Family Pictures

We had these pictures take back in October when Alan's Mom and Dad came to visit. I am now getting them posted. I know I am a little slow, but better late then never.

As you can see the girls are in pink and the boys are in brown... funny even the dog is a boy.

A very nice picture with Alan's parents

Little Man has grown up so much

Princess G, what a sweetheart

Don't let this innocent face fool you

I think we are in trouble when they get older...

Tagged!

Tagged Part 1: Find the 4th picture from the 4th file

This is Princess G at the Ronal McDonald House in Denver.

Tag Part 2: Crazy Threes

1. 3 show I watch

Ugly Betty

Grey's Anatomy

7th Heaven (reruns)

2. 3 Favorite Restaurants

Texas Roadhouse

Taj Mahal (Indian)

Olive Garden

3. 3 Things That Happened Yesterday

Went shopping with a friend

Decorated the Christmas Tree

Played games with friends

4. 3 Things I'm Looking Forward Too

Christmas at home

Going to ride the Polar Express next weekend

Playing in the snow

5. 3 Things On My Wish List

Princess G getting better for good

Taking the family to Disneyland

getting my house clean and organized to stay

6. 3 Things I Love

My family

My dog

My friends

7. 3 Things I Can't Stand

Telemarketing phone calls

my kids yelling at me

bad drivers

8. 3 People to Tag - Your IT!

Natali

Lisa R.

Linda

Where have we been....

It has been a rough few weeks in our house. We have all been sick. I seemed to got the worse of it. Better me then Princess G. It was a pretty bad virus. About the time we thought it was over it hit a second time, and harder then the first. We have been in and out of Doctors making sure that Princess G was OK. The funniest part was that when we took her in the Doctor looked her over and simply said, she has a cold. That's it, a cold. I don't think I have ever heard that before with her. We just laughed, and took her home. She is doing so well. Her cold did turn into a touch of Bronchitis, but she is better now.

In other family news, Little Man moved to a new school. We found that his reading is still way above grade level, however he is struggling with math. This new school will work with him on both levels. We asked him if he wanted to move and he said YES. He had not issues with the change. He already knew lots of kids at his new school from church, so it was an easy move. We like the schedule better. He goes Monday thru Thursday. Having Friday off. We like that because Alan has off every other Friday, so more family time.

Sunshine is doing well. Her hair is growing back in very nicely. She loves to color. She would color all day if I would let her. However we still have other things to get done. We had been having problems with her waking up in the night and waking the other kids and keeping them up for hours in the night. We never knew this was happening until the other kids would complain about how tired they were. We talked to her Pediatrician and she suggested Benedryl before bad. It took a few weeks to change her sleep schedule but we think we are finally there.

Not too much else going on here. We are looking forward to our trip to Durango, Co to ride the Polar Express in December.

I hope to back up and going again and keeping our blog a little more current. I will add some pictures of the kids soon.

Twitight....

I will admit it, I went to a midnight showing of Twilight. OK it was really 12:03 am. The theater that we went to had 4 showings, 12:01, 12:02, 12:03, and 12:04 am. I was really lucky to have got tickets the day of the show in the 3rd showing. I was able to talk two friends into going with me. I think I may have even been brave enough to have gone alone. But thankfully Anya and Holly were die hard too. We got to the theater over and hour early and the theater was almost full. We still were able to find 3 pretty good seats.

As for what I thought of the movie. I really enjoyed it. I think with a lot of books made into movies you can tend to spend a lot of time comparing the movie to the book. I did a little but I got into the movie pretty quickly and really enjoyed it. I liked that it was clean, they still leave a lot of the intense stuff to the imagination, so it is not very bloody or too graphic. I liked that a lot. I really enjoyed the music. I thought that the music really pulled you in. I have to say that I really loved the movie. I think it was worth the midnight showing, and being a little tired today.

Halloween Post... Finally

I have been very behind this week. Princess G has been sick, so everything got behind. I am trying to get back on track. I know lots of people have wanted to see the kids all dressed up for Halloween, Sorry it took so long to post the pictures.

Halloween was a three night event for us this year. On Thursday night we went to a Trunk-or-Treat for a friends ward. The kids had such a good time. The ward we went to is the ward we spit from just over a year ago. It was nice to see everyone and visit. On Friday night we went to our ward Trunk-or-Treat. We also had a chili dinner. I really enjoy seeing all the kids dressed up and how much fun they have. Of course our kids love getting candy. Sunshine is a true candy-aholic, so she loves Halloween. We think it is her favorite holiday. On our third and final night of Halloween, a few of our neighbors thought it would be fun to do a little neighborhood Halloween carnival for the kids. We all set up games at our houses and the kids went house to house playing games. It was a really great way to get to know some of our neighbors better. We had dinner at one of the neighbors house. It was a ton of fun. We are hoping this will become a annual event. By the time Saturday night was over I was Halloweened out. I am glad the kids had fun, but I am more glad that it is over.

Now on to the kids costumes. I don't know about everyone else but "helping" pick kids costumes is a big pain. If you ask them too early what they want to be they will change their mind 5 times, if you ask too late then they get what ever left overs you happen to find. Well this year we were the latter one. Little man found a great Pirate costume that he actually really liked and was happy to wear. That was after 3 stores and nothing better. I have to say thought that after I bought it, he got really excited and didn't even complain. Princess G was a little harder to work with this year. She had been sick the whole week before Halloween so one, I did not want to get anyone else sick, and two, I didn't want her to get anything else. They my brilliant friend Linda said you should dress Princess G up as a Doctor with the mask and all so she will be protected. I loved it. From then on poor Princess G had no choice. I told her if you want to do anything for Halloween she had to dress as a Doctor. She was not to excited about the costume, but she wanted the candy more. Smart girl. Well luck for us we have a great friend who happens to be a Pediatrician at the hospital and got her at the Doctor necessities to look the part. The best part was her costume was free, and disposable. Then there was sunshine. What to do with her. Well I happened to pop into Marshals to look around and they had a very small selection of costumes. I had not even gone in thinking to look for a costume. Well I thought I am here I will look. I found the cutest Skunk costume. It was so perfect. I told Sunshine she could be a skunk because she was my little stinker. She loved it. And let me tell you she played the part so very well. She even would go around and pretend to spray people. I just had to laugh. What else could I do?

This really was a great Halloween. The weather here was so beautiful. It was pretty warm even into the evenings so everyone really enjoyed themselves. On a side note I decided to not dress up this year. Alan however decided to go as a rock star. It was pretty funny.

Now it is time to prepare for the Holiday season. I am so not ready for this.

Had to share

I just thought I would take a moment to share. I have found a website that I can not live with out. It is www.edhelper.com When I started looking for resources for home school this site was recommended to me. At first I just looked at it and moved on. I have now come to appreciate the full value of this site.

My biggest fear when starting home school was that I would miss some major concept for reading or something dumb like that. Once I bought the curriculum for Princess G that fear was gone, thankfully. As we started doing school I realized that my biggest problem was keeping Sunshine busy. Edhelper has been our answer. I have been able to make coloring sheets, writing practice, and any thing else I need for her. To have full access to the website it is $20.00 a year. Trust me after everything I have seen out there this is so cheep. As I have surfed this site I have found even more value. I have been able to make activities for Princess G that go along with her lessons, and I have been able to make some worksheets for Little Man who is not doing as well in Math as we would like. (He is an amazing reader and has focused all of his time there, so his math has suffered) I am so excited to help him get caught up with the work I have found on edhelper. I just thought I would share in case anyone has a child who needs a little extra work, or for preschool aged children who need to be kept busy. Check it out and enjoy.

Just a idea for you...
- Sunshine is learning her letters by sight and sound. She also enjoys tracing them in a work book I had for her. However she was not ready to try to write her letters on her own. I was able to make pages that are just tracing the letters. So I printed them, then I laminated them, one letter in the front another on the back. She can trace the letters with a crayon or dry erase marker. I can wipe it off, and she can do it again. Everyone is happy.

Movie Review

I had heard about the movie Fireproof a few weeks ago and I watched the trailer on line. I could not wait to see the movie. So tonight Alan and I went and saw Fireproof for our date. The first thing I noticed was that the theater was packed. I am not exaggerating when I say there was not one empty seat. And you have to understand that this movie has been out for several weeks. For the most part it seemed that it is a couples movie.

As for the movie. It was so good. We laughed and cried. OK, so I cried. For those of you who are not familiar with the movie here is a link so you can check it out. Go To FireProofTheMovie.com
This is a wonderful movie about the importance of communication, love and support in a marriage. The movie is about a couple on the brink of a nasty divorce, and both are ready to give up. The husband is challenged by his dad to try the Love Dare for 40 days. The movie follows the husband (played by Kirk Cameron from Growing Pains) as he tries this challenge to save his marriage.

We loved this movie because the whole point is Christ and our relationship with him, and how that relationship affects our relationship with our spouse. The church who produced this film did an excellent job with the script, and casting. We can't wait for this movie to come out on DVD.

We feel that our marriage is doing pretty good, however we can always learn something new.

Alan says we should all support movies like this, I have to agree with that one. I would love to hear opinions from anyone else who has seen the movie.

It may be nothing!

I know I have posted a ton lately about Princess G, but we have had a lot to deal with for her. I promise the other kids are doing well. I will write more about them soon. Tonight though I have to share something I have found.

I was channel surfing this evening with no luck of finding anything to keep my attention. We decided to put in a DVD. As Alan was putting in the DVD, I happened to to stop on the TLC channel. As I waited I started listening to the program. The show was called Mystery Diagnosis. The things that were being described sounded exactly like Princess G and her illness. WOW. I was stunned. I stopped and just watched. I wanted to know more about what this Mystery was. The illness that the child in the show is call CCAM (Congenital Cystic Adenomatoid Malformation). The child had a surgery to have a large cyst removed from his lungs. This then fixed his breathing problems. I was so amazed. In fact I am recording it in full at 10:00pm. First I want to note, the child on the show had the following symptoms, runny eyes, runny nose, sounding junky, very sick within a day (most respiratory illnesses take a few days), and sick every 2 weeks. I have to say I am freaking out at this point. This is Princess G to a tee. They even showed a picture of the little boy, he had this circles under his eyes just like Princess G. I went to the Internet, I needed more and NOW. Princess G has had so many tests, different kinds of tests and some of the same tests many times. I have a four inch 3-ring binder full of medical records on my little girl. One of the things they have noted is that she has something know had ground glass appearance in her lungs. They saw in a CT scan when she was three, and saw it again from a High resolution CT scan done in Denver earlier this year. All of this got me wondering if CCAM and Ground Glass Appearance in the lungs are found in the same cases. Sure enough I have found a case study that shows both and that they are related. I am going CRAZY. I have a Doctor appointment already set up for Thursday. I wish it was tomorrow. I need to talk to the Doctor about this. This is so hard to diagnose. Mostly because the symptoms are so close to Asthma, or phenomena. They say that a lot of times this can go undiagnosed and teenagers and adults can die without any warning from this. I need answers.

I have been searching and praying for answers, for a way to help or really to fix my little girl. An interesting note. Since we pulled Princess G out of school almost a month ago, Princess G has not been sick at all. After being sick so much while in school this is great news. It really makes me feel that the decision to pull her out of school, and keep her out of church was the right one. I am grateful for her being healthy for the past month, I just wish we did not have to shelter her to keep her that way. I do have to say though she is a real trooper over it. I just hope that this new information could lead to an answer for us. I will follow up soon. In the mean time we ask for all the prayers that we can get.

I'm Back

I feel I have been a little out of the loop, but I think I am back. We had Alan's parents for a week, and we are still trying to get into a home schooling routine.

No I will recap our past couple of weeks.

We had a great time with Grandma and Grandpa here. The kids loved having them here to play with. They went on lots of walks and to the park. It was a nice change for everyone. We had hoped to go to the Balloon Fiesta, however the weather turned bad. The morning we wanted to go to the Balloon Fiesta it was cancelled due to the rain. While we had Grandparents here they wanted to celebrate Princess G's upcoming 6Th Birthday. We had a fun family birthday party with cupcakes and gifts. Grandma and Grandpa gave her a little sticker maker that she loves. We were at the dollar store the day before so I thought it would be cute to have all of us pick her out something to also give her. It was really cute to see what Little Man and Sunshine wanted to give to Princess G. Little Man found a little set with beads and string to make a Necklace. She loves stuff like that so I thought it showed how well he knows his sister. Sunshine picked out a really cute coloring book. It is actually Bratz which I am not a fan of, but Sunshine was so cute about wanting it for her sister, that I could not resist. So in the end our time with Alan's parents was a lot of fun.

(She loved the sticker maker)

So in other events... I decided I wanted to put Princess G's hair in sponge curlers. I learned I had made a BIG mistake when I bought the curlers. We had a very big mistake. But it mad for some really good laughs. Enjoy the Pictures. Don't laugh too hard.

Other fun pictures

Here we go

Last week we ordered 1st grade curriculum for Princess G. Today was only the first day using the books, but I feel really good about it. It was really easy for me to teach Princess G the lessons. I was so excited, I felt like she was being challenged and having fun. I can't ask for anything more. Enjoy the pictures from our classroom. We set up our classroom as close to a school classroom as possible. We didn't want Princess G to feel like she is missing anything. It is fun to go in there and see the girls get so excited to learn. We were really blessed to get desk, chairs, and a table for a surplus yard. The girls love having their own desks. Ok so enough about school for now.

As for the rest of the family, Little Man is doing really well in school. He was very excited to have met the UNM Lobo's football and basketball teams, and the cheerleaders. Little Man said he really liked the cheerleaders. Alan asked him if the cheerleaders were as cute as Mommy? Little Man said "Dad you should have seen this one cheerleader, she was REALLY cute". You have to just laugh.

Sunshine has been so busy. She is having to adjust to not having Mommy all to herself all day. It is not going as well as I would like. I am sure it will get better. I just hope it is sooner then later. I am finding little ways to keep her busy and happy. We tried doing the no nap thing, after a week I decided there is no way that is going to work. I am happy to say we are happy nap takers again. She stays up a half hour later at night, but it is so worth it.

Last week we also got to babysit My best friend Anya's baby girl. She is such a sweet baby. Sunshine is a little unsure about having a baby around. Due to some crazy things last week we had "Sweet Pea"(if I don't put my own kids names on here I had to rename her baby too)3 days. It is amazing how much you forget about little babies. Well it is all coming back.

Well not too much else going on. We are enjoying balloon fiesta this week. Hundreds of balloons in the sky at the same time, it is really beautiful. We are also looking forward to having Alan's Mom and Dad in town this week. Alan and the kids have Friday off, so we are looking forward to lots of fun activities with them. I am sure we will have lots of fun photos to add very soon :)

2nd Opinion

We followed up with Princess G's pediatric pulmonologist today to see if things are getting a little more under control. He decided it was time to try a new medication. I feel good about the change, but I am a little nervous. I told him that we had pulled Princess G out of school as asked by our Pediatrician. He said that was old medicine, they use to do it a lot more with kids. I asked if he felt it was unnecessary to do this. He said no in this case it is very necessary. To be so sick 3 times in six weeks is way too much. He went a little further and said that he also does not recommend Primary on Sundays (once I explained how church went), or any other large gatherings where there will be lots of kids. We have not really explained it to Princess G yet, and I don't know how much she really gets it yet. I feel really bad for her. It does not help that she is totally my child and VERY social. I just don't ever want her to think she is being punished. I have decided that I am going to talk to the parents of the kids she plays with and set up some regular play dates. As long as the kids are not sick. I think that will give Princess G something to look forward to every week. I have not told her yet that we have to cancel her Birthday party. I just feel bad for having to take away everything from her.

I am excited that as far as home school goes, I have found a great curriculum to follow. I found it after hour and hours of Internet research. What a task that was. I found a couple that I thought looked pretty good, but every time I went to purchase one I would not feel right about it and wouldn't buy them. Then I thought I should look up what other parents thought of the curriculum. Each one I was interested in other parents had negative opinions about. It came to a point that we thought that people where only leaving an opinion if they were unhappy. We thought we would have to pick a curriculum and hope for the best. Then like what seemed out of nowhere, we found a curriculum that we liked and so did every other parent who had reviewed it. YEAH!!! We bought it. This program has everything we need for a full year of teaching. It breaks everything down into daily lessons. It looks really good. I am so excited to start on Monday, and so is Princess G. I feel so blessed that everything has fallen into place. We even got real school desks and chairs for our little home school classroom. I wanted Princess G to be able to transition hopefully next year back to school with as little of a problem as possible. I felt having a small school desk and chair may help with that. I am even a stickler about her writing her name on her papers before she "hands them in". I hope it works. Ask me in two weeks how it is going. We did though get Sunshine a desk too, that way both girls have their own desk and I can teach Sunshine preschool at the same time. Wow I have my work cut out for me. Wish me luck, I need to go do my lesson plans.

So funny

Since we are going to be home schooling now, I decided that we needed to make room in the office for a small class room for the girls. I am really feeling the need to be ready to start as soon as possible, while Princess G is still in school mode. As we were organizing the office today we came across papers that needed to be put through the shredder. I sat down to do this and Princess G came in to see what was making all the noise. She asked what I was doing I told her I was shredding papers. She of course wanted to know why. I told her we shredded paper so that people didn't know what was on them, that way people don't find out stuff about us that we don't want them to know. She then asked in a very serious tone, does God know we are doing this? I told her he won't mind. I laughed so hard when I told Alan what she said. I thought it was the cutest question ever. I still laugh when I think about it.

Another change

I am sure everyone will agree life Never goes as planned! We learned that once again today. Princess G has again been sick. This is her third illness since school started 6 weeks ago. Not good. I took Princess G to the doctor today, and we had a discussion about what we need to do different. The Doctor has decided that it is not a good idea to keep Princess G in school. She wrote a letter asking that Princess G be taken out of school until further notice. Wow, not what I expected today. I have spent a crazy amount of time today on the Internet researching our options. We have decided that home school is our best option. In bound teachers didn't seem like a good option, so her we go. I have to say I am so scared to doing this, but I feel it is the only option to keep Princess G healthy. We have really struggled over the years with Princess G and her health problems, so I am going to do what ever it takes to keep her as healthily as possible. My main goal this winter is to keep Princess G out of the hospital. Now I am on the look out for home schooling curriculum. Should be fun and interesting. If anyone has any suggestions please let me know.

Fun lesson... I love being the mom

There are days that being the Mom are more fun then others. I would say today was fun, mostly because I got to teach my kids a fun lesson. I know that Alan had to go home teaching tonight, so I decided to have dinner ready about the time he got home from work. I thought that would make our evening be a little more calm. About ten minutes before I was expecting Alan home, I called upstairs and asked the children to come out and set the table for dinner. I then heard arguments that went like this. "I did it yesterday" "Its your turn" "I don't want to do it" "me either". I thought to my self, I could get mad and yell, or not. I instead called back up and said in a very nice voice, ok that's fine. Well Alan arrived home to find the table set for two. He smiled and looked at me then asked what was going on. I explained that our children decided that they didn't want to set the table so we would be having a nice quite dinner. He laughed and said sounds good. We enjoyed talking uninterrupted. What a treat. And as luck would have it, the kids decided to play upstairs and get along. (for once) About the time we where done eating, I thought my point would only be made if the kids caught us. So I did something that I was sure would get the kids attention with out actually calling them down. I went to the front door and rang the door bell :) It worked. All three came running, and we where busted. Just what I wanted. It was so hard to not bust up laughing when I saw their faces as they realized we where finishing our dinner, with out them. There was cries of "I'm hungry" "Don't we get to eat" "Where is our dinner". POINT SET MATCH!! What a great opportunity to teach them that when I ask them for help that they should do it. I think they have learned a very valuable lesson. We shall see.

8 facts

I got tagged by reading another blog. I love to read other peoples blogs. So now I am tagged again.

1. I enjoy watching TV. I have to be careful or I get nothing done.

2. I really love to cook. It is so much fun to make something and have your family or friends really enjoy eating. I am always looking for new recipes. (hint, hint)

3. I struggle with depression. Sometimes it is really bad. It worries Alan and he is amazing to help me pull out of my ruts. He is so kind and patient. I don't know what I would do with out him.

4. Travel is my love. I love to visit new places. I love the sights, the sounds, and the food of new places. I look for new places to go and love it if I can go for cheap. (I went on a cruise to the Bahamas for $200 per person for 5 nights with Alan)

5. I hate to do Laundry. I think it is evil. You do it everyday and yet it is never done. I hate that. I don't know why it bugs me so much, but it really does. I am trying to teach Little Man how to do his own laundry already. That is how much I hate it. Actually I should be doing laundry right now, and yet here I am.

6. My first name is not Elizabeth (I think everyone already knows that, let me know if you didn't know that one.)

7. In a weird way I am very proud that I can say I had an 11 lbs. 1 oz baby with out a c-section. My first baby. I think that is amazing. Thankfully the next two where only 7 lbs.

8. I am done having kids. In fact I can't have anymore even if I wanted to. So good thing I am happy with 3. Who knows there is always adoption. But for now I happy with my 3.

Hopefully you found out something new about me. If not you know me too well :)

As for tagging, if you want to do this great, if not thats fine too.

A lot about nothing

Random Funny picture

I felt like writing but don't have anything big to write about. Instead it is the ramblings of a busy Mom :) Hopefully I will not put anyone to sleep.





We had a very nice and uneventful weekend. However we did enjoy dinner with friends on Sunday. That is always nice. Today we had Princess G home from school, she is not feeling well. It was so hard to decided weather or not to keep her home. I know that there will times that she is much sicker then she is today. It is a balancing act with her. In the end I felt bad for sending her to class, so as soon as the bell rang I went to the office to get her excused for the day. When I went into her class her teacher was happy I had come to get her, she has been worried. When Princess G gets sick her skin goes almost a grayish color. It is the first sign of trouble. So her teacher was more then happy to excuse her from class. It was a nice day though, just the girls home.





So I have to admit a down fall I have had. I hope that there are Moms out there who understand where I am coming from on this next point. I have not been the best house keeper since my kids where born. Which is sad because my house was almost perfect before I had kids. A week ago I decided I could no longer take it. I felt for me that I have no excuse. I have two kids in school full time! And I am home now with Sunshine. So a week ago I decided enough is enough. I started in cleaning my house. I have cleaned and organized so far, my bathroom, the kitchen, the guest room, and all three kids rooms, the loft, and the living room, oh and all the other bathrooms in my house. I still have my bedroom and closet, the office, the laundry to catch up, and the pantry. But i am so excited because I feel I am getting closer everyday to meeting my goal of a neat house. I have to say though that my favorite part is not only have I cleaned these rooms, but they have stayed neat and clean for almost a week now. I know Wow a whole week. But for me that is a start. It feels really good. So now you all know my secret. Hopefully sharing will keep me on the straight and narrow :) Only time will tell. Also Alan and I have decided that our house is too big for us. We thought we would have more then 3 kids at the time we bought the house. Funny how life just happens. I hope no one thinks any less of me now that my secret is out :)

They grow up so FAST

Today as I got home from picking up the kids from school, my cell phone rang. It was not a phone number I knew, but I answered anyway. On the line there was a little voice, I knew that I had my kids so I had no clue who was calling me. Then I hear is Princess G there? (her real name) I just had to laugh. Princess G talked for a few minutes. I could not belive my little kindergartener is getting phone calls. It turns out the girls want to get together to play. I talked with the mother of the little girl, and we set up a play date for the girls. Then I asked that they please call our home phone and the girls can talk as long as they like.

I called Alan and he thought it is so funny that our 5 year old is getting social calls. I am still just shaking my hear and laughing. I guess I better get use to it, I am sure it is only going to get worse the older she gets. :)

All is well

A few weeks ago my doctor had a concern that I may have diabetes. Thankfully my tests came back and I am well. I am a high risk for diabetes, because I had gestational diabetes during two of my pregnancies. I know I need to be careful and keep a close eye on my diet and my blood sugar, however that is not always easy. Well after getting past that we felt medically all is well in our family for now. Princess G has held her own for awhile and has actually recovered from two colds all on her own. That is amazing for her. It would seem that the medications she is on are working. She is so amazing about remembering her meds and takes them on her own. She has 3 meds that she has to take twice a day and one more for when she has an asthma flair up. In addition to her 3 meds she also has to do nasal washes 2 to 3 times a day depending on how she is feeling. Her medication routine takes about 10 minutes every morning and night. I have to say how proud I am of her for doing so well to remember to take her meds and keep up with it.



Well we started to think things are really under control. WRONG!!! While Sunshine and I where in Las Vegas she watched my Grandma check her blood sugar and decided that she wanted hers checked also. Grandma asked me if I minded her checking sunshine. I saw no harm in it so I said sure. When Sunshine's number came up it was 146 which is too high because she had not had anything to eat in a couple of hours. I called the pediatrician the next day to ask if I should be concerned. They said yes that they wanted to see her. So we went to Sunshine's appointment on Thursday. Our pediatrician was very concerned that 146 was too high for her. She sent us over to the lab to get some blood tests done. After a very long 24 hours we got the results back. And we are happy to report that Sunshine is well. No Diabetes. Thankfully. It was very scary though to think that we would have to be so careful and change our whole families lifestyle. Not that we eat that bad, just that there would have been some real changes. This scare has Alan and I evaluating things and we are going to cut back on a some of the sweet treats that enter our house. Sunshine is a candyaholic. She can smell candy a mile away. I want to make some changes so that hopefully Sunshine will not have to deal with Diabetes for a long time or ever would be better.

This dance expresses how we all feel now. (sorry it is side ways I didn't know how to fix it)

Marriage Tag

I read this on a friends blog and I got tagged because I read it :)

How long have you been married? 8 amazing years
Where were you married? Las Vegas, NV Temple
Honeymoon? 5 nights at a cabin somewhere in Idaho :) (Alan says exact location not important)

How old is your spouse? 31 until Nov.
Kids? 1 boy 2 girls
Who eats more? Me

Who said I love you first? Alan did, I wanted to but did not want to seem to forward or scare him off.

Who is taller? Alan, even when I have my fav 4 inch heels on :)

Who sings better? Alan, I love it when he sings

Who is smarter? Alan for sure

Who controls the T.V. remote? Me, when I can get it from Little Man
Whose temper is worse? MINE until our car gets booted on a Sunday night in Provo and the only way to free it, is with CASH!
Who does the laundry? Alan mostly, I have been better lately

Who does the dishes? Alan, again, sorry babe I will get better

Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Alan unless I fall asleep first, then he gets what ever is left of the bed.
Who cooks dinner?Mostly me.
Who is more stubborn? Me unless it has to do with a guitar.
Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? Wrong, me never!
Whose parents do you see the most? Alan's they come out a couple times a year and we go there about 2 times a year.
Who has more siblings? Alan the oldest by 2 minutes of 5 total kids

Who wears the pants in the family? Me, but I let Alan wear them some of the time, right babe (oh he is sitting next to me laughing)

I tag: Audrey, Sybrina, and Marci

While the Mom is away

I had the chance last week to go to Las Vegas with my best friend and her brand new baby girl. She was going home and her husband was not able to go, so I decided that Sunshine and I would go with her. So Alan, Little Man and Princess G stayed home.

I had a great time in Las Vegas. I just mostly hung out and relaxed. It is really what I needed. Life has been so busy. Sunshine loved being an only child for a week and having Mom all to her self. I was able to surprise my Grandma and spend some time with her. It was nice to not have to be on the go all the time. We just visited and had a good time.

I came home on Wednesday afternoon. It is nice to go away, however it is better to come home. I was so happy to see Little man and Princess G. They had so much to tell me. All about school and their after school clubs. It made my head spin a little. But I really enjoyed hearing all about it. However I found out there where some things they tried that they would never have gotten away with if mom had been home. Oh the joys. It made me laugh. Kids will try anything and everything.

You just have to enjoy the little things. I know as a child I tried the same things they try. I guess it is all a part of growing up. I am so glad we only are children once. I am not sure I could do it again.

Lots going on...

So there has been so much going on, so I am finally going to catch up.

Little Man's first day of school

Little Man is so excited to be in second grade. He is also very excited that so many of his friends from 1st grade and kindergarten are in his class. He loves feeling like a big kid. He gets to tell his sister all about their school. Where everything is and all about the teachers. It is really cute.

Princess G also had her first day off school, She is doing Kindergarten again this year. We decided that she missed too much school last year to move on. We want her to be ahead and not always trying to catch up. We are very happy to have both kids at the same school this year. Kindergartners start two days after the other kids. She was so excited for her first day.

Princess G was a little unsure of the class pet when we went to met the Teacher day. However on the first day she decided she was brave and was telling the other kids to not be scared. It was really cute.

So as soon as we dropped off the kids at school, Alan and I along with Sunshine we took off for Las Vegas, for my ten year high school. I was helping plan the whole event. We had a ton of fun. Funny story, when we where driving to Las Vegas Sunshine asked if she could sit in the front seat of the car. We explained to her that you have to be at least twelve to sit in the front seat of the car. Then we asked her how old she was, she said 13! We got a really good laugh out of that.

On Friday night everyone met at The Palms to go to a bar called the Ghost Bar. It is a bar on the 55th floor of the Hotel. It was a lot of fun. On Saturday we had a BBQ at the park. Let me tell you I forgot how hot it is in Las Vegas in August. Some how we survived. Saturday night we had a really fun Formal Dinner. When I started planning the formal dinner I found out that class of 97 from our school had 46 people at their dinner. My goal was to beat them. We had just over 80 people. It is fun to have your goals met. The class gave me a dozen beautiful pink roses and a really cute photo album for all the work I had put into planning the reunion. It was so nice that everyone appriciated the hard work I had done. We had so much fun. It was really nice to see everyone. Some people look just the same, some I did not even recognize. In the end it was a really great weekend.

8 wonderful years

Time really does fly when you are having fun, and having kids, and living life, and sometimes just trying to survive another day. Today is our 8Th wedding anniversary. Eight years ago today Alan took me to the Las Vegas, NV Temple and we became husband and wife for time and all eternity. What a wonderful day that was. However it was just one day. Now here we are Eight years later with three amazing children, and closer and happier then I ever dreamed of. Alan and I have been side by side through all the highs and lows of married life. We have made it through the first year, commonly know as the hardest year. We made it past what they call the seven year itch. We have done it all together. I am so grateful he puts up with me when I am happy, and when I am sad. Eight years may not seem like a lot to some, and really it is not. However I feel we now have a good foundation to get us through the next eight years and then through Eternity. Alan I love you with all of my heart.

Mommy moments

Sometimes it is really easy to get so caught up in the crazy everyday run around that it is easy to forget why we do what we do. My kids are really good about giving me a good look at what this is all worth. I decided that it would be fun to share a few of these moments...

In the morning we have the same thing happen every morning, Sunshine wakes up about 6:30am everyday. She then wakes up little man and they play. They get restless and want to eat breakfast. However I make them wait for Princess G to wake up. She sleeps longer and I only like to do breakfast once. And Princess G needs her sleep. Well this morning was no exception to our normal routine. However when Princess G woke up she came into my room to cuddle. (I was in bed enjoying New Moon :) After we cuddled for a few minutes I said lets tease the other kids just a little. So we covered Princess G under my covers and I called in the other kids. I asked them if we should just go ahead and eat without Princess G. They got very excited and said yes (of course) Then I asked if they loved Princess G. They got very excited and said yes. Then Sunshine came running over close to where we were hiding Princess G and said "Mommy she is my very bestest friend" That made me so happy. She still had no idea that we were hiding Princess G under the covers. It was so honest and sweet, and she said it with such excitement. I decided I would remember this through the day when they start fighting. After sunshine said this I removed the covers and the girls came face to face, then Sunshine got even more excited and they hugged. This is what makes it all worth it.

Yesterday, was another fun moment. Our back door has been sticking and very hard to open for awhile. It seems to have gotten worse the last few weeks. It is so bad that Sunshine has not been able to open the door on her own. That has made it really hard because Little man and Princess G will run out side close the door and leave Sunshine behind. She is then left at the door crying, because she wants out, or in. Then I drop what ever I am doing and get the door for her. Well I have been saying that we really need to fix the door. It is driving me crazy. You have to slam the door to close it. I hate the slamming doors. So I decided I need to do something about it. Alan thought our house had settled and the frame had shifted so that it would be difficult and expensive to fix.I decided I should just look at it to see what was going on. I opened the door to look at the hinges, it looked as if some of the screw were loose. I thought well that would be too easy. I grabed a screwdriver and tried to tight a few screws. The screws turned out to be striped. I pulled out a screw it turned out the screws are only 3/4 inch screws. I am not contractor or anything. However that seemed way to little for something you use everyday. I went and found some much longer screws and replaced just one screw. I then closed the door. Much to my surprise and excitement it closed all the way and quietly. Yeah for Mommy. I decided to replace all the striped screws in the top hing as well as a few others in the other two hinges. The kids came down and wanted to go out side. They opened the door and were very excited Mommy the door opens and closes. I said I know i fixed it. They then started running around the house yelling "Mommy fixed the door, Mommy fixed the door" It made me feel good. My little cheerleaders. The best though was when Sunshine got up from her nap, I said to her to go let the dog out. She said mommy I can't open the door. I told her I fixed it go try. She runs over and opened the door. She got so excited she said "Mommy I opened the door with one hand" Her excitement was so cute. I love how kids get excited over the little things.

Ok, one more story and I am done for now. Last week we were leaving the park and the girls were talking about a very large fly they had sen at the park. Princess G asks Mom do flys bite? I said no they are just ugly, Sunshine then pipes up and says yeah and they're ugly too. I thought I was going to die laughing. It was so honest and matter-of-fact. Kids are so sweet and fun. i am glad I can blog these events. I think of it as a great journal. I am not sure who reads our blog, but I decided it really doesn't matter I am really grateful I am able to do this.

Sunshine

The other night we had put the kids to bed and started enjoying some quite time. I was reading Twilight and I am not sure what Alan was doing? We kept hearing Sunshine. We kept taking turns telling her to go to bed. Neither one of wanting to get up. Finally we thought we had won the battle. I decided I was ready to put my book down and get some sleep. Alan and I got up to turn off lights and lock all the doors. I started up the stairs to find Sunshine sound asleep. I had to take some pictures. I thought this was too cute.

Little Man turns 7

We had a very fun filled weekend. Little man turned 7 and we had two Birthday parties. One on Saturday for his friends and one on Sunday for Family friends.

The theme Little Man picked was Army. So we did a little boot camp. It was so much fun. When we gave out the invitations we gave every boy a pair of camo shorts to wear to the party. All the boys showed up to Fort Mortensen ready for boot camp. We checked in all the boys by weighing course, them and measuing thier height. We then gave them their equipment, Helmets and dog tags. Then they did their fitness test. One we where sure that they where all in top notch shape we did a obstical followed by a water battle. It was so much fun. Little Mans favorite part was that it was all boys. Even his sisters where not there. We went out to dinner on Saturday with Little Man and the girls. We let him decided where we would eat. He picked Red Robin becasue he knew they would sing to him. It was pretty funny. He kept looking around for them to come sing to him. We had a good time.

Sunday we did it all over again. This time though it was mostly adults. Much easier on me. We had family friends over for dinner. I enjoyed visiting with our friends. And as I have done for the last 5 birthdays I made homemade pizza, Little Mans favorite for dinner. Then of course we had cake and Ice Cream again. I made two identical cakes. One for each party. However Saturdays cake was two layers and Sundays was 3 layers. Little Man got some great toys. We havn't seen him much now. He is busy playing with his Pokemon toys and his tamagotchi. He bought the Tomagotchi with his birthday money. He felt so grown up getting to pick out his own toys.

All said and done we had a great weekend. It was a lot of fun to see Little Man spend time with his friends. Let me tell you when you have 6 boys in your house at one time you realize that most of the stuff you kid does is the same thing that all little boys do. i.e. talking loud, funny noises, jokes that are not funny to adults but sure to crack up all kids. We really enjoyed our time with our kids this weekend.

No more toddlers

We have now hit a new stage in our lives as parents. All the toddler toys are gone out of our back yard :( I was on craigslist the other day (one of my favorite sites) and saw a post that someone was looking for a play house. They have two boys ages 2 1/2 and 1 and wanted a play house for them. We had a play house that we bought 2nd hand 3 years ago. Our kids have long ago lost interest. I thought what a great way to pass it on and make a little cash :) always good. I sent a message and got a very happy response. In the conversation I was asked if we had more toys they would buy those as well. When they came to pick up the play house they picked up almost all of our other toys. We are very happy to see them go to a family that will enjoy them. However as I watched them drive off it hit me, I don't have any more toddlers. It is a new stage for us. It is a bit weird. Little Man And Princess G both now ride two wheelers and we even let little man go out and ride his bike with the other boys who live on our street. Little Man turns 7 this weekend. I think all of this is hitting all at once so I am a bit sad. I am sure I will get through this. Well I hope you all are enjoying your kids what ever age or stage they may be in :)

Public once again.

I have taken off the private mode. I have made some changes to the blog that we feel will keep our blog and our family safe. So once again we will be public. Happy reading to our friends.

This picture has nothing to do with anything, but it is cute.

June was a bit crazy...

Anya's Baby ShowerLas Vegas is HOT, HOT, HOT!!!!

Best Friends

June was a really fun and crazy month. I went to Las Vegas twice, then to Utah and on to Idaho. I was able to lots of great friends & family. I had a blast. The kids really enjoyed making new friends, seeing old friends, and playing with their cousins. Well let me recap ...

I went to Las Vegas for Anya's baby shower. What a great time. I am so excited for my very best friend and the baby girl that will soon join her family. Randy and Anya are really excited and have waited a very long time for this sweet little angel to come to their home. Celebating with her friends and family in Las Vegas was really wonderful. While I was in Las Vegas all of my family was showing up for our family reunion. It happened to be the next weekend, the same weekend as Alan's family reunion. So I was going to miss my family reunion to go to Alan's. Well as luck would have it all my family arrived early. I flew home on Sunday and decided to pack up the kids and the dog and drive back to Las Vegas on Monday. Hence my crazy month.

Las Vegas was so much fun. In addition to seeing my family, I was able to visit lots of great friends. I was able to see Lisa and enjoy a very Hot Vegas day in her pool. Thanks Lisa. Then I was able to visit with Audrey and see her very cute family. We had a very nice visit. I was even able to finalize plans for my 10 year high school reunion. It is always fun when you are able to get more then you plan on done. After a nice and Hot few days in Las Vegas, I once again packed up the kidos and the dog and drove to Salt Lake City. I made a short stop in St. George to visit another friend. (it is very nice to have friends all over)

Salt Lake City was my favorite place. It is where Alan joined us. (yeah I forgot to mention that Alan was not with us in Las Vegas) We where all very happy to be together again. Me more then anyone. Being a single parent is very hard. Alan's family reunion was very nice. He has a very large family. I met some of his first cousins for the first time, and we have been married for almost 8 years. I think I have met them all now. I will let you know. After two days in Salt Lake, we once again loaded the kids and the dog and now Alan and drove with his family to Bosie, Id. Actually Alan and his dad drove in our car with the kids and the dog. I drove Laura (Alan's little sis) in her husband's car. She can't drive a manuel, and I needed a road trip with out fighting kids. I was more then happy to drive for Laura.

Now we where in Boise, we spent the week visiting with Alan's brothers and sisters and our niece and nepews. We enjoyed play settlers of Catan, shooting off fire works, and just relaxing. All said and done we had a really nice trip. We where even able to get some nice family pics and some nice pictures of the kids. The time then came to drive home, yeah back in the car. It takes two days to drive back home. We left Boise and drove to West Vally and had dinner with an old roommate of mine. It was so nice to see Merri and her husband Ellis and their adorable baby boy. After enjoying time with Merri we drove to Provo to visit with one of Alan's old roommates, Damen and his wife Sybrina and their 3 kids. It is great our 3 kids and their 3 kids pretty well match in age. So once we got there we didn't see any kids until it was time to go. We left after a short visit and drove to Price, UT for the night. On Sunday we made it the rest of the way home. Finally!!! My bed, my house, my air conditioner... life is good.

This week we have been trying to catch up on sleep and life. It was a lot of fun and I am glad we went, however I am very happy to be home. Well to those of you still awake and reading this, Thanks for your interest. To those of you reading this and we missed seeing you on our trip (Amy) sorry.

Fun Pics

The first picture are Alan and I at the Tim McGraw concert. Anya my best friend, bought 2 mega tix good for 4 country concerts this summer. She gave me mine for my birthday, which is today. We went to Brad Paisley last week, and Tim McGraw last night. We have two more concerts later this summer. It has been so much fun. Last night we bought an extra ticket and Alan tagged along. What a great show. It is actually the third Tim McGraw concert I have been to. I could go to a hundred more. Ireally like Tim McGraw. He looks good, he can sing, and he is a devoted husband and father. He reminds me of the most important man in my life. Our summer is off to a great start.

The picture of Little Man I just thought was funny. He was watching cartoons and was just playing around.

As I said the other day I have really enjoyed reading all my friends blogs. As I was reading through my friend Natalis blog and found a link to a website with cute hair do's. I decided to try one on Princess G. It turned out so cute. Thanks Nat.

No pictures of Sunshine this time. :)

Going Private...

Alan asked that I please make our blog private. He is very concerned about our families safety. So we are now a private blog. I am a little sad, because I really enjoy reading other peoples blogs and finding other friends and reading those too. Now people can't do that through our blog. However it is more important to be safe and to respect Alan's wishes. I hope all of our friends and family will continue to check in regularly.

I may keep our blog private long enough to go in and take out the kids names like a friend of mine does on her blog. Then go public again. I will decided soon. If anyone has any ideas let me know.

Thanks so much

I Love to Blog!

I have to take a minute to say that I love to blog. I have been going back and reading our blog and it is really fun. It is neat to go back and see what has been going on in our life. I use to be really good at keeping a journal in high school. However I have not made the time for it in my adult life. To me this has been a great journal. I am really happy that I decided to keep a blog for our family.

I have found that I also love to read other families blogs. What a great way to see how normal my life is. I love to see the pictures and read the stories. It is the simple things in life to find pleasure in. I guess you can say blogging is my guilty pleasure. Now I ask to all my favorite blog authors, please keep blogging.

Pulling Little Man's tooth

We decided to get a little creative when Little Man's tooth was ready to come out this week. This is what we came up with. This was actually the third attempt. He didn't cry at all the first two times. We thought it was pretty funny. We have submitted it to America's Funniest Home Videos at Little Man's request. Enjoy!

Bad Hair Day

I guess there is something in the air about little girls cutting their own hair. I read a post on our friends blog last week about her little girl cutting her hair. I thought I have been lucky so far we have not had that happen to us. Well I guess I forgot to knock on wood.

I was giving Alan and Little Man hair cuts last Saturday and when I was done Sunshine asked if I would cut her hair. I decided she could use a trim, so I agreed. After I was finished I had to hurry to try to get Princess G's hair done because she was going swimming, and I always pull it back for swimming. Well as I was doing Princess G's hair, Sunshine came in and I looked at her and something seemed different. I took a better look and noticed long strands of hair all over her. I jumped up to get a closer look and saw what she had done. Yes she cut her hair. However not just a little bit. She cut her hair at the crown of her head down to her scalp. I could not believe what I saw. There was no fixing this. Now my beautiful little 3 year old girl has a very short hair cut. I cried I was so upset over it. She then got very upset. Lets just say I don't think she will ever cut her hair again. Now we have spent the last three days convincing her that she is not a boy. Alan tells her she is his beautiful little girl with very short hair. I still look at her and get very sad.