Meeting Santa

So on our travels this holiday season we had quite an experience. We were at the airport in Las Vegas on the tram. Alyssa's eyes get big and she says to me "Look Mom there's Santa!" I am kinda embarrassed because she said it quite loud and look around to see who she is saying it about. There is a man in regular clothing with a long, white beard. I smile and say "No it isn't Santa, he just has a white beard like him." I was hoping he wouldn't feel bad thinking we thought he was fat. Alyssa looked at him again and he winked at her and pulled a picture out of his coat.
It was of him as Santa with his sleigh. Alyssa was so excited. He proceeded to tell us- a small group of people had heard the conversation- that he was a real Santa. He has a big red ring on his finger with his name inprinted on it. There are only a select group of real bearded Santas throughout the country. We were all impressed and one of the people took a picture of him- I was traveling by myself with 3 kids and wasn't about to try and get my camera out on the tram. Then Alyssa says "Look there is one of his elves". I again look over, slowly and she is pointing to a tall dark business man. He can't stop smiling at the comment and is looking away. I again discount her idea and say 'He can't be- he is tall and elves are short". Shs doesn't believe me anymore since I was wrong about Santa and tells me "Mom, I saw an elf on tv and he was tall." The man isn't about to turn around and look at us, so I just went along with it. Maybe he was- who knew there were actual registered santas.
It just goes to show you, you never know who you will meet in Las Vegas!

Christmas bells are ringing!!!

I love Christmas! I love everything about it. The shopping, the music, the giving, the getting, the cards, the food, the family, the friends. I love the lights, the decorations, the sounds, the smells. I enjoy the feelings, the rememberance of Christ, the stories, the memories. I love Christmas!

Thanksgiving in New York

So we went to New York to visit Phil's parents who are there on a mission. They live outside of Rochester and we have good friends in Syracuse, so they came and had Thanksgiving dinner with us. It was so fun to see everyone and the kids had a great time with grandma and grandpa, it took Nate a little while to be ok having grandma hold him. It was also fun to see how McKell and Bryce were together, they were such good friends in Milwaukee. Thanks Dean and Marsha for hosting us. We stayed through the weekend and went around and saw some fun Christmas things. We went to the 'birthplace' of Jello, where it was invented and the first factory- exciting stuff! >

Alyssa turns THREE!

Well her actual birthday was on Thanksgiving, but we had her party a few days before. She had a teddy bear picnic with all of her friends. It turned out very fun and the kids were all cute. They loved getting their teddy bears when they got here and they brushed them and then made a bracelet for them with their name on it.

We then had a super fun time playing with the bears on a parachute (thanks Jessie for letting me borrow it). This game was a HUGE hit we bounced off the teddy bears one by one until everyone had a chance to 'win'. Then we read a book "The Teddy Bears Picnic" and danced some teddy bear songs. Then we went downstairs and had our picnic with our bears.
I have never seen so many kids sit and eat their lunch all together! It was so cute. They each got their own little picnic basket with their lunch in it. We had a big cookie and ice cream for dessert after we sang to the birthday girl and then she opened her gifts.

She loves being three and tells everyone who will listen about her party. She came up with having a teddy bear party and I was a little worried it wouldn't be fun, but it turned out great!

Sorry, so Sorry

Well I really feel bad I haven't posted forever. I have my father's camera and can't get my pictures off of it- really need to get over to Jessie's house. I have been indoors for the past two days because of an ice storm. Church was even canceled today- which was kinda nice cause Phil wasn't home from call yet.
Here are the things I need to post when I get my pic's.
*Alyssa's birthday party
*Thanksgiving
*Trip to New York
Soon, I promise. I need to do this before Christmas is upon us.

Also, if you would like me to send you a Christmas card and I don't have your address please let me know it. Thanks and enjoy my side bar lists which I try to update everyday.

I love....

A conversation today in the car.
McKell- " I love Jesus and Santa. Who do you love?"
Alyssa- "I love Dad and Mom."
McKell- "I love Dad, Mom, Heavenly Father, Jesus and Santa."
Alyssa- "I love them all except for santa. I don't like Santa."

Check this out!

Some of my fun new friends are doing this online magazine. Check it out it is great!
http://lovelifemagazine.blogspot.com/

Interesting?!

So this is kinda funny. I got tagged by my high school boyfriends little sister that I haven't seen since she was like 8 years old! She is now married and living in Australia- I think I will have to go and visit her, I have always wanted to go to Australia. Anyone want to come?

She had full on instructions so here it goes.

Post these rules of "tag" at the beginning of your blog.
List 6 facts or habits about yourselves.
At the end of the post, you must tag 6 people and post their names. Go to their blog and leave them a comment letting them know they have been tagged and to read your blog for more details.

1. I love new clothes. I love to shop for them and also to wear them. Rumor had it that in high school I didn't wear the same outfit my entire senior year. I have downsized dramatically since then but if I could I would wear something new everyday. It has now poured over to my kids and when a new baby comes into our home I don't even like to wash the clothes because then it isn't new. Luckily none of my kids have had sensitive skin.

2. Habit- chewing. I love gum, chewy candy, and I use to chew on straws. Phil HATES gum, did I say HATES- can't stand the sight of it. If I was choking on gum I don't know if he would save me, just kidding. But I just can't not chew gum because of this-I enjoy it too much. I also love to blow and pop bubbles, which he also despises.

3. I love to play games. No matter the game, no matter the time I will play. Anyone want to play? I love logic games, speed games, luck games, really most anything will do. One EXCEPTION I can think of is Bolderdash- don't like it but I probably would still play it.

4. I love Math. In college this was my 'starting' point in trying to find out what my major should be. My chemistry classes included math so I added that and then added computer science as well because of the math concepts. I loved having math homework in college cause it was fun to me. This might be surprising to people becasue people now know me as a scrapbooker and someone who does 'crafty' things which are different parts of the brain. Interesting?

5. I have been sported out. Does that make sense to anyone? I used to watch sports cause I liked to, now I watch them every second because of Phil. He always is watching some sport on tv. It gets kind of old. Don't tell him, but I sometimes watch games when he is gone. I was watching the Monday night football Denver vs. Packer game when Phil was on call last week and it was a great game. But I only watched like the 4th quarter and OT, not every second of the entire game. On Saturdays when there is nothing on I will watch a little golf by myself as well. Again only when I am scrapbooking or getting something done, not every stroke of all 4 days that they play. Really don't tell!

6. I like to be informed. Even if it has nothing to do with me I would like to know what you are doing for the day or the week. I would write up a little schedule for you if you would like. I wouldn't mind if I was the information center for what was going on with people. I don't know why I like this or why I care but I do. When different friends tell me what they are doing for the day in my mind I think of ways they could swap kids or meet up someplace. Maybe it is the way my logical brain gets worked, to find the best way for things to happen. In college I would always help everyone do their class schedules, it was fun for me.

Ok- what did you think? Did you know all of these things about me?
For tagged people- lets do Heather McMullin, Heather Dawson, Heather Ferrin, Jen Chandler, Jen Stringham, Jenny B.

Trick-or-treat

Happy Halloween! What a day it has been with 2 cowgirls and a cow. Phil is on call today(spends all day and night at the hospital) which complicates things as usual. I don't know how single moms do it all, maybe they don't do it all or maybe their house looks like mine does right now.
The girls both fell asleep on our way home from trick-or-treating and so I carried them upstairs and put their pj's on and everything from the day that was in the car is now on the couch.
Here is what we did today- it was a very fun filled day. Alyssa had a little play group this morning and decorated cupcakes, McKell had a parade and party in kindergarten which we all went to, my dad is in town and wanted to go out for a late lunch/early dinner, and Nate took some very long and very short naps today.
Trick-or-treating 411- Nate-too little.
Alyssa- went to 3 houses and was done- too cold and wanted to eat her candy. She came back to the house and handed out her 3 pieces to the kids who came knocking. Don't feel bad for her she was finding candy all over the place and will be getting into McKell's while she is at school.
McKell- went like a champ with the first group, then went back out with just the older kids, then was cold and done. She didn't want to continue on with the 3rd group. She wished she could have come home and poured out her bag and sorted all the candy, but she fell asleep.

Gymnastics

We signed up Alyssa for Gymnastics this year. She wanted to do something and all of the dance classes were for 3 year olds so I thought why not try gymnastics. She is actually the perfect build for it. She loves going each week and talks about it all the time. She isn't scared climbing or jumping so it has worked out well. She can do the balance beam all by herself, which she is pretty proud of. She likes to do the rings and can pull up her feet all by herself, she does flips on the rings too. We were allowed to bring in cameras to her class this past week and take some pictures. Looks like lots of fun!

Kicks!

Some of you may have heard the story of McKell's soccer experience last year. It was not so good. She had a fun time, but it was torture for Phil and I to watch. McKell was the little girl out there picking flowers, not a care in the world. I said no more soccer until she was way older and wanted to REALLY play.
McKell really wanted to play this year. I told her no way cause I didn't want to waste money and time to go and watch her pick the flowers. After talking to her about it and seeing how much she wanted to play I gave in and signed her up. They played 2 times a week and they taught them little drills and then played 4 v 4 games. It was actually a really good experience for her. She did really good and is in love with playing. She wants to practice every day. She was getting a little more aggressive and I think next year she will even do better. Don't worry she didn't loose all of her 'little girl' qualities- she skips when she runs!? Seriously she does, she runs like 3 strides and then skips- Phil asked her about it and she said 'I wasn't skipping'. Hmmm, I don't know what to think, but it is really funny to watch.

Carving up some fun!

Ever since we got our pumpkins the girls have been wanting to carve them. They were trying to decide what kind of face they wanted on their own pumpkin (McKell had the biggest, then Alyssa, and Nate's was the baby pumpkin). Alyssa made up her mind and wanted a sad face. McKell took a while trying to figure out what would be the best. She finally decided on having 2 faces and each face being 2 different expressions. I told her she could only have one face so she choose to have half the face scary and half the face happy.
I have noticed lately, maybe since she started school that McKell has been a lot broader in her likes. She used to have a favorite color (pink), now she likes "all the colors in the rainbow except for black and brown". For the pumpkins she wanted to include 4 different expressions, not to leave any out. Is it just a stage or is her public school experience teaching her to not have favorites? I think it is a very interesting 'stage' and will be noticing when she starts to grow out of it. I can imaging how horrible it must be in a kindergarten class when everyone wants the same color paper or whatever, so this would be the likely solution. She says to Alyssa a little phrase that she learned at school "you get what you get and you don't pitch a fit". Not that Alyssa ever had a choice in the matter. If you ask Alyssa what her favorite color is she says "orange". Why you may ask- because we have little plates and cups for the girls to use and McKell always wanted the pink ones so she convinced Alyssa that her favorite color was orange so they could both have their favorites! So Alyssa is stuck with orange for however long just because it has been ground into her. Hmmm, what will Nate's favorite color be? or maybe the better question would be who is going to pick it- McKell, Alyssa, or Nate?

Boo!

We had a great time hanging out with some friends at our ADULT costume party. That's right no kids (except the couple that are too little to leave, which of course included Nate). We had a yummy dinner, played Halloween bingo for 'adult' prizes (we got chocolate and Carmel sauce and cherries for an ice cream sundae or something else (wink,wink) just kidding!) We then played Guitar Hero which was tons of fun, so Santa if you are reading this we could use one at our house along with a Wii. Phil and I dressed up like hippies and most of the stuff was found in my closet, a surprise to some who may not know my family. McKell and Alyssa thought it was great that we were dressed up and LOVED all the colors in my shirt. Here are some pictures of the event- thanks Jen for getting them ready for me to steal.

Thanks Grandma Perigo

At Bunko (a.k.a. bunco) last month we exchanged recipes. I tried Grandma Perigo's homemade waffles, probably brought by Kendra. They were very, very good. I even took a picture for Brooke and Jessie- they always enjoy a picture of food.:)

Grandma Perigo's Famous Homemade Waffles
3 1/2 c. flour
1/2 c sugar
3 Tbs Baking Powder
1/2 tsp salt
3-4 egg yolks- whip egg whites separately until stiff peaks form and set aside
1/4 c vegetable oil
2 c milk- powdered milk can be used

Mix all ingredients, except egg whites, well. Fold in stiff egg whites. Cook on preheated waffle iron. Use 1/4 c batter per waffle. Serve with strawberry syrup.

Strawberry syrup
3 c fresh or frozen strawberries
1/3 c sugar
1 tsp cornstarch

Thaw berries. Do not drain. Place half of berries in blender until smooth. Repeat with other half of berries. In medium saucepan stir together sugar and cornstarch. Add berries. Cook and stir for two minutes. Remove from heat. Cool to room temp. Makes about 1 cup sauce.

Love Iowa Farms

We braved the windy mess and headed to the pumpkin patch after McKell got out of school today. Phil took the day off, he starts SICU on Monday which means lots of overnight call!:( So we went to a little farm that was about 15 minutes away. It was so cute. They had a big maze through the corn, a small maze through huge rolls of hay, lots of animals to see, and tons and tons of pumpkins. There was a cute old lady there to take your money for the pumpkins and show the kids the new baby chick that had just hatched. On the weekends they sell pies, cookies, and they have puppies and kittens to give away.
We went with our fun friends the Kirks (who are moving in a month- we are sooo sad about it). They have kids the exact same age as our kids. We went through the big maze with Steve pulling the girls in the wagon, then saw the animals and went through the smaller maze where I hid and scared McKell half to death (he,he,he). We picked out our pumpkins and saw the baby chick. The girls chased the goose, dog, and cats around. We then went to looked at the chickens and Alyssa got pecked by one- thats what happens when you don't listen to dad! I don't think she really got touched but she sure got scared.
As you can tell from the pictures- it was very windy so I made the kids wear hats and we bundled up Nate. They all had a blast and McKell was very sad we left. The whole way home she talked about having a cat, which we will NEVER have.

Tag- Your it!

I have been in a blogging slump! So I have had this unfinished and thought I might as well blog it to try and get my blogging juices running. Halloween is almost upon us so that should give me some cute pictures to show.

So I've been tagged by a couple of different tags and people. So I thought I would combine them.
4 jobs I've Had...
Worked at Crazy Bob's (our family business) since I was in Kindergarten
preschool teacher
UPS customer service
Close to My Heart Consultant

4 movies I could watch over and over...
Probably none- I don't watch movies over and over and I don't read books over

4 places I've lived...
St.George, Ut
Kaysville, Ut
Milwaukee, WI
Coralville, IA

4 favorite TV/reality shows...
Grey's Anatamy
Wheel of Fortune
24
Oprah

4 favorite places I've been...
Hawaii, London, Mexico, Zion's National Park

4 favorite foods...
Mexican, salad bars, bread, chewy candy

4 websites I check daily...
blogs, email, weather, msn

4 hobbies I enjoy...
scrapbooking, reading, shopping, exercising

1. Who is your man? Philly 7
2. How long have you been together? Just celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary.
3. How long dated? about 1 year from meeting to getting married
4. How old is your man? He is old- 32
5. Who eats more? he does
6. Who said "I love you" first? He did
7. Who is taller? he is
8. Who sings better? no question- Phil
9. Who is smarter? hmmm depends on what kind of smartness- he is a doctor so he has me in that stuff but I did beat him on our 1st chemistry test in chem101-where we met
10. Who's temper is worse? mine, but he isn't always calm like you all think he is
11. Who does the laundry? my peeps do it- actually I don't have any peeps so I do it
12.Who does the dishes? Phil is slacking in this- he use to do them, now he puts them in the sink instead of the dishwasher. He helps a little but I still do them way more than him.
13. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Phil does and he is very particular about it
14. Who pays the bills? I do- he makes the cash I press the pay button-online banking rocks!
15. Who is better with the computer? I am.
16. Who mows the lawn? He does. Our front lawn is a beast to mow- big slope. I tried to mow it when I was pregnant and now I am forbidden to do it.
17. Who cooks dinner? I do!
18. Who drives when you are together? Phil does.
19. Who pays when you go out? whoever isn't with the kiddies- probably equal.
20. Who is most stubborn? I think it would be Phil, but we are both usually pretty layed back about things
21. Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? since I am usually not wrong- I would say Phil :)
22. Whose parents do you see the most? I see my parents more, but Phil sees both of them the same. When he has time off we usually split the time equal and then I stay at my parents for longer.
23. Who kissed who first? he kissed me.
24. Who asked who out? Phil asked me out.
25. Who proposed? He did. At the beach during sunset!
26. Who is more sensitive? I think it is Phil
27. Who has more friends? I do.
28. Who has more siblings? He does- 6 siblings
29. Who wears the pants in the family? Actally an inside joke with our Milwaukee buddies!- James who do you think? I say we both do but I think some might THINK that I do.
I am not going to tag you (unless you want to do it)- who has the time for this?!

Cute kids

Here mom this is for you! Your cute grandkids posing for a picture for Grandma Kogan.

6 months old

Nate turned 6 months old yesterday! Wow time flies! Nate is back to his fun 'normal' self. I sure am glad that 'crazy Nate' is gone- 3 weeks was long enough.
At six months old Nate loves:
*his sisters *his dad *his mom *pretty much anyone who will pay attention to him *his toys *to bounce *to stand up *to smile *to laugh *to roll over(both ways) *being held *being outside *most of all mommy's boobies filled with milk!

Nate hates: *Alyssa crying or screaming *baby food *bottles *binki's *being bored *his car seat *lots of commotion

Nate really is a love hate kind of guy. There is usually no middle ground for him, a little insight into his personality in the future, I'm sure. It is fun to see him grow and change. The girls still think he is GREAT, which has been so nice. 6 months old and cute as can be!

Alyssa Lou Lou

I have been told by many people who are around us for a little while that they think Alyssa will be my tough child. Tough can have different meanings- they will all be tough in different ways I'm sure. But, YES- Alyssa is definitely a lot tougher than McKell was. Here are some pictures of little Alyssa. She got one of those little bears that you can color on. She used that marker this morning during breakfast to color on herself. Luckily it came right off in the shower! She said 'Oh! Sorry.' McKell was totally appalled. She couldn't figure out why Alyssa did it, she kept asking "But WHY did you do it?" with a disgusted look on her face. Yep we don't have any pictures of McKell getting into things when she was younger, she never even unrolled the toilet paper roll. This should be an interesting combination in junior high and high school!

Little Natey Boy

I do like my little boy, I do like my little boy, I do like my little boy. This is what I have been telling myself the past few weeks- make that 3-4 weeks. My nice little boy had turned into a crazy man. He wanted to be held all the time- no swing, no toys, nothing but human arms. You also needed to be standing up. None of my other kids were like this so I am definitely not use to it. We chalked it up to teething- but who knows?!
This is the reason I haven't been blogging pictures of him or probably even mentioning him in my posts. Sorry Nate but it was everything I could do to not go crazy! He is getting a TON better and loves his toys again, and his sisters, and rolling around on the floor. He can cover quite the distance from rolling and scooting around. I can now see why people smile when they see that Nate has two older sisters they say 'Good luck! Boys sure are different.' He is definitely a mover.
He is almost 6 months old- the end of next week. He was long and average for weight when I took him in the end of last month. I think he is about 18 lbs now- Alyssa was 18 lbs when she was 1 year old. So he might be passing her up in the weight catagory pretty soon. We love him (especially when he is good) and have really enjoyed seeing him grow.

Bed Time

Bed time around here as gotten pretty lax since Phil has been home at night. The girls get either Phil or my undivided attention. They get books, stories, scratched backs- pretty much whatever they want if they will just go to bed. The girls are realizing this and we usually have them getting out of bed and either going into our room or now Alyssa comes down stairs. Last night they decided they wanted to have a little tea party while they were getting their books. They got in the bath a little early and I said they could have a cookie after. McKell set up this wonderful little scene for them to have cookies, drink tea (water) and get books read. Times are going to be changing when Phil starts his overnights in the ICU in October. They might as well live it up while they can.
McKell and Alyssa are loving stories from when we were little. They have heard all the stories I can think of- which weren't that many for some reason. Phil has tons of stories. The girls love them and I have overheard them telling their friends about when their dad was a little boy. So Alyssa, quite the little copier, tells us stories about when she was a little girl. It is hilarious!

That's Right!

McKell's school is too far away to walk and to close for buses so we do a car pool with two other kids in her class. It has worked out so very nice not to have to drive both ways each day. It has been fun to hear the conversations between the two girls and one boy when I take them. One of the moms told me about a conversation from this past week.
They were discussing how girls have long hair and boys have short hair and everyone agreed that this is how it is. Then Dallin says 'but there was one boy in my preschool who had long hair'
Madi 'I knew that'
Dallin 'How did you know that, you don't know that boy'
Madi 'Well you can't know everything, no one knows everything'
Dallin 'I know someone who knows everything'
McKell 'It's your mom! Right!'
Dallin (with a sigh) 'No way! Jesus'

Of course it was Dallin's mom who was driving that day and she of course was laughing. So I have been teaching McKell some things at home- that her Mom knows everything! So funny!!

Happy --------- to You!

I don't know if anyone in Phil's family actually looks at this blog cause they never comment but I thought I would write this anyway. When Phil and I got married (10 years ago tomorrow!) two of his older brothers were already married. These sister-in-law's birthdays are September 13th and 14th- funny huh. We laughed at the fact that my birthday wasn't next to theirs. Then Phil's younger brother got married and her birthday is September 12th! Crazy huh! I really didn't belong. But now all of his siblings are married and everyone else doesn't match up with these three. So anyway- Happy Birthday Mandy today- Julie tomorrow and Suzanne on Friday!
We got married on Julie's birthday- I didn't even know until our wedding day that it was her birthday. And Phil's parents anniversary is the 14th of September so Happy Anniversary Dean and Marsha- Hope you are having fun on your mission in New York.
So for our 10 year anniversary we are going on an amazing get away. In our dreams anyway. We both have such a busy day tomorrow that we won't even see each other until after 9 pm. We are planning on doing dinner Friday night.
What a difference a decade makes! We have gone through a lot in these first ten years and I would like to say that the next 10 will be a piece of cake, but I don't think that is the way things work. Phil is great, our kids are fun, we have a nice house, Phil is enjoying his job, we are healthy, and we have wonderful family and friends. We are truly blessed in all aspects of our lives!

Sea of Black and Gold

We live in the Iowa Hawkeye crazed town of Iowa City, I thought Milwaukee was bad with the Packers. A guy Phil works with invited us to his tailgating party yesterday and we went. I had never been by the stadium during game day so I didn't know the depth of the craze. We had to park at least a mile away 'cause Phil was too cheap to pay the cash to park on someones lawn (some were charging $25 for parking).
Anyway it was a nice walk because we were able to people watch.
Our tailgating party was prime- in the stadium parking lot(I heard someone say the high roller tailgaters). We had some yummy food and the girls played a little football.

Nate and I were just about the only ones in the millions of people who weren't wearing the correct colors. I am NOT exaggerating, I can't believe how many types of Iowa shirts there are. I will be shopping this week for some cute Iowa colored shirts for the fam(Phil already has one).
We all had a good time and it was really fun to experience a Hawkeye Game Day. Phil and I were wondering if we would enjoy the tailgating life- every home game they are there. I think we decided it would be fun to do it a few times a year but we are not dedicated enough for much more than that.

Time For Tea

McKell turned 5 on Friday! She was very excited about it and when we went to pick up her friends for car pool that morning she said to Dallin- 'Do you know who's birthday it is?' Dallin of course said 'it's yours' I'm sure she had been talking about it for the last week. When we got to school to drop them off McKell started singing "Happy Birthday to McKell" I hope she wasn't one of those super annoying kids that can't stop talking about it all day.
Well her party started after school- 3:30 pm. She had invited 15 of her friends and they were all suppose to dress for a tea party and bring a bear or doll. When they got here there was a feather boa for them and make-up to put on and they were able to put flowers on their straw hat. There were feathers everywhere on my floor as you can imagine.
We played some games and read the book Fancy Nancy and then went downstairs to our back yard deck. Phil and Ben had done an amazing job decorating it. They had their own china tea cups with pink lemonade in them to drink. To eat they had little sandwiches, chocolate covered strawberries, mini blueberry muffins, fruit kabobs on fancy pink toothpicks and for dessert they had ice cream cone sundaes.
The girls all looked cute and they all looked like they had a blast. They thoroughly enjoyed the tea party and had chocolate all over their faces. McKell had so much fun with her friends and is very happy to finally be five! (Is this enough details- to those of you who wanted to know?)

McKell's own personal Hell

Some of our friends came down from Milwaukee to spend the weekend with us. It was so fun to hang out with them. Phil took a few days off while they were here and one of the days we went to City park in Iowa City. The park has some little rides you can pay to ride and a train that goes around the park. It was a lot of fun, the kids had a blast- everyone except for McKell. She was the oldest child- it was the day before she turned 5. As some of you may know she takes after her father and is very cautious about things. She was talked into going on these rides- mostly by me and she didn't like them at all. We were kinda afraid she was going to get sick but she said she wasn't sick just scared. It probably means I am a bad mom because these pictures make me laugh. The first one is her screaming and the second one is her just putting her head down and bearing it. The lady doing the ride gave us an extra long ride cause there wasn't anyone else there- poor McKell.

I want to suck your blood

Ok- so I think everyone in the nation is on the Twilight bandwagon. If your aren't on it then hurry and jump on. Everyone has been giving me a hard time because I haven't read the book Twilight so I finally started it Sunday after church and I couldn't put it down! It is the first book in a series of three- the third book just came out last month. It is about vampires- not my subject of choice but it turned out to be good. I was up until 3 o'clock in the morning last night reading and then Nate woke up and saved me so I fed him and went to sleep and finished the last 2 chapters today.
I realized that I would like to become a vampire, they don't sleep at all. I was thinking of all the things I could get done at night while my family slept. I know sleeping is one of my favorite things but think of all the books I could read, scrapbook pages I could do, and projects I could finish. That's not even talking about cleaning, laundry and everything else. Then during the day I could just hang with my kids and shop (all of the vampires had a lot of money). I know there would be drawbacks- I would probably suck my kiddies blood and couldn't go in the sun (which would be a hard one). I guess maybe it wouldn't be worth it, so let me rephrase- If I could have a quality from the vampires I think the no sleep thing would be nice.
If you haven't read the book Twilight, head for the library or book store NOW! I guess now I will need to read the next two even though I have heard they aren't as good. I've got to see what happens to Edward and Bella!!

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions

So today- not the best of days around here and it got me to thinking about decisions or choice we make. When we were coming home from our trip to Utah I was at the Las Vegas airport with my three kids. We were walking to the terminal and McKell wanted to go on a moving walkway so she got on and I keep walking with the stroller(Nate was in it) and Alyssa was walking right behind me. McKell was about half way down the walkway and Alyssa decides she wants to get on, she runs over and doesn't quite know how to get on. So she is screaming and falling down, I have Nate and all our stuff that I can't leave and now McKell is getting to the end of the walkway- which is kinda far away. So I think to myself- who do I save? They would all be good choices- Stay with Nate- he is the most vulnerable, push Nate up and get McKell before someone runs off with her (then I would save two), leave Nate go back and help Alyssa and hope no one takes McKell. I stood there for a few seconds, all these things going through my mind and then a nice lady stood up and helped Alyssa on the walkway which was just enough help to save them all.
I think I was thinking about this today because it was a bad day. Am I making the right decisions? I think I have come to the conclusion that when you are choosing between good and good you have got to try and weigh the outcomes and maybe hope for some help.
I won't stop going to the gym just because Alyssa (who hasn't had an accident for many days) pees on the slide while I am working out. She has got to get it sometime, right? They got me out of a class and after I helped Alyssa, Nate started screaming so I left and went home. Thanks Jessie for cleaning up my stuff.
I guess maybe I'm not making much sense but hopefully it kind of is. Anyway, with the little things in life- it is really nice to have friends and family to be the ones to help you out a little here and there, it seems like sometimes all you need is that little help to be able to save everything important.

Phils Birthday!

I don't know why I feel wierd having a child old enough to be in school, I mean Phil did just turn 32! Wow that is old! ( I have to give Phil a hard time!) Phil had a good day at work and was done at a decent time to get home for his PARTY! Well it was dinner any way. The girls and I had gone and gotten him some balloons and McKell placed them around the room. I made a yummy cake that he loves and we bbq'ed with some friends. Phil even got to watch some football.
Here is the recipe for Awesome Chocolate Cake
1 yellow cake mix
1/2 c sugar
1 (3.3oz) instant fudge pudding mix
3/4 c. oil
3/4 c. water
4 eggs
1 c. sour cream
12 oz. milk chocolate chips

Combine all ingredients except choc. chips, in a large mixing bowl. Mix well. Add choc. chips and mix. Pour into a well-greased and floured bundt pan. Bake for about 60 min or until toothpick comes out clean. Enjoy!!

First Day of School

McKell has been so excited for Kindergarten to start. She had a good time at her ice cream social with her teacher last week. She kept asking the teacher questions and showing Alyssa around the room. Alyssa was ready to start as well, she felt very big being there. I guess we don't really have to worry about our girls being the shy ones cause McKell wasn't even a tad bit scared about heading off to school. I asked her "Are you scared or nervous about going to school for the first time" and she looked at me and said "No, why should I be."
So the first day was yesterday, the night before her and Alyssa both were bouncing off the walls cause they were so excited. Phil gave McKell a school blessing and she thought that was very cool. Monday morning came and we took her to school and she was totally fine with it all. When we picked her up she said she had a fun time and told me about her day. Nothing too exciting happened, which is great for the first day. She was so excited again today that she woke up at 6:30 am and started to get ready. So I guess we officially have a child in school.

California

Our trip to California was very fun. Ever since we went to Hawaii in February McKell askes 'when are we going back to Hawaii?' She doesn't like my answer of 'it will be a very, very long time!' So we took her to a closer beach, southern California. I love southern California!! I would love to live there! I have been going there all my life spending tons of time on the beach. We went to Huntington Beach and walked the pier and spent time in the ocean and the sand. The girls had a blast, McKell is just like me loves every minute of it. Nate even had a good time! We found him some little glasses which he liked so he could open his eyes outside. I read the 6th Harry Potter book and got a nice tan. My parents were enjoying their grandkids and spoiled them every chance they could. We swam at the hotel and McKell became a great swimmer. She can swim by herself the entire width of the pool under water. This just happened all of a sudden, it might have been because her younger cousin, Austin, was learning to swim. She must have a little competitive edge in her- I don't know where she gets that! Alyssa is a little swimmer as well- with her tube of course. She goes all over the pool with her tiny legs kicking so fast. She can keep up with the big kids as long as she has her tube.

St George

We went down to St George Wednesday. Phil had a early morning tee time Thursday morning that he was very excited about. My dad got him a new putter which Phil had been wanting, so that made him even happier. That same day we each got a massage as well, it was a very nice and relaxing day! While in St George we did a ton of swimming and the kids loved playing with my parents' dog- Ozzie. They also couldn't wait to see their cousin Austin, who is 3. Phil did some more golfing with my uncle and cousin as well- Phil's dream vacation- golfing, golfing and more golfing. My parents and brother have this thing called a Rhino-see picture- Phil and McKell had a blast on it- Alyssa not so much. James what do you think of this?- a "safe" version for Phil of motorcycling.

Phil was only able to stay until Sunday and then he headed home. We stayed on a bit longer and did some more traveling. We went to Southern California for a few days and then came back to St George for a week before we headed home. We were also able to go to Tuacahn to see Cinderella and the girls loved it. Tuacahn is an outdoor theater in St George with the back drop the big red rock, it is beautiful out there.
The girls liked the show, but McKell thought there was 'too much kissing, way more than the book'.

Playing in Centerville

We stayed in Centerville for the next 3 days and lived up every minute. The kids had tons of fun with their cousins and it was so much fun to see and talk to Phil's parents, siblings and in-laws. Phil went golfing with his brothers and we ate some Cafe Rio! Mike, Phil's brother, had a huge blow-up slide they brought over and everyone had a blast on it. After much bribing from us and screaming from her, McKell finally went down it and LOVED it. I have to post this picture of Alyssa cause it is too funny.
I will also post a picture of Phil's whole family so you can all see how many people there are when we all get together, the last two of his siblings just got married this past year.
Phil's parents just got their mission call and they are headed to Rochester, New York for a 12 month mission. We are excited cause they will have to drive right through Iowa to get there so we will get to see them in a few weeks when they are traveling.