Sicky boy time....

I have a sicky little boy today! That just wants to be held, so why not catch up on some REALLY old posts that have some amazing pictures that need to be shared. So I am apologizing first for the really late posts, hopefully it will get everyone as excited as we are for warm weather and being able to play outside.

Hello, is anyone still here?

I have totally and completely neglected the whole blogging world. I do still check up on the faithful that continue to write and share their secrets with the world. But I have neglected my own personal blog, and to be honest, I really quite miss it. I am not a journaler, is that word?. Bonnie, my sister, has always was been so good to keep up on that but I tend to forget. And let's be honest, my life consists of one husband, two kids, 10 kids in our CTR class, fifty million cooking classes to plan, 100 million kitchen utensils and decor things to buy for the store,one trillion floors to clean and I have lost track of how many loads of laundry. Not that exciting is it? But it keeps me VERY busy! But after reading so many of the blogs around me, specifically the amazing friends and neighbors I have, I quickly realized that everyone is busy and we are all trying to get to the next day! So being busy is no longer my excuse for not blogging. I am counting on you 2 that read this still to keep me going and remind me to keep track of what we are doing an a daily basis, cause my memory is the worst and i will forget all the wonderful things my kids say and do. And the fun and messy times we have!

We will start this year with Matt. He is still working at Orson Gygi, many times people will ask do you guys like working together. I love it. I currently work with my Grandma, my Dad, usually one of my sisters, and my handsome husband. It is fun working with family. Matt has had to remind me that it is okay that we talk about things other than work. But we don't work too closely together on every day to day thing so it makes is wonderful. I love having a lunch partner and being able to just give him a kiss (shh dont tell) at work.

When he isnt putting in 80+ hours at Gygi's, Matt is finishing up his schooling at The Art Institute. He is loving it there and is really learning some wonderful things. He loves designing websites and ads for Gygi's and is really really good at it. He has gotten Saige to love it too. She gets frustrated when people distract her while she is trying to do some designs..... He hasn't done much fishing or hunting this past year, but things are looking up this year. He has been invited to do some great hunts this year with his Dad and he couldn't be more excited. We all love him very much and are so proud of what he does at work, school, and still makes time for the kids and I.

There were probably a million better pictures of our beautiful Saige, but this one portrayed her and her daily life perfectly. Here she is in one of my dresses, you can't see the 3 baby dolls she is holding, and behind her is her naked brother driving her crazy. She puts up with a lot at our house, and still has managed to be one of the smartest kids I know, every mom says that right?, but so true to herself. She LOVES to draw and write and color. She loves to be told that she is smart, and that her artwork is amazing. She steals my tape so she can hang her artwork and school work around her room. She is loving school and learning her letters really well. She just started dance class and loves it. Begs for Wednesdays to come, but they just cannot come quick enough. Her favorite thing to eat is probably potstickers, and edamame. Favorite color is still pink and is in love with anything princess. We love having her remind us to say our prayers and she says the sweetest things about our Heavenly Father. She really is intune to the spirit and has such a good reminder of why we are really here. I love calling her our daughter. One last thing, she is 4 going on 20. No joke I sometimes worry about the teen age years but tell myself that we are going through that now and when she is 13+ she will be a breeze.

For some reason Milo HATES to have his picture taken, so most of the pictures I have of him are with his head to the back of the picture, or with a cup to his mouth (that kid always has to have a drink with him!). MILO MILO MILO. He is such a funny kid. He just turned 3 a few weeks ago and it is hard for me to think that my little guy is 3. I dont have a baby anymore and its hard for me to accept that. He wants to be such a big kid and has really grown up the past 6 months. He finally is potty trained, all but the nights-we are working on it, he loves being a big guy and he told me last night, (matt is going out of town for a few days) that he will be the man, not the brother but the Man while Dad is gone. Out of no where he told us that. He loves to protect Saige and take care of her. They play a lot of princess and prince and he does such a good job at protecting the kingdom. Milo has the biggest heart, he will do anything for anyone, loves to share his favorite things, and at first can be a little shy but loves to be around people. His current obssession right now is super heroes and it is fun to see this BOY side of kids. I only had sisters so jumping, flying, shooting and saving the day is a little new for me. But we love it. Milo loves to eat salad, green beans, pizza and potstickers. His favorite colors and blue and green, and loves his blue blanket, white pillow, and sippy cup WAY too much.

Then there is me. Here I am waiting with Milo, and Josie (Candace's sweet sweet baby that we get to play with on Wednesdays!!) for Preston, Hank and Saige to get out of school. Matt sweetly traded in his beloved Tacoma and bought me a newer 4runner, one that had a 3rd row. We can now transport 7 people, and on Wednesdays we fill up nearly every seat. Between dance, school and errands every Wednesday seems to be spent in the car. Good thing for apple slices, juice and a movie!

I am still working 3 days at the store, and who knows what from home. I love it. I really do. It takes a lot from me but I love it. I love to hear everyone's good ideas, and trying to help people solve the problems they have with their chocolate, or cookies or cakes or WHATEVER! I never thought I would love working as much as I do, but it is just fun for me (well most days!). I couldn't do it without my sweet sister who comes over two days a week and plays with my kids. THEY LOVE THEIR AUNT STACI!!! Sometimes too much, they would choose her over me anyday! I will be indebt to her for her willingness to be with my kids forever!!!! And of course my sweet mom, if i have a class and matt has school she will take my kids till 10:00 at night and plan fun activities and yummy dinners for them. ( I came to get them the other night, and they had made dragons and lanterns to celebrate chinese new year!).

This year my goal is to figure out myself. I love to bake, i love to craft, and i love being a mom. I am going to use this blog to help keep me taking pictures, doing fun things together and just remembering that my kids will grow up way to fast and if I dont do these fun things with them now i will regret it for the rest of my life.

Keep reminding me of this, if you see me and i have not posted anything tell me i suck. (well in a nice way okay?)

Day 1...

DAY ONE: Traveling Puppet Show.

I was actually surprised that we began on day one. Candace is a great motivation for me, and we did really well for our first day and three tired kiddos. But this is all about them and having them help and have a good time, so I have to remember that.

Here is a small glipse into my project colors, i will post some pictures of the actually project soon, but we are not quite down yet, i hate when reality gets in the way of crafty projects! STAY TUNED!!!!

a new project....

I am really excited. Candace and I have decided to embark on a new project together. I love reading and secretly living the life's of these two girls- Elsie and Rachel , they are putting a new online class together called " Small Craft". We have both signed up to take the class, and are soooo excited to do some fun crafts for and with the kiddos. Wish us luck, we will be posting some of our new treasures and fun times together!

(I sure hope I have time to do this........)

Bees Game

We headed up the bees game with Nate, Shana and Coast, and our friends the Kunics { Carolyn, Joe and Taylor}. I haven't been in a long time, we thought it would be fun to take the kids up and enjoy the game. We got to our seats, and we were really having a fun time. None of us realized how close the seats are, and made the mistake of holding the kids on our laps. I think about half way through all the kids were a bit antsy and wanting to be out playing not just sitting watching. We decided to head out for a walk and find some seats over in the grass. Once the kids had a chance to run, we all had a great time. What could be better on a summer day than a baseball game, a huge hot dog, a snow cone and a grass hilll to play on! Thanks everyone for coming with us, next time we will get enough seats for the kids to sit on their own or just plan on the grass. The bees lost at the very end, but we had fun! Thanks for the fun summer memories and thank to Lianna for the tickets, we all had a wonderful time!

Fourth of July

There is something special about the fourth of July... I don't know what it is, the warm weather, the celebrations, the fireworks, the family gatherings, barbecues, what it celebrates, or just cause it's a great day. But whatever it is I love it! I get so excited that I asked Matt to come home earlier than he would have liked from camping so we could celebrate it with our families. We had a small gathering at Candace's house, it was a little different not having Connie and Ty, Staci, Jon or Katie there to celebrate with, it was really weird. We had a wonderful time swimming, eating and chatting at Candace's pool!!

This is Saige's classic swimsuit. I dont know what it is even without the life jacket this girl tends to get swimsuits to be so uncomfortable looking but she never seems to care! Oh I love this girl.

And we cant have a post without a picture of our favorite Josie!! Isnt she a doll? She is growing so fast, and is looking less like Candace and more like Grant! We love having her around!!

That night we headed up to North Salt Lake to watch the fireworks with the Smith's. I of course forgot my camera, but we had such a great time eating cotton candy and popcorn, teasing family and of course the fireworks. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Smith for hosting our large crowd again, we look forward to it every year and have so much fun! Happy Fourth of July!!

Camping #1

I have never been a camper. Growing up, for some reason I had this strong hate for it. My Dad LOVES to camp, but living with all girls, we didn't get out and camp all that much. So when I married Matt, a man who loves everything about the outdoors, I knew camping would be in my future. I have really put it off, with work and school we really haven't camped all that much. So when Matt suggested that we take advantage of a few days off work and go camping I wasn't the first to pack-up and get all excited, but I decided I would have a much better attitude about it and try things out.

So we packed our little family up and headed up to a spot up in the Uintah's near Trout Creek. I thought it would be a little packed and we would hear the other TRUE Americans out celebrating Independence Day!! But it was quite different. We headed up where only those who had trucks could travel too. It was really fun to go on these steep bumpy roads and almost feel as if we were going far far away! Matt pulled up to this gorgeous spot with grass, lots of shade, a wonderful fire pit and NO ONE ELSE AROUND!! It was great!

We quickly pitched the tent, as you can tell I was a lot of help, but it's Mom's job to document the vacation right?, and then we set out for an adventure, of course Matt already had his gear out looking for the "animals". His love and interest in the wild has completely rubbed off onto our kids and they love it almost as much as he does. I wish I had gotten a picture of Milo holding his hands to his eyes like binoculars, it was so funny, and he really thought that it was working!!

Saige and I walked behind Matt and Milo almost as if we were on two completely different walks. Matt and Milo were walking completely silent and trying to spot deer, Saige was on this wonderland adventure and had the time of her life finding all the beautiful things that you can find in the mountains, flowers, leaves, trees, birds, butterflies, everything a little girl loves. I just followed behind her, wishing to myself that I could have just a little bit of her energy and love for life. It was a wonderful reminder to me to just take in the moment and relax, who knows when the next chance we have to have our family alone just spending time together! It was wonderful!! Had a couple learning experiences, Matt's knowledge of the outdoors amazes me, pointing out what all the plants were, which ones were good which were not, finding a bird's nest and teaching the kids with every chance he had!

We came back and teased Matt in the tent, I was a little surprised when Matt put the tent up, that we would all fit in but it was great!


It was getting late, and we cannot go camping without a campfire, that is my all time favorite thing about camping! The kids and I got the stuff to roast marshmallows, I really don't enjoy them but love to roast them, so we sat on the log and Matt came over with a little worried look on his face.... he pulled out the lighter and tried a few times to get a spark and looked over at me and asked, "How bad do you want a fire?" Apparently I said with a sad face, " Well it is my favorite part?" He said he would try everything, he pulled out some alcohol wipes trying to get a spark to catch, sprayed the propane from the fuel from the stove, nothing was working. Knowing Matt, I knew he could get something to work, but I wanted to keep the kids from driving him crazy and we walked around for a bit, and then climbed into the truck. Matt thought I climbed in to pout (POUT?!?!!? do i pout? I don't think so!!), but i was getting a little cold and so were the kids, so i wanted to keep them as quiet as possible. After a little effort Matt got a small spark to catch on the propane stove and we HAD FIRE!! It was wonderful, nothing better than sitting around the fire.

we tried those SUPER huge marshmallows, we roasted one and it was enough for our whole family to get our marshmallow fix. I could not believe how huge those things were, so if any one needs any marshmallows, please stop by we have a lifetime supply. While Saige was roasting hers, she continued to catch hers on fire, after a couple of burning off the stick she commented, " Gosh, i am the best at this arent I?" Matt and I both laughed, well at least we have taught her to have confidence and look for the positive! After a litte sugar rush, we headed to bed and all slept really well. We were close together but really well!

I think the trip was a huge success, I have a completely different outlook on camping, I really quite enjoyed myself. Now I know why my Dad tried so many times to take us camping, (sorry for my bad attitude Dad, let's try it again!!) it brought our family closer and gave us a chance to just talk with no computers or phones and just be together!!! I love my family!!