Kolden - almost 8 months

Cutest drooley boy ever! I love how handsome he looks in his tie. He is all ready to go to Church! I can't seem to get his hair to not look disheveled though.
Kolden loves to eat and chew on his toys, especially these shapes.
He has started this somewhat high pitched squeal lately that is really funny. I think he is trying to compete with his sisters screams.
He wants to talk so badly. He does say "ma-ma", which means "I need to be held and loved, fed and changed". Kolden has recently been saying "da-da", which means "I want to play - play with me and give me your undivided attention!". He is always in a good mood when he says "da-da" and most always not so happy when he says "ma-ma". He will also make sounds like "pah-pah", mostly when we change him; I think it is because we always says "poops" at that time. He is starting to say "la-la-la", probably because we (even the girls) say "la-la-la--love you!" to him all the time.
When we sing each night before bed he joins right in with his sisters making any melodic-like sound he can.
Such a guapo boy! (aka: Spanky McFarland - from "Little Rascals")

Fiesta Fun Driving & Golf

Our three girls were all so cute at Fiesta Fun driving the bumper cars. We used some free passes and they had a ball! They have definitely caught the "car fever" from dad. They would stay and drive those all day if they could.


Kari could drive her own the entire time. Kya just needed a start from dad a few times and once Kiera learned which way to steer while she pushed the button she was good to go!

We went mini-golfing too! We just shared the one adult and one child and took turns on each hole, that made the game go faster. Kya did a good job, but was satisfied quickly with just a few turns.

Kiera loved getting to take her turn and would swing hard to hit the ball. She was so cute.

Kari has a good eye for distance, or incredible luck. She did quite well for being almost six years old.
Here is the "we had fun" picture to end the night with. You can see Kya had past her "fun" time and was ready for bed. Kolden was asleep on me bundled in a blanket. We had a great time at Fiesta Fun!

Pesto Primavera and Playing with Papa

My favorite pizza at the Pizza Factory is their Pasta Primavera. I made a close version of it at home for a lot less and fed my extended family as well. I made it with a package pizza crust and made it thin-crust style on a cookie sheet. I placed a little pesto sauce on the crust and added the following veggies sauteed in a splash of olive oil and garlic salt: summer squash, zuccini, red bell peppers, sliced mushrooms and purple onion. I could have added artichoke hearts, but I forgot to buy them. I put the veggies over the crust and sprinkled a healthy portion of reduced fat fetta cheese and then covered the rest of it with plenty of pesto sauce. I baked it in the oven and my husband even said it smelled good (and he pretty much hates everything I put on the pizza)! It was delicious!
This is a great picture of Kiera, Kya, Kolden and Kade. They were definitely having a fun morning! You can see the chocolate on their faces and the snickers wrappers on the couch in the background. What a cute family! Where was Kari?...
Kari was sick with pink-eye. I shot this of her in her bed because it was so funny and sweet. She went to sleep with her finger plugging her runny nose because she cannot handle it dripping out. Poor girl, it is tough to be sick. We love her!

Bye-bye RAV-4

We sold our Rav-4 and Kade gave it a new paint job. I am glad he painted it, that way it doesn't feel like it is our car anymore.
Kade got a 90-something Lincoln Town Car. I was not thrilled because it is a huge boat. It is safe and it fits our whole family, so I am fine with it. We call it "Nessi" for the Lock Ness Monstor because it seems so huge to me. We will paint it with a Shamrock Green base color and then an Indy Green Pearl on top, we may even try to give her some scales. We will see how that goes.

My "Gratitude/Just Because" Balloon Bouquets '10

I had a thought that just turned into kind of a goal for this year. I would give a balloon bouquet and a "Thank You" card or a "Just Because" card with it to different people that have effected my life positively.
The first bouquet was to Sister Kirkland (Tawnya's mom-in-law) because she made my wedding dress almost eight years ago and I still use it as my Temple dress and I love it! It was made just how I wanted it to be and is so special to me. She charged me only $50 to sew it and the fabric was around $65, so my whole wedding dress cost $115, but really to me it is PRICELESS! I used scraps from the train of my dress for Kari and Kiera's blessing dresses (I used my veil for Kya's). I wrote her a "Thank You" card and gave it to her.

The second bouquet was to my 4th grade Teacher, Mr. Curtis Payne. He also just recently won the Utah State Music Teacher of the Year, which was well deserved. Fourth grade was when I started really getting fat and lost all my friends. He tried to help me have some self confidence and even came to wish me "Happy Birthday" when I was off-track. I was in his singing group, "The Sunset Express" and it was lots of fun and very positive. I made him a Smiley Man holding four different balloon music notes on white stems. I thought it looked cool. I have never made one like that.


The third bouquet was to a friend I used to teach with, Cheri Stevenson. She recently lost her mother-in-law and had taken care of her for the past year, so it was kind of hard on her. When I took it over to her she got teary eyed and talked about what a bad day that she had. I am glad it made her feel better!
More to come in the rest of the year...

Water is proof there is a God!

Every year when I teach Earth Systems Science I just get so excited about different topics throughout the year that I find fascinating, even though I teach it over and over every year. I am continually amazed at the wonders of God and His brilliance in creating Earth so perfectly!
Right now we are starting our unit on WATER and I find myself wanting to just shout out to the classes - "Do you see that WATER is proof of a Divine Creator!" Water could never be so amazing just by chance. God created it to be amazing due to its properties. There is nothing so ordinary, yet so spectacular as WATER!
A bit about the properties of WATER...
It creates erosion (which can be good - like carving out the Grand Canyon and Zion National Park, and it can be disastrous - like floods and tsunamis).
This erosion allows for nutrients to be disolved into the water so plants can take in those nutrients and grow. Water is a UNIVERSAL SOLVENT, meaning it disolves most everything. This is so necessary for nutrients and good things to be dissolved, but it can be bad when there is pollution.
It has capillary action so that water in our blood is carried up to our heart again and it goes up in plants, like those incredible Red Wood Trees. It is fun to dye white carnations with food coloring to show this (my little girls especially like it). Along with the capillary action is surface tension that allows us to pump water from wells.
Water is less dense when it is cold and freezes, so ice floats. God was so perfect to make it this way or our rivers, lakes and the ocean would just be frozen masses from the bottom up. Instead the ice that floats and covers those reservoirs of water protect all that is sheltered under it and currents can still flow and life can continue in its miraculous wonder.
Water's properties change when you add salt to it, so the boiling point and freezing point change. It is harder to freeze salt water. So that must be why the ocean is salt water, so it won't all freeze up on top when it gets cold.
The density of water changes with temperature so less dense warm water comes to the top and more dense cold water sinks to the bottom to create our water currents, that in turn create our air currents (if you put both on a map and overlap those maps the currents for water and air are almost exactly the same - isn't that cool!)
There is soooo much that is so cool about WATER. It is a liquid treasure and a chemical wonder! WATER is proof that God created the Earth because this amazing molecule could never be so amazing by chance.
Lets all go drink a nice big glass of WATER and be grateful!

Thankful

I didn't take time in the crazy holiday schedule from Thanksgiving to write a bit about what I am thankful for. We had the fun opportunity to be up at Midway in a condo with my family and it was cold. As we relayed our sleeping children up the flights of stairs to the condo at 3am, when we had arrived there, I was so grateful for the heat and light inside the condo. We take so many modern conveniences for granted. I thought of what it would have been like if we had lived back when my grandmother (who would complete her 100th birthday this month if she were still alive) was a young mother.
There would not have been a cozy condo to rest in and warm beds to lay her sleeping darlings in. She would have been making a fire in the stove to provide warmth and some of their light. She would have packed a lunch for their trip, having made the bread herself and probably have grown some of the toppings for the sandwiches or having raised the animal for the meat.
We stopped at Wendy's on the way out of town because we were on "vacation" and it was much faster. Kade and I listened to a book on CD on the way up while the kids watched a movie and the heater kept us warm. She would have been telling her children stories and poems from memory (she was amazing at that) and singing to them. We had our comfortable Expedition with cruise control, electric windows and doors and cushy seats. They would have had to borrow a car or not make the trip at all (I hope that if my Grandma and I had been the same age she would have wanted to be my friend, she was/is such a great lady.) We are SO blessed and take it for granted way too much.
I have been able to really enjoy my young family this holiday season. Kade has been on temporary layoff and it has been so fun having him home more. My stress level is so much lower when he is around and I enjoy our children so much more too (because I don't have to be the mean parent all the time). My children are such a blessing and I really appreciate when there is help with them so I can just spend some one-on-one time with each of them and not just have everything feel like I am just herding them all along to meet overall needs instead of individual needs. My children are each so unique and special. They are fun people to be around!
I am so thankful for extended family to help reach out and fill in the gaps that I miss. They are so supportive. We are truly blessed to have both Brian & Creta and my Mom live so close to us (and each other) so we can visit often. It is so important that our children have close relationships with their grandparents and receive all that unconditional love! I have so much to learn from our parents and the vast amounts of knowledge and experience they have.
I am thankful for my brothers and the great Uncles they are to my children. The girls just adore them and get excited when they come visit and play with them. I am thankful for my sister. Besides Kade, she is my best friend and she often comes and rescues me when I am ready to pull my hair out when Kade is at work. She always can make me laugh, which is such good medicine.
I am thankful for good friends and ward members around us. We are trying to get to know all of our neighbors better. If you look for good you will find it, and if you look for bad you will also find it. The world is so much better when you just look for the good.
My husband is the greatest blessing the Lord could give me. He instantly makes me feel better and happier, just by being around him. When he hugs me and holds me all of a sudden all is well in the world and everything will be fine and we can continue trying to move forward with life when it seems challenging. It is hard to watch him suffer from his diabetes and the toll it has and does take on his body daily. I love him more than I can describe. He is such a good man and even when we face situations that we don't like, I always know that he will do what God wants him to do. He will do his best to follow the Lord. I couldn't ask for more than that! When I feel weak he pushes me and makes me a better person. He supports me in all I am trying to do. He is the best friends I could ever have and I adore him!
I am so grateful for my testimony and for a loving Heavenly Father that allows us to learn and grow to be like Him. I am so thankful for our Savior, Jesus Christ and his perfect unconditional love to save us. I am thankful for the gospel to help us know of God and Jesus and help us to live happier lives. It is so important that my children have this knowledge so they can live happy lives here on Earth and for Eternity. God is so wise to make us parents, that is where we probably learn the very most. We see our weaknesses the most by being parents (and by doing some callings in the Church), but if we let Him, God makes our weak things stronger. These are parts of my testimony and many of the things I am grateful for.

Kolden the Sister Tamer

Kolden has tamed our girls. They are much sweeter and kinder when they are "taking care" of him or "baby sitting" him. Remember, Kari is almost six, Kya is getting close to turning 4 in a couple of months, and Kiera is only two, so "taking care" and "baby sitting" Kolden are very supervised events. They really love trying to feed him baby food or his bottle, wiping his face, and especially playing with him and trying to get him to laugh.
Kya and Kolden are really close. All the girls are like little mamas to him, but especially Kya. She puts on a show of follies all unique to her to entertain Kolden and make him really laugh a lot. She sings to him and tries to help him learn to talk. She helps wash him in the bathtub and puts lotion on him. He just thinks she is the coolest thing ever! When Kade and I cannot get him to smile or laugh (mostly because he is cranky from teething) then Kya can come along and start to talk to him or put on a show for him by jumping and acting like a puppy or doing a particular yell that he finds hilarious and he will light up and be so happy. It is fun to watch!
Kiera is on 24/7 spit-up alert. If Kolden has any spit up on him or even food on him she will let us know right away! She will even get a burp cloth or wipey and she is ready to help clean him up. Kari is very good about letting us know what is going on with Kolden. She is also very good to hand us bottles and diapers. She especially likes to feed Kolden baby food and it is really funny to watch and listen. Her dialogue with Kolden as she tries to get him to open his mouth to eat the baby food is very funny. I often wonder if that is how I sound when I am trying to feed Kolden.
Kolden has definitely tamed his sisters down from being more wild. Their more motherly side is coming out and it is nice. I love that they all love each other (the girls fight like crazy with each other too - but not with Kolden, yet).

Don't let Kolden eat popcorn - Where's the binky?

Because Kolden is teething the binky is extremely important! Kolden is getting very good at eating baby food, but still has some trouble with baby puffs. Lately Kolden has become very aware of when others are eating and he wants what ever you have. He even whines like a puppy to let you know when he is wanting what you have, it is really cute!
Our family decided to go to the $2 movie as part of our holiday celebration and Aunt Karla bought some popcorn to share with us. I was holding Kolden and I often had the bucket of popcorn as it was passed from people on one side to the other. Kolden had his binky and it was dark in the theatre. At one point I was getting into the movie and ended up holding the bucket of popcorn. All of a sudden Kolden lunges at it and grabs it with both hands and howls for the popcorn. In this process the binky falls from his mouth into the dark abyss of the theatre floor.
With the help of my sister we pry the bucket of popcorn away from Kolden and I am madly searching the floor for the binky so I can mute my little man. I whisper loudly to Kade, "Binky Down!" and he promptly begins searching the floor with me. Neither of us have any luck and I just have to stand up and start bouncing Kolden to try and quiet him. Poor Kolden's efforts for popcorn were thwarted by mean mom and now the binky is lost!
Kolden is distracted for a while by the bouncing and then starts laughing and happily yelling out "ma, ma, ma, ma, ma". I have to take him out of the movie so I go wash my hands and try substituting my finger for the binky. It works for a while so I sneak back in the theatre with Kolden sucking on my finger and try to find the binky in the rows before and after us with absolutely no luck. I even attempt this crouched down as my sister holds her cell phone for light and still no luck.
After missing chunks of the movie because of taking Kolden in the hall when he has become tired of my finger, I finally get him to sleep. I go into the theatre one last time to see the end. At the end of the movie we start gathering children and things to go and.......... lo and behold - there is the BINKY!!!!!! It had fallen right into the diaper bag! How ironic and retrospectively funny. Don't you just hate it when you loose the binky in the dark of a theatre only to find it safe and clean in the diaper bag at the end of the film!?! So, in conclusion, don't let Kolden eat popcorn yet and look for the binky in the diaper bag next time it falls out of his mouth in the dark.

Guatemala Trip Planned for 2012! Wanna Come?

Kade and I will have our 10th Wedding Anniversary in 2012 and Kade really wants to go back to my mission in Guatemala. We are going to Guatemala in June or July of 2012!
We have done quite a bit of research and found a great tour that takes us to the ruins of Tikal (the picture above), the City of Antigua (with the Jade and Silver Factory and a Macadamia Nut Farm), Lake Atilan (the Water's of Mormon) and the indigenous tribes around the lake, the indigenous city of Chichicastinago with it's indigenous market, Copan in Honduras (more ruins), and the Rio Dulce by the Caribbean Sea. The tour pays for our meals, transportation, entrance fees, tours, and accommodations each night. The tour lasts 11 days and is $999.00 per person, which is a fantastic deal. We will probably extend our time there at least two more days to go to the Guatemala Temple, Mercado Central (the biggest souvenir market in Guatemala), climb the active Volcano, Volcan Pacya, and visit the Familia Sazo in la Zona 6 de Mixco. We are planning on about $500.00 for each of us to have a round trip ticket from Las Vegas to Guatemala and then extra money for souvenirs and other things, so about $4000.00 for both of us for about 2 weeks.
We are starting to save this month for our big trip and we will be doing some extra jobs (like teaching a session of Summer school, etc.) to help earn the money to go. We have two to save up and then buy the tickets and book our tour in January or February of 2012.
If anyone else wants to come you are welcome to! Start saving your money and arrange for a sitter! (The tour is through Caravan.com in case anyone wants to look it up.) Let us know if you are interested!

Time for a change...Year of the RACE

I was ready for a change and around 1:30 am on the 21st Kade dyed my hair with a $3 bottle of hair dye. I like it. I was ready for more change so I got it all chopped off. It is a nice change and SOOOO easy to do!
I am a goal setter and this year I have set some goals. I will get to a healthy BMI for the first time in my life and as I am persuing that I will be participating in many races. To start the year off I will run the Painter's Half Marathon on January 23rd. On February 28th is the Tuachan Duathalon that I will also run and bike. In March Kade will join me in the 30 miler Tour de St. George and then in April I will veture in doing the Triathalon. I will be training hard for the St. George Marathon in October, so we will see what other fun races I try out as I train from May to October. I would like to end the year off with the Turkey Triathalon in November. So, I have some fun goals physical goals. I know this is such a silly thing, but I kind of have a bucket list and one of the things is to get a medal for doing something athletic. I will check that off my list sometime this year.
Other thingsI would like to do just for me.... continue balloon twisting, start learning to play the piano and probably write another mystery dinner. Our family will continue to have our neighbors over for dinner until we have had all of them over at least once to get to know them better.
2010 will be a great year! I am really enjoying my children and watching them grow up. It is definitely not without its challenges, but with Kade and I together we can do anything!

Kolden 7 months old - a jumping bean

Kolden is full out teething and often it is not very fun, but he is still such a sweet little boy. He LOVES to jump in the rain forest jumper! He laughs and thinks he is so cool for making the noises sound and the songs play. Hooray for Kolden! He is such a big boy!

The Kirkland's over for dinner.

Tawnya (Sessions) Kirkland was my roommate at USU and a good friend at Dixie, along with Jocelyn (Palmer) Harris. We were happy to have Tawnya and her husband Brian (Kade and I went to elementary school with Brian) and their two sons, Briggs and Beckham, over for dinner too! They are expecting another baby in the spring. You can see we had a fun time.

The Medina's over for dinner.

We were happy to have our neighbors, La Familia Medina, over for dinner. We had Raclette and played Old Maid. It was a very fun evening and we were able to practice our Spanish (they only speak Spanish) and get to know them a bit better. Roberto and Rosa were high school sweethearts in Mexico and later moved here along with their extended family. Their two children are Lupita (she is in 2nd grade) and Danna (pre-school age).
It was fun to get to use the Christmas dishes. I really love setting a pretty table and having guests over.

Kari: cutting eyebrows and eyelashes

The Thursday before school got out for Christmas break we got a call from Kari's English Teacher, Mrs. Lee. Kade took the call and I could hear part of the conversation. Kari had taken sizzors and cut off chunks of her eyebrows and eyelashes. This picture was taken about ten days after, so some had grown back. That evening Kari was to have her dance recital pictures at her dress rehersal. Kade and I were quite upset that Kari would do this to herself.
She was board and made a bad choice. When she got home she walked around with a paper over her face so we couldn't see her. We didn't give her any attention for it. I tried to fix it as best as I could for the pictures with eyebrow pencil and mascara. You couldn't really tell unless you looked closely, so the pictures were okay.
Friday morning Kari looked in the mirror and made a terrible face. She said her eyebrows and eyelashes looked ugly and asked me to fix them. I refused to. I told her that she had to go to school as she was because that is how she chose to look. We talked about what she should do if anyone makes fun of her. She said she would never do that to herself again. I sure hope she doesn't. We must learn from our mistakes. It is hard to be a parent and figure out what the best thing is to do in these kinds of situations for the personality of the particular child.

Christmas Eve and the Cave

Every Christmas Eve we go to Pioneer Park on the Red Hill and we take shelter in the cave and read the Christmas Story from the Bible. The children were able to act out the different parts this year in some simple costumes. We all dress-up like we are people in Bethlehem and then we usually have a Shepherd's dinner. We eat flat bread, a soup, dried fruits and veggies. It is always delicious.


This year my family was in Chili for Christmas. We were able to spend lots of time with the Cheesman's. We invited Grandma and Grandpa Cheesman, Aunt Brittany and Uncle Pete's family and Uncle Cortney and Aunt Ashley's family over for Christmas dinner. I was excited to get to use our Christmas dishes and cook my first turkey. About an hour before everyone was suppose to come over I was super stressed and the turkey was not finished. I kept wondering if I was crazy. Luckily all the family was very forgiving of the turkey not being finished on time and the cramped quarters of our little home and it turned out great. We were very happy to have them to celebrate with! (Picture to come of Christmas dinner.)

A PLAYHOUSE!!!!!!

Santa came early and had many friends help deliver this amazing gift!
Late at night on the 22nd we received a note at our door stating that we needed to be home at 11am the following morning because a HUGE gift would be delivered. It was signed "someone that loves you". I was moved just that someone was thinking of us and didn't give too much thought to this HUGE delivery, just that someone cared.
Well, on the 23rd I went to the gym and the kids and Kade were asleep when I left. I was on my way home at 10:30 am thinking I would have time to change and make sure the kids were changed before any delivery came. From the end of the street I could see a crane at the other end of the street and I was very curious as to what was happening. As I got closer I realized it was at MY house! There was also a flatbed truck with four amazing little homes on it. They were hooking up a purple little house and putting it in our backyard over our wall! I ran inside and went into the backyard. The girls were not exactly dressed, Kari and Kiera were still in p.j.'s and no one had their hair done. Everyone was ecstatic at this incredible delivery, including me! Kade and I were just in shock at the playhouse. We didn't understand how this happened. As I understand now, there was an advertisement on the radio about four playhouses being given away from Santa and people could call in and nominate families.
Our family was nominated and we received this miraculous purple playhouse. Inside were some gifts. The girls had to wait until Christmas morning to open those gifts from Santa. Their names were on their gifts and Santa knew them well, giving them dress-ups that fit their personalities so well. Kolden also received some gifts. The kids also each got some p.j.'s, an outfit (and Santa has great taste because the clothes are so beautiful), and some things to use in the playhouse like a tea set, a doctor's dress-up kit, a McDonald's register and food, and a birthday party set. Santa truly spoiled us.
I hope that anyone that was involved as Santa's helper knows of our deep and sincere gratitude for this phenomenal gift. We have to drag the girls out of the playhouse to come in and eat dinner or when it is so cold to come in a get warm. The playhouse has an outside light and an inside light as well as an outlet inside. We just hook up an extension cord to the outside of the playhouse. The girls have already planned sleep overs and tea parties in it. We will put some plywood up on the walls and let the girls paint inside. We will also put a metal sheet up with a frame so the kids can use magnets to display their art work. Right after we got the playhouse we put a small table and three chairs inside and their little kitchen set. We bought some rolling drawers so they can keep dress-ups, dishes and food in it and still keep it clean. It is the playhouse I always dreamed about when I was younger. I will be sleeping over in the playhouse with the girls and we will make some invaluable memories in it. We are so richly blessed and we are so grateful for the playhouse and gifts! THANK YOU to Santa and his helpers!