The Ardern Family

Surprise :)

2012-01-16T12:29:00.001-07:00

Wade and I just found out today we’re expecting a girl for baby #4! I’m due June 4, 2012 and am doing much better than I was in the first trimester. Worst morning sickness EVER. We thought we’d have a lot of fun with announcing this pregnancy and wait until we found out what we were having. I’m 20 weeks today (baby is showing 20 weeks 3 days but that doesn’t change my due date). Baby girl is healthy. I didn’t gain much weight…yet…I know I’m going to plump up and look like a ginormous hippo soon but that’s why it was a bit “easier” to keep it a secret. I’m not gonna lie, my stomach is popping out and I look pregnant I just am still wearing my normal clothes and am wearing bagging jackets to cover things up to help with the secret…which is now not a secret!

Truthfully, I was about to burst into tears hearing it was a girl. Don’t get me wrong, it’s gonna be fun dressing up the baby and making bows again but I was gutted. Girls are so emotional. And Kate’s been a hard little bugga and Charlotte’s a determined, opinionated, bull headed little girl. I’ve got 2 of them with strong will personalities and I was just needing a boy to hopefully mellow things out. I know babies all have different personalities, etc but girls.are.hard. That’s it. Wade’s pretty excited. It’s still just going to be him and Jack. It’s sinking in about having a girl. And honestly, I’m happy. It’ll be good. I just am needing to get over the initial emotional shock right now!!!

Before/After

2011-12-09T11:45:00.001-07:00

We redid our downstairs area in a few phases. We always wanted to put in a fireplace but we had to save and save for it. Which helped when the tax refund this past year came in! I like being debit free. We always hated the tile and were so thankful when we put in carpet. Charlotte had a terrible head injury from falling down the stairs and her head stopped her fall on the tile. Seriously people. TILE at the bottom of basement stairs?!

This is what the house looked like when the previous owners lived here.

The reason we finally got onto changing the tile.

The start of the removal of tile. Curses to tile!

This project lead Wade having carbon monoxide poisoning. I had it too but not as bad as Wade.

The dust is settling in the picture too. That’s why it’s cloudy.

It’s ready for carpet and paint.

There’s nothing like the fresh smell of new carpet.

The result! Wade and my dad did a fabulous job! Wade put in all the recessed lighting too!

It’s now all full of books and the fireplace has been making the downstairs so nice and cozy warm!

Charlotte’s Birthday PARTY!

2011-11-15T09:47:00.001-07:00

We decided to actually throw Charlotte a party. It was such a production the year before we thought, oh let’s wait until she’s 8…you know the big event type of birthday. Then we thought, well there’s only a few years where she’ll get or even want to have one, so let’s just do it. And it turned out to be easy going and not too stressful.

We did it the Saturday after her real birthday and that was nice. I kept it simple, of course stayed with the Minnie Mouse theme but made cupcakes and bought Little Caesar’s 5 buck pizza! I hope they had fun, cause it sure seemed like they did.

I made this pinata! I did! If you want to make one too, here’s the LINK.

All the kiddos!

Playing pass the parcel! Always a big hit

I think all the kids had a hundred turns trying to break this thing apart. I guess I did a really good job.

Presents!!!

Lisa and Kate. Lisa is the bestest person ever! Always takes care of us and the kids. Especially at church. But she and her family are dear friends. I swear she gave Charlotte the biggest present in America.

Charlotte’s 6th Birthday

2011-11-08T15:20:00.001-07:00

If you didn’t know it was Charlotte’s birthday, I’d be so surprised (but it was October 25th…late post :/ ). I’ve never seen anyone so excited for a birthday! She would keep singing Happy Birthday to ME. Happy birthday to Charlotte! haha. And it would get more and more intense each day it got closer to her birthday. It was a lot of fun.

Charlotte LOVES Minnie Mouse and wanted a Minnie Mouse themed cake and party.

She went to school, which is the best thing ever to her, and I brought cupcakes and apple juice for snack at Sound Beginnings. And then I went back to Kindergarten for the last 15 minutes so we could spotlight her with a VIP poster. And we handed out treats to her classmates too. Then we came home, talked to Ma and Grandpa. Opened her new booster car seat from them. And then all she wanted to do was unwrap presents like crazy. Then we went to the Pizza Pie Café for dinner, off to the Pumpkin Walk (more like pumpkin run. It was freezing) and then home for birthday cake and ice-cream. Then she got to pick out a movie and we had movie-theater and then off to bed. It was a fun, good day. I love you, Charlotte.

The pictures above are just before she opened her present from Ma and Grandpa.

She has desperately wanted a big girl car seat since school started. And she barely makes the requirements (which usually a 3 year old weighs) and I’m a bit nervous but she looks oh so grown up in the car now.

She was so silly opening her presents. haha

Kate playing with Charlotte’s new soccer ball. Which she has wanted since Jack took soccer in September!

Sporting her new pjs.

I had to put this last one in. Notice Jack??? hahaha. SO CUTE!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CHARLOTTE!

Live Writer

2011-11-08T14:44:00.001-07:00

So my woes with blogger have come to an end. And it’s only because of Crystal Mann. Wade’s sister. Oh she’s amazing. I can’t thank you enough! Maybe, just MAYBE I’ll get caught up. cough cough, yeah right. But at least I THINK I can! If you wanna have less crazy spasm temper tantrums at your computer, get Windows Live Writer. And thank Crystal all at the same time.

Christmas Spirit

2011-11-08T14:39:00.001-07:00

I definitely have been feeling the Christmas Spirit. Like BEFORE HALLOWEEN. I usually am scrooge until Thanksgiving. But even though my house is decorated after, I still have a hard time getting the Christmas Spirit ON. But last year I felt it right before Thanksgiving and this year. Holy Moly! I love it. I made the kids listen to Christmas music in the car ON Halloween. And I’m not ashamed. I am getting SOO excited. I love this time of year. And because it’s a good thing, having more peace in the home, what’s wrong with having it early? It just means my house feels more Christmasy than yours, so THERE. Just kidding. I’m just so excited! So I’m already decorating my blog with Christmas.

And Crystal, I’m trying out Live Writer. I’m hoping it’s way better…here it goes…

Holy Moly PEOPLE! I just clicked on a picture. And there it was! Crystal, you are a genius!

I'm going to kill blogger

2011-10-24T14:05:00.002-06:00

Blogger is so ridiculous. I published a post about Kate and I'm crying because it doesn't have half of the pictures and journal I wrote about her. I hate blogger and I hate our INTERNET. It's SO SLOW. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR. ajsdfkl;ajdklajsd;fjakl;sdfk

Charlotte

2011-10-19T14:11:00.001-06:00

Here are a lot of photos of Charlotte since May! And a peek at what we did during the summer :)

Mother's Day Luncheon at her school:

End of year program! She was a doctor and it was also a Luau theme. She was actually really sick and we went to the dr and she had a sinus infection. She was not happy and cried but she still kept going strong in her performanes. She sang Pearly Shells really well too. I wish my videos could work!

Luke and Charlotte. Luke is THE cutest little boy. He's an amazing boy and has the most darling voice. I know that sounds weird but when you have a child with hearing loss, there's something about voices. And his melts my heart. Creepy. hahahaha. BUT I really love how he talks!! And he and Charlotte are just so cute in class together.

Getting her certificate for completing preschool for the year.

Just before Charlotte burst into tears :(

Charlotte takes Hula. And on June 11, 2011 she had her first Hula Recital. Here are some of the girls from her class. She loves Hula and looks forward to it every week!

Fourth of July! We had a fun Ward breakfast and kids parade and they decorated their bikes to be in it too!

Later that night, we did fireworks. Our friends, the Tippets, came up to our house for the holiday and we had a fun fun time!!

Charlotte went on some wave runners with Uncle Dave! I wouldn't go on them but she did! So proud of her.

First day of Sound Beginnings. It's her last year at the school. Growing up too fast, I think!

FIRST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN!!!! Kindergarten started later than Sound Beginnings. I can't believe she's old enough to go to kindy. And she LOVES it.

FIRST HAIRCUT! I have more pics of the process, but she was in her birthday suit and didn't want it posted on the blog. I cut 6 inches. Can you believe it?! It was getting scraggly but most important it was so long it kept getting in the toilet. I was sad to have to cut it but it looks so healthy now. :)

Chandler Family Reunion, August 2011

2011-09-28T10:43:00.000-06:00

We had our Chandler Family Reunion, Aug 8-12, 2011 in Eden, Utah. It was my parents, my siblings and all the grandchildren. My brother, Steve, wasn't able to come and he has two little girls- Hayley and Danika. We wished they could have come!

Eden is such a beautiful place and amazingly, we fit 27 people in ONE house. The house was HUGE. Thanks to Jason, my brother in law, his dad let us use this 7 bedroom, 2 kitchen, 3 1/2 bathroom, movie theater, game room, fully furnished house for free. How kind of his family. We are so very grateful. And we were also able to use their wave runners too.

With all us in one house, not one dramatic fight broke out! ha ha. We had a lot of fun. We went on hikes and played at the lake for 3 days. Ate good food and had good laughs. Cousins bonding got even more tighter. We had celebrated my mom's 65th birthday on August 10th and hope she had a good day. That night, we also had a fun talent show. Almost everyone did something! From dancing, to singing, to comedy, to violins! So fun. I'm so glad we got together. And I hope that we do this again a lot sooner than every 5 years.

Grandma and Grandpa with all the grandies...minus Hayley and Danika of course :(


Jack and Uncle Dave


Mike, Dad, Dave-Top row Becky, Rachel, Mom and me-Bottom row.

This picture cracks me up!

This is the cake my mom wanted and designed! Except the bottom tier was to be quilted with small polka dots but it wasn't turning out. It was the middle of the night and I had to change it. ha ha. bottom cake was chocolate with chocolate frosting with reese's peanut butter caups and peanut butter frosting and top was a white cake with chocolate frosting and mint frosting.

This is Madison. She's the oldest grandchild. She's 16! And she was performing an incredible classical piece. Her family is so talented in music. Loved it.

Jack about to get on the wave runner!

My most favorite picture. My parents are so cute in this picture.

2011-09-12T13:38:00.002-06:00

Well, I'm going to start updating the blog again (as far back as Easter. GASP!). But, I'm able to have time to do it now that school is in and I'm excited! The internet and computer make it difficult to do it still but that won't stop me! So it might be a bit boring or whatever but I need to catch up before I give up!

Useless

2011-08-02T20:01:00.006-06:00

"Do you hear dat?" (It's an airplane!)

Okay. This picture CRACKS me up! And I LOVE it. This is the day after Wade's cousin's wedding on. We got in SO late. And seriously, she danced almost the whole night! ha ha. So awesome!

Kate was wanting to dance at the wedding too :) She just started to walk (finally!) a few days before (July 3/4). Isn't she beautiful?!

Anywho, I'm just useless at this blog thing at the moment. So, to not get down and feeling all guilty about it, I'll get back into it when both Charlotte and Jack start up school, where we have a routine, etc. (excuses, right?!) So I'm sorry! I'll be back soon :)

Eh, Hello

2011-06-28T10:55:00.001-06:00

It's been FOREVER since I last posted. Let's just say that there was a lot of yelling (to the computer, it's feelings didn't get hurt), frustrations, crying, and after months of this we decided to get some help to ol' bessy. We just got it back this last week and since I've got a bajillion--Yes, a bajillion photos and things to update, I'll just leave a few photos til I can catch up!

Kate stats!

2011-05-09T13:06:00.005-06:00

The injury above Kate's eye happened in the bath. her eye caught the edge of the bath instead of her hands. Sad sad sad. :(

We had Kate's well child visit last Thursday, Cinco de Mayo! Ole!

Had her shots :(

But here are her stats:

Weight: 21 lbs 12 oz (59%)

Height: 31 cm (94%)

Still a tall and not too chubby girl!

She is signing eat, more and hot so far. Picking it up much faster. Screams when I put her in the cart or by herself in the stroller. Enjoys her new car seat! Still far from walking. Just needs her confidence I think. Loves to cruise everywhere so she's close but still far away. Loves loves loves baths and anything that involves splashing. Even if it's a dumped out Capri Sun... :/

Love her MORE AND MORE each day. Becoming such a happier baby.

Has 5 teeth and we didn't realize when she got her new one. YAY!

Just battled sinus infections, pink eyes, fever and sore throats with her. Phew. Here's to more healthy days!

Kate's 1st Birthday!

2011-05-09T07:22:00.000-06:00

We had so much fun with Kate on her birthday. I really think she had fun too. And I know the kids loved having a birthday and Easter to celebrate all on one day! It was fun to have things going all day for Kate because it wouldn't have been as fun if it was just a regular old Sunday.

Just woke up on her birthday! Hello, sleepy head :)

Looking at her cake for the first time.

Enjoying unwrapping presents. Well, sort of. Charlotte and Jack helped open them. She got Elefun, a frog swimming pool, an outfit, bath toys, money from Grandma and Grandpa Chandler and money for a carseat from Ma and Grandpa Ardern.

I put her hair up all the time. This is the look she prefers...the rooster look after she pulls the tie out.

She was all smiles at the candle! Just about to sing happy birthday to her :)

Blowing out the candles.

Just starting to smash the cake. I had high hopes for her. And it seemed a bit disappointing in the demolishing of the cake but after a long long time in the high chair....

This is the result of patience! ha ha. Two baths later, she was all clean and ready for bed. Whew. What a fun day!!

Kate's Birthday Cake

2011-05-01T09:53:00.007-06:00

Kate's birthday happened to fall on Easter this year! Crazy how that happened. I made her cake and did Easter "things" til 3:30am that morning. The night before wasn't too bad...just up til 1:30am. I made everything on the cake and I'm calling it a disaster:

Let's just say it was late, I messed up the 2nd batch of white fondant (I was too tired to drive to walmart to get more marshmallows. Plus it was sunday and I didn't want to buy anything on sunday. Even though it was 2am at the time) and it snowballed from there. I don't like the white fondant on top but that's all I had enough of. If you cross your eyes and look at the cake...looks okay, right? Okay. That's all. Keep your critiques to yourself! It definitely was an off cake day. I was going to make a decorative cupcake under the #1 but I just ran out of time. And was sooo tired. I wanted little polka dots on the one too. I wanted the theme to be polka dots and cupcakes (you know, cupkate...). The thought's there, right?!

I decided to make a chocolate cake for both layers. Chocolate, raspberry filling, ganache and then the other filling was chocolate buttercream. And between those two fillings: brownies. Yep cake AND brownies. Strange you might say? Of course. But here's where I got the idea: go to Salt Cake City Blog and look at all the FLAVORS you can do!!!! So I went for a crazy tasting cake!! You could taste the brownie but it definitely wasn't overpowering. In fact, unless you knew I put it in there, I don't think you would've noticed. :)

I did.

2011-04-30T15:53:00.007-06:00

I woke up at 4am. I did. I watched the royal wedding of Will and Kate and I LOVED EVERY MINUTE OF IT. Til I got tired at 5:30am. They said the royal kiss wasn't going to be on until about 6:25 and I just couldn't do it anymore. Regret that decision since it was a double kiss! But I saw it on cnn so at least I still saw it.

The dress was gorgeous.

I loved Pippa's dress too and all the beautiful flowers (thought her bouquet was a little disappointing still beautiful though) and the carriages. oh oh oh!! It was worth getting up to see.

And everything was really just....a fairy tale wedding!

If you want to see pictures of an AMAZING ROYAL party, then go to Crystal's blog or Lian's blog (Wade's sisters). They put on a full on dress up party!!! I would've gone if I was there. Lian made a gorgeous 3 TIERED wedding cake for it too!!!

I spy with my little eye....

2011-04-30T10:24:00.001-06:00

Something big and scary.

Seriously?? When I saw her for the first time sitting behind the queen, I had to do a double take. Then I laughed really really hard. hahaha.

Someone said she looked like a bison....I think she's right....

This about sums it up....

2011-04-28T17:10:00.003-06:00

This is so me.

Kate is one!

2011-04-25T10:57:00.007-06:00

Kate turned one on April 24th! Same day as Easter. It won't happen again until she's 84....

I just can't believe this girl is one. She was born on her due date (and I was scheduled for an induction but went into labor anyway!! ha ha). Despite being a stubborn, fussy girl, she's just so wonderful. I love her cute personality showing more and more. I love hearing her belly laugh and seeing her pout and clap and be proud of herself.

She loves to wave and to shake her head no. She says nah nah for no too. Says Uh uh for uh oh. Looks at your face intently and says, dop. And she also just babbles like she's telling you a story or an event and it's so funny. This serious little look on her face, telling you something very very important. She signed more the other day and I swear she said it too. Her hair is growing and getting lighter too. She loves to rip her top knot out and go for the mohawk look.

She loves baths. She loves to dance. She's got rhythm. Let me tell you! She climbs up and down the stairs and is no where near walking. She loves to toddle along everything though.

Loves to eat my oatmeal for breakfast and any foods we can grind in the food grinder. Has never liked baby food...thanks for saving us money, Kate! But she's awesome at eating so many things. Especially paper...well just to chew on it....

She's a horrible sleeper just like Charlotte...we had high hopes though. She was awesome when she was a few months old. Now, it varies. But she easily gets back to sleep with a bottle. Speaking of, no more formula! yesssssss. And she's doing good with whole milk too.

Weighed in at 21 lbs last week when she was sick. Don't know what that is on the old growth chart (next week is her well child visit and we'll know) and can go in her cute forward facing car seat.

She loves to be held and have attention and goes to MOST people easily. Sorry Grandpa Ardern...maybe it'll be different when you visit on Mother's Day :)

She loves Jack and Charlotte so much and they make her happy all the time.

I'm so thankful for Kate. It's been rough a few times but I love her so much and I'm so thankful she's mine and she's part of this family. I can't imagine life without this little rugrat! :)

Baby Animal Days

2011-04-25T09:17:00.007-06:00

Charlotte was brave this year! Wanted to touch most of the animals :)

Jack was having soo much fun too! I love how they both were excited to hold and see the animals!

And Kate liked it a few times too :)

My Birthday...part 2!

2011-04-25T09:05:00.006-06:00

This is just to wrap up the rest of my birthday!

My wonderful friends dropped by!

Lacy gave me ICE CREAM!!! Cinnamon Banana Bliss...you have to try it!!!

Heather gave me a delicious Chocolate chip cookie PIE. SOOOO AWESOME!!!! I need the recipe!

And Nicki gave me all the delicious things to make a sk

ookie!!!

And my friends, the Tippets, came the next day and we got to hang out and eat.

I LOVE MY FRIENDS!! THANK YOU!!!

Wade gave me the antique handmade pearl earrings, skookie se

t, a photo scanner you can do right on your lap while watching tv! well, almost like that... ha ha and MACGYVER!!!! And Tangled!! I never saw Tangled before and we've watched it almost every single day. Such a good movie!

The kids each gave me some candy!

We ended up still going to Chili's!

And had my little family birthday party with cake! SOO GOOD!!!

It was so frozen our knife broke in it! hahaha

The kids were SOO excited for me!! Especially blowing out the candles. It is so much fun to have the kids be sooo fun on your birthday!!

I had a fantastic day. minus the age part, it was awesome!!!

Oh Bugga. I'm getting old....

2011-04-12T14:09:00.006-06:00

So, I've tried taking a self portrait looking AT the camera but I felt like a dufus and looked old. So here's to my profile. ha ha ha (and ps, that's not my shoulder on the right. It's my fat arm. I am wearing a modest shirt...doesn't look like it and I can't be bothered editing it because I'm just lazy. And it's my birthday and I don't want to!!!!)

I'm 33 today. Well, NOT quite 33. Not til 7:22pm PST. This is how much I'm protesting my age! Don't get me wrong, I LOVE MY BIRTHDAYS!!! I feel so special and I have so much fun but the little number that hangs over your head and shows through your wrinkles and old skin is not the fun part...But I am STILL young. I FEEL young. I don't feel like a day over 28! haha. It used to be 23...then 25. But this is for real now. I'm definitely liking the number 28 :)

I've had a relaxing day so far! Wade bought me some yogurt with granola and make your own Jamba smoothie!! Since he leaves for work at 7am and couldn't share a breakfast with me he made sure there was a yummy treat for me!!! And yes, it IS the Jamba brand and the Caribbean Passion flavor was absolutely divine. Kate kept screaming and couldn't get enough of it and it was so big I couldn't finish the darn thing...well, maybe it's cause I've been on a diet for 3 months and my eating habits have changed??? haha. RIGHT.

Wade came home around 11am (nice he has a few prep periods between his classes!) with some Quiznos. Did I tell you love Quiznos? Well, I do. It's just a love/hate relationship! Darn good sandwiches....ridiculous prices. But it makes the sandwich a little bit more special when you don't have it all the time.

And that's it so far for my day! We've got Chili's planned for us and the kids and a DELICIOUS ICE CREAM CAKE for dessert. Charlotte is SOOOO excited. I think more than I am that it's my birthday!! I love that girl!!

And Jack keeps blowing out air from his mouth pretending to blow out candles. He's such a crack up!

And Wade has spoiled me with some Pearl handmade antiqued earrings!! YEAH!!! And my wonderful, awesome friend LACY brought over some Tillamook Cinnamon Banana Bliss. And it's only 2:20! Woo hoo!!! ha ha. oh oh, and my awesome friend NICKI just texted and is coming by! I love it!! THANK YOU!!!

Some days...

2011-04-09T20:14:00.004-06:00

I feel like this somedays... because Charlotte's teasing Jack, Jack's temper tantrums and Kate pulling at my leg wanting to be held and you can't go outside because it's been snowing since Thursday...

Good thing my kids are SUPER CUTE and I love them to pieces!

EXCITING NEWS!

2011-04-06T20:31:00.010-06:00

Okay, so the exciting news is that Wade's dad became a general authority this past weekend!

Ian S. Ardern

http://newsroom.lds.org/article/new-general-authorities-and-area-seventies-named

Yes he did! He was released as an Area Seventy and became one of the newest members of the 1st Quorum of the Seventy. So this means he's going be in the quorum until he's 70....13 years! He's going to have many assignments all over the world and yesterday we found out that they will be going to the Philippines. The church is very strong over there.....17 missions in a country the size of New Zealand/Japan. They will start their assignment August 1st. So this means lots of training beforehand.

Wade's dad will come back in 3 weeks to start training (they are literally leaving right now to go back home!) for the next 2 months. Whew. That's a lot of training. We're also excited because the kids get to see Ma and Grandpa a little bit more before they head off. We're so proud of Wade's parents. We love them and know they will do an amazing job. I'm sure they have plenty of mixed feelings but we know that they will be blessed through their faith in the Savior, Jesus Christ and our loving Father in Heaven. We love you, Mum and Dad! So proud of you!

We took the kids down to have our last afternoon/evening together on Monday. We had a fun time talking and enjoying each other's company.

This one cracks me up!!

Ma and Grandpa with a side of Crystal and the new baby :)

2011-04-03T19:39:00.009-06:00

On March 26th, we headed down to Salt Lake to pick up Wade's parents! They arrived the day before and spent time with family and a dear friend of theirs. We got to be with them for 4 days and we had a fantastic time! They are here for conference. Wade's dad is---officially now WAS---an area seventy for NZ and the pacific and every April conference they come up for meetings. And they get to have some extra time to visit us too. And we are so grateful for that! They got to meet Kate for the first time (they missed Kate by 3 weeks last year) and enjoy cuddles and fun times with Charlotte and Jack. And of course, the kids enjoyed all the new presents they got from them and the family back home. And we loved all of ours too. Especially the chocolate. ESPECIALLY THE CHOCOLATE PEOPLE!!

Grandpa and Jack were so cute. Always together!

We finally were able to get Grandpa to hold Kate. For some reason, she was scared of him. But she's been getting better and not crying in his presence.

Charlotte had the best time with Ma and Grandpa! Keeps asking about them when we're not with them.

Awww, holding their new money tins! They sure got a lot of loot from them and Wade's siblings. Thank you!!!

Kate had so much fun too getting to know Ma and Grandpa :)

We miss all the family from NZ and wish they could have all come too.

Wade's sister, Crystal, was expecting a baby around April 4th. Her first one too. So his parents decided to come and visit before conference so once meetings ended, they could hurry back on the plane back to NZ hopefully make it in time for the new baby.

Well, as luck would have it, she literally went into labor when they got on the plane. She and Sam had a beautiful baby boy on March 26th and he's perfectly healthy! Crystal had quite a scary time after she delivered him. We are grateful she is alive and well and enjoying her new little one. And he has NO name yet. SO HURRY UP! ha ha. Just kidding. Names are SO hard Crystal, I understand :) Just can't wait to hear it. If I get permission, I'll post a picture of the cute little guy! Seriously, he's a beautiful boy!

Yesterday, we got to enjoy a session of conference (will post about that one next...I want to wait until Tuesday to give you ALL the exciting news!!!) and be with Wade's parents. We decided a few days ago to come to Salt Lake for conference weekend. We stayed at the Red Lion last night. Holy moly. Could it become the worst sleep ever for EVERYONE? ha ha. Our next door hotel neighbors decided to drink all night and yell and SCREAM out the window for girls to come up! "Hey, come in from the snow!! We still have 3 bottles left!!! Room 405. ROOM 4-0-5". They did this a few times in the wee hours. PEOPLE ARE SLEEPING!!! The power went out, so the AC didn't muffle the noises and it was awful and we couldn't phone downstairs to complain either! haha. Turns out they were evicted at 4am. By the other next door neighbor. Thank you, Mr. 406! Kate kept crying through the night, Charlotte ended up having a migraine which means throwing up after all the screaming eye and head pain was through, Jack fell out of the bed (which by the way is funny cause Wade couldn't get him out from between the bed and the nightstand and Jack kept saying, stuck daddy!) but he had the best night sleep. On top of it all, we couldn't sleep from all of that PLUS the excitement from conference.

So we decided to get out of our 2nd night in the hotel in Salt Lake and head back today. We'll go down again tomorrow to spend our last afternoon/evening with Wade's parents and have the kids say goodbye. But it's been a fantastic time and enjoyed it! We will miss them for sure :) But thankfully, we'll be able to see them again soon!

Sweet ride.

2011-04-03T19:20:00.004-06:00

We forked out some of our tax refund for this:

And now we can take all 3 kids on our walks...with two strollas of course.

Strolla

2011-03-10T12:09:00.004-07:00

Yesterday, I took Jack and Kate to Walmart and Sam's Club to get a few things. In Walmart, there were some umbrella strollers hanging on a rack and Jack's like "ooooh a strolla!!!" My strolla, mommy! At home, mommy!" and even today when we went to Charlotte's therapy, Jack asks, "ride in strolla, mommy?" ha ha!

So Jack has picked up on how Wade says a stroller. (really they say Pram in NZ but here when he does say stroller, it's STROLLA). And I LOVE IT!

Charlotte's day at the hospital.

2011-03-01T13:03:00.007-07:00

Charlotte went under anesthesia on Thurs. Feb 24th.

First--a shout out to my Aunt Jean...THANK YOU for watching Kate and Jack. I know it was long and I'm sorry it took 5 hours but it was so much easier not to have the kids around so we could just be with Charlotte. You are amazing to do that for us! Thank you!!!

Anywho--It was only an eye exam but she had to be put under to get a real GOOD look at her eyes. She even had some pictures taken! She was SO brave--a trooper and she did really well.

To calm her down before we went to the next waiting room, we thought it would be SO fun to make funny pictures. And once she started doing that, she was much happier. And she was SO funny too. Just full of giggles! I love her so much.

The good thing was, there was nothing done to her except eye drops to dilate her eyes (in the 2nd waiting room) and whatever they do in the O.R. to take pictures and to get the good look of the eyes. The nurses were so impressed with how cooperative she was with the drops. They kept saying they wished all the kids were this good! I'm not surprised. She's such a good kid when it comes to these types of things.

She was given some verced to calm her nerves before going back to the O.R. Now THAT was really funny! She was hilarious!! But when they have a short time under anesthesia, the effects of the verced aren't good. They are really emotional and upset. So plus' and minuses to that stuff. We didn't really realize the hard time verced would give so I think IF there's a next time, we'll forgo it.

The hardest part was the goodbye, really. I think every time that is the awful part but I knew she was going to be fine and the recovery was going to be okay--sort of-- and temporary.

It's sad to look at these photos. I didn't realize (to me) how swollen her eyes were. And she just looks so sad.

She's drinking a rootbeer slushy.

It was so hard to see her this way and not be herself. I know she was frustrated too. But thankfully we were in recovery for just an hour or so- so we were able to leave and help her get better the rest of the night at home. Primary Children's treat the kids so well. They are amazing.

Results of the surgery:

The Dr. (who is incredible) came in to talk to us before we were allowed to go back to see Charlotte. Gave us the pictures of her eyes. And GOOD NEWS! NO pressure from the brain onto the eye (no tumor!!) and her left eye has gotten better so she doesn't need glasses! Well, at least for now. Chandler family eyes are NOT good. But he wants her to go without them for 2 months and to check how her eyes do without the glasses. The only concern is how she falls a lot and that she might hurt her eyes but we can get non prescription lenses so she can have safety glasses. So we'll decide what we want to do. But yay!!!

It was a hard day but we got through it and had good results! The kids both got a happy meal on the way home to celebrate!!! We are on diets so we had to wait and go home and eat a boring meal. And no toys were included. Sigh. :)

Our anniversary

2011-02-28T10:41:00.003-07:00

Well, I ended up having NO photos of our anniversary. Boo. ha ha. It's all good. We had a great day anyway. We ended up just getting some pizza and having dessert and watching a movie at home! And since the place we wanted to go out to eat had their AWESOME deal that goes only from 3-5pm we decided to go on Thursday instead. It's worth the wait. Your wallet will thank you ;) The reason being: Charlotte has Hula on wednesdays at 4pm. I couldn't let her not go since it's only one day a week and they're learning their dance still. So we were fine in having a 2 day celebration!

Elora came on Thursday so we could go. She's da baayst. We love her and the kids love her. We went to "Elements". It's such a posh, "expensive" place (I guess it's relative). And the food is GOOD and DELICIOUS and and and!!!! I can go on. And it's gourmet with a REAL chef. If you're in Logan any time, I highly recommend it. Click HERE to go to their website.

I gave Wade a movie and a waffle cone maker for our anniversary plus some chocolates from the kids. He gave me roses, Just Dance 2 for Wii and movie too. It was awesome!

Thanks for the wonderful anniversary, Wade. Each year gets better than the last. And that's hard to beat!

Nothing.

2011-02-23T19:15:00.008-07:00

Nothing. Zip. Zilch. Nada. Woo hoo!!

As of this Valentines Day, our curse has been broken!!! If you need a recap, go HERE or HERE to find out what I'm talking about! ha ha.

The curse? Eventful things! As this year, there was NOTHING.

Except, wearing pink and red. And blue.

ps, Kate decided to get out of her sweater like this. I thought it was hilarious!

Don't forget...being silly :)

Being visited by Cupid!

Eating heart shaped pizza

And enjoying the yummy dessert in a homemade waffle cone!! That's what I gave Wade for our anniversary!! :) (I will do a post on our anniversary too. I just KNOW you're all dying to know. lol)

Enter crappy camera. It tastes BETTER than it looks :)

A little love from my Nacho.

2011-02-14T06:00:00.000-07:00

Happy 9th Anniversary!

2011-02-09T07:08:00.000-07:00

Hard to believe that it's 9 years since we got married. 2002 doesn't seem that long ago. In fact, I feel like I haven't been married this long. Time goes by so fast when you're having fun. I'm so thankful to be married to the most incredible person. And saying yes was the best thing I ever did in my life. I love you, Wade. I'm so thankful we chose to be married in the temple and sealed for time and all eternity. Wow. Eternity. That's an incredible blessing that Heavenly Father has given to us. I've been so blessed in my life. I can't imagine going through life without you. Here's to another year of wedded BLISS.

Thank you!

2011-02-09T07:07:00.000-07:00

Thanks to all your input about the cake blog!! I've got lots to think about...he he. I loved all of the suggestions I got here and on FB. You are awesome!! :)

What's in a name?

2011-02-06T20:25:00.002-07:00

I've decided to start a cake blog. hehe. Not yet to sell cakes or anything but just to get the pictures up when I do them.

Just wanted your opinions on which name to call my blog :)

Not So Crumby Cakes

The Cake Curator

Or if any of you have a greater idea for a name, I'm open to suggestions! A lot of them have been taken i.e. Let them eat cake, a piece of cake, icing on the cake, cake candy... I'm not creative. These awesome ones are from Wade. He's just fantasteec!

What think ye?

Kater Gater

2011-02-04T13:03:00.006-07:00

Miss Kate had her 9 month appointment yesterday. Didn't need any of the regular immunizations just the 2nd dose of her flu shot. She's a healthy thing and was waving to the Dr!

She now weighs 19lbs 14oz (66 percentile)

Height is about 29 1/4 inches (95 percentile) Still a tall girl! I'm only using 12 month clothes on her. Some 12-18 month sizes. No more baby looking clothes. Sad it's gone by so fast but excited for her to become more independent and she can be happy with where she wants to be.

She has been better at eating at the table. Does not eat baby food. Even the peaches...silly girl! Really enjoys our food...sort of. he he. She had a great appetite for Wade's fettuccine Alfredo. Cream and butter...seriously, who can resist that?! In due time, she'll come to like the yummy stuff we have. Just patience is what we need with that. And you know, I fear I'll have difficulty again like with Charlotte but the dr reassured me what we went through with Charlotte is not a common thing so just to take it easy and offer her the food and she'll eventually like it. I knew that but it's just a nice reassurance too.

She LOVES to wave. And it's so cute. Has four teeth and last night just STARTED to do a weird reach her arm all the way in front of her/inch worm crawl. I was just so happy. She's been "almost" crawling for a few months now. Always on hands and knees but rocking back forth-so what a good girl! She was SO pleasant last night. I'm thinking it's her new way of getting around. So keep it up, Kate!

She is now only having one nap a day but it's about 2-3 hours. Roughly the same time as Jack so I can get a few things done if that happens. She still wakes up in the night but these last few nights, she's had longer stretches of sleeping too. So good things are coming our way!

1-10

2011-01-31T13:30:00.011-07:00

Alright. I'm struggling to think of a creative post today so bear with me at my useless creativity.

1- 1 year down as a Bishop's wife on February 14th....

2- I just made these two Valentine topiaries. I think they're sooo cute. I don't have too many Valentine decorations...yet...just like to buy them post-holiday so I can get good deals :) But this little project wasn't el cheapo. ha ha. But sure darn cute. If you wanna make some yourself, go HERE.

3- 3 kids at the table. We just put out the blue toddler/booster seat a few days ago on one of the chairs at our table. And have been giving Kate (trying to) regular food...but ground up because she refuses to have anything to do with baby food.

Speaking of 3 kids. I've been thinking about how much Charlotte had for a head of hair compared to Jack and Kate. And what each looked like at 9 months old (Kate's current age). I didn't remember very well because I was BLOWN away! ha ha. So cute!

Look at that mop!

Um, I only posted this because of the two pig tails!

Kate and her two pigtails. Having fun in Jack's crib too!

Love her boy hair too! And it's still dark :)

4- Kate now has 4 teeth! And about to be put into size 4 diapers. She fits size 3 but she's so tall she ends up having explosions all over her clothes and self.

5- Just bought the girl's cute curtains (pink with sequins and flowers!) on clearance for 5.37 each! And we'll be putting them up for our FHE activity tonight. Woo hoo!

6- 6 cabinets to buy to put in our bookshelves and fireplace project. Want that tax return to come soon so we can get started!

7- Kids are generally in bed or we're on their way to bedtime at 7pm. Well, we TRY to have them to bed at that time. Obviously some days are more crazy than others and can't but generally if nothing is going on then that's the bedtime! It's SOOO nice to have an evening to yourself. And the kids don't wake up too early. Charlotte's awake no earlier than 7-7:15am! (I really hope I didn't just jinx myself...)

8- Jack will start preschool in August (8th month...if I'm not making sense!). Can't believe he'll be that old. We are putting him in an excellent preschool that will pretty much guarantee (also depends on the parent too) he'll be reading before kindergarten. That was one of the biggest things we wanted. Reading is so important. If anyone has tips on how we can accomplish this with Charlotte, I want her to not be behind when she goes to Kindergarten this year.

9- Our 9th anniversary will be on February 9th! Can't believe how time flies.

10- Wade and I were in classes together 10 years ago at BYU. And it will be 10 years since we went on our archaeology dig down in Southern Utah in May/June. Holy moly. That's just incredible to me.

Working hard Wade. Working hard... :)

I'm in there...

Back to real life...

2011-01-24T13:37:00.007-07:00

Well, Charlotte's been eagerly wanting to go back to school since the start of the holidays. I love how she loves it. She learns so much and is doing so well!! So here she is waiting for the school "bus" to come!

Back to the bribes--er I mean charts in full force! Seriously. It's da baayst.

Kate and her teething :(

Jack and his building!

It was a great holiday break but getting back to routine is just as nice :)

New Years

2011-01-24T13:22:00.002-07:00

Well, we had about 5 or 6 days to recuperate before our good friends, The Tippets, arrived. It was our 4th annual New Years get together! The Tippets and us usually go to one of our houses and stays 2 or 3 days to eat and to celebrate New Years. Our other good friends, The Wyatts, usually come and celebrate for a bit too. But this year wasn't meant to be. Mainly cause I'm a momo and didn't remember to say anything and then when I realized, it was too late. But thankfully they have family close by and some came from out of town so I only feel a little bit like a dufus. I'm sorry guys. Please forgive me!

The kids played together, we ate like fat piggys --had our usual New Years eve party with Mexican Bread dip and Maori bread....what a combo! Of course had other yummy things too!! And our usual cardiac arrest breakfast: eggs, french toast, bacon, and hash browns with OJ. Watched Nacho Libre, rang in the New Year with bubbly...after midnight since I was comforting Kate who just woke up! But we had a lot of fun. So much so, we didn't take any pictures. but I'll leave this post with this guy

Nacho.

From this movie:

It's da baaayst.

"Ok. Orphans! Listen to Ignacio. I know it is fun to wrestle. A nice piledrive to the face... or a punch to the face... but you cannot do it. Because, it is in the Bible not to wrestle your neighbour. "

"Beneath the clothes, we find a man... and beneath the man, we find his... nucleus."

So as you can tell, I've been quoting Nacho Libre lately. You must watch it. It's clean and fantasteec!

Christmas dinner.

2011-01-24T13:09:00.006-07:00

Wade loves to cook. I always feel so bad when he cooks on Sundays or other days to try new recipes out or whatever because I just feel like a l. Of course, he wanted something different this year for Christmas dinner. Didn't feel like a turkey and the ham is always too big! So this year was a New York roast. Smiths had a deal. It was priced at 45 dollars and we got it for just around 15 bucks. WOWSERS! And it was SOOO good. It was just amazing!! I wish I could have it more often but it's just way too expensive.

An herb-crusted roast. If that's the right word.

It wasn't white...it's our camera.

Mmmm. So good. We had the New York Roast, roasted potatoes and Kumara (sweet potato), rolls, peas, broccoli with cheese sauce and bubbly.

Jack's smile is so priceless in this photo. Makes me happy!!

Both kids were SO excited about Christmas dinner. Well, they were excited about everything that day! Even if we didn't end up having time to go to a movie :)

Christmas Morning

2011-01-24T13:08:00.001-07:00

Look what Santa brought! Man, he is GOOD! Yeah! ha ha.

He even made an awesome lolly/candy trail from their bedroom to their stockings. When Charlotte woke up and noticed the snickers on the ground, she was so giddy. She followed the trail and went straight to a stocking. We woke Jack up and showed him the lollies. He loved it.

They're checking out the loot Santa brought.

They were fascinated at the note Santa left for them. He thanked them for the cookies and milk. And he told them that Rudolph was so hungry he went into the fridge to grab a carrot. Good thing because we forgot to set one out for him! What a smart smart Santa.

She's SO happy now that her tooth broke through :)

Ma and Grandpa gave these Gingerbread boy, girl and giraffe to the kids. We set them out with their stockings so they could have big cuddles with them. Thank you so much, Ma and Grandpa!!

It was such a great morning. We started about 8:25am and it took about 40 minutes to open the gifts. For awhile, we just let the kids open theirs (taking a turn each). And it was so fun to see their faces. They loved all the presents we gave them, Santa gave them and what their Grandparents gave them.

Jack's first present he opened. What is it?!

It's a Cars plate!

What's Charlotte's first gift?

A wooden train. She was asking for a train for Christmas!

Kate enjoyed the wrapping and the boxes and could care less about what she got!

She's opening her big gift for Christmas.

A "lap top!"

Jack's big gift for Christmas.

A workbench! This kid plays with this and the tools every day. Constantly!

Of course, Charlotte gets in the action too :)

The kids mainly got clothes, 4 or 5 toys they've been wanting and dvds. Wade and I kept it simple and we gave each other some dvds and smelly fruity soaps. I got Wade a new blade for his saw and he got me a gift card to Old Navy for Jeans. So that was fun!

For breakfast, Wade made our traditional Croissant, Ham, Cheese and Tomato sandwiches with OJ. And the kids just kept playing with their toys!

My parents gave the kids their ornaments and a few little things like stickers and candy and we got some dvds and of course the annual family history item. This year it was 3 videos that were taken when my grandmother got married in 193something?? mom, when?? And a few more journal pages. Thank you mom and dad!!

And Wade's parents were kind enough to give us a gift card to use at either Walmart or Sam's Club and the cute stuffed gingerbread people and giraffe for the kids. And we used the gift card towards a purchase of a Wii bundle :) It's been SO much fun to play and to exercise on!

Thank you Ma and Grandpa!

Christmas Eve

2011-01-24T09:10:00.000-07:00

Well, after we had our nice Christmas Eve Party, we continued on with our fun tradition of setting out cookies for Santa--which we made earlier that day-- and milk. We wrote him a note to enjoy the cookies and milk we left out!

Then the kids opened their present of pajamas

We then got dressed in our new jammies!

We then read the "shortened" version of "The Night Before Christmas" and then the extra short version of the Savior's birth. Hopefully we can get them to sit through the stories much more next year :)

and then we added a new tradition of a Christmas movie to unwrap!

We gave the kids Mickey's Christmas Carol and watched it on the projector downstairs (Wade has been bringing that home every year from school during the break!). Oh that was THE BEST! The kids were SO excited for Santa to come!!!

Christmas Adam and Christmas Eve Party.

2011-01-24T09:00:00.000-07:00

We celebrated Christmas Adam/Festivus with some pizza and watch the episode about Festivus that night! ha ha. It's kind of becoming more and more tradition to actually do something that day and I LOVE IT! The more fun eating and memories the better!

On Christmas Eve, we had our tradition of a Christmas Eve Party:

Yes. We love food.

So we had bubbly, M&Ms, club sandwiches, Spring rolls, Potato Skins, Crackers and cheeseball, another type of dip and veggies and dip. YUM.

Kate wasn't happy. She actually cut a tooth on Christmas morning. She was NOT in the mood.

Charlotte loves posing with this face because I took a picture of myself doing it and sent it to Jack one day when he went to Primary Children's with Wade. She thinks it's hilarious.

This is the picture she thinks is hilarious. Gorgeous, I know...

Oh we were SO full and happy!! And the kids had the best time!

Writing to Santa!

2011-01-24T08:47:00.000-07:00

We had THE best Christmas and the time leading up to it. It's amazing at how much the magic of Christmas is seen through your children's eyes. I wouldn't care about getting another present for me if I could have this every single year. I know, I know. So SAPPY. But it's true.

We had to write to Santa and make a wish list! That was a must!

Yeah, pretty much they just drew on their wish lists.

The nightmare above all nightmare trips...oh and Thanksgiving too.

2011-01-24T08:38:00.000-07:00

This is our journal and it's a looong post....just warning you :)

Thanksgiving was in Oregon this year! We had wonderful 2 1/2 days in Oregon. It was gorgeous and so much fun!! And I couldn't believe it was 3 1/2 years since I was home. I want to try and get home once a year from now on. But only during Summer by car. If we go in Winter...BY PLANE.

This is our journal and it's a looong post....just warning you :)

We actually left for Portland on Monday but were turned back by a blizzard that had closed roads. So, on Tuesday morning we decided to re-evaluate the trip, look up weather forecasts, see what roads were still closed, etc., to see if we could still make the trip. I-84 was closed. BUMMER. It was still hairy in areas that were open and we just decided it wasn't looking good. So I wrote to my mom and dad and told them that we decided against it. It was hard to do and discouraging but it wasn't possible for us to go. And then I thought, what about going through Pocatello? And lo and behold, the roads were open! And it was only an extra 45 minutes! So, debating about whether to go or not started again. Then Wade said, okay, that's it. We're going. So we hurried and rounded the kiddos and things and hopped in the car and went.

We got gas in Tremonton and then we were once again, on our way. And honestly, all the way to Pocatello, one lane was good, the other lane had a bit of snow on the road but it was good conditions! And then, we turned on I-86. It was okay at first but then it was pretty nerve-racking. One lane was generally clear, the other snow packed. We saw an Expedition just like ours on the right shoulder that had rolled. We passed so many accidents all the way to Twin Falls (or Idaho Falls...whatever one it is). By the time we stopped there for gas I was so sick about driving conditions. I just wanted to turn around. Wade was like, we've come this far we're going. So after an hour break for the kids, we took off again. And the roads were still hairy until Glenns Ferry. And then, CLEAR. Oh what a relief!!!

At that point, I told my brother in Portland we were on our way again but asked him not to tell mom and dad just in case we need to turn around. I didn't want to get their hopes up again. We made it to Ontario, had McDonalds, and called my parents to tell them we were on our way! My mother screamed so loud! It was funny. We only had about 7 more hours to go. We had gone about 9 (the entire trip is usually only 11 or 12 hours!). We were tired but we were going to make it!! The mountain passes were soooo clear. AMAZING. And then right out of Pendleton all the way to Hood River there was just black ice. I cringed and my stomach sank for hours. It was just all those memories and feelings from our accident 2 years ago that just were constantly with me. But yes, we finally made it to Beaverton at 1:30 in the morning! Only 16 hours of driving- whew. Went to bed late, kids were happy and good. All in all, a freakish drive but so glad the kids were so good.

We spent the first day with Thanksgiving preparations and relaxing and eating. It was awesome.

That night, Mike and Kecia and London and Me and Wade went to Old Navy to catch some Thanksgiving deals. Didn't get any but it was sure nice to not lug around 3 kiddos! They were at home enjoying Grandma and Grandpa and Cade and Cole for a fun night/sleepover!! The next day we didn't hit any black Friday sales like we usually do. I KNOW! No sales tax and I didn't go?? That's just wrong. But seriously...I couldn't wake up. We got into Oregon 1:30am Thanksgiving morning (2:30am Utah time) and I just couldn't do it. So we just had a great time hanging out with my parents. All the kiddos made bird houses with Grandpa. Jack is a tool nut so he was LOVING all the tools and the building. We spent the rest of the afternoon/evening with Mike and family at his house and then of course Grandma and Grandpa watched the kids so Wade and I could have time at the stores that night. Did I mention I love no sales tax??

The next morning, we met up with Wade's childhood best friend, Peter Tovey. He married a beautiful Samoan girl named Bonita at BYU-H. They both decided to go to law school and ended up going to the same school in Portland. Isn't that crazy?! So it was great to meet them. And it was awesome to see Wade reconnect with his friend. I'm sure we'll see them every time we visit Oregon. And Facebook makes it better until we do!

The drive home was a nightmare. We left after our breakfast with the Tovey’s that Saturday. Said our goodbyes and away we went. We thought once we passed through the Dalles/Blue Mountains, we'd be free and clear. But oh no—it just started in the Dalles. That morning and the previous day or two, they had freezing rain storms: just incredibly nasty stuff. Portland and especially The Dalles are notorious for that. But we had no choice. We had to get back. Wade had to go to work on Monday. We tried to find cheap flights for Wade so I could stay a week and hope for clearer weather the next weekend but that wasn't so. From the Dalles to Pendleton it was kinda okay. The freezing rain had melted but you saw all these accidents from the day before (3 semis had an accident and were all burned and still smoking). It freaks you out!

But before we started up the mountain pass after Pendleton, we hit a blizzard. They only required the semi's to have chains and we didn't have any so that was lucky although I kind of secretly wished we had some. It was almost a white out, going up and down through the pass at 25 mph. I was freaking out. I thought any second we'd lose control. It was horrific. Of course Wade's like, Jessie, if you act upset, I'll be upset and I need you to be okay so I can be okay. He was right. I couldn't let him be nervous upset cause he was driving.

But after a few hours, we made it through!! Oh happy day, we thought!

We made it all the way to Baker City where we were thinking of staying the night...wish we did. But we stopped and ate dinner there and decided to drive on through. By the way, the kids were once again, amazing!

We got going about 45 min into the drive, we saw flares. And a cop setting up a blockade to send cars off the freeway and back to Baker City. I sure wish we had been sent back. In fact, we were one of the last 10 cars or so before the closed it off and had people turn around. We were stuck on I-84 in the middle of NOWHERE for just over 4 HOURS. NOT joking. We were at the end of 6 miles of stopped traffic. DID I MENTION IT WAS FOR 4 HOURS?!?!

The view from our car!!!

Wade kept asking about what was going on to truckers since they had CB radios. Apparently there was a fatal accident. And that's all we knew. The highway was ice. Pure ice. People got out to use the "bathroom" (well, men ha ha ha) and you saw them run and do the slide across the street for fun. And it was pure ice like that all the way to Ontario. I'm being dramatic but the truth is, it was pure ice.

Finally we started to move again!!! HOORAY!!!! At that point it was 1:30am. It took us an hour (normally it takes about 20 min. I think...we weren't that far from Ontario) to get to Ontario and to find a hotel because it was just ice the whole way. I seriously was hyperventilating. But the kids had slept the whole time during that stopped traffic. That to me was a miracle.

We got a hotel and rested until we woke up about 8am and had breakfast. Wade talked with a lot of people who were in that mess and discovered that one of them was at the very back with that cop. The cop kept telling them updates of the situation. He said that there was a fatality and that they usually take 6-8 hrs to do an investigation but because they needed the snowplows to get through, they cut corners. Could you imagine if we were still stranded for longer?? UGH. The truth is that we felt less like complaining since someone had died.

Well, from there the drive through to Utah was okay at first, clear highway road until just about Jerome. We stopped for lunch and ran into an old home ward friend!! What a sight for sore eyes! We laughed and freaked out about our nightmare trip. (They actually stopped in Baker because the roads were closed by then!) After lunch we were on the road again and another snowstorm hit. So now both lanes which hadn't melted from the Arctic blast-were totally covered. It was such a nightmare. We drove so slowly and it was just not fun. And can I say there are STUPID drivers?? I guess I was naive when we had our Ford Explorer with 4x4 and I guess others were like that too. We saw accident after accident and it wasn't good. It took FOREVER but we got home that night about 6pm. Oh, home sweet home!!! Driving time: 22 HOURS. That's not counting our sleep in the hotel- only time behind the wheel. But we are now convinced that we will NEVER EVER drive long distances in snow. Plane in Winter, Car in Summer. :)

PS...do you like my dramatic description?! How many times did I write nightmare? ha ha.

Floss

2011-01-20T11:52:00.001-07:00

Kids were quiet one Sunday evening...a little TOO quiet....thank goodness we still had floss to use that night :)

What? Are you a doll, Jack?!

2011-01-20T11:48:00.005-07:00

As I was busy taking pictures of our Christmasy things one day, Jack screamed out he was stuck. And I laughed at him.

Having fun in Portland during Thanksgiving

2011-01-19T14:16:00.000-07:00

Jack is a tool NUT, Grandpa Chandler had planned for so long to make something with Jack. And since Cade and Cole had fun spending the night, they all made one and so did Charlotte!! Oh you should've seen Jack. Couldn't take his eyes OFF of all the drills and wood. And learned a new tool: the nail gun. So now, he has a new nerf like gun...but it's the nail gun. ha ha. Thanks Dad, you really made Jack's day! And thank you, Mom and Dad for letting us come. Even if it's for a short visit. I think we need to start coming more and more. :) Love you.

Here are some fun pictures of us with my family! I miss them but we were so glad we got to see them. Thanks for letting us come and for the fun time we had together!! And for letting me steal some photos for my blog :)

Um, the only picture I can find from Thanksgiving dinner. And it's from Kecia! YIKES. I'm useless. I'll blame it on our lame-o camera.

I LOVE this picture. I love seeing London and Cade and Cole but also the priceless faces of Charlotte and Jack. haha. They LOVED playing with their cousins. Such a bond even though we're so far away.

Cole! Such a handsome guy! And loved that bird. Had to sleep with it too :)

Cade LOVED holding Kate. And so did London!

London was the GREATEST babysitter. She was so good to Kate and of course to Charlotte and Jack. I'd have her come and babysit any day.

We miss you guys! Thanks for having us over all day Friday and letting the kids spend the night on Thanksgiving night. We had such a fun time. You really spoiled us too. We love you!

What a day.

2011-01-16T14:47:00.008-07:00

"You saved her life," the nurse said. "So good you learned those first aid skills." We had to take that class before we could bring Charlotte home from the NICU. I can't believe we put them to good use.

Those were the words of the dr and nurse in the ER yesterday. We saved Kate's life. It sounds so dramatic and the gravity of it all wasn't really known until they said it to my face.

Yesterday, about 11sh, we were all downstairs. And rolling around was little Kate. She's so good. She's sooo good at finding things and putting them into her mouth. A little too good.

We were trying to get Jack down to bed for a nap but first bribed him with a game of MarioKart (he willingly went to bed afterwards, by the way. It does work. he he). Kate was by our desk, choking. Sometimes she does that and is fine. By the time Wade made it over to her she was choking more and more. I thought it was just a little piece of paper that we didn't pick up or that she bit off--she was, after all, on top of torn paper. Wade saw that it was silver and thought it was just a bit of wrapping paper. He could see that it was right at the back of her throat and with his big fingers he was worried he was going to push it down her throat. Of course, I had ran right over to him and Kate. He started slapping her back to knock it out of her throat but it wasn't coming out. Kate was turning blue. He slapped her again and I tried to get it out of her mouth but I couldn't reach it. I was just literally about to call 911 when she got it up a bit out of her throat. Then, all of a sudden it slipped forward so I could grab it. What Wade had seen when he looked into her mouth was only the very top quarter inch of this TV cable connector. It was pointing down her throat in the opposite direction that it is in this photo:

(sorry it's blurry). A Cable connector/adapter.

Kate was so scared. I was crying, she was crying. Wade was stunned. The kids wanted to play MarioKart. Silly kids. ha ha. It was really hard to calm Kate down but we finally did it. I decided, once Jack was in bed, that Kate was tired and hungry. So I gave her bottle, drank most of it, and she fell asleep.

Then off I went to a jean sale at Aeropostale, (yeah, if you're going to have a sale, get enough stock...cause fat girls wanna look cute too!) and I had Charlotte so we walked around and played at the soft play for awhile. Then off to Ross just for fun. PS, can you believe that I was pretty good at not buying anything?? Temptation was strong but we didn't need anything. Anywho. Wade texts me on my way home, about 1pm. Said Kate woke up but wasn't herself and had thrown up.

I raced home and he was holding Missy moo. She looked so unhappy. I was so worried. No fever, nothing. I mean she hadn't been sick today or yesterday...not for a couple of weeks (well, teething but that's different). In my heart I knew it was related somehow to the choking but I thought I was being one of those dramatic moms. Wade and I just kept debating about whether she needed to be seen by a doctor. We called doctors and nurses at the hospital but all they said was that they couldn't give medical advice over the phone. Come on! So I decided to bug my brother who's a doctor in North Carolina- no answer so I left a message. He was able to call back to talk to me about the situation. At that point, I tried to give Kate a bottle or piece of cereal (puff) and she wouldn't even eat.

He said it would probably be best to get Kate checked out. He said her vomiting definitely had a connection to her choking. So off to the ER I went. No foreign object turned up on the x-ray. Things physically looked okay as far as they could see but Kate wouldn't eat at all. And usually she loves the bottle even if she's full. At least she'd loved to try sucking and then be like, oh I'm full. But no, this was different. She just wouldn't eat.

The ER said that we couldn't leave until she ate well and kept it down. We tried juice, formula, pedialyte and popsicles. Finally she drank one ounce of formula, but that wasn't enough. After about 3 hours of waiting I decided to make another bottle. Wow! 1 1/2 oz! They said they wanted to call Primary Children's because of how little she was eating (our ER is not fully equipped since we are in a more "rural" area. ha ha. nice! just what I wanted to hear).

Primary's said that it was an "iffy" situation. She had started acting more herself and had a clear x-ray but was not eating so they thought something serious must have happened or that she's just got a scratched up throat. They wouldn't know until they had a look.

So the drs said we could do one of several things: 1. Go to Primary Children's to have Kate drink barium thinking it would give her adequate time for her hunger drive to increase and then do a scan to see how things look. 2. Have a doctor at the ER put a tube down her throat to pump barium in and analyze her that way with a camera. 3. Wait it out at home and if she doesn't drink, come back to do the procedure, or 4. Wait it out at the ER.

I didn't know what to choose. Since she seemed okay I wanted to go home even though we didn't have final answers. And plus it was date night! So I decided to wait it out at home. Of course, we had to call back 2 hours later to tell the dr how Kate was doing.

Well, she drank 4 oz of milk about 6:30 so I was pretty happy about that. It didn't look comfortable but she was able to do it. She drank okay during the night. She also has drank a few oz here and there today but nothing like she used to. I'm keeping my eye on her since she isn't completely herself. So, that's where we are.

I was emotional all day yesterday and would cry especially at the what ifs. It was a close call with her. It probably seems a bit dramatic to say but when the dr and nurse tell you that you "saved Kate's life" then you realize how close we came to losing her. It was scary. I'm going to be a nazi now with floor time and keeping things clean. I never thought something like this could happen to us, but obviously it can. Last night, our prayers were extra thankful. I am looking right now at her and thinking "I'm never going to complain how fussy she is again!" Because I LOVE that she is fussy. It means it's because she's still here with us. So bring it on Kate. I wanna hear it. I love you Missy moo.

I've got reasons...

2011-01-13T12:31:00.019-07:00

I can think of a zillion reasons why I've neglected this blog (and my house, and my kids and Wade...):

1. The holidays.

2. The holidays.

3. The projects to finish before the holidays.

4. The holidays.

Ha ha. It's true. The holidays have been crazy. Not like crazy psycho crazy but crazy busy crazy.

There were the holiday neighbor gifts...

(I totally stole this picture off of the internet. We had a cuter card)

There were the cards to send out...

There was Charlotte's School Christmas program... (p.s. my camera wasn't charged.)

I was late to her program by a few minutes (dropping off Jack and Kate at a babysitters). When I sat down, Charlotte was doing one of her first numbers. They were ringing bells. It was so cute but this annoying child, named Dakota, kept bothering her. They were all sitting on stage and he just kept scooting next to her. She had tears running down her face. She was elbowing him constantly. But the stupid kid wouldn't stop. I went down to show her I was there and that things were okay. I wanted to stop the kid but at the same time felt the parents (who might I add, are thick rednecks) should've done something about it. I'm sure they thought it was hilarious, along with others. But for me, my heart was breaking.

After the dance finished, I followed her backstage. I noticed the HUGE bruise on her forehead. They left a message telling me that she had fallen. But this was so big. I think she was still trying to overcome the emotions from that and then stupid Dakota bothering her. Sorry, I'm using language like stupid but I have to. It's how I feel. Anywho. They said she was adament she wanted to stay. They said she said "I want to dance with my friends". And let me tell you. She did. And it was beautiful. The above picture, my wonderful friend Jenny took. Her son is in the program with Charlotte. It made me swell up. I didn't cry, I always fight crying in public. I don't know why. I do. I'm trying to overcome it. I need to let my emotions just happen. I mean, this was where she was:

And this is where she is now

(this picture was on the front page of the Cache Valley Newspaper. )

It was quite an emotional dance. So beautiful.

The theme was to the Polar Express movie. The boys tapped, she did ballet. It was cute and short. And we had a cute Christmas party afterwards.

Ok. And there were the projects to sew for Kate before Christmas...

Her hooded towel.

And her bedskirt and pillows. I wanted her to have her own. My friend, Nicki, did it for her girl and I thought, yeah! I'll just make a cute bedskirt!! Well, it started as that. Then I had to do cute pillows at that.

It might be hard to see but it's dark gray with little black polka dots. Let me tell you how HARD it was to choose fabric. So many colors and options. BLAH. Ha ha. It looks sooo cute in person.

That black pillow I love like crazy. I got the idea off of Kecia (SIL) who bought one. It was easy to make!!

Christmas Shopping. Christmas Eve preparations and Christmas Day dinner. And New years...oh this list is getting long!

And having 3 kids is killing me. Not literally. But organization/time wise. I just can't seem to grasp it. My house has been a pigsty. Kate's been teething and I can't get her to eat. The kids just were so excited for Christmas, they're going bananas and it just keeps going and going.

And now that it's January 13th GASP...It's come down to, trying to grasp the organization thingy, the lose weight thingy, and dealing with the fussy baby who doesn't like the food I give her thingy.

My organizational problem is a little from this: because I wasn't satisfied with Kate's bedskirt and pillows. It needed a sheet. And a blanket. And the bedskirt needed something else. SO because of my decision to add to her bedding 2 weeks ago, I haven't been cleaning well. And it makes me sick. BUT I finished the blanket today. I did the sheet like 8 days ago. AND it looks WONDERFUL. I'm so pleased with myself. And just FYI. SHEETS are so EASY to make!! And you can coordinate them with your bedding!! So, I think I'll make more, more often!

The sheet and pillows :)

Here it is all together. Ignore my storage underneath...haha It looks really awesome in person! Oh and notice the ric rac on the bedskirt? Yeah. It looks better. :)

And then, I had extra fabric. I had a photo board that needed to be repurposed. So Wade and I stapled and glued and redid it. Now it's a bow holder for both the girls. My other one was too small!!

Oh and today, had to do this last thing with all the extra fabric.

My lose weight thingy:

It's been going well. I hate cravings but that's generally my only problem. I don't give in. I've got a long way to go due to all the weight I gained from Kate. So, here I go. We've been doing awesome!! And exercise. I've been enjoying it!! I love Turbo Jam and our new little toy. You know, the thing I promised never would exist in our house. But I realized that video games aren't how they used to be. They involve the whole family. Especially when you laugh at the one doing the hula hoop. Good times. And good exercise!!

And my little missy moo. So fussy. It's been worse. It's been hard. I can't sit. I can't walk away from her. Unless I hold her. It was getting better but once she started teething before Christmas, it was AWFUL. Sleep was hard. Once she got her first tooth (on Christmas day!!) she was amazing. Until like 1 week later. She just popped a second one. So now, she's got one upper and one lower. So cute. And she's still grumpy, so I'm thinking another is on its way.

And this. This is my last project for awhile!! I might not get to it for a little bit. My kids need me. I want to be organized and keep up with blogging. And my house. Oh my house needs me too..

So, I'm going to be posting on Thanksgiving and then Christmas! And then I'll be caught up and regularly update the blog. I've got to be better! It's our family journal. And I DO apologize for not commenting on your blogs. I promise to be better at that too!!

If you want to make one too, click here for directions :) And if you do, TELL ME! I wanna see it!

Christmas is at our house...is it at yours?

2010-12-15T09:22:00.001-07:00

Any favorite traditions? Share!!!

We love to have our Christmas Eve Party with all yummy party foods to eat! Then we open up one present (pjs) and get dressed up in them. I told Wade this year it would be fun to open up a new Christmas DVD and watch it that night too! Of course, leave out the cookies and milk and carrot and put our stockings out. I CAN'T WAIT!!! The kids are LOVING it. Charlotte keeps counting how many sleeps til Santa comes! This is the best part of Christmas!!! OF course, we'll take our turns opening presents the next day. Have a yummy breakfast, listen to Christmas music, have a yummy dinner! Maybe this year, we'll finally have the patience to sit through a movie at the theater! ha ha ha ha. I loved that tradition growing up.

And I said we should do something for Christmas Adam (Dec 23rd) and he's like let's eat Chinese food! That was a good idea. Now he just wants to celebrate festivus (same day).

Some day, my dream is to have a posh, family Christmas party that night (on the 23rd). We dress in our Christmas dress best, sing Christmas hymns or special Christmas music (not about Santa, etc), put on a beautiful Christmas concert on our grand piano, the kids will have learned their music pieces on the piano, violin, cello, etc. And we'll have beautiful treats and drink egg nog and hot cocoa and bubbly and be an intimate affair and of course invite some friends because they need to enjoy the music too.

The Blizzard!

2010-12-15T09:11:00.004-07:00

Tuesday, November 23rd we decided to head out to Oregon for Thanksgiving. Wade had to work but was able to leave with permission right after lunch. This gave us time to go to Charlotte's Thanksgiving feast at school. We wanted to leave earlier so we could get a good head start before the blizzard reached Utah (which the National Weather Service hasn't issued an actual blizzard warning in almost 14 years). We were all packed so all we did was hop in the car the minute Wade got home. So exciting.

Partly cloudy skies and SUN. The sun was bright and beautiful! YESSS. We made it!! Well, until Snowville. We saw these DARK clouds up ahead.

And then BOOM. The storm. It was crazy. When it got to that point, a police car was just in front of us. He put his lights on and pulled to the side. We were behind him but felt we should pull over. So did the Jeep behind us. He told us the I-84 is closed in Idaho and to go home. I was so mad. But we needed to be safe. So we booked it home. We got out of the storm in about 5 minutes and raced it home.

When we did get home, Wade hurried to Macey's. Got some supplies for the day and some dinner. And we watched the blizzard start. It started in 3:15. And it was awesome. It snowed crazy for hours. Some people didn't think it was that crazy. I thought it was. I grew up in Oregon. Seeing one snowflake would be calling it crazy (cause seriously, that meant a 2 hr delay for school. NOT JOKING...well just a little). Down south they got less and less of it.

Ten minutes into the storm!

about 45 minutes into the storm.

We decided to make the call of not going til the morning. Just in case some miracle the snow all disappeared, right?

But I wanted the kids to go play in the snow after it had settled down. So it took forever to put their gear on but once we were out there they LOVED it. Played, rolled, built in it! They had a blast and so did I!!

Wade already used the snowblower but I'm sure we got almost a foot of snow!

I love this picture of Charlotte walking. She never really has played in the snow before. For a few years, she had her walker or was too unstable. But she just RAN into it. It gave me nice warm fuzzies inside. :)

Isn't this kid just oh so cute?!

After Charlotte walked across the lawn, she just dropped in the snow and made snow angels! I never taught her. Must be one of those things that kids just know how to make!! :)

These kids just are so much fun!

PS. This is the next day. And no, no no. No. We did NOT cut down a tree. ha ha ha ha. My friend totally thought that was a tree stump! It is a sad sad snowman. I really wanted to make one with the kids but the stupid snow was too dry. So I had to use a bucket. And then I couldn't find any sticks or rocks buried in the snow! So this is my snowstump.

The decorations go up...

2010-12-08T09:56:00.005-07:00

Since we were heading to Oregon for Thanksgiving this year, we decided to put up the Christmas tree before we left so when we came home, it was Christmas! We wanted to get the decorations up too but yeah...didn't happen until we got home.

But I love our tree. One day I'll have "MY" tree, with all the gorgeous ornaments in my special front room on display. But this is our tree. And every time we get the ornaments out, I totally remember where I got (most) of them and the really special ones. Some of my favorite ones are: the zapatista (rebel from Chiapas Mexico) that comes with a gun! Our big gigantic snowman star (see picture below), Our nativity shooting star made of Rimu from NZ and a few other precious ones. Sometimes I think the ornaments don't really stand out against our tree but that's okay, it's still beautiful to us!

This is the result of the kids decorating. 2 ornaments on one branch! SO AWESOME! :)

Both of the kids putting the first ornaments on.

Charlotte mesmerized by the lights.

I'm SO excited for Christmas this year. Charlotte's is remembering all these things that we did last year. She remembers the M&Ms that go in the snowman plate, the advent calendars with chocolate in them and other things. And she is the one that loves to move the snowman along on the calendar too! And Jack is just talking about cwismas trees, cwismas lights, snowman,sanna claus, reindeer! I asked what he wanted to do today and he said he wanted to make cookies! We're going to have so much fun this season! And that we'll be really able to show and tell them the true meaning of Christmas.

Colorado

2010-12-08T09:26:00.003-07:00

We headed out to Colorado for the first time in both of our lives. Wait in all 5 of our lives. It was a whirlwind trip. We left on Sunday, October 3rd to Boulder and returned on Tuesday October 5th. Her appt was for that Monday! Charlotte and Jack were awesome driving all that way!!! But Kate....oh man....it was hard. But we did it!

Anywho, Charlotte was approved for a study to see if her left ear can handle a cochlear implant. It was just a bunch of tests that was conducted and they took several weeks to analyze it. We actually just received the data a couple weeks ago. And it was inconclusive. No data saying it would be good or bad to get it. Crazy. Our trip was paid for by their study so it was good to get the information no matter what.

We've never been to Wyoming? Have you? Oh man. NO OFFENSE. But HOLY COW. It was pretty boring. And I've traveled from Utah to Oregon many times and it was gorgeous compared to that drive. Colorado was beautiful. It was fun to see what it was like.

On the drive there, we stopped at the Little America in Wyoming (closest to Utah) and of course had to stop at the same place on the way back. The kids loved it. Thought the playground was fun!!

We didn't have that much time to go and do touristy things but we did go down a couple of streets where it's just pedestrians. Whatever they're called. It was fun. I seriously never have seen so many (stereotyping here...) tree hugger like and naturalist people. And I'm from Oregon. ha ha ha ha. There were some fun things for the kids to see and they had a great time playing on all these things!

The kids had THE best time at the hotel! They think it's so fun to go the "house". ha ha. Charlotte made a great friend there. The lady that puts the breakfast out in the morning. On the 2nd day, Charlotte wanted to put all the dirty table cloths in the dirty laundry and put new ones out.

Wade's an American!

2010-12-07T14:24:00.001-07:00

Citizenship day was November 10, 2010! Congratulations to Wade! I'm so sorry this is a late post but I'm doing it now so that's all that matters, right???

It's been about 3 months of waiting after sending in the hefty bill and papers but he had 3 appointments before this day. He's been wanting to do this for several reasons:

1. He doesn't lose NZ citizenship. So he's a dual citizen. He wouldn't have done it if he had to give that up. (PS, Charlotte's a dual citizen and when we can, we'll do the same for the rest of the kids!)

2. Traveling abroad is so much easier. There's no worry of keeping track of travel documents, tickets, etc. And the chance of losing the green card...WOAH. That would be a nightmare.

3. Deportation. Although this would have most likely would've never happened, you never know!

4. I'm sure there's more, but these are the biggest reasons.

And guess what!? Wade didn't marry me just for citizenship! HA HA HA. Had to throw that in there.

It was such a good day. Thankfully, the sickness/pneumonia/pink eye all happened less than 48 hours of this so we're so blessed it didn't happen earlier.

Wade had to check in early but they let all friends and family come at that time too. Technically they weren't going to let us in until a 1/2 hour later to the auditorium but thankfully didn't have to wait in the lobby for long. We sat on the balcony and Wade sat below in the main auditorium. We watched patriotic images on the screen before it started too. It was a great atmosphere. He sat next to a South African, Iraqi and Somalian.

My wonderful friends, the Tippets, came up to it too. We weren't going to have anyone there with us, except the Midgleys but a family illness came up, so I randomly told Jen about it that morning. And luck would have it and Gary was off of work! If they didn't come, I would have died. Not literally. It was hard taking care of all three kiddos with their help so I'm so grateful they came.

When it started, they first had girl scout/cub scout kids bring out the flag. We said the Pledge of Allegiance. What was funny, the girl holding the flag's pants fell down! It was so funny because she just kept going! I swear if I had a video, I would've sent it into AFV. And I would've won 10,000 bucks for sure. Then a woman sang the national anthem. And said the last line wrong too. Wade couldn't believe it! It didn't don on me that it was the wrong words until he retold me what she said. So funny too. And then she sang another patriotic song. Woo hoo.

Had a nice patriotic talk.

Then they did the oath!

They brought the microphone around to any of the 125 new Americans if they wanted to say anything and Wade did! I wish I could've heard him. The kids were screaming in my ear. But it was awesome. He speaks so eloquently.

Oh I forgot! They played "Cause I'm proud to be an American" well whatever the title of the song is. And everyone sang it. Kind made me laugh but it was cool at the same time because they were really feeling the patriotism!

Then that was it. They handed out --in quite the fastest, orderly hander outers ever-- citizen papers!

We went down to visit the Midgleys in the hospital and went out to dinner. GoodWood Barbecue. LOVE LOVE LOVE that place. Quite American like in food so that was perfect. It was simple. And I wanted to do more for him but by the time we got back it was too late and when I wanted to throw a little American party that weekend, we were full blown into pneumonia, pink eye and Kate's sickness. It was crazy! But it was an awesome patriotic day. We'll never forget it.

Pneumonia, pink eye--oh my!

2010-11-14T12:51:00.007-07:00

Well this past week has been crazy. A week ago Saturday, Charlotte woke up with a fever but after getting some Tylenol in her, she was fine. And off we went to the Ward Breakfast and then to the JJ Cole's warehouse sale (which SADLY is no longer happening in Logan Utah. It was their last one because they were bought out and are moving to Iowa. Sniff).

But a few days later, Charlotte started a cough. But it was only once in awhile I heard it. Sometimes you just cough randomly, you know? The next day, I sent Charlotte to school and Nicole told me she was coughing but not very much. Hmmmm. So on Wednesday, we kept Charlotte home from school. She would've only been able to go for a couple hours anyway because we were heading to Salt Lake for Wade to be sworn in as an US citizen!! ( I will do a post as soon as I have pictures). But on Thursday, her cough was worse. But just a cough. Well, you could hear her rattle even time she breathed. But she was okay.

But Jack had GOOPY eyes. I HATE conjuctivitis/pink eye (they are the same thing...I looked it up! Just in case I start saying conjuctivitis and no one has a clue to what i was saying. he he) plus had a fever...Anywho, we called the dr. Got an appt for the next day at 9:40. Well, during the night, Charlotte was hacking up a lung and had a fever. Her breathing was pretty fast and I was so worried.

We were able to get her in at the same time for the dr to see her. He checked her out and said she's got pneumonia. BUT we caught it early. I started to freak. He said we aren't at the scary stage yet so this is good. Charlotte's on antibiotics and Jack has drops for his eyes plus he got a script written in case he needs it for pneumonia. Well, Charlotte caught pink eye off of Jack. I swear I was trying to make sure they didn't cross contaminate each other but I wasn't good enough. It's not too bad though. But this morning, Kate's nose has been runny. And she has a tiny bit of goop too. I pray nothing happens to her but she had a horrible night sleep. I got up about 6 times with her (she usually wakes up once or twice.) Poor girl.

They are all fine, in their energy and appearance, but they are definitely sick. Charlotte's missing her Primary Presentation today. She was GUTTED last week when someone in our ward removed her from primary to bring her to his lesson in High Priests (which had, apparently, really nothing to do with the lesson. Besides the fact she was only 5 and was asking for primary the whole time). She was so distraught after church. That's another story so I thought today would be terrible plus she knew she was saying a prayer in primary too. But it hasn't affected/phased her-yet. But it's alright. She didn't have a speaking part...her whole class was reciting the 4th article of faith together. So maybe this was a blessing...

So here I am, Kate and Jack are having naps and Charlotte's watching Elf and playing with Jack's toys. ha ha. So I thought I'd do a little update about Charlotte and Jack. I just did one about Kate so thought I'd share what the others are up to!

CHARLOTTE:

This kids loves anything to do with coloring, writing and glue. She's awesome.

Loves to sing. It's so cute. She will sing "Jesus wants me for a sunbeep" to Kate when she's upset. She sings it a lot when Kate is crying in her car seat.

Ugh, this is terrible but apparently she has heard me say this but she says "oh gosh!" when she's busy doing something. It can be when she's made a mistake in drawing or messed up her playdough sculpture. It's funny though. ha ha. She'll say it more often "as a matter of fact" rather than in anger too. Which makes it funnier.

A long time ago, I told Charlotte my name. And she was like, uh no, you're mommy. And a little bit after that, she realized me and Jessie on Toy Story have the same name. So she would randomly call me Jessie. BUT lately, she will yell for "Wade". WADE!! if he needs to come do something quick or for me she'll say "JEH-KUH!" and explain in her cute chatter that something is just wrong. Today, she yelled for me to come and explained that Kate threw up on her mouth, hands and the floor. I actually really love it. She calls me mommy 95% of the time of course. It's just really cute how she says my name!

She loves to make Jack go to therapy. And does all the same stuff she does in therapy. And she carries around a paper and pencil. Does the Lyng 6 sounds (the 6 sounds that cover all frequencies of speech) and chases after him when he doesn't want to do it anymore.

She and Jack have been getting along SO much better. It's all in the secret bribery of charts. I can't tell you how much our lives have turned around. It's not 100% but it's amazing. And I love it. Plus with a parenting meeting for our Relief Society...I learned so much. It's been a real blessing.

Her speech has soared lately. Talks about things using "very very" or uses the, under, ing's

appropriately!

She is in Hula. And is SO cute!!! There's a video on my Facebook profile of a little part of the dance they learned. It's so good for her balance and she just has a fun time.

Is crazy about school and the school bus and church. And of course all other things that are part of her routine. Are we surprised? I think not! So I'm actually quite shocked she's been okay about missing school and church. That's a blessing because sometimes she's just so upset when she doesn't get to do things she really looks forward to.

Thought this picture was so cute. She's in my boots writing things down.

This little random pig in Colorado. She loved it!

Charlotte and her bike. This summer, she finally reached the pedals AND could push herself around the sidewalk and driveway!

On a swing at the Apple Orchard!

JACK!

He's really quite the character!

He loves his tools. And I'm not kidding. He knows all the names of them : tape, saw, hammer, pliers, wrench, square, drill. Plus drill bit and screw. And if he doesn't know it, he asks what it is. He's SO interested in all things regarding building. He thinks his water gun is a drill. Well, any gun he sees. He will watch you do anything. He'll just sit and watch Wade fix the drain or the furnace filter or whatever happens in the garage. He loves to be outside with Wade when he's working in the yard and tries to help and do those things. He loves to take his hammer and fix the wall and bang on it (no damage yet...)

He loves to say "I do it." Which is good. And really frustrating at the same time.

When he hears Wade comes home for the first time after work or opens the door and sees him, he always says, "hey Dad!" So funny.

Discovered his crib gives off shadows. He is deathly frightened of them. No matter how many times we explain it (like a 2 year old would ever understand ha ha) and say it's okay, not a big deal he just is so scared. I got the novel idea to reorient his crib so it wouldn't give off shadows. It has helped a lot. Plus we put a blanket on the side of the crib that gives off the shadows. But he has to sleep with the door opened "just a little bit" (he says it all the time. so cute) and sometimes with the light on. But he's woken up in the night, just terrorized. So sad. But he's getting better.

He loves anything with cars or trucks. Loves his big truck book and has to be read it all the time.

Loves saying his prayers.

Asks all the time if dad is at work, church meetings, church and that he's the bishop.

Is on a huge Toy Story kick.

If he's hurt he'll come up to me but scream Daddy. Sigh. I'm pretty neat, Jack.

LOVES hamburgers and fries. And every time we pass the McDonald's he yells out "hamburger and fries!" Not that he is saying to go get it but just because he knows that's where they are.

This kid just makes me smile. His facial expressions crack me up. I just love him!

Fell asleep with his Happy Meal on our Colorado trip (I will post about that. SOMEDAY! ha ha)

Loves to chase this stupid cat around. It's our next door neighbors. But he'll start to pet it and push down on it and won't let it move. Poor thing. I have to watch out for it every time Jack is around it.

Loves water and loved this sculpture in Colorado with water coming down.

He loves tomatoes! This is one from our garden that he wanted to eat. Ate it just like an apple!

Thank you!

2010-11-11T14:28:00.006-07:00

Today is Veteran's day. I am always so overwhelmed with patriotism and love for all who have served our country and all the soldiers around the world who sacrificed for all of our freedoms. I get upset when I hear the tragic stories of soldiers dying for the freedoms we have today and I rejoice when they come back. I am SO thankful for ALL of them. Both of my grandfather's are veterans and my brother, Dave, is too. He served in Iraq from Feb 2007-August 2007. He was a doctor helping the soldiers and Iraqi people. His military career was from when he started in 1997 (I think that's when you started medical school...) until this past May 2010 when he left the military/Walter Reed Medical Center and decided to join civilian life as an anesthesiologist in North Carolina. Oh I just can't tell you HOW proud I am of him and his sacrifice he has made. Especially for his own family. I love my brother and his family so much and am so grateful he is around today. Dave, you rock. I love you! I'm so proud of you. :)

Homecoming!

Dave receiving the Bronze Star Medal, Ibn Sina - 28th Combat Support Hospital, Baghdad, Iraq

Kater is 6 months old (well...she's now 6 1/2)

2010-11-08T11:24:00.005-07:00

Miss Kate turned 6 months old the day before Charlotte's birthday. I just can't believe it!! She's a nugget and I love it. I love changing her diaper and seeing the chunky legs. But she's not a chunky girl overall...she doesn't really look it. But she's tall too. I didn't realize how tall she was until she was measure at the dr last week!!! I was FLOORED! ha ha

She weighs 17 lbs 4 oz and is the 72% for her weight.

She is 28 1/4 inches long and is in the 99 PERCENTILE!!! Can you believe it?! The typical height for her age (on the paper it said) is 26 inches long. She's 2 inches longer than other 6 months old. CRAZY!!! ha ha.

This picture just CRACKS me up!!! ha ha. She gives this face a lot. ha ha ha ha.

Yes, I know. The flower is usually on the SIDE of the head. ha ha.

A lot of exersaucer pics but what can I say, she's stinkin' cute :) Doesn't she just make you wanna smile?!

She's just so cute. She's getting SO much better. Still a fussy girl but not quite as much. She really really enjoys Charlotte and Jack. And since Jack is at home all day, he entertains her. When he walks into a room and bobs his head or whatever she cracks up laughing. I love hearing her laugh. And it's a lot :)

She isn't too keen on baby food. We give it to her but she isn't crazy about it. I'm sure one day she'll be like, yeah, I like it! But she loves milk a lot. :)

She has been sleepomg AWFUL these last few weeks. She's generally a good sleeper but lately she's awake a few times a night and sometimes she'll wake up and start cooing and laughing. What's up Kate?! seriously!!

I think she's going to start crawling (more like army crawl) very very soon. She rolls around everywhere and likes to put anything in her mouth. So we have to be extra clean on the floor. She can sit but you have to be behind her cause she likes to fall back still. It's amazing how fast she's becoming mobile. I thought Jack was fast but I had him compared to little Charlotte. But he doesn't compare! sheesh!

She's REALLY good at ripping apart your face. If you enjoy this, I'll let you hold her. ha ha. She gets the BIGGEST smile on her face. And smiles so much. And she loves to say ma-ma and da da. I know these are sounds but I think it's a bit early to say it...at least to me. Especially since she's been doing it a while. I don't know. Maybe my audiologist friends and SLP's can tell me :) But I swear she'll turn to Wade and say "hi dadadadada" ha ha. I know it's just sounds but I like to pretend, okay? okay.

Kate has been so much fun. And I love to hold her and squeeze her and give her kisses. She's so happy when you hold her. Not when you leave the room :( but her eyes just light up when she looks at you. I love it. Makes me feel good. I still can't believe she'll be 7 months in a couple of weeks!!

Pumpkin picking fun :)

2010-11-04T13:32:00.009-06:00

Every year we go to the same Pumpkin guy for our pumpkins. Just off the Highway to the west of Ted's gas station. The kids love picking out their pumpkins! It's quick and easy and CHEAP.

Wade loves picking out his perfect pumpkin :)

And Jack had found his!

Charlotte couldn't decide but finally found one. And she wanted to carry it. It probably weighed more than her.

Here's Kate trapped again. I know she enjoyed picking out her pumpkin. Well, maybe it was me...

Came home and I made a batch of pumpkin chocolate chip cookes. This is the best recipe ever and it's from my Sister-in-law Stacy! SERIOUSLY YUMMY. No cake mix either.

Had to have a fun treat after the pumpkins. So drank nice hot apple cider and our pumpkin cookies.

I think the cider made Wade want to chunder later. Just can't take the goodness I guess.

Awww. Cutie Kate! Enjoying the pumpkin day too.

How to have a perfect Halloween Week(end)

2010-11-04T12:14:00.016-06:00

1. Head over to the Pumpkin Patch/Corn field Maze for a class fieldtrip!

2. Pick out a pumpkin!

3. Have fun in the cornfield!

4. Look so adorable and cute for mommy while being trapped!!

5. Head off to the Pumpkin Walk with the class. Oh, and only take the traditional pictures. ha ha. (it was an extremely cute one this year!! All about animation.)

6. Wait until after Charlotte's birthday party to head out to the Pumpkin Patch again (the next day) with good friends and crazy, freezing, rainy weather (uh, it snowed the following week...)

Where's Jack? Uh, he fell asleep in the car and Wade stayed in there with him. I don't think Wade minded at all. :)

7. Have Charlotte's Birthday.

8. Carve pumpkins the few days before Halloween!

This is Jack. He's good at carving! ;)

9. Charlotte carving too. She was so into it! She designed her own but Dad cut it out. So did Jack...sort of...he he. But Charlotte wanted to eat the seeds (i'm sure she learned that at school!) and wanted to make pumpkin pie out of all the pumpkins. Yeah, sorry Charlotte. Not too into that one. he he.

10. Align the pumpkins for a perfect picture!

Jack, Charlotte, Kate, Wade's then mine.

11. Get all dressed up for the school party on the 29th!

Obviously, Charlotte's a pirate and Jack's just a builder...but based off of Bob. He doesn't know Bob very well. ha ha. But he'll talk up a storm about his tools. Seriously. He's a hoot.

And here's Kate in her ghost costume. This is the same one Charlotte wore for her 1st (well, technically 2nd) Halloween! SO so so cute :)

12. Be silly!

13. Get redressed that night for the Ward Fall Festival! Fall Festival is a lot of fun. Full of carnival style games for the kids, cupcake walk, photo booth and a chili/soup cook off!

14. Light pumpkins for Halloween (which was celebrated on the 30th)

15. Eat a spooky dessert after trick-or-treating!

16. Let mom take another picture of all the loot! Yep, Kate's is there too...:)

17. Watch Wallace and Gromit- Curse of the Were-rabbit!

18. Halloween day, just relax at home but at least have a fun dinner!

Jack-o-Lantern and Mummy french bread pizzas with Bone Breadsticks! Yummers! Yikes!

We had a wonderful weekend full of fun! Lack of pictures of course, but it was great. We went trick or treating with Daxton and his family (they dressed up as Scooby Doo characters. SO CUTE!). Wade and Kate came along on our street then when we got back to our end of the street, he took her home and gave out candy for trick-or-treaters. We lasted 45 minutes til it decided to DOWNPOUR on all of us. ha ha. So we called it a night. Had dinner, watched a movie and sent the kids to bed.

It was so awesome to see Charlotte's face light up. Jack was into it too but it was awesome that Charlotte really got into it this year. She would yell TRICK OR TREAT even before the doors opened. And then shouted THANK YOU when we would leave. ha ha. And Jack even would say his cute way of Trick or Treat!! This makes me look forward to all the upcoming holidays more and more.

Charlotte's 5th Birthday!

2010-11-02T20:04:00.007-06:00

Well, as you all know from previous post, Charlotte had a fabulous first birthday party on Saturday. So her actual birthday was quite simple but special. First of all, I decided to celebrate by being sick! Food poisoning is my suspicion so I couldn't do anything the night before to prepare and was really disappointed. Wade was amazing and stayed home to take care of the kids so I could regain my energy. Charlotte was sent off to school that morning, which is her favorite thing to do, and Wade went and got donuts and apple juice for the party at her school. Jack was able to go too! He ended up chundering at school. We are convinced he just gagged on his donut (go figure!) and wasn't really sick. Poor Wade! ha ha. Charlotte had the time of her life with Dad and Jack there. She really did feel special.

When she came home from school, presents were opened and played with! We gave her a dvd, shirt, playdough toy, Tinkerbell Plate and a few other things! Ma and Grandpa sent her things (listed under the picture below) and Grandma and Grandpa Chandler gave her a sweater for Christmas and two hats!

Then we made a roast dinner (which was supposed to be sunday's dinner) for Charlotte and then had cake and ice cream. She loved having the Happy Birthday song sung to her. She thinks it's the best thing EVER. And then we watched her new Tinkerbell movie that night. So that's all we did but it was awesome.

Walked in the door and noticed her presents instantly!

She was SO funny! She immediately grabbed the shopping cart, went about 5 feet, turned around and started opening presents.

She would open presents, look at what she got, smile and say something, dump the present on the table and went for the next one. SO cute!

Presents from Ma and Grandpa: Money (she still has to spend it!), stickers and a book.

Reading about the Pukeko :)

I was sick as a dog but wanted Charlotte to have a birthday cake on her birthday. It's really not that great looking but don't look close. I would have done better had I the energy and desire. But Charlotte liked it too!! So that's what mattered. I did my best under the circumstances :)

They love it when someone blows out candles and when they sing Happy Birthday.

Charlotte's 5th Birthday Party

2010-10-26T22:13:00.002-06:00

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Thank you, Jen for putting this slideshow together and for all the pictures and videos you took!!

Charlotte had her first ever birthday party this past saturday. She was SO excited and happy to have one and has been looking forward to it for weeks! She invited a few friends, mainly from school, to come. She wanted a Tinkerbell party and to dress up (thankfully we already had a tink costume from last Halloween!). Since she had boys come too, we had to think fast! They could come as Lost Boys/Pirates. Phew! So we had fairies and pirates. What a combination :)

It was a lot of work and a BIG THANKS to Jen, Mel and the Stoddards. We wouldn't have been able to throw this party without you!!! Anywho, wewere so happy to throw this party for Charlotte. It was priceless to see her face.

At the party, we colored pictures and made cereal necklaces, passed the parcel, hit a pinata, ate lunch, opened presents and had birthday cake. You can see in the video clip, she is also singing when she is being sung Happy Birthday. We had to sing it twice too!!! I'm so proud of this girl. I can't believe she's 5 years old now. To see where she was and where she is today is a miracle. I love my Missy moo!!

Tinkerbell Cake

2010-10-26T19:31:00.002-06:00

Warning: blurry pics below. Sorry for my useless photo taking skills and CAMERA. ARGH. Oh well, you get the gist of the pictures, right?

My favorite thing on the cake were the mini mushrooms. so cute!!

So I haven't blogged for ages. I've got a couple of good excuses. I have a lot to catch up on as well. I think once Charlotte's birthday is over with, I'll definitely start trying to catch up on this blog. But I wanted to share the cake I made for charlotte's birthday party. I'm making another one, but just one tiered, simple cake. You have to have a cake ON your birthday!! She was so cute at her party. It was her first one. I hope she felt good. She deserved it.

She wanted a Tinkerbell Birthday cake for months. I searched on the internet and had ideas in mind on what to do. Oddly, it isn't really what I imagined it (due to lack of flower cutters and my crazy head) but I think it has turned out really awesome. So proud of it.

Kate's 4 months old now.

2010-09-07T10:59:00.004-06:00

The kids love this thing. Especially when Kate gets in it.

Can't believe she's big enough for the exersaucer!!

Having her first taste of rice cereal!

I can't believe how fast time is going again! Four months old now. She's still a bit of a stinker. LOVES to be held. But she sleeps really great at night. She sucks on her hands and still only rolls from tummy to back. She had her first taste of rice cereal yesterday and really liked it. She now weight 14lbs 4oz so on the 58% and is 28 cm tall! Which means she's on the 94% for height! Isn't that awesome? Jack was tall like that too when he was a baby! But no matter how fussy this one is, I just love her to pieces. She's got the greatest smile and thinks you're the best thing in the world especially when you make her laugh. The kids still go crazy for her and I just love she's part of our family.

Charlotte's first day of school and first day on the bus!

2010-09-07T09:06:00.008-06:00

Charlotte officially started her school again last Monday, August 30th! But she was sick that day. So didn't end up going. So August 31st was the day :) She was SOOO excited to go back and to see all her friends. They had half days last week which she wasn't too upset about. We bought her a new outfit and of course she picked out her Tinkerbell backpack. It is so cute and she loves it so much!

I love the little skirt on this backpack!! She's so loving it too :)

She's such a crack up :)

Today was the first day of all day school (8:30-3) and the day she gets to take her lunch! And the first day the school bus comes! Usually the school buses are like this:

But since Charlotte's school is "private" and just recently joined forces with the Utah School for the Deaf and Blind they use private transportation services. I told Charlotte her bus was a white school van and she seemed a bit disappointed because she was expecting the cute, typical yellow school bus but then again she was just excited to ride the "bus" to school with her friends!

Each bus has only 3 kids in the two buses so she only got half of her friends but you should have seen her smile! She LOVED it. And she got a brand new car seat because she's not big enough to sit on the seat without one. It was hard to have her go. I'm not kidding you. Typical mom thing plus you hear about scary stories on the news. I was so worried. I know those things won't happen but it still is scary to put your child's life in someone else's hands. But taking the bus will ease the miles on the car, gas and time. Quite a wonderful blessing for us.

Here's my retarded camera. It just took this picture this way and I'm so disappointed. :(

Waiting for the bus!

I'm so proud of this girl. I love you, Charlotte.

Toy Story Cake

2010-08-23T10:48:00.007-06:00

This past week, I've been crazy busy. Along with the usual crazy days with 3 kids, I had family visiting and I made a birthday cake for a little boy for his birthday on Saturday (well, celebrated it saturday!). But I remember I said I don't make cakes except for family, anymore. That's still true. I made an exception when Nicki, who's a hairstylist and styles my hair, offered to trade work for work. I'm not stupid. I said yeah!!! Brody loves Toy Story-- she told me what she wanted and here's the result. Although I have never done Fondant lettering before and I'm not pleased about it -- I did my best!!! I hope you like it. The cakes were yellow/chocolate marble cake with buttercream icing and the top moon/planet thing was rice krispie treats to get the desired shape! I made everything except for the characters, of course. So cool and fun!!! and time consuming :) But I LOVE my hair so I think I got the better end of the deal ;). Thanks, Nicki!

Hooray for Kate!

2010-08-10T21:56:00.005-06:00

Big news about Kate TODAY. She rolled over for the first time this evening! I set her on her tummy on Charlotte's bed and she rolled over from tummy to back so quickly! I decided to test her again on the floor just in case the bed was helping her and she did it again! I then got the 3rd roll over on camera but can't upload videos anymore on blogger so I did it to Facebook. Unfortunately, it's not working there either but oh well. I tried. She loves to grab her toes and roll to the side so I'm sure it won't take long for her to figure out how to roll from back to tummy. She's a laugher and a smiler and loves loves LOVES to be held. She's just like her friend Katelynn who loves to hold material. She loves her blankets so I better get crackin' and make a taggy blanket for her. She's a fantastic sleeper (knock on wood!) and we can generally lay her down, all snug in a burrito still and she'll fall asleep on her own. NICE! I hope it lasts. She's so cute. And we love her to pieces.

Trip to the Hogle Zoo!

2010-08-10T21:38:00.006-06:00

Li'l Zuri! SO cute!! It just turned 1! Well, it was cute until it went up to it's mother (who just went to the bathroom in both capacities) and decided to try some of it...

This tiger was AMAZING!!! Came and sat right in front of us.

This gorilla was hilarious! He ended up laying on the ground and kept looking at me like, what? what's your problem weirdo. ha ha ha.

Wade had a committee meeting with his Mission President at the end of July so we decided to make a trip down there together and go to the Hogle Zoo since the house they were meeting at was like 45 seconds away from the zoo! It was so much fun and I know both of the kids absolutely loved it. It was stinkin' hot that day and I was sooooo happy to stand in front of those ginormous misting fans. They're pretty smart people to do that, you know. We definitely need to do this more often.

P.s. Kate was there too. Just in case you were thinking where the heck she was!

Jackism

2010-07-27T19:05:00.002-06:00

So yesterday Wade gave Jack a bath. While he was in the tub, he was on his stomach. Does a big fart. Jumps up and says BURP! ha ha ha. In fact, he farted again today and called it a Burp. HA HA. Just had to share. Sorry if you're grossed out now ;)

Jack's 2nd birthday!

2010-07-27T18:32:00.006-06:00

We just celebrated Jack's 2nd birthday on the 23rd. We had a fun, simple day. I can't believe he's 2 already. He is such a joy and we love him so much. He's got quite the personality and makes you laugh so much. I'm so thankful he came to us. We are so blessed to have him.

The day started out with him being shown his presents. HE LOVED THEM ALL!!! He got a bike, helicopter, bubbles, measuring tape and a few presents from Grandma and Grandpa i.e. hat, shirt, money (used some of it for a Handy Manny toy), stickers, etc. He had a blast. We ate Chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast, McDonald's for Lunch and Jack's Brick Oven pizza and of course cake and ice cream. And we did our tradition of watching a movie (once the others are in bed) of their choice. He had a great day. We just love Jack so much and will do anything for him.

Jack has this thing about screwdrivers (the tool ha ha). And of course every other tool that's out there. So we decided it would be cool to do a screwdriver cake. And he knew what it was instantly! I thought it first started to look like a sword when making it. Now it looks more like a screwdriver...sort of. he he

This picture CRACKS ME UP. I don't know what he was thinking but it made us laugh.

Happy birthday, my Jack-a-roo. You make us so happy!!

I hate my toes but...

2010-07-27T18:28:00.002-06:00

Girls camp was all last week and each day we tried to go up for a few hours. Hard to go up the whole time when you nurse a baby and have little ones but it was SO fun going. When we went up on Thursday, the girls were giving pedicures. So Charlotte had hers done and then she wanted to do my toes. So this is all Charlotte. She's an artist! he he. It was so fun to let her do it. It's a pretty color...dark green!!! :)

THANKS CRYSTAL!

2010-07-27T18:24:00.003-06:00

We are spoiled like crazy from Wade's sisters. Crystal and Lian are just awesome. This time around, Crystal sent each of the kids t-shirts with the colors in written in Maori. There's a song that goes with it too that they learned when they were little! I know the first half :) I'm excited to have them learn this. It's hard not living in New Zealand and trying to incorporate the traditions and culture from there. But we are working on it and are loving all the little things the family sends to us to help the kids. So thank you Crystal for these shirts. The kids love them and look so cute in them!!

Bear Lake :)

2010-07-27T18:19:00.004-06:00

A couple of weeks ago, our good friends The Tippets, came up for a couple of nights. We ate, laughed and watched our kids make huge messes. SO FUN!!! We went up to Bear Lake for a few hours and had a great time. I didn't get in the water cause mainly I feel too fat to get into a swimsuit so I wore pants and didn't want to get wet. Lame. But yeah, Jack was a bit scared at first but got more and more brave in the water. And Charlotte loved playing in the sand. Thanks for the fun time, Jen and Gary!!!

Rise and Shout!

2010-07-20T22:29:00.005-06:00

Like this Hoodie??

Me too. Guess how much it cost me? A DOLLAR! YEP. You read that right. Wanna know how it could? Well, cause I bought the plain navy hoodie at Walmart for a buck on clearance. Then I raided my sewing fabric and found some beautiful gold crushed velvet and my iron on stuff (have no idea what it's called.) Found this "exact" sweatshirt online. Except the other was pink and the BYU was a different font. Tried to find it again to show you but can't. I don't know what happened to the image. Oh well. I was going to do pink fabric instead of gold for Charlotte then thought, well Jack could eventually wear this. So there you have it! My Alma Mater's hoodie for Charlotte. GO COUGARS!!!

Randoms...

2010-07-18T10:51:00.003-06:00

I haven't posted some pics of Kate so here are a few of her being SO SMILEY! I love it!!! She's been so much happier lately now that the thrush is almost gone. Poor girl. She's still a fussy one and needs to be bounced. A LOT. But she's seriously so cute and so cuddly and I love how she smiles. Wade got her to laugh the other day. I can't believe it. She's almost 3 months too. Where has the time gone?!

Forgot about these pics of Jack...He loved Kate's headband and tried it on. I thought it was hilarious. Then I took it off.

Bye Grandma and Grandpa Chandler!

2010-07-18T10:44:00.002-06:00

We had such a wonderful time with my parents here. We miss them dearly and hope they know they are always wanted and loved. We'll always remember the fun time we've had!! Thanks, Mom and Dad!!Sorry Dad, I forgot to get a picture of you on the day we left! I love you!

4th of July

2010-07-18T10:35:00.003-06:00

Well, the 4th of July was Kate's blessing, of course, but we waited until July 5th to celebrate. I went shopping while my mom watched and played with the kids. Wade and my Dad built shelving in the garage. We were going to have a nice bbq but my Dad ended up getting really sick and Wade wasn't feeling too well so I just made some quesadillas and spanish rice for the rest of the family. It was still fun. We lit some fireworks late that night and had a fun little old time. Charlotte and Jack loved the fireworks at first but Jack got scared. Then after the kids went to bed, we watched Poirot. I love that show!

This is the best my poo camera can do! ha ha

This photo CRACKS me up!! I think my dad was trying to stay warm and my mom looks like she's waiting for a movie to start. ha ha ha. So cute.

Say cheese!!
Charlotte's excitement for fireworks.

The first time Jack saw fireworks. I don't know if Charlotte remembers them from two years ago, so I would say it's her "first time" too. :)

Kate's baby blessing. July 4th 2010.

2010-07-13T20:39:00.008-06:00

I made's Kate dress for her blessing day. It was such a wonderful day. It really felt so special getting her gussied up to be blessed by Wade. I'm so thankful he honors his Priesthood and is able to do this for my children. He has an eloquence when he speaks and can truly feel the spirit. There are amazing blessings ahead for Kate. I hope I am able to teach her and help her develop a testimony of her own so she can fulfill all that was said this day.

Sorry my camera is a piece of poo. I hate these dark indoor pictures. My friend, Jen, has a super duper camera and can't wait to get the pictures she took of Kate too. hint hint. he he. I will post them when I get them. Cause they're just WAAAY better.

So yeah, this was the best picture. I love Charlotte's fake smile and Jack's gasp. What's going on Jack? Kate was getting so fussy so I had to swaddle her in the pink blanket for these pictures too.

She looked absolutely gorgeous in her dress. I dressed her up in the headband my Aunt Jean gave her. It matched so well. And I put on Charlotte's blessing shoes and bracelet (from my friend Jen!) that she wore. So special.

My mom and Dad were able to come out for the blessing. I was so honored to have my Dad up there with Wade. My kids just love their grandpa!

After the blessing, tradition is to go home and celebrate and eat! That's my kind of tradition :) Wade and I made all the food. I don't have a good picture because I was frantically trying to get everything put out, etc. I'm so thankful for my family and friends coming to my rescue and helping me!! So grateful for them!!

This was the savory section. The yummy treats were on the table!! I will post pictures of the food too if I get some better ones!!

Savory foods (just for journal sake) We had Chicken Salad Croissants, Build your own ham, cheese and tomato croissants, mini quiches, Maori bread, veggies and dip, cheeseball and crackers.

Sweet foods: Pineapple Lumps (in the NZ shaped dish. So appropriate!! ha ha) Peanut Butter Shortbread cookies (thank you Tracy!), Mini Lemon Merengue Pies (thank you Lian for the recipe!) mini cheesecakes (from Sams Club).

I don't have a picture of Aunty Judith and Aunty Tracy! I'm so sorry. Thank you for brining your delicious goodies...I think Tracy needs to add her recipe to the family recipe blog!!!

My friends who came! Doug, Gary and Mel. Love you guys. So glad you came!

My beautiful sister, Rachel.

Our surrogate grandparents, The Midgleys. We love them so much. They live in Provo...so far away I think!

My closest friend, Jen. Well, I should say best friend!! I love her so much. She is SO good to me and Wade and the kids. They live in Spanish Fork practically next door to both of our good friends, Doug and Mel. There's a house next to us and across from us that's for sale. I think they need to buy those houses just because I want them too!! okay? OKAY! You are too far away!!

Jen's gorgeous little girl, Kya. She was so good to Kate. I think Kya needs another younger sibling...k Jen? k.

Mike and family come to visit :)

2010-07-13T20:25:00.004-06:00

I was so lucky to have my brother, Mike and his wife, Kecia and their kids London, Cade and Cole to come visit us at the end of June. It was a little visit before they took off to celebrate the 4th with Kecia's sister in Pleasant View. But we had the best time. We look forward to them visiting us every time they come and I just love how wonderful their kids are especially with how much love they have for their little cousins. Cade and London were smitten with Kate and of course had so much fun with Jack and Charlotte. And Cole and Charlotte got along so well. It just made me wish I was closer to all my family.

I LOVE this photo. Jack just woke up...he really did love his cuzzies.

Cole and Charlotte hugged like this earlier. And so I had to make them hug again. It was so cute!!

I taught London how to make cake mix cookies. She was a pro at them. And it was SO cool she ended up cooking and making the rest without my help. She really really wants to be a cake decorator and I think she's got a natural talent for baking and decorating :)

Mike is ALWAYS good to me and my little family. He's a great brother and I love him. I love how he loves my kids too. And wants to play with them or hold them.

I realized I never got a picture of Kecia!! I didn't even think. I'm so sorry...at least your arm is in the top picture opening the microwave...does that count? lol

THANKS FOR COMING!! LOVE YOU GUYS SO MUCH!!

Wish I was here...

2010-07-01T13:47:00.004-06:00

This is just a crazy memory I'm thinking about. One year ago (again! ha ha) we arrived in New Zealand and had the best time ever. We miss it like crazy and can't wait to go back...in like a zillion years.

Yep...These are all of our bags! ha ha. And that's the Air New Zealand plane in the background at LAX. We were only 12.5 hrs away from Paradise.

Memories of New Zealand:

Jack turning one!
Crazy people er I mean Whanau (family)

Wade's family. I love them!

Beautiful beaches. This one is my favorite one. Raglan Beach only 30 min from Temple View.

GORGEOUS sunsets

New Zealand Temple which is right in Temple View.

I could post a zillion more photos but I won't bore you too much. But if there's one place to ever visit, New Zealand would be a perfect place. :)

Kate's 2 month visit.

2010-06-30T13:09:00.004-06:00

(I know it's a ginormous bow...just testing it out on her :)

Kate!

Had her shots yesterday :( So sad. I've never heard one of my babies cry so hard and awful before. I almost burst into tears. I usually do that every time anyway but there was something about her cry this time. It's so painful (no pun intended!! ha ha) to watch your child go through something that hurts them even though you know it's better to have 10 secs of pain than the actual sickness or disease it causes. Doesn't make the experience easier though. ugh. But she's on the mend. Just has tender legs.

She weighs 11 lbs 8oz -- 65% on the growth chart

She's 22 inches long--48%

She is getting over her thrush which has made her so grumpy and fussy for literally the last 7 weeks or so. Silly me, I thought it was milk since I couldn't see anything on her cheeks/gums. But Wade did abt 2 weeks ago (when we rushed into the dr and got medicine). She still has it a little bit but it's not like it was. I made her suffer for so long and it makes me sick thinking about it. She's become so much more pleasant and happy. She's still a fussy little one but not like she was. Almost a complete 180 in happiness!

She eats more consistently now but gets so upset from a bubble (or thrush??) that she can't calm down again and I have to give her a bottle. But I'm trying my hardest to keep nursing her.

She just SMILES and smiles and smiles when you play with her. She is cooing and turning towards you when you speak.

We just moved Jack to another crib (he doesn't know how to climb out still!! No one show him! ha ha) and I got out all the bedding I made for Charlotte out, the canopy and decorated (almost) her side of the nursery. It looks beautiful. I feel like some of the bedding I made is ugly/old but all together it looks nice. So I'm excited to have her in her girly crib.

She LOVES her mobile. They're her friends and she just watches them go round and round. I am able to get her to sleep by reswaddling her and winding up that mobile a few times to settle her down. I love it!!

Still LOVES the swing and loves the bouncer. Its been a miracle for us.

She is so much fun and we love her so much. Charlotte changes her diaper when she can and Jack and Charlotte love holding her. They are wonderful to her.

Hearing age of 12months.

2010-06-30T13:04:00.005-06:00

Well, it's been exactly one year ago today (well, June 29th....didn't finish this post) that we turned Charlotte's implant on for the first time. We didn't receive quite the reaction we were hoping for...in fact we thought her implant failed. But it wasn't the case at all. She just didn't recognize the sounds coming through the implant. We are so proud of and happy for her. We just love her. She's got such a fun, cute personality. Things were/are hard at times but I wouldn't trade anything in the world about Charlotte. I think it's definitely made her who she is and I can't imagine her any other way. If you're on Facebook, I uploaded a video about the day she was "turned on". It's amazing how this journey has progressed. Heavenly Father sure looks out for all of us even if it's not what we planned :)

Happy Father's Day

2010-06-22T20:33:00.005-06:00

These are the pictures used in the little project I did (if you can't tell, the kids have spelled out DAD). I turned these to black and white too, and did a focal b/w on Kate's flower in her hair. Wade was so excited and I think it turned out really cute too. Every year I can update the pictures too!!

(Jack is standing next to his toy lawnmower in case you were wondering)

Father's Day was good! I made German pancakes and hash browns for breakfast, wade and the kids had a root beer floats for lunch and we had steak, scalloped kumara/potatoes and peas for dinner. He got two AWESOME ties, a hand held cheese grater, this project i did and then a dvd...but I couldn't find the dvd in stores so he has to order Nacho Libre. Jack Black is stinkin' hilarious!! ha ha. It was a nice day spent together. I hope Wade enjoyed his day. :) He is an incredible father and I'm so thankful and blessed to be married to him. He loves the kids so much and they love him so much too. I love my special little family.

And Happy Father's Day to my Dad! I've got one heck of a Dad. I love him so much and am so thankful he's mine. He taught me so many things and I am who I am today because of him and my mother. And I will be forever grateful for being raised in the gospel and having a father who was righteous. I'm thankful for all those father's blessings he gave. I'm so lucky to have him! And I get to see him July 1st! He and my mom are coming out for Kate's blessing and I'm so excited!! WOO HOO!!! Oh and sorry about the ghetto picture. I can't find a picture of just my Dad! So here we are in Christmas 1993.

New Zealand has their Father's Day the first Sunday in September but I really do have the best Father in Law! He's such a wonderful person!! :) He's so kind and loving and quite funny too! I remember when he came out for our wedding and we were at Olive Garden. He didn't know what to order so he asked the tables around us what they were eating. But he was so charming and funny that it was just a hoot to watch. I'm so blessed to have him as my father in law.

Father's Day...

2010-06-18T14:16:00.003-06:00

I've been working on a Father's Day gift for Wade and I'll post some of the pics I took from that project after Father's Day but these are a few I've taken at the same time that I just LOVE of the kids. They were really good and cooperative which made it much easier to do!!

Jack heard the airplane and was like, where's the airplane?? ha ha. So cute.

My good friend, Nicki, made some bows and headbands for Kate and her baby (she's due in September). I made this yellow flower a few days before she gave me the awesome hair things and it's not as big as it looks but I just LOVE the headbands. She's been wearing them ever since and looks beautiful. Thank you , Nicki!!

I could get used to this...

2010-06-18T14:14:00.001-06:00

Charlotte changed Kate's diaper the other day. She did everything perfectly and the only thing she had trouble on?? The snaps on her shirt. LOVE IT!!!

Summer's here!

2010-06-18T13:54:00.003-06:00

Summer has taken it's time getting here. We'd have a day or two of nice weather then like 5 days of cold rainy weather! But last week, it started to stay sunny for a few more days than usual and this is one of the things we've been up to! Kiddy pool! The kids love it more than the big aquatic pool --I think the big pool is a bit scary although they still like going...But it's been a lot of fun being outside so much. Having 3 kids has been a bit tough but you know, it's been getting so much better and easier than it has been and really since Charlotte's been out of school and we're starting our new normal it's been really good. We've had our moments but it hasn't been like it's been and I'm very grateful for that. BUSY BUSY BUSY is all I need to do to keep the kids from starting naughty things with each other. And I'm so thankful a few of my friends gave me great ideas/routines with what I should do. SO THANK YOU for that help!

Like Charlotte's cute togs? (bathing suit) It looks SO much cuter in person but yeah, I bought this after summer last year for 1.99!!! I love bargains.

Stop taking my picture!!

It would have been SO funny if someone turned the water on at this exact moment. ha ha ha. Actually, I would never want that but thinking about it would be funny!!

He looks so mad! In fact, Charlotte just came over here and said, "Jack mad!" ha ha. I don't know what's up with this face! And you see the house in the background? They're painting it this very minute the exact same color as their kiddy pool. NOT KIDDING. It's going to look UGLAY.

Charlotte's Preschool Program

2010-06-08T22:23:00.002-06:00

The school year ended on June 3rd for Charlotte! Summer school begins on June 21st so we've got three weeks of fun ahead of us. :)

She had so much fun at her end of school year program! Her class sang some songs and acted out the Three Little Pigs. And Charlotte was so cute as the pig who made her house out of sticks! I have some videos of it and will post it on Facebook since blogger will not upload my videos anymore. GRRR. But that's okay. It was awesome. She's done so well. I always say this but she really has. She's been singing so much lately...her top two that she sings is the Alphabet and Old McDonald Had a Farm.

Jack was so good during the program. He just watched and played around. And this is what he gave me when I told him to smile. I just love this kid!! Kate was awesome too. Slept the whole time!! :)

Here's Charlotte as a little pig. She's so cute!

Logan Airport Open House

2010-06-08T22:18:00.004-06:00

We went to the Logan Airport for an open house on Saturday. It was a lot of fun. Jack ALWAYS points out the airplanes to us. And sometimes, we don't even notice hearing one but he really does. He'll just say airplane and then it's like, yeah, there's an airplane. And Charlotte loves pointing them out too.

Here are just some random pictures of different planes.

Notice the cockpit to the left of Jack? Yeah, can you say tin can? Shoot. Your head isn't even covered in glass. Just a tiny little windshield. Freaky.

Look at this! She's almost as big as the plane. It's a toy plane for crying out loud!!

The plane the kids are sitting in is from the Utah State's Flight school. The student pilot who looked like he was 15 years old invited them to sit in the plane. I got talking to him and joked with him about dying in a plane. blah blah blah. Brave, brave soul. You couldn't even catch me dead in one of those things. Seriously. I was almost hyper-ventilating being so close to one. Well, I was in the inside. Had to put on a little bit of a brave face. Seriously. It's SMALLER than my bedroom. Who wants to be in something like that?!

Jack just loved being able to sit in the airplane. Wouldn't get out at the end. And that kid is STRONG. He loves to put up a fight. That's for sure!