Jacklyn's Field Trip

On Friday, Jacklyn's kindergarten class went on a field trip to the mall and all of the parents and younger siblings were invited, so Addison and I decided to go. We met at the mall at 12:45 and we all broke up into groups to go on a scavenger hunt through the mall. We went to McDonald's and got some mini ice cream cones, then we went to the cinema to find which Disney movie was playing, and then we had to go and look for a Cat in the Hat tie at one of the mall stores. It was a lot of fun. I took some pictures of the kids which I hope to get posted on here. We all met back as a group at 1:30 and had cookies and drinks. Then we got in line to see Santa. All of the kids were really excited. Jacklyn said she wanted Addison to come with her to see Santa. She also told me that the thing she wanted most for Christmas was a purple pony, I thought it was really cute. When we got done seeing Santa it was time to go. All of the kids had a lot of fun. While we were on the field trip I got to met Jacklyn's best friend, CJ. CJ's dad told me that CJ is always talking about Jacklyn. It was fun to see Jacklyn's friends. Then we went home and had a great weekend. I'm bummed that tomorrow is another Monday. Luckily, in a few weeks it will be Christmas. Jayden tells us every day how many days are left until Christmas. Bye.

Slideshow of Thanksgiving 2009

Here is the slideshow of Thanksgiving weekend that I promised to post, so enjoy!

Thanksgiving Weekend

We've had a lot going on the last week, so I decided to make a slide show of all the fun stuff that's been going on. First of all, Jayden's birthday was yesterday. He turned 8 years old. We got him a cake at Wal-Mart and we came home and sang Happy Birthday to him and he got to open the rest of his presents. He really liked the marbles that Nana and Papa Mike gave him, and after we set up the Christmas tree we played marbles and watched The Polar Express. We need to get him a marble bag, so in the meantime, while we are looking, he has his marbles in a plastic bag under his bed because Jacklyn and Addison keep stealing them. Jayden wanted me to tell everyone thanks for all of the birthday presents. He really liked everything that everyone gave him.

As for Thanksgiving weekend, as most of you know, we went up to Idaho and spent the weekend with Matt and Amber. It was a lot of fun. Amber and Matt made a really great Thanksgiving dinner, and all of us especially liked the fruit pizza made to look like a turkey. Very creative. Thanksgiving evening was spent bumming through the ads and just hanging out with everybody, then we woke up early to get in on all the Black Friday action. To make a long story short, we did lots of shopping, went to IHOPS, had a run with FAT MAN (Hahahaha), and came home for a nap. Later on, we went to watch New Moon in the theaters because Natalie was dying to see it, and we all made a deal that we would watch it together. So there I was watching Twilight, and Natalie would lean over to me and say, "Isn't Edward so hot?" Then I would have Amber lean into me and say, "Isn't Jacob so hot? Don't you just want to touch his chest?" Then Dad would let out a loud sigh every twenty minutes or so because he was watching a chick flick instead of an action movie. Fun times. Before the movie started, Dad kept saying we needed to switch our tickets and go see 2012, something with some action. I wouldn't have minded doing it, but I had told Natalie that we were all going to watch New Moon together, so that's what it ended up being. Then Saturday afternoon we came home. Thanks Matt and Amber for feeding us and letting us stay at your place.

We did have one more thing happen this week, and it was a very sad thing. Our cat, Tanner, died while we were up in Idaho. She wasn't doing too well a week before we left and Micah and I were wondering if she was going to make it through Thanksgiving weekend. We brought her in the house a week ago, because she had been missing for a few days and when she came home she looked really weak. Micah put her food dish and blanket inside the house by the door, but she wouldn't eat or drink anything. Micah did manage to get her to drink some water with a dropper but that was it. Three or four years ago she drank some stain remover fluid that fell behind the washing machine and leaked onto the floor, and her health was never the same after that. She was a really good cat. She would follow us around when we would go trick-or-treating or over the Nunn's house because Jacklyn likes to play there; and in the summer, when we would sleep out on the trampoline she would jump up onto the tramp with us and give us massages. We had a small funeral and had the kids say good-bye. I was sad. Tanner, you will be missed.

Change of plans, I will post the slide show on the next post because it's really late and I need to download all the pictures from the camera onto the computer, and it's just too much work for 11:30 at night. So I will post the slide show in the next day or two. Now I'm wondering why my time at the bottom of my blog is always off.

Halloween Pictures

The time has just flown by. I was going to take pictures of the kids in their Halloween costumes like I did last year, but we got so busy that we never got around to it, and now here it is the middle of November and I'm finally getting around to getting the few pictures that we had taken posted. Jacklyn was a witch for Halloween, which was really cute. Everyone in her class dressed up, including her bus driver and helper, and they took the above photo when they had their Halloween party. Jayden finally decided that he wanted to be a transformer for Halloween. His costume looked pretty cool. And Addison was, of course, the cutest baby alligator that you've ever seen. Halloween was on Saturday this year, as you all know, so we had all of parties on Friday. At 4:00 we had Micah's work party, which is really fun. They had a haunted alley and would go trick-or-treating to each cubicle, and then they had donuts and punch after wards. I dressed up this year with the kids, which they thought was pretty cool. I dressed up as Hermonie from Harry Potter. I wish I had taken my coat off for Micah's work picture, but we had just walked through the door and I wasn't expecting to be in it. I'll try to get some better pictures next year. Then at 6:00 we had the ward Trunk-or-Treat party. That was a lot of fun. Our relief Society president dressed up as Professor McGonagell, so we had to get a Harry Potter picture together. Micah had to work late, so he missed coming with us to the Trunk-or-Treat party with. He missed it last year because he had to work late, argh. Then on Saturday we all dressed up and did the real trick-or-treating around the neighbor. I was glad that the weather wasn't too bad. I remember when Jayden was a baby, and it snowed on Halloween. That was yucky. All right, with that said, it's time to start thinking about Thanksgiving and turkeys, and I hope everyone enjoys the few pictures that we had taken, and I will do better about taking pictures next year. Bye.

Pinewood Derby

So on Thursday we had the Pinewood Derby racing. We went down to the Church at 6:30 and they had a movie going about racing and how to build a car and stuff. Then they took all the kids into the gym where they had the racing set up. I had never seen the Pinewood Derby stuff before so this all new to me. They had four metal tracks where you would set you car and at the beginning of the race the track lifted up so your car would go. They had pins at the front and then someone would push a level and all the cars would go off at once. At the end of the race they had a board with digital numbers on it and when your car went across it posted your time. The guy had a computer that would keep track of all the times and the person with the best times after eight races was the winner. The kids were really excited to see this, especially Addison. He loved to watch the cars race. Jayden and Jacklyn both had cars but couldn't race theirs until the end because they aren't in Scouts. By the time it came for them to race, Jayden took off with friends and Addison was super excited to race Jayden's car. He waited in line with everybody and then when it was his turn he would step up on the chair and put his little car up and run to the end of the race to see how his car did. I couldn't believe how excited that little kid was for Pinewood Derby. It was really cute. After racing we chatted with everyone, had cookies, and went home. It was a really fun night, and all the kids enjoyed racing their cars.

Halloween Costumes

In September, we were walking home from picking up Jacklyn at her friend, Jenna's house, and Bro. Davis saw us and stopped to talk to us. He said that since Jayden is going to turn 8 in the next 60 days he was invited to the Cub Scouts Pinewood Derby. He also said he could build a car and race it if he wants to, but he can't race the car until the last 30 minutes, since he's not 8 and officially in Cub Scouts yet. Micah was pretty excited and took the kids home to show them the car kits he had stuffed in the closet. The kids were pretty excited, so the next night we had them build their cars. Micah said they had a blast painting their cars and decorating them with stickers. I actually didn't help them because I had an NEI class that night (Natural Eyesight Improvement). The kids now have their cars all done, and tomorrow night is the Pinewood Derby. They are pretty excited. I will have to write it down on the blog when we get done.

Now on to Halloween. I have been so busy this year with homework and getting kids to school that I haven't really had much time to think about Halloween costumes until a few days ago. I didn't want to wait until the last minute because everything gets picked over. So yesterday we went to the store and Jacklyn picked out a really cute witch costume. She really loves it. I will have to post pictures on the blog when it gets closer to Halloween. Addison is going to be an alligator again, because he's too young too care and he looks absolutely adorable in his alligator costume. Jayden wants to be Indiana Jones again. The problem is that when I bought his Indiana Jones costume last year I thought they measured the costumes according to regular clothes, but they didn't. A 6-8 is actually for a 4-5 year old, so the costume was small last year, and I know it is going to be way too small this year. We went to the mall today to see if anyone had an Indiana Jones costumes, but they didn't. I don't know why he has to pick the most complicated thing for Halloween. Then as we were leaving the mall he said that he wanted a costume that he had seen at Wal-Mart yesterday, so now I'm not sure what he wants to be. Now as for me, I decided that I am definitely dressing up for the Ward Halloween party this year. Last year I wanted to dress up as Harry Potter but I didn't decide that until a few days before the party and all the local stores were out of the Harry Potter ties and I didn't want to pay for express shipping, so I ended up not dressing up. This year though, I am prepared. I got my Harry Potter tie and I am going as Hermonie. I decided that the short hair and glasses just weren't working for me. It should be lots of fun. I will have to keep everyone posted on all the Fall and Halloween activities. Bye.

Summer 2009

School started a few weeks ago, as you all are aware, and so I thought I would do a slide show recapping all of the fun things that we did over the summer. I hope you enjoy.

P.S. My favorite picture is of Addison stealing Nana's pepsi. :)

What's going on in here?

The other day I came into the kitchen and saw Addison taking a big swig of milk from the milk jug. Apparently he was thirsty and decided to get into the fridge and get a drink of milk, and this is how I caught him. I thought he looked so cute that I decided to take a picture of him and post it on here. I wonder who he learned this from?

Summer Projects

I can't believe it has already been a month since I have posted anything on here. The last month of summer has just flown by, so now that I have a minute I am going to fill everyone in on what's been going on in the last month. First off, we had Eric and Liz's baby blessing at the first of August and the family: Mike, Nana, Natalie, Amber, and of course, baby Jeriah, came down and hung out at our house for a week. It was tons of fun. Amber posted a ton of pictures on her facebook page of all the activities that happened. (Amber, I still need to get those 4th of July pictures of Addison feeding the chickens the watermelon rhines from you and Dad.) While Mike and Mom were down here Mike changed the hose facet on the front of house. It use to be underneath our living room window where the sidewalk was and it was really annoying to have the hoses running across the sidewalk. So while Mike was here he filled up our old facet and installed a new one on the other side of the house. It looks really nice now. Mike also took out an old weed tree that had grow up around our gas pipe and that looks great too. I tried taking out before but was too scared that I would break the pipe. Thanks Mike for all the help and work you did while at our house. We appreciate it. Mom also helped us get our weedy garden under control and helped get more weed trees out from behind the shed. Also, while the family was down Mich sold his motorcycle and we bought some bricks to edge the pine trees that we have been wanting to do for a few years now but have just never had the money. We actually ended up doing a lot of projects while Mom and Mike were down. And just this week we got our redwood pole installed with our hanging flower basket on it. We put a solar light on top of it and it looks really nice. Thanks again Mom and Mike for all the help you did while you were down.

Another thing that has been going on in my life is that I decided to learn how to crochet. I had tried learning growing up but could never quite figure it out, so when Aunt Mary came and dropped off all of her sewing books that she didn't want anymore I decided to learn how to crochet. Mom found me some books on how to help me learn and a book on making rag rugs, which I had been wanting to make. I decided to start out with something simple, so I picked a hot pad pattern and have been working on it a little each night. I had to check out a few books at the library to help me but I am definitely starting to figure it out. All right, I think I've said enough so it's time to go. Everyone enjoy the rest of their summer vacation.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

On Saturday we went to see Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince at the movie theater. We got our tickets for free from First Colony Mortgage so it was really great that we didn't have to spend money to go see it. Our movie was at 9:00 on Saturday morning. Which was actually really nice because Addison ended up sleeping through most of the movie. I am scared to take Jacklyn and Addison to movies because they are a little crazy, but the morning showing was great. I think Jacklyn may have taken a little snooze through the movie too. Since we got our movie tickets for free we decided to spend some money and get some popcorn (which is Jacklyn's favorite snack) and a drink. Then we sat down and watched the show. Jayden really liked the show a lot. He said it was really good, and I would have to agree. It was definitely a good movie. So I would recommend watching Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince to anyone who hasn't seen it yet. With that said, everyone have a great weekend.

Movies in the Park

Every summer in Springville they have a program called Movies in the Park. What they do is every Monday night in the summer Springville puts on a movie on a huge projector screen and anyone can go and sit down on the grass and watch the movie. It's basically like a drive-in movie just without the car and radio. This weeks movie was Horton Hears a Who. It was a pretty good movie. I believe it was written by Dr. Seuss. Micah really liked it because it had a viewpoint similar to Carl Sagan. He said he wanted to buy it. We all went to the Dollar Store before the movie and bought glow sticks because the kids like to wear them during the movie. When we got there we laid out our blanket on the grass and snuggled up so the mosquitoes wouldn't bite us and watched the show. Jayden does really good sitting through movies now, but Jacklyn and Addison don't quite have the attention span yet. They had a booth set up and were popping popcorn. I didn't bring any money otherwise I would have bought some, so we will have to bring some to next week's movie. We have been going to this for the last few years. It is tons of fun and the kids love it. It is definitely a great family night activity.

We had a fun thing happen to us today. Micah was outside to water the lawn and he saw a baby bird on the ground that had fallen from his nest. Micah showed me and the kiddies and we all went over to inspect him. I got to pet him a few times before he started hopping away and trying to fly. Micah kept trying to pick him up to put him back in his nest, but he kept trying to bite Micah every time he did. The mother bird kept flying around chirping at us. It was fun to see the baby bird. Addison was especially excited to see the bird down at his level. Fun times. Just a side note, thanks Dad and Tyna for the family pictures you sent us in the mail. We got them today and they look really nice. Bye for now.

June's Activities

Ok, it has been a really long time since I've posted anything on here. And amazingly it hasn't been because nothing exciting has been going on, but rather the opposite. We have been so busy with summer activities I haven't really had time to post anything. And then Amber got Micah and I into Farm Town on facebook. Then Natalie got everybody into Restaurant City...and it's all gone down hill from there. Now to catch everyone up on what's been going on in June. First, we had our yearly dinner at First Colony Mortgage. They have a big barbecue every year for the customers at the park with food and prizes. They have a big blow up slide and a maze for the kids. There is also a park, so the kids can play on the playground too if they'd like. And the thing the kids enjoy the most is the little train that gives them rides around the park. The kids absolutely love going to this every year, and unfortunately it was raining, which is what it seemed to do all throughout the month of June. Another activity we did in June was Micah's friend told us about a really cool park in Orem, so we went up there to check it out. They have a huge swing with 3 swings on it that spins around like a merry-go-round. It would have been really fun but someone had broken the wooden bar off that you use to push the swings around to make them go fast. We were bummed. So then we trucked over to the pond that they also had at the park and there were some ducks. There were also ducks in the bushes laying and watching their eggs. The kids kept chasing the ducks around, so Micah told Jayden to chase the ducks over by him, so he could catch one. I wish we had brought a camera because it was really funny to see Micah and Jayden chasing ducks. Micah ended up catching one and he brought it over for all the kids to pet and see. It was really fun...and then it rained after we left. I swear the whole month of June involved rain. Our last major activity in June was when we went camping with Micah's parents this last weekend. It was fun...and it rained at that activity too. We were sleeping in a tent and it started downpooring really bad, so Micah got out and put a tarp over us just in case the tent wasn't waterproof. We luckily had no leaks. Then in the morning we went hiking up to some falls. I forgot the name of them. The kids actually did pretty good hiking, but they did poop out towards the end. I heard the hike was 3 miles round trip, but from others I heard it was 4 miles. That's a lot of walking for little kids. When we got home we forgot we had our Neighborhood/Ward Party. We ended up going to the last 30 minutes of it because we were too tired from the hiking to go to the whole thing, and the only reason we went to the last 30 minutes was because Jayden wanted to hit the pinata. So those are the major activites we had in June. I was going to post them all separately on the days that they happened, but I never got around to it.

Now for the 4th of July we are planning on going up to Amber's house. I still need to call and tell everyone. I'm terrible at that, I know. We were planning on watching the Rupert parade with everyone and possibly going the see the new Ice Age movie. We'll have to see. I think I've posted enough. Bye for now.

Summer School

Summer school has officially started this week for Jayden. I thought it would be like last year's summer school where I would drop him off at the school for a few hours, and it would be in a classroom setting with other kids. This time, I drop him off at the school, and he does one-on-one reading with his teacher, and 25 minutes later I pick him up. So I pretty much drop him off, come home, brush my teeth, and then go back and pick him up. Oh well. I know for sure Jacklyn's school is for two hours. Jacklyn misses her school bus and I think she's pretty excited to see her friends at school again. I don't think she is going to like the time she goes to school though- 9:00am. She is not a morning person. I usually have to drag her out of bed in the morning.

As for me, I have decided that everybody is getting potty trained this summer. I am going to get Jacklyn potty trained first, followed by Addison, and then it will be no more diapers for me. Yea! I have tried potty training Jacklyn, but she is being very resistant. Jayden wasn't this bad. So I have been buying some potty training books on Amazon to help me out. So wish me luck with all of that.

On last thing, Mary McAllister started a blog, Monkeys Galore, and I added her to My Blog List on the right hand side, so be sure to check out her stuff. With that said, everybody have a great week.

School's Out

School's out! And this is what we plan on doing all summer.

I have to admit that I was a little disappointed that Jayden didn't have a graduation this year like he did last year. I guess it is just for the kindergartners. They had real gowns and hats for them, and it was just adorable. Maybe I'll get around to posting his kindergarten graduation pictures since they didn't do anything fun like that this year.

Teddy Bear Picnic

Yesterday was Jacklyn's last day of Preschool, so Addison and I went down to her school and watched her graduation. It was a lot of fun and Addison really enjoyed it. First, the kids sang sons to us and then got their diplomas. Then we had some fun activities like giving your teddy bear a checkup, throwing beanbags and getting a prize, and "going on a bear walk" which was really an obstacle course. The kids all like that one the best. After the graduation, we all went outside and had our teddy bear picnic. We all laid our blankets out on the grass and started eating our lunches. While we were eating, the teachers passed out bear rice crispy treats and punch for everyone. Then it was time to say good-byes. Jacklyn's friend Mackenzie came over and said good-bye. Her and Jacklyn were the only girls in their class. Jacklyn was the only girl out of ten boys in her class until Mackenzie came, so they were best buds. Jacklyn's bus driver was telling me this. I told her Jacklyn was use to being the only girl, because at home she has no sisters and two brothers. Her bus driver thought that was funny and said Jacklyn gets spoiled a lot because she's the only girl. Jacklyn really loved going to school. I think she will miss it, but it won't be too long until summer school starts. All right, I need to go. I hope that everyone has a great Memorial Day weekend!

Happy Birthday Jacklyn!

Today is Jacklyn's Birthday. We went down to the store today and she got to pick out a birthday present from the birthday money that she got from Nana and Grandma Kendall. She picked a Snow White doll with the plastic clothes. She was very excited. Thank you for the birthday money everyone. Since Micah had to work late tonight we decided to celebrate her birthday on Saturday. It was really fun. I have posted the pictures for you to see. We got a birthday cake for her, and watched her open presents. She was very excited, even Jayden and Addison were excited. I think she had a great birthday. Thanks again everyone for the the birthday wishes.

Backyard Camping

We are all very excited at our house right now. It is spring. The weather has finally warmed up and we have been spending more time outdoors. Micah pulled the fire pit out of the shed last weekend and set it up so we could have cozy evenings by the fire. So on Monday night we decided for family night to sit outside and talk and make smores. Jacklyn and Addison loved roasting marshmallows and eating them. They weren't too found of the smores; they just ate everything separately. I think Micah and I ate a ton of smores though. We wanted to do it again this week, but we ran out of food. The next day Jayden told me while I was getting him ready for school that he likes hanging out by the campfire and talking. I told Micah and he was pretty excited. I think we are starting to like the idea of backyard camping more and more. Easy, cheap, near-by bathrooms, etc. Well, I need to go and get kids ready for bed. Bye.

Spring Break

Last week was Spring Break, so Micah, Jayden, and Jacklyn decided to go motorcycling in Moab with Grandpa. The kids had a lot of fun camping with the family, going to the hot tub, and just hanging out and having fun. Here are the pictures and you can see for yourself just how much fun they had. I hope everyone had a great Spring Break.

The Eyeclops

So the other day the kids were bored and wanted to pull a game out of the closet, so Micah was digging around and he discovered the Eyeclops that Micah's parents had gotten us for Christmas a few years ago. He decided to pull it out and play with it with the kids. If you don't know what it is the Eyeclops is basically a microscope in the shape of an eye that you can plug into your TV and can zoom in on stuff and look at things up close. Micah hooked it up to the TV and we started checking things out. We looked at all sorts of stuff and then we started zooming in on the carpet hoping to find a bug or something, but there were no bugs in the carpet. We were disappointed, but I was somewhat glad to know we didn't have critters lurking down there. Then Micah put the eyeclops on his hand and you could see sweat coming out of his sweat pores and then it would evaporate. It was pretty gross, but fascinating at the same time. So that has been the toy of week that the kids have been playing with and inspecting. Bye.

Happy Easter

Today as you all know was Easter. Jayden walked into the living room and thought the Easter Bunny hadn't come, but I told him the baskets were hidden and he would have to look around, and he said "ooohhh." Funny guy. The kids were so excited to wake up and get their Easter baskets. I will post some of the pictures tonight. Jayden was so excited to do an Easter egg hunt. He couldn't wait until we were all dressed to go outside. The weather was pretty nice; it was 55F. It was nice in the sun at least. We were going to get an Easter Egg Hunt going, but Micah and I started basking on the tramp, and the kids joined us for a little bit. Then Jayden and Jacklyn started taking their Easter eggs and placing them in the yard, and then going and picking them up, so we didn't do an official Easter Egg Hunt but it was still fun to go outside. I had Easter eggs and candy to do an egg hunt I just got lazy and we never got around to doing it. Maybe I will do an Easter Egg hunt with the kids tomorrow. We'll see how nice the weather is and if we're all in the mood. I hope everyone had a Happy Easter today!

Jennifer's Birthday

Yesterday was my birthday. Micah and I were going to go out to lunch together because that's what we normally do for our birthdays. Then Micah realized he had the 10-7 shift, so he told me to just meet him at his work at 2:00 and we would go to Costa Vida (that place is good, everyone should try it). I told Micah that Jacklyn's bus comes home at 2:30, so he said just come at 3:00. Then I told him that I had to pick Jayden up from school at 3:15. At that point we just gave up; it was too crazy. Then when Micah woke up yesterday morning he was sick, and couldn't call in sick because he was the late guy. He would have to find someone to replace him. I ended up buying a pizza and pop and when Micah got home we had our dinner and just kicked back for the rest of the night. It was slow, but fun. I was going to post this yesterday but didn't have time, so I am wishing myself a Happy Birthday now. Thanks everyone for the gifts and wishes. Bye.

Parent Teacher Conference

Yesterday was Parent Teacher Conference, so we spent the day running around seeing all of the kid's teachers. When we went to see Jacklyn's teacher she recommended that Jacklyn go to a transitional kindergarten for next year. At the transitional kindergarten they would go at a slower pace and be able to help Jacklyn with her speech more. She also said that if we ever decided that she was ready for regular kindergarten we could just switch her over at any time. She also said that in order to be in regular kindergarten Jacklyn would have to be potty trained. I know. I need to do it. It's just that she's not in a hurry to be potty trained. I'm not in a hurry to potty train her. And so we be both just sit where we are, content with life. Jacklyn wants to get her ears pierced really bad. She sees all of the earrings and jewelry I have and wants some of her own, so I told Jacklyn that if she gets potty trained she can get her ears pierced. She seems pretty excited about that. Jayden has been doing really good at school. They are going to be celebrating Grandparents day next month, so that is something he is looking forward to. After we were done, we all went and played at the park at Jacklyn's school. We all had a lot of fun, and the weather was super nice-almost 70. Spring is definitely coming and we are all happy, in fact, I think we are going to set up the trampoline tonight. Bye.

The Dentist

I've been neglecting my blog again. I think I have decided that it's facebook. Every since Micah got me onto facebook I've been forgetting to put stuff on here. Then Michelle got everyone into Pet Society and it all went down hill from there.

Anyways, I took the kids to the dentist last week and everything went great. Addison had no cavities, Jacklyn had no cavities, then we got to Jayden. Jayden had four cavities, so he has to go back to the dentist next week and get them filled. I feel so bad because I think he doesn't have very good teeth so he is always at the dentist getting his teeth fixed. He is also so scared of the dentist too. He gets to miss school next Wednesday but I don't think he's very happy about why he has to miss school. Oh well. We've also started taking him to the orthodontist because he will need braces when he gets older. Poor guy. Anyways, I need to go and get some stuff done so everyone have a great day.

Addison's Birthday

I have been so busy I haven't been able to post much on here, so I'm going to somewhat catch up. A few weeks ago, our ward had their annual Blue and Gold Banquet, and since Jayden is going to be in scouts this year we were invited to go. Micah and I decided that we want our boys to be scouts because it will teach good values and build friendships. So we went down to that and it was a lot of fun, and we got to see a lot of our friends from the neighborhood.

Another fun and exciting thing we had going on this week was Addison's birthday and our wedding anniversary. We were going to go to Chuck E. Cheese this Friday and celebrate, but we had made plans for one of Micah's friends to come over and since we had canceled the week before too we just kept it. So we went to the park today and played and celebrated Addison's birthday. It wasn't very fancy or party-ish but we had fun. We also had our wedding anniversary this weekend. Micah's mom watched the kids and we went to The Olive Garden and came home and watched some movies and just enjoyed being with each other with kids. It was nice, very nice. Thanks Craig and AnaRae.

As I was looking on here today I noticed that in February I had only posted two threads, so I will do in March at keeping everyone updated. Have a great day and Happy Birthday little Addison.

Cat Nap

So this is what we've been doing all day today. Sleeping. Addison and I snuggled up together and took a cat nap with Shady because he's been sick today. Then Jacklyn came home from school and did the same thing. And then it started snowing like crazy. Today has been one of those days where I've just wanted to stay home, snuggle with Addison and read a book. Even though I actually haven't gotten around to reading anything, but it's a nice thought.

We have been painting the doors in our house that we upgraded four years ago, and have never gotten around to painting. It's horrible that it's taken that long. I told Micah I just want to keep painting until we get the whole house done, and just be finished with painting. It is so much to paint those doors. Two coats, times two sides, times 8 doors, plus closets. Yikes. Lots of work. I need to go and do something because I've just been sitting here holding Addison all day, but when I put him down, he gets mad, so then I'm back to doing nothing. Oh well, where's that book?

Watercolors

I have hit another writer's block on this blog, so sorry I haven't posted anything lately. I seem to have tons of stuff happen at once, then a dry spell. Addison and I have been water painting today, which he seems to love. He watches Jacklyn water paint, and Jacklyn will never let him use her paints, so while she is at school I am going to let him paint. I took some pictures of him painting, so I will have to post them on here later because I have to be on the other computer. This weekend we are probably going to make Valentine boxes for the kids for school. It should be lots of fun, and I will post the pictures when we are done making them.

Now, for those of you who don't know we are coming up to Idaho for Dad and Tyna's sealing in the temple. It's in the Twin Falls temple, right? If so, we will probably stay at Mom's house because it is closer to Twin. Micah was thinking of bringing our XBOX360 along with Rockband. We'll see how it goes. I was also going to add that Micah doesn't work that Friday so we will probably come up during the day, and doesn't work Monday because it's President's Day. We will see how long we stay. I don't think we are staying Monday though. All right, everybody have a great day.

99 Things

Amber posted 99 things you need to do in life, so the things in bold are what I've done so far.

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung Karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee

Winter Frost

We had this frost land in our neighborhood today, and Micah thought this would be a great opportunity to take some pictures. These pictures are absolutely gorgeous, so take a few minutes and look at them. It has been fun to watch Micah's interest in photography over the years. I always thought that in order to take beautiful pictures you had to travel thousands of miles away and visit some special place, but Micah has taught me that beauty can be found in the most simple places- even in your backyard.

Scooby-Doo

As everyone knows we have the Netflix membership. So once in a while, Jayden will get on the computer and bum around to find a good kid movie to watch on the instant play. Early this week he found a Scooby-Doo movie and decided to watch it. Now the rest is history. The kids are totally addicted to Scooby-Doo. We have been having a Scooby-Doo marathon going all week long. I didn't realize that they had made so many movies. There's a cruise ship, a mummy one, a haunted house, an alien one, there's a ton. So last night at Wal-Mart they had some Scooby-Doo movies for five bucks, so we got an episode one (because the kids didn't like the only movie left). So that's what we've been up to all week-- Scooby-Doooo!

As for the adults, I keep telling myself we are going to finish watching the Bourne movies. We've seen the first one, but not the other two, and we've had them rented out for a couple of weeks now. Bye everyone.

Roller Skating

Last Thursday I took the kids roller skating for the first time. It was pretty fun. We met up at Classic Skating wtih our friends that we made at the New Years Party. I still think it is really funny that we met Ryan's brother, Ben Barboka, and his wife on New Years. We have become really good friends with them. We also went skating with Hans and Janis, but I don't think anyone on this blog would know them because they live down in Spanish Fork. Anyways, I took the kids down there around 4:00 and got everyone skates. Jayden refused to wear the skates, and finally ended up trading his skates back in for a scooter. On the other hand, Jacklyn was very excited to go skating. I put her skates on, but as soon as she started walking around in them and about fell over a few times, she decided enough was enough. She sat down by the edge of the skating rink and refused to go out. So her skates got traded in for a scooter as well. I got my skates on, and we were all ready to go. They allowed strollers out on the rink so I just pushed Addison around in his stroller, and he just loved it. Micah came skating with us when he got off of work, and it was fun to go skating with him for the first time. So that is our first roller skating experience as a family. I think we should do it again some time, but I will know next time to not get the kids roller skates until they are ready.

Jayden's Volcanoes

Jayden has this reading homework for school, and when the two of us have read 100 books together he gets a free book from his teacher. So last week, he hit his 100th book, and he brought home his new book called Horrible Harry and the Locked Closet, and it's a story about a bunch of kids in elementary school and in their classroom there is a locked closet that hasn't been opened for over 40 years, and they solve the mystery behind why it was locked. Also, their class was studying volcanoes, which Jayden just loves, and they build a volcano, and have it blow up. So Jayden wanted me to make him a volcano that would explode too. I told him that I couldn't because I didn't know what ingredients they had mixed together to make it explode, and Jayden was so sad. Then, a few days later when we finished the book we noticed that at the end of the book the author had inserted the volcano recipe, so kids could make a volcano at home, just like Harry and his friends. Jayden was so excited, and wanted me to make a volcano, so the next night we did. We got all of the ingredients together, and Jayden and Jacklyn were watching very excitedly. Then I asked Jayden if he was ready for the final ingredient, he said yes, and I dumped the vinegar in, and it exploded and flowed over the glass like lava. It was pretty cool to watch, even Micah came to in watch the volcanic eruption. So that was our excitement for the week. We have actually had a lot of fun activities going on this week. I might post some of them tomorrow, or later, I'll have to see. Have a great weekend everyone.

Our New Years Fun

Hi everyone, and Happy New Year! Wow, Micah and I have been so busy this week, it's not even funny. Busy partying that is. Micah met some new friends on facebook, and we went over to party at their house for New Years. They have an XBOX 360, and they got me addicted to Rockband. It is really fun. I actually wouldn't ever consider myself getting into that, but it is a blast. We ended up playing Rockband and board games all night. They also have a ball pit in their basement that the kids played in with the other kids. They had a blast. Jayden cried the next day because he didn't want to go home. Fun times. We stayed until two the next day. We never expected to stay that long, but with all of the fun and excitement, and the fact that we stayed up until five in the morning; we just stayed the night. So that is what we did for New Years.

Anyways, we went to Mom's house in the beginning of December (as most of you know). And mom had this adorable snowman that I just fell in love with, and had to have, so I asked Micah if he would make me one. He agreed. So I drew up the plans, we bought the supplies, and made our snowman friend. He's adorable. I was thinking after, or more like when I was going through all of the work, that I should have just asked mom if I could buy one from her friend. My brain doesn't always keep up with me and my creativity. Oh well, here it is, and we all wish you a fun and safe Christmas break, because Monday we all have to back to school.