Park City

We rented a condo in Deer Valley for the week. Since the kids were in school, Casey and I decided to go up on Sunday night and come home on Tuesday. Then we went back up on Thursday night with the kids and spent the rest of the weekend there.

Casey and I did a little bit of hiking and driving around Park City on Monday. I love Autumn time and all the changing colors.

Autumn is in full bloom!

Birthday Party

The girls have only had one birthday party. We decided to let them have a party for their 8th birthday. They each invited 5 friends because we knew not all of them would be able to come. We made bead bracelets and played some games. After that they enjoyed some cupcakes and then they played tag outside. It was a lot of fun.

The Birthday Celebration

I posted a little about the girls turning 8 on the previous post, but this is more about their birthday celebration! (Still can't believe they are 8 - such a sad day for mom). I am so proud of them and love them so much. Life with the two of them is great! They are the best of friends and the worst of enemies, but at the end of the day... they always have each other.

We didn't do much on their actual day. We were going to try and go ice skating and we told them their friend could come. When we got to the skate rink, it was closed to the public, even though their website said it was open. We went home, opened gifts and made plans to go ice skating on Friday night.

Some things Shyann enjoys:

• Soccer
• Reading
• Piano
• Computer games
• Wii games
• Wizards of Waverly Place (TV show)
• Bakugan (with Chandler)
• Lip gloss
• bubblegum
• straight hair

Some things Shelby enjoys:

• Tumbling
• Reading
• Being Silly
• Talking (social butterfly)
• color: Blue
• iCarly (TV Show)
• Crafts - beads, making cards
• Drawing
• Lip gloss
• Fashion (being girly-girl, but don't let her hear you call her that)

For their 8th birthday and baptism gift, they received their set of scriptures and scripture bags.


Happy birthday Shelby and Shyann! We love you so much.

My Babies Are 8!

I can't believe the day has come. My baby girls are 8. Baptism will soon be coming. It's a little heartbreaking for me. Don't get me wrong, I'm so glad to see them have the opportunities and blessings that are before them, but... they are growing up. At each step in their lives, it isn't one baby, it's two that go. I wasn't sad like I have been when they do other things. Like the time I sobbed the night before they started first grade. Or the tears I had when they left Sacrament Meeting to start Sunbeams. It wasn't as hard as I thought. I kept telling them they weren't turning 8, they were going to go backwards now. Shyann was all for it. She understood (I would hope) how hard this was getting for me to see them grow up.

These are a few differences that I am noticing more between them:

Shelby is still a bit more outgoing and when friends come to play, she pretty much runs the show. Shyann is content to just do her own thing and is a bit of a homebody.

Shyann does not like to have her hair done. She prefers it 'straight' and would like me to do that everyday for school. However, I love being able to play with it. Shelby on the other hand, let's me 'experiment' with her hair. She loves to have it done, but is excited to get it cut short again. Shyann prefers tights, Shelby likes lacy socks.

The picture above is a rare occurence to have them dress alike. Shelby really isn't that short. I noticed she was hunched over a little and Shyann is wearing shoes with a slight heel. They are the same height and weight. They always have been within 1/2" of each other and the weight is within ounces of each other.

Happy Birthday Colby!

It's official, as of FEBRUARY 20, he's a teenager! Of course with the attitude he has, most would have thought that came about a year ago. Just teasing! He's a pretty good kid. We do have challenges, but we still love him! He has a fun personality (when he wants to show it) and can be a great brother to his siblings.

We celebrated his birthday by having dinner at Chili's (his fave molten volcano dessert). He stuffed himself at dinner and took the cake home for later.

We stopped at Grandma (Loveland) Thayne's where he received a nice hoodie. Then we came home and opened gifts. He really didn't ask for much, but since he really enjoys his DS and the Wii, we gave him a couple of games. It was a quiet celebration, but lots of fun! We celebrated more with the Hansen Family the following Sunday. We love these birthday celebrations.

Some things he enjoys:

• Movies with the family
• TV series "Stargate Atlantis"
• Wii
• DS
• Computer Games
• playing the flute
• Junior High School - 7th grade is awesome!
• Riding his bike
• Drawing/Sketching
• Airsoft Gun Wars
• Going out for dinner
• Spending time with family
• Visiting cousins
• Friends
• Listening to music
• Reading - finally!

Happy Birthday! You're an awesome kid and we love having you in our family! Life certainly is NOT boring with you around! We love you!!!

McCall, ID

For Christmas Break 2009, Casey decided that after all of the begging and pleading that Bill and Chris had done, we would go to their cabins the week. We left on Dec. 26 and came home on Jan. 2. It was a 7 1/2 hour drive to their cabin. At one point outside of McCall, the outside temperature in our suburban read -4 degrees. Ok, that is freezing! I was certain I would be hiding out in the cabin after seeing that temp. Our suburban was jam packed with luggage and bags of snow clothes. You'd think we were packing up and moving out.

SNOWMOBILING & SLEDDING

Snowmobiling ended up being a blast! Being my first time out, I wasn't sure how it would go, but I really liked it. Yes, I was a bit nervous and even got stuck (ok, buried) a couple of times, it was still a lot of fun!

Shyann & Dad

Shelby & Dad Colby (driving) & Nathan

Chandler & Brendan

Mom

The snow was so deep (I think we got 12-18" new). Casey had a good time throwing the kids in and making snow angels. (This is Shelby)

After a few hours, Shyann was done, she was crying and wanted nothing but to go home.

A few miles down the road from their cabins, is a huge sledding hill. We only let the kids go as far as the middle or a little higher to sled. Of course, they all wanted to venture out and see what was at the top of the hill. None of them slid down from the top (phew)!

This is a slight perspective of how high/steep the hill is.

Some other things the kids enjoyed while hanging out at the cabin were the Wii, table tennis, and just being together.

Clearing the Driveway

So much snow fell in a couple of days, Bill decided to pay the kids who wanted to shovel the driveway. They all jumped at it, except the last day Shyann had enough and stayed in to work on puzzles.

Chandler & Shelby

We had so much snow that after the kids cleared off the driveway, they decided to make a sledding hill on the side of Bill's cabin. They even included a jump!

At the top of the hill!

ColbyChandler

ShyannShelby

And...

Wishing everyone A Happy New Year!

TOTALLY MIA

Wow! I had not realized just how long it has been since I've posted anything. October? Serious? Sorry about that all - not that there really are too many of you out there following my news. :)

Okay, on with life. I set some goals for myself this year. I know, everyone does this and then fails, but I am determined not to fail this time. I only set a couple so that should help me stay focused!

GOAL #1 - Scrapbook!
I have been failing at this one. I am not staying up to date on what's going on with each of my kids. So I am trying something new this year. It is called PROJECT 365. That means, I am taking a photo everyday of something going on in our crazy, busy lives. Just one photo. Yes, somedays may be more, but at least one! Can you believe it? Me? Taking a photo EVERYDAY? Yep! And it's been awesome. In Microsoft Word I'm keeping a little one or two sentence journal for each day. I love this. I started January 1 and I've missed only a couple of days. So far this month, I haven't missed one day! I feel like there is less pressure to doing this. I have put the photos in a calendar layout and then created a 2nd page for my journaling (which is what each photo portrays). I update this calendar about once a week. I am so amazed that I have been able to do this. It has completely brought back my enjoyment of scrapbooking. It feels less stressful right now. I can always go back and make more pages for each child or whatever, but for now this is working.

GOAL #2 - EXERCISE
Hahahaha! I know this is a good one. Everyone makes this goal and fails. I did a little bit in January, but at the first of this month I became VERY determined. I have got to lose this weight. I'm watching my calories using a website called calorie counter. I love it! It helps me track my activity level and the calories I take in. It's been great. No, I haven't lost anything yet, but I am not giving up (I just keep telling myself that). Casey is supportive and actually does Jillian Michaels workouts with me. We bought P90X back in October. That is too difficult for me right now, but I love his Ab Ripper X and I do that workout! I love how exercise makes me feel. I feel great (sore, but good) and a lot more energy to get done with what I need to.

So there they are. My goals for this year. It's what I need to do for myself right now. Not many of us take time for ourselves, it's all about the family and their needs. However, I need to do this for ME. Yes, a little selfish, but otherwise, I can't be a good wife or mother. And that is my FOREVER GOAL! So to make sure they are happy, I need to be happy. I hope all you women out their take the time you need for yourselves, too!

Happy Birthday, Chandler - a bit belated!

Finally I am posting about birthdays! Unfortunately, I am posting Chandler's *just a bit* late. Oh well, at least I'm getting it on here. We do love this kid!


On Chandler's birthday we asked him what he would like to do. Since we weren't at home, we thought this would be a good time to do some things that we probably wouldn't have done at home. He made his list:

1st- ice skating

2nd - snowmobiling

3rd - surprise him (didn't know how we would do this one)

4th - cake and ice cream

So that morning, we went to the ice skating rink in downtown McCall. We had a very enjoyable time. Casey and I were the only adults who got out and skated, but it was a great time with our kids.

Maybe 10 minutes before we were getting ready to get off the ice, he fell. And he hit HARD! Unfortunately, he hit his face when he landed. I immediately skated over to him and saw a huge bump developing on his eyebrow. I took him to the office looking for ice. The manager got a baggie full of ice from the machine for him. We explained to him that this wasn't a great birthday gift to receive. The manager laughed and came back a little while later with an ice hockey puck. He told him that was his gift from him and they make the best ice packs. Chandler was way excited about it. This is how he ended up spending the rest of the afternoon.

He still wanted to attempt snowmobiling, but with that big of a bump, we thought it better to not try putting a helmet on top of it. He laid on the couch most of the afternoon.

Later that evening we had a great dinner and a delicious chocolate cake with melted candy kisses inside. It is the family favorite now.

Some things that he really enjoys right now are:

• Bakugan
• Soccer
• Drawing/Art
• Science
• Computer Games
• Wii
• Board games
• Reading
• Smiling
• Having Fun

Happy birthday Chandler! Sorry it wasn't the greatest, but still hope you had a fun week. We love you!

Chicken Pox

At the first of Sept. Colby had a friend come over to play. The next day his mom called to let us know he broke out with chicken pox. Of course, we thought nothing of it since my kids have had the vaccination.

On the night of Sept. 15, Chandler had some 'mosquito bites' on his back. Thinking not much of it, we put itch cream on them and called it good. The next day, I went on his class journey. I noticed he had a couple of more on his face. When I asked if they itched, he said they hurt. I asked him if we should have the doctor look at them. He said no, he was fine. That afternoon, I sent him off to scouts and then we had a Bishopric social that night. After we got home, Casey's mom came over to give me a birthday gift. I showed her his back and noticed two looked suspicious of something, maybe chicken pox. So the next morning I took him to the doc. Sure enough, classic case. However, he wasn't sick no fever of anything to make me think he actually had them. What a great mom I exposed his entire class to the chicken pox!I stopped at his school to inform his teacher (apologizing like crazy). She was completely understanding. I emailed the room mom so that she could send out a mass e-mail to the other parents. Then I had to call parents from his scouts to let them know as well. Only one mom seemed a little upset.

He got to stay home from school Thur, Fri, and Mon. He was bored only on Friday did he have homework (8 pages) to catch up on. His friend had dropped off papers Thurs. night. It was a free school vacation because he wasn't sick, felt good, but couldn't be around others.




I have since found out that Colby, Shelby and Shyann's school is having a chicken pox epidemic. They have had 27 students with chicken pox and one 6th grade teacher. In most cases the students have had one vaccination shot. The health dept. has now told the school that the children who have not had the vaccine can attend school for 9 days after being exposed and then must be out of school for 12 days. Can you imagine being the person to make the phone calls? It has hit the 5th and 6th grades the hardest. Very interesting!

Face Painting

On Tuesday, Aug. 4th, Casey had to bring up one of our Priesthood leaders. We were changing leaders for rest of the week. He was supposed to bring the 3 younger kids with him (Colby had scouts). However, when he went to pick up Bro. Argyle, his daughter and wife told Casey to leave the kids with them and they would watch them. I am grateful to them for offering to take them . My kids would have been bored with the total 3 hour drive.

The kids ended up having their faces painted while he was gone. I only received a partial text with Chandler's picture on it. I was completely amazed. Sis. Argyle said they do it with the grandkids almost all the time.

Chandler the monster

Then they added a forked tongue (painted his lip)

Shyann, the cheetah

Shelby, the Princess

Chandler also received a couple of tattoos

Thanks to the Argyle's for giving my kids an enjoyable time!

Denver Trip

The Friday I returned from Girl's Camp, we headed off to Denver. He has a brother who lives in that area and we haven't been able to visit him, yet. We finally had it planned to go in July, but realized it was when Colby was at Scout Camp. We both looked at schedules and finally his brother changed his work schedule to get off Friday (7th) and Monday (10th). He was supposed to have the following weekend off (14 & 17th), but three of our kids start school on the 17th. Even Steven and Jackie (Doug's son and his wife) were in town. She had been in the hospital with a kidney infection and is expecting a baby in October. So they stayed around until Monday night.

On Saturday, we went to the Denver zoo. Brigitte (Casey's sister-in-law) was surprised to see so many animals out and active. She said they rarely get to see certain animals. One of the baby giraffes was gallopping (if that's what giraffes do), kicking up his legs, and running around. The other baby giraffe was just watching him. It's a large zoo and has some interesting animals that I haven't really heard of. We were there about 4 hours and still didn't make it around the whole zoo. Maybe next time. That night, Doug and Casey took the kids to the swimming pool in their subdivision.

Sunday we went to their ward. It was interesting because two ladies in the Relief Society actually moved out of my old neighborhood only a few years ago. There were only 17 of us in Relief Society and 3 of us were visitors. That number included the presidency. It was a relaxing Sunday. We made s'mores in their little firepit that night.

Monday we split up. Doug and his kids, Steven, Casey, Colby, Chandler, and Shelby all went to Water World. They had a great time and would love to go next time we come. Brigitte, Jackie, Emma (Jackie's little girl), Shyann, and I went and bought some beads at Michael's and went to lunch at Olive Garden. Then we just hung out at the house. Brigitte didnt' think Shyann would enjoy Water World because she's more timid. Casey agreed after he got home, but said she would probably be up for it next year. They didn't get home from Water World until 6:00. After dinner, Steven and Jackie left for home. We stayed up until almost midnight visiting.

Tuesday morning, we took the kids to the Hammond's candy factory. Chad and Chelsea came with us. After the tour, we dropped off Chad & Chelsea, packed our gear and headed for home. We left around 1:00. On the way home we stopped at Rock Springs for Dinner and at Grand America (it has it's own exit) for ice cream and let the kids play on the playground. We didn't get home until 9:45 pm.

We had such a fun time! It was great to see them and are going to try and get over there again next summer, only this time we will spend a full week. On the way there, we hit a storm. We saw the thunder and lightning, but didnt' expect the hail. That's what hit us first. We ended up having to pause the kids movie because it was so loud and the kids couldn't hear their show. Doug said that area is usually worse for storms during the winter. They advised us not to drive to Denver from Sept. until May. Maybe we'll find cheap flights for sometime during the year.

Girl's Camp Day 4 & 5

On to Day 4. This was a more relaxing, play day for all. There was a bit of a chill on the air because of a storm that had hit during the night. It actually rained around 6:30 Wed. night, but only for a while. I ended up being woken up during the night because of some darn thunderstorms and showers. I'm too light of a sleeper (ARRGGH!).

We did a makeup game where one set of girls are blindfolded and they put make up on the girls who aren't, and then they swap. It ended up being a really great experience that I don't think us as leaders expected.

Here's a few photos of the beauties.

They did certifications this afternoon (and yesterday afternoon) so the leaders and the bishop all got to rest or nap, if they wanted. After certifications, Lisa had planned a few games. She actually had waterballoons filled on Tues. afternoon but we didn't have time or the weather didn't cooperate with us to play games until today. They did a waterballoon toss and a ball game. The ball game was a pattern... you throw it to the same person and catch from the same person. After a little while of playing with one or two balls, everyone gets a ball except two people.

Learning the game:

Once they got the hang of it, they were up for a challenge and played around the flag pole.

That evening I had put together a "fudge hike". This is where they walk along a trail and at each "station" they receive an ingredient that goes into their ziploc bag and a message about one of the YW values. As they walk station to station, they squish the ingredients together and at the end of the hike, they have made fudge. The girls really had fun doing this. Then we put together a campfire and settled in for our Testimony Meeting.

DAY 5

This is the morning we got up, packed, ate, and left. That is almost as quick as we did it, too. We had to be checked out by 11. One of my leaders that drove took home 5 others with her, she had to leave at 9. I was with her....let's get it done and clear out. The camp hosts had to do an inspection. I couldn't get a camp host to our place until 9:15 and then because one cabin was not quite finished with mopping, she returned at 9:40. We left at 9:50 and it took us an hour and half to get home. After unpacking food and vehicles, I got home at 12:30.

By 2:30 Casey, the kids, and I were on the road to Denver. We went to visit his brother and this was the only weekend that had worked for us to get there.