Best Buds

Jacob and Isaac

Cute boys...

Caleb

I just think that these little guys are adorable! The fun thing about having these close up shots of these two is to realize how different they look. Would you even think they are brothers? I don't see a resemblance, but maybe you will?

Jacob

A few of my favorite things...

Fall time. Halloween costumes. Happy little girls. Fall leaves. Hot Chocolate. Outside activities in cool weather. Family parties. Smiles. Joy School. Really, so many things right now have been so fun. Busy, but fun.

Today after church we had a few visitors. The Madsen parents had a busy after church schedule so the kids needed a place to go. So why not come over and spend time with their cousins. A few of my favorite things was listening to all the cousins watching a family video of our trip to California/Disneyland last week. The cousins were SO excited each time a picture of somebody came up. It was so fun listening to them giggle and be so excited to see one another. The other favorite this is seeing Alayna enjoy some good ole "girl" time. They set up a hair salon. I loved watching them! She came to me today and said, "Mom, will I ever have a sister to do girl things with?" At some point I'm sure, but heaven decides that choice! But until then I told her cousins are probably the best sisters out there. Every time you are together your having FUN. She loves these two girls. So thank you Madsen girls for being so darling with Alayna.

Here is handsome Jared doing what he does now on Sundays...Staying busy but being HAPPY while he does it. I have to add in and looking as cute as ever.

It's Joy School Time...

Seriously, is Jake old enough to start Joy School with his cousins and friends? You betcha! He has talked about going to school ever since Alayna started Preschool last year. Finally, it was his turn! Let's just say that this morning he was beaming from ear to ear. The kids were DARLING! I was the first mom to teach the kids and I was totally impressed. I had the six little monkies and they were great. My personal favorite part was teaching them a poem to memorize. I was cute. Next week I am getting it on camera and I will post it all for everyone to enjoy. But here is to really one of my favorite parts of being a mommy. It was a complete delight. Reading books, being super animated, happy, laughter, giggles, choo choo train rides, oh, it was wonderful! Anyways, I can't wait until next week and neither can the boys...and our one princess girl.

Herriman Fire- What we did.

Well, I'm sure everyone has read all they want to about the Herriman Fire, so I'm not going to re-cap everything. We simply packed up our goods that meant something to us. And that we sat in camping chairs outside and watched the fire burn down the mountain till about 2:30am. We had a great time visiting with our neighbors, family and friends. We eventually decided to just go to bed because we felt we were safe. It honestly was an amazing blessing and miracle that so many homes were saved. With that being said, the very next day the kids were working on "thank you" cards for the fire fighters. We consider them our hero's around here. So for Family Home Evening the kids wanted (I promise it was their idea) to make cookies and bring them to our heros. So that's what we did. Alayna brought her card and off we went!

"Police, Firefighters, Soldiers...Thank you very much for saving us."

We decided to bring the cookies to the policeman and soldiers that were stationed just up the street from our house. I figured the Fire Fighters at the station were well taken care of by all the other mom's and kids out there so we decided to take it to them. Anyways, they were GREAT to the kids. They let them turn the lights on in the cop car, the siren, climb in the Hummer, shake their hands and just visit with them. It honestly was wonderful to tell them "thank you!" It was a great experience of service and gratitude. I loved it and so did the kids!

Dilemma of being a girl

Welcome to Alayna's 5 year old little life. What shoes will she wear? We were on our way out the door the other day and I found her in the corner looking like this. Who knew picking shoes would be so difficult and take SO LONG??? Certainly not me! I have two pairs of flip flops, 1 brown and 1 black. (Currently, my black is missing so, it's the brown where ever I go.)

I made her smile just because she has such a cute little face when she's smiling.

As I am warning her that she will have to go with out shoes because she's taking too long she finally picked her favorite pair. Her brown Reef sandals that were given to her. They are finally getting too small after being worn for two years in a row, but they are her first choice. Oh, I think she is the reason our oh so unsightly shoe basket is exploding everyday!

Life of a toddler

Let me introduce you to Caleb. He is (I think) 16 months old. He is Mr. Trouble around here. The kids call him, Coo-Coo or Fee Fee Love. Really, where do my kids come up with these nicknames. I like to call him Crazy Man. Because simply he is. If he's not strapped down in his car seat, high chair or caged up some how. You will find him on top of the dining room table, standing on a stool reaching anything that is NOT meant for him on the counter, finding my jewelry in my bathroom cabinets, touching any electronic in sight, remotes to the television, my computer, anything in the office, pulling books off the bookshelves, etc. The list can go on and on.

Things I do that I shouldn't...Oh, eat markers...even though this messy face was created by Jake sharing some M&M's with him. He normally is FULLY covered in markers. He has learned to take off the lids, chew on the marker point and pull it out. Which ends up in your fingers and it turns everything on you PINK, BLACK or BLUE! Oh, you find everything you shouldn't!

Alayna's favorite job on her job chart is when it's "Help with Caleb" - she is the BEST big sister. She will get him milk, a cracker, play with him outside and entertain him while I am cooking dinner. I have GREATLY appreciated Caleb's vocabulary growing. It's amazing how much "AHHHH" and "SCREAMING" we have been enduring lately...so with even a few words being used we LOVE to hear them. "Down, Don't, No No, Mum...Dadda, F-oohn (Phone), Uh-Oh, Out, All Done, Mmmm-k (milk), Ah-Na-Na (Alayna), Isaac (We think he means this for Jacob...because he's always yelling it at him. Maybe it's just because Jake and Isaac are always together, but it's easier to say than Jake). My favorite moments in the day with Caleb is when he arches his head and neck up and says, "Mum...and stares at me than he begins to ramble baby gibberish..over and over again" But he is dead serious, that I should know what he's talking about. It's hilarious. I can't wait to get it on camera!

But Jake said it best, "We just love him, huh mom." Yes, we do. Even though you are causing us to lock every door and continue to child proof everything, over and over again. Yes, we love you Caleb! (Who couldn't just want to hug and kiss my big toothy big eared baby??)

BYU Football should be Jacob's middle name

Here is one little dude who loves BYU Football! When Jake heard that a "real" BYU football player would be coming to our house on Sunday he ran right upstairs and put his BYU football shirt on and hasn't taken it off since. Thanks to his Aunt and Uncle Brian he has plenty to wear! :)

Here was a dream come true...meeting a "real Football Player" - This is Walter #71 (I won't even attempt to spell or say his last name!) He's dating our really good family friend, so they came to dinner and pretty much made every little boys dream come true!!!

Here's Conner thinking he's pretty cool stuff with the football player!

A great reminder on those hard days.

Please tell me I am not the only one that has hard or difficult or tiring "mom" days! I'm not complaining I just simply watched this video when I needed someone to remind me, "I am magnificent!" Enjoy.

Time Out For Women

The Fam- Krista was here, but she had to leave before we pulled out the camera!

My good friends...missing Camille, she also left before we snapped the photo!

YEAH! For my sister Angela telling over 25 ladies about Time Out For Women...let's just say it is a tradition. We will return and have another GREAT time. If you know me well, you know I love all things spiritual, crying, sharing heart to heart feelings, laughing, good food, great friends, beautiful music, excellent speakers, laughing, staying up till 3am, being with my mom and sisters. Really, the only thing missing that I love more is my husband and kids. But since they were together (and were not invited) I knew all was well. This is a MUST for any female out there that reads this. Honestly, if you h

ave been to education week or women's conference at BYU like I have, yes, you love that...but this I love. It just was done perfectly for us.

Here are just two silly pictures of a funny morning. Yes, there is TONS of laundry on the floor. Yes, the kids are supposed to be sorting them. I thought I'd have this great idea while I was working Deals to Meals yesterday to turn on a movie for them WHILE they worked. Um...note to self. This does not work! They decided to go to a "drive-in movie" instead of doing their jobs.

Because they are so cute and clever I decided to take a picture of them happy before I turned off the movie and ruined their fun. Sorry, we try to live by the "work before play" phrase around here. That sounds like I'm super strict, because once again those that know me know that I will take imagination play over working any day!

Ok, here's to marshmallow. My dad gives all the grand kids the largest marshmallows ever. I think my kids are kinda sick of them, considering I found them doing this!

Sleeping Beauty

Ok, so for some of you, you will be totally shocked that my little guy is dressed like a beautiful princess...I guess this is the curse of an older sister. Yes, Alayna plays dress up. I have yet to have Jacob even interested in playing with her until the other day. To my surprise and my sisters because they were over with their kids playing. We had little Princess Jacob come down dressed head to toe like this...Anyways, we were BUSTING up laughing. We decided that it was just too hilarious to pass up an opportunity for a photo moment. Ok, so we started asking him questions like what's your name princess? He said, "Princess Beauty." Later we found out the reason he dressed up was so his cousin Kennady would play with him. Apparently, she only wanted to play princess and he didn't...or I guess he did! So he decided to be the princess instead of prince charming.

So within a few minutes, to our surprise he said he didn't want to be "Princess Beauty" anymore. So we thought he was done...Oh, don't worry he was ready to be Cinderella. Hilarious.

I just can't stop laughing at this picture. Good thing Jacob you are a true BOY at heart...Considering this princess dress up lasted for a short 5-10 minutes and yes, you began tacking and running around and playiing football again! Welcome back. But for a moment Jake, you provided some great entertainment.

Park City 2010

Really, as I go through my hundreds of pictures I realize it is impossible to document every moment of the trip. When you are vacationing for an entire week...Sunday to Sunday. You take LOTS of pictures. We walked on main street, went swimming, ate Carmel apples, went swimming, rode on the trolley, went swimming, ate lots of good food, went swimming, played with cousins, played tennis, cross-stitched, more swimming, eating hot pepper contest, and even more swimming, etc. Really the list goes on and on, you get the idea we went swimming and hot tubing every day! In the end some were ready to go home and others (my family) wanted to stay another week!

Here is a cute picture of Caleb enjoying our daily adventures to a fun Park City park. We returned there everyday. The mom's had a monkey bar contest. We can't forget the obstacle course we set up for kids and parents. Little Olivia won both, she's amazing.

Alayna was in HEAVEN having her cousins by her side from morning till night. Now, that she's back in school she doesn't see them unless it's on the weekend or something fun and she just is hoping for off track time again!

Our annual tradition is to hike up to the Payday lift. It takes about 1 hour and it is intense for the little ones. Alayna is our little "prayer" girl. If it gets a little rough, she says, "Mom, I need to say another prayer!" Last year, we attempted this hike with our 5 two year olds. This year we did it again...all 5 walked on their own and they did amazing! Really, as an adult it's hard for me, but yet the little legs just inspire you to keep on going. The joy at the end of the hike is a free ride down the lift. We were privilege enough to see two moose down below. Overall, our week was fabulous and it was SUPER great weather! Until next year, we love Park City!

Top of Utah - Half Marathon #2

That's right...I have completed Half Marathon #2. There was no better place to run a half than up in Logan. It was a beautiful memory of Cache Valley.


There wasn't a better training partner than Jared either. Honestly I had the BEST time with him. We were able to run all of our long runs on Saturday's together and it made those hour long runs great...if that's possible! Surprisingly it is though.

I might have improved on my original time by around 14 minutes... Even though I did improve I still am not done this year. I must shoot for another half. I can't wait to finish even 8 minutes faster to reach my ultimate goal. If I reach that goal I will share with you my time! :) But hey, 14 minutes was a HUGE improvement...and not to mention I had SO much fun. I also have to give a shout out to Jared because he stayed right by me the whole time. He really could have finished MUCH faster considering he wasn't even "breathing hard" at the end. Come November he will run at his own record speeds...not having to be "nice" and stay with his wife. But in the end he admitted he had a great time.

When we arrived home we had are little cheer leaders waiting for us. As you might have noticed from the first picture of me holding up my "women's" (aka...baby girl) shirt...yes, it was running extra SMALL...and last time I checked I'm not the smallest gal in town, so I thought it would be a great present for Alayna! She was SUPER happy for her own "running" shirt. She told me that when she really fits in it she will run her own "half" with me. This girl is catching the vision of running...well maybe it's the new shirts, music, headphones and shoes I bring home...not the exercise it's self!

Conversation with Alayna before I left.
Alayna: "Mom, are you running a full or a half this time?"
Me: "Funny, a half."
Alayna: "Oh, (somewhat disappointed) I think you should do a full sometime."
Me: "Oh, wow...not this year!"
Alayna: "Ok, I'll run it with you next year."
Me: "Deal, you run with me I'll do it!"

So there ya have it. I will run a full marathon when Alayna is running by me. I think I have several years to train!

Boating...

(Shandra posing with all the kids)

A fun filled day of boating deserves a tribute to Amanda...Let me introduce you to her. (Sorry I didn't take your picture!) She is my dear friend, who can drive a truck with a boat, back up a truck with a boat on it, she's totally cool...need I say more? Oh, and let's just say she has WILD and CRAZY ideas when it comes to FUN and being spontaneous. For all these reasons (and so many more) this is why she is my friend! So after a fun Saturday filled with SUN and BOATING with just women and no kids, we decided to go back out on Monday with all the kids. Three Moms and 10 kids set out for a day filled with fun and boating...even though it was windy, a dead battery, a broken air pump, etc. We did have success, no injuries and SO much fun. I loved it and so did my kiddos!!!

Alayna, even attempted to knee board. She did great. I would start out on the board to stabilize her but then I would let go and they would go around and around. I was so proud of her! At first she was afraid and she chickened-out and stayed on the boat after I had jumped in...I was NOT happy about this (did I mention this was in Utah Lake (yuck)...anyways, I yelled up to her that she will have to do the dishes for me because she didn't knee board. Finally, after she decided to hop in and try knee boarding after I had done it by myself she gave it a shot. She LOVED it! She was having so much fun. When her turn was over she looked straight at me with a BIG smile on her face and said, "Now, I don't have to do the dishes!"

Let's just say that the reaction from the kids was WAY BETTER than Christmas morning! Seriously, the older KIDS LOVED IT! The very next morning Jake and Alayna said, "Mom, I think I'm going to ask Santa for a boat." Then I said, "Well, Alayna you better ask Santa for a truck and trailer to pull the boat!" They smiled but didn't get my sarcasm.

Here's to show that Caleb smiled for a brief moment...Oh, how I will totally PAY REAL LIVE MONEY for a babysitter next time!

Oh, let me introduce you to Mr. Grumpy. When I got home and told Jared about our fun adventurous from boating that day, I said "Caleb cried the whole time." Jared said, "You mean some of the day." I responded, "Oh, no. I picked my words carefully...the WHOLE day!" Oh, this age did not enjoy the boat ride. Seriously, he needed his 12 hours of sleep and his crib. By the time we returned home for dinner, his eyes were bloodshot red and puffy. He was one tired kid. Sorry little buddy, next time you will stay home and sleep the day away! :)