The Baxter Family

Babies, Babies

2011-11-07T09:04:00.000-08:00

There was a time in my life where blogging was an important part of it, but now my days are busy with mom stuff and taking care of babies. Love them and feel so blessed to have a wonderful hubby and great kids :)

The Kiddos on a walk during fall break.

Jaxon is the happiest kid on the planet...

Tyson and Madi are doing amazing in school and loving every bit of it :) And last but not least,

For those who haven't met this little beauty yet, her name is Anniston Leigh. She is now 3 months old and the happiest, sweetest baby ever! (most of the time anyway...)

We Are Still Alive!!!

2010-12-14T09:11:00.000-08:00

So we are still here :) Living in the same place, working the same jobs, doing the same stuff, and loving life. Things are crazy with 3 kids, Tyson is loving kindergarten, Madi is doing great in preschool, and Jaxon is just a happy easy-going baby. Oh, and Mike is finally graduated!! WooHoo! Now to find that "dream job". Anyway, here are some current pics to enjoy...

The Fam

Baby Jax

Princess Madi
(who has a future in hair cutting)

Tyson Jack

Unprivate?

2010-04-23T10:33:00.000-07:00

So since I was a dedicated blogger before going private and have since only updated ummm... once?? I have decided that the Baxter's will be private no longer :) For now anyway... More to come! (When I find the cable to get the pics off of my camera)

Fall Days

2009-11-09T08:58:00.000-08:00

So here is an update on our autumn happenings....

Ty is loving preschool and got to go to HeeHaws for a field trip. This year they invited families to go so I went with both kids and they had a good time with their friends and all of the animals.

That same night we threw a Halloween Party with a bunch of friends and it turned out to be tons of fun! Being our second year to host, we have now deemed it "The Baxter's Annual Halloween Party" so I guess we are committed until we decide to move :) I love having people over so now I just need to work on my party throwing skills!

Mike and I

The ladies and the Rocker!

Then of course Halloween, our neighborhood had a party at the church since they have abolished the trunk or treat, we had a lot of fun with friends and neighbors eating chili, face painting for the kids, games and of course lots of treats! These are my cute little munchkins....

Family

2009-09-21T15:47:00.000-07:00

Tyson: Loves preschool, handsome, a good big brother, and too smart for his own good sometimes...

Madison: Pudding lover (along with anything else loaded with sugar), maker of messes, cuddle bug, and has that look that always gets her out of trouble...

Baby Boy Baxter: Nameless, very active, proud of his gender (won't show that pic for his sake)...

Stacy: New job, getting rounder everyday, always busy, loving life...

Mike: Busy dad, hard at work, project finisher, almost done with school (yay!!)...

Private...

2009-09-16T09:09:00.000-07:00

There are some people in this world that don't have any respect...therefore, we have to go private. Please send your e-mail addresses so I can invite you :) Thanks!! (m_s_baxter@yahoo)

2009-07-09T08:35:00.000-07:00

Summer outings, camping trips, Madi's 3rd Birthday, etc...

Day at the duck pond

First outing in the trailer...this is what happens when mom forgets the brush!

pretend fishing with sticks :)

Madi turns 3!! Can't believe my baby is getting so big!

We have also gone to the Bundy family reunion (forgot the camera), Tyson got his hair chopped for the summer (no more big red curls), oh, and Madi is finally potty trained yay!! hmm, not much else for now, we'll keep you posted :)

They say the third time is a charm...

2009-06-15T22:52:00.001-07:00

Abby Leigh, Amaia, Jordan, hmmm...so many names to choose from. Don't know what we're having yet, just guessing at the gender :)

Random Events

2009-04-24T10:15:00.000-07:00

Easter came with a random trip to St. George for a couple of days and then home Easter morning... We had a nice day and did Easter baskets...the usual :)

A couple of days later, we had the CRAZIEST snowstorm ever and we made a snowman with the 13 or so inches of snow we recieved (in one night that is!)

(he had a short lived life however)

A couple of days after that, I participated in my firs Tri-athalon ever! It was an amazing experience, the weather was surprisingly nice, and I can't wait to do another! (okay, maybe I can wait a little while)

Before & After

Fabulous Grandparents!

2009-03-17T08:50:00.000-07:00

Oh my.... I have really gotten out of the habit of this blogging thing! So the latest bit of excitement at our house is a bit of backyard entertainment.....

My wonderful grandparents just bought a home in Beaver and this was in their yard. They decided that we would get more use out of it than they would, so my sweet grandpa loaded it up in his truck and drove it up. Took the morning setting it up in our back field and drove home. What can I say? I guess it's a bonus to have their only great-grandkids !! Anyway, we have loved it and are so grateful to them for this fun gift :)

Snow, Snow, Snow

2009-01-13T09:58:00.000-08:00

Once there was a snowman, snowman.......

This is Tysons new favorite thing to do, and we have had so much snow lately he gets alot of opportunity to build snowmen...our latest addition to the snowman family...Harold! Ty built him with our next door neighbor using our little snowman building kit with the instructions "Just add snow". What a good looking snowman!

I think my wife quit blogging...

2009-01-04T00:24:00.001-08:00

I guess I'll throw in a plug...

Christmas - great time! Kids got what they wanted, I got what I wanted, Stacy wanted another kid and those are on backorder at the moment...

New Years - We gave St. George a go this year. Did first night downtown and it was pretty much the most ridiculous thing I've done on a New Years in a long time! However, I will say that the festivities began at 7, and we finally showed at 11. I guess we lost track of time! Everything was up and closed by that time and all that was left was the highschool kiddies running around kissing everything in sight. Still we mananged to snap a few shots, hang with my sister and bro in law and see some fireworks...

They did have this dewhicky where you could text your resolutions to some number and then it would show up on big screens throughout the area. I thought that was entertaining...

I love our new mattress....

Farm Country and girls night out....again?

2008-11-24T14:22:00.000-08:00

So I think I have posted about this before, but my kids absolutely LOVE this place...and I am in need of something to update about so here are a few pics of the kids....

Oh, and I went to a girls over nighter in Park City last weekend...love girls night out, and love the girls in my neighborhood, It is such a fun thing that we can get a condo for a night and have so much fun together! We went hottubbing, played games, ate lots of junk food, and did a lot of shopping! I feel like such a better mom when I can get away and play for a night every once in a while....anyway, thanks girlies and thanks honey for taking such good care of the kids!

Crazy 8's (Tag)

2008-11-12T17:24:00.000-08:00

8 things that Happened today
*Ran my husbands forgotten wallet to him
*Spent three hours standing in lines to get 99 cent milk and Grandma Sycamores bread at the Smith's Marketplace grand opening
*Fed the kids lunch then put them down for a nap
*Checked into switching medical insurance for the coming year
*Spent a while on Facebook and did some laundry, and straightened the house
* Had Ramen and leftovers for dinner (something simple while the hubbys at school)
*Gave the kiddies a bath and got them ready for bed
*updated my outdated blog :)
8 favorite places to eat
*Tepanyaki
*Chili's
*Papa Johns Pizza
*Home (when I get the urge to cook a really good meal)
*Cheesecake Factory in Vegas (it's tradition!)
*Applebees(santa fe chicken salad)
*Cafe Rio
*JCW's (REALLY good local burger place, best shakes ever!)
8 favorite movies
*Ocean's 11 and 13
*Count of Monte Cristo
*Broken Down Palace
*Meet the Robinsons (hey, I have 2 kids)
*Actually, I have lots of favorites...we have movie night in our basement almost every weekend with some friends after the kids are in bed, and I am constantly finding movies that I really like and that I have never seen before...
8 favorite TV shows
*Scrubs
*CSI
*Law and Order
*Cold Case
*Without a Trace
(some of these I watch in the middle of the night between patient rounds at work, otherwise I don't really watch much TV)
8 things I wish for
*A house in St. George
*My Nursing Degree, Mike finished with school
*More patience with my kids!
*I wish my house would stay clean for longer that an hour
*all the little projects around the house could be done.
*family vacations.
*Date night just one night a week, or even once a month!!!
*A car that I actually like and will fit all my family comfortably...and no honey, that doesn't count our 88' Suburban!
8 adventures I'm looking forward to
*Going back to school someday
*Adding more kids to our family and NO! that is not an announcement! Just a thought for the future :)
*hmmm, sad that I can't really think of anything else, I am just excited to see what the future brings!
I tag Alecia W.

Halloween at Heritage

2008-10-29T08:24:00.000-07:00

Heritage Care Center had a halloween carnival last night and I decided to take my kids since Mike had class...it was so fun to let them meet all the elderly people and staff that I work with. They had fun games and lots of treats, Ty and Madi loved getting all dressed up and all the attention!

Halloween

2008-10-21T09:45:00.000-07:00

I've never been the party throwing type, but with all our new extra space I thought it would be fun to throw a little Halloween Party last Friday. It turned out to be soooo much fun! We had just a few friends from the neighborhood and my sis and a couple of other friends come over. We had lots of food and played some fun games. All in all I think it turned out to be a success. There were some hilarious costumes and my kids actually stayed asleep! (almost the whole time)

(The awesome invitation that our friends James and Shelby made)

A few of the fun costumes

There were more great ones but I didn't get them all on my camera...I need to get them from my friends camera since it was much nicer, she took most of the pics.

Thanks to everyone who came and made the night a success!!

Gripe session...

2008-10-04T07:16:00.000-07:00

Typically when people see a closed sign, that means that they go away and come back later. Safe assumption, right?

Ten after six on a friday night, I'm sitting in my office finishing up a few things. Next thing I know there is a lady pulling on the locked door, with a "closed" sign staring her in the face. She persists on pulling the door, in hopes that it will magically open. I usually wait for their reading ability to come about, and then they leave...not her! She looks over to me in my office and asks if we are open. I shake my head no and hope she will go away, buuuuuuuut no.

At 15 after, one of my tellers is headed out the door. As he goes out, she pushes past him Like Harvey Unga running into the branch and says "I have to make a deposit!

Evidently you are good to go if you mow down an employee and make your way into a closed store! Only problem, no tellers are around to help this lady. Dumbfounded by what she sees, she turns to me and says "where is so and so?". I was kind in my response, "ma'm, she went home because we are closed." Good one Focker is all I can say. I have learned that CLOSED signs are now optional.

Millions of Peaches, Peaches for me....

2008-09-25T17:24:00.000-07:00

well, it's obvious I havn't had much time to blog, in fact I should be making dinner right now but I thought I'd share what I've been doing lately...

First: I turned 27!! My wonderful husband and friends threw a suprise party for me...Love them all, thanks so much it totally made my week!!

Second: We went to Pine Valley for a family reunion then hung out in SG for a couple of days...had a blast and "attempted" a family pic... I stayed for an extra day and visited Trish and Mikes fam.

Mike whistling and Madi trying to run away

Madi trying to rip out her headband and me trying unsuccessfully to keep it in

Ty and Madi at the splash pad...we came kind of unprepared but they had a ton of fun!

Third: Canning, canning, and more canning. I have never been a "susie homemaker" but I figured I better learn the art of canning just in case I ever needed to use it...well, being unexperienced, I bought three boxes of peaches thinking I would get two batches...ummmm yeah, I think I am all peached out!! It was very self-satisfying to see them all lined up after all that work though! ( I also did a couple of batches of tomatoes out of my garden)

Well, that about sums it up for the last month...I'll try to do better in October!

Football Season is Here!

2008-09-04T08:21:00.000-07:00

Okay, so we're not really HUGE football fans, but we do enjoy a good game once in a while. Last weekend we had a chance to go watch the BYU game with our good friends the Harpers. We haven't been to an actual game in a few years so it was a lot of fun to go and be with the "fans"...they can be CRAZY!!

Good ol BYU Stadium...

LABOR DAY
well, usually on labor day we do something other than labor...however....Mike got up at the crack of dawn to work on our neighbors car and found that it had a blown head gasket....if you don't kn0w what that is, it is a huge job that requires tearing the motor completely apart. They worked from "sun up to sun down" literally. I was totally impressed that he was able to take it completely apart and put it back together and make it work! I don't know why he works at a bank when he can do that.

Good Job Hon!

Work and School

2008-08-28T12:11:00.000-07:00

Tuesday was Tysons first day of Pre-School. He absolutely LOVED it!! He came home super excited to sing me all the songs he'd learned and tell me all about his fun class. I am so glad he liked it, he is a pretty social kid so I wasn't too worried. Madi really wanted to go too, she kept asking where Ty was for the whole two hours...such fun kids!

Mike also started school so it's back to the nightly class routine for him...it was a nice little break but now he's back to the books!!

My job is okay, it's nice to only work two nights a week and my kids not even know that I was gone...they do however get to go "play" at the neighbors house for a couple of hours while mommy goes home to take a nap. Thanks Heidi for helping me keep my sanity!

My garden is out of control!! I have sooooo many zuccini and bell peppers that I don't know what to do with them all....I have tons of tomatoes too, but my friend is going to teach me how to bottle them so we can have them till next summer hopefully. Everything else I have cut up or shredded and put in freezerbags hopefully to be used throughout the winter...

I have this many every week!

Crazy? I think so...

2008-08-18T13:46:00.000-07:00

So my life has been a little crazy lately, Our renters have moved out and we have been moving into our basement. We moved our entertainment center, computer, toys, books, etc and have been so excited to double our living space. We have had the bug to move for a while now but with all of this extra room it's settled down for a bit. Unfortunately though with the renters went a good chunk of moolah, so I have decided to renew my C.N.A. and get a job working a couple of graves a week. I am actually pretty excited about if because it will give me a chance to get out and work with people in the rehab unit at the Care Center by our house...I start on Thursday and work for three nights in a row for training...whew...should be interesting!

We went camping on Friday night with some friends (thanks Eric and Kati!) and had lots of fun horse-back riding and hanging out on the mountain watching everyone get ready for the bowhunt...we're not hunters, but it was pretty entertaining to see all of the prep that goes into that hobby.

I also got a new calling as the Stake Sundayschool secretary which should keep me pretty busy too....so yeah, like I said before, I think I am crazy and we'll see how long I can play the balancing act of mom, cna, secretary, babysitter, etc...oh yeah and Ty starts pre-school next week!!! I am so nervous for him but so excited at the same time anyway wish me luck, I think I'll need it!

Summer Fun

2008-07-23T09:12:00.000-07:00

Summer is absolutely my favorite season and we have been loving it! Kiddies get to play in the pool, and mommy gets a tan...what more can you ask for?

Summer is also the time when we have American Fork Steel Days. We love this because of all the fun things there are to do during the week. They have what they call "Picnic in the Park" which my kids loved. You bring a picnic to eat and then they have tons of free things to do like carnival games where they get little toys or candy, then they have the BIG blow-up toys for the kids to jump around on. They have face painting (or arm painting in Madi's case) and a little train ride. Then at the end they have an outdoor family movie. Of coure the other nights they have the carnival rides and they have a HUGE fireworks show in the park on Saturday night.

This was by far the favorite thing of the evening!

Train ride and Madi admiring her beautiful butterfly!

(A funny side note, Saturday night we were waiting around for the fireworks to start and this little kid walks up to Madi and gives her the stare down...all of a sudden Ty steps in front of Madi and sizes up the kid who was bigger than Ty by the way but Ty stuck out his chest in defense of his little sis...the kid backs down and walks away while Ty eyes him close...then once the kid was a safe distance away, Ty put his arms around Madi and says "Come on Madi" and ushers her over to us completely unaware that we had just witnessed the whole thing. We totally praised him for taking on the big brother role so well...it was awesome!)

So much to do...so little time to blog...

2008-07-09T12:41:00.000-07:00

The last few weeks have been absolutely crazy, and so much fun! First of all , our family loves AF Canyon...we head up there just to get a break from the heat, hang out with friends, hike around, and see nature.

Feeding the ground squirrels

The last week in June, we took a little vacation to spend time with some friends in Vegas for a few days...we dropped our kids off at my moms house (thanks a million mom!) and drove down for a relaxing weekend of laying out by the pool, walking the strip, shopping, and lots of really great food.

Mike and Mike grew up in Cali and they are totally back in High

school when they are together...it was so funny to watch!

Then we drove home Sunday night, Mike worked Monday, and we drove back down in the Burb on Tuesday for the infamous Bundy Reunion....Crazy, I know...but so much fun! I love the reunion so much and when I tell people about it they look at me in awe or like I'm crazy, I'm not sure...anyways, this year was especially fun because the kids are getting to where they really love it too. Seriously, what's not to love about a ton of family, a lot of sun, getting unbelievably dirty, dutch-oven cooking and eating all the junk and soda your heart desires? We went four-wheeling, hiking, and did A LOT of visiting with people we hadn't seen since the year before. We also celebrated Madi's birthday...I can't believe she's two already!! I made her a dutch-oven peach cobler and the poor girl fell asleep and didn't even get any. I've decided that since her b-day will fall during the reunion almost every year we will have to make it tradition to have a cobler cake!

What are they doing?

Ty found the cactus...

Running the races and Madi's b-day,

All worn out!

Say Cheese!!

2008-06-12T20:39:00.000-07:00

So this is Maddi indulging herself one night while we were busy working on our kitchen, hilarious!! I just had to laugh and capture the moment....

These are just some pics we took on our walk last Sunday

They love going to the pond by our house and look forward to it when the weather is warm.

Awwww....how sweet! (I did try to get them to smile ;) )

Women and Girls

2008-06-10T14:42:00.000-07:00

So this past weekend I had the fun opportunity to go to a condo in Midway with a bunch of my friends for an overnighter....I will just say that I thought I knew a lot about them before, I had NO idea....we had so much fun staying up all night and laughing that my cheeks hurt the next day. I totally felt like I was in College again when I could eat anything I wanted (i.e. a ten lb. bag of chocolate from Costco and almost a full batch of brownies) and sleep only a few hours, but I'm now suffering the consequences of a slowed metabolism...enough said...Anyway, thanks AGAIN to my honey for giving me up to a bunch of women so we could be girls for a night.

"PROJECTS"

2008-06-04T09:04:00.000-07:00

Well, there hasn't been much to post about latley so I guess I'll post some pics of our latest projects...

Project #1

Our newly finished (well, almost finished) kitchen floor...

my flash apparently didn't work but you get the idea anyway :)

Project #2

My first try at planting a garden all by myself...not to bad eh?

(Don't mind the beast in the background...I swear it finds it's ugly self in every picture!)

Graduation 2008

2008-05-22T15:04:00.000-07:00

My baby sister is graduating tomorrow! I can't believe it....she was only 10 when I graduated and moved out. The kids and I are headed down today with my sister and her hubby, anyway should be fun, it's always a good break from the cold. The best part is that when we get back, our kitchen floor will finally be done and my dishwasher will no longer be in my living room! Hooray!

Congrats, I love you Mandy Lee!

Mother's Day

2008-05-12T16:25:00.000-07:00

So For mother's day Mike gave me an ENTIRE day off for BYU Women's Conference and a night of hanging out with the girls...of course, I forgot my camera, but so did pretty much everyone else....so needless to say, I have postponed a posting because really, what fun is it without pics?

Well anyway, we started by leaving around 7:30 in the morning and headed down to find seats...the first meeting was so great, we heard from Sister Beck and Sheri Dew who both gave inspirational and uplifting talks about our role as women and what an important part we play in the world...then we all split up and went to different classes, all of which were so good to hear and I learned a lot about myself and my Divine role as a Mother and how to cope with the stress that sometimes comes with it.....anyway, it ended with one last gathering with everyone and learned more about our homes being like temples (I still have a ways to go on that one ;) )

We went to PF Changs for dinner....mmmm.....then did some shopping.....then rented a chick flick and got giant milkshakes....

I had sooo much fun getting to be just a girl for a day and not having to worry about anything. We had so much fun that we all decided that next year we're going for BOTH days and an overnighter in the dormes! If anyone wants or gets the chance to go, I highly reccommend it, I took lots of notes and still read over them to remind me of what I learned, I am so glad I got to go....Thanks again hon! (He got to hang out at the neighbors house and the kids played all day! How would it be?!)

What we've been up to....

2008-04-30T13:10:00.000-07:00

First of all, this weather has been CRAZY up here!!!! Will it please stay warm for a while? We have tried to make the most out of our "hit and miss" warm days so here are some fun pics....

Zoo Day with my freind Cat and her three adorable boys

Us on the Zoo Train...Madi wasn't so sure......

Maybe not fun, but sure glad it's finally in the works....

this was ugly linoleum and we ripped it all out with the ply wood and are in

the process of laying backer-board for tile!!! Yay!!

Madi striking a pose before braving it down the slide....

Last but not least, I get to go to a day at the BYU Women's Conference with bunch of friends from my ward tomorrow... The day will begin at 8 am and end long after the kids are in bed. Thank you to my wonderful husaband who is taking the day off of work and school to let me have this fun, and spiritually uplifting, much needed day away. I am sure I will post more pics and tell more about it after, I am so excited!!

Cardboard Creations

2008-04-16T13:49:00.000-07:00

So the other day, Tyson wakes up and says "Mom, I'm a Lamanite!" ( first read-headed Lamanite I've ever seen!) anyway, he is very persistent and decides that the chop sticks in the drawer make nice arrows... and that he needs a sword and somewhere to put his arrows.... I decided that I had to start being creative since his imagination is hard to keep up with, and this what we ended up with....

Tyson the Lamanite!

Ty, the King (me) and Queen (definately Madi)

He had to find someone to dominate!

Never under-estimate the uses for shoe and fruit snack boxes!! They may come in handy!!

Other recent happenings at the Baxter house:

Ty finally learned how to ride his bike that we got him for Christmas!!

Madi learned how to feed the Dog:

And they both had fun on the ONE warm day we had this spring at Farm Country:

well, kind of fun...they weren't too sure about all the licking and trying to eat out of their hands!

Sunny St. George...

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

The kids and I took off to St. George this weekend to celebrate my dad's 50th birthday. We had so much fun enjoying the sunshine and family. My dad, my little sis and I went hiking on saturday and can I just say that I seriously miss those beautiful red rocks!!

Before & After

On Sunday we watched Conference then went over to my Grandma's house for the infamous Sunday dinner and homemade ice-cream. It was great to see the WHOLE fam!!

We went to lunch with my parents on Monday in beautiful, warm, sunny weather then drove home to be greeted with snow... WHAT!??

Mike stayed home because his dad came up here this weekend to help out and go to the Priesthood session with his boys....

While we were gone, Mike worked on putting together a fun new toy for Tyson. The starter button didn't work quite right so we got a really good deal that we just couldn't pass up, and Mike happens to be Mr. Fixit. After a couple of hours of tinkering, the wheeler roared to life!

It was butt cold outside!! Obviously that didn't bother them too much!

What a happy kid!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABE!!

2008-04-01T17:28:00.000-07:00

We Just celebrated my wonderful Hubby's 30th birthday....I know... I keep teasing him that I can't believe I am married to a Thirty year old!! That means it is right around the corner for me!

Well, just wanted to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY Love and thanks for being so great!

What we woke up to on his Birthday....

I surprised him by inviting a bunch of our friends over for cake and ice cream...

He had been in our room studying in his PJ's... I didn't want to spoil the

surprise so he was still in them when everyone showed up...oops!

Reno

2008-03-25T10:19:00.000-07:00

So we just got back from a weekend in Reno. Mike's cousin got married so we decided make it a vacation. We did lots of hanging out with family that we haven't seen in forever, went shopping, and had a nice time at the wedding and reception. The only down side to our little vacation was our hotel room...we booked it online before we left and it looked great -lots of ammenities, pool, large comfy rooms- anyhow, not the case....word of advice...read the reviews before booking a room in Reno! We can't really complain too much though, at least it had beds and we didn't spend much time there...

When we got home, we did little Easter baskets for the kids and then went to bed...8 hours of driving will wear you out! All in all though it was a pretty fun weekend and I'm glad we got some family time for a few days. I love Easter time because it means spring is right around the corner, or all ready here for some of you!

Well, still no camera, should be fairly soon though...I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

Okay, the silence has gone on long enough!

2008-03-08T19:45:00.000-08:00

So,

This is Mike, infringing on my wifes blog page! I don't know if Stacy mentioned that our camera got tossed out at Christmas time and it is dead, but it did. So, I think she feels that since we don't have a camera, that she can't blog! Not true, though pictures sure are fun.

We need a digi cam. We are currently looking at a Canon Rebel XTi so if anyone has any recommendations, send them along! Now, what has happened...the snow in that last picture has been long gone now and the flowers are starting to poke through.

Mad Madi is finally walking! She cruises around quite well and its about bloody time! It was nice to have a little butt scooter to scoot everywhere and clean up the floor, but then of course it would ruin her pants. booo.

Other than that I don't know what else to say. Hopefully we will have a good camera by month end. Until then...

Snow Day

2008-02-04T16:19:00.000-08:00

So yesterday, for the first time in the several years that we have lived in American Fork, they actually cancelled church due to weather...it wouldn't have been that wierd but they still held sacrament meeting. Madi and I stayed home thanks to the nasty cold we had so Mike went with Ty and called to say that they were going to cancel the rest of church due to the snow...first of all, everyone was already there and second of all, we all live within like three blocks of the Church. Funny thing was that as soon as everyone got home it stopped snowing...of course...we ended up hanging out and then going up to Sandy to my sis in laws for the monthly family fast-sunday dinner....on clear roads.

The Mounds Of Snow

Singing time before bed

Six years and counting....

2008-01-24T15:58:00.000-08:00

This past weekend we celebrated our six year anniversary, I can't believe I have been married for so long! We had fun getting away by ourselves for a couple of days...my sister Christy and her husband watched the kids for us so we could have some "alone time" thanks guys!

I just signed Tyson up for pre-school in the fall...another crazy thing that I just can't believe. He is so excited! He keeps saying mom I'm going to go to high school!! My friend Ange and I went and checked it out and it looks way fun, I am pretty excited for it too.

Update on Madi...19 months almost and still not walking but making improvement! She can walk around the house holding just a finger, wobbly still but hopefully it is just a matter of time before she gets up enough courage to let go and venture out on her own!

It seems like everyone I know is expecting!!! I think my motherly clock is telling me that it has been a while, I keep seeing all these new babies and cute pregnant women and suddenly think about another one...I think I am crazy! Don't get me wrong, I would love another one but not for another couple of years. My hands are full with my two and two more a couple days a week and Mike is going back to school so it will still be a while...By the way, I am so proud of him for sticking to it even though its tough trying to balance his classes, homework, his emloyees, family, church calling, and other work responsibilities. Thanks Love for everything you do and for being such a great husband and daddy!

(Our camera is gone so sorry, no pics til we get a new one)

New Year....

2008-01-05T12:12:00.000-08:00

We have had an eventful beginning of the year, we had a fun but low key Christmas then we went to St. George the next weekend to spend time with family for a couple of days. My sister and I gave my mom a makeover for Christmas and she looks fantastic. Trish cut her hair...(THANKS tons!!! You did a great job!) then we dyed it and took her to Dillards for a facial makeover, helped her pick out some new clothes and she looks so good, at least 10 years younger! I wish I had taken before and after pics...After that was over, we were hanging out at my mom's house and Ty fell off one of the bar stools and gashed his poor little chin open....a doctors visit and seven stitches later he is fine, but it was pretty traumatic for all of us.

Pretty gross huh??

Now that we are back, we are just busy with all of the "home improvement" projects that we have going...nothing major, just some re-painting, plumbing, tileing, and more painting. I can't wait for it all to be done, I love our house, but it will be so nice to have it cleaned up and no longer "in the works" . Oh yeah, and we lost our camera so it's time for the new camera search...any recommendations?

Well, that's all for now, Happy New Year!

Here comes Santa Clause....

2007-12-16T21:13:00.000-08:00

Yay, Tis the season! I love this time of year for so many different reasons. It's always great when we have a chance to do our annual family Christmas photo. We had a good friend of ours, Cristall (http://www.cristallharper.com/) do our pics this time and had quite an adventure trying to get the kids to stay still and smile at the same time! It was especially challenging since we tried to get some with the pretty snow in the background. I don't think they enjoyed the snow too much, must be Mikes California blood in their veins...anyway, here are some of the ones we had taken. Merry Christmas everyone!

Happy Birthday Buddy!!

2007-11-19T16:00:00.001-08:00

Our little guy turned 3 on Sunday, I can't believe it!! He is such a fun little kid, he fills our days with witty little comments and funny actions. He is a red-headed little fire cracker with a personality to match. His favorite thing to play is "tough-guy" and loves to beat up mom and dad...not so sure how I feel about that....he is generally a sweetheart though with lots of love to give.

I left the room for a second while making his cake and when I came back

this is how I found him...sneeky!

My lovely little Madi

2007-11-19T16:00:00.000-08:00

A physical therapist from Kids on the Move has been coming once a month to help Madi with her skills of walking and crawling, and I have to say I am very pleased with her progress in the last couple of months. The other day, with the encouragement of her older brother, Madi attempted to crawl across the living room and almost made it the entire way! I am so excited that even though she is behind, she is finally making some progress. I have learned that a lot of her delay is simply her personality and the fact that she is so laid back and easy going (as well as a little stubborn). Another major improvement was that a couple of days ago she pulled herself up to the coffee table and now that she has figured that out she is trying her new skill out on a lot of things. Probably not as exciting to all of you as it is to me, but she will be going into nursery in a month and a half and I really would like her to be able to walk around with all of her little nursery buddies! Anyway,I am so grateful to have such a wonderful little girl as a part of our family. She has a smile that is beautifully contageous, and a personality to match, and I am glad to say that she's mine!

cute n cuddly

2007-11-02T15:52:00.000-07:00

Well of course I had to do the Halloween post....It's kind of strange, but people in our neighborhood don't even trick-or-treat at houses anymore, they have a big ol trunk-or-treat in the church parking lot that lasts about a 1/2 hour to 45 min. Bing Bang Boom and we're done! Anyway lots of fun and lots of candy....

Fall

2007-10-23T14:28:00.000-07:00

I'm pretty sure that we have entirely skipped the season of fall this year, we went to St. George over the weekend to help my aunt and uncle sheetrock their addition...it was a beautiful 80 degrees. Then we drove home Sunday morning because I had to teach relief society, and when we got here there was a BUNCH of snow on the ground...What? Snow? It is mid October for heavens sake. Anyway, it has melted and not so bad today but it has triggered memory of what is to come...tell me again why we moved here, that's right I have no idea either.

On a lighter note, before the blizzard, we took our kids and our dog to this cool little fishing/duck pond. They had a lot of fun, we go there often with some friends of ours from the ward and last time we went, Crystal brought her camera and got some fun pics... The pond is pretty close to our house and has a picnic pavillion, playground, and a walking trail.

Random

2007-09-28T14:59:00.001-07:00

Today was so fun! My friend Suzie and I took our kids to "farm country" at thanksgiving point, I had never been before but judging from the fair experience, my kids really like farm animals. Tyson got to ride on the pony (which of course was the highlight of the trip), ride the horse drawn wagon, see all sorts of different animals (llamas, chickens, pigs, etc...), and of course feed the goats (they licked the corn right out of the kid's hands!)

It has turned off pretty chilly the last week or so and Ty and Madi are already excited for their "beanies" so the other day Madi thought she would try hers out.... She also thinks that Tyson's cars are much more fun to play with than her toys..(much to his dismay!)

Finally, Tyson and Ethan, the little boy I watch 2 days a week, thought it would be fun to build a fort to play in, so here is my feeble attempt to help them build one, I am seriously not as creative of a fort maker as I was in my younger years!

tag

2007-09-22T21:41:00.000-07:00

I've been tagged so here we go...

Jobs I've Had

1. Physical Therapy Aide (in SG, Orem, and AF)
2. Comfort Cottage (CNA)
3. Washington City Pool Cashier (4 summers during HS)

Movies I Can Watch Over & Over

1. Ocean's 11
2. The Italian Job
3. Count of Monte Cristo
4. Bourne Identity

Favorite Foods

1. Ice Cream
2. Thai Food (any!)
3. Enchiladas
4. Spagetti or Lasagna

Places I've Lived

1. St. George
2. Orem
3. American Fork

Favorite TV Shows

1.Scrubs
2. News
3. Law and Order (All)
4. Without a Trace

Places I like to visit

1. Washington DC
2. Oregon Coast
3. California(Bay Area)
4. St. George

Hobbies

1. Hiking
2. Camping
3. Reading (Mary Higgins Clark)
4. Running

I tag Trish, Angela, and Jessi

update...

2007-09-17T12:54:00.000-07:00

This past weekend was pretty mellow as far as activity goes, we went to the Utah State Fair which was a ton of fun, Ty and Madi loved seeing all of the farm animals that were for show, we took Tyson on a couple of the kiddie rides and I remembered why we haven't been in so long (we don't have very strong stomaches!)...but he had a blast and that's what counts!... I forgot my camera, but you should have seen the look on his face and the white knuckes, all the time saying that he was having fun! Ty will turn three in December, I can't believe it, he got big so fast, he already knows so much and is so independent, sometimes I think he could raise himself!

This weekend also marked a full week of Tyson being dry at night! I thought that was HUGE!! I am so happy that he made it to fully potty trained without any major accidents!

One last thing...I recently got called to be a Relief Society teacher and we are in a "newly wed-nearly dead" ward...so basically I have little to no experience compared to some of the sisters in there...anyway, yesterday was my first lesson and I was sure I was going to pass out right there on the spot, or throw up on the pretty lace table cloth or something, but I made it through okay and am very proud of myself for keeping my composure as nervous as I was. I now have an entire month before I have to do it again! I think I wil be the beneficiary in this calling because of all the great feedback and advice that was given during the lesson, lucky for me, not so lucky for everyone who has to listen to my nervous laughter during the lesson, thank goodness for discussion!

Oh yeah, Kids on the Move is coming over on Wednesday to evaluate Madi and let me know where she is at developmentally and give me some suggestions on how to motivate my dear little baby (not so baby, she is almost fifteen months and not moving like she should, she still just seems like a baby because she is only in the 8th %ile for height-very small for her age- and I still pack her around cause she won't do it herself!) I would love to see her moving around like other kids her age... most of them are walking by now!

Demo Derbys and Wedding rings

2007-09-10T10:26:00.000-07:00

Mike manages a branch in West Jordan and has a buddy that participates in the annual West Jordan Demolition Derby and of course, Mike being a car junky really wanted to go... so we loaded up the kids and were off! Can I just tell you I have never laughed so hard in my life.....it was HILARIOUS!!! The whole time I was thinking "What makes people crazy enough to do this?" then of course my dear adorable hubby says "Honey just think how fun it would be if we had a car and you were part of my crew and down on the sidelines cheering for me?" Well, I guess now we have something to look forward to!

So a little over three years ago I was busily tidying a rom for my new baby and
accidently slammed my finger in the closet door...all sad that my wedding ring took the brunt of the slam, we went to Wal-Mart and purchased this lovely little $15 ring on the right... thinking that my ring would be super expensive to fix (bent prongs, fallen out diamond, etc..) I have postponed taking it to a jewler and have been wearing this for three and a half years! So last week I finally made it down to Provo and took my "real ring" in to get it fixed....picked it up on Saturday after a good cleaning and plating and it was BEAUTIFUL!!....and only 66 bucks...can you believe it?? I was extatic!! Why I didn't take it in three years ago I'll never know......There is just something about real diamonds....!

Viva Las Vegas...

2007-09-04T12:16:00.000-07:00

We just had our last little summer get away and had so much fun! Mike's parents have a condo in Vegas and we went down with some friends for labor day weekend. We did some swimming, went down to the strip for some good food(Cheesecake Factory...mmmmmm...In-N- Out... we love!) and free entertainment (water show at the Belagio, M&M store, aquarium and Atlantis show at Ceasar's Palace...)

(Tired boy!!)

(M&M Store)

we also did some shopping at the mall, and did lots of lounging around relaxing! All in all it was a pretty fun weekend, but after being there for a few days and seeing more skin than I care to see in a lifetime, I am glad to be home, I think the kids are glad to be back in their own beds too!

Time flies when you're having fun!

2007-08-23T22:12:00.000-07:00

Wow, It feels like forever since I have updated. We have spent the last week in St. George staying at the inlaws house and visiting friends and family. I can't say enough how grateful I am for Grandmas! They are always so willing and eager to tend and change diapers. I was pretty sad to have to come home and face cleaning my house again. Being there really made me miss those red rocks and the hot weather! Thank goodness for relatives!!

By the way Madi's new nickname is "scooter" she is almost 14 mo. and up until now has showed no signs of wanting to move around, but a couple of days ago she learned to scoot on her butt around the house, I tried to get a pic but it just doesn't capture how incredibly funny it looks!

DC

2007-08-13T07:37:00.000-07:00

This should have been a previous blog but I'm just getting around to getting the pics off the laptop...anyways, in July Mike and I went to DC to visit some good friends and go to thier sealing in the DC temple. We left the kids to switch off with both sets of grandparents in St. George and took off for a week. I cried till we got to Mesquite(however you spell that), but then decided that it has been almost 3 years since we have really done anything by ourselves -longer than a couple of hours- and we both really deserved the break.

So needless to say we had a blast!!! We spent most of our time in the city and then left one night at 3a.m., drove to New York, got there at 7 and spent the entire day sight seeing. We left NY at about 9p.m. and then spent the rest of the week back in DC. We got to do a session and go to the sealing in the DC temple which was ablolutely amazing!! All in all our kids did great, we had a lot of fun and we're looking forward to another vacation (someday in a couple of years)!

Potty Training

2007-08-10T12:57:00.000-07:00

Ahh the joys of toilet training. Tyson is 2 1/2 so I'm not worried that he hasn't totally latched onto the whole idea. He does really well during the day and I decided to start putting him in "big boy underwear" while he is awake. He really likes his spiderman pants and LOVES getting a treat after he goes. However, I feel like he's getting candy all day long when he goes pee every hour....any sugestions on a healthier version of the potty treats? Well, that is about it as far as training goes, no major mishaps or horrible accidents to report so far, should be fun to see when it finally clicks and one less diaper to change...Yay for potty training!!

Summer

2007-08-09T12:30:00.001-07:00

This summer has been so busy and fun with family reunions, camping, vacation, etc... I am glad that it is finally August though and things have started to slow down and get back into routine. I have to say that I love being a mom and get to take my kids all those fun places, they are so much fun! Tyson is at that age where he is so testy yet so witty and full of laughter. Madi is only one and still figuring things out but also full of smiles. I am excited to watch them grow and learn more and take them even more places the older they get.

Next week Mike will be leaving for California to work with the Bank so I guess it will be good for me to see how well I can hold the fort down on my own. I am going to take the opportunity to go see friends and family in St. George for a couple of days. I'm pretty excited about that, plus the grandparents are way excited to see the kids...I hope it's a nice little break.

I have no idea what I am doing!

2007-08-08T11:57:00.000-07:00

So this is my first blog and I really don't know what the heck I am doing...hopefully I did it right, I guess we'll see huh?