finish up, before closing on the practice in just 5 short days!!
I wanted to say a big THANK YOU for all those who helped us during our quick move! I couldn't have done it without you all! Thank you so much.
More to come soon.......

HERE WE GO.....

2008-03-09T01:13:00.000-08:00

OKAY so we put and offer in on a dental practice on Wednesday of last week, and by Friday it was a done deal. We are the new owners of a practice in Billings Montana, and we will start APRIL 1st. Yes that's right APRIL 1st! OH yes did I mention that gives us about 10 days to pack up this place and be on the road!! I am so not a fly by the seat of your pants kind of girl! But I am holding on (for dear life) and hoping that I do not kill over from anxiety attack before this is done! The truck comes on March 17Th ready or not!! I do have to say however that the Lord has blessed us so much. After trying to find something for so long and having several practices slip through our hands we finally found the ONE! And who would have thought to look in Montana. I am amazed at how fast things can be put together when it is the right one! ( My girls are only excited because we are moving to "HANNAH MONTANA"!)

This is so bitter sweet in so many ways! I have had to come to terms with my feelings a whole lot sooner than I wanted to. I will really miss this place! Kentucky has been the place our family has grown. When we moved here Kaitlyn was 2 1/2 and Jenna was 6 months old. Madelyn was not even a second thought! We have grown together here, cried together here, laughed together here, and met fabulous friends that filled in as family while we were away from ours. We have discovered new wonders like "blink blink bugs, and trees that flower abundantly( I had no idea so many trees flowered), humidity, tornadoes, ice storms, and currently 13 inches of SNOW!! I think I will really miss Kentucky. But I am excited to continue our little adventure, and find out what is next around the corner. Don't get me wrong I am also scared to death. To our friends we are leaving behind, we love you and will miss you terribly, please keep in touch and know that our door is always open. To our families we can't wait to be a little closer and catch up on lost time, and lost teeth! To Billings Montana Look out HERE we COME!!

What a Trip!

2008-03-08T07:31:00.000-08:00

What a crazy week. I didn't realize what kind of miles we traveled until I started adding it up! We flew a total of 4054 miles, and then drove another 1598 miles! I think we took full advantage of the "unlimited miles" on the rental car. We took the kids to my parents for a week so that Joe and I could look at some practice opportunities in Montana. After dropping the kids off we hadn't been on the road for more than 1 1/2 hours when the jeep behind us slid off the road and flipped on it's side. Luckily no one was hurt. We were able to help them out( a father and 9 year old son) and get them where they needed to go. We continued on our trip and had clear roads the rest of the week. What a blessing that was. We feel like we saw a good chunk of the state of Montana. We made a good loop through the state. We looked at 3 practices while we were in Montana before heading back to pick up the kids from grandma's. ( What a life saver grandparents are! We can't wait to be a little bit closer.) There is something to be said about knowing that your kids are taken care of, I am pretty sure I missed them more than they missed me! They had a great time. We then made the long flight back and headed for home!

Happy 7th Kaitlyn

2008-03-04T07:59:00.001-08:00

Kaitlyn just celebrated her 7th birthday. I can hardly believe I am the mother of a 7 year old. She seems so grown up these days! It was a pretty crazy week for us. We were trying to get ready for a trip back west to look at some practice opportunities. We left the day after her birthday. Somehow we pulled off a last minute birthday party and made it a special day for her.
Kailtyn is such a good helper. And I am so proud of her. Last night after school she had a lot of homework. She had a paper to write that wasn't due until next week, her usual homework(which is a packet for the whole week), and a few things she missed last week that we didn't get before she left. She did it ALL last night. She was so determined to get it done, just so she could turn it all in tomorrow. She is such a hard worker and a great sister. Madelyn calls her "Cake" (for Kate) and loves her to death, Jenna can't hardly wait for her to get home from school and looks up to her so much! We Love You SIS!

Kentucky Weather

2008-03-04T07:59:00.000-08:00

I am a little behind on blogging but I wanted to post a few pictures from 2 weeks ago when we had an ice storm. First what a funny day that was. I am usually one to get up and around and be ready to go by the time the kids head out the door for school. I had a whole day to busily try and get laundry done and start the packing process for our upcoming trip out west. So of course on this day I was STILL in my pajamas! ( yes I think I learned my lesson). Joe called and said that they were closing the University and sending the residents home. I hopped on the computer and didn't see anything about schools and looked outside and it looked fine. I didn't think much of it. about a half an hour later I went to turn on some cartoons for the kids and the news station said they were dismissing school at 10:00!It was 9:58!! I panicked and called my faithful carpooling buddy Cathy, and literally RAN out the door. No wallet, No cellphone, Pajama's pants on, with tennis shoes! Needless to say I was a MESS! On the way to the school I had the radio on which was useless. The announcer came on and said that they were dismissing school early and to LOG ON to their site for further details! ( A little difficult to do when you are in the CAR don't you think) By the time I got to the school there was no one in carpool line and I thought that I was really late. So I had to go IN. ( I was mortified) Come to find out as I left my house they had changed the dismissal time to 11:00 and I was early! (Thanks to the radio I missed that little announcement since I couldn't LOG on in my CAR!) Anyway all in all I got the kids and we went home just in time for this ice storm to hit. These storms I think leave things looking beautiful! But I can definitely see the danger in them if you have to be out and about. It took Joe quite a while to get home and we were pretty glad to see him when he walked in the door. Anyway we have only had 2 of these since we have lived in Kentucky.

Happy Birthday

2008-02-07T09:01:00.000-08:00

I woke up this morning to footsteps coming down the stairs. Usually the kids always come to my side of the bed since Daddy is such a deep sleeper. This morning I heard Kaitlyn trying to wake up Daddy. She was very excited since today was donuts for Dad at school and my birthday. I didn't hear all of what she said but got the just of it. She was working on a special something for my birthday. She ran upstairs and got Jenna. They were so cute they went to the kitchen and began making breakfast for me. (Okay as a Mom this is actually pretty frightening with no supervision.) Joe was in the shower and I could hear the girls in the kitchen. I didn't dare get up for fear of breaking their hearts. I was somewhat relieved when Kaitlyn came in and asked me where my favorite cereal was. ( cereal can't be too messy)Then what milk should I use? Mom do you put sugar on it? Then the final product ......

I just love these little munchkins! How creative and with NO help. They also made me some very cute cards.

They also prompted Madelyn to say happy birthday by breaking it into syllables for her. She is such a little parrot these days.

Joe makes a mean chocolate cake with homemade chocolate buttercream frosting! Yummy!

I better go get started on that treadmill NOW!

Taking Cover

2008-02-07T08:22:00.000-08:00

Tuesday we had some pretty severe weather. I am one to take tornado's seriously after one hit my Grandparents house in Colorado when I was a little girl. It seems like during the day they aren't quite as frightening as they are in the middle of the night. Here is a picture of one of the weather stations and what we were watching as the storm came at us.

Our "tornado shelter" is under our stairway which the girls think is quite a fun LITTLE hideout. This is also where we keep our food storage so when a tornado is predicted we have to move out ALL the food storage. I am pretty sure if someone came to check on us, they would think the storm had hit our living room after throwing everything out of the closet! Here is a picture of how we spent a few hours Tuesday night I think it was about 12:30am!

The girls seem to be having a great time it is just Mom that looks worn out!

My beloved Prophet

2008-02-03T19:14:00.000-08:00

I am pretty sure that I am one of the most computer illiterate people out there which is why I have this fabulous tribute as a link!

President Gordon B. Hinckley has been the prophet during my most impressionable years. During the time of finding myself and who I am. I remember countless talks he gave during those roller coaster "Dating Years", as well as starting out as a young new family. I loved that at 97 he still had such a fabulous sense of humor. Many of you might remember when he "knighted" President Eyring into the first presidency with his cane, this past conference. This link has his testimony on it and I felt like it was really well done. It is a few minutes long but well worth it!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DONH655IR1E

SISTERS

2008-02-03T18:37:00.000-08:00

I just LOVE it when my girls play together without any whining, crying , fighting, fussing etc...

They played so cute this weekend I had to take a picture. Madelyn loved being the center of attention. She really loves her sisters! They were playing house with Madelyn she is so cooperative she just lays where they put her and plays right along! I never had any sisters just 4 brothers. I hope that they can become best friends for life, even through all the whining, fighting, and fussing. Somehow that would make it all worth it!

A SnOw DaY!

2008-02-03T18:18:00.000-08:00

Okay so I am back posting a little. I miss placed my pictures but alas they are found!

I think this is so funny. A few weeks ago we had a delayed school Snow day!That means the kids go to school 2 hours later than usual.

This is the picture of our SNOW day!! ( notice the lack of snow you can still see the grass!) I always tease the kids and tell them that they had to delay school just so they have a chance to actually say they got to play in the snow this year!!

Back when I was a kid and had to walk to school barefoot uphill both ways...The only way we got out of school is if the temperature was -20 or below. I remember being very disappointed that at 6:00am when they took the readings it would ONLY be -19 and off to school we would go! I can only remember 2 actual snow days. One was an unexpected blizzard in MAY, and the other was a time that we had gotten so much snow over night, that our cow was standing in our backyard! The snow was as high as the fence! We had to go tromp down the fence line so we could keep the cow in the pasture! So you can imagine my surprise when school is delayed for THIS!

The worst part is that they delayed school and when Kailtyn had gotten there they had some pipes break.The whole downstairs was flooded (Where Kailtyns class is) but instead of canceling school they had them double up classes upstairs! The teachers weren't even able to go down and get supplies! So pretty much they watched movies!! They had 5th grade and 1st grade classes together and everything in between. Now that seems like a logical reason to cancel school to me!!

God's Cake

2008-01-27T12:16:00.000-08:00

I have been trying to think of a way to sum up my feelings over the last few weeks. Without going into detail. We have been faced with some interesting decisions and found many challenges along the way. I found this little quote on a friends site and it seemed so fitting for our family right now. I wanted to post this mostly for my Journal.

GOD'S CAKE
Sometimes we wonder, “What did I do to deserve this?” or “Why did God have to do this to me?” Here is a wonderful explanation!A daughter is telling her Mother how everything is going wrong, she's failing algebra, her boyfriend broke up with her and her best friend is moving away. Meanwhile, her Mother is baking a cake and asks her daughter if she would like a snack, and the daughter says, “Absolutely Mom, I love your cake.” “Here, have some cooking oil,” her Mother offers. “Yuck” says her daughter. “How about a couple raw eggs?” “Gross, Mom!” “Would you like some flour then? Or maybe baking soda?” “Mom, those are all yucky!” To which the mother replies: “Yes, all those things seem bad all by themselves. But when they are put together in the right way, they make a wonderfully delicious cake!”God works the same way. Many times we wonder why He would let us go through such bad and difficult times. But God knows that when He puts these things all in His order, they always work for good! We just have to trust Him and, eventually, they will all make something wonderful!

Beauty and the BEAST

2008-01-13T17:40:00.000-08:00

BEAUTY

and the

THE BEAST!!

Okay so I have joined the ranks with the other half of America in making a goal to LOSE THE WEIGHT!! I am really serious this time and I am determined to see some results! I seem to be motivated by dollar signs! (It is not what you think let me explain!) We bought a treadmill, they are not cheap. I feel guilty for spending money on a treadmill. So now I feel obligated to use it. Every time I see it, I think of the money I spent. I can't help but to think I better hop on the eye sore, that now takes up half my living room, and get my moneys worth! I really feel as though it is an investment for our health, and I hope that before it loses it's novelty, I will put it to great use! Wish me luck, and to not be so sore!

OF Course the picture of the hottie at the top of the page is ME! I cannot believe you would even think it COULD be someone else!

All in a Days Work!

2008-01-09T12:29:00.001-08:00

A couple of friends and I have gotten together and have decided to give freezer meals a try! This was our first month trying it, so we are still fine tuning it. We took a day and cooked all day! We made 12 meals for each of us for a whopping 36 meals total in one day!! I thought it was fun and a bit of a challenge to think in large quantities and to try and get the best for your buck!

At the end of the day this is what I have to fill my freezer with! I am so excited to have some good homemade meals made up and ready to go! Now if I can just bring myself to use them! I tend to want to wait and save them for the "one night" when I really need it!

All this frugal planning has been going to my head and I am ready to get organized! ( It must be the new year!) http://www.organizedhome.com I found this site that I have found a couple of ideas that I plan to implement! So I thought I would share!! I am being completely over run by paper clutter and I can't seem to get a handle on it. They had a great idea about a household notebook, and a great filing system for everyday!

Happy Birthday Jenna

2008-01-09T12:12:00.000-08:00

Jenna just had her 5th birthday! What a fun time we had with her "Ariel princess dress-up party!" Complete with a throne!

She had 5 little princesses over for her party and I think they all had fun. Even Madelyn got dressed up for the occasion!

Kaitlyn was a great helper even though it is sometimes hard to have to give up the spotlight even for an afternoon. Kaitlyn and Jenna have been dreaming up the details of this party for weeks now! We played diamond diamond who has the diamond. And princess freeze dance. The girls all of course made crowns and LOVED the glitter glue. ( I am sure there are a few crowns that STILL haven't dried!)
I can't believe my Jenna is 5! Where does the time go!

Christmas in Kentucky

2007-12-30T22:39:00.000-08:00

We flew home on Dec. 26th. Madelyn was a bit of a turkey on the airplane. Poor kiddo didn't feel well and didn't sleep well the night before.(neither did MOM) But we were so glad to be home. However Santa had come to our house and even though it was after 10:00pm, who can wait to open SANTA presents!! We stayed up until 1:00am having Christmas!! Very fun after a long day of traveling. I think we were all just glad to have some space and not be on the airplane anymore! We are still trying to adjust to Kentucky time. Good thing we gave the girls a week before school started it might take us that long to get back on track!

A white Christmas In IDAHO

2007-12-30T21:56:00.000-08:00

I had to post this picture for some of you Kentuckians who have never seen this much snow in all of your lives!! For me Christmas isn't the same without some snow. In fact I have a hard time convincing myself that it is winter here in Kentucky, after going home and seeing this!

We had such a fun trip home. We were able to stop and see the Temple square lights in Salt lake city. I am always in awe at how beautiful Temple square always is. I wish our pictures would have turned out better. It was a truly beautiful.

We played in the snow. The girls had so much fun in the snow! Both of their faces were chapped from being out in it so long. They rode for hours on the sled behind the snowmobile. Madelyn wasn't to thrilled with the snow.

We spent some time with Joe's family trying to get all the girls to sit pretty in their new dresses! I hope Grandma got a good one because ours didn't turn out so great!
Thanks Dan and Julie for letting us stay with you!! We had a fun Christmas Party and spent time catching up.

On Christmas Eve the pajama Fairy found us at Grandma's house! And look what she brought the DA D's!! ( Joe is going to kill me!!)

These were so funny complete with the flap in the back!!

Christmas Day was bitter sweet knowing our time was up and we were headed back to Kentucky. None the less Santa found us and informed the girls that he had brought them a little something but there gifts that they really wanted were in Kentucky waiting for them!

We were able to spend Christmas night with Joe's sister and family in Payson Utah. This is one of the few trips we have been able to see everyone!! Including my grandparents, Oh how I love them! Thanks everyone for making Christmas so special this year! We loved spending time with you and miss you all already!!

Thanksgiving memories

2007-12-28T21:29:00.000-08:00

We finally got around to getting all of our pictures downloaded again.
So I am back posting for my Journal.

Over Thanksgiving break we had so many leaves in our yard. I always think it is funny because we don't even have a tree in our yard anymore. We had one when we first moved here and it was ant infested. One day a huge limb fell and they had to cut the whole thing down. Anyway, I miss my tree but not so much in the fall. Kaitlyn has become quite good friends with our neighbor Angie. She has a little girl about 6 months older than Madelyn named Anna. Kaitlyn PROMISED Angie she would help her rake her leaves. Kaitlyn helped her one afternoon, and then continued to ask for weeks when she could go rake more leaves. Anyway when we decided to rake our leaves we borrowed Angie's rake so we could get the job done faster. In return we decided to help Angie and rake her whole front yard!! Kaitlyn and Joe did all of it.

The pile was huge and who can resist jumping in a pile that big of leaves! Joe threw Kaitlyn in a few times, until her shoe fell off somewhere in this pile. It was impossible to find. We looked for awhile and then gave up. Once all the leaves were bagged Angie brought the shoe over. She found it before bagging the last bag of leaves! Kaitlyn was so proud of herself and her hard work. I was really proud of her too.

Our Top 2007 List

2007-12-08T19:44:00.001-08:00

This is a fun idea. The Yates top 10, in no particular order....

#10- Joe Graduated from Dental School!!! YEAH
#9- We were able to enjoy one more beautiful fall in Kentucky. (We are looking forward to another spring too!!)
#8- Kaitlyn is in 1st grade and has really done well in school. She is reading on a 3rd grade level! Kaitlyn always has a story to tell and can usually be found performing something.
#7- Jenna loves preschool this year, and has started reading! Jenna loves doing little craft projects and doing "homework" in her workbooks.
#6- Madelyn has grown so much this year. She started to walk , talk, dance, play, and she gives great HUGS! I am always so amazed at how much they understand at such a young age.
#5- We have been able to explore Kentucky this year something we had not taken advantage of in previous years. We have been to several state parks, and have enjoyed some overnight adventures camping!
#4- Joe and I have been married for 7 years! ( and he is still putting up with me!)
#3 -We are so blessed to have so many great Friends and Family!
#2- We have been so blessed this year with good health.
#1 -At the last minute, things have fallen into place to go home for Christmas!!

I think I will tag Pam!

My walmart love hate relationship!

2007-12-05T12:20:00.000-08:00

I love walmart prices! However I find myself so MAD at walmart on so many occasions. Last week BOTH our cars needed some attention. The van needed the tires rotated and balanced and the car needed an oil change. Since walmart is cheap we of course bought our tires there, so this service would/should be free. Apparently, you need to purchase a cart load of patience along with the tire warranty. I waited for 2 hours on monday morning with a hungry little toddler who hates shopping. We did our grocery shopping and the lady that brought her car in AFTER mine found me in the dairy section. She had just checked on her car and it was in the shop and nearly finished. Not to draw an obvious conclusion but since I had come in before her, I figured that mine was probably finished. So I bought my things and headed for the tire center. Only to find my car had not moved. Yep still right where I left it, not a thing done to it. I mentioned that I thought they took the cars in the order they arrived and sure enough the lady confirmed this. So why is my car still sitting there you ask, good question. Madelyn was completely loosing it after 2 hours of wondering, so we decided to leave.
The next night we decided to just make an evening of it. We went to Walmart with the 2 vehicles. Joe's car went in first and then the van. So here we ALL are at Walmart at 6:00 at night. First came the "I need to use the bathroom from Kaitlyn and Jenna." So we head into the bathroom only to find not a single piece of toilet paper! Only moments later Jenna starts screaming. Apparently when she sat down somehow the toilet pinched her leg under the lid. ( still not sure HOW this happened) I got Jenna settled down and under control and we go to wash our hands. Here we find only one out of 3 of the motion sensors for the water works!! Great there is now a long line because we held things up with the leg incident, and only one place to wash hands lovely! We find Joe and get in line to pay for our things. We wait FOREVER in line to pay for our items. (this no longer surprises me at walmart, it is a guarantee!) Okay so back to the tire center we go. Joe's car is done! yeah Apparently they can't find the locking hub cap wrench for the van. So I go out to the garage with the guy to get it for him. We get out there and he goes to lower the van. There is this terrible loud crunching noise! The guy swears and then disappears and leaves me standing there. I waited and waited and waited 15 minutes goes by and I am not sure what is going on! I walk back to the service desk . Apparently the lift was not working properly and he had to go get someone to help him. They finally get the Van down and I decided to grab the car seat so I could take my tired kids home and leave Joe to wait for the van. I load all the kids in the car get all the car seats situated and start down the road. We get about 3 blocks and the car starts smoking and smells awful! I turned around and headed back to WALMART! We find that they have over filled the oil and spilled it all over the manifold. By this time the van is done and we see the mechanic pull it out of the garage and go speeding through the parking lot squealing the tires around the corner!! NICE THATS MY CAR!! At this point we were still waiting for Joe's car to cool down enough to check the oil . Joe went in to get the keys for the van. I load all the kids up in the Van this time. Joe comes out to check the oil and Walmart locked the door! Yep we are parked not 3 feet from the door with the hood up. They were aware that there was a problem, and they locked the door anyway! So nothing we can do but head home now. I get in the van and they tossed the oily locking wrench on the console. Oil everywhere. Not to mention all the stuff that once was on the console is spread throughout my car from the crazy mechanic speeding through the parking lot! To top the entire evening off we get home to find out that they actually ended up charging us for the tire rotation which should have been free, and they left a big oil stain on the seat of Joe's car, which is now on both of our PANTS!! Don't you just LOVE WALMART! The funny thing is that we are looking into a practice that is 2 hours from the nearest walmart and I have been sad about it!! My ongoing love hate relationship continues I guess!

Bernheim Forest

2007-11-25T17:57:00.001-08:00

I was so sad when we got to Bernheim Forest and realized we were about a week too late for all the beautiful vibrant fall colors.
This road looked somewhat promising but it was closed due to hunting season. I really wanted to take some fun outdoor pictures this year. Trying to get 3 dramatic girls to hold still and act somewhat natural for 5 minutes is quite the task. This is as good as it got!! Looks like we will be headed for the studio once again for some family pictures.

Jenna 4, Madelyn 18 months, Kaitlyn 6

They were all so excited to go and see the deer that
we only got a few pictures. Even Madelyn was into the whole posing thing!! They are so funny. I don't think I have a picture of Kaitlyn without her head tilted to one side or another. And Jenna tries to sit pretty but her posed princess smile is not quite the one I want to hang on my wall. ( This is actually a pretty good one of Jenna.) We had a good time anyway and spent plenty of time petting the one eyed deer. We also spent a good amount of time answering random questions about petting a wild animal, and speculating why the deer only had one eye!!

Tom Sawyer Park

2007-11-25T17:23:00.000-08:00

A couple weeks ago we went to Tom Sawyer Park. The weather was beautiful and we all needed some fresh air. This was Madelyn not wanting to sit on the bench for her picture.

I love this picture!! The girls didn't want their picture taken and were hiding and running away on the playground equipment. It turned in to a fun game of camera tag! Joe and I kept trading off the camera and trying to "catch" them in a photo. Don't they look surprised!

If we don't catch them off guard they always insist on posing for us. This is their posed picture!!

As we were leaving there were a bunch of hot air balloons launching. Our family always gets excited when we see hot air balloons. We stopped and watched until they had all lifted off.

Baby Talk

2007-11-15T14:47:00.000-08:00

My other girls seemed to talk a lot! Madelyn doesn't really seem to care much about the whole talking thing. She says MAMA in a very demanding tone. For a long time everything was MAMA. She has added a few words Ball, Daddy, MINE and her most recent Bubble! It seems to me that my other girls said a lot more at this age ( could be my selective memory.)
Anyway it is something I have been working on with her. I have never used sign language with my other kids. But started looking into a little. I found this site http://www.signwithme.com/ It explains the sign and shows you a small video clip of the sign. I am so impressed with how Madelyn has done with this. She has learned 5 signs in the last 2 days and really seems to like it. (please, more, bath, bedtime, and drink) She also tries to say the word with the sign. Which I feel is a huge step in her communication. I wish I would have started this earlier with her. It has been fun for all of us to learn something new. It is also fun to see her come up with her own signs when she is trying to tell me something. My favorite is when she opens her mouth and points at her tongue and says ahhhh. She wants something to eat.

Tender Moments

2007-11-13T10:10:00.000-08:00

I guess this post is more for the Grandparents.
Our Family Home Evening last night was about testimonies. There is nothing sweeter than the simple testimony of a child. We were asked to write our testimonies for my brother, who is on his Mission, for Christmas.

Kaitlyn: 6 years old.
When I turn eight I will get baptised. After the baptism I will get the holy ghost.
What I think about Missionaries is that they teach you the gospel and you learn about Jesus without going to church. They teach you good things.
I know that the church is true and that the holy ghost is real. I know that Jesus and Heavenly Father are real.
I know that everything I learn in the church is real.
When I grow up to be a missionary, I will teach the gospel. But before I grow up to be a missionary I must learn the gospel. I know that all these things are true.

Jenna: 4 years old.
I think that Heavenly Father, Jesus and the Holy ghost is true. Oh and I think Joseph smith is real too.
When I turn eight , I get baptised. You go down into the water and you might need to plug your nose. I think the Holy ghost is a good thing and I like it.
I like the Missionaries and want to be one when I get big. The best thing about being a missionary would be the blessings.

Madelyn: 18 months.
Recently started nursery and lOVES it.

There is more tagging going on!

2007-11-06T18:38:00.000-08:00

I have been tagged a few times in the last week or so. I know I am cheating by only listing 6 but I really am not that interesting!

1: I am completely grossed out by other peoples feet! They are cold, clammy, smelly and really just gross. I can't stand bare feet touching me. There goes my career in Pedicures!

2:One of my all time favorite snacks is a regular potato chip with a piece of cheese and a drop of ranch dressing! It is really good you should try it, I am pretty sure it is FAT FREE!!

3:I sleep with my eyes open. Not wide open but slightly open. I know it is really creepy! I use to hate falling asleep on the bus for school trips! I would wake up with people standing over me holding up fingers trying to decide if I could see or not while I was asleep. Then the comments gross, that is sooo weird etc....

4: I am not a fan of large crowds. Hence the reason my Christmas shopping is half done! yeah

5: I am absolutely in love with Cheddars Chocolate cake! If you haven't had it you have to go. First of all it is huge!! Second it is a whole lot of chocolaty goodness all layered and drenched in more chocolaty goodness. It is a good thing it takes me a good 30 minutes to make my way to Cheddars. I am getting hungry just thinking about it! Yummy

6: I can't dance to save my life! I have absolutely no rhythm.

Well There you have it more useless trivial facts about me!! I have no idea who to tag I think everyone has done it! Sorry

Tis the Season

2007-11-04T19:19:00.000-08:00

With Halloween behind us, it seems it is time to look towards Christmas!! I can hardly believe it is that time of year again.
As my girls get older I feel like they should be more involved in the whole Christmas process. I would like to help make their Christmas more meaningful by giving them opportunities to earn money and then use it to purchase/make gifts for others in the family. It is a great thought isn't it! Here is the problem, I am completely at a loss at how to begin. Does anyone have any great ideas on how they have involved their families more for Christmas??
I guess this brings me to another petty confession. My kids rarely do chores and I feel like I am doing them such a disservice. We have tried a few different things but nothing has really stuck. I am torn between the whole allowance thing. I don't want them to think every time they pick up a sock they should be rewarded. However, I do feel like they are getting old enough that I would like to teach them some basic money management.(save 4 quarters earn a trip to the dollar store. ) I would like them to be able to have some daily or even weekly responsibilities!! I know a few of you out there have figured this out and have "happy" helpers in your home right now! I need all the help I can get, any thoughts....

Halloween Masterpiece

2007-10-30T10:11:00.000-07:00

Joe loves Halloween. In fact I sometimes think he likes it more than Christmas. I remember our first Halloween after we were married. I came home from work and Joe had taken a trip to the local DI and purchased several bags and pieces of random things, which I believe included a vacuum. This is what he came up with.

I should have figured out then that Halloween was a big deal! These were our costumes last year.

I have been telling my kids all season that part of Halloween is your imagination. You don't have to look exactly like the character you are dressing up as. Joe however pays attention to all the fine details. This Halloween started out with Joe making this fake nose. We had a lot of fun with this. However after a trip to Kmart his costume took on a different direction that was so good the nose was no longer needed!

Joe tried this wig on at K-mart where we purchased it. He came out of the dressing room and said "HEY" I looked and I literally did a double take, I didn't think it was Joe. From the teeth, to the tattoos, to the fake belt buckle made from a silver dollar and Gerber baby food lid. Here is the Masterpiece! It did win him 1st prize at the Border's Halloween bash!!

7 days of bad luck

2007-10-30T07:59:00.000-07:00

It all started when Kaitlyn came home from school and announced that someone at school had given her a "Bad Luck" charm......

My Mom came to visit which is always such a treat for me. I LOVE my MOM!! Her flight was delayed several hours and she didn't arrive until 4:00 in the morning! It is kind of a family joke that whenever my Mom travels or plans a trip you can count on bad weather. Well this one was no different after the worst drought in Kentucky history, as I was driving to the airport at 4:00 in the morning, it started to RAIN! (something we haven't seen in months!) The next afternoon we got a phone call from home. My Dad owns his own construction business. He had fallen off 12 foot roof and shattered his heel up into his ankle. He was told to stay off of it for two weeks to let the swelling go down before surgery.We are so fortunate that only his leg is broken, it could have been so much worse. The next few days were filled with concern and uncertainty not sure whether to send Mom home, or keep her in Kentucky. My brothers all pitched in and helped out when they could, so she was able to stay the whole time. (Thanks guys!)The next day we got another phone call and her roof at home had been leaking. My Dad was stuck in bed so again my brothers ( you gotta love them) pitched in and tore out all the carpet and took care of the leak.
Then came the weather in Kentucky, TORNADO'S ! Not something our family takes lightly after my Grandmothers house was hit when I was growing up. That made for a fun filled evening, Joe was gone teaching a class of 14 Female Dental assistants, who were also panicked, and his girls at home were a mess too! (girl drama overload, poor guy) The week wouldn't have been complete without throwing a few sick kids into the picture. Kaitlyn had strep throat, and Madelyn had a terrible cold. Which is no surprise since we had 3 days filled with drenching rain which we desperately needed. Kentucky went from the worst drought ever to the wettest October ever, in just 3 days! ( You can thank my Mom for the rain!!) We thought things were starting to look up when the day before my Mom left my washer started making a clunking sound! With 3 kids and more company coming in, I couldn't be without a washer for very long! The washer story deserves a blog of it's own!! I am proud to say my mom and I had the washer bought, loaded and even installed by ourselves by the end of the day. That is one appliance I don't think I could live without!
Our bad luck streak seems to be improving. And looking back in each of these trials there was a blessing that also came with it. I was so impressed with my Dad's attitude in all of this. I borrowed this quote he sent me.
"Bad breaks... need not break a good man; They may with God's help even make him better." Neal A Maxwell - Experience, pp 40-41

Even through our bad luck streak we were able to have a good time though. We went to the Zoo trick or treating, Huber's Farm pumpkin picking, Christmas shopping and more.

We told the girls they could pick any pumpkin they wanted, as long as they could carry it. They had so much fun finding the perfect one!

THE RACE

2007-10-15T17:19:00.000-07:00

(One of the many shirts we saw at the Race!)

Saturday was the race for the Cure. My friends Cathy and Missy ran it with me. Cathy posted a picture of all the stuff we got for participating on her blog. We went early and it was like trick or treating for adults!! We just walked around and collected all the things the sponsors of the race were giving away. Then of course we had to run. I must say it is a pretty awesome sight to see as far as you can see, people running or walking, united for a purpose. What a way to wake up in the morning! I wish I would have had my camera. I think they were expecting 11,000 participants this year! I always have a sense of accomplishment when I finish, even though I would have liked to do better. I am proud of my comrades too. This was Missy's first race, and I think she had a good time. And in this race we were given 2 different T-shirts which made Cathy's day! (Unfortunatlely our shirts weren't quite as great as the one above!)Way to go Lady's!!

Thinking PINK

2007-10-06T17:41:00.001-07:00

Okay LADIES, If you are not a LADY you should stop reading right NOW! Beings this is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, I thought I would share a very personal story. About 3 weeks ago I went to see my Ob-Gyn. I had a spot on my breast that was bothering me. My doctor had a very quizzical look on his face and replied " If you were my daughter or my wife I would want this checked out. So that is what we are going to do, I am going to send you for a MAMMOGRAM!" (YIKES) I was terrified. First of all I am 28! I am to young to be starting mammograms! I tried really hard not to think about it. But I was a total wreck the night before my mammogram. Partly for the unknown and partly because of the procedure itself! I honestly do not think I have ever been that worried about a test ever! I was so fortunate though there was a Doctor on hand the day of my Mammo. He looked at the images while I waited to see if I needed any more tests done. I am so relieved and grateful everything seems to be fine.
My heart goes out to those women that go in and have that same experience, with very different ending results! My life literally could have been turned upside down in a matter of minutes. I am running the race for the cure next Saturday. I signed up to do this long before my little incident. I am really excited about it though, and just want to put my plug in for breast cancer! I found this link(at the top of the page)that you can click on everyday and sponsors help pay for Mammograms. If they have 500 clicks on their site in October their top sponsor will pay for 150 mammograms! (Might I just add they are not cheap, and I am not really sure why we pay for insurance when they don't pay more for things like this!) Once you click on their site on the right side it says in a pink box click here to give-it's free! Click that box and your done! Okay so that is my ten cents. Do your part and click when you can!

Kids Say the Funniest Things

2007-10-02T17:51:00.000-07:00

I have tried to keep track of the cute things my kids have said. Kaitlyn has kind of out grown this phase and I have some of her things wriiten inher scrapbook.Jenna just keeps them coming!
This picture of Madelyn inspired me to finally get Jenna's written down in one place. Madelyn has started the hitting phase. Joe put her in the corner over the weekend. Today she hit Jenna and immediately put herself in timeout, in the corner!!

Kaitlyn: I think I would like to run a race, just with not very many fast people!

We were talking about how carrots help you see in the dark, and Kaitlyn asked what does corn do?
Jenna: Corn helps you hear! ( An ear of Corn)

Mom: When we get home you have to take a bath.
Jenna: WHY?
Mom: Well look at your toes – they’re all yucky.
Jenna: Oh, they’re just naturally yucky.

We went to a balloon glow and they had to cancel and pull the balloons down because the wind was too much. The girls were upset and on the way home were complaining.
Mom: They had to pull the balloons down because the wind was too strong. If they didn’t someone could get hurt.
Kaitlyn: Yeah, and maybe even die.
Jenna: Well, if they did I would make them a headstone and give it to them.

We had the missionaries over for dinner and Jenna was telling the missionary how old she would be next year in her most Kentucky drawl.

Jenna: Next year I’m going to be five (pronounced fahv)
Missionary: You’re going to be fahv?
Jenna: I know! I have a Kentucky accident!

Jenna: Hey, I know! If I ate a hairball I’d have a hairt attack (heart attack pronounced like hair)! Ha, ha, ha, ha!

Mom and Jenna got on the elevator at the library to go to story hour
Jenna: Ugh, I don’t like these things.
Mom: Why not?
Jenna: They make me elevator sick.

The Berry MoNsTeR

2007-09-26T11:32:00.000-07:00

Last week we went to Huber's Farm with Cathy. We picked Raspberries and Madelyn LOVED them! She was covered within minutes. Ashleigh, and Jenna didn't want her to come close to them because she was so messy. It was so funny watching Madelyn chase the girls throughout the berry patch. Madelyn would also steal my basket of berrys every times I sat it down.

We also picked some apples and brought home some delicious Apple cider. (Which I was dying to have, it is the best!)When we went to pay they had me pay a quarter for Madelyn! She must have looked like she ate her weight in berries!

Paper Clutter No More

2007-09-26T07:41:00.000-07:00

Okay so yesterday I spent the day sorting years worth of school papers for Kaitlyn and Jenna. I am so excited though. My sister in law (Julie) had a great idea of making their papers into a book. I went to Kinko's and got them bound this morning! I was just so impressed with how they turned out and my girls absolutely love them!! The best part is that you can add to it. For example Jenna has one more year of preschool. At the end of next year I will compile her papers, and have Kinko's punch the binding holes in it. Then I can just add it to her preschool book. I also laminated the front and back page just to make it a little more durable.Thanks so much for the idea.

Now if I just had a plan to keep Madelyn from destroying the house....

Question?

2007-09-24T08:44:00.000-07:00

I have noticed that a lot of my fellow bloggers have started doing private blogs. Did I miss something? Is blogging not as safe as I thought it was? How do you go about doing a private blog anyway?

Sleepless in Kentucky

2007-09-23T20:41:00.000-07:00

Kaitlyn drew this parrot at school, I thought she did such a great job!

I loved the idea of scanning it into our computer!(thanks Cathy) I am completely over run with paper clutter each day when the girls get home from school. Does anyone have any ideas on how to cut down on school papers? Kaitlyn wants to keep everything, and it just isn't possible! I have tried to have her just pick one or two of her favorites, but it seems to be a gut wrenching decision for her.( Oh the Drama!)

So we have always felt pretty blessed for this little house we have been renting. (I still owe Deanna at the very least a Steak Dinner, for helping us find it.) Just recently I have been feeling that itch, where I am ready for a change. I don't feel like I have room for anything anymore. (Partly due to my daughters paper obsession!) I am sure it comes from all our friends getting settled into there new houses. I am slightly jealous! (No really after the critter incident, I think I might be ready to move on!) The top on our list is a house with a bathroom fan! That isn't to much to ask, after 7 years of marriage is it?? Okay, so I am sure you all have things about your houses/neighborhoods that just drive you crazy. Our big one is that the trash man comes at wee hours in the morning for the businesses just down the street. I understand they have to start somewhere, but do they really have to bang the dumpster several times repeatedly at 4 in the morning? We have never really had to much problem here, other than the drunk guy who ran his bike into our tree in the middle of the night. Last night at 3:00 in the morning someone decided it was the fourth of July!! Fireworks were going off! It seriously lasted for about 5 minutes! They are just lucky that my kids had already ALL been up for various reasons, and were now sleeping soundly! I was so mad! So I went back to bed and fumed about it for a while and worried mindlessly about this, that, and the other. I just settled in and started dosing off again when Madelyn woke up! ( Fortunately my sweet husband got up this time, and that doesn't happen very often.)I just want a whole nights sleep! You know one without critters gnawing on things in the middle of the night, with out trash cans banging and fireworks going off. Oh yes and then one where ALL of the children sleep soundly through the night! Oh and a house with a bathroom FAN!!

The Wonder Woman Award!

2007-09-23T17:55:00.000-07:00

Thank you Deanna for the Wonder Woman Award!! I am honored!
I have been thinking of a few good nominees, Drum Roll please......
I am nominating Cathy Borders, and Kariann Olson! Sorry Ladies I am a computer KLUTZ, and can't seem to figure out how to display your Wonder Woman Roses!

Cathy: I am always so amazed at all you accomplish. You are such an organized person. Your house is always spotless, and you always seem to be completely in control of whatever is thrown your way. I think you are such a great leader and have done so many great things with our Primary. I am so glad we have been able to get to know you and your beautiful family for one more year. You truly are a WONDER WOMAN!!

Kariann: We don't get the chance to catch up very often. But I think about you a lot. I think you are such a cute Mom, and you had to wait so long. TWINS need I say more! You seem to already have it down! My eyes are closing just thinking about how sleepless your nights could be. And then on top of being a very busy Mom, supporting Brady in all of his endeavors. You truly are a WONDER WOMAN!

Nine Eleven

2007-09-11T17:38:00.000-07:00

On my way home from taking Jenna to school this morning. I saw the fireman as they were just raising this flag. It brought tears to my eyes. First because it was one of the biggest flags I think I have ever seen, and at that moment, it made me proud to see it. And second, because life goes by so quickly, and we forget things so easily. I had remembered on Sunday that this week marked the 6th anniversary of the events on September 11th. But I got up this morning rushing around, and I didn't realize what day it was, until I drove by, and saw the flag. I truly am proud to be an American! My heart goes out to all those that have suffered from the tragic events of this day.

A new addition to the family

2007-09-11T15:36:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we went camping by Nolin Lake with the Borders and the Woodens. It is always fun to see different areas of the State. Kentucky is truly beautiful, and HUMID! Sleeping in a tent with four other bodies doesn't help the heat any either. Fortunately, Madelyn woke up several times during the night, and I could go roam the woods in the dark with my crying kid! I think all the adults woke up the next morning wondering why we torture ourselves for a night like this. But one look at the energetic kiddos catching bugs, and playing in the fire, and a good s'more, seems to make it all worth while. We always have a good time when we go, and leave with lots of fun memories. This time we also left with a little more than a memory...
We found a FROG! Which was quickly adopted and claimed for her own, by none other than Jenna! The frogs name is Hoppy! I have never seen Jenna so attached to anything ever. She hates creepy crawly things. However, she nearly passed up swimming in the lake, just to be able to hold "Hoppy" a little bit longer.
We told the girls that when we left, the frog would have to stay. The closer we got to leaving, the more evident it was, that we were not going to be able to leave, without Hoppy the frog.
I had to pry the container out of Jenna's hand, just to drive in the car.(Call me Crazy, but I didn't want to have a flying frog land in my lap, as we were driving down the interstate!)Anyway we now have a cage for hoppy and so far she has fared well. (Poor Joe even our pets are female!)
I just hope she(the frog) lives long enough for the novelty of her existence to wear off a little. Jenna and I spent the afternoon catching bugs for hoppy. I have no idea how much they eat, but she downed 3 Rollie pollies, a fly , an ant, and a beetle in about 5 minutes. I am not sure how we are going to feed this little critter in the winter. I am going to have to pay neighbor kids to catch bugs for my frog!

CHICAGO

2007-09-05T11:01:00.000-07:00

Over Labor day weekend we decided to take a trip to Chicago. Which is about a 5 hour trip. All in all, I think it went well. For some reason we always think that we will be able to sit back, and relax on vacation. Somehow traveling with 3 kids, is never as relaxing as I imagine it to be!

We made the mistake of staying by the airport, (thank you priceline!) It sounded great at first but once we got there we realized, we had very limited food options, as well as transportation. (Since we either had to pay $38 a day for parking or park in the airport economy lot and take a train to are car!) We ended up spending a lot of time on the subway, which we quickly noticed we were the only ones with kids on the subway! It wasn't all that bad once we got a little more familiar with the area.
The first day we walked through Millennium Park, there is this really neat water Park with these huge TV screens that shoot water out.

We also went to the Field museum which is where Sue the Dinosaur is. Sue is the most complete Dinosaur fossil ever found and it was discovered in 1999. The field museum had everything from Mummies to Crystals.
The second day we went to a place called Navy Pier. That was a lot of fun there is a great Children's museum, that we spent the majority of the day at. The girls had a great time digging for fossils!
The last day we swam at the hotel, which by the way was Jenna's favorite part of the trip! Sometimes as parents I think we try way to hard! We went to IKEA, which I have never been to an Ikea store it was huge! Then we took the kids to the Rain Forest cafe, and made some fun memories there.
It took forever to get out of Chicago. (That is one thing we noticed when we arrived is how busy it was still, at 10:00pm.) We ended up taking a wrong turn and toured a pretty rough part of Chicago. I was glad to see the interstate again. We had considered going to the Indiana Sand Dunes, but decided to head home. That is, until we missed our exit. (The signs are not marked well at all.) Once we stopped to buy an Indiana map and figure out where we were, we realized we were only about 15 minutes from the dunes, and the BEACH! I am so glad we missed our exit, because this was so worth it. We got to the beach right as the sun was starting to set. It was so beautiful.

We didn't have our beach attire on, but that never stops kids(or parents!) So when we were finished we were covered in sand and soaked from head to toe! It was so fun to watch the sun go down, and relax on the beach. I think this was the highlight of our trip!! At least it was for me.

Two sides to every story

2007-08-27T20:35:00.000-07:00

I have been a bit skittish lately about the dark! We have been finding a few rather large spiders in our house the last week. First we thought they were brown recluse spiders. Fortunately they are only Wolf spiders (as if that makes it okay) but they are huge and we have killed 3 in the last week. They come out at night or first thing in the morning. Joe has me completely freaked out of getting out of bed in the dark. (Don't worry Mom we have put out traps, and they will be gone before you get here in October! I hope)
Secondly I remembered at midnight that I hadn't taken the trash out for the trash man the next morning, so I did it at midnight. I got halfway down the driveway and there was some guy walking down my street. It totally took me off guard and spooked me. I quickly walked back flew up my stairs, shut and locked the door, and jumped into bed. Joe and I were Joking about it, wondering if he would have heard me, if I screamed. I am now convinced more than ever that he wouldn't have. Here is the Story:
It is 1:15 in the morning and I was awakened by some scratching noises. I sat up and sure enough I wasn't dreaming. I sat up and listened for awhile until I figured out which direction it was coming from. It seemed to be coming from the corner of our room where there is a window, but also Joe's closet! (Which might I add the hamper is hanging on the closet door, and he still can't get the clothes in it all the time.) I couldn't figure out if the noises were for sure coming from inside the house, or not. I listened and waited and then tried to wake up Joe. Okay Seriously, I was rolling his entire body from one side to the other, and it didn't even phase him! So I started tapping him frantically, still he didn't move. Finally I got in his face and was doing all of the above, at the same time, and shouting his name in a loud whisper. He woke up enough to say "what's up", rolled over, and went back to sleep! I woke him up again and said "Joe there is some kind of animal or something in our house and I have to go to the bathroom!" My big brave husband said, and I quote;"You better run fast!" Are you kidding me!! I thought husbands were suppose to protect you and laugh in the face of danger and all that stuff. I am happy to report I survived my trip to the bathroom, I think my feet only hit the floor 3 times from my bed to the bathroom!
By the time I got back the noises had stopped. I laid awake forever trying to go back to sleep. knowing that at any given moment a fuzzy nocturnal friend might crawl into my bed and my husband wouldn't even know it!

Okay so finally it is morning and Joe thinks I am making the whole thing up! I have been reading the book Twilight, it is about a vampire. He tells me on the way out the door that I should wear some garlic around my neck to be safe, until he gets home. So today I have cleaned out the entire corner no sign of animals, but there is a vent outside that goes under our house. It doesn't stay in, so I think some nocturnal animal is making a nest under my house! There is not a chance I am sticking my head in there to find out! Fortunately we are renting so I will be calling my landlord! But for now I put the vent back in place. I am fairly certain nothing bigger than spiders, oh and those really nasty cave crickets that look like spiders until they jump, live inside my house. But I will be prepared tonight with, at the very least, a flashlight, just in case!

Joe's Version of Events:
By Joe

Last night I was awoken by the sound of my wife's hushed whispers. Now, I try to be attentive to my dear wife's every beck and call, but the middle of the night is when she is at her least reliable self. I refer to the many nights when my wife has woken me with a conversation about the shopping cart tipping over, the sheriff is on the phone, the spiders under the bed, or most recently when I awoke to find her tossing her pillows in the air - apparently under the impression that she was in a contest where it was mandatory to throw your pillow the highest (true, the winner got out of having to do the dishes). As you might guess by this point, my wife's keen sense of judgement is sometimes impaired in the wee hours of the morning. My wife insists that there was a "nocturnal animal" in the closet. I however, did not hear anything of the sort. Which is why I rolled over and went back to bed! I love her though, even if she is a little loony at night.

A Few Random Thoughts

2007-08-26T18:30:00.001-07:00

Okay, so last night I ran the grueling 5k "Fun run" uphill both ways and barefoot! Okay maybe not barefoot but the hills were a killer!! And the humidity was awful. When I left last night my girls were of course rooting for me, and hoping that I would "WIN" the race! This morning when Jenna woke up she asked me if I won, and I said no. She said, "Well, I guess you have to keep running until you win!" Jenna always tells it how it is. I just felt lucky that I crossed the finish line, and could still stand up!! Anyway for now I will keep on running, thanks to Jenna!

Jenna had her first day of school last week and loved it. I was so sad though, she refused to let me walk her in! I tried everything from just let me hold the door to can I at least walk you to the sidewalk. Her reply " GET IN THE CAR MOM!" I was crushed. She is so grown up and 110% girl, she wears nothing but skirts and dresses to school, and we are apparently in a ponytail phase!

Madelyn ended up with her second round of stitches this week. She fell and hit nearly the same spot on a little wooden rocking chair. Off we rushed back to the Doctor to sew her up again. While waiting in the office with the band aid on her head she was still trying to climb on top of the table! Then today while we were at church Joe comes rushing by with Madelyn, and her hand was bleeding. She cut 3 fingers on the drinking fountain, trying to climb it! She is so busy, and apparently so accident prone right now. I want to strap her in her car seat, and not let her out! Other than her extreme clumsiness right now, she takes after Jenna in the girlie department. I put her Sunday dress on this morning and she was so excited about what she was wearing, it was so cute! She kept looking at her skirt and doing a little dance!

Kaitlyn is doing well in school and really loves being helpful to her teacher. She has grown up so much in the last year. They started a new incentive in primary to "get caught" being good. She thought about it all week and asked me daily what she could do to help me. I thought it was so cute to see her so excited about it. I secretly hope I can stretch it out at least one more week!

**Sorry this post is a little random, but just keep in mind, this is somewhat of my family journal too.

Saturday

2007-08-21T18:09:00.000-07:00

Saturday was quite the day. It started at 5:45am as I got up and got ready to go to the dry pack cannery in Indianapolis Indiana. (about 2 hours from here) I have been really trying to get our food storage back to what it was and more. We started trying to use most of it when we thought we would be moving. I have really been thinking a lot about this lately, and felt like our family was very unprepared. So I decided to go to the cannery and stock up on some of the essentials again. I still have a ways to go, but at least we have something stored away.
So I had also signed up to run the 5k Texas Roadhouse Stampede. (Joe and I ran this last year. (it supports visually impaired preschoolers) The race is at night(9:00pm) and the course goes over a bridge that crosses the Ohio River. Joe and I both ended up running again this year. It was a beautiful night. I have to brag just a little, I beat Joe!! (In his defense I have been training for about 6 weeks more than he has.) All in all we both improved our times from last year, and we had a good time.
I have also signed up to run this Saturday a 3 miler. However I am already certain it will be nothing to brag about. It is through Cherokee Park which I am not really sure how, but I promise it is up hill at least 89.9% of the race! I am actually pretty worried about this one. I have found that if I sign up to run a race then I am committed, and it motivates me to exercise. So I have signed up through October to hopefully keep me exercising. (That is if I survive the run through Cherokee Park!)

Tagged again

2007-08-21T16:33:00.000-07:00

7 Things you may or may not know about me.

*1. I am not crazy about surprises. I like things planned out and scheduled.

*2. Someday, I want to learn how to play the violin.

*3. I am rather shy and don't like to be put on the spot.

*4. I worked with my Dad doing construction work, in the summers growing up.

*5. I always wanted to be a lab technician, but I knew I would never survive microbiology. So I settled on being a nurse and drawing peoples blood.( That's the fun part anyway! just kidding)

*6. I can play the Piano, French horn, Trumpet and Saxophone.( Or at least I could at one point)

*7. I have always wanted to own a horse.

Okay so there it is! I am seriously starting to wonder how many of these "tagged" things are going around. Who starts these anyway????

I am tagging Cathy Borders who just started blogging again, and Jami Hardy.

Ive been tagged...

2007-08-19T21:36:00.000-07:00

Okay so I have been tagged by Deanna. Here are the 9 burning questions about my Marriage....

1. Where did you meet your husband?
Joe and I first met in Pocatello Idaho while attending ISU. We were in the same ward, and the same Family Home Evening group. We first met playing a ridiculous rendition of "getting to know you", during our FHE activity. At the time we were both kind of doing our own thing and not really in the looking phase. (However Joe can tell you clear down to my sandals what I was wearing that night, so I apparently made somewhat of an impression.)

2. What was the first thing you said to your husband?
Back to the ridiculous rendition of getting to know you. We were at an activity where everyone had to name a hobby or an interest they had. Then we went around the room and tried to list everyone by what their hobby/interest was. Mine was ice skating, and his was singing. Of course I messed up and said his hobby was dancing and was completely mortified!

3.Where was your first date?
Well this is where things get tricky... I thought our first date was a double date to the drive-in to see Knotting Hill. I thought my roommate and I were going with Joe and his roommate. Somehow there ended up being 3 girls and 2 guys hmmmm. And I was NOT Joe's date, and I was not interested at all in his roommate. So I guess our official date was an over nighter (completely chaperoned, by Joe's sister) to a Mickey Mouse parade on the streets of Pocatello. Thousands of people stayed on the streets over night to secure their spots for the parade. Apparently it was supposed to be a huge thing from Disney, It turned out to be a total flop. But the company was good!

4. Where was your first kiss?
Our first kiss was on the porch swing in the backyard of my apartment. It only took Joe 3 1/2 hours to finally make his move. All the while (we had no idea!) the guy next door was professing his love to me on paper. As Joe and I were kissing right outside his window!

5. Did you have a long or short engagement/courtship?
Well our courtship apparently began on July 31, 1999, (according to Joe)
We dated I guess for about 3 1/2 months. We were engaged on November 11, 1999. And we got married in March 3, 2000.

6. Where did you get engaged?
Joe proposed to me in Idaho Falls,Idaho on the river walk, across from the Temple. We had just gone ring shopping and found the one. I thought he was planning on going back to get it that weekend. But he got it that day.
So once we were at the river walk he got down on one knee. And I kept saying what are you doing, He finally had to say "Just be quiet for a minute", and then he popped the question. I of course said yes and no lie, immediately across the river their were FIREWORKS! Real ones just randomly going off in November! It was Perfect.

7. Where were you married?
We were married in the Logan Utah Temple. It was a beautiful day.
8. How did the reception go?
I couldn't have asked for anything more. I thought it was perfect.

9. How was the honeymoon?
Before getting married I took Joe to a bridal fair in Pocatello where we won a stay at a little Bed and Breakfast half way between the 2 receptions. It worked out great and we thought it was a lot of fun. Then after the 2nd reception we left for Las Vegas. We neither one liked Vegas very much. It could have been the lack of money, and the fact that we were stuck on the strip without a car. 3 days on the strip was about 2 1/2 to many for us. Of course we would love to go somewhere again and call it our second honeymoon!

I am tagging Melissa Wooden and Jani Cotton!!( It was good to see you Jani!)

Back to School

2007-08-14T09:39:00.000-07:00

This picture is for my Dad. The future in Turner Carpentry Service inc.(My Dad's Construction Business)

FYI: Home Depot does these little workshops for FREE, the first Saturday of the month.The girls love spending time with Dad, building things, Dad gets to hang out at Home Depot, and everybody is happy. They give them aprons, hats, pins, and certificates. It is really fun. (I have heard that Lowes has something similar as well)

Kaitlyn on her first day of School. (First Grade)

School has officially started for us. Back to the dreaded car pool lines, and living in the car.(Which will only get worse once Jenna starts next week.) Kaitlyn so far really likes first grade, and has been the first one dressed everyday this week! Hooray. It sure seems quiet here, with Kaitlyn gone most of the day. Jenna sure misses her sister when she is at school. I think once she starts preschool, it won't be so bad. Now if I could just tame the Tornado(Madelyn). I might be able to get some things done around here.

2007-08-09T06:06:00.000-07:00

Madelyn's Stitches

2007-08-09T05:38:00.000-07:00

This is a project that I have been working on. We bought this desk at the goodwill, and decided to refinish it. When we started sanding, we discovered that the top had a beautiful wood grain.My original plan was to paint the whole thing black but once I saw the wood I couldn't cover it up. So this is how it turned out.
Two days after moving the desk into Madelyn's room, Madelyn fell and hit her head on one of the drawer pulls.(the pointed part on the bottom of the picture.) A complete freak accident. The fun part was trying to get Jenna and Kaitlyn calmed down so I could take care of Madelyn.(They completely loose it at the sight of blood.) Madelyn ended up with 4 stitches, above her right eyebrow. She is such a little trooper, always so happy. It didn't seem to bother her that much at all. However, I was completely heart broken that my baby had to get stitiches in her head.

Our First BLOG!

2007-08-07T06:27:00.001-07:00

I finally did it! I am hoping that this will be an easier way to stay in touch with everyone, and keep you posted on our family. My goal is to make this somewhat of a family journal as well. (Thanks Julie for the idea!) With that in mind I think I will start with our summer.
This summer has been filled with lots of fun. We went back home in June, to visit our families. We love Kentucky, but I think Idaho and Utah will always be "home" for us. The girls had so much fun playing with cousins and being spoiled by Grandparents. I think the grandparents had fun too!
The rest of the summer has been filled with camping, trips to the zoo, science center, swimming lessons, and good old back yard fun. My girls love playing in the sprinklers and wading pools in the backyard. Even Madelyn gets into it. She tries to drink the water that is shooting out of the sprinkler! It is pretty hilarious to watch. We have burned through several hundred Popsicles, and at least one bottle of sunscreen, and several hundred gallons of water. Part of me can't believe the summer is over in one week, and the other part is celebrating! I am one that thrives on schedules and our summer has had no schedule at all. I am anxious to get back into the routine of things, and I think my girls are too.
We are not calling the summer over yet, we still have at least one more camping trip to fit in. We are also hoping for a quick labor day road trip. If anyone has a favorite must see in Kentucky, or surrounding area let us know, we are still in the planning stages.