TippettsFamily

Herniated Discs (If only it were an April Fool's joke)

2009-04-01T18:44:00.000-07:00

So I went to see the back specialist finally. Four weeks after I started having leg pain and two weeks after going to the general practitioner at the Student Health Center. I had really tweaked something the morning I went to the Student Health Center, guess maybe I should have stopped playing raquetball a little earlier. Dr. Nielson at the SHC had me get an MRI the next day, and after the report came back of two herniated discs, he made arrangements for me to see the back specialists. I waited two weeks and finally got in to see the nurse practitioner (the main doctors are booked for new patients until August!). He looked at my information, asked a couple of questions, pulled my MRI films out and said, "Well, you have a really bad herniated disc and really really bad herniated disc." Then he started explaining things to me.

Here is a picture of my spine looking down on a slice of it as if you were looking down a pipe. The little group of dots that the red arrow is pointing to are the nerves running down the spine. The light gray triangular oval they are in is what is called the thecal sac. The large dark gray circle above that is a spine bone and the discs are the same shape normally. This first picture shows the shape of all these things as they should be.

This second image shows the really bad herniated disc. The dark circle is pushing out on the thecal sac (red circle) and the nerves (red arrow) get pinched.

The third image is of the really really bad herniated disc. Between the two of these guys my nerves are pinched enough to cause my leg to hurt and my foot to be numb. He told me that I should schedule surgery, the earliest day being April 14th. He gave me a website to get more info from and said to go home and think about it. He told me that as bad as they are they probably won't go away on their own. Over the past two weeks I am feeling like the symptoms are going away more and more each day. The information he pointed me to said it takes 4 to 6 weeks for a herniated disc to be "resorbed", as it is called. I talked to him today on the phone again and he said if I am feeling better we will wait six weeks and talk again. If my choice is between potential permanent nerve damage and surgery, I will take surgery, but if I can get better and they will go away on their own, that is what I opt for. The surgery doesn't fix things so that they won't herniate again, in fact it increases the probability, it just treats the symptoms and relieves the pressure on the nerves. So if my symptoms are going away, do I still get surgery? This is definitely part of my prayers right now.

No new posts?

2009-03-18T04:34:00.000-07:00

Just letting you know that if you check this blog regularly and there are never any new posts it probably because I've been doing most of our posting on my regular blog. It seems like I've been posting on there there most lately. So if you want to check out what's going on in our lives check out my personal blog if nothing is showing up here!

http://shalaeastletippetts.blogspot.com/

A year ago... or four

2009-01-13T05:12:00.001-08:00

What were we doing a year from now? I didn't take many pictures in January last year it seems, but here is one of us working on an art project in the kitchen together. I was taking an online class, and the girls were helping me out. Mirian's hair seems so long. What happened? How did it get shorter?

Isaac is just learning how to walk and run around, and now look at him. The kid can't be stopped, he doesn't have a walk, he just has a slow jog for everything! We were in our old apartment, not even comprehending that in six months we'd have our own house. Circumstances can change like that.

But to really see how fast life changes, look at savannah 4 years ago. Is she just not the cutest kid in the world?! She's getting ready to have her first sibling join the family in a couple of months, full of smiles, curly hair and cuteness. They grow up so fast! Faster than I would like.

Poor Girl

2009-01-08T20:44:00.001-08:00

Her and Isaac were having a great time twirling each other around and break neck speed on the rocking chair. Well she decided to stand up and leaned too far tipping the chair over. She went flying and smashed her nose into the bookcase. It immediately turned black and blue, swelled up and bled a little bit.

I wasn't sure whether to take her to the doctor since the last time I went in for another nose incident with Savannah the doctor told me it was really hard for young kids to break their noses, since the bridge is so small and the cartilage is so loose too. So we're giving it a day to see if the swelling goes down. She didn't seem to have much pain when touching it, and we'll see if she can breathe better out of it tomorrow morning. Until now, it just looks nasty!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

2008-12-28T17:05:00.000-08:00

The girls were dressed in their princess dresses they got fir Christmas, and got up on the table and started performing for us, songs and dances. Here is a clip of them to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Growing Fast

2008-10-15T05:10:00.000-07:00

Caitlyn is growing like crazy. She hung out with me for 3 days at the SG convention and was admired and enjoyed by all. She got so many comments on what a cute, happy and GOOD baby she was. Lately she's been rolling over. Last night she was crying while laying on her stomach, not wanting to be in that position. So she would roll herself over onto her back, stop crying for one minute before she would roll herself back onto her stomach and then start the screaming again as if she was thinking "Hey what happened? This isn't where I want to be." So she'd repeat the process 2 or 3 times. She's too much fun.

I can't take credit for this gorgeous photo by the way... I have to credit Heidi Dillion and admit I stole it from her! :)

That time of year!

2008-10-15T05:00:00.001-07:00

Savannah had a field trip yesterday to pumpkinland. She was so excited! Ever since she got back she's been asking if we could carve her pumpkin. So today she drew her face, they cleaned it out, and I carved it. I forgot how much fun it is. Hopefully soon the whole family will get to go get our own and have a night of fun. I love this time of year!

Blog Update!

2008-10-05T20:49:00.000-07:00

Well a year and a half later it was time to update our blog. We've added a new kid and Isaac is no longer 3 months old. We'll be adjusting a few things here and there and thought we'd try creating a new background. I still have to figure out a few tricks to make things line up, and work with different screens, but for now this will work till we get it under our belt. Life has been good for us. I've done terrible at keeping up on the family blog as I tend to post more on my own personal blog, so sometimes it helps to check out both. We're going to start at least posting something on Sundays and if I would just embrace how easy Picassa has made it to edit and upload to blogs I should be posting on here regularly!

Aye, aye Matey!

2008-10-05T19:05:00.000-07:00

The other day the kids found themselves hanging out in the front room playing and starting to get bored. They wanted me to do something with them, but since I was feeding Caitlyn at the time I couldn't do much. I suggested that they pretend the couches were boats and the floor was water. That fed their enthusiasm and before I knew it they were jumping from boat to boat, swimming in the water as fast as they could so the sharks wouldn't get them. Before we knew it they were pretending to be pirates, which led to mom pulling out some old red fabric and cutting patches out of construction paper. Before we knew it we had an entire gang of pirates hanging out in our front room.

Mirian was just too darn cute going around growling and acting all tough.

Uh oh! The sword broke.

They all had a hard time with the patch on their eye. It lasted about two secons on Isaac's. The other girls had to keep tilting their heads to the side so they could see you out of the corner of it. What a great afternoon of creativity and fun!

Manly Men

2008-10-05T15:28:00.000-07:00

I love this picture of Isaac and Beau. Isaac is always wanting to be right in on his dad's projects. Here they are building some bunk beds together for a friend of ours. He was right in there helping with the screws and looking on proudly at his dad. I'm so glad Beau lets him join in on the fun and be a part of the projects rather than telling him to go away. He'll grow up knowing all kinds of skills and they'll have a great relationship together.

Caitlyn Anna Tippetts

2008-06-26T23:16:00.000-07:00

So she is here! Last night we had a false alarm when Shalae thought her water had broken and we came to the hospital to check. So we went home with the only consolation being that they had us on the list to be induced sometime today. They told us they usually call at 6 am to let you know when you can come in, but the hospital was pretty busy and they didn't call until 3 pm. They started Shalae on pitocin about 3:30 and we hung out with not a whole lot happening until about 8:30. The doctor came in and broke her water, for real this time, and things progressed really quickly from then on out.

Caitlyn was ready to come at 9:30 and let out her first cry at 9:43 pm. She weighs 7 lbs 12 oz and is 19 inches tall.

Shalae posted some more good photos on her blog

Counting Down...

2008-06-21T21:23:00.000-07:00

only two more days till the official due date of the baby. I'm at the antsy stage of wondering when it's going to happen and busily trying to get everything I possibly can get done before then out of the way. At the same time I only want to rest, do nothing, and feel calm and rested before the day arrives.

Between trying to get everything done my kids decided to get sick on me. Isaac was sick with a fever of 104 for two days. All he wanted was mom to sit in the rocking chair and hold him. He was miserable. So it was a nice and stressful two days, because he rarely wants me to sit and hold him anymore, and I know with the new baby coming along, times like this would be far in between, so I took advantage of cuddling him again since he's no longer a baby. It was also stressful because I felt all these things heaping up that HAD to be done, and he was not letting me do them. We survived, only to have Savannah catch something next. She has spent the last two days laying around and throwing up. Needless to say I AM SO THANKFUL for carpet cleaners. We invested in one a year ago and it has been the BEST investment we have ever made. I've had to use it 4 times in the last 24 hours on the couch.
So needless to say I'm tired, and praying that I don't catch this flu bug. Labor is bad enough without the flu on top of it! :) Today I just needed to relax so we scrapped a bunch of 4x6 layouts. It was such a nice break, and the kids had fun helping me pick the colors and things to put on it. Here's one from last weekend at the reunion. Savannah was so upset about this layout. She has been learning how to sound out words and start reading. She kept telling me she didn't like his name. She wanted me to take it off and spell it with an F. Fillip.:) I explained to her about how putting the P and H sound together make the same sound as the F. She accepted the answer but it still bothers her, and she mentions it every time she sees this layout.

Supplies used on layout: ScrapSimple Digital Layout Templates: 4x6 - Alphabet, Happy Family Collection Biggie, Little Birdy Collection Mini, Ponder Collection, Commotion Collection, Scenic Route Collection Biggie, Dynamic Brush Set: Basic Stitches 4901, Lettering Delight Font: Aloha

I like these kinds of ecards

2008-06-15T19:26:00.000-07:00

For those who don't know the stars of this little movie they are my dad and brothers! Love you guys!

Happy Birthday Mirian!

2008-04-08T20:40:00.001-07:00

How old are you?

I'm three! Yes you are, and you were so much fun today!

She woke up excited that it was her birthday and came in to tell us early this morning. She also came in later disappointed because her birthday wasn't in the living room. I think she was connecting it with Christmas, but it's not quite the same.

She went shopping with us, helped us make and decorate the cake. She wanted Ariel, a princess cake. No changing her mind on that one.

We decorated with balloons and streamer, nothing too fancy but it felt like a party.

She was so excited to open her presents all day, and came into the kitchen to ask me if she could open them up now. I told her "no we have to wait until dad gets home. He wants to see you open them too." Then she made a comment to herself "maybe I'll wear my shirt and shorts." Which sent signals off in my head. "Mirian did you open one of the presents?" "Just one mom. My shirts and shorts." So we had to explain that we couldn't open the other two until dad came, and that she could wear her new birthday outfit if she would like.

She had a small party tonight with a few friends over, and got to open her other presents which she was excited about. It was a good day. It's fun to see your kid's face light up because they know it's their special day, and you can tell they just feel special. They feel important and loved. Two of the best things a child can feel.

Jeff's Look a likes

2008-04-02T22:30:00.001-07:00

When did they get so big?

2008-02-06T15:41:00.000-08:00

They were laying around and actually letting me take some pictures. When did they get so big? Savannah really seems to be getting bigger and older everyday. It's so hard to believe that she'll be starting school here at the end of the summer. I need to make the most of the last couple of months that I have with her.

A Conversation with Savannah

2008-02-06T15:31:00.001-08:00

"We need to clean up the front room first."
"You do it."
"I'm not going to do it, I didn't make the mess. We are all going to do it."
"I don't like cleaning!"
"That's too bad, because someday you're going to be a mom and you're going to have to do lots of cleaning. You'll probably have to do it all by yourself because your kids are going to tell you that they don't want clean."
"Then I guess I'll have to put them in time out."

Hmmm, does she make the connection here? Yep, she cleaned up the living room mostly by herself with a little help from Mirian.

More Snow!

2008-02-06T15:29:00.000-08:00

It has been snowing everyday now for probably the last 3 weeks. Sometimes it's quite a good storm, and other times just some light stuff. But it doesn't seem to end! We finally got out yesterday and braved the cold. They only lasted a few minutes as usual. I think they go outside just so they can come back inside and have some Hot Chocolate. I've been trying to take more close up portrait shots of the girls for some layouts and had too much fun. These were some cute ones I thought.

Our BIG Daily Something

2008-02-05T11:39:00.000-08:00

This is my daily something for today, a pretty big daily something actually. We made it till now and we are 1/2 way through! Today we found out that another bundle of pink is going to be joining our family at the end of June. We were sure it was a boy, but a pleasant surprise we got instead. Ironically right after we got pregnant Savannah came up to me and told me I was pregnant with baby girl. She wanted a baby sister and was insistent about it. Even when we tried to tell we weren't going to have a baby for a while, and that it could be a boy. She was adament that it was a girl. I broke the news to the girls today that we were going to have a baby and it was going to be a girl. She thinks we should name it Sally. I think not. I've never had a better pregnancy, I haven't even felt pregnant. So it's been great! So to me it still seems unreal except for the expanding stomach part. Hard to believe #4 is on the way. Wasn't it just yesterday as I wondering if I would ever get married?

Supplies Used: A Mom to Be & Nessa Collection.

Family Photo Update!

2008-01-26T15:19:00.000-08:00

Beau found a really great deal on some picture packages at JC Penny's after Christmas so we thought we'd try getting a current picture of our family. No matter how hard you try getting people to smile and to look good for the camera, it just doesn't work. So this is a "real life photo" with our family - a frown, tongue, and goofy face.

At least this one turned out pretty decent. We at least have 1/2 smiles from everyone. Aren't they just the cutest! Hard to believe how fast they are all growing. Savannah's 4 1/2, Mirian is going to be 3 here in 2 months, and Isaac is now a whopping 14 months! They keep us on our toes and make us so happy. We love these little guys.

I think this is the only other nice picture we've taken since our wedding 5 1/2 years ago. We have a few snapshots of us taken by others or using the timer on our camera, so it was about time for an update.

What can I say except that life has been really good. For the last 5 1/2 years we have been here in Provo, and are planning on being here for at least 2 1/2 more. After that we'll see where the Lord takes us.

Savannah will start Kindergarten next year, Beau will be finishing up his Masters here shortly and then starting his doctorate. I'm enjoying the opportunity to be a stay at home mom, and designing for ScrapGirls.com when I have a few minutes here and there. Life is good. The Lord has truly blessed us. We look at where we started out when we were first married. We had NO income coming in and wondered how our small part time income from the college job was going to meet our needs. Miraculously the Lord has opened doors we never knew were there. We now are a family of five. We've been able to increase our income and meet our needs despite STILL being in school, me being a stay at home mother and adding 3 more members to the family. The Lord really can perform miracles, and our life so far is one of them. All we enjoy is because of him.

We have loved keeping up with all of you on your blogs, emails, and actual visits. We hope you are all doing well and we want you to know that we think of you all the time even though we aren't the best at keeping in contact. We've been slackers on this family blog for the last little while, but I'm determined to change that. So keep coming back to see random pieces from our lives.

Just Relaxing

2008-01-16T20:57:00.000-08:00

When we weren't at Disneyland or the beach we were either on the road for 28 hours, swimming, playing minature golf, wall climbing, go-carting, playing games and just relaxing. We had a great time. It was a much needed vacation and the kid loved being able to hang out with Grandma and Grandpa Tippetts as well as the uncles. Mom and dad didn't mind that fact either! :)

Disneyland for a day.

2008-01-16T20:44:00.000-08:00

Here are also a few from Disneyland. This was the first time the girls have ever been there. Don't ever go during Christmas or the first of the New Year. It was insane! They had a good time, and were thrilled to be able to see the princesses in real life during the parade. We were only there for about 1/2 a day, but we wore all of us out!

Beach Time

2008-01-16T20:38:00.000-08:00

I thought I would share some fun snapshots of our family vacation. These are taken at both Laguna Beach and Newport beach, California. Even though it was much warmer than Utah, it was still freezing! The kids had a great time playing in the sand, hanging out with the uncles, and getting some icecream! We also had the chance to meet up with a good friend of mine Mandy (from ScrapGirls) and her family.

"When I grow up....

2008-01-08T18:18:00.000-08:00

I want to be a car stopper." Savannah told me as we pulled out of the parking lot on our way to dance class.

"Is that right? What is a car stopper?"

"You know one of those things that changes this way and that way. When it changes this way then the cars can go. When it's arm changes it that way then the cars stop." Yep that's what I want to be when I grow up... a car stopper."

A Rainy Saturday

2007-10-14T19:30:00.001-07:00

I've been terrible at keeping up on the blog lately. I admit it! I'm so bad. The terrible part is now I have months of cute pictures, sayings and happenings that I have to re-tell you about. So instead of feeling overwhelmed, I'm going to start with yesterday and then go backwards when I have the chance. So you might want to read a few posts past this one over the next couple of days. (Since I'd still like to keep the happenings in chronological order for my own journal keeping.)

So we woke up with the plan that Beau was going to go run a 5K stake run yesterday pushing the kids in tow. But once he looked outside he showed us what a real man was all about. It was raining and he immediately said. "I'm not running in the rain!" What a wimp. (OK I'm the wimp I wasn't going to run in the first place!) So we spent a relaxing morning indoors eating brown sugar muffins, getting the computer up and running, and playing together as a family.

Beau and the girls started playing a mean game of "underground." (I think I've mentioned this before. It's the girls favorite game that dad invented and it entails climbing under all the blankets on mom and dad's bed. It feels like your in a cave underground. All kinds of things can happen wjo;e upir underground.) Well dad went all out this time. He tied two queen blankets together and made a huge underground that took up the entire living room. Not only did they live underground, they were moles. So all three of them were pretending to be moles, who liked to eat spiders. (I don't think the girls even know what a mole is.) Eventually it was dinnertime and because they were moles, they could and only would eat spiders. (Declared their leader - Dad). So mom had to come up with some spiders. (Not a bad job if I say so myself - Chinese noodles suck in chicken nuggets.) Mirian who hates anything related to spiders, and Savannah were in heaven. They thought it was the coolest thing to be eating spiders.
So we stabilized the blankets on some chairs and the four of us ate our lunch underground. I don't know what I'm laughing at in this picture. Obviously we were having a pretty good time. It's fun to see how excited the kids get when you actually play and make believe with them. Dad is pretty good at that. Earlier he was a dog. Tied up to a leash and the whole works. Boy did he have a mean growl at that too.
For the last couple of days Savannah keeps seeing Bowling signs and insisting that it has been a long time since we have gone bowling. So we decided it was about time, and took the clan down to the local bowling lane for part of the afternoon. They had a great time, and think it's so fun to push that ball down the ramp. It's all they can do to carry the 8 lb ball over there! It was not mom's best night, and dad did fairly well. The girls didn't do too bad, and came up pretty close to mom. I love this picture of Savannah patting Mirian on the back, and hugging her while they wait to see how many pins she'll get.

It was a good Saturday, one just of family which is always nice. When you have them you realize we definitely need to have them more often.

Permanent Marker

2007-10-12T19:48:00.000-07:00

The other day Mirian found a permanent marker sitting on the floor. She immediately picked it up, handed it to dad and declared firmly, "Hide this so I can't find it!" She knew that if she held it for very long she would be immediately enticed to draw on various surfaces which would get her in trouble very fast.

Little Tidbits.

2007-09-11T06:18:00.001-07:00

Here's a few snapshots of our life lately.

Every morning after breakfast the girls hear the neighbors outside playing. They usually run out to say hi or play. Before I knew it I looked outside to see this. They had somehow managed to drag their table, chairs and everything they owned outside so they could have a picnic. They are just too cute sometimes.

What can I say! This kid is a CUTIE. I just can't get enough of him! We took this picture last month at our family reunion. He was exhausted so much by that afternoon that he basically passed out in Great-Grandpa Fielding's arms.

Beau took this picture of Mirian the other day. She was the first one up. She is always wanting to help, along with Savannah, when mom is cooking. This morning she lucked out with some muffin batter. The early bird always gets the worm - and the others missed out.

Their Own World

2007-09-07T06:35:00.000-07:00

Today I had to snap a picture of them. They were so cute. They were on top of their bunkbeds totally in their own world. Talking as serious as a 2 year old and a 4 year old can talk. They had the old cell phone and they were calling their Grandpa & Grandma Tippetts. Talking to them about coming to visit, and then talking to each other about whether or not they were coming. They were so into themselves, and for once were really playing well together. It was one of those moments where you just had to take a picture.

Savannah Turned Four

2007-08-30T06:26:00.000-07:00

Well Savannah turned 4 here at the end of August. She has been so excited for her birthday, as she's wanted to have a princess birthday party. So we invited her friends over, played a game where there were shiny beads hidden in some cornmeal - they had to dig to find the gems, and then made a necklace out of it. They then applied lipstick, were blindfolded and had to kiss the frog prince. We had cake and ice cream, opened presents and had a great time. She was in heaven.

Mirian did pretty well despite that all week we had to remind her that it was Savannah's birthday and not hers. She did well until Savannah got some a new barbie and some clothes. She then thought it was her birthday since she gave her the present, and wanted to play with them. She loves playing with barbies and that present was too good to resist.

Happy Birthday Savannah.

Going Swimming

2007-08-25T06:20:00.001-07:00

The other day I heard water running in the bathroom. Something to always set fear in a mom's heart, so I rushed in to see how much soap could possibly be all over the sink and walls, or how much water was now on the floor. This is what I found... with the explanation that "our barbies were going swimming". Of course you couldn't resist getting in the water yourselves either. You were just having too much fun. So I shut off the water, since it was full by then. Got your barbies some beach towels (washclothes) and let you have your fun. You were really good to not make a mess this time, and at dinner you just went off telling your dad about how your barbies went swimming today.

How To Add Video - Edited

2007-08-23T14:02:00.000-07:00

Ok since I last posted these, I have found out that if you use blogger there is the option now right in your New Post box. See the little icon of a film reel right next to your photo icon. Click on that and it will let you upload video. How sweet is that.

Cherise asked how I add video to our blog so I thought I'd post the directions on here. Then anyone else out there wondering the same thing, can learn how too.

1. Go to Photobucket and create a new account. It's free. There are other places such as You Tube where you can also upload video.

2. Once you create your account go to your "My Album" and choose the option of video. It will have you find the video on your computer and upload it to Photobucket. There is a size limit though, so check that before trying to upload.

3. Once the video has been uploaded it will be put in your album as the example below.

4. Under the video you want to post to your blog you will see the option HTML Tag - Copy this info in the box.

5. Open up your blog and open up a new post. At the top there is a tag that says EDIT HTML. Click here.
6. Paste the HTML TAG that you had copied from photobucket.

7. You can now click on the tab COMPOSE and add any other commentary or regular posting you want, as well as add your title. Hit Publish post when finished and you should have a video posted in your blog now.

Have fun! I can't wait to see your videos!

To Be A Kid Again

2007-08-22T22:06:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago we had a rain storm, a really good one. The kids were outside when it started and despite our coaxing to come in the house, they stayed outside and enjoyed running through it. Finally we gave in and just let them have fun. They ran through it, jumped in puddles, stuck their heads under the water falling from the roof and just lived. We need to learn to do this more often as adults.

It's really OK

2007-08-22T21:25:00.000-07:00

All right... now we know that we have readers out there, and family looking at this blog. So we wanted to make sure you know... IT'S OK TO COMMENT! Quite simple really.. just click on the comment button and leave us your thoughts. We love hearing from you and seeing what you enjoy. So let us know! We know you out there! :)

Pie Eating Contest

2007-08-22T21:21:00.000-07:00

This last weekend was a family reunion with all of my cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents. There were about 70 of us there in attendance. It was so much fun to be able to see everyone. Get caught up on their lives, see their kids and show off ours. I also even played in a game of softball. I definitely need to improve my skills, but I had a blast playing. We also had a pie eating contest. Beau was a good sport and joined in, and not only that but he won. Here's him going at it!

A Sign of Savannah's

2007-08-22T21:15:00.001-07:00

I think Savannah has inherited Beau's fetish for knots. She is the queen at tying a knot. It's not a knot as we know it, but it is a knot in the fact that it takes a lot of time to get it undone. You can tell when she has found a string as she will immediately practice her skills of knot tying and find something to attach it too. Obviously she was here at one point. This is also the tool for Mirian's latest scar.

Bear Lake

2007-08-22T20:48:00.001-07:00

At the end of July we had a family reunion on Beau's side of the family at Bear Lake, Idaho. We went down and camped a night in our new tent. It was like camping in the Hilton. After 5 years of a 2 man tent with all 5 of us, we now have a 6 man tent with room to spare. The luxory of actually being able to stand up in it, room to move, and plenty of room for the kids to sleep instead of with us!

The next day was spent all day at the beach. These are a few cute shots of the kids. They loved every minute. You couldn't keep Savannah out of the water as she was having the time of her life. One funny incident was when I looked over at Savannah in the water and she was taking her swimsuit off, I rushed over to her to tell her she needed to get her swimsuit back on only to have her inform me that she "needed to use the bathroom and Uncle Stuart told her she could just pee in the lake." "Opps" he said "that wasn't EXACTLY what I meant," when confronted about it later. Someone has to inform these brothers that the need to watch what they tell these kids. They will take it literally based on their limited knowledge of what they think you mean. I thought it was funny though.

After 3 coats of sunscreen, we all returned home absolutely fried. The girls have never really experienced a sunburn before, let alone one like this, one that was severely red and hurt. All they could do for the next couple of days was lay around and moan because they hurt so bad. We had a good time though and they now have a killer tan to show for it.

Another Scar

2007-08-22T20:41:00.000-07:00

Mirian is our wild, adventurous one who is usually carrying her scars to prove it. I was in the house a couple of weeks ago grabbing something when Savannah come in hollering.She told me to hurry and comer here because Mirian was hurt and had blood on her face. I hurried to see what it was and here is the sight I saw. Only with it bleeding a lot more. She was crying a little, but wasn't near the hysteria that I thought she should be in based on how bad it looked.

Savannah and taken her rope and tied it to her tricycle and then tied it to the handlebars of Mirian's red scooter she was riding and was pulling her around the parking lot behind our house. They must have been going pretty fast around the corner because Mirian bit the dust right on her cheek. She cried a little, let me clean it up a tad, refused a band aid and was outside back on her scooter ready to go again. She's a tough one.

An Isaac Blooper

2007-08-22T20:37:00.000-07:00

He was so proud of being able to stand up all by himself. The funny thing was he was laughing hysterically before hand and being all proud of himself. I never expected to have got such a unexpected surprise in the middle. If you have kids you know that it's not really a surprise it's a way of life with them and you just keep going sometimes.

After 2 years he's home!

2007-08-22T20:26:00.000-07:00

After serving two years in the California, Sacramento Mission my brother-in-law Stuart came home. We haven't seen him for 2 years and have only got to talk to him once on the phone at Christmas about a year ago. He flew into Salt Lake City before flying into Jackson to see the rest of the family. We drove down to meet up with him during the layover and see him for the first time in two years. When he left Mirian was barely 4 months old, now she's 2 1/2. Isaac wasn't even born. It took them a minute to warm up to him once they saw him since it's been so long. As you can see they were giving him hugs by the time we left. Now they ask about him every day. It was so good to see him and we've missed him. It has been great to have him home again. Alex and him haven't seen each other in four years as he left before Alex returned home from his mission. Unfortunately for the rest of the family, we kept him a little longer than we should have. He missed his flight to Jackson, where his mom, dad and siblings were waiting to see him... he had to catch a later flight. They weren't too happy with us. Opps. It's good to have you home Stuart.

Another Mommy

2007-08-09T22:24:00.001-07:00

This is a sight you will see often in our house. Savannah is our second mommy and you will often find her packing Isaac around just like this, and telling him what he should and should not do. She treats him just like he is her own baby, which sometimes he is great with and other times infuriates him. She definitely has that mothering nature and as she tells me "Someday I'm going to be a mommy and have my own babies to take care of." Yes you will Savannah.. yes you will.

What Are We Currently Doing?

2007-08-09T20:54:00.000-07:00

The other day I realized it has been a while since I've just given a basic update on our family. What are we currently doing?

Beau

He is currently finishing up his masters research and will be starting to work on his thesis at the end of the summer. He will be finishing up a few classes and hopes to be able to defend this upcoming spring. He then plans on continuing with his plans to get his doctorate. The tentative graduation plan is Spring of 2010. It's ironic that I graduated from college in 2000? How did this happen. I swore I was done!;)

We recently moved into a new ward (church congregation) where Beau recieved a new calling of Bishopric 2nd Counselor (One of the 3 main church leaders over a ward of 400 members. He is in charge specifically of the Young Men and Women ages 12-18, and the scouting program, as well as helping lighten the load of the Bishop any chance he can. So most nights are spent in meetings, with the teenagers, or doing an extra sacrament meeting for a retirement home that is in our ward boundaries.

When he has spare time he likes to go mountain biking, play racquetball, read, and hang out with his family. He is also currently building a business on the side with his three engineering buddies. They have huge plans for it, and I am pretty excited about it actually. It has huge potential, and it's fun to see them all get so excited about it.

Shalae

Right now I love being the stay at home mom to three crazy kids. They are so much fun and definitely make life exciting around here. I planted a little garden out front which we have been watching bloom all summer and are actually harvesting some beans, peas, zucchini and tomatoes out of it. It's fun to see the kids get excited about it as well.

During my spare time (which usually is after the kids are in bed, 5:30 in the morning and Monday afternoons when Beau takes the kids and gives me personal time) I have lots of fun! I am currently a designer for ScrapGirls.com where I design digital scrapbooking products. I can't tell you how much fun this is. I get to use my art skills in so many unique ways. I've been able to design kits, write ebooks, teach online classes, create layouts, be published in magazines, and have got to know some incredible people from all over the world. It's the perfect opportunity. I can do it whenever I want, as often as I want, and whatever I want. It is truly play! It's interesting how you can make such good friends, and have such a bond with the other designers, when we live all over the world and have never met in person. I am excited for the opportunity to be able to fly to Minnesota at the beginning of October, where I get to meet our other designers, and good friends for the first time.

I am currently the Relief Society teacher (a church class for the women in our ward) once a month. We are studying the prophet Spencer W. Kimball. I also love having the chance to read on my own, play with the kids and keep up on my blog.

Savannah

She turns four at the end of this month. She is our oldest and has somehow inherited that first child attribute of being the mother hen and boss of everyone younger than her. She has that natural mother instinct. She can be shy at times and very outgoing at other times. She loves dancing and will start a basic dance class this upcoming fall, which she is so excited about. She keeps asking if she will learn how to be a ballerina. She loves dressing up as a princess. She is very dramatic and could take up acting, as there is always something dramatic going on with her and Mirian or her dolls. She packs Isaac around like he is her baby and takes care of him quite well. She is very smart and has an incredible memory. She can remember things in amazing ways. We can travel somewhere once, and if she ever goes in that direction again, she can specifically tell you where we are going and how to get there. She has a keen sense of direction. She is learning her alphabet and how to write her letters and name and is so proud of herself.

Mirian

She has also been known as Merlin. She turned 2 this last April. I love Mirian, she has a personality like no other. She can be very sweet and observant, but can turn around and be furious and angry in a second. She is passionate! Ever since she was little she was passionate about what is right. If anything is unfair, especially when playing, she lets you know about it. If you deal fairly with her she is the sweetest person in the world, but watch out if you don't! She is full of energy, lots of spirit. She is often reserved and would rather sit on moms lap and observe things. It takes her a while to warm up to things, and yet sometimes she gets out of that shell and just goes for it. She is daring, and loves jumping off of things, and being rough with dad. She has a laugh and a smile that will just melt you.
Right now, she is learning her letters too, since she has to do everything that Savannah is doing. She can point them out to you and tell you what they are (not all of them yet) and can tell you what sound they make. She is our spirited one.

Isaac

He's 8 months now and I could just eat him up. He is just the most adorable guy you've ever run across. He has a killer smile, and the girls are going to fall for him. He has nonstop energy...go, go, go. He doesn't stop unless he's asleep and lately it's been hard to get him to stop for a minute so he will go to sleep. He's got 5 teeth and even though he's been belly crawling for a month already this last week he figured out how to work his knees into it. He is one happy kid too. He is always smiling, playing and happy. He's only ornery if he is starving or tired. He is a momma's boy (which I'm happy about:)) and takes a minute to work up to strangers, especially if he thinks your here to babysit him. He's got a great laugh which we hope to get a video of soon, and post here. I love the stage he is at right now, and he is so cuddly, fun and just so wrapped up in everything around him.

Well that's us right now. I hope I didn't bore you. I know this is a long entry, but since I never write letters anymore, and rarely get an email out to everyone I thought this would be the next best thing.

Caught In The Act

2007-07-18T19:54:00.000-07:00

Well we were caught in the act. This is what happens when the 4 year old gets a hold of the camera. She takes pictures of you snoozing on a Sunday afternoon to prove to everyone that they were not being watched by neither mom or dad at the time. What kind of damage could happen. Just for your peace of mind we are sleeping very light - if you could even call it sleep. We knew she had the camera and we knew she was taking pictures. But this one was a surprise to me when I downloaded the pictures on the computer.

All Fixed Up

2007-07-18T19:51:00.000-07:00

Ok this is a terrible picture of me. I can't believe I'm actually posting it, yet it's really funny. This sunday I got a bloody nose. Savannah saw it bleeding and said I needed to get a bandaid to make it all better. She ran off to get one, returned with this one in her hand and was insistent that she take care of it. Well she sure did. After that she felt I needed blindfolded too. I don't know where this little girl got that mind of hers.

Family Vacation - Day Three

2007-07-13T22:17:00.000-07:00

Sorry no photos for today:) We spent the day at home relaxing, taking naps, reading, working on projects and having some kids over to play. It was a pretty relaxed day. With still 2 more days to go of vacation and a list of things that we promised the kids to do.. we had a glitch in the plans. Beau and I were supposed to go out on a date tonight - our own mini vacation. But the neighbors who were going to watch the kids ended up getting the flu and we voted to not get it, and try for another day. It only turned out that Beau got it anyway and has spent the night sick and throwing up.(His first time being sick in our 5 years of marriage. I can't even count on my two hands how many times I've been sick... finally it caught him.) Mirian has it too - at least a burning fever, but hasn't thrown up yet. Phew!!! What a way to spend vacation huh!:) So we shall see how the next couple of days play out. We may end up extending the family vacation a couple of days to recuperate from the sickness.

Family Vacation - Day Two!

2007-07-12T21:54:00.000-07:00

For the second day of our vacation we went to the Hogle Zoo and the Children's Discovery Museum in Salt Lake City. It was a great day and we had so much fun. The kids loved running around the zoo and seeing all the animals. They Mirian and Savannah would walk and run around holding hands and just having the time of their life. Afterwards we to the Children's Discovery Museum and spent a few hours there as well. They were in hog heaven being able to play and run around and do things at the museum. They loved the fact that they could touch everything without being told no! Isaac sat on the earthquake machine, Mirian rode a horse, Savananah played in her own little house, they fore casted the weather and did a fun things. There is so much do do at this place and it's perfect for kids!

Family Vacation - Day One

2007-07-11T22:14:00.000-07:00

Our first day of vacation! We are so excited. We woke the family up at 5:30 this morning so we could hurry and get up Provo Canyon. We wanted to hopefully see the sun rise and experience the cool morning in the beautiful canyon. We hooked up our handy bike cart and loaded it with the kids at Bridal Veil Falls and then started a 7-8 mile ride down the canyon and through Provo back to our apartment. It was so fun, and so beautiful at that time of the morning. Beau has ridden this trail before, but I have never seen all of it, so I loved all the new sites that we found along the way. We then treated ourselves to breakfast at IHOP. The rest of the day was spent at the library, buying a new mattress, watching movies and just plain relaxing. It was a great start to our family vacation.

Ants!

2007-07-09T08:36:00.000-07:00

Mirian is petrified of ants. She screams and flips out anytime one gets near her. Well 2 or three times last night she woke up screaming and running into mom and dads room crying because there were ants in her bed. She had actually taken a piece of bread with her to bed (not a good idea) but she was starving and her "ants" were bread crumbs in her bed. After brushing out every possible bread crumb, she still was able to feel an ant here or there in her sleep. Finally we gave up.. Dad slept with the ants and Mirian slept with mom. Ironically dad woke up with his back feeling better than it has for weeks, (since he did something to it weeks ago) and has decided our mattress is part of the problem. He is now determined to go out and get us the same mattress today so we can finally sleep good. Of course I've been wishing this would happen for years now, as I was complaining of the same thing every time I'm pregnant - terrible back pain. Yeah!!! A new mattress for us and all because of a few ants.

Photo by: Aneslin Subash

2007-07-06T20:09:00.000-07:00

Is he not the cutest kid! He has grown so much and looks nothing like he did when he was a baby - his hair is going blonde! He's almost 5 1/2 months old in this picture and now even a month and a half later he is now pulling himself around, eating more solid foods and is going, going, going

Jello Painting

2007-07-06T20:05:00.000-07:00

We had Jello Jigglers for our FHE treat a couple of Monday nights ago. Well Beau came in later to find what Savannah was really doing with her jello. She had found a drawing that she had drawn earlier that day and was proceeding to paint it with jello using her spoon. I guess I might have an artist in one of my kids after all. At least Beau always puts the blame on me when something happens like this "shes just like you!"

Christmas Morning 2006

2007-07-06T19:54:00.000-07:00

I ran across this cute one when I was reorganizing and cleaning up all my photos. It's them on Christmas morning and Isaac is only a couple of weeks old. It's amazing to see how much he as grown lately! He's all over the place now.

A Mother's Adrenaline

2007-07-06T14:43:00.000-07:00

All you mothers out there... have you ever had a mother's adrenaline rush. One where your children are in danger or something is happening to them completely out of your control and you feel that surge going through you. We were playing outside and were coming in the house. Savannah ran in ahead of the rest of us with Mirian right behind her. I was gathering things up and coming up slow behind when I heard Mirian screaming hysterically. I looked up to see her four fingers shut in the hinge part of the door where Savannah had closed the door on them. She was screaming, and I had images of the tips of four fingers being cut off as I ran to the door to open it, only to find that Savannah had locked the dead bolt. So there we were on the front porch me holding Isaac, screaming and pounding on the door at Savannah, which she was not responding to, and Mirian screaming hysterically in pain.

I was running through every option in my mind in case Savannah didn't open the door. Pull her finger out - no that could be really bad, run around back and try and get through the back part of the house and hope it wasn't locked. All I could do was scream louder hoping Savannah would understand the immediacy of the situation. I'm sure the whole neighborhood wondered what was going on as well. One lady was walking by and came up to ask if she could help right when Savannah finally unbolted the door and opened it. I was so dazed by everything that was happening, I could hardly respond to her, as she mentioned she saw her fingers stuck, and asked if I was ok. By then I was much better knowing her fingers were out and the door was open. I thanked her and told her we were ok. I had a look at her fingers and were relieved to see they weren't severed. They were smash flat though, indents which I'm not sure if any bones were crushed. Where she's so tiny I think they were probably ok. The tips had a bunch of blood spots, and she was just crying now instead of hysterical.

So after sitting down with her and in the middle of lecturing Savannah it hit, and I just started crying.. The adrenaline let go but the heart was still pounding. 10 minutes later my heart was still going..and my body was trying to release all that adrenaline, I was an emotional basket case, thinking about what could have happened and was grateful it didn't. I wish I could have talked to the lady again and thank her for offering help as in the moment I just wasn't able to respond to her. So it got me thinking about future times when I probably will have greater accidents or things happen to my children, and if I'll be able to remain calm in the moment, which I usually do, but it's the afterwards part that I fall apart. I guess that's what a mother's adrenaline will do though... afterwards she realizes how more attached she was to her children than she thought she was.

Just Too Much Fun!

2007-07-06T10:58:00.001-07:00

I ran across this site: Big Huge Labs the other day. It has so many fun tools on it. One of them was to make your own custom movie poster. So I just threw one together really fast with this funny picture I have. I could definatley change a few things to make it look more authentic - but it's just so much fun to play around with. You've got to go try it. I have a few nephews that love Spiderman and all the action figures and usually dress up as one for halloween. They could have some real fun using this tool to create their own movie posters since they're big movie people. They would love it! Hmmm might be a fun birthday present - a full sized one printed out.

Princess

2007-07-04T20:02:00.000-07:00

If you have hung out at our house for very long you will understand the importance of a "princess." We have princesses hanging out at our house constantly - usually seeing about 6 or more a day. They come it two different ages usually 4 and 2, with various types of dresses, crowns, necklaces, and of course high heels. Often times it doesn't even matter if the high heels match. We even have princesses from next door over to play, and sometimes if you come and visit our house you might find yourself turned into a princess before you leave. I really enjoy these princesses except for the excessive habit of changing attire 4 or 5 times daily. I enjoy watching them troop up and down the sidewalk when we go outside with the clunk, clunk, clunk of their heels. Their homes are in wood cupboards in the computer room, they eat chicken nuggets whenever they can, and they love singing at the top of their lungs. If you are currently missing out on having a princess at your home, then maybe you should come visit ours.

Break From School

2007-06-23T21:48:00.000-07:00

The last four days Beau has taken a break from school and work, since it's between summer and spring semesters. It has been so wonderful to have him home. We have enjoyed just relaxing together as a family and yesterday we went swimming at the pool. The kids loved it and had a blast. We'll have to post some of the pictures when we download them. It's amazing though how good life feels when you actually can relax and enjoy the family without all the other stress.

Exhausted

2007-05-10T20:37:00.000-07:00

One Sunday afternoon Mirian was just exhausted - throwing a tantrum over something she couldn't have. She threw herself down on the floor and wailed. Slowly the wails died down and she fell asleep just like this on the kitchen floor. Since we had to wake her up to go somewhere in a short while, dad decided to just let her stay there and sleep rather than waking her up. Poor girl she has it rough.

Oh Pooh!

2007-05-03T19:56:00.000-07:00

We went to the library today while Shalae was at Women's Conference. On our way out I heard Mirian cry out, so I turned around and asked what happened. Through tears she says, "Savannah stepped on my pooh!" Luckily I knew what she was referring to or I would have gotten a little worried since we were right in the middle of the Provo City Library. She has Winnie the Pooh on her shoes and Savannah had accidently stepped on the back of her shoe and pulled it off. So it was Mirian's first flat tire in her life, and I hope she learns to control her reaction when it happens again or junior high will be pretty rough for her.

A Cry Out

2007-04-30T19:36:00.000-07:00

Yesterday morning Savannah woke us up with some hollering from her bedroom. "Mommy! Daddy!" Over and over until we responded. We thought she was hollering to let us know she had an accident in bed, with the urgency in her voice as well as the ready to cry tone.

"What Savannah?" we asked. We just couldn't stop laughing when we got her response. "Tell Isaac to stop. I'm trying to sleep and he keeps talking!" Isaac had woken up and was make cooing noises and talking to himself in bed, slowing waking up before he started to holler for mom letting her know that he was hungry and ready to eat. We thought it was so funny, it was the dramatic holler of life and death.. requesting that we tell Isaac (who obviously would not stop just by being told) to stop talking (which he can't do) so she could sleep (which she never wants to do.)

Down on the Farm

2007-04-26T20:49:00.000-07:00

Our friends Spencer and Kimberly invited us over for dinner and then a trip to the farm at Thanksgiving point. The kids had a blast petting the animals and getting up close to them. The girls both wanted to ride the ponies. We weren't sure if they would actually do it though since this time they were alive and not the ponies on the merry go round, but they did it. They loved every second of it. The second time they went for a ride Beau asked Mirian which pony she wanted to ride. "Big One" she said, and she did. They are so fun to watch when they get so excited about things like this. Their whole faces light up. It had such a great time and it as so fun to spend time with friends.

One thing that I really enjoyed seeing was the albino peacock. It was gorgeous. It looked like it had on a wedding gown with these gorgeous feathers.

Goofin' Around

2007-04-26T18:55:00.001-07:00

So you know me, I see something cool Shalae is doing and I start getting some ideas of how I can join in, so when Shalae downloaded a trial version of a filter I had to apply to a video clip. The same clip in normal form is also in the blog, so now you can see a cartoon version of it.

Good ol' Country Boys

2007-04-25T07:59:00.000-07:00

So I just saw some videos of a fishing guide named Bill Dance. He has some unfortunate things that happen to him on what seems to be a consistent basis. His personality reminds me of stories Pat Mcmanus wrote, which is a series of books I have enjoyed. I wanted to at least post links to a few of these videos to share a good laugh with everyone. So here is a little sample of some clips that I think are absolutely hilarious. Enjoy!

A Night At the Carnival

2007-04-20T14:04:00.000-07:00

A few weekends ago, the girls and I were driving by the mall and saw a small carnival being set up. They were so excited to see it and had a thousand questions about what it was. I mentioned that maybe we could get dad to take us one of these nights to see it. After our date on Friday we decided we would grab the girls and go for a few minutes and let them see the rides while I took some photos for some creative ideas I had. They had so much fun and were just in awe about what was going on. I had fun taking pictures of them too.

One of the best smells is that of the Cotton Candy. It just brought back memories of growing up and going to the fair every summer. The smell of that Cotton Candy was so wonderful. Savannah kept seeing people eating it and wanting some of that "fuzzy stuff." Of course when dad finally bought them some they could not get enough of it. Who could?

The girls also really wanted to ride some of the rides, but at $5 a ride they were limited to the little kid rides. Not that they would go on any of the bigger ones. But Savannah was insistent on wanting to ride the horsies, so her and Mirian got on the Carousel with the horses and loved it. Mirian started throwing a tantrum it when it was time to get off. She was not done. After that they got to ride in a mini car and drive it around the ride as well. It was so fun to see them find so much fun and joy out of the simple rides and to see their faces just light up from the whole experience of it.

Isaac just sort of hung out. Dad hasn't lost his skill and a killer throw as he won him a little gecko at one of the games of knocking down the bottles with a baseball. The guy running it gave him one ball for free. He knocked it down, and the guy continued to try and talk him into hitting three more for the baby. We Beau smiled, shrugged it off and said he didn't have the money to do it the guy threw him the gecko for the baby. We had a great time that night. It not only brought back memories of us growing up and going to the fair every summer, but it also was so much fun to see our girls get so much joy out of riding the rides and the excitement of it all.

Easter Weekend

2007-04-15T12:42:00.000-07:00

We went back to Wyoming for the Easter weekend and had a great time visiting with family. We spent time at both the Tippetts and Astle homes. Here are a couple of really fun video clips of them playing with the Tippetts grandparents Friday night when we got into town.

Saturday we were able to enjoy the weekend with my family as we had an easter egg hunt with the kids Saturday morning and also had the chance to visit with Jared, Heather, Mom, Dad and Tiffany and her family. Saturday was freezing! We were used to the warm Utah weather and thought that our easter hunt would be beautiful. Instead we were all bundled up in winter gear and hunted for eggs on a cold and windy Wyoming day.

Here's a video of them finding easter eggs in windy Wyoming.

Mirian's Birthday

2007-04-08T13:57:00.000-07:00

Mirian was able to celebrate her birthday in Star Valley with the grandparents as well as cousins, aunts and uncles. She has been so funny. For weeks before her birthday she keeps saying my birthday... knowing that it's coming up. She is always making sure that Savannah knows very well that it's "my birthday!" not Savannah's birthday. I wanted to try my hand at making my first decorated birthday cake with a theme. She loves Elmo and so we attempted to make an Elmo cake. I don't think it turned out too bad. It did have a lot of frosting, but that's all the girls eat anyway. Her birthday also landed on Easter this year, so it was sort of a double holiday. She got a new cabbage patch baby and a new Dora bike so she has her own to ride at home with the kids.

Paint

2007-03-28T21:43:00.000-07:00

What do you get when you give toddlers a little bit of paint from each color of the rainbow? One color - Brown.

Typical Responses

2007-03-28T21:28:00.001-07:00

Here's a quick video of typical responses from the kids. Miran wanting the camera, Savannah hanging out, and Isaac crying for relief.

Daddy's Smile

2007-03-28T21:08:00.000-07:00

Isaac definately has daddy's smile. Isn't he a cutie. You can't tell me the girls aren't going to be swooning over him in the years to come. He's getting so active lately, smiling and giggling. He's wanting to grab hold of things and play with them. He has been so much fun and the girls are having more and more fun with him. Savannah can't seem to put him down. Every time I turn around she's hauling him around to the next place taking care of him. He seems to enjoy it most of the time.

Isaac's Baby Book

2007-03-28T12:12:00.000-07:00

Erica Hite, one of the designers created a series of baby book layout templates at ScrapGirls. I was so excited to see this. I've wanted to do a baby book for my kids but it was just too overwhelming. This takes all the guess work out of it, and yet I can still enjoy creating and choosing my own colors, papers etc. I thought it would be fun to post the finished pages here when I get the completed as well. Some of these still a few more elements to add - obviously the other half of his ancestors and journaling from Beau. When we get that caught up I'll repost those.

Bike Ride

2007-03-18T13:57:00.000-07:00

My Mr. Fix It Husband has this great attitude of "if we don't have one I'll make one!" So being students and not being able to go out and get a new bike cart to pull the kids around he had to use his creative engineering talents. From wheelchair wheels, kitchen racks, a piece of wood, frames from a bouncy horse, twine and other odds and ends he created his own bicycle cart. Using blankets for cushioning and belts from our closets to secure them in, the kids have a blast going for a ride with dad. There's even enough room to strap Isaac in the front in his car seat as well. They often leave mom for some time to herself and go see the town behind dads two wheels and love every second of it. Savannah even had to bring and strap her baby in. She sure couldn't let the baby miss such an amazing ride.

Give me a Break!

2007-03-13T14:00:00.000-07:00

Whether I deserved it or not, I took a break from school and research projects and went on a . . . um . . . emotionally enriching, relationship enhancing outing with my father and two brothers. Ok, alright, so we went on a snowmobiling trip for three days. But it wasn't all just fun and games, we had to work hard, relying on good teamwork on multiple occasions to dig out the snowmobiles when we buried them. Hey . . . ok, so you can snicker under your breath if you want, but it was a great trip, we had a great time, and I wasn't just trying to duck out of any responsibilities the first chance I got. In all seriousness, we had a great time, and I enjoyed spending some quality time in recreational activities with Dad, Alex, and Phillip. A family friend, Beau Nicoll, went with us and stayed both nights. Some others showed up both on Friday and Saturday, but didn't stay the night, Dave Burton, Uncle Mark Mackay, and some of his friends. Here is a clip of Alex, Phillip, Beau Nicoll, and Dad jumping. We wanted them to jump closer together but this the best we got.

The temperatures were a little warmer than usual the whole trip, especially in the cabin on the second night, the fireplace roasted us all out, but the snow wasn't sticky enough to cause problems with the sleds. We pulled our food and things up in toboggans, and they tipped over a couple of times. Although we lost eight of our eighteen eggs, which we had to clean off of the rest of the food containers (note: wrap eggs in separate plastic bag to prevent mess), and three sockets, thankfully these were our only casualties the whole trip. We did stage a fake accident though where Beau Nicoll gets run down by Dad on his big Arctic Cat. We made a fun little movie with it that I will post here when it is all put together. Alex seemed to outdo us all in burying snowmobiles. He dropped right into a creek once, which we can't fully blame him for, because he had already crossed at that location once, I guess the second time was too much and it just dropped him. He also stuck Dad's big sled pretty good when he tried to go higher up the mountain than he had just gone on a lighter snowmobile, and it got stuck pointing into the sky away from the mountain.

It took us a while to get to him, to help him get out, and Dave Burton ended up tipping his sled over when he tried to get close. You can see how deep the snow was when I post the pictures here. I enjoyed both climbing the steep hills and working my way through the trees. The snow conditions were great and let us go lots of places we wanted to. Shalae took advantage of the time I was in the mountains, and had arranged with her mother to teach two digital scrapbooking classes. She is always looking for more potential addicts to get hooked on it. It is pretty neat to see people get excited about recording family memories, definitely a worthwhile hobby that helps keep family relationships strong. The girls loved playing with their grandparents on both sides, and Mirian never let us forget that my parents dog was outside. The poor girl is pretty scared of dogs. Between daylight savings time change and staying up late talking with family, it will take us all a while to get back on a good sleeping schedule. All accounted for, it was a great break!

Rooster Tail

2007-03-10T14:08:00.000-08:00

I have to say that Mirian has AMAZING hair! She is constantly strutting around this rooster tail. It doesn't matter how many times mom tries to put it in a cute little pony tail it is out within minutes. So most of the day she runs around looking wild along with Savannah. Savannah on the other hand refuses to have her hair fixed.. "It hurts" she says, screaming bloody murder and throwing her body about... occassionally we can convince her that she wants to be pretty and we'll get a really cute braid or ponytail, but within an hour of running around, and changing her clothes 10 times she too sports the same wild hair as Mirian.

Pajama Party

2007-02-27T12:51:00.000-08:00

It was Thursday... the night that dad works at the temple, and so we decided to have a little bit of our own fun while he was gone. It can usually be a long day and we're all done for by the end of it. This night I decided we would do something different and sent the girls to bed on a happy fun note. I declared to them after dinner that we were going to have a pajama party. Of course I had to explain what a pajama party was, but you should have seen the excited looks on their faces, all smiles and couldn't contain their excitement. So after all of us threw on our pajamas, grabbed our pillows and blankets and settled down for some fun. We painted our finger and toe nails, had some pudding for a treat, laughed and giggled, and read some books. The best part was the next morning when they saw Beau. Savannah said "guess what dad, we had a pajama party!" "You did?!" "Yep!" He looked over at Mirian and asked her "Merlin did you have a pajama part last night." Her eyes got huge and she stared him down with this look that said "you better believe it!" and said "Yep" so matter of factly. It was hilarious the way she said it. So here's to a night of fun.

Come To Dinner!

2007-02-25T20:27:00.000-08:00

Right before dinner Beau was telling Savannah that she should be given an award for acting and being a queen of drama. What? She would say and laugh.. not quite getting what he meant... but when we called for dinner this is how she arrived. Princess dress, gloves, scarf, and then winter hat... and informing us that she was using her fork to comb her hair like Ariel. She just makes us laugh. Just in the course of one hour, she was a princess, a scout (hence the scarf) which was originally over her mouth and nose. It later moved to her head so she could be Red Riding Hood. Now who is this at the dinner table? I don't have the faintest idea...

A Perfect Saturday

2007-02-18T13:59:00.000-08:00

Saturday was one of those Saturdays that you wished we would have more often. Stopping for a moment and enjoying it with your family. We decided to take the girls for a walk and ended up coming up with the contraption seen above. Isaac in his car seat strapped to the top handles (that's what you get when you have an enginner for the husband.) We planned on just a walk, but ended up having a scavanger hunt of cool textures along the way, and found ourselves at the park. We saw another small family shooting off a rocket which Beau was excited about. (Here he's showing Mirian but I think she missed the point.) We played on the toys while dad ran and picked us all up some lunch. It was such a beautiful day, one where we just couldn't go back inside after being cooped up all winter. After we ate our lunch at the park, we walked and picked up some icecream and then headed home 3 1/2 hours later... It was great. So relaxing and so fun to be outside and just enjoying the day with the family. We definately need to take time to do this more often.

An Interview with Savannah

2007-02-18T12:56:00.000-08:00

Q: What's your favorite color?
A: It's pink! It's my favorite

Q: What do you like about dad?
A: I like him to play with me. He play games with me. He doesn't take me to school with him.

Q: What's your favorite thing to eat?
A: Taco's

Q: What's your favorite thing to wear?
A: This out fit I'm wearing in this picture. (I (the mom ) would have to say it's princess dresses or her ballerina outfit. But I guess I'm wrong.)

Q: Who is your best friend?
A: Lauralynn. She is my best friend. Cause she is. She likes to play with me.

Q:Where's your favorite place to go?
A: The moseum, the park, grandma and grandpa's house.

Q:What's your favorite book?
A: The lion king.

Q: What did you do today.
A: I was playing with Lauralynn (she hasn't seen lauralynn all day.)

Our Latest Family Picture

2007-02-18T12:51:00.000-08:00

Well here we are. Our latest family snapshot. We took it the day we blessed Isacc, February 4, 2007. Isaac was 2 months old, Savannah (left) is 3 1/2 years and Mirian (right) is almost 2 years old. I can't believe how fast time goes by. They are so much fun lately, with such strong personalities.

Isaac's Blessing

2007-02-14T20:37:00.000-08:00

What Can You Do In Less Than 10 Minutes

2007-02-13T19:50:00.000-08:00

I don't know about you, but sometimes 10 minutes seems like hardly enough time to get anything done or accomplished. I can barely get a shower taken in 10 minutes. I can't even feed Isaac in 10 minutes. I can hardly get anything accomplishedin 10 minutes... but boy can my girls get ALOT accomplished in 10 minutes. And although they can create a disaster in 10 minutes it sure takes mom more than 10 minutes to pick it all up and put it back together again. Here's a few things my girls have been able to accomplish in less than 10 minutes. (Usually happens when mom is either in the shower, on the phone, in the bathroom or feeding baby Isaac.) Now posting these will put me up for public criticism, with thoughts of "Does this mother watch her children at all." I do, our apartment is not that big, I can sit in one room and see the other side of the house, and yet somehow, when I think I have 10 minutes I can jump in the shower because all seems calm, or sit down and feed Isaac, then I tend to be proved wrong.

1. Take off their clothes, empty out all the cupboards in the bathroom and find mom's prescription sunglasses which are definately off limits - as Mirian is demonstrating above.

2. Get into and help themselves to the bucket of sugar and eat it fist fulls at a time. Now they know this is definately off limits because when they were found out, they willingly walked themselves into their bedroom and climbed on their stools of their own free will to time out. Sitting there licking their fingers must have been completely worth sitting there in time out.

3. When the sugar bucket gets closed really tight.. then they have to find the alternative. Climb the cupboards to find the small sugar container in the cupboard for cooking and dump it all over the top of the cupboard so they can access it freely.

4. Open the fridge, get out the milk, pour them a quart size canning bottle of milk. Go back to the refrigerator and get the chocolate syrup to make themselves their own chocolate milk. I can only imagine how much syrup they thought they needed to finish the job.

5. Somehow get the childproof cap off of the Children's Multi-sympton Cold medicine and help themselves to it. Last time I saw the bottle it was about 3/4 full. After I arrived at the scene when Savannah came to tell me that Mirian had spilled the medicine on the floor, there was maybe a 1/2 teaspoon left in the jar. There was some on the floor but also on their lips. I tried to get all the information out of Savannah that I could. Did Mirian drink it? How much? Did you drink any? How much. After calling Posion control and planning for the worse that Mirian drank it all herself and drank 3/4 of the bottle, we kept a close eye on them all day and saw no side effects...makes me wonder why don't they stick to the nasty tasting medicine. At least that way the kids would never have any desire to get that red candy out and have more than what mom ever gives them.

But then I have to remember there are also those 10 minutes of great fun and good moments where you remember why being a parent is so great.

1. Seeing them share and play in the their make believe world.

2. Clean the bedroom as fast as we can before dad comes home.

3. Sit down with me and say outloud all the story books they have memorized.

4. Sit and give a sermon to her imaginary audience about Jesus, and the gospel and anything else she can remember about what she learned in church on Sunday.

5. Help mom take care of Isaac.

6. Play a good game of hide and seek with dad.

7. Run to Albertsons with dad to get an ingredient for dinner only to return with some flowers they picked out just for mom.

We'll save a few more for another day.

Waiting For Dad

2007-02-11T14:16:00.000-08:00

One of the things I find the most joy in is watching Mirian and Savannah say goodbye to dad in the morning. They'll give him his hug and kiss and wave goodbye so he can go catch the "buss" as Mirian calls it. Then they'll sit at the window waving to him at the bus stop until it actually picks him up. They get so excited. In the winter they are there at the window once again waiting to see their dad! Mirian can sense and hear the bus without ever seeing it. As soon as she hears one she gets this excited look on her face and says "Buss!" "Daddy!" Knowing that dad is on them. I just have to keep reminding her not yet... since she hears that bus every hour on the hour.:) But now the weather is warm and Beau has decided to get into shape, we now look for him and Kirt jogging home from school. For once today was was one of those warm days, were we could actually wait for him outside. So they sit on the porch and wait, or run around. But as soon as they see their "Daddy!" they are off... to get their hug and kiss.

M&M World

2007-01-04T16:14:00.000-08:00

Of the few places we were able to visit on the Las Vegas Strip the M&M factory was the girls favorite stop. I wonder why? Chocolate candy, their own little bag, and any color they wanted to choose. It was great fun to let them pick out there colors.

Beau began first filling his bag and Mirians and wasn't paying too close of attention to Savannah who was standing next to him. All the sudden we heard the sound of candy spurting out of the bottom of the machine. There was Savannah holding her bag underneath, pulling on the lever, filling her bag incredibly fast.. and in shock unable to let go. Beau immediately jumped to action. At $9.00 a lb. we were not planning on paying for a full bag of M&M's. That would break us. I couldn't stop laughing.

They were so excited to have their own bag as they are showing them off here. They were also excited to get their pictures taken with the large M&M's. We also got to watch a 3D movie... Savannah who didn't like the glasses watched the whole thing without them... definately not catching the effects. It was fun to see excited about something as small as an m&m.