THEY BELONG TO ME

1 week old!

2009-10-08T16:41:00.001-07:00

I can't believe it was a week ago that we met this little girl.

She is here!!!!

2009-10-07T13:29:00.001-07:00

On October 1, 2009 at 1:13 p.m., Camille Mary was born into this world. She was 7 lbs, 11 oz and 20 inches long. I had a c-section and everything went very smooth. I got to the hospital at 10:30 a.m. and she was here about 3 hours later. I still can't believe that she is here.

Brandon and I struggled with a name. I have always loved the name Camille and wanted to name a girl that. But, when she was born, we kept going back and forth between a couple of names and nothing really felt solid. So, on Friday, we were forced to name her and finally decided that we really did like Camille and I am so happy we ended up with that name. I love it and can't wait to say it for the rest of my life :)

She is the BEST baby ever. She wakes up every 3 - 4 hours, eats and goes back to sleep. We are working on getting her to stay awake a little more during the day. We like to see her eyes and play with her.

Dillon and Daniel both love their sister. Daniel can often times be caught sharing is blankie with her and asking if she is ok. Dillon had a hard time at first remembering his sister's name. He would ask about 20 times a day - "what is her name again? I know is starts with a C." He is a funny kid. I think that he remembers by now.

The adjustment has been really great. My mom is here helping me out and I am so glad to have her! Brandon's mom also has helped us so much. We are so lucky to have such great moms that would drop anything for us and help. We love them so much.

Well, here are some pictures of our little princess. I know that she will be spoiled, but she deserves it. If she continues to be this good of a baby, she can have anything she wants :)

Dr. Swainston (best doctor in the world!) and Camille

Proud Grandmas!

Happy family!

Announcement......

2009-05-20T22:24:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted anything for a very long time. Many people have said that they are sick of seeing snow in Las Vegas! (since it is almost 100 degrees here every day now!)

So...I guess I will just post that we are expecting another miracle baby. We found out today that we are going to be having a little girl. We are all still in shock but really excited for all things pink! Due date is middle of October. Everything looks good with the baby. I had a bad case of morning sickness this time and my face looks like I am back in High School with all the acne going on! But we are happy as could be and looking forward to meeting this little girl. (I still can't say that without thinking that I am daydreaming!) I will try to post some other things so that you don't have to look at this announcement until October!

Snow!

2008-12-15T21:35:00.000-08:00

Everyone has probably heard and/or read by now that it snowed in Las Vegas. It started on Monday, December 15th where it basically snowed all day long. We were able to have a snowball fight and make a snowman. Danny liked to throw the snowballs, but didn't like to have them thrown at him. Typical boy! By the next day, our snowman had melted and we were thawing out. Well, Wednesday, December 17th rolled around and it snowed again. In fact, it snowed so much that night that the school district decided to make an official SNOW DAY on December 18th. We turned on our fireplace and watched the Grinch and enjoyed our snow night.

It was crazy. We were driving around on that Thursday laughing that it was considered a snow day. The skies were blue and the snow was pretty much melted by noon. But, we had a fun time with it and hope that it comes back soon. It usually snows every year out here, but doesn't really stick to the ground. Who would have thought...snowing in Las Vegas....what is next? Pigs gonna start to fly?

Happiest Place on Earth!

2008-12-12T21:05:00.000-08:00

Well, we did it again. We bought annual passes to Disneyland. We went at the beginning of November and got to see all the Halloween decorations and just went back in the middle of December to catch the Christmas ones. We had such a great time both times. This last trip we were able to see our friends, the Hartner family, and spend a day with them. We were also able to spend a day with my brother Adam, his wife Dana and their son, Jayce. The weather was great and Disneyland looks so beautiful all decorated.

My cute nephew, Jayce.

The interesting thing about these two trips is that Dillon was scared to go on all the rides when we went in November. We had to drag him on Pirates screaming and kicking. The trip in December, he asked to go on it over and over. He is really into a fun phase right now. He loves to try new things. He loves to eat new foods, try new rides, watch new shows, learn new things. I am loving it. He eats almost everything I make for dinner now. He is turning into such a great little man. Loving it!

Dillon got picked to do Jedi Training again. (Another thing he was scared to do in November). I don't want to brag or anything, but he was able to fight Darth Vader and graduate with honors from the Training Academy. We are so proud of his Jedi Training. I am sure it will come in handy when he gets older.

Here is a picture of the 2 young ones waiting for the chance to fight Darth Vader. I am sure Dillon is explaining how he is going to handle the light saber this time around, since last time he couldn't get it to "activate."

Jedis in training. Notice Dillon is the ONLY one wearing the hood! This must be the reason that he graduated with honors :)I told Dillon to do rabbit ears behind his Dad's head and I guess his rabbit only has 1 ear! Poor thing must have lost the other one in a hunting accident.

Daniel still won't try new things very much. He loves certain things and could eat the same things every day. He did great at Disneyland. He loved almost every ride we went on. It's a Small World was finally open and he absolutely loved that one. He also loved Casey, Jr. - the train and Dumbo.

Most kids go to Disneyland for the rides, Danny goes for a bath. He loved sticking his head on this ball and getting it all wet.

Danny loved the parade in California Adventure. However, if your kid LOVES bubbles, make sure you keep an eye on him, because he might run out into the parade and almost get hit by Lightning McQueen!

There is a new ride there called Toy Story Mania in California Adventure. It was so much fun. Definitely one of our new favorite rides. The line is super long right now, but it is totally worth it.

Well, this sums it up - we all love Mickey Mouse and can't wait for our next trip!

Trick or Treat

2008-10-31T13:41:00.000-07:00

The night before Halloween, we had our ward Trunk or Treat. The kids got way too much candy. But, it was fun to see some of our friends and be able to talk to them and see their cute kids.

On Halloween, we always make Minestrone soup and have some friends over to share. This year, some of the Roundy family came and we had a great time having them here. Brandon also cooked a killer tri-tip in his new smoker. It was amazing. We also carved our pumpkins on Halloween this year. Dillon drew the face he wanted on a piece of paper and Brandon carved it for him. I decided to do a Mickey Mouse one for Daniel since he loves everything Mickey right now. Then I did BOO and Dillon decided he wanted a witches hat above it. It doesn't really look like a witches hat, but it was still cool.

Dillon decided he wanted to be Anakin Skywalker. Daniel got to be Darth Vader - or Darth Dan as we have been calling him. They were sure cute in their costumes.

We got to go Trick-or-Treating with them in our neighborhood. Here is a picture of Daniel waiting for everyone to finish so he can close the gate. He waited at every house to make sure that the gates were all closed. Silly kid!

Dillon and his friend Carter

Then we went to our friend's house, Amree and Richard. They are always so good to our family. We go there every Halloween so they can see the boys in their costume.

It was a great Halloween. I am so excited for Thanksgiving this year. We are going to spend it with my family and I am counting down the days!

Halloween Party

2008-10-31T13:34:00.000-07:00

Brandon and I went to a couple's Halloween party. It was so much fun. We always have a great time there. We couldn't decide what to be, so I was walking through WalMart and saw these t-shirts and thought that we could wear them. So, this is what we came up with. I have to say that I am very happy that Brandon went along with the idea considering he had to wear make-up, lipstick and tights. He was a good sport. We had a great time and can't wait for next years party!

Happy Halloween!

2008-10-31T13:29:00.000-07:00

We had a great Halloween. We had a little mini-celebration the week before. When I was in Utah, I found some Spaghetti that was black. I thought it would be fun to have a Halloween dinner one night. Boy was I wrong. My kids wouldn't touch the spaghetti. They thought it looked like worms. The only way I got Dillon to eat it was to have him close his eyes. It tasted like spaghetti, just didn't look like it. We had a good time though. I love Halloween and have passed it onto my kids. Brandon likes it when it is over but he puts up with me and all of my crazy traditions.

Girls weekend!

2008-10-16T13:15:00.000-07:00

In October, I went with the Roundy family girls to Utah to celebrate Heather's 30th Birthday. She didn't know we were coming. We left on Thursday, October 16th and got to her house about 2:00 a.m. to surprise her. I wish we had a picture of her face. She was so excited and suprised to see us.

We didn't waste any time while we were there. We went to some great restaurants to eat, Gardner Village,

IKEA and

Music and the Spoken Word with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

On Friday night, we went to see the play Jekyll & Hyde at Rodgers Memorial Theater

in Centerville, UT. One of my good friends, Andrew, was the lead in the play. His sister (who is also one of my good friends), Liz, flew in from Texas and we had a little mini reunion at the Theater. It was so great to see all these people I haven't seen forever. They are such a big part of my life and always will be.

We had such a great time.

Andrew was AMAZING! I wish I could have seen it one more time. After the show, they did a little bloopers version of the show and they had us laughing so hard my head hurt. After the show I got to have a sleep over just like old times with my friends. We stayed awake until the wee hours of the morning. My body didn't know what to do. But, it was worth it. We talked and laughed and sang and just had a great time.

I am so glad that Brandon let me go and was willing to watch the boys while I spent all his money and had a great time. I did miss all my boys though. I couldn't wait to get home to see them!

It was a wonderful weekend. One I will never forget.

This is Brooke - my friend Liz's daughter. Isn't she the cutest thing in the world? I was trying to figure out how to take her home without Liz knowing.

ME!!!!

2008-10-10T06:20:00.000-07:00

I like to play this little game in the car when the boys are either fighting or starting to whine (which is usually every time we are in the car). I start asking them questions like "Who loves Mommy?" and then they raise their hand and shout "ME!!" (Dillon doesn't say anything anymore, he just raises his hand - I guess 5 is a little old to be playing this silly game). Well, yesterday I was playing this little game and Daniel was yelling ME extra loud. I usually throw a trick question in there to catch them off guard and then we laugh when Daniel yells ME! Like "Who wants to go home and take a nap?" Yesterday I was about 5 questions in and I said "Who wants a spankin'?" Daniel didn't miss a beat and pointed his little finger at his brother! It was so funny. We laughed the entire way home. In fact, it makes me laugh every time I think about it. They are definitely entertaining.

Look what Daniel can do!

2008-09-30T14:35:00.000-07:00

Smiling....waiting for mom to leave the room!

Blankie out...check!

Caught in the act!

Well, last week Daniel started getting out of his crib! It has been a nightmare. He gets out about 20 times and we just keep putting him back in. He hasn't had a nap since last Friday and I am starting to get worried that he will stop taking one. I am thinking that tomorrow we will try the pack and play and see if he stays in that. Last night, it took us 1 and 1/2 hours to get him to go to sleep. He just gets out and wants to play. We tried taking away his blankie and all of his toys that he insists on sleeping with - he just doesn't care. So, if anyone has any advice, please let me know what has worked for you. I am thinking that maybe we will just put him in a big boy bed because then when I tell him to go back to bed, he will be able to get into it!

Update: I just went into the family room to find this:

I guess sleeping on the floor is better than being stuck in a crib! Big boy bed - here we come!

Happy Birthday Brandon!

2008-09-24T14:24:00.000-07:00

Cute as a baby!
Cute as a teenager! (love those dimples!)
Cute as a fisherman!
Cutest as a daddy!

September is a busy month for birthdays in my family. Brandon had a great birthday this year. For Father's Day he got a smoker that he has been reading about for 2 years. We decided since it was a little bit more money than we usually spend on Father's Day that it would be for his birthday as well. He was more than happy to accept that. We did give him a movie, a CD and a couple of other things that he loves. His mom even made him a cover for his smoker. Since Father's Day we have had some delicious food because of that present. Brandon is an awesome cook and we love it when he tries his new recipes out on us.

Brandon is such a great husband and father. His boys love him so much and already want to be just like him. He has such a big heart (don't tell him I told you that!) He is really funny and we have a lot of fun together even after all this time. We were able to go out to dinner on his birthday to one of our favorite restaurants - Flemings. It was so much fun to celebrate together. We are having a family dinner with his family on Sunday so the boys will be able to have birthday cake with him that night.

Happy Birthday honey! Love you even more this year than last.

Happy Birthday Mom!

2008-09-22T14:18:00.000-07:00

My mom came to Las Vegas to celebrate her birthday. We had a great weekend. We went to the Bellagio for dinner and got to watch the fountains and then went and saw Tony Bennett at the Las Vegas Hilton. Brandon and I have seen him in concert before and we knew we had to take my mom for her birthday. He is a legend and one of the best concerts I have been to. My mom had to drive home on her birthday but not before we made her pancakes in the shape of hearts and showered her with love.

My mom is one of the greatest human beings I have ever met. She is so much fun to be around. I talk to her about 20 times a day and I don't know what I would do without her. She loves me unconditionally and always has. She gives me great advice but she is also a great listener. I am so happy that she was able to be here for us to help celebrate her big day. We love you Mom! Come back soon!

New pictures

2008-09-14T20:55:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, we went to Floyd Lamb State Park to get the boy's pictures taken. My friend Karen is a great photographer and we knew we wanted her to do it this year. She did such a great job with both of them. She played with them and just made it really easy to get some great shots. The boys had a great time and loved being outside. If you want a sneak peak go to her blog...www.kmephoto.blogspot.com. A couple of them actually made me cry a little. My babies are growing up too fast! These are absolutely the best pictures I have had taken of my kids. I am so excited to see the rest! Thanks Karen!

Happy Birthday Daniel and Legoland!

2008-09-02T16:36:00.001-07:00

We were able to get free tickets to Legoland (thanks Randy!) and decided to go over Labor Day weekend. We left town last Thursday and got home Sunday night. Brandon's mom was able to come with us. We had never been to Legoland before. We had a great time. It was fun to stay in Carlsbad because that is where Brandon and I served our missions. We were able to eat at our favorite Mexican restaurant two times, go to the beach, hang out as a family and celebrate Daniel's second birthday. We had a great weekend!

Entrance to Legoland!

They had a lot of cool things for the kids to do. This was an air cannon. Here is Danny and Daddy loading it up to shoot the other kids!

Dillon in front of the White House.

Viva Las Vegas!

They had so many fun rides for the kids. The only problem is, they had to have an adult with them which meant that Brandon and I got to go on all of the rides as well!

They also had a really fun water park. It was pretty hot and humid that day. It was fun for the kids to get wet and cool off.

This is the only picture I got of Dillon at the water park because he was constantly moving and I couldn't find him half the time!

They had slides and playgrounds all over for the kids to play on.

As you can imagine, there are a lot of things built out of legos. These are a few of our favorites.

Thomas the Tank Engine

Indiana Jones

An elephant. Loving this Halloween display! R2D2

Darth vs. Dillon

Darth vs. Danny

We had a great day there. We stayed for about 10 hours and were very ready to go home and rest our feet.

Daniel turned 2 on August 30th. He had a great birthday. He loved opening his presents.

Daniel got some great presents for his second birthday. He got a great Mickey Mouse book and Mickey Mouse placemats from Grandma Eagar. He got some money from Grandma Rodgers. He got a frog pool and pool toys from Grandpa and Grandma Fahrni. We gave him some trains, a new backpack and a Mickey Mouse book. This picture is so cute because he was so excited to open every present. He loves trains and Mickey Mouse!

Showing off his new backpack!

We went to the beach for his birthday.

We decided to write some things in the sand.

Dillon loved building castles in the sand. He also liked to throw a big chunk up in the air and practice his karate kicks!

Birthday boy!

Danny wasn't too sure about the ocean. He got knocked down by a wave and decided to just relax in this man made swimming hole right on the beach!

There were a lot of people fishing from the pier. This is just one of the catches we saw! Daniel and Daddy walking on the Oceanside Pier.

Happy family, happy times!

It was a hit!

2008-08-26T09:45:00.001-07:00

I picked Dillon up from school and he had nothing but great things to say about his first day. They read a really neat story, he had recess and it was a little girl's birthday yesterday. She brought muffins to share with the class. As we were walking out of the school yard, he looked up at me and said "Mom, I love school!" I am so happy that he had a great first day.

I let him pick the menu for dinner in celebration of his first day at school. He picked Chicken and broccoli casserole and strawberry smoothies. Hopefully his second day will be just as great as the first!

First day of Kindergarten!

2008-08-25T13:12:00.000-07:00

Well, I just got home from dropping Dillon of at his first day of Kindergarten. Both Daniel and I shed a few tears on the way home. There are a lot of emotions going on right now. I am so excited for him and sad for us. We went to meet his teacher last Friday and he was able to see his classroom. Ever since then, he hasn't stopped asking when he gets to go to his new school.

He was so excited to find his name on the board outside his classroom.

Here he is telling all of you how old he is.

Here he is with his good buddy Tyler. They are in the same class.

She had then all line up and wave goodbye to us and blow kisses. His teacher, Miss Lee, was so cute about it. She said "Tell your parents you will be okay. Tell them that they will be okay, too!"

This is the saddest picture. Daniel was crying on the way home asking for Dillon and pointing to his seat. I snapped this shot of him looking so depressed missing his big brother!

I know that he will be okay. It is just hard to say goodbye to him. I will let you know how the first day went. Off to make cookies for his first after school snack!

Wow! What a month!

2008-08-15T21:00:00.000-07:00

I can't believe that it is already the middle of August. I missed over a month of blogging! We have had a busy month.

On July 17th we had our Christmas in July Open House for Polka Dot Thoughts. It was a great success. We had so much fun showing people what we have been doing for the past 3 months! Hopefully we will start having parties and get more exposure. If anyone wants to have a party for us, please let me know. You can also see pictures of our Open House at http://www.polkadotthoughts.wordpress.com/.

On July 16th I was cutting up an apple for the boys and Dillon started complaining that his tooth hurt. I asked him to come to me and felt his tooth and sure enough, it was loose! I was so surprised and excited. Well, it took over two weeks to come out. He wouldn't let us try to pull it. The only way he wanted it done was the way he has seen it on Funniest Home Videos with the dental floss connected to the door. So, we tried that...didn't work. Brandon decided if he tied a fisherman's knot that it might work better to hold on to the tooth. At this point, the tooth could lay completely down and the tooth underneath was already coming out. We were trying to tie the knot (well, Brandon was, I was holding Dillon down) and Brandon just finally pushed his tooth all the way down and out it popped! Dillon was so happy to finally have it out. It was so funny because about 30 minutes after we pulled it out, he came running to me and said "Mom, I can see my parent tooth!" I guess that is what permanent teeth should be called from now on!

We also went to Utah for 5 days for Brandon's cousin's wedding. My mom came up from Phoenix and went with us. We were able to go to Lagoon with my brother and his family (also visiting from Phoenix). It was so much fun. The kid area at Lagoon has these huge trees now and so you are never standing in the sun. I also went on the new roller coaster they have and I will never go on it again. It is freaky! We had a great time visiting with them.

On the 24th of July we got together with my aunt and cousins for a BBQ/talent show/volleyball game/driveway of fireworks celebration. It was so much fun to be with them. I would post pictures, but our camera broke while we were in Utah and we didn't get a single picture while we were there!

We were also able to see Brandon's family. Before Brandon's grandma (Gumma) died, she started her life history. After she died, some of his family finished the book and we had a book party to talk about her, honor her and receive the completed book. It is amazing. I read it every night before I go to bed. She was an amazing lady and I am so excited to have all these stories for my kids to know how wonderful she was. We miss her so much! What a priceless gift!

Travis and Lacee got married at the Mt. Timpanogos temple on the 26th. It was a great day. I learned so much from their ceremony. The advise they got was incredible. It was a little warm, but we had so much fun being with Brandon's extended family. So many of them live in different states, so to all be together was great.

We spent the night in Lehi in a hotel and even took the kids swimming in the smallest pool I have ever seen.

Of course, I got to go to Gardner's Village while I was there. That is such a great place. My mom and I went a nostalgia tour of all of our houses we lived in. We had a great time remembering the good times when we lived in Utah. We ate at all our favorite restaurants, visited my dad's grave, drove around Salt Lake, went to The Gateway, and of course, visited friends and family. It all went all too fast. I wish we could spent a couple of weeks there!

This month has been crazy as well. Before my mom went home, we made chili sauce. My mom and dad used to make it all the time when I was growing up. It is honestly one of my favorite things. We canned 21 bottles! I was so excited and glad my mom was here to help me.

Brandon and I were able to sneak away to the Red Rock Resort for 2 nights last week. It was one of the best staycations I have ever been on. The boys went to Grandma's for 2 nights. We did bring them up to go swimming one of the days. They have a great pool for kids. It was so relaxing to not have anywhere to go or anything to do. We asked for an upgraded room and they gave it to us! The bathtub had a TV in it. I took a bath each night and watched the season finale of So You Think You Can Dance. It was awesome.

The boys got new pajamas from Old Navy this week. They were 75% off and sooooo cute!

I finally put some vinyl lettering up in the boys' room. I have been trying to find something cute to do and this is what I decided on. I think it turned out great!

(Being a Brother is better than being a Superhero)

Now we are just getting ready for Kindergarten! Dillon is a little nervous (so am I, but trying not to let him see it!). Well, that is all for now. I think I will go to garage sales in the morning. I haven't been FOREVER! Wish me luck!

4th of July

2008-07-06T15:56:00.000-07:00

We had a great holiday. We had pancakes with blueberries and strawberries for breakfast. (Red, White and Blue!) Then for lunch we drove up to Mt. Charleston to the Farrer's cabin and had hamburgers and hot dogs. It is so pretty up there. The weather was 81 degrees when we arrived at 1:30 p.m. and when we left at 6:00 p.m. it was 77 degrees!! It felt incredible. There are so many trees and flowers up there. We loved spending time in the mountains and also loved spending time with the Farrer's and their friends.

We came home and gave the boys a bath - you should have seen the ring around that bathtub! Then our next door neighbor asked if we wanted to come out and see some fireworks. She lit the first one and it sent both Dillon and Daniel running into the house. Dillon went and got Brandon's ear protection for when he goes to the gun range and wore those the rest of the firework display. Neither of them were very impressed with fireworks this year.

We hope that you all had an enjoyable day. Happy Birthday to my sister, Becky!

The Farrer's cabin. Isn't it beautiful?

Both my boys love getting wet. Dillon played in the little creek.

And Daniel washed his balloon! I think I have seriously ruined this kid. He can't even get his balloon dirty without wanting it washed!

We also fed the ground squirrels. They were so cute.

Happy 4th of July everyone! We are so proud to live in this country!

4th of July Parade

2008-06-28T23:12:00.000-07:00

Tonight we went to the park and the kids participated in a 4th of July parade. All the kids marched around the park 3 times and then they did sparklers. They also played in the water, went down the slides and rolled down the hill. I was videotaping Dillon doing somersaults down the hillside and wishing that I had his energy! It was a great evening with our friends!

Two cute boys!

Dillon played his harmonica and Daniel had jingle bells on his ankle.

Action shot!

Oh to be 5 again!

Swimming Lessons 101

2008-06-28T22:50:00.000-07:00

Dillon took swimming lessons this week. I knew that he was ready for lessons when we went swimming in California back in April. He thought that just because he turned 5 he could swim. Makes perfect sense to me! We went down to the pool at our hotel and he walked up and jumped in the pool. Luckily Brandon was there to pull him out.

He did a great job during his lessons. He has a hard time using straight legs to kick. He tends to buckle his knees and try to kick, which makes him sink! However, he loves his new Darth Vader swimsuit and new goggles. He wears the goggles in the bath tub and holds his breath and pretends to swim. Miss Amber was a great, patient teacher. We are going to have to go swimming a lot this summer so that he can practice what he has learned. Here are a couple of highlights from his lessons.

Dillon knew most of the kids in his class. He had a great time swimming with his friends.

Dillon did great floating on his back.

Since they listened so well during their lesson, Miss Amber let them go down the water slide. Definately a highlight of the day!

Funny sayings by Dillon

2008-06-22T14:45:00.000-07:00

Dillon has always pronounced some words with his own unique spin. Some examples are smarshmellows, Chocky Milk, smushrooms, oh the list could go on! However, yesterday, I about died of laughter when I heard him say this to his Daddy

"Dad your neck is all SunburMed. You should have put on some SunscreeM."

He continues to entertain us!

So long...farewell!

2008-06-22T14:35:00.000-07:00

Well, this week we had to say goodbye to Brandon's brother Bryce, his wife Leigh and little Abigail Ruth. They left Friday for Minnesota to go to Dental School for the next 4 years. We got together on Thursday night for a delicious dinner of ribs, seafood salad, baked beans, veggies and yummy strawberry dessert. We put the young ones to bed and then played Settlers. I recently found out that I LOVE that game! It is so much fun.

Brandon and Jordan (his youngest brother) and Grandma watched O Brother, Where are thou? That is such a great movie. We overheard Brandon say about 50 times "This is my favorite part!" Which was followed by roars of laughter.

We went to Grandma's house on Friday to say our final goodbyes. I thought it wasn't going to be hard, but it was! We all hugged and shed some tears. I know that we will see them at Christmas, but it just won't be the same here without them. So, to Bryce, Leigh and Abigail...good luck! We are so proud of you and can't wait to hear how the move went.

Preschool Graduation

2008-06-02T12:30:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday, Dillon graduated from Preschool. This has been such a great year for him. We went from crying because he couldn't cut with scissors the first week of school to being able to read! His teacher, Ms. McIntyre is one of the most patient, kind, wonderful teachers I have ever met. He absolutely loved going to Preschool and I am sure that most of that was because of how special he was treated and how much fun learning was in her class. We are sad to see it end, but excited for Kindergarten.

They had a water party earlier in the day and ate pizza. We took our waterslide and set it up for the kids. They also had squirt guns, sponge water relay races and sprinklers on the trampoline! It was an exciting day.

Here are some highlights from their graduation ceremony. It was so cute.

The proud graduate! I couldn't help but think when I first saw him in his cap and gown that I would be sitting at his High School graduation before I knew it. It made my weepy to think about how fast these last 5 years have gone and how fast the next 13 are going to go!

Bright Beginnings Preschool Class of 2008!

She taught them so many cute songs. This was one of them.

(Dillon REALLY likes to do the ocean action!)

Ms. McIntyre and Dillon.

Congrats to all the 2008 graduates -Dillon (Preschool), my nephew Todd (High School), my niece Breckyn (High School), Brandon's brother Bryce (UNLV - headed to Dental school), David (ASU, married to my niece Malia - he is headed back to ASU for his masters and then to Law School) and everyone else. Great work!

It's Official!!

2008-05-30T07:59:00.000-07:00

I guess it is about time to announce to the bloggy universe that my friend Molly and I are opening our own business. It has been in the works for about a month and we are super excited to get going. The name of our business is...

We are going to jump into the world of vinyl lettering. We got our cutter a couple of weeks back and this past Monday, Molly's sister-in-law Brittany (who I knew about 15 years ago - small world) came to train us on the software. It was an awesome day and so far we have designed a couple of ideas. It is seriously the greatest job I have ever had. It is so much fun to design things for people.

We are also going to have an Open House on July 17th at my home to celebrate Christmas in July. We are hoping to be able to offer neighbor gifts, teacher gifts, gifts for anyone for Christmas. We will hopefully also have Halloween and Thanksgiving thrown in there as well.

It is going to be a roller coaster ride, but I am so excited. I seriously think about it all day and sometimes can't sleep at night because my brain won't shut off.

The first thing I made was a treat bucket for Dillon's preschool teacher. It was so much fun to design it and see it cut out and then put on a plastic container. I was so excited to give it to her last night at their graduation.

So, we are just getting started and getting our ducks in a row. But, if you need anything or have any ideas, please let us know. We would be happy to help!

May the Force be with you....

2008-05-19T09:07:00.000-07:00

Yesterday as Dillon and I were walking into church, I went to grab the door and Dillon yelled "MOM STOP!" I turned around expecting to see that he had fallen or something and instead saw this:

I said "What are you doing?" With this huge grin and determined look on his face he simply said "I will use THE FORCE to open the door." He put his hand up to the door, squinted his eyes and stood there. I couldn't believe that he really expected the door to open. I let him sit there for about 30 seconds (I was afraid people were going to drive by and wonder what on earth these Mormons were teaching their children now!) So, I grabbed the door and opened it and he joyfully said "See Mom, it worked! I AM a real Jedi."

So let this be a warning to all of you that take your children to Disneyland - if you let them do the Jedi training, some of them might think they are a real Jedi! Now I just need to get him to figure out how to use The Force to do all the housework and clean up the toys! What a funny kid.

The Cookie Monster

2008-05-06T11:33:00.000-07:00

I didn't realize until today that we have the Cookie Monster living right under our roof. Whenever there are cookies around, his best manners come out and he begs for one right out of the oven. He even says please and cookie in sign language to make sure that you understand what he wants. I am trying to get him to talk more so I am a mean mom and make him say the word before he can have one. This is complete torture for the Cookie Monster when he can see them and smell them! I made some pumpkin chocolate chip cookies for Brandon to take to work tomorrow and wouldn't you know it, the Cookie Monster was underneath my feet during the entire process and waited at the oven until they came out!
Take a look.... (p.s. you have to pause the music at the bottom of my blog).

As you can see, he finally said Cookie and please (he rubbed his chest which is sign language for please). What a cute Cookie Monster we have at our house!

Parade of Homes

2008-05-01T11:01:00.000-07:00

This is definitely one of our favorite things to do every year. There is a Parade of Homes in St. George, Utah every February (right around President's Day). We have been going for the past 8 years and it is seriously something we look forward to like Christmas morning! My Mom started coming with us last year and now she schedules her trips up here around the Parade of Homes. This year, we even got my brother and his wife to fly up from Phoenix for 2 days to go with us. Here are a few pictures of some of our favorites in the past. We get so many ideas from going and we also get to take a peak into a life we will never know. This year they even had a house that was 20,000 square feet! (No, that is not a typo!)

This house was from 2005. It is gorgeous on the outside and the inside.
It also has amazing views. It sits on top of a huge hill.

This tree was in one of the kids' room in this house. It was such a cute idea.

This is one of our all-time favorite houses. It is from 2006. It has everything you would ever want in a house and the decorating was gorgeous. It is our dream home!

Check out the view from the family room! The entire back wall opens up to the back yard and view of the red rocks.

This is the backyard of our dream home. It also has a covered patio over by the family room that opens up. It has a sitting are with a TV and a bathroom for changing and showering after swimming. It has a fire pit with benches. It was the best backyard I have ever seen!

And last, but not least, it had an outdoor shower in the master bathroom. You could go outside and take a shower right from the shower in the bathroom. My husband has wanted one of these for a long time, so when he saw this, he spent about 40 minutes in the shower alone. We seriously have about 20 pictures of this one shower. I had to beg him to come and see the rest of the house!

This is from 2008. I thought this was such a cute room in the 20,000 sf house. I would love to have a theater where you could put on plays and have a talent show!

This is also from the 20,000 sf house. Inside this room is a bowling alley with 2 lanes and about 100 pinball machines with disco lights and a stereo system. It was so fun.

I thought this was so cute on the top of a little boys' room. I would love to do this in a toy room some day. My kids would love it.

You also get really cute ideas for craft rooms. I thought this was such a great idea and it wouldn't be a hard thing to do! The ribbon sat in a little basket attached to the door of the cabinet.

This was one of the most interesting ideas I have seen at the Parade of Homes. It was a grotto that you could enter from a secret passage way through the master bedroom. A bookcase opened up and had a little sitting room in a cave and then you walked through a tunnel to get to the hot tub inside this grotto. It was crazy. The guy that built it told us that part alone cost $100,000!!!

I love this chandelier. It flickered and looked like real candles.

This was a children's playroom. It was 2 stories and looked like a little village that they could go play in. I loved it.

This might look like a nice house right? Well, it was the POOL HOUSE! It had a bar, kitchen, couches, work out area and also beds for guests. Wouldn't that be great to have this?

We love the rock on this wall. We want to do something similar in our house, so we took a picture for future reference.

Well, as you can see, it is so much fun. So, if you ever need something to do right around President's Day, go check out these houses. It will take you an entire day and even then you won't be able to see all of them. If you have time, stay the night and spend 2 days looking. Gotta love it!

Where, O where did the blankie go?

2008-04-26T17:59:00.000-07:00

If any of you know my son Daniel, he is attached to the blankie in the picture above! This kid goes everywhere with it. He sleeps with it, eats with it and even has to have it in the room when he is taking a bath! Needless to say, he loves this piece of material.

Well, the last time that Daniel had the flu, I had to wash his blankie every time he threw up on it so that he would go back to sleep. In the middle of the night one time, he had an accident and we sat up until the blankie was washed for him to get back to bed. I put him back in his bed and he threw up on half of it before I could even leave the room. I had had it! So, I grabbed the scissors and through my tears, cut the thing in half. So, now we had 2 blankies and one is always clean and ready to go.

Well, this last Wednesday, I was doing Laundry and Daniel saw the "other" blankie on my bed and went crazy. Can you imagine his excitement when he thought he had 2 of them? He walked around all morning with both of them. I didn't have the guts to take one away so I thought that I would just take one when he went down for his nap. Well, by the time we got home from taking Dillon to Preschool - we couldn't find either of them! I even called Dillon at Preschool to see if he had hid them from his brother. Nope, nothing. I looked everywhere. I seriously looked for a good 2 hours that day.

When Brandon got home from work that night, he looked for another hour. We just couldn't find them anywhere. So, Daniel was forced to go to bed with a different blankie. I was devastated. I even had dreams about where it might be. I would wake up in the morning stressing about the location of this blankie!

Friday was our "date" day. (Yes, I have the best mother-in-law in the world! She watches our kids every Friday so we can have some alone time). Brandon and I had a great lunch and a new restaurant on Lake Mead called Create. It was actually really good. Brandon had to turn his motorcycle boots into the boot shop for fixing and then we proceeded to spend 3 HOURS looking for a new blankie that was the same material as the old one. We went to 5 (yes I said FIVE) fabric stores and 3 baby stores trying to find a replacement. We were on a mission! This material just does not exist in fleece. We found it in cotton. But that would just not do!

Friday night I was in my closet getting changed for bed and decided to look under Brandon's shorts that were hung up on the bottom rack. Both Brandon and I had looked in our closet many times because Daniel likes to hide in the clothes when we are getting ready. Well, I pulled back the clothes and there were the blankies stuffed in a basket underneath Brandon's shorts. HOLY COW! I was so excited it was like I had just won the lottery! I ran out to the hall and showed Brandon (who was going through the towel closet seeing if I accidentally folded them inside a towel - told you, we were obsessed with it). We anxiously called Daniel to come and look. He rounded the corner and dove for the blankie. His face was priceless. I wish I would have had a camera.

So, now we have a kid who has his blankie back, 2 parents that are finally relieved that he won't be scarred for life and a brother who is glad his parents don't ask him every 20 minutes if he hid them from his brother! I can't believe how much it bothered us that he didn't have his blankie anymore. I love seeing him walk down the hall with it dragging behind him like Linus from the Peanuts. He is so dang cute with this thing. We play peek-a-boo about 20 times a day with it and we are all so happy that it is back in our lives!

(Whoa - that was a long story!)

It has been a while!

2008-04-19T18:39:00.000-07:00

Well, I started this blog and haven't done anything. I still read a lot of blogs and decided it is only fair that I post something every once in a while. I will try to keep this going.

We have had a great month. We spent the first part of the month in California with Brandon's family. We went to Disneyland for 2 days and then stayed in Newport Beach and went to San Diego and Sea World. We also spent a little time at the beach. The water was still really cold. I will try to post some pictures.

Daddy and Dillon on the rockets. I get so sick on this ride. So...Daddy gets to take him.

This is one of Brandon's favorite rides. I don' t know why. They all came off the ride looking like they just got out of the shower. But, it must have been a fun shower because they were all laughing.

We were standing in front of Disneyland waiting to take a family picture and Daniel saw Chip and Dale and walked right over and started waving and say "hi." Well, Chip (or Dale - can you tell the difference?) got down and Daniel ran up and gave him a huge hug and wouldn't let go. I finally had to go and get him. It was precious!

This should be a post all by itself. Dillon got picked to do Jedi Training. (I was yelling and pointing to his birthday button and he finally got picked). Now, to his defense, he had never seen this before and didn't know what to expect. It was hillarious. He couldn't get his sword out and we were laughing so hard I almost had to excuse myself to the restroom. The Jedi doing the training was also trying to talk to him and he was just so fascinated with his sword that he didn't hear him. But, he got to fight Darth Vader and that is all that matters, right? Here he is trying to get his sword open.

Daddy and Daniel at the beach. This was the first time that Daniel had seen the beach and he was so excited about it, but he didn't like getting his feet wet. The water was really cold. Dillon didn't care that much - he went right in and went body surfing.

This is Brandon and Dillon at Sea World. No, they didn't turn into penguins - this is just a poster that they were standing behind.

Looking at the sting rays. Daniel was so excited.

Daddy and Dillon watching the pet show.

Dillon also turned 5 years old. He now loves Star Wars and HAD to have a Star Wars birthday party. We had 11 boys running around the back yard with light sabers (pool noodles) and jedi robes. We did some Jedi training and even had an awards ceremony. Then we ate hotdogs and opened presents. It was a great day and we had so much fun.

All the boys would put their lightsabers on the table and than yell "Go Jedis!" and raise them into the sky. They came up with it all on their own. It was so cute.

Here is Daniel hitting the Darth Vader pinata. It was pretty sweet!

Well, that is enough for now. Thank you for your time.

And we are off!

2007-09-26T21:35:00.000-07:00

Well, after reading blogs from all around the world, I have decided to become a blogger. I am not sure why and I am not sure what will come of it. But, I hope to be able to meet new people and keep track of what is going on in my life. I think it will be fun and hope to learn how to do all of this stuff. So, if you are interested, stay tuned, we are just getting started.