Kirkham's Korner

Been Doing A Little Of THIS Lately...

2012-01-18T12:54:00.000-08:00

Yay for snow!! (This is what I have to tell myself these days, at least), but when I see how happy the kids are playing in all this white stuff, I can't help but be happy too!!!

Our cute next door neighbors have kids, grown and gone, so they kindly passed these dish sleds on to us and let's just say they are getting plenty of good use!

We have just the right sized slope in our backyard to keep the kids busy and close by. This light snow flurry came on a Friday night, so Jeff was able to help take part in the fun on Saturday. I was content as could be taking pictures, giving a few happy waves and sipping on hot chocolate from the inside of our warm home.

Happy Shay

Spence on a mission

Hair in the face, Ryn

All smiles from Syd

I love how we have all these drive by cars included in our backyard shots. The beauty of living on a semi busy street we back onto. And I really love my husband!!!

ON TO BIGGER and BETTER SNOW and SLOPES

It has recently snowed a lot more and we've got a hill close by the kids have been begging to go to, so Jeff took them last weekend for the big adventure.

And Shayla has learned the art of sledding down on her belly (her suit is the best one for this!)

Sydney has recently taken the interest to snowboard : ). Too bad there are no mountains here, but she was happy to practice on the hills.

We got to make our very first snowman--EVER! Spencer was the one who headed this project up. With the help of snow ball rolling from Jeff and the cutest ever Snowman Kit we got from Kristie, Richard and fam., our snowman was very well accessorized!!! Cutest idea for a Christmas present for a new-to-the-snow family, if you ask me!!

It was Martin Luther King day so the kids were out of school and also SHAYLA'S 3rd birthday (more on that one later), so we had to get a shot of the birthday girl with our pal "Frosty".

Since Spencer was the one with the brilliant idea, he wanted a picture with him too.

Something tells me this will be the first of many "Frostys" we'll be shaping this winter!! How's your January?

Girls Night Out

2011-12-20T21:44:00.000-08:00

Took my girls out on a fun night into the city of Chicago.

We couldn't miss it and Jeff swung a great deal with tickets.

So I called a couple other ladies and we were off for the evening.
And let me tell you...

...Mary Poppins did not disappoint!

It was just the spoonful of sugar we needed!
Thanks, Jeff, for the great tickets and for taking the other two kiddos for the evening!

October Wrap Up

2011-11-15T13:08:00.001-08:00

Well, if you haven't heard the news yet, we found out that we're having another little girl! We took the whole family in the room to hear the news. The kids are excited and the funniest quote of the evening after walking out of the ultrasound room was when Spencer said out loud, "Well...you get what you get and you don't throw a fit! " : ) . He is thrilled to be adding another sister to his life! We're getting excited to meet this little girl of ours. Here's our new family picture with baby in it! (We came straight from the soccer fields, so we look awesome here).

Saryn has been doing a great job with her little reading lessons. It's been fun to get that alone time with her. She's enjoying them so much more than someone else I know did (Spencer...who ever invented fruit snacks is my hero)!

Shayla is officially potty trained! YAY! Still working on the night time routines, but can I just say that I love her in those cute little undies of hers?!! Something about seeing my kid in undies after having them in diapers for so long. : )

The girls had fun pulling out old costumes while the other kids were in school.

We got to decorate yummy homemade doughnuts with some friends.

Though these aren't the greatest pictures of these girls, we got to go the a small zoo/pumpkin patch with Shayla's little preschool group.

Shayla is the lone girl in her preschool group, but loves it! Benny, Addison and Oliver are her preschool buddies this year.

More zoo/patch group pictures

Sayrn loved the corn maze

Made cute witch hat cookies for a Halloween party we went to.

Spencer got in a little guy time experimenting with dry ice.

We got to be the BOO Crew this year and left some treats for our neighbors. I love doing this with them and love to see how sneaky/spy like they can be.

We really missed going to our friends, The Newman's, this year who do the best caramel apples each year. It's been something we've looked forward to every year, so in memory of them and the fun it is, we hosted our own caramel apple dipping party this year and had a couple families over. The only thing that flopped was the white chocolate--I should have called my expert friend, Ashley, for tips! And because I was so worried about playing hostess (and the fact that I am a white chocolate failure), I have no caramel apple pictures to show--but they were still pretty and delicious!

On to more Halloween fun...

One great thing about being here for halloween is that the kids were able to wear their costumes to school. Jeff was even home this particular afternoon to see the Halloween parade. This cute lady is Spencer's teacher (Mrs. Kelly) and if you can see in the far left distance a little hint of some red and blue that would be our very own...

...MARIO!! Oh and another Mario with Luigi. This costume seemed to be the theme this year for boys this age.

Spency's 1st grade class

I love how the mustach takes up their whole face!

Saryn had a halloween party at preschool too. Two of the boys in this picture (including the Mario) are part of our carpool group.

Shayla with her cute friend, Nia. (Ward Halloween Party)

Spence with another fellow Mario...

Sydney looks so grown up here...I don't know if it's because she has make up on, what she's wearing, or the way she's standing, but man...this girl is growing up!

Syd with friends

Spence found yet another Mario buddy.

On to the outside pictures right before trick-or-treating...

Shayla was the cutest Jasmine

Sydney a "sassy" pirate

Need I introduce this guy one more time?

Saryn a beautiful Bell.

After I'd finished taking pictures I noticed how pretty the leaves were in the backyard for a backdrop so we did another round of pictures (much to Spencer's dismay).

I couldn't get over how adorable these shoes were!!

Trick-or-treating with friends : )

We finished the night with eating candy and a yummy dinner in a pumpkin (I can't take any credit, my friend made it), but maybe next year, I'll give it a try! That's our October wrap up!

Sydney's Ninth

2011-11-09T15:35:00.000-08:00

Sydney turned 9 years old on October 19th this year. Here' a little spot light on my new 9 year old.

She has turned into an omelet lover and the best person to make those in this house is her Dad. He made one especially for her before heading off to work.

One of the special things about her day was that it was her turn to be "Star of the Week" in her 3rd grade class. It just magically ended up that it landed on her birthday! I was able to go in and help out with that--such a treat! Her classmates asked her questions and as she'd answer them they had to fill out a special paper--later that day they had to write her a letter and draw a picture that went along with some of the information she'd given them. All those papers were collected and turned into a fun book for Sydney to take home to read.

The display of pictures she brought in to talk about. I got to tell a couple fun stories about her too.

Standing with her 3rd grade teacher, Mrs. Gambill

We kept her birthday super simple and let her bring one friend out to dinner with the family. She chose her friend Tate, who was the first friend she met when we moved here. We are so glad she lives here! Sporting their matching gum ball necklaces Tate got them.

The family at the mexican restaurant we ate at.

It was a school night so we had to keep things early. We dropped Tate off and then had Sydney open gifts once we got home. (Notice Spencer working on his loose tooth he ended up losing that evening).

Some of her gifts: a Harry Potter Hogwarts Lego set, a new outfit, lip gloss and a book I put together for her.

I've been wanting to put this book together of her baptism for a year now and I am happy to say that it is finally finished! I had some helpful examples (a friend, my sis-in-law and a sample baptism book) to steer me in the right direction. I think it turned out perfect! She especially loved to read the letters from both sets of grandparents. Thanks for getting those to me in time--with such short notice!!

Nine Fun Facts about my Favorite Sydney:

1. She's had a fun sense of humor ever since she was little and it's still going strong!

2. When we went to the zoo this summer and the kids painted their faces, I was particularly impressed with the finished product that landed on Sydney's face.

She painted herself as this amazing lion!! I couldn't have done better! I love how she's even in character for the picture pose. And then we have gothic Saryn... : )

3. During the summer she got to spend time with her cousin Maddie (they are just 11 days apart). We made a special trip to the American Girl Store and had a fun lunch there.

Their matching Rebecca dolls

Checking their beautified selves out in the bathroom.

Did I mention Grandma Kirkham (Bubba) was in town too? So Fun!

4. She loves good one on one time. And making strawberry pie with Bubba this summer was a treat.

5. She's currently on a co-ed basketball team.

I had to take a picture of her cute legs : )

6. She won the sassiest costume award this year at a Halloween party at church.

7. She is becoming very crafty with hand stitching things and sewing on her sewing machine. This was a "How To" paper on sewing she wrote about in school last year (2nd grade).

Here's an apron she put together

And a purse she sewed out of felt for Saryn.

I love the profile shot here with her foot on the pedal.

8. She is ever so sweet with her siblings (most of the time, but with Shayla especially). I'll often catch her reading a story or helping her out, which helps me out a lot!!

9. I love the little lady she is becoming. It's been so fun to watch her grow these past nine years. It's hard to imagine that in the next nine years she will be all grown and out of the house. If only I were the one in control of this "time" thing we have. Anyway...I love this little girl of mine!!

Happy 9th Birthday, Sydney!

Childhood Buddies, Chicago's Urbanathlon & A Visit from "Flat Sarah"

2011-11-09T12:57:00.000-08:00

Jeff had the opportunity of living in the same area (and even the same house) pretty much his entire life. Because of that, he was able to grow up with friends from baby stages clear up until graduation and church missions. They were able to attend grade school together, participate in athletic activities, go out on group dates, learn with, get in trouble with and form long lasting friendships together. When this group of boys were seniors in high school, they put a time capsule together filled with pictures, inside jokes, video interviews (talking about their future wife and family life), and a few other things. They put it in one of those huge popcorn canisters, sealed it shut with duct tape, buried it and vowed not to dig it up until their 10 year high school reunion. It would be a guys night out afterward...

And dig it up they did.

There were a few items that didn't make it through the weather all those years, but the majority of them had been preserved (thanks to good ol' ziploc bags). Here's a picture of the group back in high school. I think this was taken in 1995.

Through the years, they have kept in touch with each other. They've attended each others' weddings and continue to get together whenever there's an opportunity.

The year they would all turn 30, they decided to do something a little more challenging--something they had to work for and could accomplish together. They hiked and were able to reach the summit of Mount Rainier. Wish I had a better picture of this...

Even though all of them haven't been able to make it, that experience got the bowl rolling and some of them have been able to do some type of race at least every other year since then.

They did a triathlon in Utah.

(2009)

Spencer got to be there for that and got some good time in with Grandma and Grandpa Kirkham.

This is from the Dirty Dash in Midway, Utah.

(2010)

Saryn was able to go with him that time.

She even went to the football game that evening and still talks about "Shakey". And I guess, it's OK that my daughter is wearing red. : ) I thought twice about putting that shirt in her bag while I was packing her. : )

In October this year they participated in Chicago's Urbanathlon (that's urban-athlon).

Since we live here, I made a point to bring the crew down to support the guys. My cousin, Tonya lives here too and I asked if she would be my city buddy for the day. I was so glad to have her there with me! The kids were too!

We parked just in time to see Jeff, Dave, Tom and Jeremy right before they were headed to run the bleachers in Soldier Field Stadium (where the Chicago Bears play).

Sydney brought along Flat "Sarah" that her friend Brooklyn mailed to her. She's been our adventure buddy for a little while.

The guys in Soldier Field

Jumping/crawling over taxis

Crawling up a net over a city bus.

Jeremy and Dave after they all finished.

Jeremy, Tom, Jeff and Dave

The fam

Documenting the outing with Flat "Sarah".

Push ups in Millennium Park

Another fun reason to be in the city was I got to meet up with my cousin, Amber and her husband Travis, who were celebrating their anniversary in Chicago. It was so fun to see them!

We met up at The Giant Bean and tried taking some self-group shots.

I got to spend time with a cousin from my moms side (Amber) and a cousin from my dad's side of the family (Tonya)! How cool is that?

This was probably the highlight of the day for the kids--feeding the birds after finishing up our picnic.

Syd, Flat Sarah and the Bean.

On Michigan Ave. admiring the view.

We found part of the Salt Lake Temple built in to one of the radio station buildings here (I forgot what the name was). There's a piece from many famous buildings (like the Taj Mahal and other well known buildings) as part of its structure.

Sydney with Sarah. The building that Jeff works at is the distant far right one.

The kids and I--do you like Saryn's coat? It's reversible and I bought it for the other side : )

A tired crew

The skyline

This is in case you forgot that we now live in the windy city...They say the name comes from the politicians--and there may be some truth to that, but if you ask me, the city is still pretty darn windy!

It was a fun day with fun family and great friends to share it with!!

This Tooth

2011-11-01T13:25:00.000-07:00

This Tooth

I jiggled it

I jaggled it

I pushed

and pulled

and poked it.

But...

As soon as I stopped,

and left it alone,

This tooth came out

on its very own

It even came out on Sydney's 9th birthday.

Now we'll just wait for his other (loose) top tooth to come out--maybe before Christmas : )
He's already brushing up on the words to that familiar song!

Apple Pickin',Apple Crispin', Apple Eatin',Apple Launchin' and some Corn Too

2011-10-17T21:51:00.000-07:00

It's hard to beat one of our favorite traditional fall places to go--The Oil Ranch in Texas, with all the fun that comes with it, but I think we found our new favorite place here in Illinois. We found an apple orchard nearby that made for a great family outing. Jonamac's Orchard is a pumpkin patch and apple orchard that offers some great outdoor activities for the kids. They also had apple doughnuts, apple pies, hand made caramel apples and apple pizzas in their bakery. We heard raving reviews about their apple doughnuts so we bought a dozen apple doughnuts and gobbled them up.

The kids enjoying an extra large rocking chair.

They played on bails of hay. We got their early so we had the place to ourselves for awhile.

Spencer in a tunnel of hay.

If you look closely there is more than one kid in this picture. I was just the oblivious mom documenting the day. Believe it or not, this kid was stuck and his feet were dangling. Now this one makes me laugh thinking back on it.

Fun bumpy slides to go down.

Bike riding on fun dirt paths. Sydney's face is awesome here. You should zoom in to have a look for yourself.

Old fashion school rooms to play in.

Water pump pipes and rubber duckies to race down the tubes.

Petting zoos

My personal favorite was the corn pit. I never knew corn could be such a great massager on my socked feet! The kids had a blast in here.

Buried in corn

Corn souvenirs in the ears

Spence kept burying his head in the corn and was happy to have a few kernels stuck to his face.

Jumping pillows

I thought this one of Shayla jumping was cute.

Spencer's dive

After playing we went apple picking. The day was perfect!

Shayla with one of the apples she picked

Apple sampling

After apple picking we went to the apple launcher.

These were some of the targets

On the Apple Train

I loved this one -- seeing the back of Shayla's head as she rode off in her own train cart. She's my baby and she's growing up! It was a weird moment for me! Jeff and I kidless as we waited for the train to return.

Jeff with the kids at the corn maze. This was our last event for the day before we headed home.

There's something about peeling your own picked apples to make an apple dessert. It made me wish I had my own apple orchard in my back yard! And speaking of apple desserts, my favorite one is apple crisp. I love crisps because of the oats, brown sugar, butter and cinnamon mixture that is sprinkled on top. The smells that fill the house are...oh...so...good! Jeff was my apple peeling buddy and this is how our apple crisp looked before we let the oven work its magic.

Now the only thing that was missing here is a couple scoops of Blue Bells Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream! We had to settle for another brand this round : ).

Trees in Mid October

2011-10-17T14:00:00.000-07:00

We have a tree in our backyard that's been driving me crazy! The leaves literally DUMP onto the ground. We spent a good chunk of time one Saturday raking, mowing and cleaning things up and it looked so good. But can I just say that THIS is how it looked the VERY next day?!! Take notice for a minute the nice grass to the side of the house. That would be our neighbors yard (remember that most of the houses here don't have fenced yards). If you were to glance to our neighbors yard on the other side you would notice that it looks immaculate too--rarely a leaf to be found! Now I have nothing against leaves falling--In fact, I LOVE the fall--that was one of the exciting things about coming to a 4 season state. However, the leaves that are falling from our particular tree are not even the amazing fall colors one would hope to find.

But that didn't stop the kids from having fun. They were so happy to come home from school and play in these leaves for hours on end. Can you see our little mound of leaves named Shayla?

Our front yard is another story. I think I have to vote this tree in front of our house as the prettiest on the street. It's kind of an interesting tree with the half green half fall colors going on.

Side note: These two girls have turned in to complete little buddies ever since school started!

More fall clean up with Shay in the leaf bag.

Sydney was doing lots of the raking. I spotted her from my upstairs bedroom window just raking the morning away.

This front yard tree of ours has turned even more beautiful! I spotted red, orange, yellow and green!

I went outside one night to get something and saw my beautiful tree right under a shining full moon. Sydney's been studying the moon this month in science, so I had her come check it out.

And did you notice the nice black Honda Pilot parked in our driveway? This is Jeff's new ride he's so excited about. It's time to find a new owner for our Maxima, so if you know anyone... (I was half tempted to move both these cars so I could focus mostly on my fall tree).

The kids were happy to show off the big leaves they found.

Another neat thing was that I received a book in the mail on October 11th. It was a book that my aunt Pamela had put together of all the poems my Grandma Monson has written (so far). As I was flipping through the pages I came across an untitled poem my Grandma wrote describing autumn in Denver. The cool thing is that I read this poem years later on the same day she'd written it--October 11, 1989.

The trees in mid October

Are dressed in fine array,

In golds and reds and hennas

They beautify each day

A breeze may tease them gently,

Or gusty winds may blow

To force the trees to stand undressed

And ready for the snow.

Oh autumn time, please linger

And let the trees display

Their brilliant hues of reds and golds,

Delay the wintry day.

-Helen Campbell Monson-

Hope these colors on this little tree can "linger" a little longer for us to enjoy!

Spency is Seven

2011-10-14T20:55:00.000-07:00

So, this little guy is a whole year older. Spency turned 7 on September 9th. After a fun breakfast and getting all ready for school, I drug him outside with one of the creations he built and had to get a few shots before school that morning. I saw this picture idea several weeks ago and figured i'd give it a try. Isn't he so cute?!!

Shayla jumped in on a couple of the shots and Spencer was happy to share the spot light.

I told him to pretend to laugh to get him smiling a little more and this is what he did.

And the close up--I was laughing so hard at the effort he was putting into this! Check out that neck : )

We had a little family party that night after soccer.

Then the next evening we had a few of his new friends over to help with the birthday celebration. He's completely into legos and building things this year, so we did a lego theme. I saw a simple lego cake to make. Just a normal 9X13 cake size, marshmallows for the lego block look and some fun food coloring and here is what it came out looking like. Spence loved it and thought I was the coolest mom on the planet.

I made these gift bags into legos. The boys got to assemble their own police cars right when they arrived and were able to add them to their goody bag. I love the internet for fun, easy, yet creative ideas like this!

Jeff and the girls made a "Spencer 7" sign to display with some remaining legos we had laying around the house.

The whole rest of the time during the party the boys (and my girls) got their creative minds twirling and built different things with legos and K'nex (loves those too). It was one of the easiest parties ever--

Seven Fun Stories We Love About Spencer

(1) I often compare myself to the book character Amelia Bedelia. I think some of my Amelia Bedelia characteristics might have rubbed off on Spencer too...

One day I told him to "Please put the milk on the door."

I should have been more clear and said, "Please put the milk on the door of the refrigerator" because this is what I saw...

Obedient? YES! He did what I asked him to do!

We had to review that one--more for me--or for me to teach this kid how his crazy mom speaks sometimes thinking everyone can read her mind. Next time, I will rephrase!

(2) This kid LOVES "Liminade" stands. He always wanted to do them--summer, spring, fall or winter. Everyone loves lemonade though, right?

(3) He has no hesitations about wearing a pair of PINK gloves when it's his night to wash dishes. Now THAT is a good brother, if you ask me!!

(4) He loves to do little surprises around the house. One morning before anyone woke up, he came to my room and said, "Breakfast is ready!" Bowls, spoons and cold cereal with the milk already poured for everyone to enjoy!

(5) When this kid gets something in his head he eat, sleeps and dreams about it non-stop. Like when he found out that we'd be moving into a house that had it's very own wishing well in the backyard, he told everyone about it and how cool it would be to get all the Bakugans when we finally were there to have him wish upon it. I even received an email from his teacher telling me how much he talked about it with her. This is a picture he drew in class one day (see--still thoughts of wishing wells during the school day) of the soon to be blue house in Chicago and the great "wishing well".

Here's a close up of him next to the well.

And the live version of him next to the well. Let's just say he was slightly disappointed when he saw it.

(6) When he was star of the week in his 1st grade class this year this is one of the things he said in his interview from the teacher and his classmates. (They record it on paper as he answers the questions).
"My favorite food is snake skin." What??? and even though I don't think he's ever tried it he said "I don't really like squid." Funny kid!

(7) He's always cracking us up with the little dances and poses he'll do. Sorry about the shirtless kid in spandex. These were taken just after a swim meet during the summer. (...and I miss this house!)

I love this little boy that joined us seven years ago! Is this not the cutest picture ever? I think my father-in-law took this picture and I absolutely love it!

Love my blue eyed boy to pieces!

Turning into such a great kid!!

Happy Birthday, Spency!

Love you, buddy!

Lots of Firsts

2011-09-05T07:35:00.000-07:00

Though this is definitely not a first for us, it will however, be the first time we will not have a baby born in Texas (Oh, how we will miss our delivery nurse, Ruth)!! We are SO excited to be adding another little one to our family. We found out as we were in route from Texas to Chicago (on the 4th of July while in Utah) about the fun news and we couldn't be happier! Telling the kids was so fun. We started having the kids help us take things out from our storage in the basement like the high chair, changing pad, baby bath--then Sydney asked, "Why are we getting all this baby stuff out?" "Funny you ask that question, Sydney..."and then we told them the exciting news and they were bouncing off the basement walls! We can't wait to meet this cute bundle around March 3rd.

The week before school officially started the kids were able to meet their teachers for the first time. We met up with some new friends and walked over to the school together for the big event. We were all pleased with the teachers they were assigned to and who they'll be spending their time with and they were even more pleased with the ice cream pops that were passed out afterwards.

August 22nd was the first day of school. The kids were excited to put on their new back packs and new school outfits.

These pictures were taken from our back yard deck.

The kids were so happy to have their Dad home for the morning to help send them off to school. I was too!

The kids couldn't wait to WALK to school for the first time. Our house backs on to this sidewalk. The bridge takes us to our friends house on the other side of the neighborhood. We walk just past the bridge and the school is literally right there! It's not even a 3 minute walk! I love being this close to the school---especially when winter hits!

Sydney with two of her new friends from church. They made the morning more fun to enter the new school in for her.

Spency was just ready to get the day going! I have been so impressed with how well these kids have handled this whole moving thing. They have jumped right into making new friends and adjusting to new things. I really am so proud of them!

After sending the kids off to school I raced Jeff to the train station (so glad that guy was home for the morning--too bad he has to show up at places like work). Then the two girls and I were off to Target for a few needed items. My friend, Saryn, likes to snag my camera to fill time.

Sometimes I don't even realize she's had it. She'll use it and then put it right back into my purse where she found it--kinda sneaky like that. And then I get to find pictures like this... (and there's plenty of them, believe me)!!

So, normally on the first day of school I get together with friends from Texas and we make cookies with our non-school aged kids for the kids at school to come home to. This year it was just the two girls and me. I did have to text my friends and let them know I missed them on First Day of School Cookie Day! I think we did a pretty good job though with the cookies the three of us conjured up. We even made some banana bread.

Oh, Shayla? Where are you?

The school day was a success! These two came home with happy faces and hungry tummies. Good thing we were able to take care of that one!

Not only was it the first day of school, but it was also the first day of the soccer season! They don't mess around here. There's no transition into school and THEN into soccer time. Nope, they just jump right into both on the same day! We had a little after school time, catch up on the day, have a cookie or two, change into soccer gear and then squeeze in a small dinner before we're off to the soccer fields.

The way soccer works here is the girls play on Mondays and Wednesdays and the boys play Tuesdays and Thursdays and that's it. No weekend games! It makes for a busy week Monday thru Thursday, but I think the system is pretty slick! The fields are right here in the neighborhood, just 5 minutes away--love that. The kids wear their uniforms each time they play wether it's practice or a game. Fridays and Saturdays are used as make up game days (for rain outs or holiday). The only tricky part is the day the girls play, Sydney and Saryn are on complete opposite fields so I'm either splitting the two or Jeff and I switch when we can, other than that, I'm a fan!

Spencer plays for Team Germany. He hadn't gotten his matching gold socks yet, just in case you were wondering...

I love the concentrating tongue shot! It makes a difference, right?

Saryn plays for Team Netherlands. This was completely a last minute decision since she didn't want to play until the day of--so we signed her up--the day of. And I'm thrilled we did because that girl can hustle!

This was when just Spency was playing and Jeff came straight from the train station to the fields. The girls were so excited to see him so they ran to greet him. (Uh..this was taken after the excitement). Saryn was off playing with a bunch of girls who bring purses, lip gloss and play phones to occupy their time while their brothers work hard on the field.

Sydney plays for Team Argentina. I'm so glad she decided to play this year. She's really working hard and putting lots of effort into the games! I'm proud of the big strides she's making!

And do you see someone else familiar in these pictures? Yes, that would be the very love of my life! When he's not on the sidelines watching, he's out there refereeing! With his Ute hat and all!

I love that he got caught into this!!!

There you have it. Lots of firsts this year for our family.

Schools Out and Summer Party Kick Off

2011-06-04T21:11:00.000-07:00

Each year the day after school gets out we take the kids to IHOP for breakfast in their jammies.

It's fun and we love it. Sydney wanted to be a little more"mature" and stray from her normal funny face pancake order. Saryn stuck with the usual.

Spency's our chocolate chip lover and got his usual.

Shayla took maybe 10 bites of hers. She had more fun trying out all the syrup flavors--that might just be my favorite thing about IHOP. Don't you agree?

In the afternoon we went over to a friends house for a Sunshine and Lemonade summer kick off pool party! There was pink lemonade, original lemonade and a yummy Brazilian lemonade. YUMMY!

All of the treats had a lemon flavor as well. There were lemon cupcakes, lemon heads and can't forget the lemon drops. By the end of the party the lemon drops all stuck together from all the wet pool hands reaching in the jar.

Blake and Spence had a good time climbing the wall.

Ahhhh...SUMMER! Or as Spencer puts it... (ever since a sleep over with one of his cousins), "THIS is THE LIFE!"I love this picture of him!

These kids did this all afternoon!

Jumping in with so many great friends!

Shayla hung out with her own little pool posse (Lexie, Shay, Izzy and Cole). WE LOVE FLOATIES!

The moms decided to give the jumping a try! (Me, Allie, April, Nicole, Jen and Sunnie)

NICE! Sometimes it's fun to play kid again!

Spencer catching some air right after us moms entered the water.

Shay with cousin Izzy

Saryn hung right in there with all the bigger kids.

Fun day to start off the summer! Thanks for inviting us, APRIL!!!

Memorial Day and an ER Visit

2011-05-31T19:44:00.000-07:00

Have I ever mentioned that I love Monday holidays? There's just something about them that make those Sundays that much more enjoyable. I do love Sundays, don't get me wrong, but ahhh when there's not a super rush to get the weekly routine going again on a Sunday evening -- school clothes laid out, strict bed times, the thought of....well, Monday -- it's just nice to sit, relax and really enjoy a FULL Sunday PLUS the evening.

For starters, we were very excited to get Shayla's hair into a side ponytail. There's not much hair there and not a lot of length either to work with, so it didn't last long, but these two thought it was the greatest thing ever to have the same hair style (which only lasted for a few pictures and then fell out).

Sydney brought this cute little scripture home from church one day. A girl in her class had made them out of chocolate nuggets, address labels, ribbon and card stock. So cute!

Sydney practicing her talk for primary and Spencer helping out.

This also happened Sunday night when we were at my mom's house for dinner. Saryn came out of the bathroom complaining a little about her finger ("thinger"-- I love that she still calls it that. Both her and Spencer get that "th" in there instead of the "f"). I asked her to show it to me and this is what I saw.

It was growing puffier before our eyes. We thought about draining it, but Jeff ended up taking her in to the ER where they drained it and gave her an antibiotic. The dr. thought some bacteria had somehow gotten in there. Poor little gal. That was weird and a little gross.

On Monday (Memorial Day) we spent the day with family at the pool.

Lots of fun cousins to play with and yummy cold watermelon to eat.

The guys took the kids fishing at the lake right by the pool.

Braden was encouraging Spency to catch something.

Sean was the lucky one to show the kids what he caught.

Jeff and the kids.

Such a fun day! One of those days where you don't want them to end.

Thought for the Day

2011-05-23T20:19:00.000-07:00

I'm filling out paper work for the new school my kids will attend and I came to a blank when it asked for 2 emergency contact people. Umm, I haven't really met anyone yet, so that one might have to be put on hold for a time. I have probably 20 or so people I could put down if we were staying here. Crazy. It's the little things like this that make this whole deal seem a bit hard. That's all. My one thought for the day.

Gone Camping

2011-04-25T12:22:00.000-07:00

I'm realizing a few things these days since Jeff is rarely home and I feel like a single mother at times. I'm realizing (and I have to word this right) that I can't wait to do everything when Jeff's around, because these days he just plain isn't. I know it's killing him to miss out on fun things like this, but it's only temporary and life will get back on track soon enough.

So,feeling a very strong desire to expose my kids to life and different experiences (I really was feeling strongly that this had to be done by me because Jeff's done it with them before)-- I took the kids camping. Just me and the kids. Jeff came up for the first evening- to help get things set and and to stay for dinner-he has a lot going on right now, so I was pretty much on my own for this one. I did, however, tag along with our good neighbors who were going as well. We had a fun dinner together and then Jeff was off because he had a lot of work to do. He took Shayla too and dropped her off for a night, yet again, with my mom.

There was a burn ban going on that weekend so we couldn't set up a campfire, but we did let the kids watch a little Tangled. Love that!

Can't believe these two little guys are a year old already. They were the "very active duo" on the trip. I love that one is crying because he probably feels like he's in prison and the other is just happy to be smashing his face against the screen door at me! I had to take this shot because I don't know how my neighbor does it sometimes. 5 kids 7 yrs. and under with the last three only 13 months apart--a 2 year old and a set of twins. They're an active bunch and there is never a dull moment around these guys!

I also took that shot because it reminded me of this similar one of Sydney with her face (well, nostrils) smashed against the car window (in 2005). That one still makes me smile! : )

The kids had a ball riding down the hill on their skateboard, scooters and bikes. These hills felt like mountains to us Texans. This is just before going down the "mountain".

Lance and Lisa are the proud owners of a great camper. I was all ready to sleep in the tent with my kids. Flash lights, check. Blankets, check. Flip flops in a convenient spot for late night bathroom trip, check. But it was slightly warm (remember it's camping in Houston), so we all piled very comfortably into their nice air conditioned camper for a great night's sleep. I'm sure we all slept much better inside there than we would have in that toasty tent. I was prepared to rough it though...I'm just saying.

For breakfast I got to be on bacon duty and I have to admit that I did a pretty darn good job! Not too soggy, not too burnt. Just perfectly cooked, if I do say so myself. I was a little sad that I had a few bacon grease splatters on my overly worn shirt. Liquid dish soap took it right out though, so I can keep wearing it! Pheew!

For the day, we got to take nature walks and explore a bit.

Great neighbors and now fellow campers, Lance and Lisa

I got to take my kids fishing! See? Exposure! I haven't been fishing since high school, so I needed a quick refresher course. Spencer was ready to catch an alligator.

Saryn and Rachel lounging in the sun.

Cute girl!

Spence and fishing buddy, Levi (some kid who hung out with Spencer almost the entire time we were there. I always wondered where his parents were).

Anna and Sydney

Trouble with the line.

Saryn looks so comfortable here just patiently waiting for a catch.

Love this kid!

A face I get to see all to often.

Though none of us caught anything, we still left with smiles. Even Saryn.

There was this cool tree trunk the kids crawled up. It was fun to see 1, then 2, then 3, then 4 kids crawling up through my camera lens. I wish I would have had my other camera just for the practice.

Then 5.

Syd went up just a bit higher and got spooked.

Then the same happened with Anna, then Saryn, then Spencer and then Rachel.

This is what we thought about the bacon we ate for breakfast (still hanging out of Saryn's mouth) and this is what we thought of the whole camping trip too! Two thumbs up!

Signs of Sadness

2011-04-24T22:03:00.000-07:00

A for sale sign went up in front of our house this weekend. ...Oh man...

Are we happy about it?

Not really.

Sydney even had teary eyes when I pulled up the street after school Thursday afternoon. She wasn't quite prepared to see it there. It's all starting to feel more and more real and we just don't like that very much. Lots of memories have taken place in this home of ours.

If anyone knows someone looking for a great home, this one won't disappoint! Here's a link for pictures and a tour.

www.har.com/79481447

Birthday Surprises

2011-04-13T15:54:00.001-07:00

It's my birthday. And Jeff's favorite time of year to have people ask how old he is and then how old I am because for a very short 2 month period it sounds like I am 2 years older than he is. He thinks he's so funny and I'm sure I'll hear it every year for the rest of my life.

It was a treat to wake up and get serenaded by Shayla. Here's a little glimpse of the birthday song mixed in with some good times with Cole.

After Saryn got home from preschool we played one of their favorite games. Riding around the house in the laundry hamper. They're always excited to see this baby pulled out on Mondays while I do laundry. We like cheap entertainment round these parts.

Cute little girls that kept the day fun and eventful.

We had a family party-just the 6 of us-and I got to hear what each one loved about their dear old mom. It was mostly silly dances and Spencer told me that I smelled like his armpit. Nice. Glad we have a brother in this household.

I kept getting text messages from a friend that said, "You need to clean up all that trash in your yard" and then I got "Do you have any paper plates I could borrow?" then the next one, "Or plastic knives or forks?" By the third text buzz, I finally checked to see who it was. I went outside and found this!

Sunnie and company had left 35 plates for 35 years.

Here's a close up of a few.

Sunday night (the night before my big day) my friend Kathy just popped in to surprise me with this 3 layered birthday cake. Isn't it great? I think Jeff was the happiest since now he's off the hook to scrounge up something sweet for the evening. Thanks a ton Kathy! It was delicious!

Towards the end of the night as we were tackling bed time, Jeff put this blindfold on me and sat me on the couch. But then he didn't come back for several minutes--like 15 min. which can seem like a long time when you're just hanging out on the couch with a blindfold on. Was he going to pull something out of the closet? I think I even heard the jepardy songplaying in the background.

Then in walked a few friends trying to disguise their voices. I knew who "Yoda" was because we had volunteered at the school together recently to perform a puppet show for the kids and I recognized my fellow puppeteer's voice. (I really almost peed my pants from laughing so hard with Julie that day). Then I heard Ashley's laugh and then Sunnie's.

Still blindfolded they led me into a place that smelled like waffle cones. It's called Menchies.

It's so cute and the frozen yogurt is really yummy!! I really felt so loved because so many fun people came to help celebrate the night with me. I got this book from my good friends that made me cry! It has all our kids growing up through the years and other fun memories we've had together and it breaks my heart that these pictures won't keep continuing. You better keep in touch you guys!!! Or we may have to hunt you down! Or we'll just move back in a couple of years and buy a house close by. I think that sounds like a great plan!

Here's a picture of the group. I seriously have the greatest friends in the world!

Thanks for helping make the day so special!

Blue Bell Fun Run 2011

2011-04-12T20:41:00.000-07:00

A fun Saturday it was heading up to Brenham,TX for the annual Blue Bell Fun Run. We woke up early and were out the door before 6:30 a.m.. Mom once again stepped in to the rescue and had Shayla spend the night so we could take the rest of the crew to run our little hearts out.

Getting ready.

Sydney, Spencer and Saryn all set to go for the kids mile run.

Spence with his buddy Russell

Syd with buddies Elle and Brooklyn

Spencer, Russell and Mya

Saryn and Jada

"Miss GG" (Jada's Grandma) was super nice and let Saryn run along with them. She also was so kind to take on my 3 kids (along with her 4 grandkids) so Jeff and I could run. Really so nice!

And they're off.

Working hard

Keeping a good pace.

Before the hill.

Last stretch before the finish line.

I was so proud of these kids. It was so fun to let them work for something and then see them finish strong. They were so excited to get their medals!

Their Running Times

Syd's : 8.11

Spencer: 8.56

Saryn: ?

(sometime after her two siblings)

Thought I could look it up, but I can't seem to find hers.

So many fun friends who participated.

I ran the 5K with these ladies. (Nicole, me, Sunnie and Candace).

My Time: 28.22

I started off running with Sunnie, but the very last stretch her little legs kept going and I had to take it a bit slower singing "I think I can" to myself. : )

Jeff ran the 10K

His time: 53.59

The fam.

And the best part of the morning was all you can eat ice cream bars afterwards! I think my kids had at least 5 each. Those great divide ice cream bars are something special. You should try one!

(Aaron, Jake, Jeff, Mike and Deven)

The Orange Bear we were trying to figure out who he belonged to. The Brenham High School Mascot? Just someone who had a costume in his closet and wanted to show up for some pictures and ice cream for the day? Associated with H.E.B? Hmmm...still wondering.

Playing on the "huge" hill afterward.

Grandma and Shayla. Thanks again, Mom for taking her!

Is it crazy that my 2 year old baby can do this?

School Update

2011-04-11T21:29:00.000-07:00

A little update on the 2010-2011 school front.

Sydney is in second grade. Spencer is in full day kindergarten. Saryn is in preschool three days a week and Shayla gets to be home all day with me.

This is a picture that Spencer colored on the first day of school. They are the coyotes.

Shayla gets to play with Cole every week while Sunnie and I alternate volunteering at the school. It's been a slick deal the past few years. It was fun to get these two smiling for this.

Sydney - fall 2010

Spencer - fall 2010

This is when Spencer was the star of the week.

Here's the poster he put together to show in the kindergarten hall.

Some of Sydney's artwork.

A paper she wrote after listening to the President of the United States

A space shuttle she drew. Impressive!

Here's a rocket car drawn by Spencer.

Here's a few "people" drawn by Saryn. I remember when Sydney would draw these heads with legs when she was the same age.

This is our preschool carpool crew. Jada, Saryn, Lincoln, Andrew and Shayla along for the fun ride. The little conversations these guys have are hilarious! And usually they're forming their after school playgroups in the car. This really is a cute little group!

Saryn usually likes to pick out her clothes the night before and this was something she had set out. Not too bad. She changed her mind in the morning though.

Saryn - Fall 2010 preschool pics.

And not to leave out this little gal, here's one of Shayla - fall 2010

I was a sucker and bought one spring picture this year. Rip off.

Sydney - spring 2011

The elementary school gives an award every nine weeks to one student in each class called the Coyote Champion. All the students vote for someone in their class. Spencer won the award for the 2nd nine weeks, but was sick on the day they gave out the awards. His teacher did a little something special for him one day when I was in to volunteer. He was so excited to get his medal.

Sydney's been able to be Coyote Champion each year so far. She won it this year (the third nine week period) with her friend Elle. They've won this award together at least once before. It was cute to see Sydney give a little wave to her when she went up on stage to be recognized with all the rest of those coyote champions.

It's been a great year so far. Kinda crazy that we only have a few weeks left. It's amazing how quickly these years fly by. Sydney will be in middle school before we know it!

The Magic of Disney

2011-04-07T12:55:00.000-07:00

We're off--California, here we come!

Shayla was my traveling buddy. Sydney and Spencer sat behind us and Saryn and Jeff were sitting across from us. The kids were so fun to watch on the plane. We ate snacks, they watched movies and enjoyed being on an airplane. Shayla kept tilting her head to the side so her earphones would stay put in her ears. Did she sleep? No such luck. But she did great! I was still at the end of a head cold and my ears were piercing during the descent of the plane. I kept worrying that Shayla's were too, but i looked over and this is what I saw...

Kristi was there to pick us up. Her smile was crooked and I thought maybe she had Bells-Palsy, but it was just from her recent trip to the dentist. : ) Wish I had a picture of that crooked smile!

We got to stay at the Kristi and Noah Eyre Hotel. Those guys live in pretty cool places (New York City and LA) so they always have tons of visitors. In fact, I think we ended up "kicking out" Noah's bro and family b/c we had an overlap in visits (I think they were squared away with a mother-in-law though) and my cousin, Marianne and family had been there the week before.

We stayed up late that first night and talked after we got kids to bed and then we were off to Disneyland the next day. Here we are at the Toy Story 3D ride at California Adventure.

Kids already tired from walking and we had a little roller coaster drama with one of them. Shayla is copying everything Sydney does.

Bumper cars

3 princesses with the castle.

And it wouldn't be a complete trip without "It's a Small World"!

Love this picture of Kristi and "Cubby"

McKay and Spencer

Shay and Lyla fell asleep.

Oh wait...so did Jeff!

Did I mention that Shay wears pig tails on occasion? Then after a bit this is what happens...

The Matterhorn we never should have taken Shayla on. She still talks about the monster and how scary he was. What was I thinking when I sat her on my lap for that one?

Tea Cups anyone? All the other adults said, "Nay" so I got to be the designated twirler for this one. This was surprisingly one of Saryn's favorite's. She gets car sick remember?

After excessive twirling.

Got to meet Mickey at his house.

This was the wrap up of day one for the bulk of the crew. Notice how Lyla (on Noah's shoulders) is so cooperative for this picture!

Kristi and Noah volunteered to take Saryn and Shayla home for us so we could spend the rest of the evening going on rides and such with Sydney and Spencer. I love how McKay always crosses his legs so proper like--and then we have Saryn. In progress people, in progress.

It was awesome to have the evening with these two. We went on so many rides. Our favorite ones were Space Mountain and Soaring over California (at California Adventure--can't wait to go back to do these two). We ended the evening with World of Color and it was amazing to see all the artistic watery fountains!

Day 2. Kristi kept Shayla at home (love her for that one) so Jeff and I could take the older 3. We met Tara Passey there with two of her boys (sorry no picture). Here we are taking a Jungle tour.

I didn't get a picture with The Passey's (I really am sad about that) but I was insistent on getting one of my girls with a princess. We scored and saw 3 of them together. I chased them down to get these.

With Sleeping Beauty...

Aerial

...and Cinderella! See? Jackpot!! Check that one off the list.

Spencer and me on Space Mountain. We got the front row!! This kid amazed me how unafraid he was to go on all these big rides!

And we couldn't leave without a few souvenirs for the kids. Spencer made a double light saber. It's huge!

Sydney picked out a Minnie Mouse locket with Mickey inside.

Saryn picked out a sparkly pink Mickey necklace. Even though you can't see it, it's around her neck. Notice how she took out her flowers from her pig tails and wrapped them around her wrist and ankle. I'm surprised she slept the whole way home like this.

Jeff and I made a very needed stop for dinner. We LOVE Cafe Rio!!We had to treat Noah and Kristi right for taking us in all weekend and for babysitting! If only they had these in Texas!!

We came home to these guys with kids bathed, in jammies and watching a little Tangled. My new favorite Disney movie. Did I mention that we saw Rapunzel, but the line was longer than her hair so we peeked in to admire her for a minute and then ventured off to the next thing. We love these guys!!

Conference morning McKay and Spencer had sword fights.

The girls colored.

We hit the beach for awhile.

That evening after the boys returned from the Priesthood session, Kristi and I fed the kids dinner (lettuce wraps, yum!). Then the 4 of us went out for dinner and a movie while the kids played with a babysitter. It was such a fun trip! Can't wait to do it again soon! We love you Eyres!!

California Beaches

2011-03-25T10:27:00.000-07:00

I love the beach.

I love the beach even when it's not the sunniest of days.

I especially love the beach when I'm able to go with such a fun crew.

This was our last full day visiting Kristi, Noah and company in California. So, we spent a good chunk of the morning at Laguna Beach, just 15 minutes away from where they live and our kids had a ball!

Cubby (Jacobson) couldn't get enough of the sand. He was completely content crawling around and taking a few sand nibbles.

Spencer and Shay enjoyed getting buried in their sandy covers.

Noah and Jeff were mostly in charge of the troops while Kristi and I captured the day. It was way too cold for me to get wet. You should have seen the hairs on my arms. And they're not short--I'll admit that when it comes to the cold I am a full on wuss. And I don't feel a bit bad about it. My kids, on the other hand were awesome and could have stayed there all day!

Spencer was the pioneer ocean enterer for the day. He got the party started and others were quick to follow.

Sydney noticing that these California waves have a lot more umph to them then our Galveston beaches.

We had to stop off at Costco to grab her a new suit before coming to the beach since the one I'd packed is yesterday news and should have stayed in the tupperware buckets stashed in Spencer's closet.

Love these kids!

I think Saryn takes after me in the cold factor. She got hit by a wave and had a little sand fly up her nose. Jeff is so graciously helping her out. But it all went down hill after this.

So sad and cold. (But I liked her little legs kicked out in this picture).

Spitting out more sand and not liking the cold. Seriously, between her and I, we are in for a real treat for Chicago winters.

Don't you think this picture should be printed out on canvas?!! I love how they're wearing their matching suits. Spencer was finally able to wear the swimsuit he got for Easter last year. It now fits his waistline!!

Love her all wrapped up in this towel looking out at the ocean with her little wet pigtails.

And didn't I mention we went with a fun group?--This is one that Kristi took hoping to get our feet in the picture.

The lady that took this one missed that little "feet" detail. Man, I love these guys!!! Can we come spend more time with you and your beach? More on the trip to come!

Flag Football

2011-03-19T23:27:00.000-07:00

It maybe basketball season in your home right now, but in ours it's also football.

Flag football.

I don't think I'm quite ready to see this kid play tackle just yet. Snagging flags sounds like a much better fit for a six year old. Here's a cute picture of Spencer all ready for the game. Notice his window!

Funny factors:

1) Mouth pieces are required for each game (even if they can't tackle)

2)Report cards were mandatory to be able to play. Remember he's in kindergarten. Would they kick him off the team for getting U's instead of E's?

3) And one thing I didn't know was that girls can play flag football too! Up until 12 years old! Here's a picture of a girl that was on the other team. She was a tough little cookie! I think Saryn would do very well in this sport!

One of my favorite things about this so far is that Jeff has been able to help coach. He coached a little league team the year we got married, but there is something special about it when it's your own kid--at least for me anyway!

Go get him, Tiger!

Nice form. The pep talk must have worked.

This was from a previous game that was so cold! Burrrrr! I get cold just looking at the picture remembering how cold it was!

Cousin Liam was a good sport coming to watch that cold first game. These two had a fun sleep over the night before and giggled all night long. I kept saying, "Do you boys want some ice cream or something?" They were too busy playing the Wii and said, "We're fine, we're fine!" Spencer was in HEAVEN with him. They watched a movie and would sit back all comfy on the couch and say, "This is the LIFE!" The older two girls were at Grandma's for the night so it was pretty much just us and the boys (after Shayla fell asleep)!

Sydney and Saryn have made some pretty good buddies with 2 other sisters (Emily and Daisy). They started their own little cheering section.

And here's the team that is so far undefeated.

Go Raiders!!!

One Boy, Two Teeth

2011-03-19T19:22:00.000-07:00

One cute boy (age 6).

One cute smile.

Take a good look.

Because it won't last long.

One extra happy boy with one missing tooth.

One happy boy who had to share the excitement with friends (Gunnar and Cole).

One dollar from the tooth fairy for this happy boy. (Wearing his same clothes from the previous day).

One happy boy that had to wait for his dad to come home from work to pull out his 2nd tooth.

Only 3 days later.

Nice smile Jeff.

One happy boy with 2 missing teeth!

You should hear him say things like "six and space!"

Let's see that close up!

One mom can't believe she has 2 kids losing teeth!!

Can I Vent A Little?

2011-03-17T06:12:00.000-07:00

I feel like I need to write down the crazy week we've had, so allow me to be a little whiney.

Remember -- it's spring break -- I think that is an important factor here. The past few days I feel like our spring break has gone a little bit like this burnt pizza I cooked last night. Lots of little mishaps going on.

Sad #1: Jeff is traveling most of the week.

Explanation: I would say nice timing there, Bud, but he really didn't have a choice in the matter. I just really like being around the guy and miss him when he's gone.

Positives: I'm a big girl and this is all good for me to do alone--home, family, stuff...

Sad #2: Jeff only has one key to his car. That one key was lost by yours truly.

Explanation: The reason I misplaced the key was because the spot where a key chain could go has been broken for a long time. So it's just been sort of the floating key we've been able to keep track of. Up until a few days ago. I cannot for the life of me remember where I put it after taking the key out of the ignition. A pocket? My purse? Did it slip under the couch cushion somehow? Still hasn't shown up yet. Where are you little lonely key of ours?

Positives: Still looking. Hopefully it will show up soon!

Sad #3: Jeff needed a car to get to the airport. I need a car for the week. Oh,what to do...

Explanation: He woke up at 2:30 a.m (yes a.m.) to get a few work items done before flying out only to drive home so that we could load the kids up at 4:20 a.m. to head for the airport.

Positives: Waking the kids up was my idea. I was completely on board (except for the fact that I worry about him when he doesn't get a lot of sleep and having to go into work that early was a concern). It's spring break so the kids and I were able to come home and jump right back in bed sleeping in until 9. Jeff had a relaxed schedule the next morning so he was able to sleep in a bit too.

Sad #4: Locksmiths are expensive.

Explanation: Not only did we have 2 keys made for Jeff's car, but when we bought our van, it only came with 1 key as well (2 remotes, but only 1 key--our next car we'll be sure will have 2 keys). So we figured to have the locksmith make a total of 3 very needed keys. Something we should have done long ago. We had a descent idea about what it would cost and were ready to pay for it, but I was floored how off I was. $$$ see ya money! I hope I leave my keys in the car sometime soon just so I can feel good about the purchases we made for these things!!!

Positives: We are now the proud owners of 2 sets of keys per vehicle.

Sad #5: A head wound from nursery

Explanation: No, it wasn't from a toy thrown across the room because I didn't give a kid more fruit snacks. That actually would of made for a better story. The last 10 min. of church I went to throw something away and saw another piece of trash in route, but when I picked it up I came up so fast that I hit my head on a corner of an open cabinet door. It hurt so bad. I even had to brace myself for a minute. There conveniently were baby wipes in the cupboard so I dabbed one on the top of my head and there was so much blood. Needless to say I had the primary president and Jeff in a family bathroom helping me check how bad it was.

Positives: Um, there are some really good people in this area! People took my kids, I had a few phone calls from people checking in on me after church, I got a ride home with someone and she also brought dinner in. I felt so spoiled--and it turned out to be just a really good scratch. I never knew head wounds could bleed so bad. I didn't need all that help, but I have to say it was nice to come home and get cleaned up without worrying about the kids. Like I said, good people here!

Sad #6: Sydney tested positive for strep throat and scarlet fever.

Explanation: Strep throat has been going around and Sydney was feverish one day so i took her to see the Dr. the next and sure enough she got it. I wasn't prepared to hear scarlet fever. Isn't that something from way back when? I think my Grandma Naylor almost died from it when she was young. The Dr. assured me that it is just strep throat with a rash. Syd noticed her rash the day I took her in. It itches a bit, but she's doing fine.

Positives: I now know that scarlet fever isn't anything to fear. We are all medicated here and hope it stops with just one kid! I'm also glad my mom was still around to watch my other kids while we went to the Dr.

Sad #7: No water for 24 hrs.

Explanation: Sometimes people forget the smallest of details, you know, like paying a water bill for instance. Oh man...not fun...a little embarrassing...I like having water. I had to drive down to the water co. in person to pay with the exact cash. The kids and I looked awesome going in there. Oh, how I love a good shower!

Positives: This made me think about all those people in Japan who are dealing with not only no water, but also no homes to run to. It made the process of no water for 24 hrs. so much easier. I feel like the list I've written is so measly compared to what so many others are having to deal with right now.

Sad #8: One of my cousins (Jeremy Elmont) passed away over the weekend from a seizure.

Explanation:The seizure led to some brain-stem swelling and then it ruptured and there was no sign of brain activity since. It is such a sad situation and I feel so bad for the family! It's hard to say goodbye to people we love.

Positive: Sometimes it's tough finding the positives in the death of a loved one. Though still very difficult, time is a healer with things like this. It is also something we will all have to face some point in our life. Having the gospel in my life is such a blessing and it brings such a peaceful feeling during difficult times. I will continue to keep the Elmont family in my prayers!

Lots going on in our world and in our little Kirkham family. The burnt pizza was only a reminder that even if things don't look so good, good things can come from them (There's something about a little crispier cheese that make it taste that much better). I had to speak in church on overcoming life's challenges a few weeks ago and some of those talks and scriptures I read through came to mind this week. It's all about how we handle those road blocks that come our way that matter most.

Leprechauns and Toilets

2011-03-17T06:04:00.000-07:00

The Leprechauns love to come visit us each St. Patrick's day. It's one of Sydney's favorite holidays. Here's a picture she drew in kindergarten of what happens when they come.

Yep, pretty exciting 'round these parts when our toilets turn green! Hope you remember to wear some green today! Happy St. Patty's Day!!

The Amazing Race -- Valentine's Edition Plus a few other "LOVE"-ly Things

2011-02-20T19:52:00.000-08:00

I love Valentine's Day! -- I love the pink, red and white colors. I love the pretty flowers. I love the sweet yummy treats. But I especially love that we have such a day to celebrate all those people we love and adore! This valentines I did something a little different for Jeff. My very creative friend, April came up with the idea of doing an Amazing Race for our hubbies. I was excited about it! We had a fun group of girls get together to plan out some of the details and this is how the evening went...

We made clues for each task the guys had to complete. This is what was on each envelope.

We made (and burned a few) t-shirts for the guys that said "I Love My Wife".

We sent the 7 guys out in a minivan ready to tackle their first clue.

First Clue:

Klein High school is the very first place,

You would go to practice if you want to run a race.

Get your heart rate up and enjoy the view...

Get a good workout, while you find your next clue

They had to leave all wallets and cell phones (except 1) at the house.

Their first task was to make a card for their wife.

This is the one Jeff made. With wings and all. Very nice, Jeffrey!

Second Clue:

Now that you’re out of breath, you’ve completed your task!

Return to the place where, with our love, you can bask.

Obey all the traffic signs, and drive with care,

For if you do; kisses will be waiting for you there.

When they returned to the house there was a coffee table full of hershey kisses. They had to find a sticker placed at the bottom of a hershey kiss. If they picked one up that didn't have a sticker they had to eat it.

There were around 14 bags of kisses and only 7 stickers so it was a daunting task to tackle this round!

At first the chocolate was fun to eat.

Then they started coming up with game plans like grabbing a handful to see if by chance there'd be a sticker.

Thirsty anyone?

In the end we started helping them. We should of put a few more stickers on those kisses! Jeff finally found one.

This next clue seems a bit strange, but to sum it up it was from a nickname of one of the guys in the group that plays basketball.

Third Clue:

You've met him before,

the mans name is a killer

add to that a weed,

that might need a tiller.

Find out who this man is

and go visit his mother,

to find a new task to complete

that's like no other.

(They had to go over to a mother-in-laws to make candy necklaces and shoot 2 free throw shot before getting clue #4).

Fourth Clue:
Your wife's favorite candy bar, you will see,
When you return to the house at 9923.
Arrange them correctly, you must get it right,
Or you will be staring at candy all night!

While the guys were gone, us ladies stayed back to cook Allie's scrumptious garlic chicken and take care of 25 kids. I actually hardly saw 3 of my 4 kids. They were too busy having fun with all their friends!

April had made these Udaman candy bars to give them. My favorite part on the back said "Serving Size - You decide cuz U da man".

April's home looked so cute and festive! I especially love the frames on the sides with nothing in them--kinda makes me feel right at home since I have that same issue--Empty frames on walls still add--don't you think? Check out that pink, red, and white! See?? Happiness!!

A fun candy bar I couldn't stop snitching candy from. That would be very dangerous in my house!

The room all set up.

Allie's mom had this ginormous salad bowl we used. It was awesome and we had a good laugh over it. There are almost 2 full costco size things of lettuce in that thing and still tons of room!

The guys returned from making their candy necklaces and free throw shooting.

Then it was time for the candy bar game. They had to guess which one was their wife's favorite.

The fun girls I got to do this with. Did I mention we made "I Love My Hubby" t-shirts too?

(Candis, Sunnie, April, Allie, Jen, me and Nicole). And Shayla was my side kick for picture taking with an inherited candy necklace made by Jeff.

The group shot minus Nicole.

The group shot with Nicole cropped in! This one makes me laugh. April, hope you don't mind I snagged a couple pictures from you for this :) !

Eating dinner with my valentine. I really do love this guy!!

The kids had so much fun playing upstairs and outside. They loved the playhouse April built onto their gameroom. I'm telling you, this girl has unbelievable talents!

On the home front, this is what happened on valentine's day. Red beautiful roses from Jeff, a cute board sign from our "heart attackers", roll on lip gloss (my new favorite lip gloss for kids since Shayla can't dig her fingers into it), astronaut puzzle, little valentine stamps, a few treats, and a couple really cute books: Sugar Cookies Little Lessons on Love and a new favorite in the wrapping paper is The Tickle Monster book with monster paws and all!

Spencer made me this cute large kiss that says, "MOM CAN YOU BE MIY VALINSTIM?Spencer". He couldn't wait to pull it our of his backpack when I picked him up from school. I love the googly eyes and the mouth you really have to search for right by the tag. He's a cute one!

I made this cute heart shaped wreath one night at a craft night. I think it turned out so great! Perfect for hanging on my front door...or so I thought...

...with this crazy weather we've been having that gust of wind blew it right off and broke my heart into 4 pieces! Guess my next one will be an indoor wreath.

I got to go to Spencer and Sydney's fun runs during the day. It made for several trips to the school, but it was worth cheering those kids on. I know how much Sydney loves to run (not) so I was glad to support her. I wish I would of taken a picture of Spency, but here is one with my 3 girls in red. I painted a little heart on their cheek for the day.

Sydney with her good friend Jalyn. Check out that new track they just put in! Those fund raiser benefits in full swing!

The kids ready to be the "Valentine Spies" (or Heart Attackers). We went to a few friends and neighbors to drop off some Valentine treats. This was a highlight--they loved being so sneaky. The girls were wearing their Twinkle Toe shoes--which didn't help so much in their sneaky efforts when they were running like crazy away from the houses.

This is a project that I've been wanting to do ever since I've had 4 kids. I got a cute heart shaped plate at Target one day, printed off letters in a font I liked, dressed the kids in white shirts, hung up a red blanket I got from my sis-in-law and started taking pictures. I was happy to find the last frame with 4 slots at Garden Ridge and my project was complete! This was our gift to Jeff.

There you have it--A LOVE-ly February, it was!

Murder Mystery Dinner Party

2011-02-10T04:31:00.000-08:00

Never been to one of these murder mystery parties, but we had a great time. Let me introduce you to a few folks...

Meet Natalie and Joe Nebraska. Joe was my high school sweetheart who also happened to be captain of the football team. I was the head cheerleader (can you tell I'm trying to be cheerleader-ish with my head tilt??). We eventually married. (Sometimes I think about what it would have really been like to go to high school with Jeff...I think I still would have had a crush on that boy! He was a little excited to pull out his letter jacket and old football jersey). I was happy to have a friend who supplied the cheer uniform for the night. I might have been able to conjure up some knee pads or some type of sports uniform, but without the help of my friend, Laura, I would have shown up in sweat pants and a t-shirt. Our cute babysitter took this picture before we left.

This is Melissa (or I should say our high school hall monitor). She was the one that put the fun together. Jeff knew her from Utah and she just moved to Texas a few months ago--She did an awesome job putting the whole thing together.

When we arrived they had a picture place all set up with balloons and a "Class of 85" sign. Still doing the tilted head thing and Jeff brought along a left over NAVY Seals trophy: ).

The two funniest to watch that night, in my opinion, were my sis-in-law Aly (the wannabe actress) and our friend Emily (the actress who just won an emmy). These two were hilarious!! Really!! From the moment they got out of the car they were ready to be in character and play the game. I think Aly was even a tensty bit annoyed that more people weren't in character the entire night. It was a crack up and they made the night that much more fun!!

Other characters in the group were: the class Valedictorian, the high school gossiper, the most likely to succeed, the nerds, the punks, the wannabe choreographer, the band members and a few others like homecoming king and queen--just to name a few.

All in all it was a blast to hang out with this big group of 22. Some I knew before, some I'd met for the first time. That was the funny part because people were wondering "Are you in character or are you just being you?"

It was a great night--thanks to Melissa and Ben for being such party animals!

Happy New Year -- Look Not Behind Thee

2011-01-04T12:52:00.000-08:00

Here's to appreciating all that 2010 had to offer and onto what 2011 has in store...

Happy New Year and here we go 2011!!

Merry Christmas

2010-12-22T18:53:00.000-08:00

Here's a little Merry Christmas through the years from our growing family...

2003

Our very first Kirkham Family Christmas picture to go out. Just the three of us. Sydney is 1. And we like Old Navy.

2005

Old Time Christmas Tree Farm. Sydney now 3, Spencer 1.

2007

Taken at one of our favorite family places-Burrough's Park. Sydney 5, Spencer 3 and Saryn 1.

2008

Taken in the Mountains of Utah. Love those fall leaves! Sydney 6, Spencer 4, Saryn 2 and pregnant with Shayla.

2009

We had these taken a week after Jeff was put in as a new bishop.

2010

Thanks to my good friend, Ashley, we have some pictures in front of this red door that i love and have been eyeing! Now we can check this one off the list.

May your days be MERRY and BRIGHT!

Merry Christmas!

Love, The Kirkhams

Thankful For...

2010-11-25T10:13:00.000-08:00

I'm Thankful for my eight year old daughter who chose to be baptized. Still can't believe she is so grown up! I love how sweet she looks in this picture!

I'm thankful for a good friend who knows lots about photography to capture these poses! Thank you so very much April!

I'm thankful for a fun getaway to Chicago with my sweetheart. We went with two other couples (Newmans and Buchanans) and had a blast!! The guys went to the Utah vs. Nortre Dame football game and us girls stayed back to see the Broadway play The Lion King. The trip was super fun and downtown Chicago is amazing. We took a boat tour around the city, ate Chicago styled pizza, shopped, drank yummy hot chocolate, ate at several yummy restaurants, and ,to sum it up the entire trip was great!

I'm thankful for cute art projects my kids bring home.

For macaroni necklaces and fun paper costumes.

I'm thankful for one very special little girl who joined our family 4 years ago this month!! And who was so understanding when a lot of the attention went to her older sister getting baptized near her birthday, not to mention her parents being in Chicago ON her birthday. I love this little girl!!

I'm thankful for the best in-laws a girl could ask for! Who not only came for a baptism, a birthday, a piano recital and other extra activities the kids are involved in, but also for babysitting so we could leave town. Not to forget mentioning that they did all of this kid watching WHILE the kids were THROWING UP --and even with a sensitive stomach (and some vomiting on their end), they still kept that happy spirit in their voices every time we'd call to check in! Thanks you SO MUCH Jan and John!! How do we repay you for that one??

Thankful to be able to live close to so many fun cousins for my kids. They love their time together and felt so cool to be at their very own grown up table for Thanksgiving.

Even Shayla was excited to be a part of that one.

I'm thankful for one of my favorite blogs to glance at for fun holiday and family activities. I snagged this one from it. Our Thankful Tree. This is our second year adding leaves to a Thankful Tree. I even found a leaf punch to make the process go faster.

I'm thankful for 4 great kids who teach me patience, how to play more, but they mostly teach me about love and enjoying the present moment.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Chicago For A Day and A Birthday Girl

2010-10-23T21:09:00.000-07:00

This isn't the best picture to start the post off with (blurry), but it was an exciting memory and I wanted to add it in here for that reason. October 18th (a Tuesday) Jeff called me from work and proposed we take a family trip to Chicago the floowing day on the 19th for Sydney's 8th birthday (minus Shayla who would stay home with Grandma Monson). It sounded exciting. We had no other pressing obligations that day besides the kids being in school. So we had Shay sleep over at my moms that night and we loaded up the kids early that next morning for the airport.

We didn't need to pack any luggage because we weren't staying the night (which made the trip that much easier). All we took was a big backpack filled with a few books and activities for the airplane ride and some snacks for the trip. We also brought the double stroller since we figured we'd be doing lots of walking and the kids would need a break. That was it. Those two things...and my camera, but that comes with me pretty much wherever I go anyway.

The kids slept most of the plane ride there since it was still so early and then we landed--in Chicago for the day!

The kids were so excited! We took a train from the airport to downtown.

We played rock, paper, scissors a few times and tried holding our breath when we'd go through tunnels. The autumn leaves outside the train windows were fun to look at too since we don't get to see much of those colorful trees in Houston.

I have to say it is cold in October there because as soon as we stepped outside we hit a gust of wind and burrrrrrrrrr! I was beginning to think I should have packed heavier coats (that we don't really own). I was curious to see what this place looked like because I kept hearing what a cool city it was. When we turned a corner and saw the river I was so excited to be there. Or maybe it's just traveling in general that's exciting to me. But I loved that we were able to have the kids with us to experience it together.

The city was lined with fun Lego statues.

We took a few pictures with some of our favorites.

For Sydney's birthday lunch we asked around for a yummy pizza place and ended up going to Pizzaria UNO. Not quite sure what she's doing with her hands here, but I know that she felt pretty special eating at a fun pizza place in a cool city on her birthday.

And we had to warm ourselves with some hot chocolate.

None of us had ever tried a Chicago style pizza before and they are actually really good. Different and lots of bread, but still really good. They put all the cheese on top of the bread and then put the sauce and toppings on top of the cheese. And since we usually get just a plain ol' cheese pizza this is what it looked like. I was wondering if Spencer would eat it from seeing all that tomato sauce on top (those tomatoes are not really a love of his), but he ate it right up.

We went to the Disney Store and the workers sang happy birthday and gave Sydney all sorts of fun Disney coloring pages, Disney magnets and Disney stickers. Then we headed over to The American Girl store. It is unbelievable! I couldn't believe all the little details and accessories that go in to a doll. I never really got into the doll thing when I was little (maybe cabbage patch kids), but it was fun to see all the girls lined up to get a picture with their doll or to go to the doll beauty salon, or the doll hospital or to get their dolls ears pierced.

Spencer and Saryn did a little performance on this stage in the store.

Then Spencer got tired of being in a "girlie" store.

On our way to the Playstation place we saw an Indiana Jones Lego man.

The kids played a few video games at the Playstation place.

Then we headed over to Lincoln Park and to see the giant BEAN. I think it is suppose to be more of a cloud, but it looks much more like a giant bean. I like Sydney's expression in this picture.

Getting creative with the camera...

Can you tell we had fun?

The kids enjoyed playing and climbing.

I don't know what these two were discussing, but I loved capturing this daddy daughter conversation.

Did I mention that this little baby of mine is now EIGHT? Where has the time gone?

Waiting for a taxi to come take us over to Willis Tower (more commonly known as Sears Tower).

The kids were gearing up for their first Taxi experience.

This is the view of Lake Michigan from the 110th floor of the Willis Tower. Nice!

They had these great/scary inclosed balconies that were windows all around (Jeff was standing in another balcony taking this picture)--even on the base so when you look down all you can see is the very looooooong way down to all the surrounding buildings. Did I ever mention that I have a fear of heights? Don't believe me? Then you should read here. Hence the 1/2 step out onto the balcony. My heart was racing seeing my kids out there so comfortable on that ledge!! OK...even looking at these pictures and seeing Saryn in that corner make all those jittery feeling surface!!

Sydney and Spencer were super thrilled to lay down for this one. My face probably matches theirs while I take it! Ahh!

For the wrap up of the trip--it was needed. We needed to do something fun and spontaneous like that! I loved that we were able to make it work on Sydney's birthday. Hope the other kids won't expect major day trips like that when they turn 8 (where an airplane is involved). I tried telling the flight attendant that we had a birthday girl and I was hoping she would be able to say something over the speakers. She either forgot or I made her feel like a glorified waitress and she didn't want to. It was a fun day and we were able to come strait home to put the kids in bed. Shayla was lucky enough to stay an extra night with Grandma.

On to the birthday bash.

I let Sydney choose a few friends to come over for Pizza, pina coladas, cake and movies. What started off as a few girls turned into a longer list, but I figured, the more the merrier...she's turning 8 and we can be crazy this year (or I should say again--these parties always seem to just be big). They were so giggly and goofy.

Here's the 8 cake.

After eating and cake the girls colored fashion dolls and then we painted nails while they watched Barbie and a Mermaid Tale. It's a cute movie. The favored nail polish was a glow in the dark blue color that Bubba (Grandma Kirkham) had given Sydney awhile back. We were scraping the bottle to get the very last nail painted. Then the girls would run to the bathroom and shut the door and turn the lights off to see their glowing nails. Remind me to pick up some more of that for a future gift for someone. It was a hit!

The girls showing off their art.

And this is what Sydney typed up just a minute ago: I had a vary fun berthda porty.my frrends are very fun and nise.

8 Reasons Why I Love This Girl...

1. She is the type of person who genuinely feels excitement for others' successes and can express it in such a marvelous way! One moment that comes to mind (not really a success story, but a happy for others story) is when Spencer got his long awaited Spike the Dinosaur for Christmas last year! He was pumped and as you can tell, she was pumped for him! I really love that about her!

2. She is musical and has always been musical! We have a video of her singing "My Country Tis of Thee" all the way through when she was only 2 years old! I got a picture book with the words to the song and would read it to her often when she was little. She picked up on it fast and ended up singing it at a Kirkham Family Reunion in a microphone with her Grandpa Kirkham (Pappo) holding her. It was awesome! I need to get get her into one of those singing and dancing groups like Sunshine Generation or Chalk Circle. She really shines when she's performing!

3. She loves to sit around and just chat. She is great company and sometimes I have to remind myself to stop doing things around the house, pull up a chair and enjoy a fun conversation with my daughter. I love that she does that for me!

4. I may have said this before, but I love that she has the same body clock as her daddy. Come 9:30 at night, she is ready to call it a day and crawl into bed (or on the couch or wherever you happen to be at 9:30 p.m. if you're Jeff).

5. I love that she will change Shayla's diaper for me. And that she's really old enough to do that!

6. I love that she has her own way of doing things and her own style in clothes and hair. I'm learning to bite my lips a little more, but she is blossoming and coming into her own little self and I need to take a step back a let her be her a bit more.

7. I love that she can flip pancakes like a pro.

8. I love that she'll get all the kids together to read stories on the couch It's fun to see all four of them cuddled up together with some books. She's done that several times and it makes for peaceful precious moments.

Happy 8th Birthday Squidders!!

Spencer's Science Lab

2010-09-12T14:26:00.000-07:00

Spencer turned 6 on September 9, 2010.

For months he's been constantly talking about science and being a scientist, so coming up with a birthday theme this year was a breeze. I think this was one of my favorite parties to plan because it brought back memories of an elementary education science class I took in college and loved! I never knew science could be so much fun until I took that class. So here is what we did...

The invitation that went out.

The scientists that showed up to get their lab coats and safety glasses. These babies were worn for a matter of 5 minutes or less, but I think it made for a cute picture.

Blurry picture, but this was the lab set up. The experiments included:

*Making green slime

*Mixing dry ice with apple juice

*Blowing up balloons with baking soda and vinegar. We did this with water bottles filled with a small amount of vinegar and then placed a balloon filled with baking soda over the rim of the bottle. The kids slowly let the baking soda fall into the bottle from the balloon and voila--a blown up balloon!

Here is Spencer with cousin Liam.

The blank cake from Costco we decorated for one cute birthday boy. I think I did a pretty descent job--just don't look to close at his arms.

Our last and final experiment was making a geyser. The two key ingredients are diet coke and mentos. Here's Jeff and Spence preparing the geyser.

Jeff was nice enough to "let" me pull the trigger...

We did it another time and let Spencer have the honor of pulling the trigger.

It was a hit! Especially with all the fire ants that come visit us this time of year!

6 Reasons I LOVE this little boy...

1. Though he's a tough little boy and is crazy as can be at times, he has the most tender heart! He once saw me doing dishes (this was a week when he had been on dish duty the week before) and said, "Mom? Are you doing those all alone?" "Yes, Bud" (thinking it was no big deal--I usually do). Then he immediately started running down the stairs and said, "I'll come help you." I have to say this whole thing got me a little choked up at that moment!

2. He has some pretty unique dance moves and they actually look great! Kind of break dancer-ish. The kids will do neighborhood dance offs in the cul-de-sac with all the other kids and I have to say that he really can bust a move!! Maybe he gets that from me : ).

3. I love when, each night as we are tucking him in bed, he wants to hear a story. Not like a story book story, but a personal story of what happened when I was his age or if Jeff's tucking him in he wants to hear about Jeff's childhood. Some stories he continually asks to hear again and again are when I saw an animal or when I got hurt or when uncle Sean fell on his face when he was jumping on a pogo stick. Sometimes I have to really think of one and I love that he reminds me of my younger years.

4. I love that he is so easy to please, especially when it comes to school lunches. If he could have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich every single day -- maybe even every meal -- he would be the happiest kid on the planet! Makes my life easy--no questions needed when I'm packing those lunch boxes, just slap that sandwich together and he is set. Now if I could just get him to eat a few more veggies...

5.And while we're on the subject of school, this whole year has

been a pleasant surprise! I thought it would be a constant battle

dragging him out of bed each morning (just like preschool

pretty much was )and it has really been the opposite. It's

been a smooth transition and I'm pretty grateful for his early

rising school going attitude! How can I make this same

transition work on Sundays for church???

6. He is the little boy I have always dreamed of having. Though I

never thought he'd haveblond hair : ). I love him like crazy and

I'm thankful he belongs to me!

Love you, Spencer and Happy Birthday!!

NAVY SEALs 2010

2010-08-31T20:04:00.000-07:00

This particular Saturday, August 28, 2010 was a big day in the Kirkham household. The 3 older kids spent the night with Grandma and Grandpa so Jeff and I could get up super early for the big event. The scale had been stepped on several times by both of us making sure we'd hit our goal weight (going for points here people). This was the day we had trained for, for the past 12 weeks -- The Day of the NAVY SEALs 2010 competition. YES!!!

Just to give a brief history of this competition--It all started last year when Jeff and a few of his buddies wanted to shed some pounds. The fitness test used to qualify for the NAVY Seal program is what they decided on and Jeff pretty much headed it up. He spent the majority of the summer creating spreadsheets, talking to businesses to donate prizes for the winning team, ordered trophies, ordered t-shirts and sent out emails to all the participants. He had everyone divide into teams and had team captains report to him on a consistent basis. (This was the summer that Jeff was out of work which made for a good hobby on the side of finding another job). What started off with about 4 guys turned into 11 guys which then in the end turned into 42. This year, the guy in charge (Jason Beckstead --from the winning team) added women to the competition. I think there were around 120 competitors this year.

The requirements for the competition included:

weight loss

Minimum of 4 (30 min.) workouts each week

500 meter swim

Max push ups (in 2 minutes)

Max sit ups (in 2 minutes)

Max pull ups

1.5 mile run (timed)

Here we are before the start of it all--Let the games begin!!

I was on a team with 4 other girls. Ashley Newman, Beckilyn Skidmore, Sunnie Gruwell and Candis Later. Here's a picture with 3 of us "GI Janes" showing off our guns-- (Ashley in the middle and Beckilyn on the right). Ashley had these cool sweatbands made for our team.

The first part of the competition started off with a 500 meter swim. Jeff and my bro Sean were passing in the same lane. I don't know why Sean wouldn't work with me in breathing the right direction for this picture. Come on Sean, work with me!

The next round was push ups -- as many as you could do in 2 min. My goal was 40. I got 34, I think. The push ups were probably my least favorite part of the whole thing. And I was surprised how much I ended up loving the swim!! I had a hard time getting the breathing thing down, but when you keep working on something, it's pretty cool how your body start to get the rhythm of things (except with push ups for me). I felt so official wearing the swim cap (borrowed from my kids from swim team) and goggles. I even treated myself to a Nike swimsuit which I really like! My swim time in the end was 11 min. 38 sec. which had been my best time yet! And I didn't have to back or side stroke even once, which is saying something from how I started. Yay me!

After a 2 minute rest doing push ups, begins the 2 minute max sit ups. My goal was to get 100, but I fell short and got 96. Darn. I really couldn't muster those last 4 for the life of me. I was even grunting!! Jeff claims I was grunting more for that than I ever have in my 4 times delivering kids. Exaggeration? Embarrassed to say, probably not.

Here's Jeff doing his sit ups. I loved training with this kid!!

After the sit ups we get to rest for another 2 minutes before starting the pull ups and then the run. For some reason my quads hurt more than my abs after sit ups, so I wanted to stretch them real good before the run.

Jeff doing his round of pull ups.

And let's talk about pull ups for a minute. Before this thing I couldn't even do 1 single pull up. Not even ONE! However, I was reminded once again how cool the body is when you keep working at something and I was able to reach my goal for this and do 5 (with a little help from using a frog like kick on the last one--for some reason that really does help me). In all seriousness, I learned a lot from this crazy competition. Just an example: When you don't want to do something (like put on your running shoes when you'd rather cuddle up to your pillow), do it anyway and after a few minutes and you get into it. And then you're always glad you just did it. I saw/felt myself grow in strength and working out really does make me feel happy! But I think these lessons can be applied to other aspects of life (even spiritual and emotional and even parenting kids). I'm telling you, this thing was good for me to experience!

Speaking of parenting...these kids were a great cheering crew and had a fun time trying out the pull up bar after I'd finished. Evidently Saryn was pumping them out like crazy -- she was in the zone! And one cute lady had pointed out that all us parents are always cheering for these little guys and it was fun to have them cheering for us this round! It really was fun to have them there for support.

And some other HUGE supporters were my parents (my mom is in the background with my little girl) who took the kids overnight and let us drop off the baby at 6:30 on a Saturday morning. Not to leave out taking care of the 4 kids while we participated in this thing. They are so fantastic!!

I had to throw this picture in that Allie sent me. These little guys have the best time together!! This is Braden, Blake and Spenny.

Another least favorite part of the competition, for me, was the run. It was only 1.5 miles, but running has never been a love of mine. I can do a descent job of keeping a pace, but endurance after all the previous stations made it difficult to push it real hard at the end. I think I was grunting again here. Pretty sure...if not, I know I was thinking about it! Here's me trailing behind Allie. "I think I can, I think I can..."

The finish line was a bit of a tease. I thought I was almost done and then NO -- a whole other stretch to tackle! But I finished without fainting or seeing black spots (like I saw after the RS triathlon I did, last year). Here's a picture with a bunch of cute girls that are happy to be done for the day.

With my other teammates (Candis, Ashley, Me and Sunnie). Beckilyn had to work early so she'd done everything earlier that morning.

Did I mention that we won the girls division? We got nice women body builder trophies and some great gift certificates to Academy, Carrabba's, a couple car washes and Smoothie King!

Jeff's team took 2nd for the guys division. These are all the husbands from our girl's team. (Mike, Deven, Jeff and Jake).

We all met up that night to celebrate at Cheesecake Factory and indulge in some yummy food after giving up some of that fun stuff. I can't say I had given it up totally, but I had definitely cut out a bunch of the sweets and it was fun not even having to think about stepping on a scale after this! It was great food with great company and I'm still laughing about the fact that Jake drives to work in his slippers!

And did I mention how fun it was to work out with this guy when we could schedule it in? He really is a motivator for me and I love him to pieces!!

Back To School

2010-08-23T19:53:00.000-07:00

It's that time of year again. Only this time instead of sending one kid to school, I'm sending two! It's a weird feeling -- being a parent of two school aged children. Two lunches to pack, two kids to hound to get their homework done, two classrooms to keep up on and more paperwork sent home each week. And this time it feels so different sending Spencer (as a kindergartner) then it did with Sydney. I feel like he's a little more dependent, more easily distracted and he still hasn't got the shoe tying thing down yet. But he IS ready. He needs to go. It's time and I'm excited for this little guy! Especially since he has the privilege of having the kindergarten teacher that taught Sydney! Mrs. Buerger was great and we're excited for his other teacher Mrs. Sealy. We got to meet her for the first time at "Meet the Teacher" night.

The morning of the 1st day of school I've played "I Have Confidence" (from the sound of music) in the past. This year we have a new song called "Confidence" that was taken from the song "Popular" from the play Wicked. It's cute and a little more fun and upbeat for us. we played a few times for the kids after breakfast and then we did our usual out the door pictures.

Jeff was able to go to work late so he could be there for the first BIG day.

Spencer has been so excited about his Bakugon backpack. The day he got it he kept asking when school would start and kept wearing it even while he'd ride his bike around the cul-de-sac. We even used it to put our mail in one day. Sydney had no desire for a backpack this year. She was adamant about getting a side pack.

We dropped Spence off first. He looked so cute sitting there and the poor kindergarten teachers were probably SO annoyed with all the parents of these little people taking pictures and waiting around the classroom. I had to snag a couple quick ones of him before we dropped off Sydney the big 2nd grader.

Remember no cheating Spence!

Love this kid!!

Sydney (wish I had another picture of her to put here) was more hesitant this year to go then past yrs, but we are thrilled with the teacher she got and think it will be an easy adjustment back into elementary school life.

Now it's just me and my 2 girls for the remainder of the day.

This is what we did while the other two were off at school...

My friend (who always puts on fun things for the kids) had us over to play and frost cookies for the school aged kids to come home to. Here's what we made for our 2nd grader.

And this is what we made for Spencer. These Star Wars cookie cutters were perfect for him!

Then we met up at McD's for lunch with cousins to play with. My two sis-in-laws (Aly & Allie) and I spent over 2 hrs. talking and enjoying the afternoon while letting the kids do their thing on the play area. I pretty much went straight from here to get the kids from school.

(This is the next little group of cousins who are now mobile and able to interact with each other which makes it fun--they are with in a few months of each other in age).

Spencer was so excited to see his Star Wars cookies waiting for him.

And Sydney was thrilled to see all those letters lined up spelling out her name. She wasn't sad to share a couple "Y's" and an "E" with Shay, Saryn and I.

Chalk it up as a successful 1st day of school for this 2010-2011 school year!

Dolphin Swim Team

2010-08-05T23:09:00.000-07:00

My Two Dolphins Swimmer: Sydney and Spencer

Swim Team -- Probably my favorite sport, so far, that my kids have been involved in. I love the excitement that comes with each race. I love that it's just as much an individual sport as a team sport. I love seeing how much they improve in just a few weeks of being exposed to the water. I love that they can cheer each other on and know the feeling that comes with the hard work put into trying their best. I love that it's a survival sport as well as a fun one. There are no options when it comes to learning how to swim -- and this is one of our fun ways to make it happen. I love Swim Team!!!

The Team Picture

Saryn sporting the dolphin of the week swim cap that gets passed around. We really tried having her do swim team this year, but after a rough 1st week of semi-forcing her to get in the water (with no budge) it wasn't worth the battle. Next year...! I do have to report in that she has taken off with swimming the tail end of the summer! I really am proud of her and can't wait to see her take off in the water next summer on the team.

Shay trying out the cap.

Now a little more on the swimmers...Spencer participated in 25 meter freestyle, the freestyle relay (with his cousin Blake and two brothers), and the 25 m backstroke. Last yr. he didn't quite have the backstroke down, but this was his year to compete! His little legs look so skinny in these swim jammers!

Syd had improved so much this year. She competed in all the different strokes (at varying meets) and also participated in the medley relay swimming backstroke or freestyle. Her favorite stoke is the breast stroke, but I thought her butterfly stroke was something to talk about! : ) At divisionals, Uncle Noah was able to snap this picture of her. It was the fastest I've seen her swim freestyle in her 2 year competing history!! She looked fantastic out in that water!!

One of the most exciting things that kept the kids busy at the home meets was the hundreds of roley poley's they'd find.

Spencer just after finishing a race.

Syd enjoying the water and not thinking she's still competing.

One of the moms brought fun blue hair color for the kids. Spencer was excited to try it out.

At one of the meets a bunch of swimmers spent a good chunk of time playing in the back of someone's car.

And speaking of blue hair--one mom died her hair blue the last week of the season just in time for divisionals! That is a supportive mama!!

Here is our supportive dad that we love so much!! He really is the greatest guy on the planet!!

We were excited to have lots of family in town for this particular meet. They helped cheer the kids on and it made the day that much more exciting!

We ended the season with a skating party at roller world. I had a good friend keep Saryn and Shayla so I could take all the older kids, uh, roller skating. It's an interesting task trying to teach 4 non skaters to skate especially while I wore skates. Why did I do that again? Maybe it would have worked out better if I'd just walked in my tennies to help them out. All in all, it worked out great and was lots of fun!

Spencer, Mya, Elle and Sydney with our dolphin mascot.

After a few lessons (if I can really call them that), Spencer pretty much took off doing his own skating thing. I was a little surprised by this, but it worked out great!

He looks like Joe Cool in this picture!

He skated with cousin Blake and got some good skating tips from Coach Travis.

After a little practice, this was old hat for Sydney. Her roller blades broke a few weeks prior to going to this, but she picked it back up quickly.

Skating with some of our other dolphin buddies: Halli and Brooklyn.

And one last picture with Coach Michelle and Coach Rachel.

Thanks for a great season guys!!! Til next swim season...

Thin Hair has its Perks

2010-08-04T22:55:00.001-07:00

Sydney at age 3 (2005)

Saryn at age 3 (2010)

If anyone's having trouble getting a radio signal, call us.

Our Easter In An "Eggshell"

2010-04-23T09:49:00.000-07:00

A quick recap of our Easter festivities this year go a little something like this:

Some cute springy dresses were worn by the girls and Spence is always a good sport about wearing whatever I pick out for him. He is by far the easiest one to please (besides his baby sister) when it comes to getting dressed each day. Thanks, Buddy!

The Easter bunny was a little clever this go round and tried a fun new idea that was found on a fun blog. The kids woke up to a roll of yarn and had to follow their string all around the house to their basket. They had fun with it--Saryn was just happy to find her basket. This just might be the start of a fun new tradition in our home for this special holiday.

Here's a glimpse of the stringy obstacle course.

Sydney eager to find her basket.

Some of the Easter basket favorites were squirt guns, books, candy, and a picture of the Savior to remind us of the reason we celebrate.

We also painted eggs (a few days earlier). This was so fun and kept the kids entertained for a good chunk of time. We even got to listen to some conference talks during this time.

One of Sydney's creations.

And here are the finished products. Jeff was particularly proud of his half U half Y art work.

Being Crazy.

Even though Shayls's still a little too young for painting eggs, she still had a good time being with everyone and pulling apart play-doh into tiny little chunks. (play-doh snakes courtesy of mom).

And since this is my blog the Y will be represented in this picture.

The kids also participated in the ward play group egg hunt. It's been weird not having Sydney come for the past 2 years. She was anxious for an egg hunt, but I think we did a pretty good job fulfilling that need. Spencer has become an egg hunting pro, but still left enough for the little ones.

Saryn finished her candy off quicker than I could catch her.

And last, but not least, on Easter Sunday we spent a good chunk of the day with fun cousins over at Grandma and Grandpa's house. They (G'ma and G'pa) were in Guam visiting family, so we took advantage of their house and made a fun brunch, watched conference and played. Grandma never fails when it comes to making the holidays special. She had left an Easter bag for each kid filled with a swim suit and sweets. We missed them tons this round, but still had a wonderful Easter!

Congrats to my Baby Sis!

2010-04-21T13:01:00.000-07:00

Congrats to my baby sister, Kristi, and her husband Noah...

...who just had their 9 pound 6 ounce baby!! What a whopper -- and so super newborn pudgy CUTE!

Still can't believe this was the round she decided to go without any labor medication. And check out all that hair!!

Can't wait to meet this little/big guy, guys!!

(Pictures courtesy of Noah)