Another Exciting Week!

Well we had another exciting week in our household...Hope I don't bore any of you too much...

Monday afternoon Tanis had singing, so Shaylyn, Lex and I dropped him off and headed to the store to get some things that were needed. We got stopped at a red light and were waiting patiently for the light to turn green. It was just about to turn green (I know, cause it turned green almost right after the next line I am about to write) when all of a sudden, we get hit from behind.

I was like great! An accident like this is going to be horrible. I was thinking that someone in the very back of the line had caused a chain reaction. I step out of the car for a second and the guy behind me tells me to go past the light and pull over there, so I do.

Turns out it was only his vehicle and mine involved. His foot somehow slipped off of his brake and he ended up hitting us. It felt so much worse than that, but then he was in like a Suburban type car, so maybe that was it.

After pulling over, I get out of the car to see the damage that was caused. Luckily, for him and I, all that happened was that our tire cover got cracked. His car was fine. He told me that he was in the car business and would replace the cover. So I gave him our name and number and he gave me his info.

I am so thankful this wasn't any worse. Lex was asleep and slept through the whole thing. Shaylyn got a little bit upset, but when I told her that nothing was really damaged, she was okay. She learned a lesson on wearing seatbelts though. She had hers on, but now anytime she wants it off I just have to remind her what happened and she doesn't complain. I had some back pain that night and the next day and was worried about the baby. However, I felt him move around about an hour after it happened, so things are all good considering.

(Yes, I know my poor car needs a bath)

Tuesday passed without incident.

Wednesday was the huge snowstorm in Utah. I had a dr. appt. scheduled for 5, which meant I needed to leave at 3:30, right when the kids got out of school. Just as I was pulling out of the driveway the snow started. I didn't think too much of it cause it was just kinda wet and not sticking much.

We were headed out of the city around 3:45, I hit the main road to get out of the city around 3:50 and the snow had started to stick and there were white out conditions in a few spots. After only a few minutes, we were at a dead stop! I figured there was probably an accident up ahead and so I would just be patient. I saw a few cars get out of line and turn around, but I didn't think I needed to do that.

After about 20 minutes of going nowhere I decided that there was no way I was going to go to the dr. and that there was a back road back into the city coming up, so I would just be patient until I got to that road.

After 40 minutes of still going nowhere, I decided to brace myself and turn around and head home. I am so glad I did. Turns out it was an accident including like 13 cars and it took A LONG TIME to get cleaned up.

After arriving home I breathed a sigh of relief that we were home, but was really anxious about Eric. His car does not do well in the snow and I knew he was out in the mess. My mom was going to be watching the kids while I went to the dr. and I hadn't been able to call her and let her know anything because my cell phone was dead and our home phone doesn't have long distance.

So I got online hoping someone at my mom's house would be online. Luckily my little brother was and so I told him to tell my Mom we were safe. She said that I should call Eric and tell him because she had called him when she hadn't heard from me. I told her I had no way of doing so, so she called him for me.

He then used messenger on his phone to let me know that he was close to home and I could breathe again. But then he called the home phone a few minutes later telling me that they had CLOSED that main road into the city. He was stuck hanging out at Smith's and he wasn't sure for how long.

There was something going on at the school for Kindergartners that they call Family Night or something. Shaylyn really wanted to go, but we weren't going to be able to at first because we should've been in the valley. However, since we were home and Eric was stuck for who knew how long, I decided to take the kids.

This Family Night is pretty cool. They have some kids from the High School teams come and read to the kids and they explain how the kids on these teams have to keep their grades up to be on the teams and stuff like that. At the end they give 3 kids a free family pass to any sporting or musical event at the High School. To be fair, they draw names out of a jar. Shaylyn has the luck of her dad and won the 3rd and last ticket. She was so excited and it made it worth going.

When I got home around 7, Eric called and said they should be opening the road in an hour or so and then he'd be headed home. He called a little bit later and said they had decided to close the road again (ALL NIGHT) because more accidents just kept happening. Around 10 he called back and said they had opened a back road into the city and he was going to go "get in line" to head home. He didn't get home till midnight. I know we aren't the only family that this happened to either. It is just one of those things where you are very thankful he finally did get home safe.

Valentine's Day was good. I woke up to my gift which was a gift certificate to somewhere...I will post more info about it when I use it - which will hopefully be soon. Because, Eric didn't get home until late Wednesday night, he even stayed home. YEAH! But then I had to head to the store to get some things that I couldn't get the day before because of the storm.

Eric had to work his night job last night, so we had an early dinner before he left. It was nice to have dinner with him, since we usually have to eat without him when he has to work. So, because we weren't going to be going on some romantic date, I decided to let the kids decorate Valentine Day Cookies.

They loved this. Well Lex did about 3, but Tanis & Shaylyn thoroughly enjoyed it. They both enjoy being creative and using their creativity. Shaylyn even said that we should do the same thing again next year. We will see. I also have to give a HUGE thank you to BreeAnn for her post where she used paper plates. I don't know why, but that is one thing that has never even occured to me, so thanks BreeAnn for making clean up a lot easier! Below are pics of our fun night.

I hope everyone else had a good Valentine's Day and that your weeks weren't as crazy as ours!

What Happens Next...

Two of Hearts

No, I am not going to break out in song or anything, just wanted to post a little story about something Lex said to me Sunday after church.

I was cleaning up dinner and Lex was hanging around in the kitchen with me. He then decided to tell me the following:

"Girls have 2 red hearts and Boys have 2 blue hearts."

And that was that. I don't know where he picked that up from or what even brought it up, but that is the wisdom from my 3 year old.

Now for another quick blurb about something that happened today...

This morning as I was cleaning the kitchen, Shaylyn was busy drawing pictures and making her own little "book". She was drawing a bunny when she said, "People can really have bunnies for pets, huh." I told her, "Yes". Then (I am not even lying) a few moments later I looked out the window over the sink and see a rabbit!

I of course had to take pictures (which are at the end of the post) as I have never seen a wild bunny before. Of course I've seen domesticated ones A LOT and dead ones that have been hit by a car, but never one out in the wild living it's life. I've also seen many bunny tracks in our backyard, but never the culprit. This is just one reason I love living out where we live. Because it still isn't too developed (there are a ton of houses, of course, but no other buildings really) and there is still quite a bit of open land, it isn't rare to see some form of wildlife.

Living out here even for just a year we have seen deer, (passed in a line right in front of the car) antelope, (right by the side of the road in big packs or whatever they are called), and now Rabbits (right in my backyard). So much fun!

So because I was so excited about seeing a rabbit so close, here are the pictures.

This last picture reminds me of the chocolate bunnies you see at Easter Time. Hahaha!

What Happens Next...

She's Six!!!!

I don't know why, but for some reason I am really emotional about Shaylyn turning six...I'm afraid it'll be even worse in a few months when Tanis turns eight.

Anyway, yesterday was Shaylyn's birthday and she had a pretty full day. Her Kindgergarten teacher purposely had her take the snack that day, so I sent store bought sugar cookies (still don't think school allow home made things anymore). She said that her class sang to her that day AND she got to wear a little hat all day long. She seemed very happy about that. Then again, she WAS the center of attention.

Right after school we had to head to the dr. for me (well for the little baby). The baby is doing well and even kicked (AGAIN) while the dr. was checking for the heartbeat. It is funny to hear a kick at the same time you feel it. The baby did this at my last appt as well. I also had to do the Gestational Diabetes test. I had to drink a very sugary drink about a half hour before my appt. I have always had an orange flavored one, but this time I had been offered a choice of orange or fruit punch. Of course I chose fruit punch, so I could try something different.

It didn't taste too much different from a Hawaiian Punch, so I was able to finish it real easily and I think a little too fast as my stomach was reeling a bit afterwards. Anyway, so after the dr. did the checking of the heartbeat and stuff he sent the the nurse in to draw blood...Somehow I always FORGET that the test involves blood tests! I don't mind the needles so much, it is the pain afterwards.

Anyway, after the dr. we headed to my mom and dad's to pick up something for the thing I am still excited about - which should be completed this weekend. It was a quick trip - seriously, long enough to pick up what we needed, then we headed back towards home.

Because it was Shaylyn's birthday we let her decide where to stop for dinner. She of course chose Arctic Circle. I think the main reason for that is because that is one of the few places by us that has a playland.

After dinner we headed back home for presents! This was probably Shaylyn's favorite part of the day. I actually got her 2 gifts she really wanted for Christmas, but I just couldn't swing at that time. She was very happy. As I was tucking her in last night she even told me that she had a fun day! YEAH! That made me happy.

I'll leave this post by posting a couple pics of the birthday girl. (They were even taken with my "new" camera)

What Happens Next...

Party Hardy

Sunday night we had Shaylyn's birthday party. She will be 6 tomorrow...(Man, I still can't believe that...I don't know where those 6 years went)

Anyway, we don't do "friend" parties yet...mostly because I wouldn't have a clue as to how to entertain a bunch of kids. So, it was just family.

We had lots of fun and most of the family came. The only reason a few family members missed it was because of illnesses and one member had a viewing to go to. I love that my extended family members are so supportive.

We opened presents and had cake and ice cream and just a good time visiting with each other. We really don't see a lot of family anymore (with the exception of Eric's parents and our Sunday dinners) because we moved so "far" away, so it's nice when we can all get together and enjoy each other's company.

I tried really hard to get pictures of each gift and then a picture with Shaylyn, the gift, and who it was from - but only got a few because I forgot batteries for my camera. I was so upset because it was before we did the cake and all that fun stuff too. My 'in-house photographer' (a.k.a. Eric's Mom) hadn't arrived by the time we decided to do the cake, so I was kinda sad.

But then Eric had the brilliant idea to use his cell phone. Yeah! He took a few pics with his cell phone and while most of them are blurry, he did get a somewhat good one of her cake.

When Eric's mom did arrive she got lots of other pictures I like to have as well- guests, playing and that sort of stuff, so all in all I ended up getting what I wanted.

I also got a gift. Eric's mom has like 4 cameras and she keeps trying to find one she really, really likes. She decided she was going to give me one of the ones she rarely uses because our camera is almost 4 years old. (Shaylyn was about 18 months when we bought it) So, I haven't played with it a whole lot, but I do know that it takes pics faster than my old camera and that is a big positive with little kids.

Anyway, for Shaylyn's birthday tomorrow, I have a dr. appt. at 5, then we are going to go to dinner (her choice of where) and when we get back home she will unwrap her gifts. I hope she will have a good day on her actual birthday.

Just thought I'd share some party pictures with you.

As for the thing I was so excited about in my previous post - it is still in the workings...but it will come soon! I Promise!

What Happens Next...

PICTURES!!!!

About a month ago I made a post about the kids getting professional pictures done in their recital costumes. What a story that ended up to be...

The day comes for the pictures and our appointment was set at like 6:15. Around 5:30 or so I tell the kids we need to start getting ready. Tanis does awesome and gets ready right away. Shaylyn sits there and whines and complains about it, but I do eventually get her ready. I didn't do much with her hair because I figured she'd have her hat on and it wouldn't matter anyhow.

I had to wait until Eric got home (he either had my car or Lex was asleep or a combination of the two) before I could go. Eric didn't get home until about 10 to 6. It takes about 15 minutes to get to the dance studio where they were doing the pictures.

I knew we were going to be late and was trying to get out the door. Next thing I know Tanis' stomach is not agreeing with him and he has an accident. Stressed as I am already I tell him we needed to go and asked him if he wanted me to wait for him. He said no. So, Shaylyn and I head over to the studio.

We get there and Shaylyn does NOT want to cooperate at all. She was being kinda clingy to Tanis and was upset that he wasn't there. (Now that I think about it I should've had Eric bring Tanis after he took care of things and then I could've told the photgrapher we were here, but waiting for a kid) Anyway, we FINALLY get Shaylyn to put the costume on and realize her dance teacher didn't leave out the hat! (The dance teacher was not around and had just left all the costumes out) I was so frustrated! Shaylyn's hair wasn't done very cute and the hat totally made the outfit.

Oh well, figure let's make the most of it and head into the room for the photographer to do her job. She is so patient with my stubborn little girl and we are able to get three pictures taken of her and the photographer told me she would choose the best for the package. (Which she did)

So, things really didn't turn out very well for us that day. Tanis having stomach issues, Shaylyn not cooperating and the hat not being there. Still I am happy with the way Shaylyn's picture turned out (minus the lack of cute hairdo). It is posted below.

As if all the above wasn't enough, as I was picking up some pizza to take home for dinner, Eric calls me on the cell phone and tells me that he forgot he had to go home teaching right then (he's even the one who made the appointments) and he had to leave the boys home alone! Good thing I was only 5 or 10 minutes away! But we have never left our kids alone ever! It was a scary thing. I just kept hoping Lex would stay asleep so Tanis didn't have to worry about him. Luckily for me, Lex did stay asleep and Tanis was just hanging out playing Rock Band.

Last Sunday we headed to Eric's parents for dinner and Eric's mom got some pictures of Christmas and the Family Pictures she took onto discs for me so that I could have them. I posted a couple that I really liked. In the one that she took during our family "photo shoot" I just had to post this one of the kids all because of the way Lex is standing. It is hilarious!

The picture posted from Christmas is the kids with Eric's brother, Greg. He is so good with the kids and they love him tons! It isn't rare to see this exact same thing anytime Greg is around.

There isn't much else that has gone on lately, so yeah. I do have something planned that I will post probably sometime next week. (hopefully) I am so dang excited about it! So until then there probably won't be another post unless something major happens. :D

What Happens Next...

Thoughts...

Before I begin this post I want to preface it with this so that no one can judge my parenting skills unfairly. I know EXACTLY what I did wrong in this situation and what SHOULD'VE been done, but that is not why I am posting this story. The reason for posting this story is to get some feedback and some opinions...That being said, here is the story.
During the holiday season I ran across an ecard website where you can take pics of friends and family and put them in an animated card thing. At this point in time the cards where you could do this were cute and funny. The one I mainly did was a snowball fight and the kids thought it was hilarious! So, because I had looked at all the "Add a Face" (not what it's really called) and nothing was offensive, we let the kids have fun throughout the month putting the heads on these cards and watching them.
Yesterday I thought I would take a look at the website and see if they had added anything new with it being a new month. Sure enough there were two more cards with the option of adding faces to it. I watched one and it was like an action movie and just a bit of another one entitled "Math Camp Massacre." Should've known from the title it would be gruesome. It was a pretty gruesome card as it was based off of Horror Movies. (By the way, I am not offended with the website as it is not a website for kids and adults should have good judgement or what have you)
Anyway, I decided that the kids probably shouldn't go to the site anymore. (Tanis & Shaylyn were at school when I was looking at them and Lex was busy with a video game) I didn't think too much of it until later that night when Shaylyn and Tanis mentioned the website by name. I told them they weren't allowed to be on that website and left it at that. I was in another room (I know I should've looked at what they were doing) when next thing I know Tanis is in major tears running into my room.
I ask him what was wrong and he told me that Shaylyn had made that card on that website and it really scared him. (Good reason to keep history clean - kids can access what they want to if they can read. I should've cleared the history so they couldn't get to that website anymore.) I immediately came into the kitchen, where the laptop is, and told Shaylyn what she had done was wrong. I told them not to go to that website and then they did and what she did really scared her brother. She didn't seem bothered by the card at all! She did feel bad that she made Tanis so upset, however. I am not exactly sure what upset Tanis most about it - just the whole idea of the card or the fact that with faces added, suddenly family members were being "killed."
What I want opinions/thoughts on is this...How can one kid be so upset by something so "horrific" and it not even bother another? Tanis has always been a bit more sensitive to EVERYTHING, so maybe that's it. He is also the one who has nightmares at least once every two weeks, sometimes more. Is that all it boils down to? Or is there more to it? Just curious what everyone thinks.
And yes, the kids did understand what they did that was wrong and I talked with them last night about it and Eric had a talk with them this morning because they were in bed when he got home last night.
On a brighter note - something I just want to share - for Christmas Tanis really wanted the Star Wars Lego Complete Saga game for the XBox. We decided it would be a good "family gift" so we got it. However, the one to play it the most hasn't been Tanis or even Eric like you might think. No, the one who plays it the most is little Alexander.
He wakes up most mornings with that being the first thought on his mind. Guess he is more like his dad than I originally thought. ;) I will leave this post with pictures of him playing his favorite game. And I apologize for the messy bed and stuff - he was playing while I was straightening the house and I hadn't quite gotten to my bedroom yet.

What Happens Next...

Happy Holidays!

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and that you will enjoy your New Year!

Here's the story of how our holidays went down...

Eric's dad got tickets to a BYU Bowl game that was to take place in Las Vegas. They had a place to stay in St. George, so they didn't have to drive too terribly far. Friday, the 21st, noon time finds me dropping Eric off at a gas station around our home for his dad to pick him up. We actually all arrived at the same time, so there wasn't any waiting. We sent Eric off with goodbyes and a hug and a very hopeful heart that Sunday would come quickly.

Eric's dad was very generous and gave the kids and I some money to do what ever we felt like doing with it. I had to head to Wal-Mart to pick up a couple last minute gifts that Eric just got too busy to think about. I really hate going anywhere with all the kids because they get rowdy fast! However, I was able to get them lunch at the McDonald's inside the store with some of the money and that seemed to stem the tide from the older two at least.

We then headed home so that I could finish up the calendars for my grandparents (by the way the finished layouts are now posted on the website) and wait around for most of the night to meet up with my parents who would be dropping off my little brother to stay with me for the weekend.

Around 8 at night, I decided I was hungry and my parents would probably be about an hour from finishing up what they were doing. So the kids and I headed to Subway. We had been sitting for probably 5 minutes when they called and said they were done and said they were probably about 20 minutes away from meeting up with me. So once again I headed to the same gas station I had been at earlier to wait from my family. It wasn't too long of a wait and we came back home for the night.

Sunday morning did come fairly quickly and Eric arrived home around 11. He was so tired, but had gotten little gifts for all of us. They were all from M&M World as I really highly doubt there was anything "taste worthy" anywhere else he may have visited. He brought Tanis some dominoes, Shaylyn a pair of earring with the green M&M on it AND butterflies. Lex received a couple of balls. As for me, I got a nightshirt that says "I Don't Do Mornings" with the green M&M on it. Eric knows me all so well. ;)

I had to sub a Sunbeam class and give the Christmas lesson. I am so glad there were only 4 kids. I forget how wild 4 year olds can be...AHHHHH!!!!!! But it is always nice to hear the Christmas Story "dumbed" down for kids. I also had the opportunity to hear a great story about the candy cane in Sharing Time. I forget the name of the book, but I will track it down. It literally brought tears to my eyes. I don't even know if it was a "church" book, but it meant that much to me.

Christmas Eve came and I was a little depressed about it. Ever since I can remember we have spent Christmas Eve at my Mother's Mother's home. There has never been a year that we haven't done this - except for this year. My grandma had gotten sick and still wasn't feeling real well. I think it was a difficult choice for her to make and for some of us to handle, but she didn't want to make anyone else sick.

My mom decided that she would do the same thing at her house for her family that we would have done at my grandma's - this meant soup and rolls for dinner AND a program. Bless my mom's heart, she did a great job. My older sister also did fantastic as she had to figure out how to get my kids involved in telling the Christmas Story. Pictures are the kids telling the story.

Some positive did come out of my Grandma being sick though. I took the opportunity to go visit my dad's parents - Eric & I don't usually get to their house around Christmas - and tell them Merry Christmas. It felt good to be able to do so.

Before we ever left for Christmas Eve things, I carried on a tradition my parents (or more so my mom) carried on. The kids got 1 gift and it was pajamas. Now, my mom always made the pajamas so the girls matched and the boys matched, but I never took up sewing, so my kids had to have store bought.

I also got a gift on Christmas Eve. Eric really put thought into it. He got me a locket with an image of a mother & child on the front. He even went as far as getting his mom to email him the pictures she took of us and the kids during our "photo shoot" and he printed them off and put them in it. Talk about tears falling everywhere!

Christmas Morning we took our time opening gifts and prepared to head to Eric's parents at 2. We had a good time at his parents house, but it is so different than my parents house. Eric only has two brothers and one is in Washington and doesn't really come down for Christmas often. So that left his one single brother, his parents and his "adoptive" mother. Very quiet, but so much fun. Eric's parents totally spoiled the kids and they had lots of fun!

Later that night we headed back to my parents for gifts and games. The kids got spoiled AGAIN by all their aunts & uncles and by Grandma & Grandpa. I really love being part of a large family, though it can get a bit wild & crazy. It was also so much fun to see my little brother who lives in Wyoming.

This past Friday my Dad decided to have a "Sleep-Over" party. Talk about fun! Especially since it was my Dad's idea. Eric wasn't feeling very well, so he came back home after dinner, but the kids and I stayed and had lots of fun. We played 80's Trivial Pursuit and then some of us played Rock Band - we got my Mom to play the drums. So much fun!

By about 1:00 in the morning we decided to play another game (can't think of it at the moment) and about 15 minutes into it, Sleeping Alexander starts throwing up! This stresses me out tons. I give him a bath while my mom and sister clean up everything else. This effectively ended the game. We all decided to head to bed and I don't sleep well. (#1 - I am worried my kid will puke again, #2 - my brothers decided to play Rock Band and didn't keep it very quiet)

Lex is awake again around 7:30 and wants a drink. (He made it all night without throwing up again, so I give in) I give him some 7-Up and we lay back down for a bit. Around 8 he wants a little bit more, so I give him more...Within minutes he is puking again...

This does nothing for my stress, so we eat breakfast and I decide to get ready and head back home. We get home around 1 in the afternoon and just take it easy. This little stinker never throws up again...I am thankful for that, but wow...What a night.

As for tonight, we are headed to see National Treasure! Yeah...Nicolas Cage is another one of those old men that I still think is good looking!

Sorry for the novel. Hope your weekends were fun like ours!

What Happens Next...